Bean Pickin' Day

A friend of Paul and Carrie's is an amazing gardener. Willie always stops by with bags full of lettuce, green beans and all sorts of good stuff.

Taylor gets to excited when he talks about his garden and he invited her to go to his house and pick green beans. He told her to count out 59 days from the day they talked and said that would be "bean pickin'" day. Of course she doesn't understand how long 59 days is so she kept asking every few days, "Is it bean pickin' day yet?" 

Finally Bean Pickin' day came. . .

Willie's garden is HUGE. And this picture only shows about half of it. He grows just about everything but radishes and beets.

Grandma got in there and showed her exactly what to do.

Man, was she ever excited!

She just got right in there pickin' away. She would carry her bag around with her from plant to plant and she kept saying, "Oh my, Oh my, Willie,Sue! Look at how big this bean is!". We must have heard that at least 100 times

Baby watermelon

As we kept picking beans, Taylor kept telling Willie what other vegetables she liked. I love that she got excited over the carrots when they are the one vegetable she won't eat raw.

I can't wait to see how big these pumpkins get. . .

I've never seen how cauliflower grows either. It was amazing to pick Willie's brain on how all this grows. He really has a green thumb. I told him I was going to recruit him next summer when we plant our garden.

Zucchini. . .

This little girl was so happy to be helping in the garden.

I should have taken a picture of everything Willie sent us home with. We got 4 types of green beans (A LOT), carrots, onions, zucchini, and bell peppers. He said he'll bring more by when it's ready to be picked too. I can't wait! There's nothing like home grown food! 

Thank you for letting us help pick beans Willie! We had a great time!



4th of July

We had an amazing 4th of July. Our awesome friends Erin and Erik had a BBQ. Honestly, Erin's name should be Martha. She definitely the hostess with the mostess. We wanted to take something festive for the BBQ so we made patriotic strawberries.

We started with this . . .

 And this . . .

And ended with this . . .

Before we went Taylor was taking pictures of everything around the house. I let her photograph me too. She told DJ he looked perfect and I looked 'so cute'. She's such a sweety.

Their house backs up to an open field . . . with cows. I LOVE it! Taylor was so excited when DJ held her up over the fence to see.

We got to play washers. I've never understood why we only play that game on big summer holidays. Too much fun!

 Every year I get a picture of our family on the 4th of July. I think this is my favorite by far. When we were taking the picture Taylor held up her strawberry and said "cupcake". That must be the new thing instead of saying 'cheese'.

It was such a fun, relaxing night

Erin and her sweet niece, Abby

I LOVE this girl.  

Giving Amanda some baby love . . .

And the famous sparkly toes picture. Every year Taylor and I paint our toes red, white, and blue and take a picture of our feet on Coors field. This year since we didn't get to we opted for the next best thing - our backyard.

We hope everyone enjoyed the 4th as much as we did!

Cupcake Love

Saturday afternoon's forecast called for rain. Since Taylor couldn't be outside playing with her friends we had them over to bake cupcakes. Is there really a better way to spend a rainy afternoon? We made pink lemonade cupcakes. I used the same recipe we used for this cake . . .  

. . . back on Mother's Day. I have to admit I think the cake turned out better than the cupcakes. Maybe the cake had more frosting.

All the girls took turns helping add ingredients, stir and telling me when the batter was pink enough. They wanted bright pink.

Andrea, the girls' mom, and I sat talking while we waited for the cupcakes to bake and the girls played upstairs. We really are blessed to have become such good friends with our neighbors - especially since Taylor LOVES their kids. They are the family with the other little girl named Taylor who is just 2 weeks older than our Taylor. 

The girls each got to frost and decorate their own cupcakes. They had a blast! And sure enough, as soon as they finished eating the first one they asked for more.

This is the other Taylor. . .

It was the perfect rainy afternoon.



A Wedding

No, not mine. . .

But a few weeks ago now DJ and I were part of one of the most beautiful weddings I've seen. Our friends Chad and Amanda got married on August 6th.

DJ served as Best man and I was a bridesmaid.

The rehearsal/dinner was the night before and it was so much fun. After dinner the bride, myself and Amy (the maid of honor) stayed in the bridal suit downtown at the hotel and hug out in the hot tub drinking lemon drops and enjoying the views of downtown. There isn't a better way to spend the night before your wedding.

You could see the church from a window in the hotel - wow. It's the oldest church in Denver. I'm sad I didn't get a picture of the sanctuary because it was gorgeous.

The day of the wedding we woke up, ran down to the lobby for some Starbucks and hung out in the room. We ordered room service and relaxed. It was a great time.

Then came the prep work . . .

The girls Amanda had do our hair were amazing. They were like an army of two.

 We headed over to the church to change. I've never experienced getting a bride into their gown and let me tell you - this was not easy. There should be classes on this for bridesmaids before the wedding or something. It took me forever to get the corset tight enough so Amanda wouldn't lose her dress all night. I loved her dress though - absolutely breath taking. . .

Amanda's mom is wonderful.

(She babysits Taylor us when we need one)

 Chad's niece was the flower girl . . .

I'll try to add more pictures of the wedding party etc but unfortunately when you are in the wedding there isn't much time to sit back and take pictures. . . So on to the party!

Taylor was so excited about being able to go to Uncle Chad and Aunt Amanda's wedding. She talked about how much she was going to dance there for a few weeks before hand. . .

DJ was so handsome in his tux . . .

And lucky for lil' Miss Taylor her best friend Emma and her family were there . . .

 Me and my Baby. . .

The view of downtown was amazing. . . Can you tell Taylor was excited?

Amy, the maid of honor, and her boyfriend Chris. . . (they'll be next :o)

The bridesmaids - Ann, Chrystal (the Grooms Sister), Amy

Chad was nice enough to cover her dress with a napkin before smashing cake in her face . . .

DJ and the Bride's mom . . .

As hard as anyone tried, they couldn't get Taylor off the dance floor that night. . .

So to steal a line from DJ's best man speech (which was amazing by the way) - Here's to a life of love and happiness for Chad and Amanda!