​Mike bought and put together a new chore board for the kids with different things they could do to earn money. The nice thing about this board was the visible cash in each bag with the chore they needed to do to earn said cash. It’s always more tempting when you can actually see the money you could earn.

​Everyone got a chance to ride the moped with Madeline this month. It seems like everyday Madeline asks to ride the moped with anyone that will take her. Since the weather has been so nice, we have all jumped at the chance to go with her. 

​It’s fun to watch the girls play board games with their friends to pass the time during the summer. Usually they are outside jumping on the trampoline but every once in a while, they get hot and come inside to cool off.  It’s nice to see them doing something that doesn’t involve a device!

​Peter and I celebrated after our hard workout at Flying Horse by eating Kneaders French toast. I love it when my kids will work out with me. It’s even better to be able to reward them with something fun afterwards. 

​Mike and I stayed at the Elizabeth hotel the night before my XTERRA race. It was probably one of the coolest and most unique hotels we have ever stayed at. As a boutique hotel, it had lots of deluxe amenities such as an instrument lending library, an in-room record player, local artworks and an energetic live music venue near the bar. It was quite the place to be. I wish we could have stayed there longer.

​I love taking walks with Madeline during the summer. We always stop to look at all the flowers on our street and admire the ones we’ve planted in front of our house.

​Sometimes it is fun to try new recipes. I got this new chicken recipe to try and everyone seemed to like it. 

​Peter and I went with his cross-country team to go and climb the incline. Of course, Peter and Josh practically ran to the top. They finished in @ 27 minutes. I was pushing it to finish in the 32 min range. After we caught our breath up at the top, we ran down the Barr Trail. I kept up with the boys for a bit but soon enough they took off and left me in the dust. Those boys are such fast runners!

​I finally took the time to go through my closet and clean things up a bit. I got rid of some older clothes, organized all of my drawers, refolded all the extra sheets and blankets, and hung up all of my long necklaces. 

​I have been eyeing white jeans for quite some time and I finally found a pair that fit well. I can’t wait to wear these pants all summer long.

​I ran up to Barr Camp with my running friend Emily. This was my first time actually making a solid run effort all the way up. With my XTERRA race under my belt and a week and a half of rest I felt good enough to try it. I was able to keep up with Emily most of the way up. The last mile or so I fell back a little bit, but I could still see her ahead of me. It was a tough run, but I am so glad that I did it. Hopefully next time I do it I will be a little bit stronger.

​One of Madeline’s favorite things to do is watch movies on Abby’s karaoke machine. I decided to pull out one of my baby blankets and let her sit on it while she watched her movie. She loved the red apple blanket. It was so cute.
 
Madeline has also loved playing dress up. One day Peter actually helped her get dressed up in all sorts of fun costumes. She was a knight with a fancy black cape, then she was a ninja. She just loves to play pretend.  
 
Madeline loves to pretend to feed her stuffed animals. She will sit them in her booster seat, buckle them up and pretend to feed them lunch. It is adorable.
 

​As Emma gets older it is becoming apparent that she needs more grown up clothes. Since she is so petite sometimes it is hard to find clothes for her. We found her the cutest pink shirt from Aeropostale when we were looking for clothes for our upcoming family photos. 

​Mike and I took Emma and Peter to the temple to do baptisms. Since Peter was trying to get all of his driving hours in we decided to let him drive us up to the temple. This baptism session was super fun because I got to see Peter baptize Emma. Then he baptized me. It was super fun to spend the afternoon with these two doing God’s work.

​Abby’s 11th birthday fell on a Sunday and since it was a family birthday this year it was the perfect day to celebrate with her. We had a nice pancake breakfast with her before we headed off to church. After church we let her open all her presents. She loved all the things she got. From Grandma Anne and Grandpa Franz she got some kinetic sand in a variety of colors and a panda pajama suit.  She just loved that panda suit.  From us she got a fun journal and Paper Mate flair pens that she had been asking for.  Then we took her outside so that she could see her big present. This year we decided to get Abby her very own red moped mini scooter. She was so surprised and extremely excited. We bought her a fun black helmet with a rainbow on it to match her scooter. She immediately took the scooter out to go for a ride. She didn’t even care that she was still wearing her church dress. The girls had fun riding their mopeds together all afternoon. After dinner we all helped Abby devour her chocolate mint ice-cream cake. It was the perfect day for our sweet 11 year old.

​On a normal summer day, Quandary is a miserable slog up boulders (like most 14ers) and a line of neophytes trying to cut their teeth on a tall mountain.  However, this was no ordinary summer day.  Instead, we went early in the season while there was still plenty of snow on the mountain.  We arrived at the parking lot early in the morning, only to find a moose hanging out right by the road.  A good omen for the rest of the hike.  The start of the hike wound up through beautiful forests and it was cool with the promise of sun.  By the time we reached tree line, it was clear we would be in snow to the summit.  Perfect.  The snow was firm, so there was no post holing and we climbed quickly into the clear morning ski.  Denverites were wondering who the speedy little kid was that was passing them, and all I could do was puff out of breath for someone to tell him to slow down.  In the end, Peter would make it to the summit a good 30 minutes before me. The climb was excellent, and we had our spikes on as we made a straight line to the top.  We stayed at the summit for about 20 minutes, had lunch and then headed down.  The best part was that there was snow covering all the big nasty rocks, so we could glissade all the way back down.  On our way, we saw mountain goats playing in the snow.  It was quite the site to see.  Once back to treelike, we ran back to the car (Peter because he can, me because I had to).  It was a great climb with lots of wildlife, clear skies and good memories.  So glad to have a cool kid like Peter who likes to be out in the mountains.  It makes all the hard work worth it.

​We all love swimming at Flying Horse in the summertime. It is hardly ever crowded and there are lots of fun things for the kids to do. With two different pools, a waterslide, a kid’s water playground, and a sand volleyball court, the kids are never board when we go there to swim. Madeline loved walking around the water playground and although she wasn’t really into climbing up the stairs and getting sprayed in the face with water, she did love the various waterspouts spraying straight up out of the water. She did go down the slide a few times, but the slide was so fast that she just flew off the end of the slide and it hurt her little bottom. She did, however, go down the big kid waterslide with Emma and Peter a few times. She did love that but her favorite thing was actually just sitting and laying in the shallow water or having someone hold her in the big pool. 

​I have loved spending so much time with Dionne biking and running this month. We have both been running and biking a ton trying to get ready for XTERRA Lory. Some of my favorites rides we did were at Red Rocks. After the long climbs we would enjoy the meadows up at the top and stop and just enjoy the view together. We also spent a good deal of time running up Barr Trail and did a few open water swims together. There is nothing quite like being with Dionne. She is the kindest and most patient person I know. I’m so glad that we are friends.

​The young men in our ward were supposed to go white water rafting for their high adventure trip but since it had rained so much in the spring the water levels were at a dangerously high level, so the trip got postponed. However, they decided to spend the time doing a service project for a lady in our ward. They helped to repair and build part of her fence. My boys had a great time serving. They both told me later how good they felt for helping with the activity. Afterward the service activity everyone headed up to Woodland Park to go shooting. With several families that brought guns the boys had a great time being able to shoot with a variety of guns to choose from. 

​I love Father’s Day because the weather is warm and sunny, and we get to celebrate Mike. He is hands down the best husband and father to our family. I don’t know how he does all he does and still comes home with a smile on his face. He is frequently seen spending time with the kids, making time for me, cracking jokes and keeping us all informed of things going on in the world. It is not uncommon for him to tell us random facts too. We all feel smarter when we are with him. His talents are beyond anything I have ever seen. He is kind, smart, hard-working, skilled, patient, dedicated, and so incredibly handsome. I’m not sure where we would be without Mike. We are definitely lucky to have an amazing man in our life.

I just finished my 3rd XTERRA triathlon and I couldn’t be happier with how this race went. Although I didn’t have as much time to train for this as I had wanted after my half marathon, I did have some quality workouts that really set me up for a good race. The most important of those were my tempo runs up Barr trail towards Pikes Peak and my 3 open water swims. I came into this race with more nerves than my half marathon 6 weeks ago, but I knew I was prepared enough to do well. With my sweet and supportive husband and fellow triathlete and friend, Dionne, I was nothing but calm race morning. My hope for this race was to not stop at all and to push hard the entire race. At Wave 5 of the swim I felt comfortable enough to swim without stopping. I finished the swim a tad slower than last time, but I didn’t stop and freak out. I did get kicked in the face by a swimmer swimming in the opposite direction who clearly crossed into traffic. It was a good thing I double capped like my friend Harley had told me to do. I was out of the water in the mid 18’s and had a much quicker transition to the bike. The bike was fun and tough. I was breathing hard 90% of the time. I got passed a few times by some faster male bikers on the first lap but then I passed quite a few people on the second lap. That was a clear sign that I should’ve been in a faster wave group. I ended up getting stuck behind a slower biker in a line of 7 people because this lady refused to let us pass for almost 5 min. That was really frustrating. Even still, I finished the bike 4 minutes faster than last time. My second transition was also faster off the bike. My run went surprisingly well, and I didn’t stop at all the entire run even on the steep switchbacks. All that training on Barr trail gave me the confidence to keep pushing slow and steady. I finished the run 4 minutes faster than last time as well, putting me in 3rd place for my age group. I was only 10 seconds behind the 2nd place girl. I couldn’t be happier that I overcame my fear of the lake once again and didn’t stop pushing hard the entire race. These XTERRA races are grueling and they push me to my limits, but I love it so much I will keep coming back until I get a 1st place finish in my age group. 
​

​Gina came out to Colorado Springs to visit with us. We have all known Gina for a really long time. She went to high school with Mike and I have known her ever since Mike and I got married. When we lived out east, we would see her all the time. She was known for bringing us chocolate and doing fun things with the kids. All of the kids loved having her here. We hung out, played games, ate good food, showed her Garden of the Gods, and took her to the top of Pikes Peak. We love having good friends visit with us during the summer.