Happy Birthday, Nicole!

Ben surprised Nikki with a trip to Colorado as an early birthday present. We celebrated with a family trip to Water World, the largest water park in the U.S. . The entire family went ( minus Mike who, of course, had to work the entire time Nikki was here) and we all had such a great time. I have to post a few of the pictures side ways because I retrieved them off the external hard drive and don't know how to rotate them- I'm a work in progress!

Mackenzie was fearless! She went on the rides that she could- the only thing holding her back from the other rides was her size. She learned to make a " puffer fish" face and dunk herself under water and fearlessly walked out as far as her little lets would carry her into the deeper water!

Nikki had a special helper for blowing out the candles. This from scratch, gluten free carrot cake made by mom was awesome!

Nicole with the quilt mom made for her:

Mackenzie is still in love with the trampoline and begs everyone to jump with her. Aunt Katja wowed Mack with her mad trampolining skills!

Fashionista

( Click to make the collage bigger)

"Ours!"

I don't wanna jinx it but we're about knee deep in ( and three weeks from completing) the closing process on our new house! I couldn't be happier with the house we finally decided on. Here's the scoop- the house in in Fort Lupton, about 2 minutes from where my mom works. It's a three bed three bath house built in 1998. It's got a great back yard and from our back door, you can see the elementary school that Mackenzie will attend :
It all starts with a great realtor, doesn't it? With her " instant best friend" appeal mixed with years of experience, we could not have found a better partner in crime than Betsy. Not only did she help us weed through the countless, cryptic house listings, saving us from wasting precious time looking at houses that weren't very " us" , she was ready to go look at properties on an hours notice. We placed three offers on three serepate listings and when , for one reason or another, something didn't work out she wasn't discouraged and helped us to make an informed choice about what we should do next. Not to mention, she wasn't even grouchy when I had second thoughts on our second offer and wanted to withdraw it and look at another house (which ended up being " ours") . Those are the tell tale signs of any good realtor, aren't they? Well, here's why we love Betsy ( " Bets" as well all ( even Mack) call her ): She brings us her week old copies of People magazine. When things got hairy and time ran short, she rushed us to HER house to submit an offer on a house with just two hours to do so. She makes us home made muffin. She loves Mackenzie so much that she's started garage sale shopping for her ( giving her a pink satin purse containing a 2 dollar bill!) . She makes things so much fun and she calls me " Doll" ..OH! And you'll love her too because she put together this video for us to share with those who can't see the house in person.

Bets "has a guy" for every chore that might need to be done around the house. If there's a problem, Bets can solve it. What's even better is that "Her" lender, Darlene, is JUST as sweet as Betsy is. The two of them are making this process painless....dare I say...fun!? So now I'm going to go knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder, hop on one foot while saying the alphabet backwards...whatever I have to do to be sure I didn't just jinx this deal.

More to come, you can be sure!

Date night!

We took Samantha and James along with Cass and Juan for a fun night of improv and dinner (at Rock Bottom Brewery) to celebrate Samantha's 30th birthday! She's been such a big part of my life and a true blessing! It warms my heart to watch her get to know Mackenzie as our dream has always been to raise our kids to be close friends like we are.



The improv show was so much fun and well all agreed that we'd do it again soon! Anyone who comes to visit should plan to visit Madcap with us!

Bubble time!

Mx3 met Samantha and the boys along with Rhonda at the Children's museum for a day of fun. The kids could not get enough of this bubble exhibit so we spent 40 minutes watching them play.

A girl and her Buddy

Heritage Square

Though Mack loves house shopping ( it's like a Dora adventure! ) she loves her cousins Cam and Anaka better so when Katja offered to take Mack with them to Heritage Square ( a small amusement park and shopping center in Golden) , I took her up on it. Mike and I later joined them and well all had a great time

Mackenzie rode every ride she possibly could. She clung tight to Cam and Anaka and wanted to do whatever they were doing. Mike was excited because this is a promising sign that Mack will one day be a good roller coaster riding buddy:

Cam really wanted to ride this ride and where goes Cam, Mackenzie isn't far behind. Cam thought it would be fun to ride in the front seat of this swinging rocket ship. As it started to swing faster and faster, it was Cam, not Mackenzie who's scream could be heard from the crowd.



Some rides she just couldn't stretch tall enough to meet the height requirement but not for lack of trying:A few days later as we drove past another amusement park, Mack said " I want to ride THAT ride with daddy and Cam. I like riding with Cam. He screams like me. " And he does!