Camping

Our big camping trip with friends. We went up by Twin Lakes (near Leadville) this year and the weather was fantastic. We didn't pack bathing suits, but all swam in the lake~ the water is frigid, but it was nearly 80 degrees up there. It was even warm overnight- a welcome surprise. My brother came from Wisconsin and some visitors from Minneapolis and Tacoma, WA as well. It was a great group and we had a blast. Jeff and I got there first and hosted the first nights dinner- Chicago Style Hot Dogs- a big hit with everyone!

Once again I wonder...... can a 2 year-old ever really understand how amazing her life is? Will she grow up just expecting to play outside and see majestic mountains in the background? she is a lucky one.......

Check out this site!

Blessed Adventures: RAIN:

If you have a second, you have to check out this site!! My step-sister Catherine blogs about her life and 3 lovely children. I look at her photographs and simply cannot believe her talent sometimes~ here are some pictures of her and the children playing in the rain. Dont you think these pictures are incredible??

Facepainting

Family fun night at the rodeo. They had free balloons, bounce castle and facepainting- we opted for arm painting so she could see it better. She picked out the froggie- too cute!

Photo Shoot!

Ok, so I got this fancy camera- might as well put it to use right? Since my mom is in town, I enlisted her as my asistant and tried to take some pictures of Lauren. Day 1= disaster. We got going too late and the lighting was too tricky. I didn't realize how hard it is to get "head shots" when the sun is overhead. It was about 9:45 am and way to bright or too shadowy depending on where we were. Also, in the shade she was dull and the bright sunny spots in the background stole the show. It was too hot, and my mom started wilting. We bailed, hit the playground for a while and went for slurpees.  Day 2= a bit better. Despite my best efforts, we still got out too late= 8:50 and the light was really tricky. She isn't reliably happy in the early evening, so I am thinking morning is my best bet, but  I think it needs to be before 8am.  I ended up with about 450 shots, which I tailored down to under 200 and think I havea few really nie ones. I really like my new camera, but still think I need to take a class to understand how to use it. If she were 20 years old and held still I think I could capture some fantastic shots, but since she runs full speed in whatever direction suits her.... I need to be prepared. I find that I cannot focus fast enough, and sometimes just dont know what I want to capture till it is too late.  I will go through and crop and pick some to share- here are a few that caught my eye at a glance!

Grandma V

Bring on the Grandmas! Last night Lauren told Jeff that she wished Grandma would never leave. I think that she should move to Colorado, dont you?

Keyring App

I love this new app for my phone- called Keyring. You load all of your "value cards" into the program and they keep the barcode in your phone. So, I have all of my grocery store loyalty cards loaded, my Gymboree, Sephora, Aveda, etc- all in my phone. So I dont have to carry them with me or have them look me up by my phone number. I just click the app and my card barcode shows up, and they can scan my phone. So easy and fun!! And it is free. You have to try it!

Lakeside

Last weekend we went to Lakeside Amusement Park. It is a "vintage" amusement park that has tons of rides for young children, and is inexpensive and "low maintentance". They allow you to bring in whatever food or drinks you want, so most people picnic. The children's rides cost 1 ticket ($0.50 each) and the adult rides are 2 or 3 tickets.  There are tons of classic old rides, and many feel like they might fall apart at any minute. I assume if they made it this long, they must be OK. 

They had tons, at least 20, of the little kiddie rides. Lauren was in complete heaven, the only thing that could have made it better would have been a friend to ride with. She kept hoping kids would get on with her. She wasn't scared a bit and just kept jumping on more. Then we took her on some big rides- it took a bit of fudging because she was about an inch too short- I poofed up her hat and asked "please!!" and they let her ride some of them. She rode "The Whip" first- which was kind of like a "Tilt-a-whirl" and I was unsure what she would think. She loved it, and started to raise her hands in the air and scream on the fast parts. Jeff was in shock because he would never ride any of those rides. She wanted to ride the real "Tilt-a-whirl" but the height restriction is 48 inches, so they would not let her. She is still talking about how she has to finish her dinner so she can grow up big and ride the red ride. We also took her on the Scrambler, another one that Jeff just couldn't believe we would try. Well, the kid screamed and raised her arms in the air and did not want to come off. This was a great day for us all. I am elated to know I now have a buddy to ride on rides with- bring on the summer fairs!!!


Look Grandpa!



Screams of pure joy!

Jeff's favorite part was that many of the rides had machine guns. Not very PC, but the kids seemed to like it!

Wild Chipmunk! Holy Cow! Mom and I rode this, and screamed the whole time. Super fun!

Summer Brew Fest

Friday night was Summer Brew Fest. My mom is in town, and we got a sitter and all headed down there. It was the second year for all three of us, and a lot of fun! We hung out with some friends (same as last year) and tried lots of good beers. It is a small festival consisting mainly of local breweries, and they bring out all kinds of unusual small batch beers that you cannot buy in the store. FUN!

Fruit Dip

13 oz jar (or two 7 oz) Marshmallow fluff
8 oz cream cheese (regular or light)
2 tsp vanilla

Bring cream cheese to room temperature.
Mix all ingredients with a mixer and serve with cut-up fruit. Keeps well in the refrigerator, so great to make ahead. Sweet and simple and always a favorite, great for brunches or pot-lucks. You can spruce it up by using strawberry cream cheese as well.