First Day of School 2013

It is hard to believe that Justin is starting his 7th year at Eagle Valley High School. We are so blessed to be in this community and to be enjoying our lives in Gypsum. I want to start taking a picture every year on the first day of school so that Macklin will have all of the pics when he grows up. 

Justin is excited to be teaching two different levels of Chemistry this year. He has dropped the Physics (which he taught for the last two years) and is looking forward to having one prep to focus on. 

The Yellow Room

When we moved into our home, we had a green guest room and a yellow office. When Macklin came around, we turned the green room into his nursery and then the yellow room became the guest room and office complete with the desk above and bunk beds. When Daniel moved in with us, the guest room became his. When Macklin needed a bed, he got the top bunk bed so that little Macy could take his crib - both in the green room. 

When Daniel moved out, the yellow room became the guest room, office and toy room as. We did not have storage for the toys, so we just put them all around the floor. Last winter break, Justin constructed the Murphy Bed that is the piece of wood on the left in this picture. We got a new desk to maximize space and the toys are still on the floor. 

After doing a little toy inventory, we decided that we had to have something in order to get the toys off the ground. Nothing that we were seeing at the stores was satisfying our needs for this room. Seriously, who has this many toys in one room of a tiny house?

After a lot of thought time, Justin and I constructed our own shelving system for the room to meet the needs of the toys as well as the fact that Daniel was moving back in. I LOVE the final product and am so bummed that we didn't do this sooner! The top bins (and we have added some more to the top of the shelf) are for Daniel and the lower ones are for the kids. I did have to move some of the bigger toys around the house in other places as they did not fit. 

Here is where I got all of the bins and baskets:

White and Green Baskets

Blue Buckets

Blue Boxes

Print on the Wall

Fabric for the Pillow 

Custom Wall Shelving Unit 

Macklin loves his reading nook! 

What happened to the desk you might ask? It got moved to the baby nook! Everyone wants a desk in their bathroom, right? Please pardon the crazy mess. I just put the shower curtain over it and you don't see it! If we get to have another baby, this will have to move again, but it is a great solution right now for a work space for me to plan out my cross country season. 

End of Summer Update

Macy has finally grown out of her car seat! We purchased a convertible toddle chair for the rest of her car seat days and she has liked it so far! Big brother is also having more fun with Macy as she is able to keep up with him more. 

 We drove up to Edwards to take our little buddy Trevan out for a park date. It was 58 degrees and cloudy and the boys still wanted to play in the spray park. They did a great job and didn't seem to mind the cold at all!

Making a fun to the hardware store to finish our shelving project. Macy really enjoys pushing things around and helping!

I took this picture for Uncle Kevin to show off Macklin's cool shoes! Kevin has been picking out shoes for the kids for a few years now and I personally love it!

I took this picture to send to Mimi and Papa on their Appalachian Trail adventures. They enjoyed getting their card. 

Macklin's new buddy Brooke. They enjoy hanging out together at the parks and in playdates. Our new Young Life leader Karley is Brooke's nanny. 

When you have such cute dresses, you have to take pictures! Thank you Mema! 

Seriously, she is too cute! 

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had the best 30th birthday party, thanks to Justin! We had a pretty normal day at the house. He said that we had plans for that evening so I was thinking that we were headed out to dinner or something. At about 5pm, he said that he was going to go see a high school friend for a little visit and that we would leave when he got back. I thought that was a little weird, but didn't think too much about it. When he got home, he said to get on active clothes and then blindfolded me and put me in the car :) After driving in circles we ended up just a 1.4 mile from our house at Second Street Park. He walked me all the way across the softball field to a whole crew of friends! I was so surprised! He had organized all of my friends (including MOPS friends that he didn't know), gotten my favorite Subway sandwiches and cookies, picked my favorite ice cream, my favorite chips, and all of the other fixings! He just wanted everyone to come and enjoy, not worry about bringing things. He had even asked his high school friend (that he supposedly went to see) to come and play with all of our kids in the park so that the adults could play a game of kickball! 

If I had to plan my own birthday party, this is what I would have planned! Thank you to my awesome husband for making me feel celebrated on my 30th! I still feel like I just graduated college, but apparently now I am no longer in my 20s. 

Kari and Jen 

Karley (new YL leader) and Susie (new friend) with her son JP

These bad boys are my anniversary and birthday presents! Woohoo! They are awesome! 

I also received these beautiful flowers from my brother John's family!

Beaver Creek Rodeo

We have been missing a fun social event in the valley for the past six years - the Beaver Creek Rodeo! One of our senior Young Life girls is the rodeo queen and I made a commitment to go to one of the shows this summer. They run every Thursday all summer long in Avon. I never really thought about going before this year, but Macklin loved it!!!

I told him that we were going to see cowboys, and that is all it took for him to request a full Woody (rom Toy Story) outfit, complete with his bandana to "keep his neck warm" and his cowboy boots. He was a precious little thing. He received many compliments on his attire. 

 

While we were there, Macklin watched the cowboys rope the calves, he rode a horse himself, and he played with his buddy Trevan. We also watched Angela race around performing her duties in the ring. It was fun to see her in her element (she is now on the CSU equestrian team). If it wasn't slightly expensive, I think I would take Macklin back every week! It was totally worth it to hang out with the Bakers for the evening though. 

Can't help but mention I found me two new favorite pictures!

XC Retreat 2013

Last weekend was our 6th annual Eagle Valley Cross Country retreat. When I formed a new team for EVHS (and split from the combined team with BMHS), the students said that they would miss the team  trip the most. I thought, "We can do that." And we did! The first two years (when we had about 16 kids come), we just camped out at the base of a trail. When the 2010 season came and 50 kids showed up for the team, I knew I had to make a change. I surprised the kids that year with a nice rental house to stay out and we haven't looked back. We do a lot of fundraising through the year and, more recently, through our home meet to afford this trip. It is well worth it! It is such a great opportunity to get to know your teammates and hangout a bit. 

This year we headed to Blue River, CO (south of Breckenridge) and then we hiked Mt Democrat, Mt Lincoln, and Mt. Cameron (Mt Bross was closed due to private ownership restrictions). 

Our trip is Thursday through Saturday (due to previous no contact rules on Sunday for high school sports). We roll in on Thursday, go for a trail run, and then settle into our house. Thursday night we get ready for our hike and play some "get to know you" games. 

Here is the whole crew! 

Friday morning we wake everyone up bright and early, pile in the buses and head out for our hike! 

Hiking up Democrat. You can see all of the people on the mountain this day!

First ladies to the top! 

The whole team made it up Democrat! Woot Woot!

I always feel bad that people have to share the peak with our group. No one goes up a 14er looking for 50 people at the top. They want solitude. They want to enjoy the moment. We do try to be in one area and keep our voices down. I say all of that because we met another group up there with about 13 people. They were from Janus, a financial company, that has a 14er challenge each year. They said that the whole company is challenged to hike a 14er that the company president choses each year for a fitness goal. They said that in one trip (the one that the president goes on of course) they have as many as 100 people coming up the mountain on two charter buses! I felt a lot better about our group after that. What would you do if you saw two charter buses at the 14er trailhead parking??? 

Headed over to Mt Cameron

Our crew at Mt Cameron. Some of our kids decided to be done with one. Other decided to run the final two. So after the first one, we all split up :)

Wildlife on the way down! He was like 15 feet from our trail and didn't move as we approached! Such a weird body type on an animal! 

Three more 14ers for my summit list! 

Yay Ladies! 

Hiking down. Everyone made it up and down safely. No lightening. No major injuries. It was a great morning! 

Friday night we established our team goals for the year and then headed into Breckenridge to do a scavenger hunt and play around. There was this awesome bike tire tower that we had to snap a pic in front of. 

Saturday morning is a chill morning for us. We did a sleep in day with brunch. Then, as coaches, we meet one-on-one with every kid and talk about their season goals. It is an awesome time of conversation with these kids and it leaves me pumped for what the season will bring. Let's get this party started, EVXC 2013!