More glimpses from the garden

See the heart?

Daisy in waiting

The pink poppies are back this year in my wild flower garden. Not only are they here, but they've migrated to our side yard and the neighbors yard. Oppsy.  The flowers are doing so well with all of the rain we've been having! I'm waiting on the bounty of sunflowers I've planted to start blooming. Until then, I've got plenty to enjoy!

Wild Weather

Colorado is so GREEN right now! Though the meteorologists say this is typical Colorado weather we're having, I don't remember this much rain in the recent past. Each evening a new gang of clouds crowds the western horizon and makes it way eastward, gaining intensity and producing some pretty amazing storms. Hail, rain , wind, thunder and lightening happen all at once and , as quickly as they come, they go. 

This was taken from my parent's back porch during a tornado warning. See that swirling bunch of clouds? Yeah, thankfully that didn't turn into a tornado!  It should be noted that Mackenzie made me come inside shortly after taking this .

Freshly cut hay and a Colorado sky. There isn't much that can top that in my book.

This is Mack and my heart rock garden. She gave me my first heart shaped rock when she was three and is always keeping her eye out for them. Can you see all those hearts? We've added to the collection even more since then!

These daisies come from a plant that Mary bought two years ago off the clearance rack! They are pretty happy now though they weren't so much when we rescued them.

Where the heck is Edwards, Colorado?

We didn't know anything about Edwards, Colorado except that it was a long drive away. Mike needed to go there to do a burn lecture for some EMS student at Colorado Mountain College and we decided to tag along.

As it turns out , Edwards is about 5 miles west of Vail and is about 9,000 feet high! While Mike did his lecture, the kids and I found a cute little gem of a park called " Little Beach Park" . It had a great playground that sat right next to the rushing Eagle river.

The river was very cold ( freshly melted!) but that didn't stop this girl

Tantrum at 2 miles elevation

My loves looking quite angelic

We had hoped to do a little sight seeing but Mase woke up even earlier than our 5:30 am alarms were set for. He had done great all day long but we knew that we probably couldn't push him much more than we already head. So, we stopped at the most scenic Taco Bell ever and then headed back down to our lowly 4,908 ft  Fort Lupton.

Isn't she lovely?

Father's day

 Father's day couldn't come fast enough! Why? Because I had tricked Mike into thinking he was getting new socks or sandals when really, I had splurged on a new iPad . I know! It's really not something I'd normally do. The thing is, my husband works so incredibly hard . When he isn't at work, he's at home with us , helping me around the house and spending all the time he can with his kids who adore him. Add to that the fact that he's started a new job that is much easier when he has a screen bigger than a deck of cards to look at. So , the thought popped into my head to spoil him and I went with it.  Here he is , opening his " sandals"

Perhaps the sweetest part of the day was when Mackenzie presented Mike with a hate she'd made out of the hollow point of the pinata she swiped up at Logan's birthday party the day before. On each streamer, she'd written a note to Mike. Though she was supposed to be sleeping during the time she completed this fantastic gift, I was so proud of her and happy for Mike because I knew it meant a lot to him.

Mike wearing his hat and eating the donut that Mason and I snuck out at 6 am to get

Later, we met the Thueme"s for lunch and a photo shoot and then headed out to celebrate the evening with my dad. Something I cherish is being able to watch my dad being a grandpa. The way he watches them play and laughs at their antics is completely amazing and I just love seeing him open up to them and teaching them the things he knows.

 It's always a tough day for Mike since his dad passed away just after he graduated high school but I know that Ralph is so immensely proud of Mike and the man and father he has become.

Summertime Photos

 Again, time has gotten away from me. Summer time has kept us busy, but as always, I've got my camera in hand to document our days. With my budding photography business,  I'm tying to practice more every day. I've even done a few shoots. I'm sure there are some faces in this post some of you haven't seen in a while.

The smart chicken

Cass brought me a bouquet of daisies and I kept them for a week before tossing them in the trash. Mack found them and put one in her hair. Who can resist THAT photo?

A photo shoot with Cass, Juan and Logan was nearly perfect...except for the mosquitoes. Rookie photographer lesson: Bug spray. ALWAYS bug spray.

Logan turned two!  We had a great time at his birthday party.

Well, hello, Sweet Addie!  The A Thuemes were in town for a wedding. We met them for lunch and a quick photo shoot!

More birthday party fun! This time it was Brock's party. Mase liked feeling like a big kid.

Freshly cut hair!

Mackenzie got her first letter from her pen pal, Graham, who lives in Michigan. His mom, Pam, is one of my favorite March Mamas.

We went frog/tadpole hunting with Annie and Makenzie. Perfect setting, cute girl? A photo op was handed to me .

This crew was ready for some serious frog catching. Sadly, all we caught was moss.

This girl is a fish! She's learned so much during this session of swimming lessons!

I see trouble being cooked up....

Summertime blondie

If you find Mason clean faced and with out a stain on his shirt, check his temperature.

We've been learning the science behind bubbles. Mack figured out that bubbles are pretty pliable with wet hands.

Bonus!

 Mike got one last night bonus from UCH before his last day. That same day, he took Macky ( and Mason) to pick out a brand new pool!  We invited Brooklyn and Kaleb over to play and we all had a blast in the water and, later, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows. Brooky and Kaleb came with us to the library reading program kick off, too!

Mason wants nothing to do with any body of water that isn't the bathtub.

Kids Were Here May blog post

There is one month left of this session of the blog circle. I'm not sure if this particular one will continue, but I've already been contacted to be apart of another with a good friend of mine, Pam, in Michigan!
http://mx4photography.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-crafts.html

Red Rocks

Since Mase woke up super grumpy last Sunday ( due to teething), we opted to skip church and go for a drive , instead. Since the other three M's hadn't been to Red Rocks park and amphitheater, I thought it'd be a fun place to explore. We dosed Mase up with some Tylenol, loaded up the car and set out. Unfortunately, the grumpies didn't go away for Mason and soon infected all of us, cutting our trip short. But at least we tried, right?  And the steep incline going up was good for the glutes- an added bonus- I did it with Mason in my arms.

Notice those grumpy faces? This was the only pic I took in the amphitheater . You can see how excited they were for a picture.

After we drove home ( It's less than an hours drive) , we put Mase to bed and I took Mack to Claire's to pick out some new earrings and for an ice cream. She could have bough the entire store- a little girls dream!

Two days prior, Duncan had run out the back door as I was letting the dogs out for the night. As it goes, it was pouring rain ( something that is happening a lot here, oddly). We searched for him daily and posted signs . Sunday evening I decided to go for a short walk while Mike bathed the kids . I called for Duncan as I went. Shortly after I got home, I peeked my head out , called for him one more time and started cleaning up the dinner dishes. That's when I heard his tiny little "meow". Ours was a happy house right then.

And this was the scene after the kids were in bed.