henry + avery.

she starts off with some hearty pats... 

then fondles/grabs his ears...


decides that his toes are much more exciting ...


goes in for the nose grab ...


and then ends with a hug.

so i mentioned that avery was pretty excited to see the cats when we got back from our trip.  they're definitely still a favorite, although she's been paying a lot more attention to henry than she was before.  he's really been great with her.  i was a little worried about him before she was born but he's so tolerant and will let her to just about anything she wants to him.  she climbs all over him, lifts up his lips to inspect his teeth, and loves his paws.  he really could care less other than to give her a few licks every once in a while.  she's also into hugging the animals and henry is a frequent recipient of those hugs.  

baby + cat.

i know i keep mentioning how amazing ollie is with avery but seriously, he.is.amazing.  i have grown up with tolerant cats but i think he's a little different.  as much as she hangs all over him, pulls on his whiskers (yes, this really happens), eats his tail, and climbs over him he still sticks around.  i actually think he loves her just as much as she loves despite how annoying she can be.  since she's often crawling in his direction but when she isn't he's usually somewhere close by and will lay down near where she's playing during the day.

the other day i was at a conference and charlie called me because avery was crying and he couldn't figure out what was wrong or snap her out of it.  i told him to take her over to the cat and sure enough she stopped crying and turned into a happy baby again.    

i like to pretend that this is her version of a hug but i think this has more to do with the fact that he's so soft.  she does this to him all the time.  don't let his annoyed look fool you.  after this picture was taken she literally climbed over top of him and he didn't move at all.  he makes a pretty good obstacle course.  

her version of cat has turned into 'tat' which she excitedly says every time she sees him.  and although this is about ollie i have to say that henry has also been amazing with her.  she can climb all over him, take his toys, and he just lets her do whatever she wants.  now that she's crawling he'll occasionally try and play with her and although she doesn't get what he's doing she thinks it's hilarious.  i'm really grateful that we have such nice animals and that she loves growing up with them as much as we love them.  

cookin' with my favorites.

tonight my favorite people kept me company in the kitchen while i cooked dinner.  

i really, really love our kitchen.  it's homey, and big, and the island is fabulous.  if i'm in here dunkin is always here too, laying on the floor.  sometimes it's a little hard to step over him each time or carefully open the oven so i don't hit him, but i love his company.  and the cute baby, too.  :)  

my favorite picture ever.

i know i've mentioned that avery's a huge fan of ollie and that he's by far her favorite animal of the house. but she's really into all of them, toby aside because he's a cranky cat.  side story: the other day i sat down in the chair near toby and he got up and walked away, not surprising.  i called his name and he stopped, turned his head and looked at me and hissed.  for no reason.  see? mean.

anyway, ollie and the dogs are doing fine with the baby.  henry's gotten over his jealousy from the beginning and both of the dogs will greet her when we come home from places and give her the occasional lick or sniff just to say hi.  she's really into feeling different things right now, the couch! the pillow! the stroller! the blanket! and the animals are a favorite because they're so soft.  occasionally i'll get down on the floor with her next to them and just let her pet them for a bit.  dunkin usually lasts longer because he's dunkin and will do just about anything that charlie or i ask of him.  she was petting him tonight and got tired and decided just to lay her head down on him and rest for a bit.  pretty much the sweetest thing i've ever seen.  

before i was pregnant and before we were even thinking about having kids charlie used to say, 'we have to have kids before dunkin dies'.  i'm pretty sure it's because of moments like this.  he is such a great dog and i hope that avery grows up to have the same appreciation for animals that we do.  as much as i love my baby(and believe me the dogs don't come anywhere close to that) i love the dogs, too, and i can't imagine a home without a dog.  

weekend in steamboat springs.

charlie and i spent the weekend hanging out in steamboat springs.

it was a really short trip but i swear we have to do more of these.

it's so easy to get away for the weekend and we're surrounded by so many beautiful places that are a pretty quick drive away.

we left friday after work and were home in time for the broncos game on sunday but there's just something about being away from home that's so relaxing.  

the aspens were beautiful which meant that the mountains were full of yellow.

the only thing i wanted to do was to go for a hike.
we ended up doing a really pretty one about an hour or so out of steamboat.
it was down a long, dirt road which probably didn't work out so well for my car.  but it was pretty.


henry had fun running around like a crazy man.  charlie was worried we all were going to get eaten by bears.

we went right.

we turned around at the waterfall even though the trail continues up to the lake in another 2 miles.

saturday morning we got coffee and then walked around a park in steamboat before we left.
while we sat on a bench and drank coffee, henry ran around like a crazy dog.

and then we walked along the creek for a bit before we left. 

we came thisclose to seeing a bear.  there were some flyfishermen in the creek who told us that there was a bear in the creek up ahead but it crossed the creek before we got there. 

charlie was happy and i was disappointed.

it was so nice to get away.

i'm thinking we're going to have to do a weekend trip once a season.

or just winter, summer, and fall since spring is just cold and muddy.

charlie's vote is for telluride this winter although i'm thinking something closer and cheaper might be nice since it'll be three of us instead of just two.

weekend.

ok, so it's tuesday. but monday was so crazy i could write an entire novel about it alone. so i'm posting about the weekend today.

we had an amazing weekend. it was our first real summer weekend with no plans, no commitments, and all fun. instead of spending our time running errands, doing laundry, and cleaning the house we spent all our time outside.

i'll take a half-clean house and a big pile of laundry as long as i can have a good weekend.

saturday we went for a short hike, flatirons vista.

we had never done it, but i heard it had pretty views.

the views were pretty but i think other trails have much better ones and it was really more like walking than hiking. but still relaxing and pretty.

see that pond in the corner? yeah, it was disgusting and filled with algae.

both dogs jumped in at the end of the hike despite us yelling not to. i think at that point they were too hot to listen. so since they were already wet we took them up to boulder reservoir to do a little swimming.

sticks are the only things that henry will retrieve. ever.

balls, frisbees, bumpers? forget it. but if you throw a stick he's all over it.

saturday night i made apple pie and charlie grilled our dinner.

and then we at outside.

apparently henry begs. because his head is in all of these pictures.

sunday we took the dogs up to union reservoir for more swimming.

we packed a lunch, brought beach chairs, and hung out all afternoon.

we had two very tired dogs by the afternoon and then came home and made shish kabobs and cleaned the house.

i know it's only tuesday but i'm already counting down until friday.

home sweet home.

i finally made it back to denver.

although i sort of lost the car at the airport, convinced a shuttle driver to drive me all around the parking lot (both parking lots) to look for it, and then finally gave up and called the emergency number and told them i lost my car, which i should have just done in the first place because after giving them the license plate number they told me exactly where it was. (how do you like that run-on sentence?)

anyway, good to know for the future i suppose.

the dogs were so happy to be home.

and the cats, well, that's another story. let's just say, i do not love them and if anyone wants a cat or two they're welcome to mine.

this morning i was studying at the table and looked over to see this:

um, yes. the dogs are not allowed on the furniture. except for the fact that henry sleeps in the bed with us. and (after taking this picture) i called his name he just looked over at me, no guilt whatsoever. i guess this is why people buy slip-covered furniture.

early birthday present.

my birthday's next week.

i've been staring at wrapped birthday presents for over a week.

both charlie and i are terrible at giving each other gifts. we always get too excited and force the other person to open their presents early.

last year at christmas we had nothing under the tree.

yesterday charlie brought me one of my presents.

he didn't have to convince me too hard.

he got me a new lens for the camera.

and then i stopped studying and starting taking pictures all around the house.

the opposite of lazy...

is hiking a 14er.

it took me until thursday to get over my laziness from last weekend.

pathetic.

thursday night we went to see OAR at red rocks with some friends.

we didn't bring a camera because i had read that they were "prohibited".

and then i saw about a million people with them. whatever.

red rocks was awesome and so was OAR.

saturday we decided to hike quandary peak.

we were up at 3:30 am.

i'm definitely glad we started early because when we were coming down everyone was coming up and i hate crowds.

we started hiking at about 6:30 am.

this is us about 3/4 of the way up with the peak in the background.

up, up, up ...

we even love each other at 14,000 feet.

henry @ the summit.

usgs marker. 14,271 feet.

requisite family picture at the top.

love this picture.

henry looks like he's falling off the edge of the world.

family photo.

we don't often get pictures of charlie and i together when one of us isn't holding the camera out in front of us. so when we went hiking with some friends we were excited to just get a picture of the two of us where you could see more than our faces smushed together.

i was also excited because our friend behind the camera is a photographer.

good background.

good photographer.

good light.

and then henry happened ...

now that is LOVE.

i still think this would make a pretty good christmas card.

fourth of july weekend

friday night:

made sangria & had dinner and drinks at lodo's.

saturday:

took the canoe to boyd lake.

had an arnold palmer & m&m's for breakfast, lunch on the canoe, & hot dogs and sangria for dinner.

boyd lake & a beautiful day.

i successfully jumped out and back into the canoe without tipping us over, read a good book, and watched charlie fish.

he caught a little fish ...

... and a bigger one.

we also got lots of sun.

sunday:

charlie broke out his new trail running shoes:

and we hiked bear peak & south boulder peak.

we made it down just before it started to rain.

and then we baked an apple pie, grilled out with some friends, drank a lot more sangria, and watched some fireworks in the rain.

monday:

had breakfast @ panera and then braved the traffic and drove out to the mountains to hike herman's gulch.

dunkin loves me. :)

family photo.

snow in july.

pretty good weekend. :)