Christmas

Nate had to work on Christmas day, so we spent Christmas this year with our friends The Laws and the Catheys in New Mexico. I feel like we are living in two states lately. Ha!ha! I guess that's cause we are.

The Journey Begins

We were blessed to spend two weeks in CA over Thanksgiving. Kate had her first trip to Disneyland, and got to spend some time with her cousins. I can't believe that's it's almost Christmas and I'm just posting this. But life has been a little crazy since. The last Friday we were in CA, Nate got a call letting him know that Roswell wanted him to start his pre-academy training on the following Tuesday. We got back home to CO on that Saturday and he left Monday for Roswell, New Mexico. It's a 6 hour drive from Colorado Springs, so he has been able to come home on the weekends to be with Kate and I. It definitely has not been easy, but our parents and our friends have been so great and so supportive! We are just taking one day at a time, knowing that this is an exciting journey the Lord is taking us on. But we did want to share a few pics of our time in sunny, warm CA :-)

Big Changes

Yesterday was a very hard, yet exciting day for us. Nate left for New Mexico to start his law enforcement career. To make a long story short, he had to go a month earlier than expected to start some training and get things together before he starts the Police Academy in January. As many of you know, Nate has been wanting to be a police officer for many years. After lots of prayer and lots of disappointments, God has finally opened the door for him in New Mexico. He will start a 5 1/2 month academy in Hobbs, New Mexico in January and then will work for the City of Roswell once he is finished. As I sit here writing this, my heart is torn. I am so excited for him and for our family and I know this is in God's plan, yet the next 6 months will be a very hard 6 months. We have never been apart for more than a couple of days at a time and Kate will change so much in 6 months. But I know that it's only 6 months of our lives for an amazing career path. We will see each other on the weekends as much as possible, as Hobbs is 7 1/2 hours away from Colorado Springs and during the week he has to stay at the academy. So why am I staying here in Colorado you may ask? Well, we have a house that needs to be sold and I have a strong support system here. I am so thankful for our friends and family who are being so supportive and who are right along side of us. Thank you for all your prayers! We will keep you updated and can't wait to post Nate's academy graduation picture.

October

Of course the big thing in October was Kate's 1st Birthday, but we also love the fall and pumpkins! Kate got to pick out her first pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. Last year we put her in a pumpkin and this year she's sitting on top of them. Her and her friend Adison shared a costume this year. We know they wouldn't be in their costumes much longer than 5 minutes, so we were frugal and shared. They sure made cute little giraffes. Hopefully the next pictures we post will involve snow !!!!!!!!

The Past Few Months

Hi friends and family! So it's been a while since I've been here, but I decided it's time to come back to the blogging world. Not a lot has happened in the past few months, but one big thing.........Kate turned 1!!!!!!!! Wow, this year has gone by fast. We have had our ups and downs, yet the Lord has been so faithful and so good to us.
Kate celebrated her birthday with her best friend, Adison. It was filled with friends and family from here and from CA. Grandma and Grandpa Dotts and Auntie Lori came to celebrate with us as did Adison's Grandparents and Aunt from CA. We had pink cupcakes and opened lots of fun gifts. We now know how much Kate loves sugar! It was funny to watch Kate dig into her cupcake with both hands while Adison delicately ate hers. We missed all of you who couldn't be here to celebrate with us. We are hoping to be in Carpinteria for Thanksgiving so we hope to see all of you then!

Leaving For A Bit!

Hi all that read this "exciting" blog! I just wanted to let you know that I will be taking a break from the blogging world for a bit. If you want to know how we are doing during that time, feel free to email me at: nateandlisa2003@yahoo.com
But for now, I will not be in the blogging world for a time

Family Pictures

Just thought I would share our family picture with all of you. Kate loves the camera!

Baby Challenge

Have you ever tried to get 5 girls under the age of 2 to sit still long enough to take a picture? This is what happens......it doesn't really work! But it was fun! (Kate is on the far left, the dramatic one that had to lay down)

An Amazing 5 Years!

Nate and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on July 5th. We have been so blessed the past 5 years, and have so much to be thankful for. God has taken us on amazing adventures and we look forward to many more new adventures in this new phase of our lives--parenthood.

Help! My Baby is turning Orange!

Okay, so I have always heard that if you eat too many orange vegetables you get an orange tinge to your skin. Well, Kate has more than an orange tinge. Her nose is officially orange. It's funny, because it's so much more noticeable in pictures. I have limited the amount of sweet potatoes and carrots I give her for this reason, but it doesn't seem to matter. I guess she'll have an orange nose for a while. She's still cute!

California Trip

Kate and I had a little last minute trip to Carpinteria a couple of weeks ago.. Nate, Kate and I had a planned trip to the Bay Area for the weekend to visit my brother and his family and also to attend a work BBQ for I Can Too (I work for my brother's autism clinics from home, doing scheduling online). Thanks Kevin and Val!!!! Then about a week before we were going to leave, I thought "I should just head on down to Carpinteria for the week." So I changed my return ticket and spent the week in Carpinteria. Kate and I were sad that Nate didn't get to come with us, but he had to go back home and work. We spent a lot of time just hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa and got in a few visits with some friends. Unfortunately the week went by so fast and we didn't get to see everyone that we wanted to see. So if we didn't see you, know that we wanted to, and we miss and love all of our friends and family so much!!!!!!

I Survived!

Isurvived the Bolder Boulder 10K and it was really a lot more fun than I had envisioned. I finished and I didn't collapse at the end. Ha! Ha! Nate did really well too! There were a little over 53,000 people that ran it. Yes, 53 thousand! Isn't that crazy! We all had a lot of fun and we are looking forward to doing it again next year. Kate also had a great time with her grandparents while we were gone. It was really hard to leave her for the first time, but I knew she was in good hands and it was only one night. Just wanted to share a couple of pics of the race with ya' all!

10K

Okay, so my husband and friends talked me into doing this 10K on Monday (Memorial Day) in Boulder. Why I said I would do it, I don't know. I guess it was peer pressure. I ran 3 miles yesterday and almost died. I only have to double that (6 miles) in 7 days. Yeah, right! I am going to walk/jog the whole thing, so we will see if I make it. The great thing is that it's a big celebration, so there are bands along the race. I told Nate if I go 3 miles and I'm over it, I can just sit down and listen to the bands. Ha! Ha! And they can come pick me up later :-D
This will also be the first time we leave Kate overnight with her grandparents. So I am a little nervous about leaving her, but I'm sure she will love spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Clay.
So I will let you know if I cross the finish line!

Ft. Collins Half Marathon/5K

Nate and our friends (John, Annie, Jordan, Bronwyn and her mom Ginny) all ran in the Ft. Collins Half Marathon/5K Race. The girls all did the Half Marathon! You go girls! And the boys did the 5K. God didn't make me a runner, so Scott and I watched the kiddos. We all had a lot of fun, and enjoyed the weekend in Ft. Collins. They are all getting ready to run a 10K at the end of the month in Boulder. It looks like I'll be the babysitter/cheerleader, somebody has to do it :-D

April

What happened in April: Kate turned 6 months, she started eating solids, and she met her great grandma and great great grandma. At her 6 month check up she weighed 14 lb 4 oz and was 25.5 inches long. She is going to be tall like her Daddy. I think it's finally Spring here in Colorado. The trees are starting to get leaves and flowers are starting to bloom. Yeah! Kate seems to love wearing shorts and t-shirts. Maybe she really is a California girl like her Mom.

The End of Our Blog?

So I think this may be the end of our blog. I don't know if anyone is reading it, so this may be my last entry. If you do read it and are interested in updates occasionally let me know and I will keep it up. If not, then no worries. It was fun!

Hawaii

Aloha! My parents treated us to a trip to Kona, Hawaii for their 40th wedding anniversary, where they renewed their vows. My sister and her husband went with us also. Unfortunately my brother and his family could not make the trip because they just had a new baby girl, Abigail Paige. We had an amazing time. Nate had never been to Hawaii, so he enjoyed the beautiful water (much different than California) and the volcanoes. My brother-in-law chartered a helicopter for a couple of hours and Nate got to go over an active volcano. Kate loved the warm weather! She liked to sit outside with grandpa and watch everyone go by. We also did some snorkeling, went to a luau, and just enjoyed time with my family. Nate and I also went to the top of a 14,000 foot volcano with my sister and brother-in-law. There is actually snow in Hawaii! It was the only time all week that we had to wear pants and a jacket. It prepared us for coming back home to snow.

Kate and Adison

We just wanted to share some pictures of Kate and her best friend, Adison Roland. Adison was born one week before Kate. We have so much fun watching them together. They are so different. Adison is a comedian and is always laughing and smiling. Kate is much more serious (we don't know where she gets that from). They both have a lot to say. Adison wants everyone to hear what she has to say, and Kate just quietly talks to us (again, I don't know where she gets that from).

Seattle

Kate went on her first trip to Seattle to visit her Auntie Lori and Uncle Joe. Once again she did great on the plane. We had fun going to Pikes Market and looking at the different sites. We also got coffee at the first Starbucks . Joe is a volunteer for the Coast Guard so we were able to go on the base. They had one of the biggest ships I have ever seen. They use it for breaking up ice in Alaska. The picture doesn't do it justice.

California

Kate had her first plane trip to go visit Grandma and Grandpa in California. She did great! We had such a blessed time in Carpinteria and got to spend lots of time with family and friends. Kate got to meet so many people and we got to meet Solomon Balli and Gavin Nystrom for the first time. Two very handsome little men. It was great to see everyone! Our time there never seems long enough, but we had a great time and can't wait to visit again.
We just wanted to share some pictures of our time there.