I have a 3rd and 6th grader!

 I know I say it all the time but the older my kids get, the faster time seems to go by, and the older I feel.  I can't believe how fast the summer went!  We are officially back into the school routine again.  So far it's been a pretty easy transition. Everything has gone well.  I am the kind of person that thrives on a good routine.  Kaycee and Luke started at a brand new elementary school that is just down the street from us.  It is a very nice 2-story school and will be even better when all the construction is completely finished.  So far I am very impressed with the principal and with their teachers. Luke likes his classmates a lot and he is loving scouts now that it has started back up again. He is looking forward to the pinewood derby coming up in a few weeks.  Kaycee will be super busy now that competition dance has started up again.  She is also doing pointe, tumbling, piano and babysitting. I am enjoying teaching and I love my little preschoolers. They are so cute! I have been training to do a 22 mile run in the Las Vegas Ragnar in October.  I feel a total sense of accomplishment in my workouts and I feel strong.  I am way excited! John has been working out in the field at his job because they are so slow in the office and so busy on the job sites.  It was really hard on him at first but it's getting easier especially since the weather is cooling down a little. The plus side is that he gets to drive a company truck as long as he's out in the field. He has a job and that's the important thing. We are so grateful for the good life that we have and all the people who surround us! Here's to a great school year!!!

 


Kaycee on the first day of 6th grade.  In case you didn't notice - she loves the peace sign and bright rainbow colors!




I saw this shirt at Old Navy and had to buy it for Luke.  He often likes to remind me that he doesn't like reading and homework.  I love that he wore it on the first day of school.



Luke's first day of 3rd grade. My cute boy!



John sent me these beautiful flowers to work on my birthday - which was also my first day of teaching preschool.  They came during my afternoon class and just totally made my day.  My little preschoolers were so cute about it.  Aren't they beautiful?  Daisies and gerber daisies are my favorite flowers. 



I had to put in this picture of Kaycee and her friend Kennedy.  They do the goofiest stuff all the time.  In this picture they were pretending to be models in a photo shoot.  They took over 100 pictures of each other.  Cracks me up!



Kaycee had a frenectomy 3 days before school started.  She has a gap between her front teeth caused by the muscle that attaches the lip and the gum (inherited from her mom).  They went in and cut it with a laser.  She was a champ!



Colorado Family Vacation

We decided to make the best of our end of the summer by taking a family trip to Colorado to hang out with John's cousin's family - Les, Elise, Emily, Jacob and Luke. It was great! They were the most hospitable people ever. We packed a whole lot of fun into 5 days and had an absolute blast! The drive was very long and boring (we had been told it was an ugly drive and it was so true!) but we arrived safe and sound and went to a pool party. It was a really neat pool and the kids had a lot of fun after a day of driving.

The next morning we woke up early and drove up to the beautiful Estes Park and stayed in a condo for a couple of nights. It was awesome! It's like Park City and Jackson Hole combined. We ate lunch and shopped through all the fun stores on main street. Afterwards John, Kaycee, Luke and I went to the famous Stanley Hotel for a ghost history tour. It is a really cool place. It was built in the early 1900's and has luxury written all over it. The history behind it is absolutely fascinating. The tour itself wasn't as fake scary as I had hoped (I was hoping for a Disneyland Haunted Mansion type of event) but it was interesting and there are some weird ghost stories surrounding it.
Stephen King was stranded at the Stanley Hotel several winter's ago and it inspired his book The Shining - a book that he wrote in 7 days. Also some of the scenes in the movie Dumb and Dumber were filmed here. The man who built the Stanley Hotel was named F.O. Stanley and was a very rich man. He helped create one of the first steam engine cars (stanley steamer).
Room #217 is the most popular haunted room at the hotel. It's the room Stephen King stayed in when he had his inspiration for The Shining. Celebrities and guests have many ghost stories to tell and the room is always booked.



Up the road from Estes is the Rocky Mountain National Park. It is so amazing!!! The mountains, the animals, the hikes, the lakes, the scenery - everything is so beautiful. Wildlife abounds because the animals know they are protected. We saw so many awesome animals - even a wolf in the wild.


Needless to say. John was in hog heaven. All of the kids were so amazing too. And Elise, being less than 2 months away from her due date, never complained. We went on a hike up to this beautiful waterfall. I would love to go again and hike some more. There are so many trails it would take months and months to hike them all.
Cute little Luke was a trooper riding (and sleeping) on his dad's back.













To top off our great little vacation we went to a Rockies vs Marlin's major league baseball game at the Coors Field in Denver. We've been to several Bee's games before but we had never been to a MLB game before. It was so much fun!!! The best part was that our tickets were free and they were the best seats ever - lower bowl, behind the batter, in the shade. Elise's cousin's husband plays for the Marlin's. His name is John Buck and he is the catcher. He's really good and he hit a home run during the game. The Rockies were down 3 to 4 at the top of the ninth inning and came back to win the game 5 to 4 at the bottom of the ninth. What a game!!! It was the whole experience (the huge stadium and even the $50 dinner we bought -1 hamburger, 2 mini pizzas, 1 burrito, 1 drink and 3 waters) and I'm so grateful that my kids got to be a part of it all. It was a long game and they loved every minute of it!
This is John Buck.




This is Tulowitzski. He's the star of the Rockies team. All the girls think he's really cute (he's alright). He is a great player and it's easy to see why he's the star - he hit a home run.
This is Giambi and he's well known too. He's played on some other MLB teams and he's really good.


This is Helton. Another great player who only played for a minute - he trades off with Giambi. Elise loves him and I guess all the stories about him are that he's a real decent guy and is really great with all his fans. We got Luke a shirt with his name and number on it and he was so happy to see him come on the field.



We had a lot of fun and made some great memories! I'm sure we'll go back sometime....