Colorado Fall 2012

So it has kind of become a tradition for the Barron family to take a trip to Colorado every September.  This past weekend we took a trip up to Estes Park, Colorado and it did not disappoint!  We rented a house that backs right up to the Rocky Mountain National park and has 360 degrees of stunning mountain views.  The house was perfect for us, it had plenty of bedrooms for everyone and was only about 5 minutes from town and 10 minutes from the national park.  

Views from the wrap around porch

Our casa for the weekend

One of the coolest things about staying in Estes Park was the awesome deer and elk sightings.  We were in Estes at the perfect time of the year to for the Elk rut...What's that you say?!  I had never heard of it either until we began planning this trip!  During the Fall in Colorado the Elk are gathering their mates for mating season.  We saw one elk with about 40 females of his own in a huge herd!  The most awesome part was hearing the male "bugling" which is exactly what it sounds like, they make this huge loud noise which was awesome to observe in person.  My mother in law, Debbie was very good at getting lots of great pictures of this trip and definitely got some good ones of the elk:

While in Colorado we took advantage of the beautiful temps morning and night.  It was in the 40's at night and in the 70's during the day, AKA perfect conditions to spend as much time outside as possible!  We hiked, we biked, and we explored!  I'm going to apologize now for going overboard with the pictures...

This was literally our backyard, Brayden LOVED climbing the rocks without any help!

I love this picture, it really goes to show who is boss!

Christi and Debbie got to explore the mountains on horseback!

"the kids"

We hiked up to this waterfall in the national park, great hike and beautiful sights!

Brian got an extra workout with this 25 lbs strapped on to his back!

Doesn't Brayden look excited??

This is what he really wanted to do, get out and explore on his own!!!

Aunt Christi and Uncle Keithy

Grandma and Papa Barron

 

Brayden says "mmmmmm"!

I could just die!  Is this not the sweetest little boy you have ever seen!? This was Brayden's first bike ride, doesn't he look excited?  My favorite pic from the trip and such a fun bike ride :)

Again, Brian got an extra workout pulling Brayden in his little buggy!

Family pic
Thanks Ed and Deb for a great trip!!!

Brayden at 17 months

The next big golfer? :)

I know we say this every month but we are really loving this age!  Brayden has been SO MUCH fun at 17 months and everyday he just gets funnier and funnier!  I also know that I never even posted for Brayden's 16 months (we had just a little bit going on) so I will just get caught up at 17 :)
STATS:
*Brayden is weighing in at a solid 25 pounds, no longer and itty bitty baby!
*He now has 14 teeth, he recently got two at the same time and had a  pretty rough time for a couple of days.  We have been regularly brushing his teeth now for about the past two months and he has gotten really good about sitting there patiently and letting us brush-I think he just likes the taste of his toddler toothpaste.
*Brayden still takes about a 3 hour nap each day after lunchtime and at night sleeps from about 7:30 usually till around 8:00
*He is still a great eater, usually eating pretty much anything we give him.  However, right now we are dealing with quite the food and drink thrower.  I am hoping it is just a phase but lately he has been throwing more food than he has been eating!  We are trying to discipline a little and teach him no but I guess we have said no so much that he has learned to shake his head back and forth like we do and thinks it's funny (which it is and we try so hard not to laugh at him!)
Here is what our buddy is up to these days:

This guy is a talker!  And by talker, I mean babbler because we don't understand most of the things coming out of his mouth but he goes on and on all day long!  It really sounds like he is just having a conversation with himself just jibbber jabbering away.  When he gets really excited about something or is running around he seems to "talk" more.  Actual words come and go for Brayden, he will learn a new word and say it for a while and then he won't say it at all anymore.   He will still say mama, dada, book, and ball, and a couple of his regular words these days are deer and bye-bye.  He has also started roaring when you ask him what a lion says, it is hilarious!  Hearing him talk is seriously the absolute sweetest sound.
Brayden LOVES playing outside.  He could stay entertained outside forever walking around, picking up things, swinging, and his favorite is playing in the dirt and mulch.  When he comes inside he is filthy from his shoes to underneath his fingernails.  It is awesome how much he loves the outdoors because if he ever gets fussy (which is pretty rare) we just take him outside and this distracts him from his mood instantly.
Since living with Grandma and PaPa Brayden has also been able to take advantage of both the pool and the golf course.  He loves playing in any water and likes the big pool, the baby pool, a bucket with some water, and his favorite the water hose!  He has really enjoyed taking golf cart rides in the evening and will get out and hit balls with his proud daddy.  Sometimes when we go outside he walks straight over to the garage where they keep the golf carts and just points to try and get us to open.  If we do, he will walk straight over to the carts and crawl on in.

Also, since living with Grandma and PaPa he has been able to take full advantage of them!!!  This guy is definitely not hurting for attention!  He adores both of his grandparents and it is so cute to see him running down the hall every morning to the kitchen to see where they are!  We think that Brayden is going to have a really hard time when we move and it is back to just the three of us!
I am so proud of my sweet boy and the fact that he loves books!  He hands me a book first thing in the morning before breakfast and we will read one or two, a book before nap, usually a book right after he wakes up from his nap, and of course a story before bedtime.  He will also bring me books, crawl into my lap and listen to stories throughout the day.  He points a lot at the pictures and looks at me saying "dat" as if to ask what is that. I hope he continues with his love of reading!

Brayden hasn't been playing with his toys as much lately, I guess because there is just so much more to see and do here at Brian's parents house.  He still loves to play with and throw balls though and also enjoys hitting them with his golf clubs and his bat.
Still a climber...will use anything as a step and gets up as high as he can go!  We literally can't take our eyes off of him !

"walking" his stuffed Mia dog

Always excited when daddy gets home, greets him like this if he sees him coming

Buddy gets more excited about the train each time we go

Ready for a ride!

Welcome September!

So August has officially been the longest and busiest month of my life!  I am just so relieved that September is upon us!  Here is what happened with Barron's this August...
We were happy to have sold our house after just over four months on the market (beginning of August).  We were a little frazzled to realize that the home buyers wanted to close in two weeks... Enter in a mad rush to pack our 5 BR house in 2 weeks, find a place to store belongings, hire movers,  and oh the important task of finding a place to live for the next 4-5 months while our new home is being built! Needless to say, Brian and I were slightly on edge for a couple of weeks as we tried to get everything done and all the while try to entertain an extremely energetic one year old!  So moving day came August 18th, we had our whole house packed and ready to be moved into storage.  We had chosen what we thought we might need in the upcoming months and had it packed separately.  We threw away ALOT of junk (how did we collect that much stuff in just under three years?)!  Moving went surprisingly smooth and we were completely finished with our sweet Spider Lily home by the following day.  We closed on our old house Monday morning and officially started construction on our new home.  Since then we have poured the foundation and they have started framing.  We have been meeting with our decorator at least once a week to make selects so we have everything ready to be ordered.  As of right now we are looking at (hopefully) getting in the new house just before Christmas.

In the mean time my incredibly sweet in laws have opened up their home for us to stay until our house is ready.  They are very brave to take on not only Brian and I but also our rambunctious child and pup! We are so thankful we have them and a place to call home for the next couple of months.We have gotten settled out here and all of the crazy busy seems to be winding down (After I make a trip to Buda this week to pick our granite slabs!)  I am just so happy to not be packing any more boxes and to not make my home presentable for potential buyers!  I already feel like I have so much more time on my hands and have even enjoyed a much needed nap several times the past couple of weeks!    AND FINALLY.... in between all of the moving and building fun we had our first doctors appointment August 13.  They confirmed that we are indeed pregnant and we are so looking forward to baby Barron #2 in March!  So far we have had a normal pregnancy with no complications.  I have been nauseous and have had lots of food aversions but nothing to complain about!  When I was pregnant with Brayden my right ankle swelled so bad and was so full of fluid it looked like the ankle of a 400 pound man!  Brian even had a nickname for it "the club" (I know, he sure knows how to make a pregnant girl feel good- haha!) I am drinking ALOT of water trying to prevent this from happening again, so far so good but who knows what is to come!  We go to the doctor again next week, it is crazy how much faster time goes by with the second!
I have been a horrible picture taker this month and am going to do much better in September!

Here is Brayden on the day they poured the slab, look at all of those great trees in the backyard!!!

First floor framed

 Cheers to September!!!