Monthly Archives: June 2012

Today we got up early (some probably due to the time change) and got a start on a busy but very fun day.  We toured all through Castle Rock and saw about everything you could see.  We really like it here, especially the weather (dry but not too hot).  There is a huge fire burning south of hear near Colorado Springs so you could smell some of the smoke and the mountains were a little obscured from the haze.

We hiked up Castle Rock (hence the name of the city) and looked out over the valley.  It really brings back memories of being out west!  🙁  We sure miss it.

While on our hike we took a lot of pictures of each other, the scenery, and we even got some great shots of wildlife…

Yes, the picture above is real.  It’s a zoom shot of the nesting area.  You could hear the babies wanting their mom as she squawked as well.  Pretty cool!

We are going to get some good sleep tonight!  🙂

Today we left for our summer vacation/family reunion/baptism event/college prep trip.  🙂  We decided to leave a couple days earlier and today, we started off early and drove to Denver.  We will be staying until Sunday afternoon with the Liddell family, our friends from the Naperville 2nd Ward who moved to Denver back in February.  The drive went well and the kids were really good.  We are so blessed to have kids who don’t whine and cry on trips!  🙂

We arrived in Denver this evening and it was good to see the Liddell’s and catch up with them on how things have been since they moved. We have a fun-filled and packed day tomorrow, so we’ll get some sleep!  🙂

Today, Brittany had her sweet 16 birthday party!  We spent a lot of time planning and getting ready for this, and she invited about 70 people!  We had the party at Waubonsie Lake Park in a newly constructed and very nice pavilion with a fireplace, a great amount of space, and overlooking the lake.  It really is a nice place to have a party.  🙂

We brought a full sound system which all the kids loved and had a great time picking the songs they wanted to hear from the iPad, a screen, projector, the Wii (which we didn’t end up using due to the breeze), and kicked off the party with hot dogs over the fire, chips, drinks, and all kinds of other stuff.  The kids all really enjoyed the location and they loved the adjacent kiddie playground just as much!

We had games set up and the kids came up with their own games, hung out, and enjoyed each other’s company.  We then roasted marshmallows and ate cake and had ice cream.  Sarah made a really cool cake for Brittany that everybody thought was awesome!

We then took group pictures and the kids hung out for awhile longer, dance, played more games, and had more fun.

Overall, there were about 45 people that came.  We had a few leave before the group pic and a couple come afterward, but we tried to get everyone in the picture that we could.  Brittany had a great time and it will be a time that she won’t forget.  Fortunately, sweet 16 comes around only once!  🙂

Happy Sweet 16 Brittany!

Today Sarah started her second job!  We are very excited for her and with 2 jobs, she should be able to make enough money to almost cover her first year of school (with the savings she had already)!  She is being a nanny for the neighbor of some friends in our ward.  There are 2 kids, one 8 and one 12.  With the kids being that age, it shouldn’t be too hard for her to do.  🙂  Most of what she will be doing is keeping them safe, taking them to activities that they have to be to, ensuring they get 1 hour of reading time per day, and keeping the house clean.

Good luck with the job, Sarah!   🙂