Breckenridge

My family met up in Breckenridge last week.  We stayed in Troy's friend's place and lived the high life for a few days.

We walked along Blue River.  I don't know what it is about water and kids but they were obsessed with throwing any little thing into it.

 Even Connor got into the action which made me super paranoid.

 There's a fun, little playground along Main Street that the kids loved playing in.

 Connor was a pro at causing a traffic jam at the slide.

 I think my mom was in grandkid heaven having all of them at once.

We spent a day on the slopes of Breckenridge.  It was a ton of fun.  First stop was the Alpine Slide.  Brooke was a little worried at first but quickly warmed up and wanted to go on it again and again.  Too bad Connor was too young to go on it.  He would have been in heaven.

 I just want to make note that Sierra and I beat Will and Jason.  :)

 We got to pan for gems and minerals.  The kids walked away with a bag full of rocks. 

Brooke tried her hand at rock climbing and showed no fear.  She only made it up a little ways but I was so proud that she was willing to give it a try.

I even got to give it a go.  Reminded me of my college days when I was super agile.  Ahh...to be young again.

 Brooke even did the trampoline and jumped sky high.

I tried doing forward and backward flips.  Not as easy as it looks.  I definitely was the true definition of grace.

I think the kids favorite part of the day aside from the Alpine Coaster (not to be mistaken with for the Alpine Slide) was the ride in the Gondola up to the resort.  We could have probably spent the whole day traveling up and down that thing.

The day spent on the slopes was a blast even with the minor accident.  Will and Jason were champs sticking it out and getting back on the Alpine Coaster. 

The rest of the time was spent at the house playing cards,

Chilling while watching a show,

and hanging out in the hot tub.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun-filled trip.

Best $5 Spent

I'm not 100% confident in taking the kids to the pool by myself so this summer I invested in a slip n' slide.  Well worth every penny!!!!

 Brooke had a "shake your tail feather" thing going on before the start.

 

Brooke didn't quite get how to slip n' slide but she was all about running then sliding on her knees.  She needs to take some notes from Uncle Taylor.

Connor just liked drinking the water.

Even Taylor got in on the fun.

Now, if only we could have heated water shooting through instead of freezing cold water.

All in a Day's Work

A couple weekends ago was a busy one for us.  I usually plan my piano recital for mid-June but I had a few families that wouldn't be able to attend so I decided to bump it up a week.  Well, June 8th, was also the day I planned to Run the Rockies.  I decided to go ahead and do both in the same day.  Run the Rockies in the morning and have my piano recital in the afternoon.

First up:
Run the Rockies.  A friend had told me about it last year and I went and did it with her.  The run is from Copper Mountain to Frisco along the bike path the runs along I-70.  It is a beautiful run.  Both last year and this year did not disappoint!  We left the house around 5:45 am and headed to the mountains. It was a beautiful day and perfect temp for a run.  I even got to run through some pretty big puddles...reminiscent of the Tough Mudder and soggy shoes.  My goal was to come in under an hour. 

Final Time:57:12

I'm glad to see that all my hard work this past year has paid off and I'm a bit faster.  Last year's time was 1:02:08 so not too shabby.  After a quick bite of 2 slices of pizza we were back in the car to head home. 

Next up:
My Spring Piano Recital

This year I combined with another piano teacher so we had double the numbers. I had 11 students playing.  They all did a wonderful job and I'm so proud of them.  Their hard work is finally paying off and they're beginning to really enjoy playing the piano.  I'm excited to see how far I'll be able to take them.

Summertime!

Loving this summer so far.  It's been a nice break from all the craziness that somehow comes with 2 young kids.

Days are spent playing with Duplos and making crafty stuff.  Both Brooke and Connor are huge fans of the tape.  Good thing we have an endless supply of it from Costco.

 One of the perks of having Uncle Taylor staying with us is having him entertain our kids/do yardwork.  :) 

We hit up the Denver Museum of Nature and Science last weekend.  We got a pretty good deal from Living Social and were able to see the Imax movie, Deep Sea.  Both Brooke and Connor were enthralled with the 3D and even tried to catch the floating jellyfish. 

We also got to meet up with Robyn and fam.  Man, I'm going to miss them when they move to North Carolina.

Bonus:  I totally forgot to post this goodie from Connor's B-day.  Gotta love him!!!! 

Graduation

Last Wednesday Brooke graduated from preschool.  It was a great year for her and I'm so glad that Ms. Terri was her teacher.  She was so patient with Brooke and so creative and fun. 

Brooke wasn't the only girl in her class but the other one was away for graduation.

Brooke learned a lot during this past year.  She loved going to preschool every week and misses it now that we're on summer break. 

I'm glad that Terri thought to keep track of the kids' heights through out the year.  Good to know that Brooke grew a few inches this last year.

Here are some kind things Ms. Terri had to say about Brooke.  Who knew that Brooke was so much like her dad...

We are so proud of Brooke and all that she has learned this past year.  We are excited for her to go to kindergarten next year.  Can't believe how fast these (almost) 5 years have gone.

Before we know it, it'll be Connor-man's turn to go to preschool.

Brooke's graduation wasn't the only graduation we attended.  Jonathan also graduated on Friday. 

I must admit that I got a little misty-eyed hearing the Pomp & Circumstance.  It's been a quick 4 years but we are so proud of Jonathan and that he chose to come here to CO.  Brooke and Connor will miss having Coco so close.

The high for the day was somewhere in the low to mid 80s.  Connor was a trooper and enjoyed eating all the sweets that Jonathan's mom and aunt had to offer.  It was a lot!

Brooke was a trooper as well and kept cool under the shade of the chairs while playing with the Ipod.

The happy graduate!

Happy kids too!

To top off the crazy week we had Troy and I headed off to see Les Miserables Friday night.  We both agree that we weren't the greatest fans of this particular production but it still managed to give us chills during One Day More.

 Now let's let the summer fun begin!!!!

Bzzz Bee

This past week was so crazy that I didn't have a chance to sit down and get caught up.  Seriously!!
The weekend following Mother's Day we headed down to UT to welcome back Troy's brother, Taylor, from Mexico City.  It was great spending time with family.  Brooke and Connor were in cousin/new toy heaven.

 Brooke loved the trampoline and Connor was even able to master the art of jumping on it as well.

We even got to travel down memory lane with good ol' tetherball.

Connor was a huge fan and didn't even mind getting a little wallop on the head.

Brooke also loved the the huge bin of dress up clothes.  I think she was a different princess every hour.

The drive to and from CO was pretty uneventful except for the stranger we picked up on the way back...

Taylor's hanging out with us for the summer working for a guy in our ward.  Hopefully we won't be too boring for him!

Happy Birthday To...

Connor!!

 

 This picture is cool on so many levels. I'll break them down for you. 1) Bow tie 2) Decorated fish cake 3) Mussy hair 4)Fish cake is home made, orange cake with orange citrus frosting 5) Cheesy smile 6) Already blown out candles two lines into Happy Birthday

Presents were lots of fun. Thanks to Grandma Burt for the bubble lawn mower. Trains, a matchbox Power Ranger car hand-picked by Brooke, and the highlight was the set of helium mylar balloons.

Connor is secure in his masculinity, so he didn't mind cruising around the cul-de-sac on Brooke's Dora tricycle, but Dad feels a little better about the Harley Big Wheel.

Mother's Day + kid's Birthday doesn't always equal a break for Mom. At least the kids were kind enough to pose for some quality pictures...

I guess they just needed the calming influence of Mom! Happy birthday buddy.

Spring Fun

 It's always fun to see what comes up on my Ipod whenever Brooke has had a go at it.  It's amazing how many pictures she can take within a short period of time.  Add videos and voice memos to that and it's a whole ball of fun.  These are from the last batch of pics she took.  Gotta love her expressions.

A couple weekends ago we went to a barn boutique.  We could buy horse "candy" and Brooke said that she wanted to fee the horses.  Well, I guess she wanted Troy and I to feed them.  I had to keep a brave face while feeding them but in reality I was scared to death the horse was going to bite my fingers off.  Have you ever seen the size of their teeth!!!

Troy on the other hand had no qualms about sticking his hand in front of those teeth.

 We finally managed to convince Brooke that no harm would be done.  She wasn't buying it.

Connor showed no fear and stuck his hand right out and loved it.