Trip to Seattle

Ethan and I took a trip to Seattle in October so that I could do some medical testing. Gramma Treeka and Grampa Jose got to spend a lot of time with Ethan while I stayed at the hospital campus. Ethan loved picking up leaves, and playing cards, drums, dominos, and dress-up with Grampa's hunting hats! When I could, between days of testing, I spent time with everyone. Ethan even learned how to drink from a cup instead of a sippy cup. So now we only use sippy cups on rare occasions like in the car on longer trips.

These are some pictures from that trip - and one of Ethan here at home cuddled up with Carbon and a good book during a cold day.

Grandparent palooza!

Ethan last saw his Siemens Grandparents in February (in Texas and Seattle) and last saw his Beu Grandparents in July at the Beu Pig Roast. So it was so great to see both sets this month! Ethan had so much fun getting all four to read him books. Go Dog, Go! And anything with farms and/or tractors, trucks, cars are a few of his favorites.

He gave lots of hugs and kisses (hugging Grandma "Treeka" above). And he got to hang out with his cousins, Ryan and Connor, (and the rest of the entire family) over Labor Day weekend (other picture).

Backyard Makeover

As you can see, we've been working hard on the backyard. The pictures are in reverse order showing the finished product first. Oh well. We tilled the dirt, trenched, put in sprinkler piping, tilled again, set up the sprinklers, and finally seeded! The crazy downpours of rain derailed our project on multiple occasions this summer. But just look at the progress! Ethan "helped" when he could, supervised a lot, and enjoyed playing in the mud when we'd let him. Thank goodness we now have an automatic sprinkler system AND grass. The grass still has a ways to go and we still have some clean up to do and a pergola to build over the patio. Now we can't wait until next spring and summer to actually walk on the grass and enjoy our backyard!

First Birthday!

On May 6th we celebrated Ethan's first birthday. His aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents on the Beu side came to party with us the following weekend. He loves to play in the tunnel that goes between his tent and his teepee. He started standing (without holding on to stuff) the day before his birthday.

Rainy, wet, Seattle...

Ok, I'll admit it...Seattle is beautiful when it isn't rainy or gloomy, and it is really nice for most of the summer. But February proved to be everything Seattle is known for...rain, clouds, wet, drizzle... But our last full day was actually gorgeous. Ethan and I flew to Seattle on Tuesday morning and left on Saturday late morning. We had a great trip. I worked for the first three days, but enjoyed we enjoyed just hanging out on Friday all day. Ethan even got to meet Snoop, a Golden Retreiver friend of Grandma and Grandpa's. He was still excited to see Carbon and Hogan when he got back to Denver though!

Grandpa and Ethan wore matching hats (Ethan's was a gift from his second cousins - the other Beu's). Ethan had lots of new toys to play with for the week, which mostly kept him from getting in to stuff he shouldn't.

We drove to Roswell after we left Texas. All of the lamp post globes in downtown Roswell were alien heads. It was fun to see all the novelty UFO stuff around town. We enjoyed the International UFO Museum and Research Center, lots of historical stuff surrounding the Roswell incidents. And we had lots of fun taking pictures in the Alien Zone. We also enjoyed all the gawdy trinkets and gifts in the shops. Ethan had a blast touching all of the alien manequins and was so smiley in every picture. These were a few of our favorite shots. And yes, we are sorta crazy, but not as crazy as some of the people we overheard in Roswell!

Beaches and Creatures to see!

After leaving San Antonio, we headed to Corpus Christi. We went to the aquarium where we watched a dolphin show, saw some sea turtles, watched some otters play, and observed many other sea creatures. (Ethan even got to see some jellyfish - among his cousin Bradley's favorites).

Later that day we went to Padre Island and checked out the very windy beach. What fine sand they have! It was warm, but with the wind it still felt chilly out near the water. Ethan dipped his feet in the gulf - but didn't really like it too much.

Hugs and more hugs!

Bradley loved hugging her cousin "Eefie". Ethan had fun watching Bradley and Colten during every moment he could in Texas. I wish I'd gotten some good pictures of Ethan with his aunts and uncles. He met Aunt Karen and Uncle Steve for the first time! It was a great time for us all! We even got to visit the Alamo and the San Antonio River Walk.

March Update

Ethan has been traveling a lot in the last month. We all took a trip to Texas for my cousin's wedding. The Siemens side of the family all met in San Antonio for the Valentine's Day weekend for Matt's beautiful day. During our road trip, Ethan got to visit Amarillo, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Odessa in Texas. Then we came back through Roswell, NM so we could experience a close encounter of any kind. On the way home from the trip I noticed that Ethan had a solitary bottom tooth. He wasn't even crabby on the trip, so I had no idea! And now he has both bottom middle teeth!

After that long road trip from Wednesday, Feb. 11th through Thursday, Feb. 19 we got to spend the weekend relaxing together and getting back to a reasonable schedule. Then on the very next Tuesday, Ethan and I flew to Seattle. I had to be there for work, so Ethan got to spend some time with his Grandma and Grandpa Siemens. He was great on the plane - though I sure was exhausted after each flight. And he had a blast with his grandparents.

Ethan is crawling, pulling up, babbling, and always smiling!

Formal Christmas Attire.

Here are some other pictures of Ethan from just before Christmas. He went with his Grandma and Grandpa and cousins to get these done and surprised us!

Green monster rides green 4-wheeler!

We've been enjoying the winter. Christmas and New Years were fun and not too stressful. Ethan's Grandma and Grandpa Beu came out to Colorado to celebrate with our family and Jason's sisters' families. Ethan received lots of fun toys as well! He loves his little people-type sets - the construction workers and airfield set, the Old MacDonald animal and tractor set, and the Noah's Ark set. He also got an awesome tool box, cool balls, and books! He loves his Kawasaki 4-wheeler too - especially the revving noises (I guess he is taking after daddy?)!

Ethan is eating more and more "real" food. He is pretty good with some finger foods like macaroni noodles and cheerios, but as you can see from the picture, he misses his mouth sometimes. Avocado can be messy even for the best of us, so I don't blame him for the mess! He had fun though...and I just thought he looked disgustingly cute here.

He isn't crawling yet but he should get the hang of it sometime soon. He is already trying to pull up and stand a lot more.