Emma decided to ask one of her friends, James, to prom this year. They met in German class and became friends this year. James is an excellent swimmer and so they naturally had loads to talk about when it came to sports. I ended up taking pictures of what I thought was going to be a small group of girls plus Emma and her date. It ended up being a large group of single girls plus Emma and her date. The sun was in full force during photos which wasn’t ideal, but I was able to get some good photos of the group and of Emma. We let Emma get her hair and makeup done at the Blo Dry Bar this year. They did a fantastic job and she looked so beautiful. She said she had a great time at the dance with her date and with her girlfriends. Afterwards they headed to Carter Wyeth’s house for some after prom fun.
It snowed a ton in April which made it hard to train for my half marathon. I did, however, love running up Rampart Range Road twice, working on pushing the downhill sections. Emma joined one of our Striders runs and enjoyed running with the faster guys and leaving the rest of us girls in the dust. We did have some nice days mid-April and Mike and I took advantage of that and headed on a longer bike ride to Criterium and back. I also took my mountain bike and headed to Pineries to do the loop there. I spent one morning by myself and ran an easy loop in the Garden after the kids were in school and that was so rejuvenating. Some of the hardest runs this month were in the Garden running the clockwise trail tempo loop, hill repeats up the Strausenback hill, hill repeats on Ridge Road, and the road tempo to balanced rock. This month ended with a beautiful, snowy climb up the Incline with Dionne. You never know what you are going to get in April, but one thing is for sure, you are bound to get both snow and at least a few short-sleeved running days.
For my birthday weekend this year Mike took off work on Friday and we spent the morning hiking the Incline and running down Barr trail. Then we headed to Rudy’s for lunch before going home to grab all our stuff for the weekend. We loaded our bags and our bikes onto the Tesla and drove up to Denver where we stayed at the Crawford hotel at Union Station. Mike has been so awesome at finding unique boutique hotels for us to stay in lately. Union Station was redone several years ago, and it looks amazing and so modern. We quickly got on our bike gear and headed out on a quick bike ride before the weather turned nasty. We got halfway through the ride with little wind but when we turned around we almost got blown over by the intense head wind we had the entire ride back to our hotel. Needless to say, we sat in our very nice hot shower for quite some time to warm up after that ride. We headed over to Pacific Mercantile for dinner and had such a good meal together. The dessert, however, was definitely my favorite. The waitress was loving that it was a birthday celebration and even brought us complimentary wine to celebrate. Too bad we don’t drink wine! That night we stayed up late watching movies and just enjoyed being together. It was marvelous to be able to sleep in the next morning. We ate breakfast back at Pacific Mercantile and had the best croissant French toast. It was divine. Then we grabbed our bags and bikes and headed to the Cherry Creek Mall to do a little bit of shopping. It was the perfect birthday weekend!
Madeline had two amazing field trips this month. Her first field trip for first grade was going to Garden of the Gods to explore. Although we have been there many times as a family, she loved going with her classmates. I decided it would be fun to ride my bike around the Garden and then stop and see her on my way out. I was able to stop and say hi right before they ate their lunch. She was so excited to see me and introduce me to some of her friends. Madeline’s second field trip was going to see Annie Jr. at the ENT Center for Performing Arts. I was able to be a chaperone for this field trip and it was a hoot sitting with Madeline and her cute little girlfriends. It was fun to hear all the giggles during the show and to see the kid’s excitement.
We have had so many flowers in the house from Abby’s musical and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to grab my macro lens and capture them before they died. I usually love photographing roses but this year my favorite to capture was the tulips. Tulips always remind me of springtime. I need to remember to pull out my camera more often to take photos of flowers. Flowers just make me so happy!
It was a rare treat to have one of the boys home for Easter this year. Since Andrew was already in town for Abby’s musical, he was able to join us for Easter lunch before flying back to Utah. Madeline was the first one awake, of course, and immediately went searching for her Easter basket full of goodies. Afterwards she kept asking when we could do the Easter egg hunt. The temporal side of Easter morning is definitely geared towards Madeline these days. We did our traditional egg hunt with Madeline and then we all headed to church. The Easter program was amazing, and the spirit was felt by all. We came home, finished prepping for our big Easter lunch, and enjoyed being together before we had to say goodbye to Andrew. Later in the day we got to talk with Peter, which was the cherry on top of our already wonderful day. I love Easter not only for the time to remember our Savior and the resurrection, but also to be grateful for hope and new beginnings.
Abby has loved being part of the spring musical with her theatre friends. She comes home exhausted after every rehearsal, but she is also glowing with excitement and joy. She has really had a great time bonding with the other theatre kids, and she has learned so much about being part of an amazing production. And yes, there is a little bit of drama within the drama kids but most of the time they are all laughing and having a good time doing what they love!
The nice thing about March are the random warmer days. This was a month full of epic runs with the Striders. Between intervals around Monument Lake, speedwork on the CC track, hill repeats up BFNH at Bear Creek Park, fun runs at Red Rocks, and tempos and long runs on the Santa Fe, it was a really great month of training and working hard. My favorite workout of the month was probably the intervals around Monument Lake because I felt really strong on that run. We had super cold mornings as well as a few warm short sleeved days.
Dionne and I had such a blast skiing together today. I gave Dionne a tour of all 5 peaks at Breckenridge! The powder on Peak 7 and Peak 6 were amazing today. I introduced her to Bliss and she went down that run twice with me. We got a little bit of sun coming down Bliss and some on Peak 9. Most of the day was cloudy but we were plenty warm. I really enjoyed being on the mountain with one of my best friends and hope we can continue doing this every season!
After a very windy track meet down in Pueblo where Emma ran the 3200m with no competition whatsoever and still managed to PR by over 30 sec, we quickly rushed home so that she could shower and get all ready for her church spring formal. Somehow she managed to be all ready in less than an hour. By some miracle I was able to do the updo that she wanted in 15-20 min, and I am very proud of how it turned out. She and her good friend Collin are headed to the dance together and I couldn't be happier for them. There is nothing better than going with a good friend! One of Madeline’s favorite places to visit is the Cheyenne Mtn Zoo in downtown Colorado Springs. I took Madeline out of school early so that she could go to the zoo with Mike and Andrew. Madeline’s favorite part of the zoo is hands down feeding the giraffes. It has taken a few years for her to not be scared to feed them by herself. She just loves this exhibit so much. Her next favorite place in the zoo is the reptile house. For some reason snakes fascinate Madeline. She loves the big pythons. Of course, after getting through most of the zoo, the day is never complete without riding the carousel at least once. Going to the zoo with Madeline is probably one of the best things ever!
Madeline participated in her very first cello festival and did so well. She played from memory with her bow Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Lightly Row. We were the most worried about Lightly Row as that song had been more difficult for her to memorize. By some miracle she remembered the entire song and played beautifully. She received a superior rating for her performance from both judges. They had such nice things to say about her performance. We are so proud of Madeline for trying something new this year and learning how to play the cello! I let Madeline ditch school today so that we could head up to the mountains to ski together! My legs were a little tired from working out hard this week, so I was happy to go Madeline’s pace for the day (which isn’t all that slow it turns out). We parked at the south gondola garage so that we could charge the Tesla while we skied. It ended up only costing $7 to charge for 5 hours which was awesome. We had a great time skiing all of our favorite runs while trying to avoid the crowds. I took Madeline on 4 of the 5 peaks today. We started on Peak 7 and made our way to Peak 6 to ski Bliss a few times. Then we headed back to Peak 7 to eat lunch before making our way to Peak 8 and Peak 9. We skipped skiing the blacks off Peak 10 since the weather was starting to turn colder. We hit all of the fun little kid zones in the tree sections. Madeline could’ve skied those all day and been happy!
It was a super fun day skiing with Mike and Madeline. We took Madeline on all 5 peaks at Breckenridge. She tried the blacks off of Peak 10 for the first time and loved them. Her favorite runs of the day were Double Jack off Peak 10 and Bliss off Peak 6. We made our way through all 3 kid fun zones on Peak 9 with Madeline and had lots of fun. She loved skiing under the spider and through the various tunnels. Some of the lift lines were more crowded than the last time we were at Breckenridge, but we never waited more than 8 min for any lift. We did a total of 15 runs, 18,530 vertical ft and 20.24 miles. It was a lot of skiing in one day, especially for Madeline who is only 6 years old. However, we celebrated our victorious ski day by eating dinner at an amazing Mexican restaurant with some old friends who were visiting Colorado during the long weekend.
Sometimes as parents we have to take a step away and focus on each other. Mike and I spent the day skiing just the two of us and we skied all 5 peaks at Breckenridge. It was Mike's first real introduction to the entire mountain at Breckenridge. We started on Peak 8 and made our way over to Peak 9 and 10. We decided to ski the blacks off of Peak 10 while our legs were still fresh. We loved Centennial and Double Jack and the first part of Cimmaron. The last part of that run was a long cat trail which made the entire run not worth it. After getting our fill of Peak 10 we tried some runs off Peak 9 before heading to lunch at Ten Mile Station. After lunch we did a few runs off Peak 8 and Peak 7 and headed straight to Peak 6 so that I could take Mike on Bliss. I had the most amazing flow on that run and was so excited by it. Mike loved it too but we decided that our legs were getting tired so we headed back to 7 and all the way down the mountain. It was a marvelous day of skiing together!
We celebrated Emma’s birthday as a family one week late since some of her gifts were still en route. This year she got some winter running gear from Lululemon; specifically, a nice running jacket and a new long sleeve running top. She also got the Align leggings from Lululemon that she had been eyeing in my closet. It was time for her to have her own really nice leggings. She also got a coat and a shacket from Francesca’s and a necklace from Albion that matches the one Abby and I have. Her final gift was a 5-time punch card that she can use to go climbing with her friends at the rock-climbing gym. She received lots of nice gifts that should last her through her college years. She also got a generous gift card from Buckle from her grandparents. She is officially set up with some new clothes and something fun that will help her adventurous spirit.
We are so lucky to have Emma in our family and can't believe that she is only one year away from being an official adult and leaving the nest. She is such a joy and blessing to have in our lives and we are constantly in awe of her kindness and many, many talents. *Emma had a big friend party later in the month and had loads of fun with her friends eating snacks, playing games and closing the night with everyone singing happy birthday to her while eating an amazing chocolate cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes! It’s officially still the off season for Emma with her running but that doesn’t mean that she isn’t working hard and pushing herself towards some amazing goals for her upcoming races. Her first indoor race of the season was at AFA where she ran the one-mile race. Her performance was phenomenal even though this race was only intended to be a kick start race to get her leg turnover figured out before the next race. She ended up placing 5th and got a PR of 5:31.77 (the top 5 were all within 3 sec of each other) even though she died a bit on the last lap and lost two places. Her upper body and arms were severely tired which meant that she will need to focus more on upper body strength throughout her upcoming HS track season. Still, she learned that she has to stay mentally strong even when her body isn’t feeling it. It was a great reminder for her as she focuses her mind on track running. At the end of the day, you only become a better runner by learning from each race.
This year I wanted to do things that I have never done before. I’ve been praying for good health at the start of this year so that I can reach my goals. This month proved to be a successful one in so many ways. With the Revel Rockies half marathon in June, the Triple Bypass in July, and the R2R2R in October, I knew that I needed to start now to build strength in areas that are weak. I was pretty consistent in my routine and was able to fit in the peloton twice a week, Striders run workouts twice a week plus a long run, the Incline twice, both upper and lower body strength, core, and stretching every day. The weather was snowy, and the trails were not that great all month but the only run I had to do on the treadmill was a track workout which ended up being an awesome experience anyways. I was even able to fit in a morning of playing pickleball with friends after a hard run earlier that morning. Some of the things I learned this month was how exactly to approach the strength training days.
Emma’s Advanced Jazz Band was nominated by the CMEA (Colorado Music Educators Association) as one of the top 2 best jazz bands in Colorado, along with Montrose HS. It was a huge honor to be selected. They were invited to play during the CMEA weekend at the Broadmoor and had an hour-long concert where they played seven songs. It was the best high school jazz concert I had ever been to, and this was the best I had ever heard this band play. They sounded amazing and so professional. The ballroom where they performed was so beautiful and the perfect location for a classy jazz concert. I was so moved by how amazingly talented Emma and the other musicians were in this select group.
The day after Mike got back from his reserve duty training in DC, we decided to head out on the snowshoes to one of our favorite places. We love snowshoeing and hiking at Spruce Mountain Open Space. There aren’t usually a ton of people there which is nice. The first part of our hike was filled with some sections that were a little barer than others. As we approached the top of the plateau, the view was amazing, and the snow was plentiful. Our hike was serene and peaceful! Along the way we saw a few different groups of people. We saw a few hikers, a couple of people on fat tire bikes and a group cross country skiing. Even with the occasional sighting of people, it still felt very private and quiet. We decided to not trek it all the way to the end but went out 2 miles and then turned around. We were both so happy that we didn’t try and push it too much since we were pretty spent by the time we got back to the car. Snowshoeing with Mike in the winter is one of my favorite things to do.
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