Sunday, January 31, 2016

Maroon Bells 2011: A Year in Review

I'm troubled that the year 2011 was a complete blog failure.
If you'll take a moment to casually glance (not gawk! glance) at the archives section on the right side bar you will see that the year 2011 is completely missing.
Missing!
Did no one care to put out an APB on that missing blog year?! Also, I would like to know what the points are in the all points bulletin.
So, I've decided to blog it. 
5 years late is not too late in my opinion. I mean, some reasonably important events happened in our lives. 
To begin,
In February Dawson celebrated his 5th birthday:
Of course this was back in the day when Jason and I exerted all of our creative energy to promote an amazing birthday party. We had this one at the church. We used black trash bags to create a road from the front doors into the fellowship hall. We even used cones people.
 The tables were decorated accordingly. How was I never asked to be a party planner? If you ever want a cars theme for your wedding. I'm.your.girl.
 Dawson was properly impressed.

 I was plumb tired. Do get plumbs get tired? Where did we come up with that phrase? 
In April we taught Dawson to ride a bike. (are you secretly gleeful that I've skipped a few months to spare you the torment of a 10 hour blog post? I'm there for you! This one will only be 9.75 hours.)
In May I celebrated Mother's Day (we know how this day has gone for me in the past)
And Dawson gave Little League his first shot.

In June we made our first visit to Steamboat Springs and on that trip we made a hiking trip to Maroon bells, one of the most photographed places in Colorado.
We've always gone to ski towns during mud season because it's cheap and then we have the whole place to ourselves. If you're a cheap introvert, this is the way to travel. 
There are plenty of great hikes in Steamboat:
 We went to Strawberry Park Hot Springs and I burnt my toe on this spring because I thought it would be absolutely normal to touch it. It was only a million degrees.


 It was on our way home that we made the stop to hike Maroon Bells. Absolutely gorgeous.


 They don't look maroon to me. But I'll let that pass without calling our local Ranger department to complain.
Maroon Bells


 Marmots are one of my favorite animals. Mostly because I like the word marmot. So how could I resist a picture of this sign?
Finally, it was the month of June that we discovered I was pregnant.

No one is disturbed that you looked at a picture of an apparatus that I peed on, correct?
August came around and we did a little camping trip to Fun Valley. A camping resort for Texans that are 65 and older and who love to square dance. 

Dawson loves to fish. Just don't annoy him by taking his picture while he concentrates.
 
 Put-Put is another family adventure that is free with the cost of camping. Oooh!
If you just joined little league you'll learn much faster that swinging your club like a baseball bat is the way to win. Or knock out a car window.
 When you're surrounded by citizens 65 and up who spend their time taking their poodles for a ride in a golf cart around the campground, you run out things to keep you entertained. Therefore, this results:
August brought the pregnancy announcement on Facebook:
And... it was in August that Dawson began kindergarten. First day of school!
September brought our first attendance at an Air Force game
And Dawson was finally able to fit into one of Jason's old suits:
I encouraged him to pose as James Bond.
 October rolled around and would you believe I was finally sporting my first noticeable belly bump, brought to you by the kind people that work for my sister and brother-in-law who work for FLW (hence the reason Dawson and I are sitting in a fishing boat simulator in the parking lot of Walmart).
In November I had an ultrasound and found out I was having a boy:
I also invited the world to participate in naming our baby. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that.
If you could all provide a massive drumroll. I've come to December.
My 8 month pregnancy picture. I should have chosen vertical stripes. For slimming effect.
 My dad came for his first visit.
Dawson made his stage debut in the Christmas play at our church:
Not to be mistaken with Ralphie from Christmas story.

 Finally, we celebrated Christmas (I appear as the goodyear blimp)

Ahhh. Thank you 2011, for embracing my OCD tendencies and allowing me the opportunity to bring you to life in blog form.