Family Reunion - Saturday

When traveling to Utah, we try to catch up with some of friends who have moved away from Colorado to Utah.  We were sad when the Boswells decided to move a couple of years ago, but have enjoyed catching up with them on our visits.

Chris worked with Boswells and planned to meet up at Kneaders for breakfast.  Apparently they had a great all-you-can-eat french toast meal on the menu.  We arrived a little after 9 am and were fortunate to be able to find tables for all of us.  It seems to be a popular place on a Saturday morning so it was a good thing we arrived when we did.  It filled up fast and people asked if we needed all of the space we were saving.  Yep!  Misha couldn't remember the name of the place and thought maybe it was Knuders?  Nope, but it was good for a laugh.

It was good to see our friends and enjoy breakfast while catching up.  They had a busy day of kids' sports ahead, so we didn't linger too long.

We headed down to Provo/Orem area and explored a little.  We drove by the first apartment Chris and I lived in after getting married.  It was a dumpy basement that had lots of worms at the entry.  We had to wind through lots of grape vines to get to our back door and we couldn't have mail delivery to our own address because it wasn't a legal apartment.  Gotta love when the landlady rifles through your mail.  We lived there for about ten months before we bought our first condo.

We saw the new Provo temple being constructed, and ended up at the BYU bookstore.  My girls wanted a lot of things from there, but had to settle for only a few things with their limited cash stash. 

We made a stop at Kohls to use my cashback $$ and buy a baby gift for my niece.  Misha tried on a shirt, but her father was not a fan!

Lunch was an elegant affair at the University Mall food court.  I wish that malls such as that would thrive here in Colorado, but as it is, they are knocking down our closest mall as I type.  Open-air malls...who needs them?  Especially in the winter.

Our family was responsible for breakfast Monday morning, so we stopped to get items for our breakfast burritos.  Word to the wise:  breakfast burritos are a lot, LOT of work for that many people.  Word to my family: let's work out schedules in advance of who will be there and who won't so that we don't buy so much extra food.  I think next time it will be small boxed cereals and muffins.  That's easy.

We arrived at the cabin (or mansion as my girls liked to call it) just after 4 pm on Saturday afternoon.  It was located a mile or so past Sundance in Provo Canyon and had a fabulous view of Stewart Falls.  Lots of my family were already there, as was Kristen.  She gave me a quick greeting and was off playing.  We found our rooms, put our groceries away, and settled in. 

My sister had dinner laid out for us which was followed by a Survivor-type game planned by my youngest brother.  We were divided into three teams.  The first challenge was for two members of each team.  One person would direct another person who was blindfolded through a ropes course.  Kristen was the voice for our team, and Chris had to keep telling me to be quiet.  From there it was a bucket brigade with red Solo cups punched with holes, water, and buckets.  Each team had two members trying to fill the buckets with the leaking Solo cups.  Then a few team members had to tie shims together so that they were long enough to retrieve a bag out of a pine tree.  After that it was a memory challenge to try and recreate an arrangement of objects in the exact order.  That was my job.  It was more challenging than you would think.  At each station, a bag of blocks was retrieved.   We all worked on the final challenge after Chris and I untied all of our team's bags of blocks.  We had to figure out a phrase and then use key letters from that phrase to open an alphabetical lock.  We came in second literally two seconds after the first team.

The rest of the evening was spent attending a baby shower for my niece who is expecting a girl in December.  It was a guys optional shower.  Chris chose to opt out and headed to Heber to visit a co-worker.  My girls enjoyed participating in the games.  I think it was their first baby shower.  Treats are always good.

Anytime the kids had downtime, they were playing Hide n' Seek.  They had a blast and some of them found great hiding places.

I got some great candid shots.  My sister posed for me any chance she could.

Family Reunion - Friday

Summer time is reunion time!  We flew to SLC, UT early Friday morning to attend my family reunion.  Our first stop upon arrival was my brothers' optometry practice, Hidden Valley Eye Care, where we all had eye exams.  Most of us are pretty much the same though Amy has become a little near-sighted.  Not enough that she will notice the difference much, but in a year?....

Chris got new glasses, I got progresssives (boo!), and the girls wished for new sunglasses.  For someone like myself who has had perfect eyesight, the fact that my eyes are changing (as eyes will for most people over 40) is not very fun.  I can't just sit down to read without finding a pair of glasses.  And if you wear reading glasses, you know that one pair just isn't enough.  (Tip:  Dave Ramsay said that cheap Dollar Store reading glasses are the way to go, but I don't find their quality all that great.)  I have a few nice pairs from my brothers, but supplement with less expensive reading glasses as well.

We had a late lunch and did a little shopping after our exams before heading to my youngest brother's home to drop off our stuff for the night.  He was gracious enough to invite us to stay with him.  Kristen packed a small overnight bag to take with her as we headed down the street to my other brother's home for a BBQ dinner.  Kristen was going home with her King cousins to spend some time with Melissa.

We enjoyed some family time and friend time.  Our original plan was to head to BYU to stand in the stand-by ticket line for Studio C.  Anyone that I talked to said that we would never get in.  We decided to change plans and hang with family instead.  Our friend Julie, who was going to stand in line with us for Studio C, was just as happy to hang out with my family.  Crazy that she would want to.

As the evening began to wrap up, we sent Kristen off with Kings, and headed back down the street from Dallin's to Mitch's.  They live about a 1/2 mile apart.  It was fun to catch up with family.  We sometimes feel out of the loop as all five of my siblings live in Utah.

Color Run

It all started with Amy's bucket list, a race, and a groupon.  Amy and some of her friends had talked about doing a color run this summer so when the groupon popped up in Chris' inbox for discounted tickets, he was quick to ask if Amy was still interested.  She was.  She had two of her friends sign up along with Chris and I.

We were all set with our race gear as the first weekend in August drew near, and headed out early Saturday morning for Coors field in Denver.  Us and about 10,000 other peeps.  Some very colorful peeps.

Here's us.  Amy, Allie, and Kenadi had ditched us already.  We were waiting in porta-a-potty lines.  They were too!  Ours was faster.

Colorful!

Allie, Kenadi, Amy

Dad!  Oh, you embarrass me so much!

Cool parents!

Chris and I ran most of the race.  I am pretty sure it wasn't an actual 5K.

Amy and friends at the finish line.

More color.

Eyelashes!

And another use for a leaf blower.  Chris sweat angel wings... or a heart with legs.

Kristen's Outfit

I brought home a crazy pair of socks from Girls' Camp.  They didn't fit me so well, so I was happy to pass them along to Kristen (her feet are only a little bit smaller than mine now!  Crazy!)  She happens to love the socks and wears them as often as possible.

Boots

I love my rain boots.  I think I mentioned that once before.  I also think they make a pretty cool picture.

Home Depot

I had to make a quick stop at Home Depot the other day to pick up some spray paint (yep, I am a closet graffiti artist!)  It was just Misha and I, and I asked if she was coming in with me since most of the time my older girls are just as happy to sit in the car while I run a quick errand.  I smiled at her reply, "Yeah, I love the smell of Home Depot."

Firepits and Fun

Misha had been dying to have a firepit in the backyard.  She started arranging a few rocks there when Chris had her move it to the side yard out of the way of the landscapers.  Once Chris and Grandpa Kline got involved, the firepit and surrounding area came together rather quickly.  Chris even brought out his saw to aid in the efficient cutting of the piles of wood.  Someday we hope to have something a little more lovely, but until then, this will work perfectly.

The picnic table that was on our lot when we purchased it was brought over (though Chris has since built a new one), Kristen enjoyed a little bubble time, and logs were placed around the pit.

And I don't have an actual picture of the firepit.  I'll get one.

Grandpa and Grandma Kline

We had a lot of family pop in for a visit in July.  Chris' dad and Christine arrived on Saturday afternoon, hung around for Sacrament meeting on Sunday, and headed back to the airport shortly after the girls and I arrived home from church around 1:30.  Chris opted to skip the last couple of hours of church to hang out with his dad.  They were just returning from a hike when we arrived home.

That Darn Wind!

I was resting comfortably on my bed at 10:00 pm when I heard the wind and suddenly remembered that the girls and I had left chair cushions on the deck chairs.  The cushions and chairs were new and were in need of velcro tabs to attach them to the chairs.  I raced downstairs to retrieve the cushions and counted 1, 2, 3...  Ah shoot, one was missing.  I spied a small pillow at the bottom of the stairs and realized that the wind had probably blown away the other cushion.  Crap.  I went inside for a flashlight and starting searching our lot and the lot next door.  The flashlight was pathetically inadequate so I had Misha go and retrieve the heavy duty flashlight from the Pilot.  It was a lot easier to see, but I still wasn't finding the cushion.

Chris arrived home from his Chicago trip in the middle of my searching.  He began to help me and then went in the house to change in to his cowboy boots.  It took about twenty minutes before I finally found the errant cushion.  We're now looking for a deck bin to hold the cushions so we don't have to bring them in every night, and I need to find some outdoor fabric to make velcro tabs so the cushions can attach to the chairs.

She Got A Job!

Amy got a job!  It is amazing considering her age.  She will be working in a childcare setting but is pretty excited to be earning some money.  She is hoping to get her lifeguard certification in December which would then open up more opportunities for her. 

She went for an interview on Thursday afternoon, and a couple of hours later, her interviewer called to offer her a job.  If only it always happened that quickly.  I will be driving her to and from, but I am happy for her.

Rice's Visit

My brother and his family came to visit while he was in Estes Park attending a Continuing Education conference.  It was fun to share our new house with them and some of the amenities of the neighborhood.

Misha and Wade kayaked over to the pool while the rest of us drove down to the pool.  We had lunch poolside and the kids had a great time playing in the water.

Following a couple of hours swimming, we headed in to Longmont for an appointment.  We played at a park for a bit and then enjoyed some frozen yogurt.  We didn't have too much time together, but it was so great to see family.

Decor

I have been decorating in my house and having fun in the process.  My girls and I came across a 70% off sale at Michaels and picked up some fun projects for them to work on to decorate their rooms.

 My keys from the tower of London gift shop:

Misha's cluster wall:

Kristen's cluster wall:

Amy has been working on her wall as well, but there are a few things she wants to finish first before showcasing it.