SWEET 16

This sweet 16 year old began her birthday with breakfast in bed. Homemade banana nut muffins with strawberries and OJ 

(lots of fruit;)

Then just the two of us went for a little birthday bike ride. I had so much fun just being with her!

We kinda just took it easy for the day, but the girls and I did take her to lunch. She wanted to try a place we hadn't been to yet called Mad Greens. It was fun to try, but nothing spectacular.

We came home and got the table decorated for dinner. She wanted homemade Taquitos just like last year.

Karsyn and Emmrey put together a little treasure hunt for her to find her gift from them. It was so cute how much effort they put into it, sending her all over the house. She finally found it in the shower.

Another season of Little House on the Prairie. Bailee LOVES this show! I admit, I enjoy it myself. You're never too old for a good classic:)

According to Bailee, she didn't "want" anything nor did she really "NEED" anything , but she did have her eye on a few new clothes.  So that is pretty much what she got.

Including a couple of new dresses from 

Grampa Wayne & Gramma Cheryl.

She asked for Strawberry Shortcake for her treat (again).

And asked that we all play a game on the deck to round out the day.

It was a Sweet 16 for one of the sweetest girls we know! Hope all her wishes come true this year, she certainly deserves it:) 

Love you Bay Bug!!

 

***

The main reason we kept the birthday somewhat low key is that Bailee wanted it that way, but the other is that we were leaving 2 days later for our Yellowstone trip and we had bought tickets to see Mary Poppins as a surprise. Every time we are in West Yellowstone, Bailee says "we should go see a show there (the Playmill), that would be so fun!" So we decided that would be a great little extension to her sweet day. She was THRILLED!

Thoughts on 16

The thought of Bailee turning 16 has weighed on me HEAVILY.  Since her last birthday, I have thought "Wow, next year at this time she will be 16".  For months I have stressed about "how we would properly commemorate this event?"  For weeks, I worked on a movie of photos to give her and my heart was happy reliving all the sweet memories, while it ached for time that had passed too quickly. Days were spent in wonder of how we got to this day in a "blink". When all was said and done .. .. .. our baby turned 16 and quite honestly she's pretty much the same girl she's always been. Don't get me wrong, the sheer fact that she is already 16 is a huge deal to me, but it's funny how we can obsess so much about a number and make ourselves a little crazy:) 

I remember so clearly her birth day and being so overwhelmed and scared.to.death!  It is really true that nobody can prepare you for parenthood, add in some serious complications, and you find yourself really fumbling. One thing is for sure, I was introduced to a LOVE that I had never experienced before.

Bailee was tricky and picky. There was so much for us to learn as new parents in addition to the stressful demands of having a preemie. She was pretty patient with us and let us find our way. It took us a few months to feel like we weren't a complete disaster with the whole baby thing.

Pretty soon we were parents of a precocious little toddler. While she may have been a "difficult" baby, she transformed into a parents dream as a toddler. So much fun!!

 She had the nerve to just keep growing up on us

always such a thoughtful little gal

As hard as it has been to come to grips with my little bug being 16, I am overflowing with pride at the young lady she has grown into. She makes us proud to be her parents everyday! She gives us (almost) no trouble, and is a great example for her little sisters to look to:)  So while I am sad that time with her being little has passed, I am so excited to see where this 16 year old's journey takes her!

We love you the most bug;)

Dia del Padre

We spent Father's Day in Rocky Mountain National Park which is about 1.5 hours from our house. Mark had made up his mind he really wanted to do a hike there and so we set out to make it happen:)  Before we left for the day, we made him breakfast and the girls had some gifts they wanted to give him. The two older girls were not super happy about me taking a picture since they had not had a chance to groom for the day .. .. groom schroom ... they looked beautiful to me!

 The girls gave Mark some pretty awesome gifts. Kars made him this fishing box in pottery that even has a reel on it. I'll have to get a better photo (Mark had already swooped it off to his office this morning). He got a new shirt, a massage pillow for his desk chair and long work travels. He also got some coconut cashews that he is devouring;) and my parents sent the cute POP and THE MAN CAN along with a Home Depot gc.

 Bailee and Karsyn had made him a "Survival Kit" that he had fun reading through

 His favorite gifts were the ones right from the heart like this. I mean c'mon ..  .. a free massage at Cool Aid Massage (Emmrey's business). 

Sounds like a dream!

 and these sweet notes that he will treasure because they are so full of feeling:)

 We headed for RMNP and our first stop was the Moraine Park Discovery Center. This was a pretty cool little visitor center, but the best part was this huge window with this view! I could have sat there for hours.

 Mark decided on a 3.5 mile hike from Bear Lake to Bierstadt Lake. This park has a cool system where you can shuttle to different trail heads and start/stop where you choose. You can use it as much or as little as you want. We opted to shuttle to the top (Bear Lake) and hike back down (Bierstadt Lake). Here we are waiting for the shuttle.

 On our way!

 There were a lot of people at the top. Many of them just check out the lake and then shuttle back down. I was a little concerned at first that we would be sharing the trail with all those people, but once we started moving around the lake it thinned out quite a bit. The view was gorgeous!!

 Bay and Kars stayed ahead of us most of the hike (a little too far at times). I was impressed with their navigation skills.

 

 Emmy and I brought up the rear for the first half. She because of the uphill climb, and me because this respiratory junk I'm still fighting was kicking my butt! Mark was the middle man trying to keep tabs on both teams.

 When we arrived at Bierstadt we were all ready for a rest. This big rock was perfect. It was so so windy, but it was warm so it felt pretty good.

 While we rested, Mark threw out his line for a while.

 Not long after, several other groups joined us at the lake and pretty soon Mark had quite the audience watching him;)

 Although this is still his biggest fan club

We finished out the day in Estes Park and enjoyed a burger at Penelope's, headed home and watched an old season of The Amazing Race (we're kinda addicted)

 

One of the things I love about this guy is that he likes to explore and get out and see things. He helps me create those experiences that hopefully our girls will hold onto.  I am so glad we get to make those memories together:) Te amo Marko!

Week with Ashlee

Aunt Ashlee came to visit us last week.
She's pretty fun to have around! 

Some of the things we did during the week were .. ..  

Toured the Budweiser plant

It's right down the road from us and it's a free tour to learn about how something is made.
Plus .. ..if you do drink beer, you get free samples.

One of the coolest parts was learning a little more about the Clydesdale horses. The West Coast Hitch is housed at this facility, and while they are very busy traveling around in the summer, they will be back for a time in July so we will have to go check them out.

 The facility tour takes about an hour, filled with all sorts of information about the whole brewing process. Mark was very curious. He asked question after question and even had the poor kid giving the tour stumped for answers on a few. I thought it was great!!

 

Some of the different types of can tops over the years. Mark and I remembered quite a few;)

 At the end they have this photo booth.  Our girls wanted in on that action ... .. and truth be told, Mark really wanted to wear that blonde wig;)

 

 It was pretty interesting. I don't know that I would do it again unless someone really wanted to see it, but it was worth doing once.

We took Ashlee to see the State Capitol in Cheyenne.  We had gone through it another time, and quite honestly, it wasn't all that exciting a second time. Hopefully Ashlee wasn't too terribly bored :/

 We finished up our time in Cheyenne with a lively game of mini golf. 

 On most holes, these 3 (and myself) waited patiently for the 5th member of our group to finish.

 Bailee held the record for going (way) over par on the most holes:)

 Ashlee came out the winner, but this girl got the most hole in 1's (2 or 3)

 We spent evenings playing games and even taught Ashlee the Europe version of Ticket to Ride.

 We went and ate at the oldest restaurant in Northern Colorado. The Silver Grill Cafe is only open for breakfast and lunch and is a pretty quaint little establishment. While eating our lunch, a major downpour started (like flash flood kind) and so sadly we had to cancel our afternoon plans to do paddle boats at City Park:(

We made a trip to Denver Zoo. It had been pretty rainy all week and as we drove to the zoo, and even when we arrived, I was feeling less than optimistic about our decision. Fortunately, it cleared up and turned into a beautiful day. It was a great day to visit after all. It wasn't the typical crazy crowds because the weather scared people away. It also wasn't crazy hot like we have experienced in the past.

Shortly after we arrived they let the Giraffes out for the first time that day. We were lucky enough to be right there when they opened the doors. You can't see it in the pic, but the one Giraffe just ran laps around the courtyard. I have never seen a Giraffe actually run. It was actually very cool and unusual looking at the same time. It was almost like it was in slow motion just because of sheer size of those legs  .. .. amazing to watch!

 This little Sea Lion really wanted our attention and kept coming right up to the edge of the pool to see us:)

 There is a Elephant at the zoo named Bode. We are just saying this one was Bode (even though we weren't completely sure)

 Sneaking in a little selfie while we waited for the girls to catch up with us

 The girls tested how far they could jump.  Bailee and Emmrey both got as far as the Penguin (5ft)

 Karsyn's best jump was 10 ft like the Salmon

 We went to one of our favorite spots, the Lorikeet Adventure.  We love giving these cute little birds some nectar.

We had one that would lick and nibble on our hand

 

And others that would try to take the entire cup from you

 They ask you not to touch them, and to just hold the cup out for them to drink out of. So you can imagine Ashlee's surprise when this little guy jumped right on her hand to eat.

We treated ourselves to a little nectar as well

Emmrey was really into taking photos on this outing. We finally turned the camera over to her for the last part of our day. We ended up with hundreds of photos of every animal at nearly every angle. Some were questionable, but there were actually some pretty awesome ones .. .. like this.  It is kinda fun to see what gets captured from a little ones perspective.

 On Saturday, our last day together. Mark and I wanted to get up early and go for a hike. We didn't get any takers on the offer. They all wanted to sleep in. So although this was not with Ashlee, this is how Mark and I spent the morning.

We hiked up Poudre Canyon at Dadd Gulch. The trail is about 3.5 miles. We didn't make it quite to the top due to the respiratory virus I have been fighting for a month now:(

It was a beautiful hike and with all the wet weather we have had, the Wildflowers were abundant.

I loved spending the morning hiking with Mark and catching up. We don't do it nearly enough!

We headed back to the girls and pretty much took it easy for the rest of the day. We finished up the week with our pizza and game night and then Ashlee had to head for home on Sunday morning. We sure are glad she came to see us and loved having her!!