Officially Summer

Summer is officially here for us. Don't let the jackets and Winter hats fool you. Canyon and Ellie got out of school so we celebrated with our first summer trip. The weather was a messy rain/snow/mud mix for the most part. But when the sunshine came to visit here and there we went out to welcome it.

Lucy loved going on rides on the 4-wheeler and chasing after Tex the dog.She has a fascination with dogs. I would like to say her first word was Ma Ma but it was "doggie" now she has ditched saying doggie and says "woof woof" funny girl. Good thing Tex is the most laid back dog in the world. He let her climb,inspect, poke and prod. She loved crawling and following him around all day.

Ellie spent her time someplace else. That someplace involved magic crowns, snow people and a beautiful kingdom filled with birds, enchanted forests, and a servant. That Servant was Shane which made the magic crowns, and snow people for her world. (what a nice dad!)

All Canyon needs is a rope swing and a couple grasshoppers for hours of entertainment. He thought it was funny to make them kiss.. and well it really was... so we took a picture. He also got to chop firewood with an ax + shoot his BB gun for hours on end all of this = one happy boy for the weekend.

I got to go on a bike ride through beautiful Aspen fields with my favorite person. I went on the rope swing to...but we won't show pictures of that. :)

I also spent what seemed like forever trying to get a good picture of one of hummingbirds flying around. I guess I enjoyed the challenge of it. Those hummers are SO fast and tricky.. and finally I won. (if you can win a bird)

Vroom Vroom Vroom

I had never been to a car race (unless a demolition derby counts) until now. Our friends invited us to the Larry H. Miller race track for good ol' car racin. It was fun. I love going someplace new and soaking up new surroundings and culture. Car racing has it's very own special culture full of all sorts of pits. Pit crews, pit girls and I am sure some sweaty man racing pits. (gross but true it was hot!) Overall the cars were fast and furious, the people watching was excellent, and everyone had a great time. Thanks Janelle and Brandon for the day out.

I took the snap shot of the kids. Ellie, Jada, Mia, Canyon.
Then relied on Shane for some real pictures which are posted below.

lucy bird

Me and Lucy had a day out. It was raining all day so everything was so vibrant, green and beautiful. I love this baby girl. I can't believe in a couple of weeks she will be blowing out the candle on her first birthday cake.

(thanks auntie allison for the cute headband)

slide

Lucy is a little slide lover. One might think a big slide for such a little lady would be frightening. But as you can see she was all smiles from top to bottom. She would get to the bottom and tumble and toss giggling and giggling. She is funny about thrills. On the swing the higher the better. And being tossed in the air...also the same. Maybe she is naturally a little thrill seeker..or maybe she is just used to all the daily thrills of life with two older siblings. That big slide probably isn't half as scary as being carried around, danced with, and dragged on a blanket by a five year old sister with a blemished record when it comes to safety. :) (how do the younger ones survive?)

birthday celebrations

This year for part of the birthday celebrations we did birthday parties for Canyon and Ellie. Shane did the invitations and they turned out pretty great. I asked him if he could quickly throw something together.. this is what he came up with. (wish I could do that!)

Ellie's party was for princesses only...and all 10 princesses looked very lovely. Ellie loved every second of it. The games, the glitter, the cuppy cakes, the pretty decorations and last but not least the presents. The party was a lot of fun but the princesses were not very refined and were faster, smarter and more energetic than planned. Good thing Ali (thanks Ali) was there to help me out. Otherwise I might have been forced to give them all sleeping potion.

Canyon's party took a little less planning and decorating but involved some driving. I have never been in a car with five 8-year olds and it was quite the experience. I got my fair dose of how crazy and goofy and loud 8 year olds can be in a very confined area. I must admit that watching and listening to them was SO funny and very entertaining at times... but I don't think that out weighed how badly I wanted a Tylenol and ear plugs for the way home. It was all worth it. Canyon had a great time.. running around the Kangaroo Zoo with all of his buddies. They played and jumped and ran like crazy. You think they would have been worn out for the ride home.. Guess again. :)

(2 parties in 3 days I think I have met my quota for a while..I know..I know.. I seem so old :( )

finally

Finally after the coldest Spring in the history of mankind these pretty things have come to say hello. I love the green that spring brings.

Canyon is 8

Happy Birthday Canyon

Canyon....this cute boy
has to be one of the sweetest boys in the world.
Is super funny. (wants his grand kids to call him grand canyon)
Loves the outdoors.
Loves being with his family.
He is the most easy going little guy.
The Best Best big brother..(scratches ellie's back at night so she can go to sleep)
Has the Biggest Heart.
Has the cutest smile (with his 3 missing teeth)

We love you Canyon!

happy 5 birthday ellie aspen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLIE APSEN

Little Ellie Aspen is growing up on me. 5 years old and oh so big. She looked in the mirror this morning and told me she looked different. She also measured herself up to Canyon convinced that she had grown over night. She was pretty happy about it..and me a little sad.

Things to Love...
She gives the best hugs and kisses and tells you she loves you 100 times a day.
She is a excellent compliment giver.
She gets super excited about the little things in life... its so cute.
She is so funny and can be so silly. She makes me laugh every day!


She is a lover of everything beautiful, pink, sparkly, magical....just about anything remotely girly. She also loves being outside, skiing, hiking and camping what a nice balance. :)
She absolutely Loves Loves Loves clothes. She changes outfits a zillion times a day and is getting her very own sense of style :). This makes her an excellent shopping partner.
She is so much fun... I love her more and more everyday.

WE LOVE YOU BIRTHDAY GIRL !

Capitol Reef

Our last stop. The Grand Wash and Hickman Bridge.

Lots of caves and hiding places.

The end...where can I go next?

the lizard

For 4 days Canyon put all his time, energy and resources into catching a lizard. After many mis-attempts and probably a dozen of lizards missing half their tails..... Canyon finally caught his first lizard. In the past he has always relied on Shane's quick hands and masterful techniques to capture these little guys. Now it's his turn to shine....nice work Canyon. You can tell this one got away once because half of his tail is gone.. poor guy. He didn't get so lucky the second time around. They named him Bo Bo...That is what they have named every lizard they have caught since the year 2002 (no joke). After trying to make Ellie touch it for a few hundred hours he let him go free.. :) Canyon and Shane also tried to make Ellie hold the tails that were left behind by the escapees..yeah right like that would ever happen.

calf creek falls

This was my favorite hike that we did. The trail was a ways back but so pretty with nice sandy paths. The kids liked this one a lot as well. Canyon tried to catch lizards along the way. Ellie spent her time finding flowers and putting them to sleep on rocks. The waterfall at the end really is so so beautiful. It was the perfect place to hang out and eat lunch. To bad the water was way to cold to swim...brrrr......

organic baby food

I swear we brought Lucy baby food. She just seemed to prefer to satisfy her hunger by grazing off the land. Rocks were her favorite followed closely by reed that kept her happy for hours in the pack. I probably seem like the worst mother...letting her munch away while I snapped photos, but really whats wrong with a little organic baby food right?? Besides it was so fun to see her curiosity take over. She knew when to say when so I wasn't to worried.

yum....reed

So what does Lucy think about organic baby food??

(the drool,smile and the thumbs up says it all)

Kodachrome Basin, Escalante

This place was pretty neat. A vast desert land full of all sorts of slot canyons scattered about. We did a more kid friendly 4 mile round trip slot. It had a little stream with pebbles the whole way that made it so pretty and extra fun for our little hikers and us to :) This whole basin area had a lot of cool cool stuff that I am sure is amazing but involved harder hiking and climbing (probably not for kids.) Now I want to go back sometime and explore some more areas and see what I can find.

road trippin

What better to do when the resorts close but go on a road trip. We packed up and took off to Southern Utah for 5 days. We had never been to the Escalante Desert so it was fun to explore a bunch of new areas. We hiked about 15 miles in 4 days in different parts of Red Canyon, Escalante, and Capitol Reef (canyon and ellie included...they were amazing!) It felt so good to be outside enjoying the beauty and sunshine. We had a great time. First stop.....

RED CANYON

the last lift up

We had our last day snowboarding of the season a couple of weekends ago. We had such a great season this year with over 20 days of riding and a ton of huge powder days. This may not seem like a lot..it used to not be. But believe me with with 2 kids + a new baby bundle + a honey with a full-time job it was huge. It by far exceeded any expectation I had. I loved every bit of it. Although I am ready for Spring... I was sad to see it come to a end. I thought Ellie was deserving of her own little video clip for the ski season finale. At only 4 years old she is becoming quite the little skier. Tree trails and trying to race Canyon are her specialty. She wanted to try out some of the rails in the park like Canyon...but I strongly objected. She didn't like that to much..but hey at least she is alive.. phew!!

little retro onesie's

I started making these onesie's for Lucy a while back. I finally finished the last stitch a couple days ago. I took me a while to buckle down and finish this small project so I was glad they still fit. I think they turned out pretty cute. Now I am going to make some more only faster this time.. (hopefully). Maybe I will try out doing one with her name and a T-shirt for Ellie too.

Lucy was my little model here she is in her new retro onesie look.

onesie number 1
front and back views

close up details...... and Lucy during her best modeling behavior

onesie number 2

front view

back view