Happy day

Evie came walking around the corner this morning looking so beautiful. She said "I'm ready for my wedding day, would you like to dance with me?" Of course I did but my heart kind of sank...I know that day will come soon enough as fast is this little life of ours is going.

I gave the kids half an apple and asked them to wait for me by the car because we were heading into town. When I walked outside they were sitting right next to each other on the bike rack on the car just waiting for me. It was a precious moment for me to see them sitting there, especially so close. Evie's arm is behind Ethan's body.

Evening Hike

We took an after dinner hike Monday night a week ago, this was the night before I got sick. I was pretty much in bed for the rest of the week. Joel was fantastic with the kids giving me lots of time to rest. I am lucky to have such an amazing husband and father to the kids.

A storm was blowing in but we didn't get any rain with it. It has been pretty dry the past week. We could use the rain.

I'm soooo big...

Clarke is here testing with Joel and Johnny. He is so good with the kids and a joy to have around.

Ethan and his sassy sister

A visit from the loops

Ethan and Evie woke up to a big surprise; my cousin and her husband from Denver came for the morning with Maggie and Elijah.

Ethan and Maggie. She and Evie were immediately playing dress up.

Elijah and Evie in the tree house.

Later in the morning we went to the Chalk Cliff fish hatchery. The kids love feeding the fish. The fish jump like piranha's over one piece of food.

That's why we only give Ethan a bit of food in his bucket at at time.

The geese found out we were there and are coming to pick up our scraps.

Evie found a branch and she and Maggie were pretending it was an umbrella and singing 'the old man is snoring...'

For lunch we went to the fire pit and roasted hot dogs, marshmallows, and grilled salmon.

Maggie and Ethan.
A storm blew in quickly. The kids hid under a tree and finished their hot dogs in the rain. The storm also blew past quickly.

And one of my favorite meals, Salmon and veggies on the grill.

The boys on their way back to sunshine ranch.

The girls had just enough time to play more dress up before the Loops headed back to Denver and Ethan went down for a nap. It was a short trip but the kids had fun.

Salida Hot Springs

The kids and I have been going to the hot springs a few times a week but it's always more fun when Joel comes too. Joel was on his ride to Salida and called me and told me he doesn't have enough energy to make it to Salida and he's turning around. He has been riding pretty hard since we arrived and it was good for him to take a break. Joel can cover two of the three fountains making one big one. The kids loved running through it.

Evie getting comfortable with back floating.

Ethan, our little Rainbow.

Ah, the campfire

After dinner tonight Joel suggested taking the kids to roast marshmallows. Of course, that's a great idea.

King Ethan

Evie thought the chainsaw was too loud.

The kids have been so patient waiting for the fire to simmer down to coals.

Joel brought the chainsaw to cut some new chairs and benches for around the fire pit.

Evie was so cute. All of a sudden her fingers were in my ears as she was trying to protect me from the loud chainsaw.

Joel was busy making modifications to one of the benches. Ethan is being his cute little self.

Oh how fun it is to roast marshmallows.

Evie made hers perfectly charred.

What a great idea daddy!

And our beautiful evening back at the house.

Saving little mousie...

Well, we've caught a lot of mice in traps since we've been in Colorado but my sweet husband couldn't the one we found trapped in a barrel outside die. He must have been there for a day or two because he was pretty week and didn't go anywhere when we put him on the ground.

Joel gave him a little drink of water

And the kids enjoyed watching him eat some peanut butter on bread. We let him be and came back an hour later to check on him and he was gone. Sadly, he'll probably be in a trap soon enough.

Buena Vista

We needed to return a video in Buena Vista and made a play date out of the trip into town. Ethan is riding down the driveway on his bike and we're driving behind him. He looked so cute. He was so stoked too. When he finally got in the car he was telling me all about how he was riding his bike so fast.

We played in the river for a bit. Evie and Ethan found a few friends. I thought it was so funny how the kids all wanted to be on the same rock, no matter which rock it was. At one point Ethan was on there too. They played nicely. They were playing they were paddling their boat.

Ethan, just soaking it all in...

Who needs weights...I've got my 30 lb one with me 24/7

Ethan, so proud of himself. I know I say this all the time but I just want to squeeze his face.

After playing in the river we had lunch in the park. Here are my two totally animated goofballs.

Cheese....Squeeze....