​Abby was so excited when her New York tote bag arrived. Tote bags seem to be all the rage with girls her age. | Having electric cars has been so great. Even traveling and having to charge hasn’t really caused a ton of inconvenience. | We always find the craziest things at Walmart when we are traveling. Mike found a really colorful cowboy hat and Emma found blue milk. | Abby had a great time at FSY with some of her friends from church. We were fortunate enough to do FSY right in town at UCCS. | The primary had a missionary activity, and all of the kids got missionary name tags. Madeline was assigned in one of the German missions. She had such a great time at this activity. | Sunsets in Colorado are pretty spectacular, especially during the summer months. | Madeline has loved re-discovering how much fun some of the older toys like blocks can be. She was so proud of the tower that we built together. | After a rather tough week I prayed that God would send someone or something to help remind me that I was loved. The next morning, I woke up to the most beautiful sunrise, complete with a double rainbow. It definitely was a gift from God. | We got a free trial to try out the self drive mode on the Tesla. We loved how it turned the road into a rainbow road to tell us it was on self drive. | Madeline has loved spending so much time swimming at Flying Horse. She especially loved it when she got to bring Belle to play with her for the day. Those girls went down that waterslide so many times and had such a great time. | It’s not uncommon to see rainbows in Colorado but double rainbows are rare, and we were fortunate enough to see our second double rainbow this month. | The older girls and I loved watching a movie in my bed on Abby’s birthday. It’s a rare treat when mom stays up late, so this was fun for them and for me.  

​We love spending a few days in the mountains biking and hiking during the summer months. Mike and I got away for a few days to do the things that we love the most together. We stopped first at Breckenridge to bike from Breckenridge to Vail Pass and back. It was a great training ride for our upcoming Triple Bypass bike event in July. Then we drove up to the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek (one of our favorite places) to stay for the night. It was so nice to have chocolates waiting for us in our room when we arrived. We quickly showered and headed over to our massage appointments at the spa and then enjoyed some time afterwards in the hot tub section of the spa. It was the perfect way to soothe our legs after our 50-mile bike ride.
 
After an incredible ride the day before and an evening of pampering we enjoyed a wonderful hike in the early hours while it was still cool and peaceful on the trail. We took the Beaver Creek Trail up to the pond and then took the trail back down but meandered to the Alleys way trail. At one point we came to the Overlook junction and should’ve taken that down. But we didn’t so we ended up going straight down the mountain at the end because we needed to get back for breakfast. We love this place so much. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been here and every time we come we are renewed!

​After a good night’s sleep, we got up and headed out to the coolest park in Omaha. Before playing at the park, we walked across the bridge to stand foot in both Iowa and Nebraska! That was wild. Then we headed into the coolest park we have been to in a long time. There were rocket slides where you had to climb up a bunch of winding ropes to get to the top. There were zip lines, crazy swings, tunnels and water ducts. We had such a great time, and it was good to get our legs moving before getting in the car for the long-haul home! 

​I woke up early and got ready for my big race. I carefully placed my numbers on my arms and legs and braided my hair. Then Mike drove me to the race venue and dropped me off with my bike so I could get everything set up in the transition area. He then headed back to the hotel and grabbed the girls. I was fairly nervous for this race as I had never done this race format before and I just wanted to do well and qualify for the World Championships. Right before the race started I tried to stay cool and stood and stretched in the only shade I could find. The challenge for me today would be to not get overheated. I was amazed at how well the race went. I finished my first road duathlon at USA Multisport Nationals and placed 3rd in my age group and qualified for the World Championships in Spaid next year! It was so hot which posed some challenges I wasn’t expecting like cramping on the first run and calf cramps on the first 3 miles of the bike. Still, my first 10K run I averaged 7:24/mile for the 10K with my first 1.6 miles being a 6:24/mile avg pace. I just tried to hold something in the 7s after the cramping started. The 40K bike was my favorite part after I got over the initial shock of calf cramps that I had never before experienced. It was good I packed electrolyte tabs in my back pocket because those were a lifesaver. The second 5K run I averaged 7:09/mile with my first 1.5 miles being a 6:52/mile avg pace. I learned a lot from this race like what I am capable of with more targeted training with my running and biking. I think I may have found my new favorite race format! It was fun to be at Nationals with my family! It is not often that the kids get to watch me race. That was such a treat! I’m so grateful for Mike and the girls and my mom who cheered for me, my dad, brother and sister-in-law who all raced this week as well! We headed back to the hotel after the race and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool eating hamburgers and enjoying some relaxation time!

​We drove to Omaha for my race at Multisport Nationals. This was the first time we took Mike’s F-150 Lightening, and the charging worked out perfectly along the way. When we got to Omaha we stopped at the temple before heading to our hotel. The visitor’s center was pretty spectacular. Then we headed to our hotel which was a fun kitschy hotel but after getting to our room we realized it would be super crowded, so Mike booked another hotel room down the road and took Emma (and her germs since she was sick) to sleep there. We ate dinner that night at a fun pizza place and met my parents and John and Amy for dinner. For dessert the girls had smores.

​The next morning Mike and I took our bikes out to a paved trail so that I could get in a shakeout ride before we headed to the Omaha Zoo with the girls. This zoo did not disappoint. It was actually quite amazing. You are never too old to enjoy a good zoo adventure. We stayed through lunch and then headed over to the race venue to watch Amy race. Afterwards Mike took me back to the hotel to rest my legs and then he took the girls back to the zoo for some more fun. 

​Since Emma graduated this year we decided it would be fun to do a girl’s trip with all the girls before she headed off to college. Mike surprised us with a fun weekend in Las Vegas to see Adele in concert. The girls were beyond excited and all we did for the few weeks before was listen to Adele on the turntable. We stayed at the Four Seasons hotel which was not only a really nice hotel but also a hotel without a casino. We flew in on Friday in the early afternoon and after getting all checked into our hotel we got ready in our little black dresses and headed on over to the Ceasar Hotel and ate dinner at Amalfi. The food was incredible, and everyone was full and happy before we walked right over to the concert that was also at the Ceasar. We were smart and took photos in front before dinner before the crowds of people were there. We right in and found our seats and took a few more photos before the concert started. Even though I had already seen this concert with Mike the November before, it was still incredible and fun. The girls were in heaven, and it was fun watching them singing along. The set was amazing, and Adele’s entertainment factor was top notch. Again, I was so impressed with how well she connected with the audience and how funny she is in person. This concert was something the girls and I will never forget. After the concert we were planning on taking an Uber back to the hotel, but Uber was so backed up, so we ended up paying for a limo ride in a swanky black SUV. It was not a bad way to end our night. The next morning, we had breakfast outside and then spent the rest of the morning at the pool. They kept bringing us small little treats poolside which was fun. After eating lunch, we headed back inside to shower and get ready to catch our evening flight back home. Our first girls’ trip was so much fun, and it will be hard to top this one!