Welcome to Adulthood Bug

Bailee spent her 18th birthday working both of her jobs. The perfect way to ring in life as an adult I suppose. It was a bit weird for me and quite frankly, I don't care much for it. She had to be at the BGC early so she asked that we not do breakfast in bed to allow more time to get ready. We did have her photo garland up as a reminder that it was her birthday .....

Emmrey and I went downtown to the little flower shop and then surprised her at the club.

Emmrey wanted to stay at the club with some friends, so Kars and I took her to try Obee's sandwich shop in between her two jobs. It was pretty good and the board game memorabilia on the walls was a nice touch. 

When she finally made it home around 7:30 she was greeted with some chalk art by Emm

We had Taquitos with guacamole and salsa for dinner before she opened some gifts. Her sisters gave her a new water bottle filled with 18 things they love about her.

Some were sweet, some were funny and some were up for interpretation;)

She received some $ from grandparents 

along with a bracelet and cute shirt 

Mark and I gave her a compass necklace for "all the places she'll go" and not lose her way/direction:)

and she got this adorable bike so she can cruise around campus .. .. at least until it snows.

We finished out the night with her choice of Huckleberry ice cream .. ..

.. .. .. and birthday kisses. Can't imagine loving this girl any more than I do. She may be an adult, but as long as I'm living my baby she'll be!

18 ~ Bailee Rychel

18 years ago you transformed me into "momma" and paved the way for your sisters

18 years ago this tiny miracle opened my heart to feelings I never had before

18 years ago I learned what it meant to worry

 We have hurtled through 18 years of learning together. For 18 years you have been the ever changing blueprint as I navigate through parenting decisions and (unfortunately) you have received the brunt of my mistakes. 

At 18 years you are hard working, motivated, and focused. So much of that I can't take responsibility for. It is partly how you have been wired since birth. Even as a teenager, I have never had to worry about curfews or strict rules. Maybe you somehow knew I would be deficient in certain areas of motherhood and you subconsciously took the lead.

I  look at you with awe. Sometimes having a hard time believing that you are the baby they put into my arms 18 years ago and equating the self-assured young woman with the little girl who was obsessed with Bear in the Big Blue House and having "smooth hair".

I was warned that the years would fly by. 18 years later, I finally understand what people meant. I am watching you get ready for college and that metaphor about spreading your wings and flying actually makes sense. You’re getting ready to leap out into the world and I am both terrified and so proud.

You astound me with your maturity and your tenacity. You are such a better person at 18 than I was at that age. You have been a proven product, in your decisions, your choices, and your drive. Continue to amaze me. Continue to blaze a path. Continue to be you Bailee Bug!

Zoo Day

We love our Zoo membership. We try to take advantage of it whenever we can. We told Bailee she could choose something fun to do over her birthday weekend and she chose a trip to the Zoo. Not sure if that was really what she wanted or if it was the thought of something easy and relaxing after a long work week. We had a picnic at the Denver City Park bandshell before walking over to the zoo.

We had to go check on Dobby the baby giraffe. 

We went to the up close animal encounter where the girls got to touch a Corn snake

We had ice cream ... of course

And we got to witness this, which was pretty cool. A little peacock family that we watched for a bit

We stopped for Costa Vida on the way home. Hopefully this girl enjoyed the day!

UW Orientation

Last weekend was Freshmen Orientation at University of Wyoming. The two day event was similar to several other days we have spent at UW as far as content. However, unlike the other times, the students stay overnight in the dorms and spend a good part of the time separate from the parents.

We got her all checked in Thursday morning to her home for the night.

Her roommate was a nice girl from Casper, although neither of us can remember her name:/ 

They didn't spend very much time in their dorm.

For all the positive things the University has to offer, the dorm rooms are not one of them. They are old and in need of a remodel (coming in the near future we hear). Basically, they are what a dorm room and college living is supposed to be. Not like the housing complexes that are popping up on campuses that are more like luxurious apartments with ridiculous amenities.

Kars was still at camp and Mark felt much of it was repetitive enough that he worked part of the first day in the Laramie office. Luckily I  had my little sidekick (and her sidekick;) to keep me company.

The second day we skipped part of the parent presentation that we have heard more than once and walked around campus. We stopped in at the Geological Museum where we took Bailee frequently when Mark was in school. 

Emmrey had her fill of the Augmented Reality Sandbox, an interactive exhibit that teaches concepts like topography, watersheds and ecosystems.  

We may have overdone it with the tossing of pinecones in the resident T-Rex's mouth.... 

a "rite of passage" since the 60's

Later that afternoon we met up with Bay and had lunch at Panda in the Union.  She had just completed the big step of registering for her first semester of college. She was pretty surprised to learn she has taken all the Math she needs as an undergraduate!! She was equally disappointed to learn that despite taking it in high school, she still has to take another Chemistry class. She will be taking 14 credit hours of Chemistry, Biology, Labs, Taste of China (Freshman Seminar) and an Honors Colloquium on Western Civilizations. Because she took advantage of the concurrent enrollment program in high school, she already has 34 credit hours under her belt. 

Her "opportunities are many" 

We are so excited for her and this new chapter of her life. I feel confident that University of Wyoming is the right choice for her at this time. However, I have no illusions that this transition will be without struggle. I am fully prepared to have a break down:)

Camp Wild

A post by Emmrey .. ... 

Ah, Camp Wild what a great adventure! I was able to get into the camp because of my amazing Dad who works for Game and Fish. It was at Curt Gowdy Lake, and it was run by game and fish. I was really excited to do a camp that's all about the outdoors. I had never really done a summer camp before in my life, but now I have. So let me tell you all about it.

Day one was probably the most fun day at camp. Everyone was new and so it was fun to get to know people. We started in the pavilion every day. The first day we sat there and made name tags out of tree discs. We got to eat snack in less then 30 min. from the start of the day. Everyone wanted it then instead of later. For me, it wasn't to appetizing to eat Cheez-its, and  chips at 9:30 a.m. I mean I just ate breakfast! I was shocked to walk into the outhouse to find that it smelt delicious! It seriously smelt like bath and body works, with a hundred different scents!

My least favorite part about camp was Mr. Cowboy. This cowboy had his very own cowboy hat. Which is fine, but when you cant see your project cause his 3 ft wide hat is in the way, then there's a problem. I asked him several times politely to take his hat off for this one project, and he refused.Of course I wasn't going to cry to one of our leaders so instead I demanded him to take of his hat, in the least harsh way. Again he refused. I wanted to just flip off his cowboy hat but I knew that he would go cry to a leader telling on me. We got to do some little hikes too. Some kids packed like we were walking around the world. For me I just brought my water bottle.

On the last day we got to do archery, and fishing. I have to admit archery was scary for me. They explained every injury we could get. My eyes watered a little bit, but Carli was nice and she comforted me. Of course Mr. Cowboy was going next to me. I was determined to beat him. I shot and my arrow bounced off the antler, but Carli said it counted. I didn't win but I smiled when later that day I saw he was trying to spit on the ground and instead it landed on the very tip of  his cowboy boot! Fishing would have been more fun if I caught a fish. 

Another not fun part about camp was the survey. The survey had impossible questions which I didn't know how to answer. we also played in a sand trailer. It had sand and water running through it. It felt so good on my hands. It was also a little messy.

This is the Rock that everyone called turtle rock but its supposed to be a bison. There were some ups and downs about camp but over all camp was a great experience.

Girls Camp '17

Last Monday Kars headed off to girls camp for a week. Because of schedule conflicts the past couple of years, she has only been able to go her first year with the Cheyenne group. This would technically be her 4th year, which means an extra overnight adventure. She left Monday morning to backpack with a group of about 20 girls. To say she was reluctant to go would be an understatement. She was all smiles and jokes during the preparation, but the morning of was a whole different animal.

I took her to meet up with the group at the church in Fort Collins early in the morning. Her resistance to the whole idea was excruciating! I have never been through the "peeling the crying kid off you" phase with Kars. She just never had a hard time separating. In fact, at times I wondered if she cared about being away from us at all:) I know she likes outdoor activities so it wasn't that. In her defense, she was being "forced" to spend 48 hours with strangers (she knew none of these girls) and then the rest of the week with girls she doesn't click with doing what she perceived as "church all the time".  It was a painful morning!! I heard from her camp leader during the week and she assured me she was doing fine ... not great but fine, which is all we could hope for ;)

The original plan was to backpack in the Snowy Range, but mid June was still too ... snowy! Instead they backpacked around the Pingree Park area in the Poudre Wilderness where Mark and I took a trip a couple of years ago. They didn't go as far as Emmaline Lake but stayed in the Cirque Meadows area (from what I can gather from Kars)

Kars is 6 in on left 

The remainder of the week she spent with hundreds of girls at Batel Ranch between here and Laramie. There was no shortage of activities that appeal to Kars ..... ..  canoeing, shooting, fishing, archery, ropes course and bracelet making (which she enjoyed:).  Much to my astonishment and her delight there was no campfire singing of cheesy girls camp songs. The best part was Star gazing.  One evening they were given the option of going on an outing to look at the stars. She told us she liked it because she didn't have to talk or listen to anyone. She could just lay there by herself .. and it was really cool of course. The worst part was the bugs. They were terrible... like worst ever!   

tent mates Jessica and Emily

 I had to track down these pictures from the backpacking trip from a leader. I have nothing from the week at camp. This girl doesn't do a good job of taking pics with anything but her phone (which they couldn't have) and her camp leader was disappointing in that regard too. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one who thinks to take tons of pictures ... ... 

She came home on Friday with smiles and funny stories {mainly about the awkward testimony meeting typical of Girls Camp;} But said she would never go again. She can't appreciate that pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is sometimes really good for you. It's one of the hard parts of parenting ... making your kids do things they don't want to because you hope it will help them grow. Even if it's painful:)

Fathers Day and Mount Margaret

Mark proposed an early morning hike for Father's Day weekend. Bailee and Karsyn were less than excited about getting up early on a Saturday. We have learned through lots of experience, it's not worth dragging unenthused hikers along. It's better for everyone:) We set out for Red Feather Lakes area to hike the Mount Margaret trail. It was pretty flat, making the 7 miles feel effortless.

Emmrey came along while the other two slept. I don't think she even asked "how much longer" on this one.

Always eager to climb any big climbable structure!

About half way we ran into a large herd of cattle

It was a fabulous hike! We missed our older two but enjoyed some time with this little one.

On Father's Day we kept things low key with a BBQ. 

Bay made this really delicious Cucumber Salsa....yummy!

Mark received a few gifts. My parents are always good for some fun treats!  Pecan Log, a box of Figis cheese and sausages, and I believe this included a chocolate tie;)

The girls and I got him some new sunglasses (okay.... he picked those out himself), camping chair (we are trying to convert to these super compact ones) and his beloved Chocolate Almonds.

These girls are the luckiest! They have one of the best guys I know to call Dad.