Monday, December 28, 2009

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Cutiest Picture Ever!!


We got Ellie a Bumbo the other day. I think she enjoys it:)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

More Ellie Pics

Nana Cindi with her little Ellie Bean

Her first Halloween... a memorable one for her I am sure.

Snuggling happily with Mommy

Grandpa Tim (also showing his Windsor pride)





And we can't forget about "little" Daisy...

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Ellie Grace

She is here! After seven months of going through the adoption process we have been blessed with a beautiful baby girl. She was born October 20th and weighed 6lbs 3oz (little!!) and was 19" long. We were able to meet here birth parents before the birth and began to develop that relationship. We are so thankful for them and the love that they have for their baby. The are from Philadelphia and we look forward to keeping in touch with them as little Ellie grows up.


In the hospital with her birth parents.

A happy Dad!

All snuggled and ready to make the trip home.


Momma loves her baby!!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Glacier National Park Adventure

Cage and I set out on an adventure to see the great sites that our National Parks have to offer. He flew into Denver and we drove up through Grand Teton and Yellowstone on our way to Glacier where we had planned to do a three day backpacking trip.

The base of the Grand Teton's over looking a lake, lots of clouds though.


Old faithful came through yet again.

We saw lots of wild life as we were driving through Yellowstone. Deer, elk, possibly a moose, a wolf (ran across the road in front of us, so just a quick glimps) and buffalo. This guy was just walking down the middle of the road.

Bowman lake trail head.
Here we are at Bowman lake all happy and full of energy. We are about to set off on a quick hike up to a ranger station lookout. Out and back, the hike was 11.4 miles with an elevation gain of nearly 3,000 ft. We got up there in 1hr 50min (hauling, without packs so it was no problem) and back down in about the same time. Coming down was the problem...that is when the feet started to hurt a bit.
View from several hundred feet below the lookout. Once we got to the top it was so cloudy (we were basically in the clouds) that we couldn't see much.
We made it back down to the car, grabbed some lunch, threw on the packs and headed out to the campsite. Very cheerful and ready to go.
We hiked 6 miles with an elevation gain of 1,800ft and a loss of 1,000. Coming down was rough on the feet with the extra weight of the pack. We stayed at Quartz lake, this was the view outside our tent...pretty incredible.
About to get our oatmeal on for breakfast.
The next day we had a 6.4 mile hike with another 1,000+ elevation gain and lost to get back to the car. Then we planned on going to the next camp site along another little lake that was about 5.8 miles from the car. However, when we finally made it back to the car we were both pretty miserable. Blisters, TONS of mosquitoes that we had been dealing with for the past 2 days, and it started to rain pretty heavy. I am convinced that Cage could have gone on, but I had nothing left. That first hike up to the lookout killed my feet. Hiking 18 miles on the first day was not smart; we should have taken things a little slower, but we are young and dumb. Needless to say, we sat in the car as the rain came down and debated weather or not we should continue on...it was not a hard decision. We said "hell no" and went back to town where we stuffed ourselves with pizza and drank a pitcher of Moose Drool (a local brew).

One last picture of paradise...

All and all it was a great trip. Good company, great views, saw lots of wildlife, stayed away from the Grizzly bears (still would have been cool to see one, but some dude did get attacked early that week, so maybe it was a good thing) and came away with some good pictures.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

California!















So I went to California to visit my sister and my niece for Memorial Day! I had so much fun with them, it was hard to leave. My little angel niece is growing up so fast! Almost every morning Joella would bring Olivia to my room and we would lay together and then I would give her a bath and get her dressed for the day, that was fun! We went shopping and went to the beach a few times, laid out in the sun! We had dinner a few times with either friends or family. We went to see my aunt who lives close by, had a BBQ and swam in her pool and saw my cousin! Overall it was a great trip, sad to leave:-( Can't wait to see them again!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Kickball



No, this isn't me reminiscing about life as a fourth grader. Jamie and I were on an actual kick team in a real league through the city. There are even national adult kickball rules! Who knew? We played with our small group from church, it was tons of fun and we even won two games. My advice, go talk to your local city representative and start a kickball league near you.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Vail

This past weekend we took a trip up to Vail to visit our friends Jeremy and Kelsey. They live in Eagle, just west of Vail. Jeremy hooked us up with a good deal on lift tickets so we spent Saturday on the mountain. The resort is incredible. By far the biggest and best I have ever experienced (supposedly it is the biggest resort in North America). We had a good day skiing/boarding even though the snow wasn't that great. It was nearly 50 degrees and a bit slushy, but the views and the runs were awesome. Probably my favorite part of the day was lunch (things never change, that was always my answer in elementary school too). On top of one of the many slopes they have a couple of BBQ pits open for everyone and we grilled up some brats. Great scenery and good food, can't beat that. Vail is definitely on the list for next winter's ski trip, as long as we can get some cheap lift tickets. Otherwise it is way expensive$$!







Sunday, March 8, 2009

Visit from the in-laws and some sights from Colorado

Jamie's brother Jared and his wife Bekah came to visit us the last weekend in February and her parents and sister Jessica and her husband Jesse came out the following weekend. We had lots of fun showing them around Colorado. We went snowboarding with Bekah and Jared (our first time since we have lived here) and went up to Estes Park with her parents and the double Js. Here are some pics of the visit and some great shots of the Colorado scenery (all in a random order, didn't have time to orginize). It will make you want to come visit too, and there is always plenty of room at the Brower house!

Capturing the professional at work along the Poudre River.



Jared's photo of us was much better than mine of them, I think I was a little far away but still didn't even get the full peak in the picture.


Estes Park

Domino fun!






Hanging out on along the river in the Poudre Canyon.




The Rockies up at Winter Park.
Jamie had fun hitting the slopes all bundled up.

Is that a moose in the background?!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Daisy update

She is growing but looking as cute as ever!

The BFFs sunning themselves by the pile of wood (it used to be a nice pile, but they thought it would look better if they re-organized. One of their favorite past times is wood licking/chewing).



Somewhat of a glamor shot. She sits so lady like.
Hooch was getting jealous so he needed a close up too.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Christmas Pics

Even though Christmas was almost a month ago, here are a few pics from when the fam was here.



Daisy and Jamie having fun on Christmas morning!

One of our family presents was a night out to dinner and a show. We all got tickets to go to the Carousel Dinner Theatre to see White Christmas. It was a good night out and the show was pretty good. A bit disappointed in the food, specifically the desert. But other than that is was a great time.

Mom, Dad, and Calista at the dinner theatre

Tori and Jamie at dinner on Christmas Eve and the Rock Bottom Brewery.
Another family pic, with little Daisy too!