Echo Day and a cute baby

Another article Dave wrote for the blog at work

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I have some amazing kids. My oldest daughter Leah is 8 years old and has the wisdom and insight of someone way beyond her years. She's always picked up on things quickly and been keenly tuned into some of the bigger things that life throws at us. Since moving up here at the beginning of the summer we've been able to spend a lot of time outdoors as a family. When Northstar's Vail Resorts Echo Day was announced,  I asked if Leah wanted to join me

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as we cleaned up a part of Martis Creek that needed  some help. She said yes and when the day was upon  us we went out with smiles, rakes and gloves to help  do our part. It was a great chance for me to explain  why we give of our time to help people and places  that the earth needs our help. She totally got it. Ever since then Leah has been very aware of her surroundings. On a recent hike I noticed her picking up trash along the trail and putting it in her pocket. I told her I was proud of her and she said 'we all need to do our part.' She is a special type of kid. She is also now joining the "Eco" team at her school and continues  to remind us to recycle at home. I love that VR Echo  gave me an opportunity to teach and learn with my own  children. It made a difference in the work we did that  day and with a little 8 year old girl with big dreams and an even bigger heart. David Ratchford Director of Brand Marketing Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort

Elder Rothart one of the missionaries that served in our area. Just a couple days before he went home after his 2 year mission. We love having them over for dinner.

 A slightly abnormal picture of baby Claire without a bow.

Oh she is one sweet girl. We went to the doctor recently. She weighs 15 1/2 pounds and is in the 50% for height and 25% for weight. Actually she stayed exactly on the growth cart curve which I guess doesn't happen very often. Lately I decided to get her used to sleeping in her crib. Now I can just lay her down in the there and she goes right to sleep. She is such a happy mellow baby.

Alright to those of you who thought I would never blog again. I have updated 17 posts to be exact. And caught you up with a whole summer of adventures in the life of the Ratchfords. I promise to be better and not let it go so long next time. Please check back with us and I promise not to bore you with the same pictures for three months straight. And since I have to have things in order of when they actually happened for journalings sake. You will have to go back to the beginning of June to see all the new ones. I have no excuses except for....new baby....moving...baby who loves to be held....driving everywhere we go....alright I'll stop. No excuses from here on out.

11th Anniversary

On the 23rd Dave and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary. Can't believe the it has been that long. We are just realizing how old we are going to get quick. I told Dave this year. This is as good as it is going to get. I am starting to look old. But I can't think of anyone better to grow old with. We left the kids and went for a kayaking adventure at the lake. Then out to dinner.

The lake is so clear that you can see down for like a mile. It was pretty spooky because there are these huge rocks. A monster could be lurking beneath and you would never know it.

Leah's New Look

Revealing the new Leah. After complaining about headaches nearly every night. And telling us she had to rub her eyes 20 times a day because they were blurring. We decided to make an appointment with the eye doctor. She has a astigmatism and just a slight prescription to fix the blurriness. I think she looks darling and she loves having glasses.

And of course everyone had to try them on.

Family Photo Shoot

A big thanks to Emily Carmack for her photography skills. We love them. And you will have to wait for the family photo til we send out of Christmas cards. I know the anticipation is going to kill you.

Soccer Season

Soccer season is in full swing here. One thing I can say for Truckee is the weather is a lot better for sitting on the sidelines. 70 and breezy most days. The kids both have wonderful coaches. And it is a lot more busy. They play 2 games a week each. Every Monday the girls are both at the same time to it takes some juggling but they have made it to most of their games.  Also I have made a couple friends from all the time we spend on the sidelines.

Eva's cute team the Purple People Eaters. 

Leah's team is, The Girlfriends. I still chuckle every time Dave yells, "go girlfriends."

Ronan plays every Saturday along with 75 other 4 year olds. They go through a bunch of drills and then play little 4 on 4 games. He is much improved from last year when he wouldn't play at all. In fact he has scored at least a couple goals in each game. Last Saturday I took him and he scored 2 goals and he said is was boring and he wanted to score 5 like last game.

Ronan's First BMX Race

At North Star there was a free kids BMX race. Dave entered Ronan in and got all this free bike gear. He was so excited to be in a race. Dave said he was very serious about the whole thing. He was the only little kid to go over the ramps in the race. Then after the 2 laps of the race he kept going and did 4 laps. He took second place and got a real medal.

This is his buddy Ty who took second in his age group too.

Emily's Visit

We had the pleasure of Mrs. Carmack and Griff coming for a visit. It was probably all my lamenting about how home sick I was on the phone. She hopped on a flight and popped up. We road the lift up to the top of the resort.

Here we all are. I am sure Dave will never want another women in his life after all the nagging he got from the two of us.

Down at the lake for quick look and some ice cream. Griff enjoyed his.  

We had some wonderful weather and were even able to go to the beach at Sand Harbor. During the summer these beaches are packed and you cant even get parking. But we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Ronan spend the whole day climbing on all these rocks.  

We took a couple great walks. And even got a night out to go shopping in Reno. 

And spent 2 afternoons at the pool.  We had to try to keep it hush hush because the girls didn't want to go to school after they found out how much fun we were having.  Thanks Emily for coming to rescue me from my homesickness. It really helped. Oh and wait you all see that family pictures she took for us.

Guess who is 6 months? I can hardly believe it. Time has flown by. But even with how busy we have been I still feel like I have had plenty of time to snuggle this darling thing. This month has been a big month of changes. She learned to sit up, roll over both ways, has starting trying to grab whatever food I am eating. And in biggest news can put herself to sleep in her crib. I feel like a new women. Instead of holding a baby all day I can actually stay caught up on my life. Why can't I just freeze her at this age. She is divine! So far no teeth but she chews on everything so maybe something is coming in.

5 months for Claire was the age of laying on her tummy wishing she could move somewhere. Starting to eat solid foods. And just killing us with her cuteness. Oh and lots of holding.

Always chewing on that finger. Here are some cute ones from our 5 month photo shoot.

First time eating baby food. I had a Leah helper to feed her while I took some pictures. She mostly pushed it back out of her mouth. But after a few weeks she had it down.

A photo montage of her monthly photos for the last 6 months. Click on it to make it bigger.