Ketchup/Catch up...Potato/Po-tah-to

This whole month of June seems like it's been a blur.  We started the month off with my semi-annual piano recital.  My kids did awesome and it's great to see them progress.  We're finally getting into some exciting songs and I think the kids are starting to show enthusiasm for what they can accomplish.

We headed up to the Powell's to celebrate London's b-day.  Seems like the kids were way more intrigued with the new toy then actually celebrating.

 Can't believe that a year ago we were celebrating the births of these two.  Crazy how quickly time passes.

Last week was girls' camp for me.  It was kind of crazy and hectic leading up to it but I had a lot of fun with these girls.

Kind of weird to think that I'm old enough to be leading these girls.  I realized that one of the sweatshirts that I had brought up was older than some of the beehives.  Yikes!!!!

 One of the most memorable experiences from camp was watching the 4th (15yrold) years yike in from their 3 day hike.  They started Tuesday morning and hiked through parts of San Isabel National Forest and finishing off hiking into our camp.  They hiked approx. 30 miles in 3 days carrying 30-40 lb. packs.  To see them hike in was a pretty emotional experience especially knowing that some were super nervous and not confident that they would be able to accomplish such a thing. 

After they hiked in, we celebrated their arrival with a board breaking ceremony.  The girls and leaders had made a board that listed their goals on one side and the obstacles they'd run into on the other side.  The girls then karate chopped their way through the obstacles to reach their goals..  It was pretty cool to see their reactions once they realized that they had done it.  Trust me...very emotional. 

The whole week was fabulous and for the past 2 days since I've been home I've had camp songs running through my head.  Every time I start singing one Brooke just stares at me like a crazy woman.

Life at home is starting to get back to it's normal routine...

Like Brooke drawing on her door.

Then learning what the use of a Magic Eraser is for.

 Reading in the reading corner.

Trying to survive the triple digit heat.  We'll probably be making a record tomorrow with 5 consecutive days of record breaking heat in the low 100s.

We've had a fabulous month but the crazy/busy-ness isn't over yet.  Stay tuned for more summer fun!!!!!

All Hail Mother Nature

After living here for 7 years we should know that during the late spring/summer months Mother Nature can get a little vit testy.  Well, Mother Nature let us have it last Wednesday.  Troy was still traveling back from Puerto Rico so he wasn't able to witness the actual wrath but he was definitely able to see the destruction the following morning.

The hail storm started around 7:45ish while I was finishing giving Brooke a bath.  Connor was already down for the night and slept through the whole thing.  Brooke looked out the window and was excited to see it snow.  I had to explain to her that it wasn't snow but hail.  I think I would have much prefered snow over this.  Majority of the hail was at least quarter size or bigger and it was coming down heavy.  A friend of mine had to push her dirt bike trailer out so her husband could pull in the garage and she was covered in welts from the hail.  Crazy.

The first storm lasted for about 5ish minutes.  I got Brooke into bed and read her a couple stories before the second storm hit.  This one lasted a little bit longer but the hail was just the same size.

By the time the hail storms were done it literally looked like it had snowed.  You would never have known the difference except that it was still relatively warm outside.

During all of this there were several emergency alerts.  One of them being a tornado warning.  I think 6 funnel clouds had already been sighted but luckily we were safe.  Which is a good thing because I have no idea what to do.  I only know what to do during an earthquake...crawl under your desk at school or find a door jam.

Thursday morning was spent surveying the disaster.  Troy checked it out first and tried to prepare me for the worst.

After 5 years living here we finally had a first batch of apples on our tree.  They are no longer.  :(  I think there may be 2 left on the tree but who knows how bruised they are.

It seems like our peach tree is an-every-other-year producer and this was the other year.  I think we lost at least 80% of the peaches.

The garden was totally thrashed.  It looked like someone came through with a machete and chopped off all the leaves.  Earlier Wednesday morning while I was out watering our garden, I was admiring how good everything looked and how grateful I was that we were able to plant early in the season.  We even had our first flower on one of the tomato plants.  I may have come very close to shedding a tear looking at our garden.  We lost our beans, snow peas, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, peppers, cantelope, watermelon, herb garden, and pumpkins.  We're hoping that our carrots, green onions, and potatoes can somehow pull through.

 This will be our third firepit cover that we will have replaced in the 4 years we've had it.

And lastly, just to show how crazy fast the hail was, it put a hole in our plastic hose thing.  Thursday was a pretty depressing day but luckily we had a fun weekend to look forward to.

Last minute, I decided to join a friend and run the Run the Rockies 10k race on Saturday. We started at Copper Mountain and ran along I-70 on the bike path and ended in Frisco. It was a beautiful run and the weather was perfect.

 The race is advertised as being 100% downhill and it didn't disappoint.  I ran my fastest 10k coming in at 1:02:08.  I think I could have come in at a faster time had we not had to funnel onto the bike path.  That took a lot of time to funnel in and manuever around people.  I think I could have come in under an hour which would have been pretty cool.  Regardless, it was a fun race and I think I would do it again.  5 races down and only 2 more to go...the Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder.  Bring it!

We finished the day off hanging out with Jonathan.  Every time we asked Brooke to guess who we'd be seeing she always say Coco even though that wasn't who we were going to see so I figured it was about time that we made a visit.

 The weather was perfect for swimming and both Brooke and Connor loved every minute of it.  This was Connor's first time ever in a pool and he just loved splashing and walking everywhere.

 Afterwards, Jonathan treated us to a delicious homemade dinner and entertained the kids for a bit. 

They really do love having their Coco live so close.  We're sad that this will most likely be his last year here so hopefully we'll be able to get more visits in.

All in all, this last week was pretty eventful.  The one thing we learned...don't mess with Mother Nature.

School's Out For the Summer

We have an official walker in the house.  I guess you could say we have 4 official walkers in the house but one newly minted walker.

I'd like to think Brooke had a hand in Connor walking so soon. 

Unfortunately Brooke doesn't share the same enthusiasim. 

Last week, we took a break from the daily grind and headed to the zoo with some friends.  Check out the crocodile snapping turtle.  Looks like it came straight out of the prehistoric age.  Really.

Connor thinks he can get away without taking a morning nap.  I think otherwise.  At least he got a good 30 minute nap at the zoo and that was it for the day. 

No trip to the zoo is completey without a little ride on the train.  We've got to teach Brooke how to smile for cameras.  The whole "say cheese" thing just doesn't cut it.

Troy and I took a crazy pill and decided to sign up for the Tough Mudder in Austin, Oct. 6.  We are seriously crazy.  Just check out some of the videos they have posted on the website. 

Run, run, run

I participated in my first marathon!!!!!  Relay marathon, that is.  Some of the neighbor gals wanted to get a group together to run the Colfax Marathon Relay this year and somehow I got finagled to join.  I figured that this would be the closest thing to a marathon that I'll ever do and I must say that it was a lot of fun.  There was definitely a lot of time waiting by myself but I love the energy of running a race. 

We left the house around 4:30 to head to Denver.  We dropped off Jenni at her start then headed on out to Sports Authority Field (Invesco Field).  Jenni ran leg #1 (6.4 miles), her sister joined her for leg #2 (3.9).  Julie and Val ran leg #3 (5.6 miles) and #4 (4 miles) and I joined in for leg #5 (6.4 miles).  Jenni and Julie are both training for the Rock n' Roll half and full marathon so they did this race as part of their training.  Val was just crazy to come along for the ride and run 3 legs.

I was just happy to do one leg.  I ran on Wednesday for about 4.5 miles just to see how my legs were but prior to that I hadn't run since March in Moab.  Julie and Val pushed me and I had a PR for a mile-8:24.  I was pretty shocked and proud of myself.  There was a teaser ending that was the ending for a different race that morning which was not funny at all.  We probably had another 600+ feet to go but we were able to sprint to end with our whole group.  Our official time was 4:27:32.  Highlight of running my leg was being able to run through Sports Authority Field.  We didn't run on the actual grass but we ran along the sidelines.  That'll be the closest I ever get to it. 

The weather was perfect for the race.  24 hours prior it was dumping rain and pretty chilly but it was perfect that morning.  I think we ended the race somewhere in the mid to high 60s.  Love these ladies and am so glad that I could be a part of the team!

Birthday Boy!!!!!

 Our little guy is one!!!!!  Can't believe how fast this past year has gone but it's been a fabulous one. 

We celebrated with friends, a pasta bar, and mini carrot cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting.  The food was delicious and the company was great.

 Connor was a little unsure of what to do with the cupcakes.

 But once we put it up to his mouth he dove right in!

 He cleared 2 cupcakes and he was a happy boy.

His stats for his 1 year were:

Weight: 20 lbs. 5 oz (20%)

Height: 29 3/4" (40%)

Head: 18 1/2" (50%)

Now for what he's accomplished in the past year and what he's up to now:
Since the beginning he has slept like a champ.  I just finished putting in pictures from this last year in his photo album and for the first 5 weeks we rarely ever saw his eyes.

Loves his food.  It's so interesting how different Brooke and Connor are.  Brooke could still care less about food but Connor is all about his feeding schedule.

He is a big time drooler.  Once that first tooth popped out he's been a non stop drooler.  Some days are wetter than others.

He loves and adores Brooke.  They often play chase with Connor always chasing after Brooke.  It's pretty cute.

Hopefully Brooke and Connor will continue to love to play together as they get older.

Connor is a true lady's man.  Or maybe it's just one lady that is the apple of his eye.

Connor is always ready with a smile.  He is super chill and mellow.  (Definitely takes after dad) And he is rarely grumpy or cries.

 He loves having the kitties around although the cats are really good at ignoring him. 

 He's still a lover of that thumb.

 He's started to figure out the whole climbing thing and has gotten himself into some small predicaments.

 Now if only he could figure out how to get himself out...

Some other things he can do:
He can say mama, dada, and more. 
He'll wave hi and blow kisses but you've got to catch him on a good day.
His birthday present to himself was finally figuring out that he could walk for real!!!!

He is such a great kid and I'm so excited to see what this next year will bring!