Denver Museum

Emmrey's final 1st grade field trip was to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and I got to go as a chaperone...

 Emm got buddied up with Abby for the day...

 The museum was awesome and had so much for the kids to explore.  It was also extremely crowded with school groups, so I was glad I only had the 2 to keep track of.  We started at the Nature section where the girls saw all sorts of cool animals from mountain to sea and everything in between.

 Our entire group met up for the IMAX 3D movie...Journey to the South Pacific (man those glasses make me have crazy face;)

 After we had lunch, we headed to the Space Odyssey exhibit.

 

So many neat things to see/try there...like our bodies in infrared.

 Then we headed over to Expedition Health where we learned all about our bodies (my favorite exhibit that day).  I wish that we had allowed for more time in this area.  I didn't know enough about the museum to decide how to best spend our time. In fact, we didn't even make it to all the exhibits....I'll know better next time:)

The girls got to learn about the heart with an actual sheep heart... kinda gross but cool too!!

 It was a fun day...a long day with the travel time, but so worth it.  Definitely thinking we need to go back as a family.

Final concert

Bailee had her very last choir concert for the year (and at Central High)  They did an amazing job and we are so proud of her!  The last concert of the year is an opportunity to honor the seniors in choir and so it was extra long...but very entertaining.  They also honored their pianist who is retiring.  She has accompanied the choir for something like 13 years, so each group did a song in her honor.  Bay's group sang "I Will Remember You"

 They closed the program with their tradition of  "In This Very Room"...which happened to be the traditional song for Granger High Seminary graduation as well.  The choirs were all scattered throughout the auditorium as they sang...it was awesome.  It took some serious restraint for Mark and I not to break into song (and sign language)....you bet we did in the car.

 I just love that she loves to sing (and she is very talented).  I hope that music continues to be a part of her life and that she finds opportunities to share it:)

Visitors

We couldn't wait for Memorial Day weekend ....we were expecting some special visitors.

Luckily for us (not so much for them), we had also closed on our house that Friday and so we had started the process of moving stuff into the new place.  Grandpa and Grandma were good sports about it all. The first morning they were in Cheyenne, we loaded up their van (and ours) and made a trip over to Wellington to show them our new place.

We were grateful for their help in loading and unloading.....that nice,clean and empty garage didn't stay that way very long.  Funny how it seems so much bigger when it doesn't have all your stuff dumped in it:)

We enjoyed breakfast with them at their hotel in the morning.  Mark thought it was funny to see Kars with her spread.  This is her kind of thing...she can just sample a little of this and a little of that...pure heaven;)

 We also did a fair amount of swimming at their pool.

 and making jewelry with grandma....

 

Along with filling the U-Haul with furniture...we made some time to show Gram & Gramps a little bit of Cheyenne.  We were hoping to visit the capitol, but after finding out they were closed due to the holiday, we decided to take the Trolley Tour instead. The tour starts and ends at the historic Union Pacific depot.

  It was a fun-filled 90 minutes of facts and history about the area as well as a stop at the Old West Museum.  It was a good way to show them around!

 The museum was filled with a collection of historic carriages and wagons...

(and dress up, for those so inclined)

By the time we were done, we were all pretty hungry so we grabbed some lunch at Shadows Pub and Grill there at the Depot.

On their last night in town, we celebrated Karsyn's birthday with them.  Basically, she got to open her gift from them a few days early.  I wish that I had organized my brain enough to do a little something more, but she was just thrilled to have them here:)

So fun to have visitors...first ones at both our old and new house.  Can't wait for them to come back!!  Maybe next time we won't be moving;)

Transformation

Things have been so crazy busy lately.  We will be closing on our house Friday. I realized after talking to some of my family, that I haven't done a very good job [at all] of keeping anyone posted on the house progress. Since most of our family will likely not make it out to see it in person, I figured it would be nice to post some pictures for those who are interested;)  It has been kinda fun to see the transformation in pictures.....

 

 

With a whole lot of this sprinkled in....many a date nights were spent here:)

It has been a learning experience to say the least...sometimes fun and (surprisingly) a lot of times not so fun!! 

But we made it to the end [well except for the landscaping and a few minor things] and we have survived ...so far;)

Track Star

Karsy ended her track season with a district meet on Monday.  The meet was for boys and girls grades 4-6. Kars competed against 6th grade girls across the district and she was a rock star in her events~!!  Placed 4th in the Long Jump.....2nd in Pursuit Relay....AND 1st in the 70m ....whoo-hoo!!  A few pictures from the day [the weather was perfect by the way]

stretching out before the 70m

...and she's off ...70m CHAMP

Long Jump girl....

with some fellow Grizzlies

So proud of our Track Star...love you Lu:)

Hewlett Gulch

A few weekends ago the weather was so nice we headed south for a hike. We drove up Poudre Canyon just in time for hunger to set in.  We decided some food in the belly would make for happier hikers so we stopped at the Poudre Park Picnic area and had some lunch.  It was beautiful there and after our long winter, it was nice to enjoy the feel of spring weather.

We soon found ourselves at the Hewlett Gulch trail head...where we set out for a nice hike.  Sometimes at home, I wonder if these girls of ours will ever get along.  There is something about family outings that brings out the friendship between them [that's why we think outings are so important].  I just love watching them together:)

We stumbled upon some remains of a Homestead that were pretty neat...

Of course, for some of us, the snack breaks are the best part of hiking.

.. ...and the crew of my favorite people enjoying a little piece of nature:)