may.  2012

we decided to head out past idaho springs, to the oldest known spring to man.  but there’s a secret… not very many people know about it.  the owner of the property wants to keep it that way.  we just happened to be talking to someone who told us about the owner and how he discovered this spring on his property.  the spring is supposedly 33,000 years old.  it stays at a constant 40 degrees, in the winter, and in the summer.  it’s been tested, and has more minerals than any other water.  even an astronaut came out to see and test it! 

a little science for anyone who may care…for example, we have well water right now, which because of naturally occurring rocks and things in the mountain, can mean any amount of good or bad things-such as…we have a lot of uranium in our water!  oh, if you don’t know, it’s not good!!!  so we hooked up our water softener and reverse osmosis system , but when you drink reverse osmosis water, the water is basically dead.  it can’t fill your cells with what it needs.  which means…sickness and death to your cells, than you.

so it’s been a fun learning project for me, especially with the generally poor health that i have, i feel as though i’m learning great and important things all the time.  even if it’s simply the quality of water one is drinking…which by the way, coming from georgia city water-i don’t even want to know the chemicals and drugs that was flowing through our pipes!  or the failed water tests charles town would mail to all the citizens in the city…how is that legal?  only in west virginia!

driving up to, through, and back from idaho springs was absolutely gorgeous!  it’s such beautiful country out here in the mountains!  after getting some yummy cold fresh spring water, jarom had us stop by a small lake and skipped rocks with the girls.  what a fun dad!  it was a beautiful family saturday!

 

beautiful river running between the highway and the mountains.  you better believe there were lots of people tubing and kayaking.

may.  2012

while jarom and i were out on a date saturday night before mother’s day, we came home to a beautifully decorated surprise!  the girls came up with this all by themselves.  such sweet, thoughtful girls.  i loved the cards they wrote to me.  the jar of dark chocolate covered pomegranates was also a winner, one of my fave’s to indulge in.

may 12.  2012

the yummy food we ended up having was:  homemade caramel corn, hot dogs, strawberries and grapes, circus cookies, lemonade in a jar; and then the candy bar which was cinnamon bears and chocolate cinnamon bears, blue and yellow taffy, the small iced animal cookies, dark chocolate covered malt balls, licorice, and homemade belgian chocolate mustaches.  the cute vintage decor came from an awesome woman on etsy, who customizes everything with your names, and you print and cut it all out.  i loved it, it was so vintage circus!

the decor and food turned out great, but most of all, we had a lot of fun with our friends.  there are three other families that have at least three girls in them, plus there were a few other friends we needed to invite, so in all there were 14 girls that came plus our girls, which made a total of 18.

we played some games in the basement in the beginning.  then everyone made their way up, picked a box, wrote their name on it, filled it with food, and then got a lemonade and wrote their name on the top of that, so no one would get confused as to who’s was who’s.

then onto cake-which was not cake, but homemade whole wheat cinnamon rolls instead, which were amazing if I do say so myself!  i love it when a recipe turns out!  then onto presents, which the girls loved-of course!

i think the most fun occurred, when everyone went outside to play, jumped on the trampoline and rode the four wheeler, and played in the woods in the forts the girls have built.  they came in with soot on their faces and arms, and said they were all playing box car children.  it was great!  i’m so glad the magician couldn’t make it, because it wouldn’t have been remotely as much fun as what the girls ended up having.

i am very grateful to amazing Andrea and Matt who did the most amazing and professional job of making and decorating the circus animal cookies, which also tasted scrumptious!

may.  2012

this museum is really such a valuable educational tool.  it is excellent, i really enjoyed it.  they have a snake and lizard exhibit that is phenominal!  an imax and planetarium is also apart of the museum.  we had a lot of fun, and if you notice, there was snow that morning as we were heading down, but it was all melted by the time we got home.  the weather leaves us guessing!  you can see the three wild turkeys we saw just past our lane as we were heading out.  so neat seeing wild animals all the time.

 

may.  2012

another great family we came to love so quickly, have been planning for years to live abroad.  we were so fortunate to be able to have a couple of months time to visit and to get to know each other before they left for Spain.  they will be living abroad for almost 2 1/2 years.  i have to say, it’s so exciting and inspiring to me to meet another family that is doing what i want to do with our family.  i haven’t met anybody else that wants to live abroad for a couple of years, so we had a lot to talk about!

not only that, our girls just played amazingly together.  they would play in the woods, building huge forts with all the wood they would collect and haul on our little four wheeler.  they are so much fun, we look forward to hopefully getting to visit them!  what a wonderful life experience for them to have, and to grow from.  it’s not all roses, but being in another culture, speaking the language fluently, and experiencing the history would be a wonderful experience.

here’s to following dreams…have an amazing experience whitby’s!

 

may.  2012

we have met some really great people here in colorado.  the stones family have become great friends here.  us moms and kids had a lovely picnic and walk around the lake.  the weather here is absolutely gorgeous.  it’s a bit tricky too.  one day it can be in the 70’s, the next it can be snowing.  so we are learning that we can be surprised everyday, to start wearing layers just in case it goes one way or the other.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

may 2.  2012

our sweet little madison.  after being born, she was blue, and took not one breath.  they had to breathe for her, and whisked her away.  6 1/2 hours later, doctors came and told us she would have to have open heart surgery in a week.  she was born with a micro-deletion in her 22 chromosome, also called, DiGeorge Syndrome.  not only was seeing our newborn in a hospital bed painful enough, not being able to hold her, comfort her, cradle her, or even feed her was heart wrenching.

after heart surgery, they hit a nerve to her diaphragm, causing rapid breathing.  she needed another surgery to fix that.  then healing from that, her heart rate kept skyrocketing.  she had extreme acid reflux causing immense pain.  and since the doctors felt tube feeding through her nose to her stomach was the best way to control feedings between surgeries, she now didn’t know how to eat through her mouth.  so the third surgery was to fix the reflux, and put in a g-tube-where you hook up a bag with a tube, and plug it into her stomach.

we finally brought little madison home after 10 weeks.  the next 2 years would prove to be trying, as we had to administer meds, feedings, and breathing treatments constantly throughout the day.  we also didn’t have much of any help.  jarom’s parents took alex while we were in the hospital for three weeks, which also broke my heart, but there wasn’t a place for alex to be when madison was in the ICU.  besides that, we were on our own.  in a way, i can say, that we did it and had to work together and pull through, but somewhere inside of me, i would have loved to have family there helping and comforting us during this very difficult time.

madison is now an absolutely bright, loving, tenderhearted sweet girl.  i love spending my days with her, and seeing her growing physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  the Lord knew he was sending us a fighter, and she has fought to be here on this earth.  we are very blessed to be her parents, and grateful to have her with us on this journey called life.

 

may.  2012

one of Jarom’s companies he works with, invited us to a Rockies game.  it was pleasure mingled with business, but wow, what fun.  we not only got free tickets, we were up in the huge  private boxes, with free buffets and free food being served, great seats, and the rocky mountians in the background.  it was such a beautiful evening, and we had so much fun!  it beats the georgia baseball games, where even when it’s overcast, you still sweat a ton.  here, the weather is magnificent!  just amazing!