29 and feelin' fine!

I am a little late (like a week) in posting this, but birthdays are seriously too much fun not to talk about! When I was little there was something so magical about having a birthday! Not that they aren't magical now, minus the getting old part, they are still my favorite! I'd like to credit my birthday love to my parents, they always made a big deal out of birthdays when we were kids (like get out of bed at dawn to give you roller blades on your 13th birthday, because they were so excited to give them to you. Or when you invited like 10 kids to your 7th birthday, without asking and them just going with it when a bunch of people showed up.) Thanks, mom and dad.

Even as a grown woman of 29, I had a great birthday this year. I don't know why 29 sticks in my head. I really don't mind being in my 30's. 29 was just a great year and for some reason it sticks in my head. It's the year we actually had our act together with being adults, our house was coming together, Callie survived to age 7, I was pregnant with Kellen. 29 was a banner year for me and family, I just feel like I am forever 29. Maybe it's my mental age or something....

My birthday turned into more of a weekend of celebrating which was okay with me!

This precious girl threw me a little bedroom party on Saturday!

She made me a sugar scrub (recipe to follow)

She even decorated (the little balloon say " I love you mom".) So sweet!

A lego tribute! It's upside down for some reason, but it says, "Happy B-day"

There were even tasty snacks to dine on while she gave me a pedi and we listened to music. It was a fabulous way to start the festivities!

On Sunday my sweet family came over for a BBQ and it was SO fun! I love my people!

Let's face it, a Sunday dinner/birthday, just isn't the same without your favorite people there!

My sweet children know their mama pretty well!

My parents also got my some new tools to finish my chairs for the kitchen--maybe someday, I will have some time to finally finish them!

After birthday dinner wound down, Callie and I tried the new charcoal mask that aunt Jenn got me. It was magical, more about that later too!

On Monday it was Eclipse day! I mean what a special way to spend my birthday, eclipsin'

One of my colleagues family member donated glasses and my whole class was able to come out and watch it safely! Everything was SO strange outside, it was quite the event!

This last year has been a great one and I can't wait to see what God has in store for my 34th year on Earth. As always, thank you mom for deciding to be a mom and give birth to me! I love you!

Alcova on Repeat

Oh my gracious did we have a fun time at Alcova this summer. Now that we are back in the full swing of school, I am seriously missing our relaxing time at the lake...

We did our big family reunion trip, which was super fun, but big and busy and full of fun time with the extended family!

We did a super long hike into the canyon. I never get sick of the view or exploring the lake!

(P.S, Kellen was swimming at the beach with the younger cousins, we did not forget him)

More hiking fun!

We also made lanterns and had a launch at the beach before the talent show that night! It was pretty awesome. I don't know where the aunties get their ideas, but they are always super cool!

It was still a little early in the summer, so it was chilly, which was perfect for the day, but cool at night!

This is what it's all about folks, cousin time!

After a great weekend, we just couldn't stay away and literally came back 2 weeks later.

The second trip was glorious! No plans or structure, just our little family of 4 hanging out and exploring!

There's my river...Some day people , some day! It's my life's ambition to have a house on the river and float it everyday... just sayin' 

Yay for family adventures!

We got to stay at the trailer all by ourselves so we didn't have to worry about putting up and taking down the tent. It was fabulous! Plus we didn't get near as dirty, so less time was spent keeping clean!

Our first stop was the beach for a swim. Kellen was not a fan of the goose, who would not leave him alone on land or at sea!

Rainbows!

Jake got to come too, so that was cool. He hasn't been on a camping trip since he was a puppy!

The next day we explored. This is Alcova Dam. I had not a clue this even existed!

Huh... you don't say?

After Alcova dam, we went to black beach, which I also didn't know was even a place, but it is. It was super weird. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but we didn't get out of the car, we just drove around it. The sand is literally black, creepy, huh? Brien also said that they find all kinds of dinosaur parts and prehistoric things there. Google it, it's cool! So next time we go, it's dinosaur digging time!

After a trip all around Alcova we drove about 30 minutes to a different lake, Pathfinder, for more adventures and fun! 

This here is Pathfinder Dam. The picture just does not do it justice. It is terrifying and loud and awesome!

After all the dam hiking we took the kids fishing and swimming at the lake...This was more my speed!

This was my view for like 3 hours. I miss this view...

The kids had a blast splashing and swimming and we were the only ones there!

I just parked my chair right in the water and spent the whole afternoon like this, perfection!

After playing a losing game of fishing we were feeling brave so, we decided to hike across the dam. I am not gonna lie. It was scary to feel millions of gallons of water shaking the ground under you!

Straight down! Who wants to climb the ladder??

These are the signs, y'all!!!

This is the bucket they would use to shuttle people and materials across this....

Umm, no thank you!

After being safely back on solid ground, we headed back to Alcova for some lunch and more time at the beach. It was a busy day!

Once we were fueled back up, the kids were ready for more beach time! They really had some sandy cheeks that night!

There was like 2 other families there, that's it!

After introducing our children to the awesomeness that is Sandy Beach, it was time for supper...

Then we were right back at it, fishing! We had to use up our fishing license!

It was so pretty and perfect!

And we actually caught a fish! Well the kids and Brien caught 3 in a row within like 15 minutes! We ended up throwing them back because we only had one cooler and it was full of food, so back to the lake it was for these lucky fish!

We headed home exhausted and happy the next morning. It was SUCH a fun weekend and I love spending time with my people. I need another Alcova weekend!

Doing Denver up!

I am a bad blogger...I have not been keeping up even a little bit. Life has been a little crazy since school started and I have been trying to keep up with school and my family and updating has taken a bit of a backseat!

This summer flew by, but we made the most of it! I will cherish these summers with my babies having fun and getting out and about and we sure did that. We did not do near as many crafty things or cooking things (Lord was it hot!) but we did field trips right!

We did the quadrafecta of fun things in our fair city...I give you field trip number one....

#1. The aquarium... It was kind of a rainy cool day that turned into a glorious sunny day! My first piece of advice is don't get that fancy schmancy package that costs like $40 a person. We did the good old $17 bucks a person tour and it was just as fun!

This was pretty much his face the entire time! He loved the aquarium!

There was some pretty durpy looking fish there!

A little bit terrified of the sharks would get us, but it was it was a pretty good day for seeing all of the fun underwater creatures!

We had front row seats to the mermaid show! And Kellen fell in love with this fine merperson right here!

We even got to pet the sting rays...

All with the cheap tickets! The kiddos had a blast and Kellen has been asking to see his "Girl friend, the mermaid." All summer since we went.

After the aquarium we weren't quite ready to go home and it was such a lovely day, so we decided to wander to the playground nearby and we ended up going on a trolley ride. It was pretty cool and I was proud of my nuggets for being so flexible and trying something new!

 It was also super fun, so there's that...

On to field trip number two...

#2. The Children's Museum....

Not really my cup of tea, but the kids looovvee it and I get to people watch! They really do have super cool things for the kids to do!

Its crazy busy in the early mornings when it open and the parking lot is tricky. And never, I repeat NEVER go on a Friday. Every day care in our square state comes here on Friday. So we went on a Tuesday and we always go a little late, like around noon, when the early crowd is eating lunch or leaving. We also try to park near the aquarium since they share a parking lot. We don't mind walking and once you are in the kids museum parking lot, you get trapped! I would also recommend bringing a bath suit or at least some clothes to change into because they have an outside splash park and my kids were soaked when we got in the car #momfail.

Rock climbing, check!

Millions of balls, check!

Giant bubbles, check!

Adorable game of playing grocery store, check!

Painting a huge buffalo sculpture, check!

PS how cute is that light fixture? It's from Ikea and I want one!

Giant light bright wall, check!

Indoor water park, check! Kellen was seriously bent out of shape that big kids were taking all of the fish and he made sure to loudly tell everyone how they were not sharing.

The zip line, check! 

So if have not been check it our, it's great. They were exhausted and  I was happy!

On to trip number three...

#3. The Museum of Nature and Science...

Callie and I go here every week for yoga, but Kellen hadn't been in a spell and he is OB-sessed with dinosaurs, so it was a perfect day!

We went on a pretty nice day, we figured most people would go to the zoo and we were right. It was a pretty quiet day, jackpot! 

The museum is not for kids, but they have made it super interactive and cool for families and we love it!

The gemstone cave. Kellen was not impressed, but Callie and I love looking at all those pretty jewels and stones!

What we came for! We had to go through the dinos twice, because he didn't want to miss anything!

Flapping like a bird. She said it was really hard!

Such a great view!

We had to take a picture of the elk for daddy!

This is perhaps my favorite picture of the summer. This sums up each of their personalities so well. They have a real science lab with real equipment and you can use them all by yourself. Callie was so excited and Kellen was just there, assisting!

So that was the museum, it was a blast and a great way to spend the day!

On to number four...

#4 The Zoo (last one I promise)

This was all Kellen's idea and our last trip of the summer. Callie had already left for Texas and it was our last day before I had to go back to school. I had so much fun with my big boy!

So the zoo can be pretty crazy too... Don't go when they open, don't go on Friday, you get it... We got there about 11:30 and it was perfect. It was also supposed to rain, but didn't so it was cool and lovely and not crowded!

Oh yeah, there was dinosaurs there too. Someone was in heaven!

Right before the elephant show, old groucho came out and pooped for everyone. Kellen was laughing so hard he was crying. It was hilarious!

Pretending to be a leopard?

He hated the carousel! He practically pushed me out of the way to ride this tiger and then when we started it went up and down and he freaked out, so had to trade animals!

We got to see lions eating super duper up close. I am not gonna lie, it was awesome.

On the way out, some nice stranger offered to take our picture!

It was a fun day at the zoo with my favorite animal lover. I think we saw everything, literally, that there was to see! 

So that was our cool fun field trips this summer. Nothing crazy, but I am so thankful that we live in a cool state with fun stuff to do with my loves!