AJ turns 34

To begin my day of treats, Jeremy treated me to delicious crepes for breakfast.  He has all the mix-ins for savory maple bacon crepes with mushrooms, and sweet strawberry and cream crepes.  He's a wiz in the kitchen and I love it!  

I was also spoiled with a massage that day which was long overdue.  Once home from the massage we took the kids to a new mini-golf place.  They all had such a good time and I loved watching them try to figure out the course.  

Daxton was a trooper and hit his ball from the very beginning of each hole, all the way to the end.  

Once or twice he made it in two shots and was pretty proud of himself.  

On the very last hole Cambrie went first and missed the special hole-in-one spot.  We were all standing nearby waiting to see what was going to happen.  We had just decided that nothing would happen if you missed, when a giant spout of water came squirting at us.  The only one who didn't jump away in time was Daxton.  He was so upset! He ran away screaming and crying and wouldn't get close enough to hit his own ball again.  When we finally convinced him there was no more water, I shot my ball and made the hole-in-one shot, which sent spouts of fire into the air.  He was terrified all over again!  So much for the happy family memories huh?  

We had just enough time to go ride the  Go-Karts.  The boys rode tandem with Jeremy and I, while the girls were on their own.  

Cambrie was crazy competitive and wanted to beat Jeremy.  Jeremy wanted to beat everyone so she had her work cut out for her.  McKenzie was playing it safe.  And every time I whipped around the corner too fast and drifted, Daxton sunk down lower in his seat.  By the time we were done I was shocked he could even see over the edge.  

I loved what the kids gave me for presents.  I have a new umbrella, and a necklace that doesn't quite fit over my head.  Jeremy also surprised me with a new diamond bracelet Cambrie helped him choose.  I love it so much.  

I think somebody likes the ice-cream cake.  What do you think?

My family did such a great job of spoiling me on my birthday.  It was a fabulous day.

Backyard camping

We didn't book a campsite this year for Memorial Day, so instead we decided to give our backyard a shot and camp there.  We pulled out a new fire pit so we could roast hot dogs and marshmallows.  Apparently Jeremy and I need to give the kids more instruction on how to light matches...  But once the fire was going we were ready to eat.  

I have to say that campfire dinner prep is a lot easier in my real kitchen versus a campsite.  Our fearless camping crew.

The hot dogs were yummy, but the s'mores were delicious.  When we gave Daxton his assembled s'more he asked why I was making a marshmallow sandwich.  After his first bite he said, "That is yummy!  Can I make more?"  

We all went to bed pretty early.  I was shocked that no one had a hard time falling asleep.  In the early hours of the morning though I was woken by falling rain and thunder.  A thunderstorm had rolled in during the night, which wasn't unusual.  However, the storm was right above us and the thunder was coming immediately after each lightning strike.  They were close, loud, and so bright!  I popped my head up to see how the kids were handling it and they weren't even stirring.  Breathing a sigh of relief I settled back into bed, but didn't fall asleep because now hail was pelting the tent.  It was all so loud!  I had to get up after awhile and knock the hail off the roof of the tent because it was starting to make the tent sag.  Still the kids were tucked into their sleeping bags and weren't screaming in fear.  Eventually the lightning and hail stopped and I was able to fall back asleep.  The kids slept in until nearly 9:00 the next morning.  Even though they didn't appear upset with the storm, it must have woken them up enough that they were still tired.  I was glad we were in our backyard in case we needed to escape instead of trapped up in the mountains.  It was definitely an adventurous backyard experience.  I love these little footprints in the hail the next morning.

Cambrie's first BB10K

It's time for the Bolder Boulder!  Cambrie set a goal to run this race months ago but we had been so sidetracked by other things that I didn't know if we were actually still going to run it.  But Cambrie gritted her teeth, set her alarm, and woke up early to run every morning before school.  I was impressed by her determination.  She mentioned that her friend, Halle, was running too.  Well, her mom, JoDee is my friend...so it was meant to be!  

We drove up together and did our race prep together.  They started in an earlier wave and it was Cambrie's goal to catch up.  She had a couple goals actually: run the entire thing without stopping, have fun, and beat some young men in the ward who she discovered were running too.  It ended up being the perfect race.  She paced the whole thing well so she never had to stop to walk.  She was smiling the entire time.  She even stopped to enjoy a popsicle and slip 'n slide along the way.  

One of our favorite games came about as we were weaving in and out of the thousands of racers.  I would find a hole and she would follow me through it.  As I turned around to make sure she was still there she was supposed to call out, "Still alive!"  It was great!  The last mile we really started pushing the pace and it was starting to get hard.  She almost stopped to walk as we entered the stadium, but that was not going to happen.  She sprinted down the last straight away then wanted nothing else but to sit down.  She finished with a time of 58:35, which is awesome for her first 10k.  

She met almost all of her goals, one young man got away from her and I have a feeling it will encourage her to really train hard until next year so she can beat him! I'm just glad she had fun so we can do this again.

Wicked

Wicked came to town.  I wasn't sure what our spring was going to bring so I delayed buying tickets until almost the last minute.  As a result we were pretty high in the balcony.  The girls didn't mind.  They were so excited to be finally seeing the show!  We had been listening to parts of the soundtrack for awhile to prep them on the story line.  They loved every minute of it, and I caught McKenzie trying to flip her hair like Glinda during the song, "Popular."  Oh it made me smile.

Soccer game hang outs

My kids have become pros at hanging out at soccer games.  McKenzie packed this wagon for a trip to the park and it was incredibly well supplied for the soccer game later.  She had packed towels, water bottles, snacks, toys, chalk, and bandaids!  I think she was better prepared than I was!  

At the game they made little chalk rock people with rocks and pinecones.  Oh their creative minds!

 Perfect sunny selfie!

Toddler selfies

What are these rascals up to?!  Nothing like finding dozens of toddler selfies in my camera roll!

Last day of school (in all its chilly glory)

School is out for summer and my kids couldn't be more excited!  Well, admittedly there were tears shed so maybe they're only mostly excited about school being over.  The goodbye that was most difficult was Kelton's teacher, Mrs. Myers.  Kelton has thrived at preschool this year!  Mrs. Myers loved him for who he was and helped him be the best little preschooler possible.  I was all sorts of choked up when it was time to say goodbye, but I wasn't the only one.  At least Daxton will be attending this same school next year so that we'll hopefully run into Mrs. Myers again.  

McKenzie finished third grade with style!  Ok, this is NOT what she normally wears to school.  The third grade team thought it would be a great idea to have the kids dress up at tacky tourists on the last day of school.  Why not the second-to-last day of school?  Oh well, it creates a memorable picture for the album.  

Cambrie is done with 6th grade and is one more year closer to high school, which I just don't think is ok at all!  I wanted a final picture and I made the girls stop as soon as they climbed out of the car.  Don't worry, I didn't get out of the car myself to take the picture.  It has been a year of growth for Cambrie in more ways than one and I'm so proud of the way she's handled everything that's been thrown at her.

 

Just kidding! It's cooling down!

Colorado weather is absolutely insane!  Last week we were pulling out our shorts and sunscreen.  Today I had to dig out the snow gear.  I don't think Colorado realizes that there are only two days of school left before SUMMER VACATION!  Never did I believe that we would be building the first snowman of our new house in May.  Not only one, but two!  And there was enough snow to keep going if we weren't all soaked through.  Happy May 21st!  Happy summer vacation??

It's warming up

Warm weather is starting to creep up on us.  Yippee!  We are celebrating by spending more time outside.  

Daxton, for one, needs as much outside time as we can possibly give him.  This picture came just minutes after he was throwing a full-blown tantrum about apple juice instead of an ice-cream cone.  We took our food outside, and out of nowhere he turned to me and said, "I love you Mom."  This kid gives me whiplash!

We are riding bikes around the neighborhood.  There was a neighborhood garage sale this day and it felt like the most suburban Saturday afternoon I could imagine.  Everyone was outside visiting with neighbors, riding their bikes, working in the yard, and generally enjoying a fabulous weekend.

Going to parks and climbing like monkeys.  

Hanging out in the hammock.  We finally have trees big enough to hang our hammock from and the kids are definitely making the most of it.

And eating popsicles.  The kids can't wait for school to be out this week so that this all happens every day.