Ice Castles

My first Groupon purchase was a set of tickets to see the ice castles up in Silverthorne.  I had never heard of them before, but the pictures looked really cool and I decided it would be a fun activity.  We invited the LeDosquets and made it a party.  The artist uses icicles and sprayed water which freezes overnight to create these 20 foot tall towers.  They were pretty incredible.  Unfortunately it's pretty late in the season and we have had a really warm spell, so there was a lot of dripping icicles and slush puddles.  I didn't know if we would have a snow clothes battle on our hands with the girls, but since it was so warm they just needed their coats and galoshes and we had happy campers.  Hallelujah!  We saw the castles first in the afternoon in full daylight, then came back once the sun set for a different experience.  It was pretty awesome.  Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Wall of icicles

Munchkin among the towers

Cambrie exploring (don't mind her ice-cream pajama bottoms :)

Family pic

Happy couple

Ceiling shot

McKenzie's hand inside an air pocket

And immediately following, McKenzie's cold fingers in Jeremy's ear

Icicle wall at night

Night-time ceiling shot

Cambrie sloshing through a melted trough

Backlit castle

Pregnancy thoughts

I just found out that I'm pregnant!  This will be baby number three and Jeremy and I really excited.  I have been having all sorts of mixed emotions with this pregnancy.  If everything had gone according to plan, I would have been pregnant months ago and be due sometime this summer, putting all of our kids 2 1/2 years apart.  But then I qualified for Boston and that is such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we decided to wait until after the Boston marathon to have our third kid.  Sometimes this logic makes sense to me, and sometimes it seems very selfish.  Is it right to hold off a kid just because of a race?  On the other hand, it is only going to be about 5-6 months behind schedule and will that really make a huge difference in the long run?  We decided to try to start getting pregnant so that I'd only be a little pregnant for Boston.  So far I've had pretty easy pregnancies with no complications.  I even did my first triathlon while 9 weeks pregnant with McKenzie so I know I can stay active without any problems.  But I'm worried.  I'm worried that I'll become too tired in the next few weeks to train effectively.  I'm worried that the stress of a marathon will cause me to have a miscarriage.  Im' worried that I'm compromising and my race will suffer because of it.  I don't know, so many emotions!  And to top it all off, I can't talk to anyone except Jeremy about it.  I don't want to tell anyone I'm pregnant until after the race.  Until after I know that everything is in the clear and this baby is a go.  Most of my running and pregnant friends know that I wish I was pregnant right now.  So the news wouldn't be a huge surprise, but I still want to tell them.  Being pregnant is exciting!  I want to shout it from the rooftops that I am four weeks along with a baby!  I wish I knew if it was a boy or a girl.  I wish I knew everything will be okay with all of my training and racing.  Since this is all a secret, I can't post this little journal entry for about another five weeks or so.  It is just going to sit in my draft folder waiting for the right time to come out.  But I feel better already getting it all written down.

Sunshine

It is spring in Colorado!  Hooray!  Yesterday the girls and I walked across the street to the park to enjoy the sunshine...without jackets!  While the girls were running around, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of how cute they are when they play.  On the way over, Cambrie insisted that she was a dog (and that her real girl name from now on is Maly-pronounced Molly) anyway...McKenzie had a good time walking her dog to the park.  Or was the dog walking her? 

Once there McKenzie did a good job of posing for pictures for me.  I'm training her well.  Cambrie wasn't as cooperative, so there aren't pictures of her.  Sorry sweetie, just smile when I say smile and all will be right with the world. 

After McKenzie had been swinging for awhile she got out to run around with Cambrie, but quickly grew tired of chasing her and ended up back at the swings.  She had just as much fun swinging on them this way as when she was sitting down. 

And the bug-eye sunglasses picture is always cute.  I just love my girls and warm spring days!  Yea for Sunshine and smiles!

Shh..shh...

Just because I think McKenzie is cute...

We've had a surplus of boxes around the house for some reason.  Well, I caught McKenzie in this one singing her baby to sleep.  So cute!

Breckenridge weekend

Jeremy and I like good deals, especially when those good deals take us places.  We signed up to listen to a timeshare presentation of Grand Lodge 7 up in Breckenridge in exchange for really cheap lodging for the weekend.  We drove my mom out from Utah to watch the girls while Jeremy and I got to have a weekend to ourselves.  It was sooo nice.  We started out our trip on the slopes.  I had never skied Breckenridge before and it had been years for Jeremy, so we just wandered, explored and had a good time.  We both rode a T-bar for the first time to access some fun chutes, but have since decided that it takes more muscle than it's worth to ride up on one of those.  There had been some fresh snow the day before so we were able to find some really soft runs through the trees and had a really good time. 

When it came time to check into our hotel they offered us a chance to be closer to the resort where we could ski in/shuttle out, so we took the offer.  We ended up in a two-bedroom condo with full kitchen.  This worked out perfectly for our girls who were coming up on Saturday.  Unfortunately the hot tubs were cold!  We were so disappointed!  There was just enough wind up on the slopes to chill us to the bone and we were looking forward to warming in the hot tubs.  We headed back to the room to instead get ready for dinner on the town. 

After walking down main street and considering our options, we chose to eat at Kenosha Steakhouse.  I was starving so we got an appetizer to eat while waiting for our meal.  We had barely started eating our hummus plate when our food showed up.  It was the fastest I think I have ever received my entree at any restaurant.  We ate BBQ until we were ready to burst then headed back to the room.  It was only 5 degrees outside and just cold enough that we decided to forgo the window shopping until another day. 

The next day we were able to walk up and hop on a shuttle to go skiing.  That was so convenient as opposed to a two-hour car ride.  Despite the convenience, we only made it down two runs before we were both too frozen to continue.  The wind was howling, and it was cold.  It was the first time in a long time that I decided warmth was more important than my lift ticket.  We warmed up in one of the lodges before braving the cold again.  Two more runs later we were headed back to our hotel.  I simply needed to warm up, and needed extra layers.  By this time my mom was on her way so we just waited for her to get there with the girls.  To sweeten the deal for my mom when we asked her to come out, we told her that she would have a chance to ski.  So I stayed in the room with the girls (continuing to warm up) while my mom and Jeremy went back out.  The condo owners had left puzzles for us to use, but some time ago the puzzles lost their boxes and four of them were dumped into the same basket.  The girls and I entertained ourselves for awhile separating and putting together these four puzzles.  Jeremy came back then I switched him out to join my mom.  Apparently the wind had stopped for them and they had fantastic skiing, but luck was not on my side.  As soon as I met my mom the wind picked back up.  We did finish the afternoon, but it was chilly.  Wouldn't you know it, the next day was beautiful...agh! 

Later that evening my mom and I walked the streets of Breckenridge and did some window shopping.  We looked at new ski coats, snow shoeing pants, and unique little gifts.  Wouldn't it be nice to have lots, and lots of money?  We finished off the night with ice-cream sandwiches for the family then went to bed. 

Jeremy and I had to attend that timeshare presentation the next morning and even though we both told ourselves we were going in there with our minds made up and there was no way they could tempt us to spend money on a timeshare, we both wavered.  The location was at the base of Peak 7.  You literally walk out of your room onto the slopes.  The amenities were fantastic and it was a lot more affordable than I expected.  Jeremy and I didn't know what to do.  It was soo tempting.  We would have loved to be able to afford that kind of lifestyle; a week across the globe or trade those in for dozens of weekends during the year.  So tempting, especially in a place like Breckenridge which has so much charm.  Ultimately we decided we just couldn't do it, but will likely be contacting them again in five years or so.  What a dream!

Jeremy's tail

Oh sweet Cambrie!  This is the story of Jeremy's tail.  Once upon a time there lived a sweet little girl named Cambrie.  This girl loved creating thing out of nothing and had a remarkable talent for creating incredibly inventive toys.  She can make beds, rocket ships, playgrounds, and cars out of packing boxes.  Packing bubbles become mattresses and blankets, and the packing tape becomes tails.  One fine day she went around the house giving every family member a chance to wear the tail.  Shortly thereafter Jeremy went to the bank to deposit a check.  As he walked through the bank her kept hearing snickers behind him and thought that they were noticing his missing socks with his tennis shoes.  Pretty soon all of the female tellers in the bank were smiling and holding back laughter.  One kind woman came up to Jeremy and said, "That's a fine looking tail you have there sir."  Suddenly it all came rushing back to Jeremy that he had never taken off the tail that Cambrie had given him earlier.  He smiled, laughed with the kind tellers, and told them all about his sweet daughter named Cambrie who can make something out of nothing. 

Kindergarten Tea

Yesterday Cambrie and I attended the Kindergarten Tea for her new elementary school.  It is a great school.  There is a lot of parent envolvement, local support from our neighborhood, good programs (they've been able to keep all the music, art, science, and PE classes even with the budget cuts), and have been testing really well.  While the parents listened to the presentation about how wonderful this school and school district was, Cambrie and the other soon-to-be kindergarteners played games in the gym.  I love that she is confident enough to go an play with new friends and that she isn't too-clingy.  I also love the fact that we have six other girls from our ward who are also going to be attending the afternoon kindergarten class and I have six moms to talk with, coordinate with, and enjoy our kindergartners together.  Once the presentation was over we collected our frolicking kids for a tour of the school.  Cambrie and I had walked around together when we picked up her kindergarten packet, but it was nice to get some explanation for the school ground and school programs as a whole.  We got to visit a kindergarten classroom and were able to meet the teacher, some students, and see what they will work on next year.  Cambrie is really excited.  Every day she asks if it's time to go to kindergarten yet.  I must admit that I am just as excited.  It's fun to think that my little girl is old enough to walk up to that school every day and is becoming more independent.  With her new hair cut and her missing front teeth, she looks even older like that's where she is supposed to be.