happy birthday aunt liz & welcome baby!

emily, cory & wyatt welcomed isabella into their family on tuesday september 21st!

we cannot wait to meet this sweet little dollface =)

xoxo from l m n o.

and aunt liz we could not go without wishing you a very happy birthday today!

we love & miss you.

lots of hugs & kisses.

love l m n o.

a lot of updates & ministories.

for some reason september for us has been busy busy busy! i thought that once summer started winding down, so did the action...not for us apparently! i have had so many blogs this month i can't even believe it & the stories keep coming. i guess i am making up for you slacker bloggers by being 'blogger on crack'. no mom, i'm not on crack, it's just an expression ;) i just have a lot of mini stories and/or updates that i'm going to briefly write about...here goes...

faith of a family.
for those of you who read elizabeth's (michael's sister) blog, this will be a double dip, but those of you who don't, i want to update you on their grandma spooner. grandma fredie (mike's mother, mary's, mom aka oliver's great gma), suffered a severe aneurysm, and coincidently a heart attack, a little over 2 weeks ago. she had a successful surgery (entered through the skull) to remove the damage & she began recovery. we have been thinking of grandma fredie everyday as she continues to fight against this tragic event. we have faith that she will continue to progress in her rehabilitation & we hope to be making a visit in the near future, if we can. much love to you great grandma alfreda & the spooner family!

baby news.
so we are so excited that a new baby will soon be added to the clan that consists already of ava, kye, wyatt, oliver &... baby number two! no it's not me expecting!!! michael's sister, emily is going to be delivering very very soon. like she went into the hospital this morning to begin the process soon =) we cannot wait to meet him/her & the surprise & suspense is killing us over here in colorado! this is another great reason to try & get back asap to the midwest! new baby time. and speaking of new baby time. i am doing backflips at the announcement of friend, marcell, expecting their first baby in march! i couldn't be happier for marce & josh & have had a lot of fun talking to marce on the phone already!

multitasking mama.
okay, so on top of mama'ing & playing manager of household chores (haha), i have added a lot of different things to my leyna plate. i have recently gotten extremely serious about starting & launching my own photography services. at this point though, i am busy educating myself & working on organizing & planning. it will no doubt take a little time to get all in place, but i am very motivated & passionate about this new endeavor. also, among other photography tools i have been outreaching, i recently set up a flickr account. this way i will be able to learn more about my shots & eventually network with other photographers. i believe that i am going to handle my photography news out of my 'another day in luckyville' blog. that way i can focus on family here & business & other stuff there. libba & i have already started weekly theme-based photo sharing. i will make sure to post on luckyville our weekly themes. this weeks theme is 'new life'. please visit the site to check out more!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/photographybyleynahanson/

or check out another day in luckyville link on top of page.

the men who stare at goats.
one of michael's co-workers invited us over a couple of weekends ago to enjoy some bbq & social time. in his backyard, just so happens to be a family of goats =) oliver loved them!

curls for the girls.
check out these curls that come out after bathtime. i just admire them. so cute. my brother used to have curls when he was a baby...well...i think he still has them, but he doesn't appreciate them as much now.

aspen afternoon.
oliver & i took an afternoon trip over to aspen the other day for a change-o-scenery. it was a very nice day so we stopped at a little park in the commons downtown & ventured to the bookstore in search of a book.

the man in the background is either a known (except i do not know) actor or author. as i was browsing the shelves, i stumbled in on a conversation between him & the store clerk. he was mentioning his "famous kitchen scene" and that it (book and/or movie) was put on the "banned" list. if anyone happens to recognize, let me know ;)

some of the "banned" books back in the day.

the store was giving homage to them & their authors.

hawk-twooie.
this photo was taken right before last weeks iowa hawkeye's game. if you're a hawk, you don't want to talk about it. if you're a cyclone, you can't stop laughing about it. and if you're neither, well then, here's a photo of oliver in football cheering mode!

room project postponed.

so i have been planning a renovation in oliver's room for some time now.  but, with the weather & all other craziness happening lately...i have postponed the project to a weekend that gives us bad weather. i need the weekend so the painting doesn't turn into a disaster with oliver around & i need bad weather, because soon enough, winter will be here & i will need something to occupy my time, as if i have any to spare ;)

biking the glenwood canyon.

so today we set off on a crisp morning to bike the glenwood canyon.  once we got there it was perfect weather. just enough breeze. lovely. the canyon is so beautiful now that everything is changing colors. the bike trail runs right between i70 & the colorado river. so, even though we have driven through the canyon, it was definitely a different experience biking it. we took off east from glenwood springs & enjoyed taking in the sights & sounds. after we turned around (20 mile round trip), i had certain spots i wanted to stop & photograph...and when i pulled my camera out there was no memory card!!! i forgot my memory card in the computer...again! ugh. which i am halfway okay with because mike would've made me take photos of him. which normally is fine, but he thinks he's bringing the 70s back & shaved a stupid mustache. and he refuses to get rid of it! so i decided that we would just have to go back & bike it again at least to get some scenic fall photos. and this was my plan until...the last mile back stung us with a killer incline (around hills). okay, i am no lance armstrong! it kicked our butts. and michael had it worse with an extra 50 lbs, pulling the trailer with oliver. wow! so, maybe we will be back...just don't know how soon. i asked mike why we don't consistently ride instead of going balls to the walls everytime we go out on a ride...end up hurting for three days after & craving cheeseburgers the whole time?! don't know. anyway, i borrowed a couple of photos to at least give you a taste of what we experienced.

you ride either right beside the interstate or underneath it...it gave me an interesting on edge feeling the whole time!

and although we felt like roadkill after we were finished...we can cross it off the list!

the maroon bells & slash.

the weekend after oliver & i returned from the midwest it was labor day. and we were given wonderful weather up here in the mountains! we took the opportunity to hike around the maroon bells...note 'around' and not actually hiking 'the' maroon bells. they are a very high risk climb! not for the untrained. but they have a lot of backcountry hikes for us me ameteurs. located right in our backyard (near aspen). love it! they are the most photographed peaks in north america by the way ;) the hike was variable as far as temperature & weather conditions. cold, warm, windy, cloudy...tis the mountains. by the time we made it to our destination, we had only climbed in elevation 1000 feet but it felt like 10,000! we started at maroon lake & ended at crater lake, a mere 3.6 mile round trip, once we made it back. but...the hike enters into an ancient rockslide...so, i wasn't too thrilled i didn't choose the most ankle-supporting hiking shoes! so i'm not gonna lie, i had a couple ankle-rolling debacles that i avoided. my photos are hit & miss as far as actual bells detail because we thought we were going to come back the next day...but...old mikey's creakity body was hurting ;) he did have an extra 20+ lbs on his back. hopefully we can make it up again before winter shows up. enjoy the bells!

simple surroundings.

love for the aspens.

pyramid peak in upper left, maroon bells other mtn shots, crater lake & fall colors.

mike made me take this...

this

+ this

= some treacherous hiking!

my mountain men.

crater lake.

hiking through ancient rocks is tiring...

you have to keep your eyes glued to where you're stepping & it made my eyes all wacky by the time we were going back down =)

and then...slash made an appearance at our house...ha!

so the other day i heard the sound all parents hate to hear...

the bloodcurdling cry...

ya know, the one that really means something crappy happened.

and as i went to the rescue, i saw blood, the first bloodshed ever...

it wasn't huge major need stitches injury, but it was significant & in such a delicate place. plus it already looks like it healed for a week overnight.

he had swelling & black & blueness yesterday...so...

honestly, i swear i wasn't being bad parent ignoring my son...

don't call dhs.

he just fell...

as he does now...

and this time...

he split open his eyelid.

boo.

oliver aka slash a day after.

please mind you, he cried for like 5 minutes, i first-aided him & he was off doing the exact same thing. cheers to boys. hmmmph.