Colorado Sunset

Tonight's sunset really makes me feel happy to live in Colorado... Click on the picture to enlarge.

Hot Air Balloon Launch

Just behind our house there is a hot air balloon launch every year. This is a 3-day event. This year it was a little windy on Friday and Saturday, but the Balloons took off this morning at 6:30am.

Here's a little movie showing the balloons launching. There were about 45 to 50 balloons this year from what we could count.

Baptism

We took a trip home to Indiana in the third week of April to see family and to have John Baptized. The visit was great and we got to see a lot of friends and family. John was baptized at Carmel Lutheran Church in Carmel, Indiana on April 25th, 2009. Rev. Bob Jacobs (Julie's uncle) performed the ceremony.

Here is a picture of friends and family who came for the Baptism,

Here is a picture of Bryan's Uncle John (father's brother) who John is named after,

We wanted to thank all the friends and family who came out for the Baptism, and give a special thanks to Rev. Bob Jacobs for making the ceremony so special to us!

John at 9-months

It's been a long time since we last posted images and pictures of John. He's now 9 months old and going strong. At his 9 month checkup he is 20 pounds 4 oz (50%ile), 28.5 inches long (60%ile), and his head is 18.25 inches (85%ile). He now can pull himself up to the couch and other furniture. He balances himself with ease while holding on to things. He crawls pretty fast too. Here are two movies of John. The first one shows him crawling at 8.5 months. The second one is of him standing at 9 months.

Here is John standing up and balancing,

John is really curious. He explores the house, gets into the cabinets (plays with pots and pans) and has just started to push a little walker around while holding on and balancing. He's also sleeping better at night (waking up only once a night rather than 3-4 times).

John at 6-months

John just recently had his 6-month pediatrician checkup. He is doing great. He is 18 lbs (65 %ile), 27 3/8" long (90%ile) and his head is 17 5/8" (75%ile). He just got his 1st tooth today on the bottom and there is one next to it that is about to surface. He is saying "ma-ma" clearly and loves driving himself all over the house in his walker. He is practically jumping out of our laps for things that he wants and is getting better about being on his stomach. He can now easily flip from his stomach onto his back and he is *just* about ready to start crawling. He sits up and plays with toys and loves to play peek-a-boo.

Merry Christmas 2008!

We'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas 2008! We feel so fortunate and blessed this year to have baby John in our family. This Christmas we were visited by Julie's mom (Linda) and dad (Dale) and brother (Mark). We also had Julie's sister (Christy) and her husband (Roland) and their two children, Logan (age 5) and Lucas (1 year) with us. It's so joyous to hear the sounds of the little children in our home! Thanks for all of the kind cards and support from everyone this year. We appreciate all of it! We are looking forward to next year and all the wonderful changes it will bring to John.

Thanksgiving 2008

I just love this photo of Julie holding John. So peaceful. The picture says it all.

Here's a few pictures of John in mid November 2008. He was so happy at this photo shoot. His little thumb is wet (yep, it was in his mouth!).