Father's Day

For Father's Day we just wanted to spend time with this wonderful guy.  We went to the movie theater in the first time in over a year, and it was lovely.  We watched Peter Rabbit 2, and the kids were given bunny ears upon entry.  They have been wearing them non stop since then!  

After a really fun and entertaining show, we went to pick up hamburgers for dinner.  Instead of dining inside, we decided to have a picnic.  It took us a few tries to find the perfect park for our picnic, and as we were unloading the food we realized it was not the perfect spot!  The mosquitos were out in force.  Instead of driving somewhere else, we ran from the blood suckers and ate dinner two stories up on top of the playground.  It was the perfect solution.  We had great views, shade, and there wasn't a mosquito in sight. 

Once we had finished our burgers and fries, we naturally got to work playing on the playground.  

The best part of this particular playground is the spinning toy.  The kids brace themselves inside and then I can spin them around in as many circles as I want!  Tonight we tried something new and squished four kids into the spot meant for one.  I think they look like a multi-legged insect!  

McKenzie tried supporting herself so she could spin sideways.  It didn't work so well.  

Ultimately it was such a relaxed evening and we couldn't have chosen a better was to celebrate Jeremy and the great job he's doing an their dad.

BASE camp Boulder

I decided to try something new, I went to BASE camp in Boulder this weekend.  I'm not officially a part of team BASE, I'm more of an ambassador since I'm also a member of Smashfest Queen.  I simply signed up with BASE so I could hopefully find some local friends.  For the last three days they have been meeting up for rides, runs, and swims.  On Thursday we started with a 65 mile ride up to Ward and down Peak-to-Peak.  There were six of us that summitted that route, and I got to know some of the administrators pretty well, Matt, LJ, and Jay, and I met a new friend Mike who really pushed me.  That night was stroke and stride.  I don't know if it was the ride or something else but that race did not go well for me.  I still enjoyed meeting some more team members though.  Friday we had a shorter 30 mile ride along the Boulder 70.3 course.  I was late and went on my own, but crossed paths with the teammates as we rode.  That wind was wicked!  I did get there in time to run with them around Boulder Rez though.  I loved finding some new trails along there.  

That night we had dinner at Rayback Collective.  I took Jeremy with me as my date and that was so much fun.  I really had a chance to talk with a lot more athletes and hear some of their stories.  We stayed and visited until I literally couldn't talk any more.  I totally lost my voice.  Saturday we met up for a final ride up to Masonville Mercantile, which ended up being about 75 miles.  This one might have been my favorite because I met Kami Banks.  She is a member of the church, has four kids, and is winning races like 2019 Boulder.  The only downside is that she lives down in Colorado Springs.  So I decided to enjoy my time with her while I could.  Everyone kept saying that Kami was crazy tough.  I decided to test that out.  During the ride there were times when the two of us decided to push hard and see what we could do.  My goal was to keep up with her.  I did that.  We cruised to the marina at Carter Lake and then waited for the rest of the crew to catch up.  She's been a member of the team for a long time so she has good relationships with these guys.  I loved listening to their banter.  We stopped for a final rest stop at Masonville Mercantile which was the most eclectic little shop.  I'm going to have to take Cambrie up there just to see the costumes they have for sale!  The final push back was hard. Steve was putting down a good pace and I had to work to stay in the pack with him, Mike, and Kami.  It was worth it though.  We flew and I as having so much fun. 

We finished off with a swim at Rally Sports.  I was by the far the best swimmer there and was used for demonstrations more than doing hard sets, but that was ok.  We ran out of time and were kicked out by the US Olympic hopefuls: Morgan Pearson and Lindsay Corbin included.  Man, I wish I could do what they do.  I simply wanted to stick around long enough to do their set with them!  The whole weekend was a success.  I met some friends, I made some connections, and I had some great training sessions. 

The kids were rock stars while I was gone.  I mean, I was basically gone for three days.  So to thank them we had an ice-cream sundae bar for dessert on Sunday.  It was such a perfect night that they decided to take all of that sugar energy and climb the garage wall.  I mean, why not right?  I'm so grateful for the chance to do things like this.

A visit from Ryan

Ryan decided that he needed a few days away, so what better place to visit than with his favorite sister?!  The first day we went to Water World.  We haven't been yet this season, and spent the day getting acquainted with all of the rides.  We rode hard!  We were up and down slides and in and and out of pools all day.  We learned that one of our favorite rides was the lazy river.  It was a perfect way to chill in between all of the fast water slides.  Kelton is tall enough to ride all of the water slides now and is so pumped.  We literally couldn't keep up with everything he wanted to do.  McKenzie hung out with us and her friends who were also there that day.  She is a little daredevil.  Daxton is still not a daredevil and took a little persuasion to go down some of the slides.  In fact, he was screaming like crazy as soon as we got to the bottom of the dinosaur slide and I don't think any amount of persuasion will get him to go on that one again.  We were so busy having fun that I forgot to take any pictures at all until we were out by the car ready to go home.  I couldn't believe how tired and wiped out we were the rest of the day.  I guess that means it was worth it right?  

The boys just enjoyed having him around.  They loved watching him play his video games and asked for his help on a bunch of levels they were stuck on.  And I think I have a Christmas gift idea, a balance board.  

Before he left for the airport we decided to throw in one more small treat and took him down to VooDoo donuts downtown.  So many donuts so little time!  Hopefully he's able to swing out again soon because we loved having him out here.

Bubble Slip 'n Slide

Stockton and Pippa surprised us with a mid-week visit.  We didn't have anything exceptional planned, just life as normal, so Aly took it upon herself to be an amazing aunt and provided the kids with hours of entertainment.  She whipped up a homemade bubble slip 'n slide.  We set it up in the backyard and the kids went crazy with the bubbles.  They ran, slid, bumped, skipped, rolled, twirled, spun, and fell down that bubble slide.  It was the perfect way to spend a really hot summer afternoon. 

Trying to get the last few bubbles out of the bottle.

Even Cash thought it was a great way to play.  He was going crazy trying to keep up with all the fun.  Thanks Aly for being so fun and creative!

Moab High Adventure

The youth were able to go down to Moab this year for high adventure.  Cambrie was really looking forward to it.  They had so many fun activities on the agenda: mountain biking, rappelling, zip-lining, hiking, and cliff jumping.  I would have killed for an agenda like that as a young woman.  I dropped her off at the church with strict instructions to take pictures and tell me stories when she came home.

 On the drive down.

 Well, I didn't see a single picture taken by her.  I did however get some stories.  She said that the canyoneering and rappelling was the best part.  I think she's part desert lizard and loves that kind of thing.  On the cliff jumping she was by far one of the boldest youth there.  She was the first girl off of the cliffs, and the second youth off of the highest one.  She was fearless...and terrified the bishop because of her bravery.  There were two bike routes, a harder one and a simpler one.  She wanted to go on the more difficult ride but was the only girl who spoke up.  She didn't want to be the only girl so she stuck around on the smaller loop.  Come to find out there were other girls who wanted to go too but that's ok, they still had fun.  The zip-lining was apparently great.  They flew between red rock cliffs and said it was a lot of fun.  By the time the leaders returned on Saturday afternoon they had a bunch of pretty exhausted kids.  I guess most of them spent more time talking than sleeping.  Cambrie, for her part, slept in a closet and managed to get a few more winks than those in big common rooms.  I'm just glad she was able to go and have so much fun!  

Lucy Loo

We just had the best weekend puppy sitting Lucy.  Our friends, the Eames, went out of town for Memorial Day, and we were the lucky ones who got to watch Lucy.  This was an experiment.  I've been allergic to dogs my whole life, but we are discovering that some dogs don't trigger my allergies and asthma as much as others.  Lucy is one of those dogs.  My skin still itches when I pet her, but by simply washing my hands I can fix that, and most importantly I could still breathe with her around.  It was good enough that she got to stay with us for five days.  Those five days were heaven for Cambrie.  As my pet-loving daughter, she wants nothing more than to have a dog of her own.  For that weekend Lucy was her little shadow, and when she couldn't follow and was left behind, would give us all the most enthusiastic welcome home.  My favorite was when she would spin endless circles at our feet, so excited to see us that she couldn't hold still.  

She was so playful and energetic that the boys loved playing with her and taking her on walks.  

I'm still not convinced that we could ever own a dog, but puppy sitting for a weekend with my kids who loved every minute of it, that we can do. 

36?

Jeremy was still in Utah for most of my birthday.  So the kids did everything they could to make me feel special.  McKenzie started by making breakfast.  She whipped up a banana chocolate chip scone.  It was delightful.  The rest of the kids are seriously enjoying her new love for baking.  

It was also left up to the kids to prepare their presents for me.  

Daxton and Kelton made some clay monsters for me.  

Cambrie gave me my very own gum for the car.  (They don't appreciate it that I only eat half of the cube and leave the other half for later).  McKenzie spearheaded getting me some nice wooden cutting boards.  She tried her hand at wood burning and wrote a sweet message on each of them for me.   

Thanks kiddos.

I had been craving cheesecake, so that's what I whipped up.  It is my birthday after all!  I'm honestly a little shocked it looked so pretty.  

A couple of days later Jeremy and I found some time to go out for dinner.  We went to a trendy place downtown called Avanti.  It is a combination of a bunch of little booth restaurants.  You pick up what you want from each one then find a place in the common area to eat.  It was super tasty!

I'm always surprised by the restaurants in LoHi, they have the best views of Denver at sunset.  Now I'm 36...geesh, I don't think I'm quite ready for that.