July birthdays and a Big anniversary

Since I am so far behind in posting, today I am playing catchup by combining a few posts!

 Mike and I celebrated a milestone this year....the big 10! I couldn't be happier! We have grown and changed so much! A lot of things have changed but only made us stronger! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and friend! We enjoyed a wonderful sushi date night.
My birthday came and went. Mike and the girls made it special for me but I didn't take any pictures. Fine by me! Birthdays are getting harder and harder to celebrate! As usual, Mike spoiled me with gifts I didn't know I needed and now I can't live without! We had a great date night with Ethiopian food. Quite the experience and my new favorite kind of exotic food.

The highlight of the month however is always our oldest princess' birthday. She wouldn't have it any other way! Eight years old is a big milestone as well and we celebrated all week.  At the beginning of the week, she celebrated at Jump Street with her friends.  So many things to do and jump on.  A GREAT place to have a party.

And then on her actual birthday, we spent the morning at the American Girl store.  We now have a new family member.... McKenna.  I LOVE that store.  Almost as much as my girls!

July 4th 2012

We partied hard with our entire neighborhood on the 4th.  Such a great day!

Bright and early... the bike parade.  Rachel opted to walk and carry her baby.  Thank god.  We were worried how this was going to work since she can ride her bike for less than a block before her legs get tired! 

After the parade, we cooled off with a popsicle at the clubhouse and headed to the pool.  This was our first year going to the pool on the 4th. What a party it was.  We were lucky enough to have friends who stood in line at 6:30 am to get a spot for their tent.  We ate and drank all day long.  HOT HOT HOT!  The girls enjoyed all the games.   The diving for coins, and pop and the raft relay.

 It was a fun fun day indeed!

We ended the day with dinner.  My husband, the wonderful chief that he is, smoked turkey legs!  Delish!  The only thing missing from this perfect 4th was fireworks!  Unfortunately, they were banned due to the draught! 

Inaugural camping trip

Last weekend after years of prodding, we went camping. Mike has been trying to talk me into camping since we have met. I always wanted to wait until the girls were older. They are the perfect ages now. Once I got over the dirt factor, and was able to relax, we had a blast. I have never seen my kids so dirty.

   
We met up with 6 others families. At one point I counted 18 kids. We barely saw our kids. They were forced to find things to do. They played in the dirt, climbed rocks, fished and chased chipmunks. Such a much needed escape from the material world at home!

 
 

Being in the mountains, we were looking forward to an escape from the heat. No such luck! It was almost has Denver. We did get a small storm both afternoons which cooled things down a bit.  The wildlife was amazing!  We had to put all of our food and anything scented including suncreen and baby wipes, in the car because there have been bear sighting around the campground!
 

We found a beautiful lake to fish.  So quiet.  Had a blast but didn't catch a fish!
 



 It was a big bummer that we couldn't have a campfire of any kind!  We improvised my using our LED lantern instead.  We danced around the "fire" while listening to guitar music.

What a GREAT family trip! 

Keeping busy

I was excited for laid back summer.  What was I thinking? My intention was to keep my girls busy and I did.  At my expense.  Now that things are starting to wrap up a bit, I have no regrets.  I am so blessed to be able to stay home with my girls and watch them grow and change everyday.  They love new experiences and have had several so far!  Here are some of the activities so far!

Soccer

Tennis
I felt like we had to give tennis a try this year since both Molly and Ava were old enough.  We live in a tennis community where almost every family plays.  We even have our own tennis pro.  The tennis courts are about two blocks from our house. 

I can't forget to mention, the two weeks of VBS at two different churches.  The girls LOVED it.  They loved meeting new people and learning about God.  We have one more VBS to attend in July.  Along with gymnastic camp and maybe tae kwon do.  And we still are doing gymnastics two days a week as well.  I feel like such a taxi driver.