MT. HURON 14ER HIKE (JUNE 16)

​AARON'S CAMP (JUNE 18-22)

GIRLS CAMP (JUNE 18-22)

GIRLS FIRST SWIM MEET (JUNE 29)

GRAYS AND TORREYS 14ER HIKE (JUNE 30)

ABBY'S 10TH BIRTHDAY (JUNE 30)

SLICES OF LIFE (JUNE 30)
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I love clothes. I just can't help it. My go to store to shop at lately has been ​White House Black Market. I have especially loved their dress suits and pant suits. 

​Andrew spent the day with his friends up at Elitch Gardens to celebrate his friend Caden’s birthday. The boy had a great time at both the amusement and water parks.

​I got to spend the morning with Emma in the temple for her first temple experience. I just watched as she did baptism for the dead. She loved being in the temple and I loved being able to share that experience with her. 

​I have loved running with the Striders during their Garden of the Gods runs. We spent our last run in the gardens heading up a trail to take a group photo. I’m so lucky to run with such great people.

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EMMA’S BLACK APPLE DOLL
JUNE 19, 2018

​In preparation for Young Women’s camp, Emma put together some fun gifts for her secret sister for camp. She even made the cutest black apple doll.

​I ran in my first half marathon after having Madeline and came just shy of my goal. I was still proud of myself for getting close to breaking 1:30 in the half. It was fun to be able to run the race with some of my running friends.

​Madeline loves going to the Flying Horse pool so that she can play in the water. She still doesn’t love water in her face, but she loves playing in the waterspouts.

​We got an expansion pack for the Exploding Kittens game and it was fun to add the cone of shame element to the game. 

​I always love any excuse to go out and eat lunch with friends, but especially when we are celebrating someone’s birthday. We went to Marigold’s for lunch to celebrate Jen’s birthday. 

​In stark contrast to the beauty of Mt. Huron and its remote splendor stand the twin peaks of Grays and Torreys.  Teaming with Millennial wannabes who have recently moved to Colorado from Iowa, this hike is a miserable mix of uneven rocks, groomed beards, unleashed dogs, and sea level transplants who don’t understand pacing.

The hike itself rises through a beautiful valley with a bustling river, but the trail is fairly rocky and quickly reminds your knees that cartilage is precious.  We ascended the trail at speed hoping to bag two peaks in one outing. The ascent to Grays was crowded, but the groups quickly spread out as people fell to the wayside and succumbed to altitude and exposure.  The sun was bright and the sky clear.  The peak of Grays was straight forward and the view spectacular.  From Grays, we headed down toward Torreys which was a bit more demanding.  The way was steeper and dotted with Mountain Goats who are much bigger and intimidating than you might think.  Once up Torreys, we ate lunch and then prepared for the long descent back to our cars. The toll on our legs was notable. Next time, we’ll do 1,000 squats and lunges to get ready for the downhill.  Again, we were reminded of the joy of going up rather than going down.  In the end, the hike is close to home and its unreal that you can be in such a majestic place so quickly.  Its just too bad that the rest of Denver is learning about the joy of the Mountains.  
 

For Abby’s family birthday celebration, we all headed to Flying Horse for a nice dinner and to open presents. Abby got a new yoga mat from Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz and some cute athletic clothes from Athleta Girl from mom and dad. She was so thrilled with her gifts and her yummy dinner celebration. 

This year both of the boys got to attend Aaron's Camp which is the high adventure spiritual camp for boys 14 and older. Here are some of the highlights according to the boys about their experience at camp. Our ward was paired with the Gleneagle ward for most of the camp. It was extremely hot for most of the week. The food was very good, especially the drinks which were a wide assortment of sodas and lemonades. The lake was fun but a little too cold to swim in. Both of the boys had fun canoeing in the lake. Peter and Brock canoed around the entire lake. There were lots of games and activities at camp.  Peter's team won the capture the flag tournament. Peter almost died on the obstacle course when he was impaled by a log and was centimeters away from completely piercing his abdomen. He still has the scar to prove it.​ Andrew had fun repelling like last time he was at camp. Peter loved the hike the best and he was one of the first people to make it to the top. The boys played games in their tents at night and gambled the leftover sodas. The highlight of camp was the iron rod experience. Since this was Peter's first time, I asked him what he thought and he said, "It was unlike anything I have done before." It was a great spiritual experience for the boys and one that they will never forget. 

This was my first girls camp, and I had a lot of fun with these girls. It was especially fun because we were able to relax and hang out with each other. We braided each other's hair, made bracelets, and played a ton of mafia. During the day, we had lots of fun activities, and at night we played fun games, and we were able to enjoy the presence of the Spirit. Every night, lots of girls would gather in our tent to play mafia, it was probably one of the most fun experiences I've ever had. The YCLs would come into our one tent to give us a spiritual message, and then we would play mafia. On one night in particular, as a YW tradition, the YCLs took us out on a "snipe hunt." They made us put toothpaste on our face, and we ventured out into the woods to find a fun jump (scare designed by some of the older girls). I laughed so hard at everyone's surprise. It was hilarious. On two of the other nights, we had something super spiritual planned. One of the nights we sung a bunch of church songs, making it really easy to feel the spirit. On the other night was a girl's camp tradition. Before you were to leave, your parents would write you a letter. On that night, we opened up our own letters and felt their love.

One of my favorite activities that we did during girls camp was hiking. It was funny because the leaders got lost and ended up taking us on a longer hike than they planned. Before we went, they had us make our own trail mix with the snacks that they provided. It was so much fun, but we didn't even make it to the end of the hike because most of the girls were dying. Halfway down the trail, we stopped for a spiritual message. Besides hiking, we rented some boats for the river. The boats were made of metal, so we had to put our towels under our butts, so we didn't burn ourselves. It was a lot of fun. The leaders brought watermelon, and we even found a dead fish just floating along in the river. On our last day, we went to these natural water slides. They were covered in moss and actually quite gross, but they were still fun. I never went into the pool at the bottom of the slides, but I did repeatedly go down them. At one point, our leaders had ruined them by knocking down some rocks that continued the flow of the water, so they had to fix it by putting all of the rocks back. Overall, my first girls camp exceeded my expectations, and I probably had too much fun.

​It seems unfair that our training hikes for our big summer adventure are in such a stunning place, but I guess we’ll have to deal with the injustice. We drove up the night before in the 4-Runner, navigated some 4 wheel trails and then picked a spot by the River and woods and slept in the back of the truck. Early in the morning, we got up, had oatmeal and headed out on the trail. 
 
The trail started out in a beautiful pine forest with crisp air and just enough fog to make it feel cozy. As the day progressed and we moved up the steep switchbacks, we could see the River flowing below us.  Soon, we emerged from the trees to behold the 3 Apostles, a spectacular range of step peaks that dominate the landscape. With them looking over us, we headed up the alpine meadows, though flowers, and Marmot holes and came to the lake that forms below the peaks. We had a snack and prepared for the summit push. From there, it was a quick, steep hike up the granite rocks to the summit. The summit was peppered with hikers enjoying the view from this 14er that stands in the middle of the mountains. It’s one of the few mountains from which you can see no paved roads and no modern amenities. Without a doubt, this was one of our favorite hikes in Colorado. 
 
We came down from the summit quickly with an agreement that we both enjoy going up much better than we enjoy going down. If only we had better knees! On the way down, we saw a lot of Marmots scurrying through the meadows, getting ready for the coming winter. We drove home grateful to live near such a beautiful place.