11th birthday PARTY

Kelton's birthday was just a warm up to his birthday party.  We invited over some of the boys from his class for an epic backyard water fight.  Luckily it has been toasty this weekend so a water fight was exactly what we needed.  We rented a huge inflatable water slide, picked up pool noodles, water guns, and hundreds of water balloons.  The boys got to work right away battling with everything we had.  Eleven year old boys have so much energy!  They ran around like crazy for hours without stopping.  

Jeremy decided to join in on the fun and quickly became the boys' prime target for their guns and their balloons.  Trying to get him down the slide became quite the battle.  

Of course the boys couldn't let it stay there, once Jeremy dumped a bucket of water on me letting the boys know I was free game, I because the target.  I took off running through the neighborhood but those boys were persistent.  They caught me and dragged me back to the house.  I managed to wrestle the sprayer away from them just long enough to attack and escape.  

By this point in the afternoon though a thunderstorm rolled in.  Suddenly the boys were shivering and we brought everything inside.  A few brave souls stayed outside doing tricks on the waterslide while those inside scored their skills. 

 Eventually the boys realized that a water slide in the rain actually sounded like a fabulous idea and they headed outside again.  

It even warmed up in time for cake which was perfect timing.  As Kelton was blowing out his balloons his friends started chanting, "Long live Kelton!  Long live Kelton!  Long live Kelton!"  I don't think Kelton has ever been celebrated like that before and he was on cloud 9.  

No one was quite ready for the party to wrap up.  Those four hours flew and I wish we could've kept all the boys over longer.  Our wet and wild crew.

(Kelton, Colin, Daxton, Tai, Garrett, Kai, Max, Elle.)

Once they left though, Cambrie and McKenzie returned from their activities and we could start the playing all over again.  Moki may have been forced to participate but he eventually warmed up to the idea of the slide if not the splashdown pool at the bottom.  

Happy birthday dude.  I hope this day of celebrating you was a fabulous one.

Sunday driving

So, you're telling me that your drive home from church on Sunday doesn't look like a wrestling gym?  That's weird.

 

Triple Bypas

I've grown to really like Triple Bypass. The route is beautiful and I love having a supported ride.  This year I was really nervous because Anthony had all of his Lotoja buddies riding with us.  I shouldn't have worried, I was much stronger than I realized.  We all started together and we actually had a plan this year-wait at the top and bottom of the descents. Jeremy totally dominated Juniper Pass and had to wait for the rest of us for awhile.  I beat the rest of the guys up that first climb and was feeling pretty good about the day.  It was going to be hot during the day so we didn't even take layers.  We knew we needed to stay super hydrated as we climbed.  Some of the most fun moments were when we were all totally in sync and had a whole train of cyclists.  I pulled and drafted with the best of them and had such a blast.  I had another good climb up to Loveland Pass and even felt pretty good to the top of Loveland.  But that descent is always rough for me to keep up and the guys just pulled ahead.  I had to ride the next fifteen miles or so alone and I didn't love that.  I was also starting to feel a little sick. My stomach had been hurting off and on all day, but it wasn't getting better.  After we passed through Frisco I knew that I was in trouble.  Jeremy recognized it and dropped back to stay with me while the guys went ahead.  I was close to breaking.  We stopped for me to climb in the river so I could cool down, but I was started shivering and knew I couldn't stay long.  My plan was to stop in Copper and pick up a SAG van to the finish, Jeremy didn't let me do that.  We had to bring our effort way, way down so I didn't get sick again, and it meant that we finished the last 35 miles of the ride like tourists.  Vail Pass has never been so beautiful.  We could actually enjoy it because we were moving at such a casual pace.  

After we passed Vail we had another awful headwind and knew we just needed to finish the day.  Jeremy teamed up with another cyclist and the two of them pulled the train that got us across the finish line.  Honestly, Jeremy earned some major husband points for helping me make it through the day.  It was a fabulous ride with fabulous company.

 

Kelton's 11th birthDAY

Kelton woke up on his 11th birthday to find an obstacle course outside his bedroom.  The only way to get downstairs to food and presents was to complete it blindfolded.  He wound through tunnels, passed through balloon forests, had to surf a mattress down the stairs and scale a lovesac to reach the finish.  He had so much fun he and Daxton did it twice more!  

No sisters here today (they are both at Youth Conference) but that just meant we had more of the banana scones and sausage to ourselves!

Construx battles with Daxton

Present opening came early so that we could spend the day playing with his new toys. 

He obviously got board games because that is his jam.  We've never played Catan Seafarers and were so excited to give it a whirl. The style of the game pieces has changed a little from Jeremy's original game that is nearly twenty years old, but it still works!  It changes so much strategy and is so fun to play.

He also requested a smart watch.  After all his hiking in RMNP this summer he wants to know exactly how far he's gone.

That night the four of us went to go see Despicable Me 4.  It was a goofy show with the minions as always, and we had a great time.  Happy birthday to my easy going, fun loving boy.

17 years old!

Happy 17th birthday Cambrie!  She has had a wild summer so far and it is crazy to me that it's already her birthday...again.  Didn't she just turn 16?  I swear 17 is still too far away.  It was a pretty chill day for her birthday, just the way she likes it.  She was surprised by a household full of rainbow star balloons.  Her favorite?  Emo balloon, the sold black balloon who couldn't float like the rest of his friends and just wandered aimlessly through the house.  

Good morning sunshine!  

We decided to go hang out at her favorite place, the library.  Check out the books stack this girl was carrying around!  I think she is currently reading seven different books and will likely have them all done by the weekend.  

We took a girls' lunch.  These two are best friends.  Weird, goofy, supportive friends who read each other's minds.  Smile!  

She didn't have much of a wish list, so we did our best.  She ended up with cassette tapes, earrings, a new necklace, and books...always books.  

Emo balloon!

There is absolutely no one in the world like Cambrie.  I love this girl.

4th of July

The 4th of July snuck up on me this year.  I didn't even get out my decorations (which is appalling to me.)  At least the kids had something festive to wear!

Jeremy and I started the day with a great 10k run, then we prepared for the BBQ at the Mortensen's.  We spent the entire afternoon with a bunch of families: swimming, talking, cross net, and cornhole.  It was so much fun.

As it grew dark we headed home for fireworks.  We had a few leftover from last year and Jeremy took the boys out to have some fun.  

We didn't go down to see the city fireworks this year, we just climbed up on our roof.  I can't believe we've never done that before.  From up there we could see the city fireworks from at least five different cities, plus whatever stray fireworks other groups were sending up.  We had a 360 degree view of the show.  It was so, so cool!

Time with the boys

Sisters are busy doing big girl teenager things this summer, so it's just the three of us at Water World each day.  It's a good thing that we love hanging out as the three of us!

And when we can't make it to Water World, instead we will have board game days.  Teaching their stuffed animals how to play Settlers of Catan was probably one of the best ideas we've ever had!