Memorial Day Weekend

The weather for memorial day weekend was awesome so we took advantage of all 3 days. 

Saturday we woke up bright and early and headed up to Estes Park for a hike. We had wanted to hike Bridal Veil Falls, but the parking area was already full. So instead we headed to another nearby hike "Pearl Lake." 

It was an amazingly beautiful day and a great hike with friends: 

Here we are at Pearl Lake:

Sunday night we headed over to the drive in theatre with a bunch of friends from Jack's school. We showed up early at 6:30pm and there was already a huge line. Thankfully we still got good parking spots and we had 2.5 hours to kill before the movie even started.

That's why it was great to go with so many friends. The kids just ran around and played football, frisbee, bubbles, etc. They had so much fun before the movie even started:

Finally the movie started around 9:30pm and Jack and Lily were able to stay awake for the entire movie. There was a second movie that started at 11pm but we decided to head home and call it a night since we had another fun day planned for the next morning.

Monday morning (memorial day) we headed out to Flatiron reservoir for a BBQ with Jack's school friends. We got there early to set up and the girls went straight to the sand pit. Josie gave herself a sand bath:

Jack and Luke fished and caught one good size fish that we were able to grill up

We had a BBQ and s'mores. The kids had a great time

A big storm rolled through, so for about 5-10 minutes we had to take shelter under the pavilion. It was a perfect opportunity for a group picture

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful area. 

Josie's lunch consisted of cheetos and oreos. She didn't seem to mind

The kids had so much fun running around the whole area. It was great to be outside on such a beautiful day.

But we were exhausted after the long weekend. Luke fell asleep on the couch when we got home... and I took advantage of that opportunity:

Other May Happenings

May has been a great month! Finally the weather is turning warm and we can see summer is coming. The girls went shopping and got some bathing suits to prepare for pool days: 

The days are getting longer and busier. Poor Josie is just along for the ride. Sometimes she is just so tuckered out that she has to nap whenever/wherever she can:

Jack's 2nd grade english class wrote and published a book. We got to go to the official reading of the book. The story was based on portals and each kid got to write one page of somewhere the portal took them. Jack wrote about a place called "baby land' filled with lots of babies.

It was finally warm enough to start wearing shorts again. I pulled out this really cute hand-me-down from Lily's old clothes.

The kids and I went to the "Kites in the Park" event by our house. Unfortunately there was no wind that day. The kids just had to run to try to keep their kites in the air.

We have had many park days. Lily knows how to swing herself. It is such a liberating accomplishment.

One afternoon we went to Odell's brewery for a flyfishing event. The kids got these free tshirts and then we entered into a raffle and won all sorts of other really cool prizes. It was pretty awesome.

One Sunday afternoon we took the kids for a 5 mile bike ride/run. They rode their bikes, Luke and I ran. Both kids did amazing with very little complaining.

On our way home we stopped by the park to let them cool off:

Lots of fun videos this month:

Here is Josie at gymnastics swinging into the foam pit. She has such an adventurous spirit

And here is Lily flipping off the bar at the park. Another adventurous soul:

Josie has learned how to say her name and it is the cutest thing ever "Doe dee" 

Lily has always loved to sing in the car and now Josie is taking after her sister. I just love to turn off the radio and listen to them sing when I drive:

Josie is a spunky one. So much sass and spitfire in this girl:

We started teaching Josie how to play hide-and-seek this month. She is so much fun!

Josie loves ants and all little bugs. Her and Lily can be entertained for hours watching an ant crawl around the house: 

Lily and preschool

Lily graduated from preschool this month! The last month of preschool was filled with all sorts of fun events. One of which was a field trip to the farm. Here are Lily and her friend Reese on the big tractor:

Lily singing in the silo

Feeding the goats

Lily and her best friend Reese

On her last day of school Lily had a graduation party. Lily dressed her very best, she still loves her high heeled shoes the most


All the kids got to sing for us:




And afterwards we had a pizza party.

Hard to believe our little girl is going to kindergarten next year! She is a rockstar!

May fishing

The kids have been fishing a ton this month. Almost enough fishing that Jack declared he was "fished out!" We have been fishing with friends at a park by our house. This little pond has so many hungry fish that they were practically jumping onto our poles. Every kid caught at least one fish. Jack caught so many that he finally got bored and went to play on the playground instead: 

Marathon!

After 4 months of hard training, the day finally came!

I had to wake up at 3am to eat breakfast and get ready. My friends picked me up at 4:15 and we drove downtown and loaded onto buses at 4:30am. The busses drove us up the canyon to the start of the race. We had to wait around for another hour as the race didn't start until 6:30am 

It was a cold snowy morning and everyone had sweats and jackets over their running gear. Here are me and Ashely before the race: 

Right before the race started we ditched our warm clothing and got in line. Then we got ready. At 6:30 am the race started. 

It was snowing a lot in the mountains, but I wasn't cold. I focused on pacing myself so I didn't even try to run hard. I just ran comfortably enjoying the scenery. It was beautiful: 

That's me in the very back!

For 20 miles I ran in the canyon. It was beautiful and quiet. Finally around mile 20 we came out of the canyon and started seeing all the people cheering for us. It was amazing! Luke and the kids were waiting for me at mile 21 and it was so fun to see them. 

Around mile 22 things started to get hard. My pace slowed a bit and other people around me started dropping left and right. I saw people dropping to the ground, some throwing up on the side and others would just stop and lay down. Surprisingly I felt great. My legs were sore but otherwise I was still smiling and enjoying the race. 

The last two miles were the longest and hardest. But I was able to pick up my pace and run to the finish line with a smile on my face! I crossed the finish line at 3:50:04.

It was a great feeling to finish strong! Part of me wished I had pushed harder to reach the 3:45:00 time, but I enjoyed the race so much that  I'm not afraid to try it again next year.

Luke and the kids were waiting at the finish line for me. 

We were able to hang out after and get our free beers

The kids got to play with their friends:

If you remember our race last year, we waited around for 3 hours after we finished the half marathon to go to Coopersmiths restaurant at noon for their advertised free beer and pizza. When we got there at 11:50am, they were all out. I was so mad.

This year, we headed to Coopersmiths right after the race and they weren't even letting anyone in until noon. We came back at noon and got a table. It was all you could eat beer and pizza for everyone. And it was awesome! Good job Coopersmiths!

It was a great day!