Joel and Keturah

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T14:58:00.002-07:00

Tiny Dancer

2011-12-30T16:30:00.003-07:00

One from Wisconsin

2011-09-12T13:12:00.003-06:00

We just returned from a week long trip to Wisconsin to visit my family. While we were there I took way to many photos. Which is typical for me :) As I was going through a bunch of them I found one that stuck out to me and I fell in love with. So here it is in Black and White and Color.

Happy Monday!

A Bike Ride to the Park

2011-07-19T21:30:00.003-06:00

Seventh Anniversary!

2011-07-07T11:33:00.001-06:00

We had a fun time in Santa Fe. We went hiking, watched movies, ate yummy food, listened to live music, took lots of photos and ate froyo. It was a good time celebrating our seventh anniversay.

Mothers Day

2011-07-07T09:50:00.000-06:00

Not to much to say about mothers day. We did a little photo shoot with Atlee and I down on the path by our house and just hung out most of the day. It was a good day.

Easter - 2011

2011-05-25T08:49:00.000-06:00

This year for Easter we were pretty busy with Church things. Joel helped lead worship for all three services and I helped in a kids class for one and hung around for the others. Then after we had Rami, Nathan, & Rick over for lunch. That night when Joel was taking his dad home he got to his house and our car started making horrible noises so we had to get it towed and found out the next day that it needed a major repair. Im pretty sure I decided at that moment that we were going to start walking everywhere. UGH! :) It was a good Easter despite the frusterating parts. Atlee looked adorable and again i am not very good at taking photos of these holidays. So there are only a few of us.

He was pretty ready for lunch!

So sad that I was making him wait and take pictures instead.

Atlee got a balloon and we still have it.

2 hour vacation - Idaho Springs

2011-04-27T10:06:00.000-06:00

We had a fun little two hour getaway and I got to play with my new camera!

Colorado has so many fun places only an hour away!

Rainy day puddles

2011-04-20T08:13:00.000-06:00

This boy loves puddles!

Eunice & Mike

2011-04-06T12:26:00.004-06:00

There is this adorable couple from our church who we have gotten to know recently. They are so fun and to be around and we have enjoyed getting to know them. They asked me to do some photos of them before their little girl arrives in a few weeks. We did it on a sunday after church and the weather was crazy. We did their photos in 15 min but the sky was amazing and the light was perfect. I finished editing them this week and when I turned a few to black and white I fell in love with a couple of the photos.

Exploring the tracks

2011-02-04T07:53:00.003-07:00

A treasure to a little boy does not consist of money, gems or jewellery. He will find far greater pleasure in the wonder of a rock, pebble, stick or beetle.
-- Author Unknown

Just a fun little glimps into Atlees day!

2011-02-03T20:23:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday Little Man!

2011-01-25T09:58:00.002-07:00

Our little man turned two yesterday! How fast time goes! He is so sweet and amazing.

This is the video from his party. It was just a little family get together with a couple friends to.

Happy Birthday Atlee!

We love you so!

My Son may you say!

2011-01-21T07:35:00.001-07:00

I will bless the Lord forever
I will trust Him at all times
He has delivered me from all fear
He has set my feet upon a rock
I will not be moved
And I'll say of the Lord

You are my shield, my strength
My portion, deliverer
My shelter, strong tower
My very present help in time of need

Whom have I in heaven but You
There's none I desire beside You
You have made me glad
And I'll say of the Lord

You are my shield, my strength
My portion, deliverer
My shelter, strong tower
My very present help in time of need

The Pool!

2011-01-19T09:18:00.007-07:00

This summer we went with our friends chris & mindy and baby faith to a pool! They had a summer membership which I would love to do this summer if we have the time! It was so fun! Atlee at first was nervous and didnt like it but when we put him in the turtle he loved it.

After awhile he started having so much fun!

Faith was hilarious just chillin in her floaty thing.

She is so adorable

Cute little faith feet!

Atlee loved splashing

Meanwhile Faith just continued chillin :)

And then he kept trying to drink the water

Faith loves her daddy!

This picture makes me laugh because for the longest time faith had no hair on the back of her head except for the very bottom and top. It was so funny.

Finally Atlee got brave and started walking in the shallow part

This picture makes me miss summer and warm weather

Cute little man who is growing up so fast!

A camping trip to one of the most amazing places I have seen in Colorado

2011-01-08T21:17:00.014-07:00

This summer we decided that if we were going to go camping that we needed to do it early and kind of spur of the moment. I found this amazing place about 2 hours from us and I cant wait to go back this summer. We had a very busy summer so we had to fit it in. It was called Eleven Mile State Park. The spot we choose was amazing but very hard to get to. I think we hiked for at least 8 miles just carrying our stuff back and forth. It was right next to the water so it was worth it. Though next time I think we might just camp farther inland and walk around the water area. I took so many photos and am so excited to look through them again.

I love the rocks that were surrounding our spot!

Isnt that an amazing view?

After Atlee went to sleep we walked to the edge of the water and sat and looked at the stars.

It was so cold but so beautiful!

Finger Painting and Everyday Life

2011-01-08T20:55:00.004-07:00

I bought some finger paints and some playdoh for Atlee and he had so much fun with them.

It was very messy so we dont do them very often but super fun.

I love this one because of his cute finger

Summer Hiking

2011-01-08T13:29:00.007-07:00

We got a hiking backpack this summer to carry atlee in! Its served us very well for camping and hiking. This summer we went to one of our favorite places to hike arrowhead. Its so pretty and has some amazing hikes. I carried atlee for about 5 miles.

Cassie and Kelsey our hiking buddies

pretty

I loved the trails

Also the pretty flowers that we saw along the way

these were my favorites

cute little man taking a walking break for lunch

pretty view

all of us and my sleeping little boy

Almost to the end

We had a great time, I cant wait to do more hiking this summer

Summer Chalk Art Festival

2010-12-20T09:40:00.010-07:00

This past summer Atlee and I went downtown with my friend Jocie to the Chalk Art Festival

It was so cool to see all the drawings, it makes me wish I had drawing talent of some kind.

Atlee liked all the animal drawings

I loved the flowers on this one

My cute little man :)

Cute Jocie! We miss her and all the other interns

This was one of my favorites because of the words!

This one reminds me of the comic book store in the Big Bang Theory

This one was amazing! It looked 3D

Had to take a photo with Spock!

amazing!

This one i love becuse it was in the kids section and i loved the colors!

After we walked around downtown and

played at this sweet kids park in the middle of the city!

So fun!

So many old buildings all around

Atlee has always liked slides

He thought this one was a car.

How fast time flies! We had a great day!

Hopefully I can get caught up soon and start posting stuff from Christmas.

Memorial Day - the real day!

2010-12-15T09:21:00.005-07:00

This memorial day we celebrated with Joels family. We had dinner together and hung out and then celebrated a few birthdays to. Atlee had so much fun with his cousins. They are great with him. We had dinner at the church where Tanya and Dallas were parked with their bus. It was a fun time.

Ember was so cute trying to catch the ballons.

Watermelon was also a big hit :)

I loved this kitchen in the basement

Happy Birthday!

A bit of present opening

We got them a pinata which was so fun and scary all at the same time

It was a fun afternoon

Gabi's Third Birthday!

2010-12-01T14:19:00.005-07:00

Gabi turned three in May! Atlee hangs out with her and Elijah at least three times a week.

Its good practice for when we have three kids though I dont know if Atlee will be used to being the oldest instead of the youngest.

Atlee and her are usually good friends. They loved sharing the tire swing this year.

Atlee loves trying to blow bubbles

Cute Elijah chillin at the party

Still learning about bubbles with Daddy

Paula had the kids paint their hand and put it on a canvas for Gabi

I love details!

Gabi got a digital camera

Another friend of Elijah and Gabi's (Josiah) had so much fun with the guitar

Best buddies

Happy Third Birthday Gabi!

Memorial Day Picnic

2010-12-01T07:51:00.006-07:00

Every year for Memorial Day our church has a picnic at a local park. Its a great park for kids and adults both. This year was so fun because we had a pie eating contest and all the little girls from our church loved playing with all the two years olds and younger kids.

We also had a water balloon contest and the usual volleyball.

One of our best babysitters

Atlee and all his favorite girls :)

Me and Ann

Our friends and Caleb

Atlees friend Rachel and her Daddy

Little Buddies

Altee and His friend Jaimie

Jaimie is so cute and funny!

Just One for Fun

2010-11-27T13:05:00.006-07:00

I think Joel took this one on Thanksgiving Day!

It has nothing to do with Thanksgiving but its just cute!

My little cutie

2010-11-18T17:23:00.003-07:00

I got a new lens and I was playing around with it!

I love these and its so fun to see how he changes.

Summer 2010 - A Bike Ride

2010-11-18T16:02:00.008-07:00

Another day of biking but this time we only made it about a mile and then we stopped. Joel played bubbles with Atlee, who loved them. Then we ran around the park. It was so fun.

There is also this fun climbing rock at the park and though

atlee is to small to do it on his own he loves to have daddy help him.

We have also tried to teach him swordfighting at a young age so he picks up sticks and attacks joel. I have a secret desire to learn swordfighting.

I also love the summer evening sunlight!

Pretty summer evening

Picnic in the Park - What every Saturday Night in Summer should be :)

2010-11-11T12:15:00.017-07:00

This past summer/spring we had a free saturday night so we invited Joels sister Tanya and her family over for a picnic in the park. We brought down our grill and made pizzas and I made a cake. Though cakes in colorado seem to be a hard thing to do. It never turns out how I expect. Before we ate we went wading in the creek. It was so fun. Then when the pizzas were ready we ate dinner and desert and took some family photos. It was a very fun Saturday night. I hope we will do it again next summer on a regular basis.

Joel and Tanya

The new puppy! "Sunny"

the cake

The Lows

And finally us!

Six Year Anniversary

2010-11-10T12:31:00.006-07:00

This year was our Sixth Anniversary and because we didnt have much money we stayed in town at this hotel only 15 min from our house. At least the room had a hot tub in it. We didnt do much all weekend because I got sick friday. That sucked because the only thing we did all weekend was eat out and watch movies. I couldnt taste any of the food and it was sad. We did have good rest though. These are the only photos we took the whole weekend when we tried to watch the sunset but it was cold and we kind of missed it. Plus I was sick and just wanted to go to sleep. anyway this year for our anniversary we are planning on going to Santa Fe. Its only 6 hours south of us. I think it will be fun. :)

The trees were so pretty with flowers that made me feel better

Grandma Millers Visit

2010-11-08T08:17:00.006-07:00

My Mom also came to visit this past spring as well! We were so busy while she was here so we only got to do a few things but one was going to the zoo! This picture above is one of my favorites of atlee ever! I love his face and how clearly you can see the lion behind him. Not to bad for a point and shoot.

Walking through the bird place, they have some cool birds.

"wow, look at all those penguins!" :)

I realized later that these were the only photos we had from my moms visit

my favorite park

2010-11-08T08:07:00.004-07:00

these are just a few from a day when we went to the park near our house.

It has a pond and a walking path and a flower garden and a playground. Its so pretty!

14 Miles

2010-11-07T11:19:00.005-07:00

This summer we really started biking alot! We got a trailer from some friends and took off. It was so much fun! This trip we went a total of 14 miles. There is this sweet park not to far away that we love so that was our destination. Atlee fell asleep on the way so he didnt get out and play but it was still fun to get there and sit along the river.

All ready to go!

Amazing place along the river

Joels phone tells us how far we went, how many calories we burned etc

He woke up when we got home!

Another fun day at the park

2010-11-07T11:18:00.011-07:00

We love parks! This one is close to our house and so we rode our bikes one evening and played at it. Atlee enjoyed the wheel and looking out the windshield of the truck.

the sun was setting while we were there

Good little driver :)

wee ow, we ow

HI!

More sunset!

Messing with my camera and light/focus

So pretty!

Food, Plants, and Fun

2010-11-07T11:18:00.010-07:00

These are just some photos for fun that I took of my plants for the summer and a yummy meal I made awhile back. I was playing around with my camera and light/focus. We started with Coffee! Definitely an essential to anything.

Basil, Speariment, and Parsley

Isn't parsley cool looking

Speariment is my favorite one to grow because it makes yummy tea

Any finally Basil. I use it in alot of cooking

Family favorite-Colorado Biscuits

My favorite - Potatoe Soup

Soup and Salad

One of my favorite meals

I threw in this adorable picture of Natalia just for Fun

See told you food, plants and fun

A Small Taste of Home (Wisconsin)

2010-11-07T11:15:00.003-07:00

One Saturday morning we woke up and decided to find a home town restaurant to eat at. One that was not a chain and that made simple good food. We found Breakfast Queen Two! It was a fun experience. We got up, got dressed and left. No showers, nothing. It was close to our house and looked like it had been there for 30+ years. It felt like Wisconsin and we really enjoyed the ability to be around people who seemed to work hard and just enjoyed eating breakfast out at the same place they had come for the last 30 years.

Atlee and his new puppy (it was .50 cents)

At breakfast, dont we look tired

Saturday Morning hair :)

Pretty Downtown Englewood in the Spring

Books, Mac & Cheese!

2010-11-07T10:25:00.006-07:00

Alot of these are self explanatory

Time for Lunch!

Pulling up our sleeves :)

Im ready! lets Eat!

This was before he learned to use a fork and spoon

Cute little feet :)

He has always been a good eater

Happy Boy with Mac & Cheese

Grandpa Miller & Aunt Stephs Visit April 09

2010-10-03T12:25:00.012-06:00

Way back in April my sister and dad came for a little visit. We went to the aquarium, the zoo, Mi Cocina and Bonnie Brae! It was a really fun visit and I got alot of photos of them with Atlee.

Ready to go to the aquarium! On the way we stopped to take a few photos.

Cute little man! He is so big now compared to these photos.

Heading up the stairs to go in

Crazy snake

This is my favorite part of the aquarium,

its a tunnel that has water on all sides.

I think Atlee enjoyed it to.

I think the fish is bigger than he is

This guy made me laugh :)

Atlee kept looking at Steph going, "are you sure you want me to touch that? "

Atlee and Grandpa

The Gorillas are some of my favorites

Finally we ended with Bonnie Brae Ice Cream!!!!

My favorite place. He loved it!

Probably because I ate there once a week when I was pregnant.

Two Hour Vacation - Wash Park

2010-09-11T08:18:00.008-06:00

For another 2 hour vacation we got dinner at the pearl street grill. It was very yummy. We took our dinner at Wash park and then walked around for a little while. It was a bit cold but fun to be somewhere else for dinner. Atlees favorite thing was to chase the geese around though they started to chase him back.

We stayed until the sunset

My little techy!

2010-09-10T08:29:00.001-06:00

I went into Atlees room and found him like this! So cute

My mom got him this cute shirt and it was so funny to see him walking around holding the phone wearing the shirt :)

Hello! Bye bye

He is destined to be a techy boy. Its in his blood

Easter 2010

2010-09-10T08:24:00.008-06:00

I took very few photos of Easter this year, but here are the ones I have.

Isnt Atlees outfit adorable? I love dressing kids. :)

Natalia loves to hug atlee, we are working on him hugging back

Atlees aunt Rami and friend Heidi got him the best backpack. Its a turtle rolly one. He loved it and played with it for like 2 hours. Its still a favorite

Me and Atlee at church

Maybe this year we will get a photo of the three of us for Easter

Parks, Parks, and more parks

2010-09-09T10:31:00.006-06:00

I love this one even though its blurry

This one to :)

It would seem we like ducks to

My adventureous spirit takes us to many discoveries around the area

The best time of day SUnSet

Walking around the pond!

Putting on your shoes

2010-09-09T10:04:00.006-06:00

I love kids shoes! They are so cute and so little. Atlee loves to put his shoes on. We have a thrift store by our house that always has great shoes for kids for so cheap. The ones in these pictures are little champion shoes and they were only 2 dollars. I also at the same time got him little pumas that I loved. I was so sad when he outgrew them both.

On your mark, Get set, GO!!!

When daddys away we will play

2010-09-09T08:26:00.007-06:00

Joel had to away for a few days and Atlee and I were on our own. So we went exploring. We found this really beautiful secluded park near our house. It had trees, picnic tables, ducks, water. Everything that a great park needs.

We definitely missed Daddy but it was fun to explore together just us two.

Another park and some ducks

2010-09-08T09:54:00.006-06:00

This is why I like colorado, you can go to parks even in the winter time most days because the snow melts fast and its usually pretty moderate temperatures out. Atlee didnt even need a coat we just put him often in a sweatshirt or hoodie and he was good to go :)

Near our house is a sweet lake. I used to ride my bike or walk by it every day on my way to work before my work changed locations. Its one of my favorite parts of where we live. We took atlee there to see the ducks. We found such random ones that we had never seen before. The one in the photo above was our favorite.

Atlee kept trying to go swimming

I love these next photos. Normally I am not a taken photos of animals kind of person but for some reason I liked the way the ducks and the water interact in these.

This one above is my favorite of the three

My favorite shirt and Old Macdonald

2010-09-08T09:12:00.006-06:00

For his birthday atlee got some new books and some new clothes. One that I picked out for him ended up being my favorite shirt. He was so cute in it playing with his new books.

He learned how to open doors at an early age

watching all the construction

One of my favorite books that Atlee got for his birthday

blowing kisses

Joel is teaching atlee how to sing old macdonald

After Joel showed him how to play with the book he tried so hard to do it to.

Yeah he got it figured out

Our house windows have the best light for photos

silly boy you make me smile always

Poor kid ever since he was little we have made him wear sunglasses that are to big for him and now its tradition :)

Backyard kids

2010-09-05T08:05:00.006-06:00

We love to play in paulas backyard

Even in cold weather

Sweet tree swing

Yes I defintely have a little explorer on my hands

Kite Flying

2010-09-02T15:00:00.008-06:00

Last summer we bought a couple of kites from King Soopers. The only one that is left is a tiny little one that has wonder woman on it. Its an awesome kite though because it folds up really tiny and can fly even on a very calm day. It was a very cold and windy day in march and I told Joel I was in the mood to fly a kite. Again a great husband to put up with kite flying in the park on a freezing cold day. So we took our little kite and cute little boy and went kite flying in the park. Atlee did a good job trying to fly it to.

I love the park that we live by. It has so many trees and amazing fields

Atlee loves to use the keys to try and open the car. Even when its super far away.

I love this one.

First bike ride with our new trailer!!!!

2010-09-01T11:56:00.006-06:00

I was helping some friends move when we discovered this awesome bike trailer in their garage. So I asked if they wanted to get rid of it. THey said yes and we became the proud owner of a bike trailer. Joel bought me a cute pink cruiser for my birthday but we hadnt been able to go with atlee because we didnt have a way for him to ride. Now we try to go three times a week. Our first ride with the trailer was to the library. Its one of my favorite places. Atlee was so good and had alot of fun in the trailer. We also stopped to chill for a bit outside the library when we got there.

Atlee is an explorer like me and loves to run and discover. He doesnt have much fear. WHich is sometimes a bad thing. But I also understand his explorer tendencies.

Heading back home

These are my trees

My pink bike

Look at how fast I can go :)

Park with Mommy and Daddy

2010-09-01T11:49:00.003-06:00

We found another park. I like finding new fun parks in random neighborhoods. You never know what will turn up in a park. This was a bit of a cold day to go but if you know me at all I love the cold not freezing but fallish. Though there was some snow left on the ground but again I love the outdoors and exploring and sometimes if we dont go outside exploring like say in the winter I start to feel a little claustrophobic and apparently so does atlee. So we went out exploring in the cold. :)

Right around sunset

Every Day Life #3

2010-09-01T11:07:00.005-06:00

I love this face!

Altee loves his shoes, he wants to put them on all the time. One day after his bath he was running around in his diaper saying Shoes, shoes, so we put his shoes on him and it looked so funny to have a kid with just his shoes and a diaper that I had to take a picture.

He also likes to pretend he is working at daddys desk. I know this is proper work attire.

Finally we decided it was time to get him dressed and he started attacking Joel and wrestling.

It was just a fun afternoon of playing around

And reading books, and hanging out. I want to remember these afternoons and times as well as the times when we go out and do fun things to.

Altee really loves his dad, and I am grateful

for such a great husband and amazing father :)

Every Day #2

2010-09-01T10:37:00.005-06:00

I love my son !!!

I rented this amazing lens one weekend because I had heard about how great it was in low light. Well all the rumors were true. Even though Atlees room isnt very dark it just brought this amazing feeling to be able to photograph without a flash. So of course I had to do a little photoshoot with my boy.

More, More!

Used to be the only word he knew

Im a happy boy!

Cheese :)

I love love love this one!!!

Atlee & Gabi :)

2010-09-01T10:12:00.004-06:00

Gabi used to come to our house alot more often then now. I would drop Elijah off at Preschool a;nd take the other two home for a nap and hang out time. One of her favorite things to do is to color. She could color for hours. :) One day when she was over I took a few photos of her coloring and some of her and Atlee playing together. They have so much fun together. She taught Atlee how to play hide and seek in the curtains. Which is still one of his favorite games even by himself. He thinks its hilarious to go sit behind the curtain and wait for someone to come find him. The funny thing is his little feet always peek out from the bottom of the curtain. SO cute! I am so grateful that he has friends to play with.

Our date & Valentines Day 2010

2010-08-29T17:55:00.004-06:00

Awhile ago in February we were able to get a babysitter and spend an evening in one of my favorite places! A bookstore! We went downtown to my favorite tattered cover. Its three levels and its all books and wood floors and secret nooks. I love it!!! Someday when my kids are in school i want to get a part time job at a book store. So we took a few photos walking around downtown and had a relaxing evening looking at books together. I also discovered a yummy brand of cookie that I cant remember now. BUt it was all vegan and tasted amazing.

LOok at all the books!!!! ahhhh I hope someday to have a library in my house, complete with a fire place and an owl photo: )

Around this same time was valentines day. So we decided to go for a walk in the snow. actually more like i convinced joel that walking in the freezing cold weather and snow would be very romantic. :) He was very sweet and came with without any complaining.

Sunset even :)

Atlee came to and thought I was crazy as well

We drew a heart in the snow to celebrate

Happy Valentines 2010

(I know these are way late but Im still catching up from the beginning of this year :)

1st Bubble Bath

2010-07-24T14:39:00.004-06:00

A few months ago we decided to try and give atlee a bubble bath. He was a little freaked out by the bubbles and kept trying to get rid of them. He loves to try and be a big boy and wash his own hair. Which turned out hilarious with bubbles after he got used to them.

Wondering what they are ?

Let me out, why are you doing this to me?

Getting clean

Am I clean now?

So cute!

Every Day Life #1

2010-07-22T09:23:00.004-06:00

One day I came out in the dinning room and found this sight. Atlee was trying to figure out how to put the candles back in to the candlesticks. It was pretty cute to watch him try to figure it how. He is such a sweet and helpful boy. Just a part of our everyday life. Its such a joy to watch him grow up and learn.

Breckenridge Snow Sculptures 2010

2010-07-14T09:30:00.003-06:00

Every year we try to head up to breckenridge for the snow sculpture competition. This has been a tradition the last 4 years. This year we brought along Rami & Nathan and it was a fun day. It was cold and a bit windy but we still had a good time. It was fun to have atlee with us to since last year he was only a few weeks old and we didnt get to go.

We also made our yearly stop at the yellow starbucks.

Our first two hour vacation!

2010-06-08T20:30:00.007-06:00

There is a website for the city of Golden that is called the two hour vacation!

They advertise that you dont have to go very far to get away so I thought it would be a fun idea to go! So one cold evening we went to Golden to one of my favorite parks and walked around. After we went out to dinner at a yummy pizza place! It was so fun and relaxing, so much so that we have continued the tradition almost once a month. We just decide one night that we will take a two hour vacation and head off to discover a new part of town. Thus far it has been so much fun. I think it will be a new family tradition!

Trying to cheer up the cold boys with a tire swing!

This is such an amazing park in the warm weather. The view is incredible.

I love the feel of this sign

Atlee chillin at dinner

A good way to end the two hour vacation

Atlee's 1st Birthday: A year in review

2010-05-24T10:55:00.019-06:00

Here is where it all started six years ago May 15 2004

Then in January 2009 another amazing life became part of our family

When we got this ultrasound I was 41 weeks pregnant, we didnt know what we were having but I loved seeing the babies face for the first time.

This song also stuck out to me for him when I pregnant

I will bless the Lord forever,

And I will trust Him at all times.

He has delivered me from all things,

And He has set my feet upon the Rock.

I will not be moved, and I'll say of the Lord

You are my Strength, my Shield, my Portion, Deliverer,

My Shelter, Strong Tower, my very present help in time of need.

Whom have I in heaven but You.

Theres none that I desire beside You.

You have made me glad, and Ill say of the Lord:

You are my Strength, my Shield, my Portion, Deliverer

My Shelter, Strong Tower, my very present help in time of need.

-You are my shield- by Hillsong United

First family photo in the hospital

Atlee Joel Mayer

Saturday January 24 2009

Just a few days old chillin on our bed at home!

Cute little boy at the midwives for an appointment a few days after we left the hospital

First family photo at home!

One month old

Two months old

Three month family photo around Easter time

More three month photos!

Four month family photo

Our fifth anniversary weekend

Four months old

Five month family photo

More five months

I randomly found this hat in some clothes and loved how cute he looked in it!

Six month family photo

-these are probably my favorite photos from the past year-

For his six month birthday we did a fun little photo shoot.

My cute little hodag!

Seventh month family photo

Our first camping trip with Atlee

Eight months old

Eight month family photo in Copper for the leaves

Nine month photo (in Maine)

Nine month family photo (in Maine)

Tree lighting in downtown littleton around Thanksgiving

Getting better at walking (he started at nine months)

Eleven month photo

Eleven month family photo

First Christmas as a family of three

One year family photo

This past year we have learned so much from our son!

He is an amazing kid and is so intelligent.

We are so proud of him and cant wait for another year of watching him grow and learn!

This verse stuck out to me for Atlee recently -

My son, if your heart is wise,

My own heart also will be glad;

And my inmost being will rejoice

When your lips speak what is right.

Do not let your heart envy sinners,

But live in the fear of the Lord always

Surely there is a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 23:15-18

Atlee's 1st Birthday: The Parties

2010-05-19T07:57:00.007-06:00

For Atlee's birthday this year we had two parties. One on Saturday and one on Sunday. The first one we invited 30 friends and our house was packed. We had a menu of four different soups and and 3 types of cupcakes. I made my favorite cupcakes angel food with orange zest. Unfortunately I was so busy that I didnt get to take many photos of the food. It all looked amazing though. Here are a few photos from both parties.

We gave atlee a cupcake on Saturday and a cake on sunday.

Getting ready to eat his second birthday dessert.

He ate almost the whole thing - it was an adventure to clean up that face :)

Then he played with uncle nathan for awhile

... and opened some presents.

Then everyone left and we took a few photos of the birthday boy with

his new outfit that I got for his parties.

It was a very successful weekend, we were exhausted after it all but it was so worth it.

A bunch of superheros and a drummer

2010-05-14T09:24:00.004-06:00

~ Super Elasti girl~

Atlee borrowed Elijahs cape for the occasion

Before Beth and Dave left for argentina paula and her made capes for the kids. So now when Atlee goes over there to hang out he gets to wear them to.

He also is learning how to sing Karaoke

We also have a future musician and Drummer on our hands.

I look forward to many days of hearing him play

Look at that form :)

Highlands Ranch

2010-05-05T08:31:00.005-06:00

There is only one neighborhood in Highlands Ranch that Joel and I would want to live in. Its these new townhomes and you can walk to so many places from them. I took photos of the area one day when i was on my lunch break. Its nice to just walk and photograph stuff.

I like this one because of the angle and colors

Looking back at all of these makes me so glad that winter is done!

The park in January

2010-05-02T20:07:00.004-06:00

There is a very cute park just up the road from us. We discovered it this past winter and we love it because its perfect for Atlee, it has four slides and they are all little enough for him to go down by himself. Here are a few photos from one of our first trips there.

Tattered Cover date

2010-03-22T14:12:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago Joel and I were able to drop Atlee off at a friends and go out all by ourselves. There are two things we very much miss now that we have a kid. One is going to the movies and two is going to book stores. Both are so fun but almost impossible with a child at least one that is Atlees age. So it was so much fun to go to the store. Black and white is one of my favorite photo mediums and the idea of having a library with tons of books in my house is one of my dreams. I even have a color scheme in my head for it along with having an amazing fireplace in the room. SOmeday, but for now we will stick with being able to go to tattered cover once in awhile.

We also got coffee, (books, my husband and coffee) made for an amazing Saturday morning. Plus atlee had a ton of fun with our friends kids.

Atlee and his glasses

2010-03-22T13:59:00.003-06:00

Atlee loves playing with glasses. Ever since Kim came out when he was first born. We will have so many photos with him in glasses. He was so cute to watch playing with them. These are actually 3d glasses that someone else had. So cute!

One man and a boy!

2010-03-20T14:11:00.006-06:00

As Atlee is getting older he is getting so much personality. He loves his hanging out and playing with his daddy. I love taking pictures of them playing. I hope that he will get to look back someday and see how much his parents loved him from some of these photos. Its amazing to see how much he has grown even just since his one year birthday. These are just a few around the house. I love the first one! Can you tell whos the man and who is the boy! :)

He loves pasta, and mac and cheese

He is such a sweet boy

He loves to discover new things even if he has looked in the door a hundred times.

Its always new :)

Just another day in the park!

2010-02-08T09:31:00.006-07:00

Just a few days before Atlees 1st birthday we took a walk in the park. It was such a nice day so we took a few photos.

I took a few random ones on the way home.

This last one is my fav. I love the color

Christmas Eve & Day

2010-01-27T09:10:00.011-07:00

For Christmas this year we decided to stay in Denver and celebrate at our house. For the actual day it was just Joel, me and Atlee. It was a bit strange but still fun. Joel and I werent very good about waiting to open our gifts from each other this year so we both opened them early. He got me a fun new lens thats a modified holga lens. Thus the photo above. I got him a droid phone. We also got each other new white dishes which we actually opened on Christmas day. We love them. On Christmas Eve Joel only worked a little and I had the day off which was awesome. We made cinamon rolls for breakfast and then that night we went to church for both services. I took quite a few photos from that. After church we went home and ate dinner and had our talent show. The next morning we woke up and opened the rest of our gifts and had breakfast and started making lunch. We didnt relax much which is my fault cuz I am not good at that. But we did end up watching the Charlie brown christmas movie and miracle on 34th street. Before sunset we went for a walk and took a few family photos together. It was Atlees 11 month birthday on Decemeber 24th. We celebrated with Joels family during the weekend. I then had the next week off till after New Years. It was a marvelous week and I really look forward to the day when I can just be a stay at home mom. Here are a few photos of our holidays.

Christmas Eve cinnamon rolls

The little man all dressed up for Christmas Eve service.

He totally figured out how to drive the car but couldnt only go backwards

The church for Christmas Eve

Candlelight service (My favorite part of Christmas)

Our Christmas dinner. It was very yummy

Joel being creative with the camera

I love this one. I only do sepia rarely but i love it when it turns out

More new lens fun

these were for Great Grandma Miller so she could see atlee opening his gift from her.

It was stackable rings.

Though he kind of lost his balance and fell off the bed while opening them :)

Another year over. Its hard to believe, I look forward to our next year.

Christmas Decorations

2010-01-26T10:29:00.008-07:00

Right around christmas time I was photographing a friends maternity session and decided to rent a lens for the occasion. I had it over the weekend so I used it to take some fun photos of Atlee and our Christmas decorations. Its a low light lens or its supposed to be. I ended up not loving it but I got some great photos in the process. I have my eye on a better lens that costs only like 1500 dollars more. we will see.

I do love the reflections that came off our tree. No idea how they happened but like them anyway.

I think I will continue to use silver as my christmas decorating color. Its just so pretty.

Atlee helping to decorate. :)

After some decorating we played a little game of tag.

This is the top of his crib. I just really liked this photo for some reason.

Our tree not quite done. We added a little red later on.

Then daddy came home :)

He taught atlee how to build a tower on his head

And how to start walking

But that was to much work

Christmas with a child. A whole new experience

Then we watched rudolph the red nose reindeer. My favorite

Maintenance Connection christmas party

2010-01-21T13:36:00.009-07:00

This year for Joels new company party we went to Colorado Springs. It was our first night away from Atlee but it went really well. We got down there a bit late but ate dinner with everyone and then opened white elephant gifts except they were very nice gifts. We won a photo frame that I end up really liking and a $50 gift card to a movie theatre. After we all went to a game place and hung out there and then Scott and Kelsey and Joel and I went out to Old Chicago after that since it was a fun night out. Here is Kelsey and I riding what we thought was an adult carosel. It ended up not working. :)

Mini Golfing (We were Captain planet)

Joel & I on the very small and tight fitting Go Carts. Ours was super fast.

Kelsey thought she had lost her Mr. Biggs card but it ended up being stuck to her Iphone.

I made her take lots of fun photos through the weekend.

The Castle where we ate breakfast

More of the grounds

We got Starbucks twice Yumm!

Saturday morning we had breakfast and then set out for a day of sighseeing.

First stop Garden of the Gods.

The four of us

For lunch we went to a sub place and starbucks.

Then we walked around a little town just outside Colorado springs. It was cold but still fun.

We stopped in lots of cool shops.

I loved this one.

A little macro

Cary & Melissa

Then we had Fondue. It was so good.

Last photo of the evening

It was a great weekend. There were so many photographers there and I was jealous of all their sweet equipment. I look forward to more parties next year

Atlee in the Holidays

2010-01-20T08:27:00.003-07:00

I have decided that I am not one to have sentemental feelings about first moments in Atlees life. I dont have a photo of Joel, Atlee and I at his dedication day nor do i remember the day he took his first steps or anything like that. I have discovered that I enjoy the every day with him. I love to sit and photograph him while he plays in his room or while he walks around our house or I take a million photos of him climbing the slide at the park. I like those moments because they are the ones that remind me that I need to enjoy him every single day. He will be one on Sunday and how fast this year has gone. How much he has changed and how I will never have a little baby Atlee again. He is Atlee the toddler who can walk around and try to run, who can smile and laugh at things, who can hold his arms in the air towards us and want to be picked up, who can sing ma ma ma in the back seat. He is growing up and I am grateful that I have so many photos to remember the everyday life of my little boy who is on his way to becoming a man and whom I love so dearly. Here are a few of the photos of everyday life with Atlee during the crazy hectic times of the holidays.

Thanksgiving with my sisters pt 2

2010-01-18T14:29:00.008-07:00

The Saturday after thanksgiving Steph flew out in the morning and Kim flew out in the evening so we decided to go for a hike after we dropped off steph at the airport. Its one of my favorite places to hike and we have gone a few times.

It was a bit windy up there and Atlee was bundled up quite alot :)

Joel is such a good sport about pictures

My little Colorado boy