Not a great picture, but the world here was SO amazingly peaceful at 3am this morning. I did not use a flash, the snow was so bright it was almost light out! Our first snow, Dec 14th.

The boys were such a GREAT help when going to scout and cut down our tree! We are so glad to have had this "family" experience! ;)

We would like to wish you a warm and happy Thanksgiving! May God bless and keep you this holiday season!

~ In His love, Aaron, Jenn, Keagan and Skyler

I know I have just added several posts so this one is general. I just wanted to let you know I have updated our photos for October and you can view them by clicking the album on the right. We have not had any offers on the house and honestly don't expect that we will see anything before next spring. So we are settling in for the winter here and just praying for God's guidance through the whole thing. The boys are doing well in school and we have had a few great days with "warm" weather in about the 50s the past couple of days. I have been trying to just take pictures of every day life so there are snapshots of the boys and our family just hanging out the past couple of weeks. There is also a few photos of Keagan's first field trip. I have to say it was VERY cold. I think it was up to 25 degrees by the time we left. It took the rest of the day for my feet and hands to thaw. The class did great! They were learning to use the 5 senses in nature.

Grace and peace,

Jenn

Halloween I have learned, when you have kids, is no longer a "holiDAY" it is a holiWEEK." We kicked off our week's events on Saturday with Slime Time at church! The boys had great fun and loved mommy's purple hair and eyelashes!

Well, we did it! Skyler and I made it to the top of Independence Pass and not too soon!! It was VERY cold and windy and the whole next day it snowed in Aspen! On the way up to the top we stopped for a little romp in the woods and it was not quite as cold there. Feel free to click on the album listed to the right to see our pictures from our special day together! We also had the chance to catch up with my dear friend Jennie from Wolf Camera days! She is the fabulous photographer who has taken our family pictures from pre-boy days! And took several of the photos in our Independence Pass album, since my batteries died half way up!

As the leaves are changing and snow is in the air there are a few places I wanted to try to see before the snow flies. So Keagan and I trekked up to Hanging Lake today and HE made it! He was such a trooper and loved climbing over all the rocks, seeing the lake and watching the fish! He was so excited that we were able to "complete our goal." I have added a few pictures here but please feel free to go to the Hanging Lake link and see our whole trip. I know there are so many of him hiking and climbing up the rocks but for those of you who have never been this was quite a feat for a 5 year old and I was SO proud of him! I loved watching his expressions and his determination to make it to the top! Tomorrow Skyler and I are headed to Aspen and hopefully over Independence Pass, but if that doesn't work maybe the Maroon Bells! Stay tuned!

Just wanted to add a quick update... We don't have any exciting news! :) We have listed the house with a local real estate agency and are just waiting to see what happens. As of right now we will keep it on the market until December 1st then take it off until spring. We don't want to have to deal with it through the winter... While my dad, Gina and Grandpa Harris were here a few weeks ago we took a trip down memory lane and went back to Cleveholm Manor aka Redstone Castle. Everything was just as we had remembered it and of course it brought back lots of warm fuzzy feelings! (For those of you who don't know this is where Aaron and I met)

Lots of love to all of you!

Jenn

Well I suppose we all have to say good-bye to our summer in some way... this past weekend the boys and I said good-bye to our sunflowers... :( I was so sad to cut them down because we had so much enjoyment out of them this summer but, I know to everything there is a season. We did keep all the heads with all the seeds so we will have plenty for next year. I really had a great time going out each morning and seeing how they were doing, watering and pruning. I think I may have found a new hobby this summer, we will see.

School is going great for the boys. Keagan LOVES kindergarten and I have a new child at home! His whole disposition has shifted and we are having fewer fits and a much more positive attitude overall! Skyler has made 2 friends at school whom he loves to play with and mentions them often by name. I am sure he could probably take or leave the "school" part but loves being social.

We have had 3 families walk-through on our house but nothing serious as of yet. We will be having an open house tomorrow, since there is a home behind us that is being listed with a Realtor and is having an open house as well so hopefully we will get some more exposure that way.

I hope you are all doing well and are settling into a fall/school routine peacefully. We would love to hear from you when you get a chance!

Grace and peace,

Jenn and the Boys

We wanted to try to show how tall the stalks were, this was the tallest and still had another 18"+ to it that we left in the ground for the beans to continue to grow around. Aaron is just under 6' so that should give you some idea...

Our sunflower heads ranged in size from 8 1/2" to 13" Keagan is holding the winner!

It's official! We are on the market! Please keep us in your prayers as we seek direction for our family! Grace and peace, Jenn and the boys

I can't believe it is already the end of August! What a busy month we had not being busy!! We had a great time just hanging out and exploring our valley! We took the boys on their first "official" hike up Marble Quarry and they did great!

Aaron decided since he has lived in the "shadow of Mt. Sopris" most of his life he should at least try to make it to the top! So this past week he and Misha headed to the peak. Alas, they did not make it to the official peak because of weather and Misha's feet. Her little paws were a bit raw by the end and Aaron ended up carrying her half way down the mountain. They did, however, make it to the "false peak" which is further than Aaron had ever been!

The boys started back to school this week, Monday being Skyler's first day back to preschool, 2 mornings a week on Mon/Wed and Keagan started Kindergarten on Tuesday! He walked into his class and never looked back! He loves eating lunch with the big kids and is quite excited to have 3 recess periods! Not to mention computers!!! He will be going full days on Tues/Thurs and in the morning on Fridays. It is definitely going to be an adjustment period for us since he is extremely tired when he gets home, therefore making him grumpy, but I think if we can make it through the first month we will be doing good! He woke up this morning ready to go without a fight! He loves to learn.

I have been busy at home cleaning and purging all of our stuff trying to simplify our life! I get so overwhelmed with all the clutter and stuff... So Aaron and I have been trying to finish all the random projects around the house. My neighbor has been helping me with two garden boxes in our backyard this summer and I have been so excited to watch everything grow! I have really enjoyed the sunflowers and the many colors they come in! If you have time click on our "August Pictures" link and you can see what we have been up to!

We hope you are all doing well and would love to hear from you whenever you get a chance!

Grace and peace,

Jenn, Aaron, Keagan and Skyler

Boy's first day back to school!

Aaron's hike up Mt. Sopris

Marble Quarry with the boys

We have had a crazy month of July!!! As soon as we got back from our trip south we jumped into Power Lab VBS and Skyler's 4th birthday. I have posted a link to Skye's party and just a few other random pictures!! Hope you are all having a great summer!

And just to show you things do grow in our backyard I have posted some of our sunflower shots!! Ms. Karen, across the street, helped us plant a couple of garden boxes this year and the Sunflowers are going to be amazing!!!

We had great fun hanging out at "Oompah and Khaki's" house with Aaron, Danielle, Gracie and Gabbie today!! We went swimming, played golf, ran the slip and slide, watched movies and just played!!

Well I started my summer workout Monday morning as I frantically hauled 2 boys and 4 bags through DIA to gate 73 only to be told that we were too late and missed our flight... So bright and early Tuesday morning I started the same workout only this time I checked 2 bags, hauled 2 boys and 2 bags back to gate 73 and we finally made it to the sauna they called an airplane; thankfully we did make it to Little Rock this time!
Today we went to the zoo where Keagan got to see some of his favorite otters and Skyler stretched with a grizzly bear. We will be catching up with Aaron, Danielle, Gracie and Gabbie this evening! I will post those pictures tomorrow evening!
Hope you are all having a great start to your summer!!

Hello family and friends!! As of today we have offically finished the school year for Keagan and Skyler! Keagan had his preschool graduation today and Skyler had his field day!! I was quite impressed they both ran a complete lap around the football field with Skylers class! Where do they get all that energy!! You can click on the album to view all the pictures!

The little ones and I will be traveling the month of June visiting family all over the south so I will try to keep up by posting pictures of our trip. Thankfully Aaron will be joining us at the end of the trip when I am quite sure I will be at the "end" of my rope!!

Grace and peace to all of you!

Jenn

I just added Keagan's birthday pictures. Just click on the link and you can see our adventure!!

We have had a busy couple of weekends so I thought I would add a couple of pictures! Keagan turned 5 on April 18th but we are actually having his party tomorrow so I will update our blog after that as well!

It is definitely spring here in the Rocky Mountains... the weather is not consistent for 5 minutes. It has been fairly cold and windy for the most part. We did have a fire in town about a week and a half ago; it was contained in about 48 hours and no structures were completely damaged.

Keagan was in the local paper for his "Raising A Reader" program in preschool. That article can be viewed at: http://www.postindependent.com/article/20080423/VALLEYNEWS/484708854

I hope you are all doing well! Grace and peace, the Mayes Family

Keagan and a few of his favorite things...

Skyler and daddy starting with the small equipment in the front yard, cleaning up from last fall.

Moving on to bigger equipment in the backyard this weekend...

Lookie what we found!! First experience with a real snake.

"One of the best things in the world is to be a boy; it requires no experience, but needs some practice to be a good one."

- Charles Dudley Warner

Family and friends! I just wanted to let you all know I am trying (once again) to keep our blog updated! I pray all is going well for you; we would love to hear from you! I have added several updates this evening along with pictures! I also have a page on http://www.facebook.com/ all you have to do is look up my name. I have posted a couple of albums there if you would like to see more pictures! Enjoy!

Grace and peace, Jenn and the Boys

My brother and his wife are expecting their 2nd little one (Gabrielle Elise) this week so please keep them in your prayers. And I can't remember if I have mentioned his band's website: http://www.sonsof21.com/ they are really doing great!! Their website list all their performances and what is going on.

Our hosts for Disneyland:

We went to Disneyland this past week and the boys loved it! They did not, however, care much for the characters... So we only have a few pictures from our trip!

The boys are growing so fast! Skyler is just a few inches shorter than Keagan, otherwise they are the same in everything; shoes, pants, shirts... They have great fun together and great fights too! But those are not as common as the fun! I don't know what I would do without them. Sometimes it seems like I can't wait for them to grow up fast enough then they say or do something that makes my heart swell. Today we went to church and I got to go to "big people church" (I generally work with the children's ministry and we have a "uniform" of such) so I was wearing a skirt and sweater (NOT a common occurrence these days) and as I was coming down the stairs Keagan looked up at me and said, "OH Mommy, you look beautiful!" I just about started to cry... He is going through one of those negative stages (where everything is 'no' and 'I don't like it' so for him to be so sweet is quite out of character! I love those moments of positive reinforcement, being reminded that being home IS worth it. Even when it doesn't always seem that way.

This is the "Bloomin' Idiot" As Aaron created him he began to remind him more and more of his late Grandfather, Philip Duffield. He was long and lean, always had a smile on his face and never met a stranger! Not to mention his love of photographing flowers.