merry christmas!

apparently we have a family tradition of taking black, white and red holiday photos.  i love looking at last year's photos and seeing how much parker has changed.  can't wait to see what he looks like as a little boy and man someday (that is a lil' scary and sad to think about)!  love ya little guy--you will be a great big brother!!

and since most of our cards have been sent out, here is our christmas card (thanks again, shutterfly). 

the inside has this photo and a message on the right side. 

merry christmas, yall!!! :)

baby #2!

since it's been nearly a month since i announced my pregnancy on facebook, it's about time for a blog post.  yay for baby #2!!!  a few common questions and answers:

1. Were you trying?  Yes.  We had been trying (or not preventing) for about 4 months and even though that does not seem like a lot of time compared to some people, every month i took pregnancy tests a couple of days before my period just in case any levels of hcG showed up.  i am very impatient.  i didn't cry with the negative pregnancy results, but i was disappointed and might have taken more a few days later just to make sure it was negative.

also, we are due 3 days after my little sister's wedding in kc, so i was really hoping to get pregnant a month or two before but oh well.  in the wedding, i am the matron of honor, james is a groomsmen and parker is the ring bearer.  pretty complicated situation, but we are going to do everything we can to make it.  i've looked up hospitals in kc that are in network and unless i am in the hospital delivering the baby, we will be standing up there beside them.  not quite sure what size dress to order...

2. do you want a boy or girl?  boy.  several reasons for this...

a. i want parker to have a brother who is his best friend.

b. parker is wild, loves to wrestle, etc. and i think it would be good for him to have a lil' bro to wrestle with (even if a lil' sis might be good for him to help develop a gentle nature).

c. if we have another boy, james is more likely to be open to having a 3rd so i can try to have a girl

d. i think i am a better parent of boys and would not really mind if i never have a girl.  i love watching sports, playing poker, playing golf, and other boy activities and think it would be fun to have a house full of boys.

e. boys are cheaper...and a lil' guy can wear all of parker's old clothes!

3. what do you think you are having? leaning towards girl.

i won't be disappointed if we have a girl.  there are tons of fun things about having a girl.  at our first ultrasound the baby was very calm and parker was never calm.  also i am not as sick as i was with parker (although i hate, hate, hate the first trimester, which is mainly why i have not posted in months--i've been going to bed by 9pm every night..ha!)  we are going to find out this time and i will post the sex after we have a gender reveal party with our friends in january.

until next time, love you all and thank you for all of the sweet comments on facebook!!! 

shutterfly cards

most of you know about my love affair with http://www.shutterfly.com/.  i made our wedding book, ecuador book, honeymoon book and parker's 1 year book and have many more plans to use shutterfly in the future.

this year shutterfly is offering bloggers 50 free holiday cards for writing a blog post about the promotion!  woohoo, at $1.50/card, that's $75 saved (knock that off of the holiday budget).  i love making christmas cards, especially now that we have a little family.  i love wallpapering our fridge with all of the cards we receive as well.

so here are my favorites from shutterfly...

this card is classy, but i'm not sure if i want to do black, red and white again since that was our theme last year:
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/family-wall-noir-christmas-5x7-folded-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93495

so we might do this one instead:
http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/provence-holiday-2011-christmas-5x7-folded-card?sortType=1&storeNode=93495

we have a photoshoot coming up with Meredith who is offering $20 photo sessions until the end of the year (with the disk!) i hope to turn around the cards quickly!  yay for shutterfly, photos and christmas!  love yall.

18 months

dear parks,

you are 18 months!  stats from your checkup:

*35 inches (98%!!)

*30 lbs (75%)

*head--don't remember, but about 50th%

we are loving seeing your personality emerge...you are a mix of the cutest sweatheart and biggest troublemaker.  one minute you are sweetly cuddling and the next you are slapping my face.  dad and i can't figure out if you have an extremely high pain tolerance or are just that tough.  you don't cry when you fall, get hurt or even bleed.  the other day you were running with a basketball and tripped and bit your tongue and it didn't bother you for more than a second. 

you are determined, strong, fast, mischievous, and full of energy.  you hate holding hands and are not afraid to leave my side.  at our neighborhood halloween party while some toddlers clinged to their mom's side, you ran everywhere and i was so exhausted trying to chase you. 

you love to wrestle and give hugs, although you sometimes confuse the two.  last week we had dinner at our neighbor's and you put two of the other 1 year olds in headlocks while you were "hugging" them from behind.  you also love to steal other kids' food and sippy cups.

you love all things sports related and spend many hours playing tball, golf and basketball in our living room.  one day you teed up the football on the tball stand and were hitting it with your golf club, bless your heart.  you love love love throwing balls and will ask to play with them whenever you spot one.

you've started to fold your hands and say amen--warms mama's heart.  i love you and can't wait to watch you keep developing!!!

love,
mama

home

we are home from kansas.  3 trips back and forth in 2 weeks makes me one very tired girl. 

to "anonymous": yes, i did change out of the shorts for the bible study :). i put on jeans and a intramural t-shirt from college, haha.

i took one whole picture of heather's wedding saturday.  my friend, jen, took over 2,000, so i will share more when she sends me some!  love yall.

p.s. james and i got home today just in time to see the end of the chiefs' and packers' games.  blah.  hopefully both teams will make the playoffs!!!

p.p.s. maybe i should wear makeup more often.  i look a whole lot better with it...

on dressing up

last night as james and i were walking out the door to our weekly small group bible study, james asked if i was going to change out of my running shorts.  i replied that no, i actually changed into them for the study and he asked if i would at least put on jeans (he had on jeans and a polo). before you think my husband is some kind of controlling dress snob, let me give you a little background...

after james and i had been dating for about a month, we had a "state of the union" relationship talk.  we shared our biggest joys of dating and biggest fears.  i kid you not--james' biggest fear was "that i would make him wear too many polos and dress up all the time."  if you knew my husband growing up, you would understand his fear as he lives in t-shirts and basketball shorts.  and the reputation he heard about me was that i complained my boyfriends did not wear enough polos (ha!).  it was that day that i knew if that was his biggest fear, we could work through our issues and build something good.

james and i both love wearing workout clothes/sweats/running shorts.  a sweaty guy in gym clothes turns me on so much more than a guy in a polo.  not that i hate polos (because actually i do like james and other guys in them), but anyone can put on a polo, and polos send a message that "i'm trying to look good" (especially at a dave matthews concert, haha).  on the other hand, a guy in workout clothes says "i'm not trying to impress, i'm living and taking care of myself (and i'm probably decently athletic)."

growing up, i wore t-shirts all.the.time.  especially at sporting events, i absolutely HATED it when girls dressed up.  a blue, tight dress does not convey jayhawk spirit like a good ole' fashioned t-shirt.  then i went to john brown and i became that girl.  i'm not sure if it was because all of my friends dressed up, i liked the attention/was trying to find a husband, or we had nothing better to do (probably all of the above), but i dressed up for basketball games.  (i would like to share that post-college, i stopped.  when i go to arkansas games, i always wear t-shirts).

working out at camp war eagle really helped me go back to my roots.  one of my friends came to visit and wore a cute sundress, and i wanted to ask her why she wanted to draw the attention to herself as the only person out there not in shorts and a t-shirt.  even if her primary motivation wasn't attention but maybe "to feel beautiful," they are virtually the same thing in my eyes.

i think high heels are the biggest attention seeker.  and yet, i still own heels and wear them from time to time, so what does that mean?  actually, i have some pink shoes that average about 5 compliments a day when i wear them (hahaha yes i keep track because they are my only pair like that) and i constantly struggle with why i wear such things.  is fashion asking for attention or is it to display beauty (and is either good)?  is our goal to draw attention to our shoes or attire or to focus on the heart?  how does dressing up in heels or wearing makeup fit into professionalism vs. seeking attention vs. enjoying life?

last year i read the book, "captivating," with some of my girlfriends and we discussed many of these points.  however, i don't think my heart fully settled on the issue and i still question whether the pursuit of any type of beauty is positive/holy/profitable.  as much as i tell myself no, i'm still going spray tanning tomorrow and buying fake nails for a wedding saturday.  yet, i haven't worn mascara for the past 2 weeks (or much in the past 2 years for that sake) and i can't convince myself that getting regular manicures or pedicures is a good use of the money God's provided.  i am very comfortable without makeup, but often i question if i am too comfortable and should wear it more.  and that concludes random thoughts from silvy on this lovely october night...love yall.

love ya, grandpa

my grandfather passed away last week.  even though he was 88, it was semi-unexpected and very tough for our family.  james, parker and i drove to lawrence on monday and spent the whole week with my dad and relatives.  i learned many new things about my grandpa including that he led a team of mechanical engineers to perfect the process for coating m&m's (3,300 pounds an hour in the 1950's!) and that he received several patents for his incredible creations on other research projects.  he was a loving father and grandfather who deeply cared about his family.  he was generous, selfless and humble.  he had a strong work ethic and spent many hours working on the family farm (which motivated him to earn his degree from KU). 
here is a link to his obiturary: http://www2.ljworld.com/obituaries/2010/sep/29/carl-perkins-jr/

i love the photo my aunt submitted from his pilot days in the army (WWII):

i am really glad my grandpa got to meet parker.  even though he only had 1 grandson (out of 8 grandkids), he has 4 great-grandsons (out of 5!)

james, parks, dad, sister, fiance and me after the funeral.  dad changed out of his suit before i could snap a photo.  our family hates dressing up :)

some of our family at my dad's house.  it was nice to be able to spend time with everyone.

here we are at a ku football game a few years ago.  love this pic!

i love you, grandpa, and your presence will be deeply missed at all of our family gatherings!!!

health insurance

by no means is this any sort of political post, but i would like to praise my company for a minute for providing excellent health insurance.  it seems like all we hear are people complaining about how terribly expensive healthcare is and no one is grateful.  even the millions of people in our country who get free health insurance are not grateful (okay i really promise this is not going to be a political post, but james' experiences as an emt and at the hospital are sometimes frustrating to hear).  anyway, today i salute you, hr of our company, for doing a fine job helping our employees have affordable insurance. 

even though our deductible is fairly high, our work sets aside a geneourous HRA fund every year.  this money rolls over if not used in its entirety and is funded solely by our employer.  james and i used this money to pay for most of  parker's birth expenses and it was a huge blessing.

also, our work rewards people for making healthy lifestyle choices.  this is something i am very adamant about and am thankful for as well.  in two weeks, our office will undergo a voluntary "screening" that tests cholesterol, blood sugar, bmi/waistline, blood pressure and asks if we are tobacco-users.  depending on the scores, we receive a monthly discount for living a healthly lifestyle.  it does not hurt the people who are unhealthy, but rewards those who are not as likely to be a big financial health expense to the company.  granted there are factors and situations that make it more difficult than others to achieve certain bmi levels or whatnot, but overall, i think there is such a lack of personal responsibility for being healthy and it is encouraging to see rewards for valuing health.

i weigh more than i want to right now.  my bmi is probably higher than i want it to be (i haven't had it tested for a while).  yet there is no one but myself to blame for my current situation.  sometimes i tell myself that if i didn't have a kid i would still be in the same shape i was 3 years ago (and i more than likely would as i love to workout), but at the same time, several of my neighbors go running every morning at 6am and if i was really motivated to lose the 13 pounds i've added since we got married, i would get up early to run.  here's to hoping the screening still goes well... :).  love yall.

weddings can be fun

i still have a few denver posts in the queue that are a little outdated now (zoo, estes park, firefighters museum, etc.), but tonight i'll share a couple pictures from my friend jinger's wedding.  james and i truly had a great time at this event.  we didn't know a ton of people, but the wedding had 3 key elements that always make a wedding more enjoyable for guests:

1. kid friendly...or kids were invited.  (for the first time at a wedding, parker made friends and danced on the dance floor for a good 2 hours!!  it was such a blessing.  he also kept going around stealing steak knives off the table before dinner and running around with them but that is a whole 'nother story [no one was hurt]). 

2. dancing

3. alcohol/dinner

we've been to so many weddings lately that have not had any of these luxuries and we just did not enjoy ourselves.  i know weddings are all about the bride and groom, but i really appreciate the weddings where people put the guests' enjoyment in the priority list as well.  besides the fact that we have to entertain parker in the hallway during all wedding ceremonies, receptions without food or dance floors are not really kid friendly either and p is at the age where he does not want to sit still. 

anyway, the next two upcoming weddings should be fun...heather's wedding will be a fun lawrence/high school reunion, and courtney's wedding will have all of the above mentioned amenities.

below are two of my best friends from my internship who were so kind to come to james' and my wedding in kansas two years ago:

happy lil' family.  love that james and parker match!

yay for a renewed faith in the happiness of weddings and a positive attitude going forward...love yall!

monkeys

we went to a first birthday party for one of parker's best buds the other weekend and the theme was monkeys!  love themes and wrapping presents (we got him two monkey outfits :))

i tried to get parker to pose with me and the present in his monkey shirt.  you can tell how exicited he was for the photo.  fail.

i loved the birthday cake brittney ordered that perfectly matched the invitations.  they had a monkey pinata as well as other cute monkey decor!

birthday boy in action.  isn't he the sweetest thing you have ever seen?

until next time, love you all!  happy friday!!

colorado

home from colorado.  great trip (surprisingly smooth), great to be home.  happy labor day!!

happy day

i can officially announce that my best friend from high school is engaged!  the wedding is october 9 at the pavilion in shawnee mission park.  apparently the original guest list had over 1,500 people, but they cut it to only have 500 attendees.  even though i am very excited for my friends' relationship, i am not really a fan of weddings (anymore).  it's funny that before i got married i loved going to weddings and now i dread them (mainly because i have a 1 year old who does not sit still).  actually children under 11 years old are not allowed at this wedding/reception (see trimming the guest list), so i'm not 100% sure what we're going to do with parks since my whole family is invited.  dread is a strong word and i don't mean to complain because i'm sure the day will be very fun, but all of the drama that surrounds weddings can be so consuming and frustrating, and i have to constantly remind myself to have a good attitude and give my time and gifts generously.

in the spirit of positivity, here are a few pictures of heather and me...(it's too bad i lost all of my scanned photos from junior high and high school...we had some good ones!!) 

the day james and i got engaged!  heather and my sis drove down to arkansas from lawrence!

at our wedding rehearsal! (gosh my arm looks fat. i was 5'7" and 130 pounds...how do my arms always look fat? i'm blaming it all on 10+ years of gymnastics muscle turned to fat :))

at the top of a 14'er we climbed!

we love the muscles pose, haha. 5.3.08!

here's to a special upcoming day for my friend where i will remember that my bridesmaidal duty is to be the best support i can be!  love yall.

school time

parker is officially starting "school" this fall.  as much as i'm a big believer in kids being kids and playing all day long, i also think a lil' structure is healthy, so september 9th parker begins his school days journey at pinnacle hills' "kids day out." (thanks for being pc, monster church, since james is the one getting the 'day out').  my next door neighbor (who taught kindergarten for 10 years) is going to be one of the teachers and offered to take parker every monday and thursday from 9am-1pm.  she is so excited about the classrooms, curriculum, activities, etc. and easily convinced me to enroll parks.  every day the kids will enjoy a full schedule of:

*music class
*finger play (play dough, finger paints, etc.)
*Bible story
*secular story
*playground time
and lots of free play!

teachers send home a list of milestones to work on each month, which the kids are evaluated on during play to see how they are progressing.  as much as it sounds scary to measure children at 1 year old, the overachiever in me really loves this and appreciates the partnership in my child's growth and success.  when the children get older activities are geared toward getting them ready for kindergarten like writing and scissor skills.

they also have all kinds of fun parties like pumpkin picking and i'm sure parker is going to love the social interaction (he really thrives on being around other kids).  anyway, the first month goals are:
1. walking on his own (check)
2. pushing, pulling and dumping things (check)
3. turning pages of a book (semi check)
4. saying "more" in sign language.  what?  i haven't taught p any sign language, so for the last 3 days james and i have worked vigorously on getting parks to sign more and he is already a pro!  i was super surprised how fast he picked it up.  our next word is "milk," which he needs to learn by november, so we have plenty of time!

here is a lil' video of james practicing with p:


love yall!!

water baby

parker loves LOVES the water.  he loves splash parks (are these a fairly new phenomenom or was i just clueless before having p?)

he loves dunking himself in the water (a little scary for mom and dad.  he thinks he can swim).

loves playing under the mushroom

loves going down waterslides

seriously he went head first down the slide 20+ times. good thing it was a cool evening and we were the only ones at our friends' pool!

he loves swimming in lake michigan (FREEZING lake michigan).  he would not stay out of the lake even though his lips were turning purple and his legs felt numb.

last but not least, here's a video of our fearless little swimmer with grandma betty. 

i would love to raise all boys because they are too much fun!!!  love yall.

parker cleaning the fridge

it's monday.  parker and i went for a long walk tonight and stopped and talked to several neighbors.  having a kid is such an in for making new friends!  until i upload more pictures from my camera, i give you a video of parker finding a cool spot to hang out in this 100 degree weather!

love yall!

15 month stats

we are home from wisconsin.  hopefully lots of posts to come.  i just realized i never posted parker's 15 month stats!  (this makes it so much easier to go back and fill in his shutterfly baby books at the end of the year)

height: 34" (>98%!!)

weight: 28lbs (85%)

head circum.: don't remember, but around the 50%

4 teeth (ha!)  he just got a 5th at 16 monhts

oh what a joy he is.  love his smile, laugh and crazy energy.  muah lil' guy!

love,
mommy

climbing

my mother in law (who is watching parker this week) commented that parker is a very advanced crawler.  she took him to a playland and said he was crawling all over the towers that the other toddlers his age could not climb.  i've never really compared parks' crawling skills to others, but i think part of the reason he started walking late was because his crawl is so efficient.  parents claim life totally changes once babies start walking because you have to chase them everywhere, but to our surprise, the week parker started walking was no different than than the week before.  when p was 11 months old he could climb up and down the staircase and crawl to a door, stand up, open the handle and crawl into the other room.  playing on the playland at the gym really helped him master his climbing skills.  now if i could just teach him how to point to his nose! :)

pictures of parker in action at a bentonville park:

looking at the slide

going down head first!  the slide was not very slippery so i let him repeat this cyle several times (don't worry, mom, i stood at the bottom of the slide every time)

love yall!

finance article: federal income tax

i've been reading some interesting finance articles lately, and this stuck with me: nearly 47% of americans paid no federal income tax in 2009! can you believe that?  (and that is just all of the people who filed returns).  now i am not complaining about all of the nice deductions and credits, especially for parents, but this seems a little unnerving.  actually it just kind of makes me want to not work...and have another baby.

with current tax laws, a family who earns $50,000 annually with 2 kids pays no federal income tax!  this seems a little unfair to tax payers without children.  here's the breakdown (copied from the article):

$50,000 income
(11,400) standard deduction
(14,600) personal exemptions ($3,650x4)
=$24,000 taxable income
fed. income tax on $24,000 is $2,769

+$2,000 in child tax credits (1,000 for each kid)
+800 making work pay credit

=+31 back from the government. 

something about that just does not seem right.  $50,000 is not a poverty income.  the top 10% of earners in the u.s. pay 73% of the income taxes collected.  i would be so frustrated if that was me.  everyone wants the best education systems, health care, public safety, etc. yet half of americans pay no fed. income taxes to fund them!  something interesting to think about...

in other news, i really miss parker.  can't wait to see him again on thursday! 

doesn't he look grown up in this picture??  love him.  love yall.  sweet dreams.

the places you'll go

most of you know james and i are psuedo models (read not glamorous at all), but we enjoy seeing where the pictures pop up.  i wanted to share a few recent locations:

1. sarah (san fran trip) saw us on a commercial for 1-800 lawyers in north carolina with a caption that "over 50% of marriages end in divorce."  nice.

2. erin (san fran trip) sent this link: http://www.make-my-baby.com/ (i'm the 2nd from right on the top row in case you couldn't tell) hahaha

3. english teacher friend sent a link to this photo of teaching material where thousands of high school students might write narrative essays about our photo (let's hope they don't say we need help from 1-800 lawyers :)).

4. recently engaged high school friend found this pic on the website: http://www.allfaithsweddings.net/

5. a local gift store, melody's choices, has a picture of my bridesmaids and me in their clear glass frames.

6. if you google, "couple kissing," this picture comes up on page 2 (it is an ESL lesson--love the caption).  don't ask me why one of my guy friends googled "couple kissing" at work.

7. college friend saw this frame at michael's and bought it for us:

8. last but not least, a facebook chat convo (i rarely chat with anyone) from tonight with one of my college friends about a pic he saw:

Aaron: hey

Me: yo

Aaron: so get this, kinda out of the blue, but it was crazy

Me: k

Aaron: so i'm at my grandma's house in NE Ohio

and she's that crazy excentric granma that cuts all the pukey cheesy little poemy article things out of the newspaper and posts them on her fridge
Me: lol
Aaron: and im getting something out of the fridge
and looking at the myrid of things on her fridge
and i see this clipping from a local newspaper
and it's one of you and james' wedding pics
with a little marriagy poem thing

Me: that is hilarious! did you do a double take?
Aaron: yeah i couldnt believe it
cuz it didnt have your names on it or anything
and this isnt even a large newspaper...some po-dunk local news paper for something called a "doyelstown" ohio. anyway, i got a kick out of it, thought i'd share...

i really need to make a scrapbook of these because it is getting a lil' crazy.  love yall!  happy monday!

wedding bells

i went to the gym this week for the first time in a long time.  when i said spelled my last name at the check in desk, "k-e-h-r," the sweet worker burst out, "are you parker's mom?" to which i smiled real wide and nodded.  the girl shared that parker was her favorite kid and another girl lit up and sincerely echoed, "i think parker is everyone's favorite" (see james going to the gym for 2 hours every morning).  i almost asked them to be my new best friends but just said thank you and walked into the dressing room.  it might have been the highlight of my week.

then at work today one of my friends told me that i was like a barracuda, which negated any warm fuzzy feelings from the gym. i replied that "i'm not sure how to take that and don't think it is a good thing."  she told me that it was meant as a compliment and that at least the sharks would not eat me.  hmmm...  the sad thing is that i think there is a lot of truth in the statement.  i'd like to think i take initiative, get the job done, am aggressive, etc., but i sometimes am a little too demanding and argue my points without enough sugar on top (or any sugar).  at the same time, i can be very encouraging when people do a great job and put forth extra effort, but i am working on being less of a barracuda.

anyway,  it seems like our life is weddings, baby showers and baby birthday parties these next few months, and i love it. here's our mini calendar of events:

last weekend: james' cousin's wedding in columbia & dylan's 1st birthday party in our neighborhood, check! (they had no alcohol at the wedding but a keg at the kid's 1st birthday, hm...)

this weekend: melissa's baby shower & lydia's wedding!  (work friend)

aug: jack's 1st birthday (monkey theme!) and hailey & austin's wedding (gym friends)

sept: jinger's wedding in denver!  family vacation!

october: heather's wedding in kansas city (best friend from high school...am a bridesmaid so must lose weight) and kirena & jamison's wedding (jbu friends)

november: courtney's wedding (work friend)

(next june-sister's wedding!!!!  can't wait)

time to order some presents from etsy!  love yall and happy weddings!

mile high

our life is not all fun and vacation, but it is summer time and so tonight's post is all about denver.  even though james and i've made trips to kansas, wisconsin, missouri, cali and florida this year, this is truly our first official kehrli family vacation!!  (can you tell i'm excited?)  i love planning, so we have a (flexible) itinerary  with plenty of time for parker's naps (11am-2pm blocked out each day) and full intention to be back in our hotel room by 8:30pm every night for the sake of p's routine.  knowing that it can be a faux paux to talk money, i've gone back and forth about whether to share our budget.  however, there is a big difference between sharing annual incomes (which james and i've vowed not to do on the blog or IRL) and sharing a trip budget (which i think can be semi-helpful for others), so here goes our 5 day/4 night budget:

flights: $320 (parker still flies free!)

hotel for 4 nights: $220

rental car for 2 days: $100

food: $250

entertainment: $75

TOTAL: $975

we've already booked and paid for the flights and hotel, which makes the actual expense in september easier on the wallet.  below are the trip details!

1. denver aquarium.  i've heard great things about this place and since it is right by our hotel, it should make a great activity for a 1 1/2 year old (who is still free to almost everything!)

the rockies have an afternoon game while we are in town, so we are planning on hitting up the $4 rockpile seats!  i went to several rockies games whil living in denver and loved them.

our hotel: the sheraton.  we really wanted to stay downtown because i love the 16th street mall, and we can rely on public transportation the first 3 days (as well as many restaurants within walking distance), so this hotel it is.

the hotel recently recently completed a $70 million renovation including this rooftop pool, which i cannot wait to hit up (and am sure parker will love!)

and last but not least, i'm hoping we have time to go to the denver zoo as well.  the aquarium and zoo might be too many animals for one trip, but i can't decide which one would be best so right now they are both on the agenda (james nixed the water park idea because parker is too young to truly enjoy).

saturday night we are going to my friend jinger's wedding with some of my old intern friends, and hopefully we can meet up with some jbu friends as well!  apparently denver is our favorite city to visit because we've gone there every other year for a while.  here we are in summer of 2007 before going to cirque de soleil (we look so young!)

feb. 2009: out to dinner with jbu friends in denver!  (technically p's first trip to denver as i was 7 months pregnant)

i still think if there was one city i would love to live in it would be denver. if one of our families lived there the decision to move would be easy.  i love love love denver and colorado!  so beautiful, laid back, and tons of  outdoor activities to stay in shape.  maybe one day i'll move back.  until then, sweet dreams and love you all!