Visitors!!!

In early July, we were thrilled to have our good friends, The Curtises come and stay with us for 2 days. Katie is one of my closest friends from our time in Arizona and our kids are all about the same age, so it was one big party while they were here! Corey and Fisher were in the same Kindergarten class and Ashlyn and Emma were best buddies. Claire was twice as excited because their twins, Teslin and Case are just a year older than she is! I had planned to take them to the Zoo or a museum in Denver, but the kids just wanted to PLAY, so we went to our favorite park and had lunch and rode the paddle boats....

Corey switched boats twice, mostly to annoy the girls. We were on the lake for about 15 minutes when it started to rain! Bummer! We paddled back and headed to the Rec Center to swim indoors.

I can't believe how much these girls have grown!!! I was in mourning for a few days after they left because I really miss their family. The next week, our friends The Stouts, who recently moved to California, came to stay with us for a few days. Kristy and I stayed up way too late each night, talking and catching up and Ashlyn and Kaylee were inseparable. We did Ashlyn's birthday party a month early so Kaylee could be there. I don't have many pictures from their visit (except from Claire and Ashlyn's birthday parties, in my next post...) It was fun to have these 3 girls back together again!

I am so grateful for good friends, new and old. I guess all this moving around has just enlarged our circle of friends:)

Sea World...

On our 3rd day in San Diego, we went to Sea World. It was, thankfully, a much warmer day than the previous 2 days at LEGOLAND had been. We hadn't been to Sea World in 8 years and the park has really expanded. Claire's favorite was the Seals and Sea Lions show, where we had a front row seat. My favorite animals in the park are the Beluga whales. I just love their quirky "smiling" faces and their white color against the dark water. There was a new baby beluga named "Pearl" that is, surprisingly, gray! Babies don't turn white until they are 6-7 years old. 

We rode all the rides except the Skyride and saw all the shows except the dolphin show, so I felt like we really made good time. Corey loved the Shamu show, but I noticed that the trainers no longer get in the water with the killer whales since a trainer was killed by a whale in Orlando in 2010. They are huge and amazing creatures...

The biggest change to Sea World since we were last there were all the new rides. We got completely soaked on Shipwreck Rapids (like showering with my clothes on!) My little thrill-seekers' favorite event of the day was riding the Journey to Atlantis ride. It was a roller coaster that splashed down into water, then went into a dark elevator and went up and when the doors opened, there was another big drop into the final pool. Corey and Claire weren't so sure they liked it immediately after, then asked to go on it again all day. We rode it again just before we left. I hope it's not another 8 years until we find ourselves back at Sea World again...

LEGOLAND...

The last week in June, we finally had the opportunity to go to LEGOLAND in San Diego. Dan and I had heard that it's best for kids 10 and under, so we were anxious to go before Ashlyn got any older. We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel that was right above the park so the day we arrived, we dropped off our bags and walked right down to the park for the remainder of the day. I didn't know what to expect, but I think we were all amazed at all the figures, buildings and animals made of LEGOs. It just blows my mind to imagine putting together all of those little blocks! 

As far as the rides go, there are definitely more rides for younger children, but there were a few that got everyone's heart racing! There was one called "Knights' Tournament" that was a 2-seater robotic arm that twisted you, turned you and almost dumped you in a moat! Ashlyn and Corey really enjoyed the "Coast Cruise" that had replicas of some of the Wonders of the World. We loved that Mount Rushmore had little LEGO men cleaning out President Washington's ear with a giant Q-tip! 

I want to remember how excited Corey was at LEGOLAND forever. He loves LEGOs and I feel like the park was made just for him. I think we absolutely wore him out each day because we'd go get in the hot tub at the hotel at night and he'd start head-bobbing even before the sun set!

On our second day there, Dan took Ashlyn and Corey to the water park, but they only stayed for about an hour because the weather was a bit cold. I had Claire all to myself for a while, so we did some of the rides and activities for younger kids.

After 2 days playing hard at LEGOLAND, it was on to Sea World the next day...

Summer highlights: 2011

We've been playing so hard this summer, I've fallen really behind on my blog. It's a good thing that we're "living life instead of blogging about it," but I've been trying to catch up when I have a few minutes here and there. Our first week of summer, I realized that I was going to need to plan activities to keep my kids busy, or else they'd just play computer games or watch TV all day. If you have kids, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about! Thankfully, there is no storage of fun things to do around here, so here are a few of our highlights:

1. Denver Zoo: We went with our preschool group and my friend Linda on Corey's last day of school. Ashlyn was already done, so I just had my girls with me. We have season passes to the Zoo and go often.

2. Playing with friends! That's what summer's all about. No schedules, so homework, and plenty of time to PLAY! On an afternoon in July, Ashlyn and her friends ran through the sprinklers on the golf course behind our house...

3. Bike rides: This is usually a weekend or evening activity for us. We have such amazing bike trails around us and it's one of our favorite family activities...

4. Swimming! Between our great neighborhood pool and our gym, we've spent a lot of time at the pool this summer. Claire's also taking swimming lessons from a guy in our ward. Corey & Ashlyn are such fish, but Claire has been a little apprehensive about swimming without a floaty. She's making progress, though...

5. Crazy weather! We had afternoon rainstorms almost every day in June and July (and we even had an inch of hail in mid-July!), so we had to get out and play outside in the mornings before the heavens opened up and dumped on us! In the picture below, you can see the "lake" and snow left by a particularly heavy storm, but I love the rainbows after!

6. Tennis lessons: Ashlyn and her best friend took 2 weeks of tennis lessons in July. Believe it or not, they DID actually play tennis with their rackets, but they do make great guitars...

7. Horsemanship lesson: 

I bought a gift certificate from mamapedia a few months ago for Ashlyn and Corey to take a horsemanship lesson from Mountain Rose Horsemanship Training and in July, we had the opportunity to use it. All of my kids love horses, but haven't been around them much. Dan grew up with horses, but never cared for them much after a horse stepped on him when he was about 8 years old. This lesson was a perfect opportunity to learn about caring for horses and how to interact with them. They began by checking the hooves for any rocks, brushing and saddling the horses. The kids learned that it's important to develop a relationship with a horse before just jumping on for a ride. The instructor was fabulous! I was amazed to see Corey communicating so well, both verbally and non-verbally with his horse. I wanted to sign them up for more, but the instructor is in the process of moving out of state, so that's it for now... 

Paddleboat park...

We've often found ourselves at E.B. Rains Park this summer. We love the playground with unusual swings, covered picnic area, splash pad and the lake. In June, we took Rikke and her kids and we had lunch and went paddleboating on the lake. It's quite a leg workout and on a hot day like it was, getting splashed by the kids' water fight felt nice... 

(Above): Rikke, Amelia and Sam...

15th anniversary!

15 years!!! Dan and I have been through so much together and I am so grateful for a husband that is so supportive, accepting, fun, generous, spiritual, an amazing father, a tireless provider, and an amazing lover and best friend. Our trials and challenges have strengthened us because we endured them together. We've moved so much, started over in many ways, and have had to rely on each other through moves, job changes and the deaths of brothers, grandparents and our child. We are different, but mostly in good ways. I appreciate his calm, logical approach to things when I am more emotional and often lack the faith he has. He is such a strength to me and I feel like I can do more because he is there. 

I remember going out to celebrate our first anniversary and we talked about how lucky we were that we "worked out" because we didn't date for long before we got engaged. I knew him for 8 months before we dated, but on our first date, I had an unmistakable feeling that I was going to marry him! We were engaged 3 months later.

To celebrate our anniversary, Dan took me to The Melting Pot. It's a fondue restaurant and we had never been before. The food was delicious and it was the perfect place to celebrate a special event. I just about died when Dan pulled out a Zales bag when we were getting out of the car (especially since I only got him a card... Yikes!) He gave me a gorgeous watch with a crystal face and some ruby earrings, since the traditional and modern gifts for 15th anniversaries are a watch, crystal and rubies. 

After dinner we went to see the movie "Super 8," which was scary and fun. The next night, which was our actual anniversary, we went to see the Colorado Rapids soccer team play the L.A. Galaxy with our friends, the Mowers. We were all hoping to see David Beckham play, but he was a no-show. 

I feel so blessed to be Dan's wife!

Father's Day celebration at the Lake House

June 18th was our 15th anniversary! We started the day by joining some friends from our ward at a nearby private lake to celebrate Father's Day. Kaly, who hosted, had water toys and bubbles for the kids and we had a delicious barbecue for lunch. Kaly's husband comes to the lake to waterski during lunch nearly every day in the summer. What a life! The lake is small, but big enough for waterskiing and tubing and the lake house is charming. Claire caught frogs all day and played in the sand, while Ashlyn & Corey swam over to the little island and found a turtle nest with hatched eggs! Ashlyn caught a fish and we all enjoyed going boating. The kids all sat in the hot tub after swimming. We stayed for most of the afternoon, then headed home so Dan & I could go out to celebrate our anniversary!

(Below): Claire LOVES frogs!!!

Corey: Scout Camp

(Below): Corey in June & with his 2nd grade teacher and Claire on the last day of school...

Keeping Corey busy this summer has been tough. I was grateful that he had Scout Camp in June. I volunteered for a day in the middle of the week and I loved seeing what he'd been up to and I loved being with him. His favorite activity was archery and I was impressed how well he hit his paper plate target. The boys learned about first aid, made 2 crafts, played a soccer-type game and made rockets....

They had a guest speaker during lunch each day. On the day I was there Brian from our ward did a presentation on snakes! He brought some snakes, on loan from a local pet store, and talked about his experience caring for snakes. He also brought the skin from his favorite snake that had died while he was in high school (pictured below), shed skins and some snake vertebrae. It all gave me the creeps, but the boys were absolutely fascinated!