The Farm

One of the many things we love about Fort Collins are the great programs and parks run by the city. High on the list of interest for our kids this summer is The Farm. It's a great place where the kids can pet the animals (if the animals are willing to get close enough), feed them, and have a hands-on experience learning about farm life. We have visited more this summer than all our previous visits combined. Part of that is because Asher is much more interested in animals than Riley ever has been, and also because Riley took a class there at the beginning of the month.

As part of the class, Riley was able to go on a hay ride, collect chicken eggs, milk a cow, go right into the pens of the goats and sheep, and ride a pony. She enjoyed it, but I'm looking forward to next summer, when Asher will be old enough for the class. If his interest in animals continues, I'm sure it will be a huge hit.

Fort Collins Temple!

This weekend, our church held general conference, which it holds every six months. It is broadcast worldwide, so we could watch it from the comfort of our home. There were many great talks (speeches, sermons) that will help us be better parents, families, and followers of Christ. The biggest announcement for us came in the first few minutes on Saturday when Thomas S. Monson, the president of the church and our prophet, announced:

"It is my privilege this morning to announce three additional temples ... which will be built in the following locations: Fort Collins, CO, ..."

Aside from being in shock, we rewound it a few times to hear it over and over. It brought us chills. There are about 140 temples in the world. Although we have been visiting the Denver temple, it does take planning and a sacrifice of time. Being on the south side of Denver, it only takes 1.5 hours to get there without traffic, but if there is traffic, it is difficult. We have been visiting Becca's sister and family in northern Denver and watching each other's kids so that we could go, but this will make it easier to attend more often. What are temples for? Read here.

Growing up, the closest temple to Albuquerque was Mesa, AZ, which was a 7-8 hour drive. Every year, our bishop was dedicated in making sure that, as youth, we could go. Much of the yearly budget was used to rent buses or vans for the nearly 100 youth from our ward (congregation) that would go and we would perform three to five proxy baptisms for ancestors. We would stay the night at host ward member's houses and return the next day. Once, we were there for the Easter pageant. Once, we traveled to the Las Vegas temple.

When I was a junior in high school, they announced a temple to be built in Albuquerque. They built it less than 5 minutes from where I grew up and I received my endowment a week after it was dedicated, during my spring break before leaving for a 2 year mission two months later. While courting Becca, we would often have dates to the temple, which kept things in the right perspective. Later, Becca chose that we would be married in Albuquerque, being sealed for eternity. This temple holds a special place in my heart and increased my love for President Hinckley, our prophet at the time, for his efforts of building numerous temples to make them more accessible for the members of the church.

While I was attending graduate school in Austin, the San Antonio temple was built. Before its completion, we had to travel 2-3 hours to Houston or Dallas. We saw the construction process and the blessings it brought to the members in the Hill Country of Texas. The youth were involved in a cultural celebration which they held in the Alamodome before the dedication.

While iin Austin we learned of our difficulties of bearing children. As we struggled with this trial, the temple brought us hope and helped us make hard decisions. The peace and clarity of the temple helped us devote ourselves to putting our trust in God. We were blessed with the addition of Riley to our family through adoption and she was sealed into our family in the San Antonio temple. For this reason, this temple holds a very special place in our hearts.

As I've mentioned, we moved and the Denver temple has been our temple. It has been great to have family close by so that we can not only visit with them, but encourage each other to serve in the temple. As Asher joined our family, he was sealed to us. I remember waiting for our children in the sealing room and some temple volunteers brought them from the nursery. I could see them coming down the hall in the mirror opposite me. Riley was skipping down the hall, holding the hand of the volunteer, who was holding Asher. It is difficult for us not to become emotional when we pass the small nursery in the temple or see children dressed in white in the temple. Often, the temple is quite quiet and reverent, but the best sound I have ever heard is that of a crying child because I know why they are there and that is the ultimate purpose of the temple - for families to be together forever and return to live with our Heavenly Father.

Although it will likely be 3 years or so before the Fort Collins temple will be completed, we hope that our children will realize the great blessings of the temple. When we bring Tyson home, we will not wait for the Fort Collins temple to be built to be sealed to us, but our children will grow up having a temple close by.

Temples are places of beauty, not only visually, but spiritually. There is a peace and a separation from worldly cares and distractions. But, most importantly, they are a place to make our family a forever one and to do work for our ancestors so that it is complete if they choose to accept it.

First Snow

Hi Snow,

Welcome to our backyard! We've been wondering when you might join us. We're glad to have you. But please, be a good house guest and don't overstay your welcome.

Old Town

One of the things I love about Fort Collins (it's a long list) is Old Town. FC is small enough that Old Town is immediately next to downtown. And it seems like there is always something going on there, especially during the summer.

We never fail to stop at Old Town Square to play on the bear and the fish, and occasionally have a hot dog from the New York transplanted vendor.Every time we stop, Riley makes a new friend. Usually it's another child, but last time she met the sweetest dog who couldn't get enough of Riley's ear scratches.

BTW, that's Riley's birthmom riding the rodeo fish with her. So you can see where our daughter gets her silly sense of humor.

My favorite activity in Fort Collins this summer (and my kids seem to agree) were the weekly Noontime Notes concerts at Oak Street Plaza. We packed a lunch, enjoyed free music by local bands, and Riley got wet in the splash park. This place was made for us!

The day these photos were taken, we ran into the grandmother of one of Riley's friends. She commented that Riley is "quite the little jitterbug."

Asher was usually content to sit on my lap, eat, and wiggle to the music. But occasionally he would wander over to the water. The sudden sprays never ceased to surprise and delight him.

I'm starting to miss summer already!

Hiking

Riley's birthmom, Mandy, came to stay with us for about a week back in May. Her family moved away from Utah when she was a kid, so she was excited to be near mountains again. We took advantage of a gorgeous Saturday by hiking at Lory State Park.

We enjoyed beautiful scenery and a great view of Fort Collins. Riley is a natural hiker and kept right up with the rest of us. Asher enjoyed his view from the backpack, and even managed to sleep through the end of the trail.

Neighborhood Park

We are so lucky to have a neighborhood park just a few blocks away from our house. It's the perfect distance to walk to, as long as we go in the morning, before it gets too warm.

Riley is now an expert on her tricycle and her scooter, so she rides one of those, while I push Asher in the stroller.

It isn't a large park, and maybe my kids will get bored of it when they're a little older. But for now it has everything they need for a little outdoor entertainment.

Riley and Asher both love the swings,

Asher entertains himself by climbing all over the play structure,

and Riley started a restaurant that serves hot dogs and french fries that look a lot like wood chips.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Today was the 2nd of 3 free national park days (well, actually weekends) this summer. We decided that we wanted to check out nearby Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove a big loop, stopping to take some short hikes so Riley could get worn out. Click here to see some panoramic shots I took.



Some waterfalls are waterfalls, while others just seem like vertical streams from the snow pack/glaciers. Some of the views were absolutely stunning.

We started our drive on the "old road," a winding, 1-way, 1-lane dirt road. I let Becca drive so that she wouldn't get car sick, and at 15 mph over the 9 miles, I think she was fine. The sheer dropoffs and no gaurd rails were a nice throwback to how they used to cross the mountains. At the top of the road we took a short hike up to a nearby peak (12,005'). It was probably a 300' change in elevation and Riley proudly proclaimed, "I did it! I did it by myself!" upon reaching the top and again after coming down. The cool breeze made Asher gasp (he doesn't like wind in his face), but he enjoyed the hike nonetheless.

On our way back, there was an elk sitting there lazily, causing a big rubberneck traffic jam and backup. There were 3 others a little further on and then a herd of deer. It was cool to see them pretty close. It also was a lot better than a big redneck traffic jam, caused on the 1-way, 1-lane dirt road by some hill-billies (the pickup had a gun rack and the lady sat in the middle seat all the way up) who stopped everytime there was a marmot (which happened about 7 or 8 times). It just looks like a fat squirrel! It's a rodent! Or maybe it was their dinner.

It was a good day and I think we would return for a day trip with family or friends. It would also be nice to take some other hikes to some lakes and waterfalls, but with little kids, the easy hikes were somewhat limited.

Who Needs A Candy Store?

I have found my Mecca. Fort Collins just opened a new library branch that is closer to our house than the others, so we went to check it out this morning. Shelves and shelves of books. Brand NEW books. All clean and pretty and lined up in unfailing alphabetically order. And all free! It was hard to resist the urge to check out a dozen or two. Instead, we got two for Riley and four for me. I think I'm more excited about getting the books read so I can go back and check out more than I am to actually read them.

Preschool

Riley had her first day of preschool yesterday. And she LOVED it. It may not technically be preschool, since the class is exclusively for two-year-olds. And they are not learning shapes or numbers. It's a class through the city rec program called Curious Twos. The kids play games, make crafts, have story time and play with each other. But we're calling it preschool because that's just easier.

When asked what she did at preschool, Riley answered that she played with friends, ate a snack, read a book, and did running. Sounds like a productive hour to me.

She was given this "report card" to bring home. Not bad for her first day.

Spring Canyon Park

Two Saturdays ago, the weather was really nice, so we decided to go to one of the city parks, Spring Canyon Park. Fort Collins has 6 city parks that range from 60-100 acres and include features like skate parks, playgrounds, mountain biking course, frisbee golf, a farm, etc. They planned the city so that at most, everyone was within 2 miles of a city park. There are also regular community parks that are like most parks you would imagine. Spring Canyon Park is at the base of the mountains against open space and has some trailheads for mountain biking. It also has a very impressive universally accessible playground (the first in Colorado), tennis courts, ball fields, open space, a dog park, etc. During the summer, there is also a water feature.

Notice the rotating wheel of death in the middle of the above picture near the bottom (next to the man standing there). I decided (without thinking) to get on it and run. I ran fast enough to reach the top, but it was rotating faster and faster and I had no escape plan. I tripped and jacked my shin on the top and crashed to the ground. A lady stranger playing on the teeter-totter looked at me and then just busted up laughing. I tried to save face by getting back on and walking a little, but there was this stabbing pain in my leg, so I jumped off and ran/hobbled off like I was looking for my kid. Anyway, it took off a layer of skin through my pants and left a huge bruise. Becca was just upset that she couldn't have seen it so she could have laughed hard at me as well.

Riley loved all of the slides and that there were so many different things to do on the playground. There was one slide built into the hill that she had no hesitation on going down.

She walked up this hill and then tried to slide down on it, but it was a little too slow for her liking.

I had a fun time as well playing and running around with Riley. If I were a kid again, this would be a great place for some no-ground-tag.

Worn Out

I think this photo of Asher and his Grandma is a good representation of how we're all feeling. Although in this instance, Riley was probably more to blame for Grandma's exhaustion than was her brother.Still no word from the state about our approval to head home. In the meantime, we've found a great doctor here, thanks to a recommendation from my cousin Tiffany. Asher's two-week appointment is tomorrow and I'm curious to see how much he has grown. He seems quite a bit bigger to me, but that may just be because I've gotten used to how small he is.

In other news, his umbilical stump fell off a couple of days ago. When I told Riley that Asher finally has a belly button, she started clapping. I think she has been concerned about it. This theory was supported on Sunday when she approached a boy in church who was just a little younger than she. She stood in front of him and looked at him for a second, then reached out for his shirt, pulled it up, and pointed out his belly button. Maybe she thought that withered little cord was just a boy thing.

Sub-zero

We have safely arrived in Fort Collins. We got here just in time for their record breaking low of -16 degrees (Fahrenheit). At least Austin is having a 39/35 degree day. Austin will be 78 on Saturday though. The first few hours from Albuquerque were a little scary with speeds on the freeway about 40 mph. I slipped and drifted on ice about 3 or 4 times and at some points we were driving on a thin layer of snow. It cleared up as we got further north and was great the rest of the way.

Today we close on our house, talk to our caseworker here in Colorado regarding adoption paperwork, and meet our new bishop. Internet should be set up at our house soon (we are just in a hotel right now), and we will try to get some pictures up. As my undergraduate advisor used to say, "I'm busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest".

Fort Collins House

Becca and I traveled last week to Fort Collins to look for a house. We had a great realtor. He took us around town to give us a tour so we could get a better feel for the neighborhoods and amenities. Fort Collins has great park and school systems.

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There are 6 community sized parks, which means somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 acres, including ball fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds, soccer fields, etc. Each one also has a focus area. One has a disc golf course, indoor pool and 2 ice skating rinks. One has a small working farm. One has a roller hockey rink. One has a BMX course. In addition to these, each square mile has at least 1 smaller neighborhood park.

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The public school system is also run very well. They let the schools compete with other schools and you can transfer your kids if you want. There are IB as well as AP programs. Around 50% of the adults in Fort Collins have at least a bachelors degree (much higher than the national average), so the people believe in education.

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We also went by some theatres and other places of interest. Downtown (which was the inspiration for Main Street, USA at Disney World) is a nice, walkable area with some really cool shops and restaurants.

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Overall, Becca was impressed. She had tempered her expectations just in case it seemed too small town, but she really was happy with our choice. It's a great place to raise a family.

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After the tour, we started looking at houses. Our realtor had sent us listings and we had narrowed it down to about 10 favorites. After viewing all 10 of them, the day was almost done. The next day, we went back to two we liked more than the others, decided on one, ran a market comparison, put together an offer, and sent it. By Saturday night, we had a contract. Here is a picture of it. It's a 2-story 4 bed/3.5 bath with a basement at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac. We are happy with it. There are few things we'll change over the years, but mostly it's all cosmetic (kitchen countertops, flooring, etc.).

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During our trip, Riley stayed with some friends here in Austin. She definitely had a good time. We'll probably save this for another post. Becca and I had a nice time being together and getting excited for our move and future.