Fun in the Sun

Hello everyone!  Summer has finally come to Colorado.  I saw the weather forecast described as a "heat wave," though with a high of ~95 I'd say normal Colorado summer just finally came this last week.  That is a huge jump in temperature from what it's been, but I don't now if a week in the 90's counts as a heat wave...  Anyway, we took advantage and went swimming a bunch this past week at the outdoor pool.  I went twice, and I believe Monica took the girls another day as well.  I believe Monica also took the girls swimming at the pool at one of the apartment complexes near us at least once too.  It's been a lot of swimming, and a lot of not bringing a camera....  So most of this week is undocumented.

In not water news, Brooke has started to be more daring at the playground.  When we stopped in Grand Junction she wanted to try some new things at the playground, and had me hold her and help her across.  Well, on Monday she decided to try that thing out on her own!  I'm not sure what to call those things... but they're the little hanging down things with a platform, and when you walk on them they swing all around.  Brooke really likes them!

Also, Winry continues to love to use her own silverware and feed herself.  She'll even scream at us if we try to help her with her spoon/fork while she's eating a meal.  She gets pretty messy still, but she's doing a great job learning.  In fact, she does a better job feeding herself than Brooke most of the time!  Monica and I have been hoping to get down to only needing to help feed one child at meals, and we're finally getting there, though it's not the one we expected to be feeding!

On Friday everyone headed to the library, and Winry got to ride on the dinosaur!  I'm not sure if Brooke still loves these guys, and I don't typically get to go to the library with everyone, but it's nice to see them again.  I'm sure Winry loved her first ride.

The basement has been progressing well.  We still have a little more to paint, but the main tasks ahead are buying and installing doors, and installing molding.  That said, we haven't been able to escape the pull of the basement, and we still use it regularly.  The girls love to go play down there every chance they get, though we only take one toy at a time with us.

And I've already got the treadmill set up on the wall.  I've been running outside more lately, but it's always nice to have it ready on a busy day when I need to squeeze in a run late at night.

Our fridge is apparently cold enough to freeze things if they're in the wrong small section, and apparently that section is where we put our cans of carbonated beverage...  Luckily it doesn't look like it got everywhere, but that can is destroyed.  We also have the occasional egg freeze too, but this was much more picture worthy.

And that's about all I've got.  This past week in Come Follow Me we finished up the 4 gospels, and I as I reflect on studying the life of Jesus over the first half of the year I want to bear my testimony that I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  I know he lives.  I know that he suffered for our sins in the garden of Gethsemane, and that he died for us on the cross.  I know that he was resurrected and lives, and that through Him and His grace we can be perfected and return to live with God again.  I am grateful for His gospel, and for the chance I have to repent and strive to become more like Him every day.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Utah, Ragnar, Father's Day, and Tile

Wow, last week was a really bad week to miss!  However, it was the day after Ragnar, and I was very tired.  It was also Father's Day, so Brooke should have written a post for me!  Brooke did give me wonderful gifts!  You can check them out below.  I have not yet had a chance to give those swim shorts a try, but hopefully sometime this next week.

Heading way back to two Mondays ago we headed over to BYU.  We walked around campus for a little while and checked out the store.  In the store they have a model of the mountains by campus, accompanied by the Y and a slide!  The slide was pretty steep, so it was pretty much a one time experience.

We did find Cosmo as well!  Winry loved sitting in his lap.

And Brooke gave him a pat on his football padded leg to console him for the past and cheer him on for the upcoming season.

The real end goal of our trip was to have lunch at the museum of art.  When we headed in they had a big new exhibit which was a sculpture made out of tree branches.  It was huge and really cool to see.

After we finished up at BYU we headed up to my parents house for the week.  While we were there we took advantage of the good weather and played in the back yard.  The kids got to take turns riding in my parents wagon.  Jonathan enjoyed pulling everyone around too!

Oriah brought the goods, such as this giant beach ball!

And Niki brought a slip and slide!  You know everyone had a good time on there!  Here are the best runs by Niki, Winry and Brooke!  We had a lot of fun out there.  It's really too bad this wasn't the day AFTER Father's day, or else I would have been rocking my flamingo swim trunks!

That night, Monica and I went for a walk, and there are a lot of places with really good views up by my parents house.  To top that off, it was also sunset!

On Wednesday we headed over to Alyson's house to go swimming!  We again played our favorite pool game, acting out animals while we jump into the pool.  Brooke also gave the jumping a shot.  On this particular trip I became the designated jumper, which was fine with me because I had been resting for Ragnar all week so I had a LOT of energy.  Highlight jumps would include an ant, ostrich, and unicorn.

I would have shared some pictures of others jumping, but honestly, I think it was just me.  We had quesadillas for dinner, and they were fantastic.  Everyone celebrated a wonderful night with Alyson!  And hopefully said "thank you!"

And then Brooke and Winry sat on the porch swing and almost fell asleep.  Brooke said she never wanted to leave.

That night after the kids were in bed, Monica and I stole away to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for a date night treat.  And a date night!

Thursday morning we headed to the zoo with our cousins!  It's been a long time since I've been to the Hogle Zoo.  They had some really neat lion statues for the kids to climb on.

And Brooke checked to see if she was a monkey.

The meerkats came out right as we were approaching, and the first one out stretched out along the ground in the shade for a nap!  The next one?  He came and sat on the first one's head!

The snow leopard was pacing in front of the glass window holding a bone in it's mouth, so we got there for snack time.  Also, Winry thought it was really cool at first and walked up close, and then after a while of the pacing I guess it got to her and she started to cry.

And the brown bear was sleeping in the corner right by us!

Brooke really loved this... cat.  I forgot it's name.

And in the same building were the desert cats! The kids had a blast and loved seeing all of the animals.  And the animals were very cooperative and many of them were right up as close as possible to be seen!  Super great!

To round off our zoo trip we rode the carousel.  Winry picked the tiger, Brooke picked... the bench.  But they both had a wonderful time.  We had lunch at the zoo before heading back to my parents house.

The next morning Ragnar started.  Our team started running at 6:30.  They sent out a group text to let us know they were underway, and I replied with this picture, my current doings!

Ragnar was a blast this year.  I got to do Ragnar hill again, and I also got to be runner 12.  I got to do some of the runs I hadn't yet had the chance to do, so it was nice to see some new places.  This was also my 8th year running Ragnar (in a row).  My first run was up Ragnar hill.  Here I am handing off to Maren at the exchange.  Niki also got a video of me heading for the finish a little lower down in the run.

You may be wondering what Monica and the kids were doing while I was running 7.5 miles up a hill in the middle of the day?  Oh, they were back at Nielsen's getting frozen custard!

Oh, this picture ended up out of place, but this is my van right before we left for the race.  I think my favorite part of this picture is that it looks like a bunch of us are leaning over to the side.  However, the driveway is actually sloped, so most of us are standing straight!

And here I am after my second run, getting ready to get my 3 hours of sleep.  This picture was taken at 3 am.

On Saturday the team continued to run, but back in North Salt Lake,  Monica was getting the kids ready to meet us at the finish.  Brooke was so excited to come, and wore her workout clothes.

ZOOM!!! Look at her take off down the hall!

Of all the Ragnar finish lines I've experienced, this one was probably the best.  It's out in Kamas, and there's a big building with lots of grass and trees around it.  I'd say the most ideal thing about it that the other finish locations lacked is shade!!  Blessed shade for all those waiting.  Monica and the kids had a great time hanging out with the rest of the team while they waited for our van to finish.  I was the last runner this year, so I even got to bring the team into the finish line!  Here we all are with our medals.

And this was the scene shortly after getting back to my parents...

On Father's day Brooke went up to the front with the primary kids to sing to me, even though we weren't in our ward.  Unfortunately, they sang songs that Brooke didn't know, but it was still very kind of her to go up front!  After we got home my siblings and I surprised my dad with our own rousing rendition of primary Father's day songs.

On Monday, after two weeks in Utah, it was time to head back home to Colorado.  We had a wonderful trip, and it was so great to see family, and spend so much time with them!  Almost immediately upon leaving my parents house, Winry fell asleep...  All in all there was a lot of sleeping, and then sandwiches in the car, and then we basically made it to Grand Junction.

There we got the kids out to play at the playground again.  This is a really good idea, and helps the kids not be so grumpy about getting back in to the car.

When we packed up and left my parents house it didn't really occur to us that we were going to be driving through two meals, so we had to make a second stop for dinner.  We stopped at Noodles and Co. and Winry got pretty good with a fork!  She kept hammering away until she poked every last noodle up all by herself!

This past week Monica went grocery shopping, and Brooke wanted to bring her bear along.  She also brought her carrier to help keep things easy!

Winry is going through a phase where she just cant communicate as well as she wants to.  This typically leads to her throwing a fit.  We're also pretty sure she's getting a molar, so I doubt that's helping.

On Saturday morning Monica surprised me and told me that we had a free breakfast item from Chick-fil-a.  So I got my keys and told the kids I was off to run an "errand."  Now, to be fair, I also took the opportunity to go to Lowe's and get some vent covers and light switch covers for the basement.  But really, this whole outing was about a Chick-fil-a breakfast burrito!

Later in the morning Winry helped me unload the dishwasher by putting the silverware away!  I remember when Brooke used to do this!  Brooke can see in the drawer now, so when Brooke helps now all of the silverware even ends up in the right place.

During Winry's nap, Brooke and I went running.  We had a fun time, and Brooke has really been inspired by Ragnar to start running herself.  So she got in the stroller and I started out the run, but then she hopped out by a bridge to play "Pooh Sticks" and then ran 0.27 miles!!  She even pushed the jogging stroller with her stuffed animal in it!  She was a little swurvy, so after the video I grabbed on too and helped her go straight.  I actually had to coax her to get back in to the stroller so I could finish up my run, but then on the way back we stopped at a park so she could get out and run again.  Unfortunately we ran on a dirt road, and she tripped on a rock and scraped her knees and hands! :(  I cleaned her up with our water, and then when we got home we put some Neosporin on.  Monica also noticed a bump on her head so we put some ice on that too.  And Jelly came running over to lay on Brooke's feet to try to help her feel better too!!  Eventually all of that running set in on Brooke and she was exhausted the rest of the day!  She even has been pretty tired today and is currently taking a nap.

We spent a lot of time this week working on the basement. I laid the tile in the bathroom and Monica spent a lot of time painting. It's getting so close!

Well, I think that's all the news from these parts for now.  Have a wonderful week ahead!

Jail

Well... the law finally caught up with Monica...  It was rough, but we'll make it through...  Just kidding!  Instead we got ice cream!  Can't you tell?  Well, that was date night on Saturday, and we'll talk more about that later.

On Monday morning we packed up the car to drive out to Utah.  Our dryer isn't working, which means that it took forever to get laundry done waiting for it all to hang dry, so Monday morning was quite busy.  Brooke stayed cool as a cucumber, just relaxing on the couch in the shade of her stroller roof!  What a silly girl.

We decided to try an afternoon drive so that the kids would sleep more in the car.  Sleep did not end up happening as planned... but things went pretty well.  For the first half Winry did take an hour nap, and Brooke fell asleep for a little too.  Then we turned on Doc McStuffins, which kept Brooke occupied the rest of the way, and Winry from time to time.  We made it to Grand Junction before any major meltdowns happened, and there is a huge park there right off of one of the freeway exits.

The kids had a good time playing on the playground, and after a little it was time to have dinner.  While we ate our dinner we saved the crusts of our bread so that we could go feed the ducks (and Winry) when we were done, as there was a duck pond near by.  We planned to stay until 6, which should have been about 2 hours, but we didn't get there until a little after 4.  Either way, it was good to have a rest, and it was good to have a flexible stop.  We were still able to make it to Monica's parents house by 10, which was our goal when we left.  We just had to cut the park stay a little shorter, but I think everyone did fine with that.

We headed to Utah early for our vacation because I had a work trip this week.  So Tuesday morning Monica took me to the airport, and I flew to Seattle for radiation testing at Boeing (BREL).  The Trip was good, and went very well.  However, they had a no photography rule, so I don't have any pictures of what I was doing.  We were able to get some with their camera, but I haven't gotten access to those pictures yet.

So instead of my week, we'll chronicle Monica and the kids' week.  Brooke got to have a sleep over with Audrey!  To be honest, I think having Audrey around made Brooke almost not miss me at all.  I might be wrong, as I wasn't around, but she seemed to do great with my absence this trip.  Winry took it harder, and was very excited to talk to me each morning.  She was asleep already a few times when I called at night.  Anyway, back to the story, Brooke had her first sleep over!  And they made cookies!

The next morning Winry wasted no time looking for mischief to manage.  Looks like she's in the "empty the shelves" phase.  From the pictures/video it also looks like she spent a good deal of time "reading" those books.  Now, to be fair, how could there possibly be so MANY pages on those shelves, and so few pictures?!  Impossible at her age!

Some of our friends from Colorado are moving to Arizona, and are taking the move in stages.  Stage 1 was to head out to Utah, and so Monica and the girls met up with them at the aquarium one day.  Everyone had a wonderful time, and Brooke was so happy to get to spend the day with Eden again.  Also, Winry is at the age where everything that moves is fascinating, so the aquarium was a non-stop thrill ride!

Some time throughout these days (or every day) the girls also took advantage of a real piano, and played and sang songs to and with each other!

On Friday Audrey had her birthday party, and it was a Fancy Nancy tea party!  Talking with Brooke she had a lot of fun at the party.  Winry got her own cupcake, which is a mighty feat when you're still one!

While being out, we also had the chance to see Michelle and Josh's new baby, Laura. Brooke really loved to hold her too!

I came back from my trip last Friday night.  On Saturday we went to Monica's second cousin's baptism.  Winry fell asleep at the after party, and.... well... so did I!  I was very tired for some reason.  I think I might have been a little sick on Saturday.  I didn't really feel bad, other than being unbelievably tired.  On Saturday night Monica and I went on a date and saw the new Aladdin movie.  Monica and I don't watch many movies, but when we do I always enjoy it very much.  With about 10-15 minutes left I remember thinking, "I could watch this entire move again right now!"  It was a really good movie!  Afterward, we headed for ice cream, and that is where we had our run-in with the stocks which so aptly captured Monica.  I'm proud of Monica for going in there, and I could tell it was rough on her, her claustrophobia did not like it one bit!!

Today I got to go to primary with Brooke, which has been my privilege while we've been traveling.  It all worked out though, I got fruit snacks!  After we got home, while Winry took her nap, Monica and I got to go see Oriah and Michael's new house.  Then, tonight, Monica's sisters and families came over for dinner.  The house did get a little hectic and loud, but we all had a lot of fun together.

I think that's about it for this week.  Have a great week ahead.  I know I might.