Colorado Musings

Dad's Birthday

M, along with G's help, spent a great deal of time recently with her head and thoughts in the toilet--only to try to come up some really good ideas for a Fortieth Birthday party theme. Since D, Uncle L and Aunt J were all turning forty this year, M decided to needed to throw them an unforgettable party. It just so happened that a cousin happened to visit the party weekend we was only a couple months younger, so she was included in the party also!

Uncle L.

The roses were for the lovely ladies!

In addition to the Fortied theme, we also celebrated G's 21st birthday (40 years late).

We also made sure that Seth was honored for his recent accomplishment of graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in Religion degree when means he can attend Seminary starting in the fall.

All the food was centered around the bathroom....

...animal droppings...

...even the punch looked a little like a used toilet bowl. Just lemonade with tootsie roll ice cubes.

I even had a corner of the yard to celebrate my birthday!

Birthday honorees!

What a turnout.

The twins in their matching underwear!

Mom's party

After our afternoon at the lake for my birthday party, we headed to the Greeley Stampede for M's party. What's better than an evening at the local fair--eating the greasy food and enjoying the fair rides.

We took Aunt R on the Merry-go-Round as our very first ride. It was about the only thing that C could go on also.

C was trying to be patient, but she just couldn't understand why she was stuck behind the fence while I got to have all the fun!

Before leaving we took some time to fish.

Wow, C caught the "big" one!

A lovely evening at the fair with the family she loves. M thinks she had a pretty good birthday also!

Day at the Lake

For my birthday party, I invited friends from Y school to enjoy a day at the lake with me. It was a hot, sunny day; perfect for a swim!

Enjoying the water.

Warming up on the beach with my best friend P.

When we weren't in the water, we were building sand castles and moats.

Aunt R tried to bury C's toes.

M made a Minne Mouse cake for the birthday party. I guess she won't ever go into professional cake decorating, but working without a pattern I think she did pretty well. You can at least tell it's supposed to be a face with ears!!

All my friends singing Happy Birthday to me.

My friends and cousins who helped to share such a special day with me.

Birthday

For my birthday I made purple cupcakes. C even wanted to help me.

To make the purple frosting, M added grape cool-aid with the frosting. It gave them a little punch!

I had fun putting the sprinkles on, but got a little messy doing it.

Purple cupcakes ready to share with my friends at Day Camp.

For my birthday supper, D picked up a pizza and we went to the park to eat, open presents and play just as a family.

Playing with D.

We called G&G when we got home so they could see me open their present. The summer I was born, G spent a good week restoring this tractor to its original John Deere green--fixing the chain, oiling all the parts, painting and decorating with decals. It was tractor M won when she was four from a local store's drawing. It was well loved by M, her siblings and all the daycare kids G watched. Now that I am four, it is mine to enjoy. Thanks G for all your hard work getting it ready for me!

Father's Day Weekend

Father's Day weekend found us camping in the mountains. We enjoyed a few evenings by the campfire, warming up with G under the blankets...

and a few days riding around on the ATV's!

The whole group.

Birthday pictures

One evening as we were outside enjoying the beautiful weather, M decided it was time to take our annual "look how much I've grown" pictures. M also realized that C probably didn't get these pictures taken of her at her birthday, but then again winter is not the best time to judge the growth of the tree. So we will take both of our pictures each summer. If you want to remember how we looked earlier, look here, here, here and here.

M was pretty excited that both of us were willing to pose for pictures. She got some of the best pictures of us. Hope you enjoy also.

Look how tall the tree has grown. Can you believe it was knee high to M when she moved in 8 years ago? Wow, how time flies!

Random Fun

We've been busy with birthdays this month, but we still took time to just have fun. For my birthday I got some new playdough. It was C's first time playing with it. I think she enjoyed it!

Our new neighbors moved in recently. This year we have Mama's and babies vs. the steers we've had the past few summers. C was impressed with the big animals so close to our backyard.

Aunt R is out enjoying Colorado this summer and comes down to our house almost every week to play with us at the park.

At the Relay for Life event there was a bouncy house to help entertain little ones while waiting for dinner. I've played in them before but C was new at the whole concept. She picked up on it pretty quickly.

M&D had gotten me a new bike for my birthday, but early in the month when they were cleaning the garage out I happened to find their hiding place. After much begging, M finally let me try out my new bike. I still have a lot of learning, but I am excited to ride and am learning a little more each day how to balance and pedal.

C has a cute little run. M calls it her waddle butt. I'm not sure if it is to compensate for balance or what, but it is kind of cute.

D helping me ride for the first time!

As anyone ever seen a child so excited to brush their teeth? Maybe we have a future dentist in the family. I guess right now it's a good thing she likes to brush because we have some concerns about the health of her new baby teeth and I have a feeling she will need to care for her teeth a little more than the average person.

Relay for Life

A few weekends ago, G invited C&I to walk the survivors lap with her at the local Relay for Life. G, along with a niece and 2 close friends was planning on attending. So D, M, C&I drove out to the fairgrounds on a sunny Saturday afternoon to walk a lap with G to honor her fight with breast cancer.