Racing To 4!

We celebrated Kaden's 4th birthday a few weekends ago. He said he wanted a race car party but only cars that did not have eyes, so no Lightning McQueen cars!

We built a fun race track and got out all of the cars for the kids to play.

His darling cake! I thought it turned out pretty cool.

Not only did I decorate the outside of the cake, I went the extra mile to make the inside of the cake look like a checkered flag.

Rice Krispie treat traffic lights...

Avrey was loving those!

Opening presents is always the best part for any kid. Kaden had such a fun birthday and is already planning his party for next year.

I think his favorite gift was that his Gram got to be there!

14,270'

Last weekend I had a pretty ridiculous idea to take Trey hiking up a "14er." Gray's Peak was our destination. This meant getting up at 4:30, making the 90 minute drive up the hill, and starting early to beat the predictable afternoon thunderstorms. Here's Trey at the trailhead, not too excited because his face was cold; and rightfully so it was a balmy 30 degrees.

The trail ahead of us, and the Continental Divide on the left.

Rounding a turn with our first view of Gray's Peak. To the right is Torrey's Peak, also a 14er that we were not going to "bag." Up to this point Trey was moving well, but was consistently whining about his cold face.

A little shot of us making our way up the trail. To keep Trey motivated I kept mentioning how the sun was coming up over the divide and he'd soon be warm. He didn't believe me until...

It finally rose over the ridge and hit his little face.

Looking back with the suns rays finally breaking through. Needless to say Trey started putting a little more to his step once it warmed up.

A little cookie break with Gray's behind him. Throughout our hike just about every person on the trail wanted to know his age, and they were very encouraging which, of course, he loved...including the many high fives. It was fun to see grown adults struggling and then watch Trey go right on by. The route up was definitely steep, so to help him out I'd hold the walking pole behind me while he hung on to it. Also a good way to keep track of him.

Up to this point, Trey had mentioned several times how much fun he was having and how happy he was to be here with me which was very reassuring. The closer we got, I could tell that he was getting pretty worn out so I had to keep the encouragement coming. We stopped when we needed to, but I still had to push him along, especially when we reached the snow.

Finally, resting above 14,000 feet. Once we reached the top he received a huge round of applause from those already there. Honestly, and yes it's corny, it was a very proud moment to see him make it after a long morning. I, of course, hooped and hollered myself.

A very proud papa with Trey at the summit. After 10 minutes I could sense that he wasn't doing so well with the altitude. He was getting sleepy, understandably, but was also nauseous and saying he head a headache. He would later say he didn't know if he was just tired, dehydrated, or if it was all of the Oreo's he ate at the top. Mmm, maybe all three plus being on top of a mountain.

Looking south with the Continental Divide on the right.

South.

West with Breckenridge and Lake Dillon in the background.

After Trey mentioned he wasn't feeling well, it was time to go. As we started down he was obviously out of gas and not doing well in the snow. I began to wonder if I had made a huge mistake since we were really only half way done. Admittedly, I had to drag him through the snow and hang on to him as we made our way down. It definitely made walking slippery, and I was anxious to get back to the dirt myself. When we finally made it out of the snow he fell back saying he wanted his "nice warm bed." Me too.

After another half mile he started to perk up which was a relief.

We stopped here for about 20 minutes to rest and take in the view which undoubtedly was beautiful. The trail weaves its way through the valley below.

On the way down with Kelso mountain behind us.

Still smiling at the end. Once I told him there was an ice pop waiting for him in the car I couldn't slow him down. The last mile was spent laughing, and enjoying our surroundings.

After the 4 mile drive to the freeway on an awful dirt road, he was out. In all, it was 4 hours up, 3 hours down, and 8 miles roundtrip. I was confident that he would make it, just wasn't sure how long it would take, and it was worth every step.

A "Dashing" Warrior

A few weeks ago Jeff ran the Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain, a 5K run at 10,000 feet full of obstacles...this was the before picture.

After. Nuff said.

Ok, so a little disclaimer about the mud pics. Jeff beat us to the mud pit during the race and I missed the photo op. So, being the sweet wife that I am I made him trek through the mud again for the sake of our posterity, plus the boys got a huge kick out of watching their dad swim through a ridiculous hole full of mud. There was barbed wire above the pit so unless he wimped out, there was no way through except to swim below it. This was one of the first obstacles so he said the remainder of the race was spent keeping his shorts up...nice.

To end the race, he had a to leap over two piles of burning wood. There were several other obstacles he traversed during the run; hard to explain but he said if he lost his footing on some of them he could have been seriously hurt. Not too comforting for a wife to hear.

After the race, we had a chance to ride one of the highspeed lifts up the mountain. We hiked around for a little bit, and the boys had a blast jumping off the rocks and climbing on fallen trees. Incredible beauty up here. We absolutely love having Colorado as our home.

Just a little family picture at the top of the lift.

Kaden being silly with his dad on the way down.

The boys had a ball playing around on the bumper boats too. The boats had little squirt guns on them which made it a bit more interesting. Avrey wasn't too sure about it so luckily my boat didn't get too wet, but Trey and Jeff went to town on other boats.

Avrey saw the boys playing around in the creek and decided she had to get in too. She stepped right in without hesitation and started splashing her brothers which made it all the more fun.

While we were playing by the creek she decided to sit down in a little flower patch, pretty good moment for a picture. Wildflowers in Colorado are something to behold, no doubt about it.

The ultimate warrior!

Ok, so this picture obviously has nothing to do with the race, but Jeff snapped this picture of Avrey right after getting her out of the tub one Sunday morning. She was quietly looking at a book, and caught a darling little photo.

First Things First

We officially have a first grader! Trey was excited to get back to school but not so sure about going all day. We are a few weeks into it now and although he is still not loving being gone all day he is doing great and says he does enjoy 2 recesses and having lunch with his friends!

You can almost tell by the look on his face that he is not to sure about this. He also wouldn't smile showing his teeth because he had lost one top tooth and the other one kind of stuck out funny. Nevertheless a handsome young man!

Boots & Piggy Tails

One afternoon I was organizing some boxes when I came across Jeff's baby box. Inside we found these darling little cowboy boots that Jeff wore as a kid and Avrey fell in love with them!!

Her hair is also finally long enough for the worlds cutest little pig tails!

Got Groban?

A friend in our ward gave us tickets to a Josh Groban concert a few weeks ago. When we went we were not huge Josh Groban fans but after an amazing performance we have become "Grobanites"! Okay we are not that crazy, but it was a fun concert!