Logan is One!

Macy's little buddy Logan had his first birthday party the day before I left for my hike. It was a Very Hungry Caterpillar party and it was so cute! Lots of ideas from the books and bright colors galore! 

The cake was a long catipillar with a red big cake head and little cupcakes for the body. Good work, mommy Alana!

New Rug

Our living room got a little facelift with a new rug! 

The old, stained, yucky rug (it did last two years, that is long for our house)

New shag rug! 

Back with My Loves

It is so good to be back with my family after a week on the trail. God did amazing things and I know that I was there for a reason (more on that later. Facebook pics are up already), but that didn't help that fact that I missed squeezing each of these wonderful loves! Justin did a great job being super daddy for the week. He finished summer school (thank you for that extra income!), took care of the kids, perged our toys, organized our shed, kept the flowers and fish alive, continued to dog-sit for our friends pup, and totally cleaned the house before I came home! What a rock star! He is leaving on Tuesday for a teacher training in Texas, so I have to absorb as much of him as possible in the next three days. 

Today we headed over to Brush Creek Park for a picnic and exploration time. 

Macy loves to watch her big brother! 

My favorite new picture with her! 

 Eating ice cream after dinner. 

Macy's new thing...when she is hungry, she just climbs up into her high chair on her own! Funny girl! 

We send this collage pic to Grandpa and Mema tonight. We just thought we were eating at their house with our pork steaks, corn and potatoes. Justin said it felt like it was his birthday tonight since we were eating his favorites! Grandma - Justin was looking for deals at Columbine (now named Bella's Market) since you always find great deals there. $6 for three huge pork steaks = awesome dinner! 

RMR Trip

I am headed out today for our first ever RMR Backcountry trip with Vail Valley Young Life. Myself and another female leader are taking seven of our small group girls on a seven-day backpacking trip in the Arapaho National Forest in north central Colorado. I have my pack all loaded up and we are headed out. I am very excited to see how God uses this trip. Normally we take kids to a traditional Young Life camp in the summer. For this trip, many of these girls have been to YL summer camp multiple times and we wanted to challenge them with something different. Only our small group girls were invited on the trip, all who want to go deeper in their relationship with Jesus. If you are reading this, we covet your prayers. Please pray...

-for the health and safety of all involved

-that the wildfires in Colorado stay far from us

-that blisters are manageable

-that allergies and asthma are not a problem for our girls

-that quality conversations take place

-that our three senior girls are encouraged in their relationships with Jesus before heading to college

-that our junior girls develop a bigger heart for the lost at EVHS 

-that I can be used as a leader on this trip

-for Bianca and Andrew, our two guides

-for the weather to cooperate

-for fruitful time in the Word

-that our cars are safe while we leave them at a trailhead for a week

-for families and relationships that we are leaving for a week

-for drama to stay out of the trip between the girls going

-for cooperation and helpfulness of all the girls

I am so pumped for this trip and have been looking forward to this for a long time. My heart has been heavy for my family in the past few days as our departure nears. Justin is going to do a great job at home with the babies and we have some awesome friends taking care of them while he is working (thank you so much Brummers, Dodds, Owens, and Bangtsons). But, I am still going to miss them like crazy! Ok, that is all from here. Signing out, see ya in a week! 

GoPro Mountain Games 2013

I am sad to say that the GoPro Mountain Games are now complete. It is literally one of my favorite weekends of the whole summer in the Vail Valley. Even though the Games are four days long, we spent two solid days there and had a blast. We went up on Saturday to catch our buddy in the mountain bike race, see the dock dogs and the bouldering competition. We stayed to have dinner with the Bakers, Bangstons, and friends and the kids had a blast in the water landscaping around Vail Village. Macy didn't want to be outdone, so she climbed on in too! 

Saturday I headed up early to race in the 10k Spring Runoff and had a great race. I got 13th overall for the women and 4th in my age group. I was really happy with my time of 1:04 and my overall performance. I was mentally prepared for 7.5 miles since that was the distance from last year. But they made it closer to an actual 10k at 6.86mi, thus making my 1:37 time from last year (6 weeks post-birth) a bit incomparable. It was great to get out and be competitive since I feel like I am in pretty good shape. My sweet friends Jen and Kari were at the top of a tough 5mile marker hill in the woods and that was a huge encouragement! We headed to breakfast after the race and then waited for Justin and the kids to come up after church. We got to see the slackline finals, the dock dogs again, and then water events (kayaking and raft cross). It was a super day and of course, the kids found the fountains again! 

And, I saw this amazing stroller! A 3-kid Chariot! It was insane! 

Slackline on the left. Kayak 8-Ball on the right (6-ish kayakers come down the river and encounter "8-ball" kayakers along the way that try to hit them...full contact kayaking! Lots of carnage!) 

First Weeks of June

A few of the events of this month.

Macy's happy face! She is getting more and more personality each day! She is starting to make animal noises and is getting better at baby signing. She clearly knows what she wants these days and makes sure that you know it. She has also started spazzing out when she is unhappy, throwing her neck backwards and arching her back. This is quite scary depending on where she is (hard floor, etc). All part of growing up and expressing herself. 

 

Macklin played his first real game this week! He moved the spaces correctly and everything! It was actually really fun to play with him! 

Little Miss found a blue stamp and stamped each of her limbs and mouth this week! 

Our little park evening turned into a mud party bash! We just embrace those things around this house :)

 Party in the Park - Gypsum has concerts every Friday night for the first half of summer. Macklin had a blast on the blow ups with Justin and Macy and I enjoyed people watching (Macy learned that from Mimi). A little cotton candy helps the night as well (Uncle John - Macklin asked me to buy him "bunny tails" when he saw the cotton candy!). 

Big girls is starting to enjoy coloring! 

Mud Pie anyone? 

Daniel's Surprise Birthday

We surprised our buddy Daniel with a little celebration for his birthday on Monday. He turned 39, contrary to the "37" candles that I put on his cake. I gotta learn to save the correct date in my phone or look at FB more closely. We asked him to have dinner with him at a park, and then had all of his buddies meet us there. He was surprised for sure. Daniel is great because he never suspects anything!