Planting a tree

Today we planted a tree for my dad. We tried planting trees here once before-- the first summer we moved here when we were young and clueless and full of hope. The deer ate them within hours of getting them home. We couldn't let that happen to my dad's tree, so this time we had a plan. First, decide on a spot. This would normally take me months, but today was tree planting day, so I used the world wide internet to find out how close a tree can be to a house, measured out the distance, and marked a line in the dirt.

Next step, dig a hole. But how big? I called our friendly local nursery... they turned out not to be so friendly and refused to tell me the top secret dimensions. So we just started digging. I was able to dig about 4" before hitting massive rock number one. I filled my little hole with water and waited for Mark to come with the pickaxe. We then alternated between shovelling, watering, and pick axing for the next couple hours. Logan supervised. Our hole digging technique was finely honed during our deck building experience last year-- luckily there was only one hole to dig today, and it did not require use of the ladle to get out that last 36th inch.

When we decided enough was enough, we loaded into the van and headed to the nursery. Despite their curmudgeonly-ness, we went to the local store anyways. That's what my dad would have done. They gradually warmed to us, and by the end we were good friends. Logan's charm had a lot to do with that. That and the fact that their only other customers spilled a whole box of bulbs and they ended up mixed in with all the different types of bulbs. Curmudgeon was not happy about that.

We picked the perfect tree, dug it out of its spot, and loaded him into the van. Mark sat in the back holding the tree with one hand and the back gate, which can no longer be trusted to stay up on its own, with the other. I drove home at 20 mph so as not to lose a single leaf from our perfect tree.

We arrived home, made a few further adjustments to our hole, spent another hour pounding in stakes, and then we were ready to plant. In went the tree, we snapped a few pictures, and then up went the giant wire mesh fence. We're pretty sure it'll keep out the deer. The elk will probably laugh. Unfortunately we forgot to take off the piece of burlap that was wrapped around the trunk of the tree to protect it during its journey home. Now it is encased in our high security fence and will be there until the weather rots it away. At least we removed the big orange "sold" tag.

Below you can see all the rocks that came out of that hole. Well maybe not all of those came from this hole... but you get the general idea.




Happy birthday Daddy. We miss you more everyday.

Assssspens!

After what seemed like an interminable heat wave (for Colorado), everybody's favorite time of year has finally arrived. We had about 10 straight weeks of 90deg-ish days, then suddenly the flip was switched and Fall was here. Three days ago I had frost on my windshield when I left for work. That's how quickly things change in the mountains.

The trees change just as fast. The Cottonwoods turn first around here, and we've been noticing random yellow leaves for a few weeks, meaning the aspems would not be far behind. I like to joke that we have the only lot in Jefferson County (CO) with no aspens, which means we have to go in search of yellow trees, like all the tourists from Kansas who are constantly driving their Buicks 15 mph on my mountain roads....









It was a little early for the reds, but we did find a few...

Logan's Photo Shoot

We had a friend take some photos of Logan. I love them. I'm already looking for an excuse to do it again. I think I need a new set because now he has teeth and has a whole new look.

Teeth!

Logan was a bit colicky as a new born, though I'm told nowhere near as bad as Kate was--she was full on colicky. After 3 months of what seemed like an awful lot of crying, suddenly Logan was happy. Happy all the time, just smiling and giggling for no reason. Two weeks later he started teething, and it was back to the crying, with the added fun of constant drooling. I naively figured a few weeks later we would have a full set of teeth, because surely this state of agony couldn't be permanent. I was shocked when my co-workers explained that teething lasts for literally years. Well, it took five months to get that first tooth through the surface of the gums (of course it still has a ways to go before its all the way in). Fortunately #2 was only a few days behind.

Only 18 more baby teeth to go! (plus 32 adult teeth).


Oh ya, just like daddy, Logan's favorite toy is the remote control. But he mostly likes to chew on it.

Rubber Ducky, You're the One...

Go Bears!

The Bears have been sucking it up, but not due to lack of fan support. Go Bears!

Crawling Soon?

Logan may have had his first official crawl last night. Its more of an army-style crawl, with his belly dragging on the floor, using his elbows to pull himself forward. He was also using his feet to push. He also got himself up on all fours, wih his knees under his hips and his arms straight, but he couldn't figure out what to do from that position. He wobbled back and forth for a few seconds, but then dropped back to his belly. He still gets frustrated pretty quickly when on his belly, but he's clearly making significant progress.

Eight Months

At 8 months, Logan has his first tooth! It’s the lower left one, and it arrived today on his 8 month birthday. We’ve been waiting a long time for that tooth. I was so excited when I felt it-- we wrestled him down and held him upside down and did all sorts of ridiculous things to try to get him to move his tongue so we could see it. When the sighting was confirmed by all three of us (me and Mark and Kendall) there was much cheering and we paraded him around the house on Mark’s shoulders. Oh the excitement of a tooth.

Logan is not crawling yet, but he’s getting closer. He has various ways of getting around—he inches himself forward in a sitting position by rocking back and forth, he rolls pretty effectively, and he pivots around on his giant tummy. He’s able to get onto all fours now, but he hasn’t figured out what to do once he’s there. Logan still wakes up a couple times each night, but he has technically slept through the night (6 hours) twice this past week… I’m hoping the trend will continue.

Logan’s communicating more these days— not with words, but it’s pretty clear when he wants milk, when he wants to be picked up and when he’s tired. He’s also become very good at arching his back and fighting when he does not want to get dressed/go in the car seat/ change his diaper. Logan’s favorite toy is a little plastic ball that rolls in a cup. His favorite dog is Buddy—although he’s not too discriminating, he loves all dogs. And his favorite activity is still jumping.

Logan Talking

Juggling