November came and went in the blink of an eye!  We had beautiful, warm weather the first week of November, and a 70 degree day before a 70 degree plummet the next.  Mother nature was kind and bid adieu to autumn gently with this beautiful sunset.  This was taken with my phone camera and not edited at all.  Gorgeous!


The biggest news of all this month is that our little H-man is now a walker!  He started to take a few steps while Anthony was in Michigan for a week, so I didn't encourage it at all.  By the time Anthony came home that Friday, he was up to taking 7 unassisted steps.  By the end of the next week, he was walking confidently, and now, he's RUNNING!  AH!  He's such a little Dietrich man, throwing stuff while doing his German grunt/scream to show you how macho he is...


I have to laugh when I open up Connor's doctor bag (where he keeps his most important stuff) and it's like a glimpse into his brain!


Huge flocks of geese fly over our house from the field behind our neighborhood to Long Pond every day.  We love to hear their honking and see buffetting sunshine because there's just so many of them, but we are not fans of the poop.  No, we are not.


I found this detailed "Crismis" list in Alaina's backpack the other day.  It made me excited, because she's definitely getting some "stuf" for Christmas! ;)


I don't know how this is even possible, but Harrison is more and more into things every day.  His capacity for mess-making astounds me!  He's always trying to get into places he knows he's not supposed to go, unsnapping his high-chair tray liner to shake his food all over the ground, throwing his sippy cup, peeing on the bathmat after every shower.  Sometimes I wonder why I even try to do any housework while having a toddler.  If I'm cleaning up one mess, he's making another.  His cuteness and mischievous grins and giggles are his saving grace!  He's a monster, but he sure is funny!  He's starting to say more than Dada and Doddie (Doggie) now, expanding his vocabulary to "hot" (with an accompanying blow on whatever is hot), "bye-bye" (with a wave), and we think he's saying "Please" with "Bee".  He's a busy body and keeps me on my toes, but this stage is so fun...I wouldn't mind it lasting a little longer!
 

This happened while I was in the bathroom for about three minutes.


He has also learned to take advantage of the odd moments when people forget to close doors.  He loves to go into rooms and shut the door behind him because he knows that buys him about 5 minutes of mess-making before I realize he's no longer playing with his toys in the living room.


This is his cute, puppy-dog begging face when he wants something I have.  Here, he's trying to distract me with his cuteness and saying, "Bee bee bee bee" while scootching toward me to get in range of grabbing my camera.


We keep opening our door to find little brown bunnies in our yard, and I absolutely love it!


Two weeks ago, Kelly was in town and we all decided to go down to the Christkindl Market, a German street market in the heart of Denver.  I love the unobstructed mountain views from the highway.  I know, it's not Utah, but it's still pretty!






After meeting up with Anthony's cousin Alex (far left), we indulged in pretzels, brats, pastries, and beautiful German ornaments and decorations.  When we had finished with that fun, we walked around Larimer Square.  While I wouldn't want to raise my kids in Denver, this area is still near and dear to our hearts.  Anthony and I loved to go downtown before we had kids, and even though it was only for a year or so of our lives, we made the best of living in that crappy Aurora apartment only 20 minutes from the heart of the bustling city.  I miss the people watching and cool architecture, but that's about it.




We had dinner at the Ted's Montana Grill where Ryan used to work.  I have pretty vivid memories of that place, so it was weird to walk into the bathroom that I'd used many times before we moved to Castle Rock, but this time to change a baby while Anthony took care of our two older kids.  When did I become a grown up?




Harrison entertained us throughout dinner.  Lately, he's been making an "OH" shaped mouth, then inhaling audibly to sound amazed.  He points at stuff with his middle finger, while making that sound (he especially likes unique ceiling lights) to make sure we're all seeing how awesome the stuff around us is.




I can't believe the holidays are already here!  December is the busiest and most fun month of the year, so we're ready (just keep the caffeine flowing!)