Colorado Rockies

It's the end of Carson's summer sports, so in celebration Carson and dad went to a Rockies game last weekend!  Carson stayed up past 10:00pm and Brian said he kept saying "I'm so excited!" throughout the game :).  Carson played t-ball and soccer through our local rec league and really enjoyed them both.  The kids got medals this week and Carson was pretty pumped.  I had to include the last picture of Aliana... this is how we find her most nights when we go up to check on her.  She likes to fill her bed with toys before she goes to sleep every night :)

Grammy & Grandpa Michael's visit

Over the 4th of July we had a visit from Grammy & Grandpa Michael.  It was a great week -- we went to the zoo, stayed up late on the 4th, visited a fire truck, climbed trees, rode bikes, enjoyed crafts and yummy food!   Thanks Grammy & Grandpa for a fun visit!

Stomp Rockets

The kids got a Stomp Rocket on the 4th of July from Grandpa Michael, which kept them busy most of the night waiting for the fireworks!  The fireworks for the city of Thornton are launched literally in our backyard so we just put our lawn chairs out and waited until it got dark!  (that's why there are a million cars parked on the street).  The kids also managed to participate in some family pictures, I'm always surprised when these pictures turn out with the kids looking at the camera :)

Brian's Home!

Daddy has been gone in Ohio for the past 2 weeks for school conference... it was a LONG time! :)  We tried to keep busy with friends and Oma & Opa (Brian's mom and dad).  We went to the zoo, built legos, played in the kiddie pool, had a week of VBS at our church, and of course watched shows and ate popcorn for dinner! (well, not every night)  We are happy to have him home!

Fishing

We took the kids on another overnight camping trip into the mountains near Nederland, about an hour from our house.  It was much warmer than our trip at the end of May, which made the night/morning much more enjoyable!  Carson did great again, Aliana.... well, I'm not sure camping is her favorite activity.  But, Brian took the kids fishing and that was definitely the highlight.  Both kids really seemed to love it and everyone was happy :)  (even though we didn't catch anything).  

Ready, Set, Go!

The kids decided to "go running" this evening -- around the house.  Running shoes on, the kids ran around doing laps that Carson determined.  The prize was popcorn and juice (which was also dinner since dad was at youth group and mom didn't want to make anything).  Carson's sign says, "Here is the finish line", just incase you can't read it :)

Most of our weekend was spent in the kiddie pool and playing around the house - we were lazy!  Summer is great! Have a great week!

Steamboat Springs - Half Marathon

We are spending an extended weekend in Steamboat Springs, CO with Brian's family.  It's about 4 hours from our house, up in the mountains and just beautiful here!  We picked this weekend because of the races - Brian's brother ran a 10k and my sister-in-law and I both ran the half marathon (Brian ran 2 miles with us on Saturday for fun, unfortunately there were no shirts for that :).  My sister-in-law is what I call a "real runner" and had an awesome race.  While I like to run, I am pretty steady with a 10 min. mile.  Nothing to brag about, but I did make goals to not walk and to beat my last year's half marathon time, and I was able to meet both goals!  The mountains are beautiful and it was a gorgeous day.  Here are a few pictures from the weekend trip.

Aliana at the Bounce House (we had the place to ourselves, it was awesome!)

5:30am getting ready to get on the race bus

The kids cheering us on

End of the race, hooray!

The boys

The girls (of course Ali decided to put her fingers in her nose)

Our family

Cousins!  (playing in the elevator)