Eight!

Josh just loves his birthdays and this was a big one. He turned eight which means his baptism was right around the corner. He was very excited to fly to Arizona for the baptism but before we left we had to celebrate at home. He got the Star Wars double light saber that he wanted and a Halo jeep made out of Megablocks. The dirt cupcakes we took to school were a big hit too. He was a little disappointed that we didn't have a party with friends but has seem to forgiven me.

Squeak's

After Pike's Peak we stopped at Squeak's Soda Shop in Colorado Springs. My friend had taken her kids there and it seemed like such a fun place I couldn't wait to try it out. It's a great sandwich and soda place that mixes (almost) any flavor and color soda you could imagine. I decided to try purple oatmeal cookie with vanilla ice cream and Josh had a red root beer float. Jake doesn't like pop, so he tried cookies 'n creme ice cream for the first time. They both loved it and we can't wait to go back! Next time . . . watermelon maybe in blue.

Pike's Peak

In our quest to have more adventures (fun ones, at least), shortly after school started we decided to drive up to the top of Pike's Peak. The drive was beautiful and wasn't nearly as scary as everyone described. Or maybe I'm just a scary driver anyway and I'm accustomed to it. Once at the top, we ate the world famous doughnuts and looked at the amazing 360 degree view. Josh could definitely feel the altitude change which the local EMT said would go away when we reached the tree line again. Sure enough, his heart felt fine as soon as we reached the trees. The body can be very strange sometimes. Right at the tree line was a spot with some great climbing rocks, so we spent some time exploring. The boys had a great time and now we can say we've been to the top!

I'm Back!

Yea! I have a computer that works and actually will upload pictures! I have a lot of pictures to post but also a lot of studying to do. So, little by little I may actually get something on here!

Back to School

This week was the first week back to school with Jacob starting PreKindergarten on Tuesday and Josh starting second grade on Wednesday. When I picked Jaked up from the sitter's house to take him to school, he asked "Is it time for class?" When I said yes, he answered "I LOVE YOU MOM!" So nice that I can do something right every once in a while.

The Chipmunks & Hot Springs

On Friday, I went on a Relief Society retreat up in the mountains near Rye. It was really fun, and being outside made me want to take the boys on a little adventure. The youth in our ward went to the Mt. Princeton hot springs earlier this summer, so after coming home on Saturday I decided to take the boys there. We drove for about an hour and a half (which felt much longer since I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before), found the springs, and kept going to a little ghost town called St. Elmo. Not a lot there except for some old western buildings and the chipmunks. On the wood pile across from the old store, you can find a bunch (20-30ish) of friendly chipmunks. If you bring them black sunflower seeds, they will climb right into your hand to eat. Or across your back as I found out. The boys loved it--especially when they ran up their legs or arms. Josh did really well sitting still for them, but Jake got bored and soon tried to scare them. They don't scare easily though so we still had a good time. One chipmunk even growled at me which made me scared! I've never heard a chipmunk growl before.

We left St. Elmo's and backtracked to the hot springs. Mt. Princeton has a resort with 3 pools (one was 102 degrees and the other was 95 degrees), a slide (which I did not mention to Josh as it cost extra), and my favorite part--the river. They pour water from the springs through pipes directly into the river. It mixed with the really cold water and you can find little sitting pools at just about any temperature from scalding to freezing. It was a really fun afternoon. Jake now wants to go back and feed "Alvin and the chipmunks."

Arizona

Our last big event of the summer was a drive to Arizona. 20 minutes in the car, a pit stop already!, 6 1/2 more hours in the car, an overnight stop in Gallup VERY near the train tracks, 5 1/2 more hours in the car and we were there! The boys were very excited to be out of the car and into the swimming pool to show off their new skills. Josh is a real pro now and as Grandma put it, Jake is a "little fish." He would say, "I swim to you. Farther, farther, PERFECT!" We also went to Makutu's Island (where the kids could run, climb, and go crazy for hours), the Phoenix Children's Museum (Josh loved the pretend grocery store and car wash--Jake loved the pipes that blew scarves in your face), visiting with some college and high school friends, shopping (thank goodness for IKEA's play area), swimming, shopping, swimming, shopping, swimming--well, you get the idea. It was so wonderful to be around Mom and Dad and Susan. I miss my family more than anything! Thanks for the great trip--Jake keeps asking if we're going to Grandma's tomorrow.