We've Got A...

 ...girl in kindergarten. Brooke had her first day of school on Tuesday. Both Mom and Daughter were excited, and both handled it with no hiccups, meltdowns or tears. She goes for full days, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Friday.

She was still smiling when we picked her up in the afternoon, and we are looking forward to how she can grow this year and learn from her teacher Mrs. Clouthier.

 She also started soccer this week, with Dad being the coach. The games are 4 on 4, with no goalies or refs. So far the concept of soccer is more entertaining than the actual sport, but she did better in practice #2.

 Despite her being on the young end of the age bracket, she holds her own physically. We'll still work on the competitive fire, since 5 minutes into our scrimmage this week she asked, "Can we play something else now?"

And We're Marching...Here we go...

I've been back for 3 days from Girls' Camp and the chants are still running through my head.  Luckily the kids don't look at me as if I'm too crazy when I'm singing them...I think they quite enjoy it. 

I wasn't the camp director this year (which in all honesty, was kinda nice) but I headed up to camp the day after Brooke's birthday.  We really do have a great group of girls and I'm constantly impressed by them.  They really are great!

Camp is never complete if you don't have:

 Skits.  (I missed the actual night of it but the girls were ready to re-enact it for me)

 Archery/sling shot. 

 

My favorite part of camp: watching the 4th years hike in.  They had spent the past 4 days hiking in the mountains and it's a huge celebration to see them come in.  What made it even more special was that I had these girls when I was in Activity Days about 4 years ago.  Can't believe how much they've grown.

 

We just had a change in our bishopric that effects our YW president. I really, really hope that I'll be able to go to camp next year.

B-I-G girl

I can't believe it!  We have a 5 year old.  Where has the time gone?  Seriously?!  I still remember being very large and pregnant with her.  I still remember heading to the hospital on a wet, summer night.  I remember what I thought when she was finally here.  And I can't believe that it was all 5 years ago!!

We celebrated her birthday a day early with having some friends over and digging into a Barbie cake that my friend, Sarah, made.  Sarah asked to borrow a doll.  Brooke wanted to make sure she'd get it back.  She was thrilled to see it in cake form wearing a princess dress.

The actual day of her birthday started with banana chocolate chip pancakes.  Brooke wasn't thrilled that Connor tried to get in on the action.  Good thing she blew it out first.

Later in the evening we headed to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and then to a Rockies game with our friends, the Cowans and Hutchings.

I think we did a pretty good job stretching out/celebrating Brooke's birthday.  Hopefully she felt very loved and special.

It's A Party!!!

I decided to bite the bullet and throw Brooke her first birthday party.  With the help of Troy everything went off without a hitch!

Instead of a cake, I decided on cupcakes...box cupcakes.  You could smell the sugar that was emanating from them.

 We had a double slip n' slide

 Water balloon toss/fight

 And finished off with a punch board and prizes.

 Brooke was thrilled to be able to spend the afternoon with friends, running around, and playing in the water.

Camping Fun

So after three years, we decided it was high time to do some camping again. Given the fire bans in most of the state, we had to head to the mountains to be able to have a camp fire, because, let's face it, camping with out a fire is just pointless.

We drove through a downpour in Georgetown before getting to our camp spot near Lake Dillon. It rained heavy, then light, then stopped, then it repeated the cycle before the finally clearing for the night. Luckily we didn't get too wet.

The Cowan's are such good friends, and the kids get along so well. It was nice to have the kids keep themselves entertained for most of the trip.

Stacie and Tracie took care of all the details, including some delicious dutch oven meals. Teriyaki chicken and bacon potatoes for dinner. Peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert. Scrambled eggs, biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast.

The coals made for a nice start to this no-match fire. It was nice to sit around and chat while Connor learned how to climb out of his pack and play. We'll see if he starts daring to do the same thing in the crib...

Maybe I should have added a jacket to the gear that we packed, but a Tough Mudder shirt and some cuddly kids kept me warm all night.

We didn't finish the ice cream on Friday night, so the Saturday morning menu also included some 'shakes'. I think the mustaches were better than the drinks.

Jon, got milk?

Connor, got scowl?

Glenn brought up his gun, and on Saturday morning we went shooting. Tracie had a lot of fun.

Great shooting the first time.

Even better the second round. Just another reason that I'll never spurn this woman! Love you!!!

Looking forward to our next trip in 2016!!

The 4th!

I really should be cleaning the house but I got sidetracked looking at pictures and well, here I am.  It's been a couple weeks so I guess I should catch up.

Shane and family and Troy's parents came out for the holiday weekend.  Brooke and Connor were in heaven having their cousins around and all the attention/entertainment that came with it.

 We started the 4th with the traditional pancake breakfast at the church except it wasn't pancakes this year...it was breakfast burritos.  I'm kind of thinking that I prefer those over the pancakes. 

 

After the breakfast the crew was headed up to hike The Rock.  It was a beautiful day to do it and a great way to expend all the kid's energy.

Actual 4th celebration was pretty low key this year because of all the fire bans (we can't even have a fire in our fire pit).  We decided to celebrate all the July birthday (including Kenz!).

I made a Strawberry Lemonade Cake this year and it did not disappoint.  Much better than the Coconut Raspberry Lemon Cake I made last year.  Blech!

While the cousins were here, we got a visit from the Tooth Fairy.  Brooke's excited to start losing some teeth!

 The boys headed off into the mountains for some river rafting.  I'm thinking that I'll have to join the next time.

It was great having the family visit.  Brooke and Connor don't know what to do with themselves!  Hopefully it won't be another 2+ years before Shane and Heather come back to visit.

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.