In the Land of...

Kansas!

With family for Thanksgiving.

Lots of fun with cousins!

Grandpa needed help to raise his flag:

We had an early celebration of Ruthie's birthday while we were there. We put together a little scavenger hunt for her to find her gifts from Nona and Grandpa.

Finding the clue that was in the little tractor:Blowing out the candles on the cake:

Five good friends (Maryn and Anna standing, Ruthie, Josie and Landry sitting):

Reading with Aunt Rachel:

Anna and Josie reading with Mom and Dad:

Landry and Ruthie reading with Uncle Jeb:

Lots of good relaxing times.

Nona took this picture of Ruthie in her new outfit with her new baby doll:

Three sisters posing for their Nona:

Aren't we cute?!

And silly?

We love Nona and Grandpa!

Feeling thankful for:

Family connections

Fires in the fireplace

A 3 year old birthday girl

Good books to read

Skype

Yummy food

Winter weather

Smiles and laughter

Long drives in the car (car date!)

YOU!

Papa

Papa came to visit!

We headed up the canyon into the mountains above Boulder to the little town of Nederland and Barker Reservoir. The lake was beautiful, partially frozen over, remnants of snow left on the bank from the last storm. We had fun throwing rocks onto the ice trying to get them to break through the ice and having contests who could throw a rock the farthest out across the ice. Classic wintertime fun:) As Papa said, there's always something fun to do when there's water around!

Josie finding a rock:

Anna throwing one:

A short video of the men in action, throwing their rocks:

Ruthie, on the hike back to the car:

Through the aspen grove:

Later that night we went on another short hike up to the star on Flagstaff Mountain. Every year during the Christmas season there is a huge star lit up on Flagstaff above Boulder. You can see it beckoning you home from over 20 miles away. If you drive up Flagstaff a little ways and park your car, you can hike up to the star and stand in it and look out at Boulder and beyond.

The crew hiking up to the star (l-r: Mitch, Anna, Papa, Josie):

I hiked fast and got ahead of them. Here they are again with Boulder in the background:

Almost to the top of the star:

The overlook, beautiful view on a beautiful night:

You won't see any pictures of Ruthie by the star because she fell asleep on the drive up. I put her in the Ergo on my back and she stayed asleep the whole time, transferred back into the car afterwards and I tucked her into bed when we got home. She was so confused the next morning when her sisters were telling her about the hike up to the star. She couldn't figure out where she might have been if all of us were there but she couldn't remember any of what they were saying:)

Thanks for coming for a visit, Papa! We had a great time with you.

Anna turned 6

Another milestone marked, a pause to celebrate my special little girl. A whole day dedicated to making Anna feel special and know how much she is loved. A day to pause and reflect on the fact that another whole year has passed in our lives since Anna first joined our little family. The time really does pass so fast, and marking the passage of time helps me to pause and reflect and remember to live present and take advantage of every moment we have of childhood in this house. This is my big girl who goes off away from our family on her own everyday to kindergarten confident and secure in who she is, exploring the world around her, kindhearted and compassionate, delighting in all the little daily wonders of life, who still snuggles into my lap and grins up at me, who truly has two best friends in her younger sisters, a bond that warms this mama's heart.

We sure do love you a lot Anna.

The whole family, even Grandpa and Nona who were visiting for the day, got to come with Anna to Kindergarten for a special birthday celebration. Josie and Ruthie joined Anna for circle time and tried the motions to their songs:

Anna got to bring in one of her favorite stories, Lighthouse, for me to read and share with the class during the birthday celebration:

Her sisters picked out some special gifts for their special sister and enjoyed giving them to her. Even Ruthie kept the secret!

We gave Anna the choice of having a big party with lots of friends at home or choosing two friends and doing a fun activity for her birthday. She chose to bring her two friends, Adisyn and Olivia, and go to the local paint-your-own-pottery studio. Each of the girls decorated their own plate, which was later fired and we picked them up today. Beautiful works of original art!

After pottery time we had a fun playtime in the courtyard.

All three Clement girls playing with bubbles with Adisyn and Olivia:

More of our courtyard friends joined us for cake and ice cream. White strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting in the shape of a heart with sprinkles on top, per the birthday girls request:)

The day was made complete with dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Sombrero girl! Walking home after dinner at the end of a full day with three tired, content girls the consensus among the three of them was that "this was the best day ever!" I love those precious grins!

Daddy's Work

Mitch is working this summer for the city of Lafayette, as he did last summer, only last summer he was an intern and now he is actually an engineer, having graduated and, as we just found out, passed his FE exam! Congratulations, Mitch! His main work for the first half of the summer is overseeing a major paving project that the city is doing on their main road. The girls love going to visit Daddy at work. They love seeing their Daddy and they love seeing where he is all day when he is not with us, getting a glimpse of what he does. They also love all of the fun things we have found to do in the city of Lafayette, the different parks, the lake and the water park we like to play in. Today, after we dropped Grandma Jo off at the airport, we went by Lafayette to see Daddy's work. We got to watch them laying down the asphalt, rolling it, and striping it.

Here are the girls watching the roller go by:

In between watching the paving we also had fun at the water park:

I love all their facial expressions when the girls are playing in the water, their delight and laughter in their play and their grimaces at the water in their face.

So much innocent little girl fun!

Warming up after water play:

Their favorite kind of day. Full of the excitement of water fun on a hot day and getting to see Daddy at work and watching a big part of what he is working on. The only bummer was saying goodbye to Grandma Jo this morning. We miss you Grandma Jo!

Hiking with Grandma Jo

My Mom is here visiting so we decided to go for a little hike with her along the Anne U. White trail just outside of Boulder. Of course it decided to rain on us. But we went anyway.

Everything is so green right now, it was beautiful! And a little chilly.

Josie wanted to eat her way down the trail so she found a way to prop her umbrella in her water bottle sling so she had both hands free for her snack.

Sweet, tired Ruthie, who fell asleep on my back by the end of the hike.

Down the trail we go!

By the end of our hike the sun came back out and warmed us up.

Josie found the hugest earthworm I have ever seen! I thought it was a stick, but she saw it and stopped to look at it. Good eyes, Josie!

Fun times with Grandma Jo. We'll miss you in the coming year!

Snapshots of our California Christmas

Nothing can every fully encapsulate a time in our lives, there is no way I can share with you completely about our time in California over Christmas. But I wanted to share with you a glimpse into our fun times, memories and bonds we made that will last a lifetime.

Our little family was in need of some times of connection and rest, time to remember what we care about, who we care about, time to feel alive and around family we love again.

Our time staying at my sister's house was definitely full of all of those things.

What can be more relaxing than spending time in a hot tub? Spending time with 5 little kids in a hot tub! Here's Mitch with all 5 cousins:

I can't even count for you how many good meals we ate, gourmet meals Uncle Trace cooked and we enjoyed. Family and friends gathered around a full table, good conversation, lots of laughter, eating to our hearts content. The center of life.

We went on many hikes with all 5 cousins and Grandma Jo on the trails in the woods around my sister's house, following Jack-the-fearless-leader: lots of identifying trees, stomping down the frost heave icicles, playing in the mud, counting rings on tree stumps to see how old they were, listening to the birds, being outdoors in my native Sierra Nevada mountains, the essence of peace for me.

4 of the cousins eating their snack on a log, a break in our hike:
(l-r:Caroline, Jack, Anna, Josie)


Reading books with Uncle Trace: Josie reading with her Papa, my Dad.

Jack and Anna enjoy a game of Candyland:

Downtime activities. Let your hair down, make yourself at home, be yourself.

Three sisters and our Mama! Together at last!

Life is made up of a series of so many special moments.

We even took a day and went to the beach! Our girls had never seen the ocean (well, Anna had but she was only 6 months old the last time). Here we all are out on the Marin Headlands, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the background:

Yes, it was a chilly, January day. Don't let the next pictures deceive you.

My beautiful sister Becky and my beautiful niece, Caroline:

Daddy'O, Anna and Josie, dipping their toes in the ocean water for the first time:

I love when my girls have such special times with their Daddy.

Run! The waves are coming!

Remember that picture of us all in wool sweaters and hats? Now look at Anna and Jack and Caroline! Anyone else for a dip in the ocean in January? We were on a beach at Point Reyes National Seashore just north of San Fransisco. Yes, there were other people there, but we couldn't figure out why none of them were in the water, too.

Little Ruthie played in the sand to her heart's content:

And got all covered with it! Look at that smile!

This is one of my favorite beach pictures, it says so much about who each person is. Jack, leaping into the cold waves laughing and exhilarated, all boy. Anna and Caroline, a bit more timid, holding Mitch's hands, yet out there in the water playing the whole afternoon, running, jumping, dunking under the water and screaming with delight:

I loved getting to know Jack and Caroline (my nephew and niece) better, getting to spend so much time with them and watching them play with Anna and Josie and Ruthie. Two kindhearted souls who love life, love the people they are surrounded by and seem so mature and self-confident for their age.

Another highlight of our trip was taking the girls on a little hike up Sugarloaf Mt in Nevada City to show them where Mitch and I got engaged.

Fun to share with them a little piece of our history, a little spot on this earth that is dear to our hearts. Not that you can see it in this picture, but we had a view out over the Sacramento Valley all the way to the coastal mountain range despite the overcast skies and the rain that was beginning to fall as we hiked down.

And the Beltrans!

What trip home would be complete without getting to see my dear friend Lupe and her family?

(l-r: Ben, Lupe, Andrea & Ben -we didn't get to see Carolina)

The girls had a lot of fun playing with every member of the Beltran family, and Mitch and I always love hanging out with our good friends.

Here we are, the Clement clan after we returned home:

(picture take by Grandma Judy Clement)

Thank you, Holly and Trace, for hosting us and giving us such a wonderful space in your home to relax and enjoy the company of all the people around us. Thank you for making us feel at home in your home.

It was a time that truly exemplified the essence of what Christmas is all about to me: giving, sharing, loving, accepting... God among us.

I hope each of you were able to experience a piece of the same this Christmas season.