Fun 4th

I always feel like the summertime goes too fast and I guess this year is no different. The kids have kept us SO busy that it's all I can do to keep up. We have managed to squeeze in a few pool days and movie days and we had a really fun July 4th weekend. I had to also throw in a couple overdue photos--the first one shows that my girls have not spent one night apart from each other this summer. They have been pretty good buddies and it has been fun to watch. That's my idea of a 'sleepover'! Some nights they sleep in Kaiya's bed, some nights on the floor and some nights in the cooler basement. The second photo was taken last month on Doug's birthday. It got a bit overshadowed with the big news of the Houtchens baby on the way, but we didn't forget him or his favorite chocolate cake!!

On Friday night, we went to a Rockies game with some friends and saw their amazing fireworks show. Then, on Saturday, we decided to head up to Estes Park for the day just to enjoy living in Colorado. We had lunch and ice cream up there and let the kids play in the park. The water level in the river and lakes up there was impressive! Then, we got to spend the afternoon with my mom at the lake. We were guests of her neighbors, but the kids got plenty of rides behind the boat on the tubes and had a blast! The night concluded with fireworks, driveway style and homemade root beer floats with friends and neighbors.

The Rox really know how to put on a show!

My budding Rockies fans

There is a long story behind this photo taken in Estes--it's a re-creation for many years ago.

Once a monkey . . . .

They have the best ice cream in Estes!

Lake fun

Daredevils on tubes! Crappy phone video, but Coop and Kinley are on the left and Kaiya and her friend are on the right. They caught some air before wiping out!

I love this picture--Kaiya had a friend over from her gym when we went boating and to my mom's afterward . . . here is what happens when two gymnasts get together.

The next morning, I did a 5K "fun" run. It really was not so 'fun' after all. I really pushed myself and felt crappy the rest of the day. My internal dialouge went something like this . . . . 'this is only 3 miles--push yourself! Why pay to run this race if you're just going to run your normal pace--that's dumb.' What followed the rest of the day was this dialouge . . . . 'You are so dumb. You have no business running that fast--your body does not like that pace. Don't ever do that again!'

After the race, the girls and I headed to Breckenridge for a wedding. Kaiya's gymastics coach got married at the top of the mountain and it was breathtaking! It was a bittersweet day for Miss Kaiya. She loved going to the wedding, but when we left, it meant she had to say goodbye to her coach of 4 years because she is moving to North Carolina. It was so hard seeing her sob as we drove away. :(

Atop Breckenridge Mountain

The bride and all of her gymnasts

This was a hard goodbye!!

Cooper and Doug stayed home from the wedding so that Coop could play in a double header in the 100 degree weather. As has been the case all year, they got smoked by the other team (some of which were juniors in HS), but he has continued to play well. He's pretty pleased that he is consistently getting hits off of pitchers that throw a lot harder than he's ever seen before. That poor kid gets so sweaty behind the plate when he catches, but he can't get enough of it. We've had a few games rained out lately by torrential afternoon thunderstorms

I am gearing up to go be camp RN at our church's Girls Camp for a couple nights this week and then Kaiya and I leave for Wisconsin in two weeks for her gymnastics camp. By the time we get back, school will be just a few short weeks away. I'm going to try to savor every day we have left!