Haircut

Every little kid has to at least one point in their childhood take the scissors to their own hair. Elizabeth did on Tuesday so I took her in yesterday to help "even it out." I think I had a traumatic time with my own "my older sister took scissors to my hair" experience and the subsequent bob boy haircut that seeing Elizabeth's hair now makes me sad. Thankfully it will grow back, the sooner the better, but here are some pictures.

Before going in--you can't see how short she cut it in some parts of the sides but you can tell how proud she is of shortening her own hair.

After--and she still found some scissors and cut a chunk out, arggh!

From Snow to Sand

For all my complaining about the cold weather, yesterday it got up to 80 degrees so we went to the "beach" and played in the sand and water. It's really the reservoir at Cherry Creek State park, basically in the middle of the sprawling metropolis of Denver so it doesn't compare to real California beaches (or Florida & Okinawa where some friends are) but it's better than anything we saw in Ohio. The girls had a blast and next time I'll have to put their swimsuits on so they can go in the water more. It was nice as hardly anyone was there--we don't have many commitments like school so we can go wherever, whenever we want--I just haven't fully taken advantage of the situation :)

Rachel having fun in the sand.

The girls getting their feet wet in the cold water.

Do you like the snow-capped mountains and business buildings in the background?

I have officially been a soccer mom/coach for three games now and I love it! I have six kids on my team, most are 4 and one is 5. They're fun, I just get frustrated in the games when the kids, including my own daughter, go to la-la land and forget that we're playing a game. Any suggestions? I know they're young and supposed to have fun but sometimes I get too competitive, retreating to my former life where I was such a soccer star :) So I wasn't really a star but I was competitive. I am having a blast with the kids and love the excuse to get outside and kick a size 3 soccer ball around (for those who aren't familiar with soccer, adults play with a size 5).

This is before the game last night, I don't know who is in the goal but Elizabeth thought it was funny.
Coach Alicia in action warming up the kids before the game.

Snow

I'm really hoping the snow we had last Thursday is the last until next winter. I'm ready to get out hiking, camping, having the girls swim in the reservoirs (I still don't like the idea of getting into a swimsuit, especially pregnant), and just warmer weather. I guess I can't complain too much about the weather here because the mountains seem to get the brunt of all snow storms and we've just been dusted here in the "valley." Here are some pictures of the girls playing in the snow.

We made sure it was white snow she was putting in her mouth.

Making Snow Angels

My attempt at making a snowman--a very small princess snowperson on our deck.

Baby & Other Updates

Just in case anyone's dying of curiosity about Eric's post (yes Eric's and not mine) with the ultrasound pictures, I am pregnant with #3, 14 weeks along now, and due October 4 so next general conference. The ultrasound was just to confirm the due date so we won't know gender until the next ultrasound hopefully in 6 weeks. I'm starting to feel better and more energized so now I'm entering the 'I feel like I'm getting bigger everyday' stage and the 'how long can I fit into my regular clothes?' stage. I'm just glad it's one baby because Elizabeth said she wanted a baby brother and baby sister and you never know what kind of sixth sense they have.

As for other things we've been up to, I signed Elizabeth up for soccer and I'm her coach. At practice, she likes playing in the dirt more than playing with the ball but I'm having fun. We had our first game last week and the kids did pretty well. Elizabeth actually played the first half and then some, scoring a goal in the correct goal but then she was done, lying down in the goal and not wanting to get up. My photographer, Eric, was busy taking care of Rachel and Elizabeth when she was subbing so they wouldn't go on the field and disrupt the serious play going on so I don't have any pictures but we'll try again tomorrow at our next game.

Our exploring in Colorado has continued and last weekend we went to Roxborough state park where the mountains meet the red rocks and prairies. We bought an annual state park pass so we'll have to venture to other state parks, or I'll send Eric alone when I'm too big to go hiking which hopefully won't be for a long time because I like exploring the mountains! We went on a 1-mile hike and since neither Eric nor I were feeling all the best in our tummies, it felt like a long 1 mile but we made it and the kids konked out in the car on the way home. Here are some pictures.

Eric was the photographer on this one and I gave him a hard time for including the trash can in the picture. Of course, I didn't give him time to photo-shop it out :)

Here you can see the mountains, red rocks, and the grassland prairies that make up the Denver area. I can't wait for it to get green and I'm sad it won't be as green as Ohio but we won't miss the humidity!

Here's a cameo shot of the girls from yesterday. Rachel just looked too cute in her sunglasses and Elizabeth had to be included in the picture.