They love to read

It's been exciting getting ready for the baby coming soon. Part of this includes getting Levi used to sleeping in Alexis' room on the bunk bed. It's so cute when we come in to say goodnight and they have tucked themselves into bed and are both reading in their beds. What can I say, our kids love to read! And daddy loves to climb in sometimes too!!

Alexis' 9th birthday

I can't believe it but my first born actually turned 9 this year. Wow! Where did the time go? Alexis has been pretty specific in the past about what she wants for her birthday party. This year, she told me she wanted a surprise party. I was amazed. This leaves so much open that she will have no say in! Needless to say I enrolled my wonderful mother-in-law to help plan the party, and there is no way I would have pulled it off without her.

We planned a snowman party, perfect for a cold January day in Cheyenne. We held it at the church so Alexis would have no idea. I went to the church early for official "church business" to get everything set up and decorated. We had a great group of friends and family that came, and amazingly they were all in the building before Alexis got in so we could all surprise her. Isaac brought her to the church to come find mommy. It was the defining moment, how would she react? This could go really good or really bad. Luckily, Colter was the first person she saw, and needless to say, she was very pleasantly surprised! The look on her face was priceless. She ran up to me and gave me a big hug and said "this is the best!". It was worth all of the hard work for that moment alone.

We played games, and ate food and had lots of yummy desserts, thanks to Grandma Patti. It was such a wonderful birthday surprise.

Camping in the summer of 2011

We had alot of fun this summer camping whenever we had the opportunity. The kids love to play in the dirt and climb all over the rocks. Isaac is the best when it comes to dutch oven cooking, and I don't mind letting him do all the cooking while we are camping.

We got some kid sized 4-wheelers that the kids love to ride on. Levi isn't big enough to ride by himself yet, but we squeezed onto it so we could take him for a ride.

We had alot of fun when Eric & Kellee's family joined us camping. When all the kids get together, they have such a great time. We even found a cool stream where the kids practiced fishing and the dogs played in the water.

We got a really old camper last year, older than any of us. But it fits our family perfectly. It has been great to load up quickly and give us all a place to sleep, and a bathroom!

We really enjoy getting away and enjoying the peace and quiet in the mountains. We get to make so many memories.

Family Reunion 2011

This year for our Haws/Gerlitz Family Reunion, we planned a last minute trip and drove up to Glendo for camping and water fun. Glendo has a huge lake that the kids spent all day, every day playing in. The lake had a beach with sand comparible to the beaches in California. The kids made sand castles and we enjoyed relaxing and watching them have fun. It was beautiful.

We rented a pontoon boat for a day and had such a great time driving around the lake. We rented a tube to pull behind, and I'm not sure who had more fun on it, the big kids or the little kids. We stopped many times to jump in and swim, enjoying the cool water.

It's so fun to join together as families, share meals, and enjoy each others company. We had such a great time we can't wait to go back to Glendo next year.

Lily