Baxter's 4th Birthday

 Happy 4th Birthday to our favorite pup! After his first birthday party, you might have thought that maddness would have continued for the rest of his life. False. This year Baxter got a special sign (made by Macklin) and we made him some homemade dog treats (click here for some good recipes, I just picked the easiest one). I took him on a morning run, we sung him happy birthday, and fed him treats all day! He was a happy camper! Now....how to get him a haircut.

May Happenings

A bit of an update on happenings in the end of the month. 

Getting Ready to Backpack

On June 15th, I will take off with seven high school girls and another Young Life leader from our area for a week long backpacking adventure (in either Rocky Mountain National Park or Wyoming). I am pumped for the opportunity that my family is giving me to spend time with these girls! Here are some pictures from a local hike that we did to break in our boots! We live in an amazing place! 

Craftiness

I was feeling stressed last week. Instead of just resting, like most people would have done, I decided to make bows for Macy! We were given these cute shoe laces from Grandpa and Mema, but it is going to be a while before Macy has shoes big enough to use them in. I thought I would turn them into cute Mizzou bows that she could use for the rest of her childhood (because we all know the Mizzou gear needs accessorizing!). I then turned Macy's headbands into bows as well. I think my bow obsession will continue as long as she lets me! This project was so easy too. I just cut up the headbands and hot glued them around the tiny alligator clips. Professional! 

Outdoor Fun

With the new warmer weather, we are taking full advantage. We head out to various parks multiple times a week. Eagle County makes park maintenance a big priority and we are grateful for that! We also are enjoying our own backyard. I have to remember to tell Justin how much I LOVE our yard, because I did a good job complaining about it before we remodeled it! Notice Macy's retro hand-me-down dress on the right...I love it! 

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Sharing ice cream cones

Lunches in the "clubhouse" of our swing set

View of Red Hill from our yard

Macklin is really into Toy Story and Super Heroes (especially Super Why...a PBS show)

 

Missing in the stuff animals!

Slacklining with friends at a BBQ in Minturn

Graduation 2013

Graduation was another big one this year for me on Saturday. I had a sweet group of Young Life girls (above) end their high school career as well as some incredible cross country runners (three of which below). Each year, I feel like God has blessed me with young hearts to love, teach, and coach. I often feel that I will be lost the following fall without them. But, God has a way of renewing each season with its own challenges and new personalities. I guess it is part of high school ministry. The seasons are sweet and often fast. Praise God for this incredibly talented group of ladies and I pray that God uses them all over the country next year! 

After graduation on Saturday morning (which included a flash mob by the way!), we spent the next three days at graduation parties for students and athletes. It is a bit harder to do wtih two kids, but they were troopers. Macklin started asking, "Are we going to another party?" every time that we left one. I did find the perfect gift from a poor teacher to MANY seniors....I made up a Mad Lib-type letter to their parents. So, after a week of college, they fill it in and send it home to their parents. Kinda random, awkward and funny all at the same time. The kids seemed to like it. I think it will be a keeper for years to come! 33 gifts in one weekend in not affordable for anyone :)

Alphabet or Colors?

Macklin and I were drawing with chalk outside when I thought to make something I read about in a magazine. We made "parking spot" for his cars with the alphabet in them. Macklin and I were working on his alphabet hard core for like a week. And then, he realized I was trying to get him to sit down and learn something, and then he was totally uninterested. So, I gave it a break as to not force the issue. He is a pro at recognizing "A", and that is about it. I have been trying to incorporate the letters into anything possible in hopes that he will just start catching on. This parking spot lesson was going great until he tuned me out, matched up all of the cars with the proper color space, and then ran off to the swings. He is one funny dude. At least he knows his colors! 

Riverboarding

We had so much fun playing in the Glenwood Water Park. It is a specific wave that is man made so that it can change with the water level and still be a wave. Daniel and Jason are both owners of riverboards. They were a new toy at the end of last season and they enable you to lay on your tummy and go head first into the waves. You should wear a helmet, fins, shin guards and gloves to ride it and protect yourself from the rocks in the river. The guys are still figuring out how to "ride" the waves but they made a ton of progress today! 

Daniel, Justin, and Jason

 

 

Daniel's brother, his girlfriend, and his nephew

We played in the tubes as well, taking Macklin out just below the wave and down under the bridge a bit. The water was COLD! 

 The Water Park. There is a tow rope to help you get into the water and ride it. 

People surf here and stand up paddle too! 

Macy looked on with awe!  

Justin's Tubing Adventure

 

  

Track Awards Night

 

 Last night we had our track awards banquet. I always look forward to these nights as it a time to honor ALL of the kids (all meaning over 100 kids) on our track team. Everyone gets called up and given a moment in the spotlight. It normally takes like 3 hours, but it is totally worth it! One tradition that we started last year was waiting until the banquet to let anyone have their medals and ribbons. We take 2+ hours before the banquet (I direct the rest of our assistants) to set all of these up and then hand them to the athlete when they come up. It has been a very meaningful display of our accomplishments and definitely eye candy! 

We also showed off our new record board with eight new records from the season up! It is also important to notice that we were less than a half of a second away from breaking eight more! What a strong year we had! 

We have some fun kids...can you tell?

CO State Track Meet 2013

Regionals for our track team was last week. This past weekend was the Colorado State Meet in Denver. Kids can qualify by ranking in the top 18 of all of the kids in the state in your classification (we are 4A on a 1-5A scale where 5A is the largest. School populations must be between 650ish-1500ish to be in 4A. We have about 720 kids at EVHS, thus making us one of the smallest schools in 4A.) I believe this is the 3rd year to have this system in place in CO. Previously, if kids placed top 3 in the regional meet, they qualified. 

We are proud to send 21 kids to state in 17 events! 

Here is how we panned out this weekend:

(For the record, it is a nine lane track, so nine get to make finals and they give medals to top nine!)

SR = school record holder (not necessarily these times) 

Girls Spring Medley Relay - 6th, 1:49.48 (SR)

Girls 4x100 Relay - 18th, 51.52

Boys 4x100m Relay - 13th, 43.27

Girls 4x200 Relay - 9th, 1:47.35 (SR)

Girls 800m Run - 9th, 2:16.70

Boys 800m Run - 15th, 2:02.40

Boys 110H Hurdles - 10th (15.20, missed finals by .01sec) and 17th (15.86)

Boys 200m Dash - 15th, 22.83

Boys 400m Dash - 12th, 50.45

Girls 400m Dash - 8th, 58.11 (SR)

Girls 4x400m Relay - 7th, 4:03.16 (SR)

Boys 4x400m Relay - 10th, 3:25.64 (missed finals by .3sec)

Boys 4x800m Relay - 6th, 8:09.01 (SR)

Boys Pole Vault - 2nd, 14' (SR)

Girls Triple Jump - 5th, 35'5'' (SR)

Boys Shot Put - 15th, 44'.25''

Girls High Jump - 11th (5'1'') and 13th (4'11'')

Our little school has got some great traditions for athletics. Any time a team qualifies for state, the student body forms a human tunnel for the athletes to run through as they get on their bus to leave. It is awesome to see all of the kids dismissed in the middle of class to come celebrate our team! Then, we have fire trucks and police cars (formally we had helicopters too, but the government nixed that!) to "escort" our teams from Gypsum to Eagle, sirens blaring the whole time! It was awesome to be a part of! Also, we imprint on the back of the kids shirts "State Qualifier" so that it is well known to all! 

Macklin in the mix! 

Since it is a three day meet, I just went down to Denver each day with a different purpose. Thursday I went down with my principal and AD just to watch. Friday I drove the kids down to see my dad. And Saturday I went back with my AD to see a few important final events! All totally worth it but it was four hours of driving each day. 

Future track-ster! 

800m Races - These were darn fast this year! 

 

Hardware from State! 

 

Go Devils! 

That is what it looks like to take the silver in pole vault - 14ft!!!!