Kate's Happy 6th!

MAKE A WISH...

 

...AND BLOW OUT THE CANDLE!

What happens when you're lucky enough to spend your birthday with all of your family and friends in Wyoming? You get extra spoiled with two parties instead of just one, complete with two cakes and the whole shebang!



My sweet Kate turned six this summer! Six!!! I can hardly believe it. The little girl we used to call "summer baby," when she was born, is now an official school-ager! Oh, how I wish I could make time slow down and squeeze out every last drop of little girl goodness that surrounds me. My delightful little girls are growing up much too fast for my liking. I'm grateful for my front row seat in watching all this growing up that is taking place at lightning speed before my very eyes!



We had a lot of fun celebrating this little girl's special day: yummy cake and brownies, some fun presents, and best of all, time with our wonderful Wyoming family, who we don't get to see nearly enough!

I hope you have an incredible year being six, my dear, sweet, little girl!
Lucky me, I get to be there to see you through all of it!

Broncos Stadium... Entering the Land of Tebow

During our trip to Denver this summer we ventured to Broncos Stadium. We had never been there before so it was all new to us. Truth be told, we're not big followers of the NFL, and this was back before the giant Tebow craze that swept the country this football season, so it was more like a tour for some uninitiated newbies. On the plus side, this meant we were more apt to be impressed by everything. 

Part of the tour included the
Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
The girls had fun dressing up in all
the sports related regala.

The giant skis were cute...


...especially on Ellie!


Maddie as a rough'n tough hockey player


Kate checking out the sweet box seats.
If I could watch a game from here,
I'm sure it would be much more enjoyable!
The view + the comfort = unbelievable!


The girls were fascinated by the logo in the seats, particularly the horse's eye seat. Maddie said that's where she would like to sit. As for me, I'd much prefer those sweet box seats we saw earlier on the tour!
GO BRONCOS!!

A Trip to the Zoo...Don't Mind If We Do

 This past summer I went to the Denver Zoo for the first time. We were invited by some dear friends who were visiting family in Wyoming just like we were, and my mom got to come along too which made it even more fun. It was a hot, sticky day, but we sure enjoyed ourselves, and saw a lot of neat animals. 

Slap on some SPF and a sunhat, and fun can be had even on the hottest day!


Kate and Ellie are my elephant lovers. Ellie loved checking out the pretty pachyderms with Grammy!

It's so much fun when a carousel has a whole menagerie to choose from!


Kate had to ride on the elephant of course


Ellie was excited to be such a big girl, riding just like her sisters

Sum, Sum, Summertime...in Wyoming!

We were lucky enough to spend most of July and August in Wyoming again this year. Wyoming happens to be my girls' favorite place in the world. You may have heard that Disney World is the "happiest place on earth," but for them, good ol' Wyoming is right up there, maybe even tops. I'm sure it has nothing to do with all the grandparents and the amount of spoiling that goes on there either...  



The "little" swingset grandma and grandpa
put in for the grandkids, then of course,
we had to rig it up as a waterslide 

It gets hot in Wyoming

Kate dressed for the fun in her "googles"

Ellie didn't hesitate for a second.
She climbed right up there to try out the slide.

It turned out to be lots of fun!

Kate thought so too!

(one of my favorite things this summer was her new gappy smile)

Barefeet, summertime, relaxing in the swing...
what could be better?

Ellie Turns Two!

Whoever said, "the days are long, but the years are short," really had it right. My baby turned two this summer. Where does the time go? In some ways it feels like she has been a part of our family forever (we wouldn't be complete without her), and at the same time it feels like just yesterday she was a tiny, new baby. Well, whether I like it or not, she's two now. And when you get to be two you can do things like...

    

Eat push-pop suckers with your big sisters

Open your presents all by yourself


And get really cool presents...like M&M's


Still didn't like the flame on the candles though...
It almost ruined the fun birthday theme we had going.
Had to get those things blown out quickly!


There, no more candles! Much better!


Now she's happy again!
Happy Birthday, Ellie!

One Incredible Guy

My Husband. One pretty incredible guy. Awhile back, a good friend of ours told us she was going to run a half-marathon. Simple enough, or so it would seem, but she had just had a baby less than six months before, and this got Jay to thinking...if she just had a baby and is out there running like that, why aren't I? So... he started running the very next week, and the rest is history. A training plan was decided upon, the first race was registered for, and the training runs were fit into the schedule and completed.

His first race was the "Beach to Chowder Half-Marathon," last June in Long Beach, WA. We booked a hotel room, and made a family weekend of it. The drive down along the coast and through the evergreen forests was beautiful. We stayed at a hotel on the beach, ate a ridiculously huge and delicious pizza at a restaurant on the broad walk,  and took the girls to play at an arcade afterwards. We also drove out to a bluff overlooking the ocean which happened to be the turnaround spot for the race. The view was breath-taking, nothing short of spectacular.    

The morning of the race dawned the way many mornings in Washington do...gray and overcast. We drove Jay down to the race start and wished him well. I think I may have been feeling as nervous as he was. Then the girls and I headed back to the hotel. It was nice, because the race course happened to go right by our hotel. So when it was time, we got to go right out our hotel door to cheer him on as he ran by. We kept our eyes peeled for the first runner with a yellow cap and fluorescent green compression socks. Good thing he was the only one. It was a lot of fun. And even though it was a cool and drizzly morning, it seemed perfect for the occasion.

"Go, Daddy, Go!!!"

Cheering for Jay as he runs by...

Heading for the finish line

The final stretch

Mission accomplished - 1st half-marathon completed!

Official Half-Marathon Finisher!

 We're more proud of him than he knows!

Watching and cheering for Jay proved to be an inspiration. We've been doing an awful lot of running and cheering since then, so I guess you could say...the rest is history.  

Those are some big shoes to fill!

These are some big shoes to fill

I should have no problem with that!