Space

Have you ever had a week in your life that you didn't want to end? We did. It was one of those weeks that was total relaxation, no responsibility and totally other. I worked hard to earn this Arbonne Incentive trip to Cancun and it was so worth it! (Special thanks to Grandma Nancy (Mah-ma and Aunt Hil who flew up from TN to spend the week with her and MeeMee and Papa who took her for the weekend!) My lovely Arbonne Girlz

No dirty diapers, no schedule or meals to make, no cleaning, no work and just space.
Space...
to breathe in deeply, laugh, soak in the sun, take in the beauty and vastness of the ocean, and to discover. Now don't get me wrong, we are truly blessed people even in the midst of the 'norm'. From our precious daughter, to our amazing families, sweet friendships and our lives in general, we are truly blessed. But don't all of us need moments and times away?And I re-discovered that I truly love to spend time with my husband. Oftentimes our moments together are crowded out by other things; we really do need to make scheduled times to just have with and for each other. Oh, and it was really good to return home to our bubbly, energetic, lovely little 2 year-old, aka Elmo; more on that to come!!


I just figured out how to make digital scrapbooks and I think I'm hooked. You may take a look at the one I made for our trip, if you'd like.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Grapes in the Shire and Family

One thing that El has discovered this fall has been the grapes that are ripe and ready for picking surrounding our house. She has decided that her favorites are the "purple drapes" and she can sit at the base of the Concord grape vine, eating grapes for hours on end. You can imagine how this plays out in her bowels, but we won't mention that here on this clean blog-site. If you come to visit us right now, one of the first places she would take you would be to the base of the Concords. For die-hard grape fans like her, the grape is eaten seeds and all. However, most normal grape-eating people don't enjoy the seeds and spit them on the ground. However all grape eaters are accepted around here!

We had some great times with my brother and his family and my grandma came from Iowa for over a week to visit with all of us. Graham has been able to climb four 14er's with my brother and my dad made it up (and down) 1 of them. The following pictures are from the past couple weeks and will show you some of what we have been up to. Blessings!

A little lesson on how baby preying-mantis are made:

Oh, the frustration of it all:

Tree Monkey

I apologize for not writing much lately but frankly, I can't find the time to write anything profound or witty so I will default to just showing off more of our little girl. Videos are something I can get on here rather quickly and still satisfy your thirst for an updated blog. So here are a couple recent ones. Maybe things will slow down in the near future so I can write some more clever things as you have become accustomed to reading here....ha!


Untitled from Andrea Trenda on Vimeo.



Tree Monkey from Andrea Trenda on Vimeo.

Counting and A Song

Here are a couple videos from today when I thought I would take the time to record some of the things we are learning around here. And let me just ask you, have you ever heard 'eleven' sound so cute? Enjoy!


Counting from Andrea Trenda on Vimeo.


Twinkle Twinkle... from Andrea Trenda on Vimeo.

A day in the mountains

Yesterday Graham and I were able to get away for a day, leaving El with my parents (thanks mom and dad), and hiked the Blue Lakes trail at the base of Mt. Sneffels near Ridgway. When we saw Pastor Paul at a wedding a few weeks back, we asked him what a couple of his favorite hikes were (we consider him to be a very seasoned Colorado explorer). He told us about two trails; Blue Lakes and Bridge of Heaven. It is amazing to think that I have lived my whole life here in Colorado and Graham the majority of his here and neither of us had ever made it up to Blue Lakes. Pastor Paul's advice did not disappoint. The two of us agreed that we have never been on such a beautiful, breath-taking trail in our whole lives. It seems that there is just one beautiful thing after another and around every corner a surprising waterfall, new combinations of wildflowers, awe-inspiring views, and the glory of God displayed in creation!A big thunderstorm came in just hours before we embarked on the trail, so it was a day for us to breathe in the fresh, mountain air with the wildflower aromas greeting us in the midst of beautiful meadows. Graham commented that he expects that the aroma in Heaven will be something like that. It was glorious and really reminded us how blessed we are to live in the midst of such beauty, and yes, we are already planning for our hike up Bridge of Heaven. Here are a few pictures from the day but if you care to see more, click on our link to Dropshots under More Pictures. Also, in other news, our dear camera broke so I can't take videos until we are able to purchase a new one and there will probably be a shortage of daily El photos because of the lack of camera. These photos are courtesy of Graham's work camera. Enjoy!"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." John 7:37-38

Catching up

How does time fly by so quickly? I find myself having to look back on pictures from the past month and a half to actually see what we have been doing. We started July off by going to Montrose for our 10 year high school reunion. Aside from seeing a few of my close girl friends, it was totally lame. There were about 25 classmates that showed up out of the 250 or so that we graduated with. Here's to hoping that the 20 year one will be better...if we go.

In other news, this past weekend found us celebrating my sweet hubby's birthday and enjoying the company of his dad who came here to be with us for a long weekend. He and El really enjoyed getting re-acquainted and had some very fun times together. We ate out a lot (which is quite interesting with a wiggly 2 year old), went swimming, the boys got their golf on, and we celebrated Graham on Sunday (although El got a new kitchen or "chichen", as she calls it, from Diddy and Nana for a belated bday present- with which she likes to make "nummy cake"). Having Dale here reminds us how much we wish all of our family could be closer together so that time with everyone could be more frequent and extended. However, we do cherish those times when we get to be together and we did exactly that!
In the midst of all the July happenings, I was very busy with my Arbonne business. June and July found me doing 8 presentations each month, starting a new business builder, and earning the company trip this October to Mexico- we are excited! I can honestly say that this business challenges me in ways that I have never been challenged before, gives me an amazing opportunity to meet tons of new people and build relationships with them, and the Lord is using it to refine me in so many ways. I am so excited to see what He has in store! As a little, shameless advertisement: (seeing as how I now have an international readership on this blog; who is reading in Japan, the UK and Africa?!?!?) if you'd like the opportunity to try some of Arbonne's amazing pure, safe and beneficial products, I am your girl (and I have free samples- just let me know)! Or if you are looking for an incredible business where you are your own boss and set your own hours, I am also your girl!

This past Sunday found us at Bananas Fun Park. It seems ironic looking back on it that it was actually my idea to pack up the family for an afternoon at the inflatable playground, bumper boats, and mini bowling- in 98 degree heat. We started off with the bumper boats and unfortunately weren't able to get any pictures of that...why, you ask? Well, that would be because the aforementioned husband decided to squirt all of the 11 year old boys, which was of course met with large amounts of water being sprayed towards the three of us crowded into a small bumper boat. Can't you just picture it? Our next stop was the inflatable playground. The only problem with this was the shaggy Astroturf which was MUCH hotter than the 98 degree heat. Picture this: the three of us running from shade spot to shade spot (looking like drowned rats from the boats) while deciding which bump and jump equipment wasn't going to totally freak El out. We finally found the giant gorilla which had an entry hole into him the size of a....um...11 year old boy. Graham stuck El into the gorilla, then proceeded to squeeze himself through the belly of the ape. Mind you, the entire innards of the ape were created for the 11 year old boy size as well. So just imagine a lanky, 6 foot+ man crawling up the mini ladder, through the mini hole to go down the mini slide with his mini daughter. It was F.U.N.N.Y.!!!! Being the supportive wife that I am, I was outside the gorilla shooting a couple of pictures. We finished up our time at Bananas with some skeet ball, 31 tickets, two monkey tattoos, a super ball and a game of mini bowling...to El there was no such thing as underhand throws so you can imagine how hard a mini bowling ball falls from 3 feet with force being put into it from an overhand throw...that's my girl! Oh, and how could we forget the menacing alien caterpillar?!?!
Until next time, fellow bloggers and blog stalkers...:)

Snuggling and Olympic Diving!

I intend on writing a blog later this evening about some of the things we have been up to lately, but for now I wanted to share with you a couple more videos that we have taken. We have been quite busy over the past month but it has all been really fun as you can see!


El dancing and snuggling duck from Andrea Trenda on Vimeo.


Our olympic diver! from Andrea Trenda on Vimeo.

Finally...a video

I am excited that I finally figured out how to get a video from our camera to here. This first one is of her saying what she says every time you change her diaper. It seems that her vocabulary is growing each day so I will get more videos of her on here. Enjoy!

~Sidenote...the camera lens is fine even though Graham was concerned. ;o)


El eating and talking from Andrea Trenda on

A big day

El turned two on July 6, but due to the crazy 4th of July weekend and our 10 year high school reunion, we postponed the party until yesterday. We had about 25 of our friends and neighbors come over for a BBQ to help with the celebration. There were many highlights, including the large Elmo bouquet of balloons and tricycle, a beautiful quilt made by Grammy Wendy, dress up clothes and accessories including a fancy skirt that has plays the chicken dance song...what more could you ask for? Puzzles, books, shape sorter, blocks that make animal noises, a chariot of little people and blocks, a baby doll, chalk, Target gift card, and a pink boa.

It is truly an incredible thing to watch her grow, increase in her vocabulary every day, and develop a two year old personality seemingly overnight. She still is sweet, mind you, she just has stronger opinions about things and isn't afraid to let you know about them. I am trying to figure out how to get videos on here so hopefully in the next couple of days you will be able to see those!

Father's Day Weekend

The past few months have been crazy and this week is the 10th week that Graham has been out of town for training, therefore, El and I have been by ourselves for quite some time. This past weekend, Graham was able to come home for the weekend and we had a great time together. Saturday was spent at home with ice cream cones and just hanging out. We then drove down to my parent's, dropped off El and continued on to Ouray where we ate at one of our favorite restaurants, the Bon Ton (courtesy of dear friends, John and Aleta!). We celebrated our 6th Anniversary which will officially be this Sunday...my how time flies! Sunday was fun because we were able to spend it with my parents and brother and his family. We had a big bbq together and played in the new kayak that my parents bought. El loved sitting in it and singing 'row your boat' while doing the motions too. So for lack of time and creativity, I am just posting some pictures from our time together.

Let's dance

Ok, I must make a confession...I absolutely LOVE to watch So You Think You Can Dance on Fox! I don't know why I enjoy watching people dance so much, probably because I am not a good dancer. I enjoy dancing but only in the privacy of my own home or at weddings here and there. For those of you who have not watched this show, I just had to share this audition that was amazing! This is a popper from Cali and he is unbelievable at what he does...what an entertainer! ENJOY!

Random pix

I haven't shared many pictures very recently so I thought it time to do so. I look at these pictures and am amazed at how Ellie has somehow morphed from baby to little girl so quickly. She is now talking up a storm, and able to communicate fairly well and understand us even better. (Even though she doesn't always want to hear what we are saying) She is such a joy and blessing!

On a hike in Colorado National Monument:
Playing with her cousins- this just cracks me up
you have to click on the pic to make it bigger:

Playing in the water on our hike:

The Fam:

Yesterday was her first time in piggy tails
"Moo" the cow, courtesy of Diddy and Nana!