Random Pictures

  I've gotten so behind, that I haven't been able to share random pictures I take throughout the day.  If the kids do something funny or cute I always grab the camera and snap a picture.  I plan on writing a end of the year post in the coming days.  For now, here are some random pictures I snapped here and there.

The weather has been so rainy and cool here that we haven't been able to play outside at all.  We brought the slide in for Gracie and she went up and down that thing a hundred times.  She loves the slide!

My little daredevil is always climbing on the fireplace

My mom and I discovered the other day  how much she loves peaches.  She devoured this peach.  

Dawson and his silly outfit choice.  Those are his Transformer boots and he wears them any chance he gets.  

The girls up bright and early

My loves cuddling

Gracie sleeping hard

Dawson is such an imaginative kid.  He is constantly "transforming".  

Going for a little ride through the house

Ashlyn and Dawson are not fans of meat at all.  They are both practically vegetarians.  Gracie is the complete opposite.  She loves meat and inhales it.  Joey took her to lunch one day to his favorite BBQ place and got her the kids plate.  She almost ate the whole thing! 

Little Gym

   Ashlyn's gymnastics school recently had their end of the year show.  Again, her studio is really based on learning the fundamentals of gymnastics while having a great time with no competition.  Ashlyn is so darn competitive that it is actually a really perfect fit for her.  She really enjoys her weekly gymnastics class and has learned a lot over the course of a year. Two of her classmates also take classes, so they have a great time together.
    The show was very laid back and a casual way for the kids to showcase what they have learned this year.  They do a group routine and then its up to the individual students to decide what they want to show to the audience.  Ashlyn did great and had a lot of fun.  It was a great ending to a great year of gymnastics.  
    Ashlyn loves gymnastics and wants to continue so she is going to be taking summer classes and will probably take classes next year as well.  I'm excited to see what new tricks and skills she will learn.
   

Ashlyn and her best friend Sofie

In the middle of some move

She is obsessed with doing hand stands.  She does them all the time at home.  She's getting so close to mastering them.  

The bars

On the balance beam

Good balance

On the podium getting her trophy for the year

Her classmataes

Crazy picture

    Ella takes dance and gymnastics at the gym too and her class just happens to be right after Ashlyn's class.  We stayed to watch Ella's show.  The little girls were too cute.  Ella did great and follows along really well.

Ella dancing

So cute!

Mother's Day

Reading a card

    As usual, I am very behind on my blogging.  Too much to do in too little time.  One day I will get all caught up.  As usual, I had an amazing Mother's Day and I was very spoiled by my children.  The kids woke me up bright and early with the handmade cards and gifts they made for me.  They were so sweet and just melted my heart.  Ashlyn gave me card telling me how much she loves me and how much I mean to her.  Gifts like that I will cherish for years and years.  I also got a gift card to my favorite makeup store which is such a nice treat.
        We decided to have everyone over for brunch on Mother's Day.  My one stipulation was that I was not going to cook anything on Mother's Day.  My sister came over the day before and we worked on lots of yummy brunch food that could be popped in the oven or needed no cooking.  Technically I cooked for Mother's Day brunch, but I did zero cooking on Mother's Day.
    My entire family came over including my grandma.  It was so nice getting to spend time with everyone.  Joey's Dad was even here for the festivities.  It was a really nice morning with lots of great food.
   After we ate, my sister and I went out and did a little shopping.  It is such a nice and rare treat to shop with no time constraints or kids.  We had a nice time.
    For dinner that night, I wanted Chipotle.  I love Chipotle and we haven't been there in a long time. I wanted something easy that we could eat at home.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.
    I am so incredibly blessed to have 3 amazing children.  I am also blessed to have such an incredible mother.  I am one lucky lady that's for sure!

Gracie and her Gram

Some of the food we made

Dawson eyeing the banana bread

Gracie and Auntie

Dawson playing with his Transformers

These two play really well together

Visiting and playing

These boys are so silly together

Gracie loves Alli to pieces.  Alli such a good dog with kids.  

Take 5

  This weekend was much, much better weather wise than the weekend before.  We spent Saturday morning at a race I did.  I have done this race several times in the past.  Its held in the Garden of the Gods so it literally could not be more beautiful.  Luckily it is so scenic, because it is one hard race.  The first mile is almost completely up a very long and steep hill.  The course is all up and down.  It totally does a number on your legs.  I ran this year with my Chick Fil A team.  It's kind of neat being part of a racing team.   They paid for me to run it, so I figured I should do it.
    In past years, I have had  a lot of success on this course.  But, this year I did not.  I don't know exactly what happened but my time was awful.  I'm training hard, but I'm finding with three kids someone is always sick and it's caused me to miss some runs.  Maybe I'm not trying as hard?  Maybe I'm just not destined to be fast anymore?  I'm switching up my training in hopes of some better times for my next few races.  I'm trying not to get discouraged, but it's hard not to.  Despite my miserable time, I still had fun and it was a great little workout.  It was also nice to run in such an awesome place without fear of being hit by a car.   I also loved getting to run with my team again.
   Joey and the kids came to cheer me on and I always love seeing their sweet faces as I'm running by.  I'm so blessed to have such a supportive family.

The start of the race.  It's a pretty big race.  

My brother running by.  

My cheering crowd

The finish line is downhill and this is me coming down towards the finish.  

Ashlyn got to pet a chinchilla

Gracie and Auntie walking

My biggest fans

Sisters

Our tulips have bloomed and they are just beautiful this year.  I always wish they would stick around all summer long.  

Cherry Creek Sneak

   Two weekends ago, we spent part of the weekend in Denver.  I decided to run in a race kind of at the last minute.  The race, The Cherry Creek Sneak, was promised to be a great one by my brother.  I also talked my sister into doing it with me.  The race started bright and early Sunday morning.  So, we decided to stay the night up in Denver and run the race the next day.
    It was a nice little get away for the night.  We stopped at Park Meadows mall and they were having an awesome Lego exhibit.  They had Legos for kids to build with.  They also had all sorts of national monuments built out of Legos.  They were incredible.  I can only imagine the time that went into constructing these things.  After the mall, we stopped for yogurt at our favorite place.
    Our hotel was right by where the race was.  It was really nice and the kids were so excited to stay in a hotel.  Bryan and Katy got a room at the same hotel and their room was right across the hall.  Once we got settled in, we headed out for dinner.  Joey found a really good burger place right across the street.  The food was very fresh and they had phenomenal poutine (french fries covered in gravy and cheese curds).  My mom and I had authentic poutine in Montreal years ago, and this came pretty close.
  After we ate, we headed back to the hotel for some swimming.  The kids had fun swimming, but the pool was a little cold.  We were all ready for bed early that night!
    When we awoke the next morning, it was really cold and rainy.  I chose to do this particular race because my brother said it had a really fun after party with lots of kids to do.  Like bounce houses, kids runs, etc.  Once we saw the weather, we knew the kids weren't coming.  Bryan dropped Katy and I off near the start line.  As we stood there waiting for the race to start the rain picked up and it was raining pretty good once the race started.  I have never ran in rain that hard before.  It was pretty wet and miserable.  But, we finished and had fun . While we were running, the kids went to breakfast with their dads.  After the race, Katy and I ran back to the hotel and we all headed home.  After taking a hot bath, I spent a lot of time in my warmest clothes curled up on the couch.
     Despite the bad weather, we still had a great time and it was nice to get away if even for a night.  I would like to do this race again next year.

Dawson having a great time with the Legos

So much to build

Testing out his car he built

Ashlyn building

There is goes

The Statue of Liberty made of Legos

Playing outside of the restaurant

Yum! Dinner time

The boys, and one girl

Swimming time!

They had heaters in the ceiling and Ashlyn was laying out soaking up the heat

Gracie checking out the view

So silly!

Hotels are the perfect place for jumping on beds

Look at that tongue

Enjoying breakfast while we braved it in the cold rain