Mesa Verde: Day 1

Ben is not a fan of road trips. Unfortunately for him, I am. Thankfully, he is totally OK with me taking the girls and leaving him home alone for a few days while we go trek across the country.

I wanted to go to Mesa Verde last October but the weather stopped us- it was supposed to be freezing with snow in October. So, I decided we would go in late May when hopefully the weather was better. Because I knew Ben didn't want to go, back in December when my parents said they wanted to do a cross country road trip, I asked if they wanted to join the girls and me on our SW Colorado adventure. They agreed- yay! My girls are fantastic road trippers, but it's always nice to have extra adults to help out.

For years I have dreamed of going here. It was definitely worth the drive!

After a 7 hour drive, we went to the Visitor's Center. I knew beforehand that we needed to stop there to get tickets for the tours of the actual ruins. You have to go on a tour to climb into the ruins, and there are three different ones. We decided to do all three, of course! Each tour takes an hour or two, so the ranger got us tickets for one tour today and two tomorrow. Perfect!

You drive an hour into the park to get to the tours. There are actually two sections of the park, each an hour into the park, and an hour away from each other. It's a little confusing, but with the map we were just fine. And, this is the scenery- how can you complain?

Here we are starting on the Cliff Palace Tour. You hike down into the mountain a little bit:

If you look close, you can see corn that has been fossilized into the stone:

The views from the cliffs looking out:

Claire really liked this sign. She read it like, "Exit Do Not Only Enter." 

These are simply incredible. I know it sounds crazy, but I have been to ancient Rome, and this reminded me very much of ancient Rome. Yes, Roman ruins are 2,000 years older. But, this is the history of our country. It is sacred- it feels sacred. Seeing what they built was incredible. Seeing the remains of they engineering is simply indescribable.Why did they build in the cliffs? We don't know. But it is pretty amazing that they did. And I am so glad that we got to see it! And, tomorrow we get to see more!

Fun With Grandma and Grandpa!

It's been a couple of years since Grandma and Grandpa have come out to Denver, so we showed them a couple of our favorite places: Waterton Canyon, and of course Casa Bonita! They have been to Casa Bonita before, but they asked the girls where they wanted to go for a Birthday dinner, and they immediately chose CB.

It got pretty windy- can you tell?

Ben and the girls rode their bikes while we walked. I love this picture!

And, of course the girls got spoiled with more Birthday gifts. Audra and Camille got Camelpaks, which they were both super excited about, and Claire (who already has a water pack) got some pigs- which she loves.

An End

Tonight was Audra's last elementary band concert. It's pretty sad- she had a great band teacher for three years, Ms. Wessel.

I know I am prejudiced, but Audra is really pretty good at trumpet. Mostly because she does practice every day, unlike most of the other students. She really enjoys band.

Next year, we are able to keep her in Cloverleaf AND have her attend the middle school just for band and drama on the four days a week she isn't at Cloverleaf. It's pretty awesome, actually, and we are really excited for her and this change. It will be a little different for our homeschool, but it will be an exciting chapter.

A New Era

I found out Thursday that I was being released from Public Affairs. Today was the day it happened.

This is not a surprise. I have had an inkling since December- it was even one of my 2019 Predictions.

But, that doesn't make it easy.

I have been in Public Affairs for 7 years, director of PA for almost 4. And I have absolutely loved every minute of it. I love organizing large events. I love putting together service projects. I love meeting people of other faiths and building relationships. I love attending random events like Ramadan dinners and Interfaith Councils.

And, I am good at it. As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom, I don't get to exercise my talents very often. I love being able to utilize my talents in a way that I feel like means something. Now, I'm sure I'll be put back in primary- which is fine, we all have to do our time there, but it's disappointing.

I know change is inevitable, especially when it comes to church callings. But, I will really, really miss this calling. I am very hopeful that I will someday circle back to Public Affairs.

Cake Wars

I was hoping to do a nice and easy party for Audra- a movie party, in particular. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work and we needed to come up with Plan B. Somehow we landed on Cake Wars.

I made 14 pounds of frosting and Audra and Claire used three cake mixes to make a batch of cupcakes and 4 9-inch round cakes.

We reserved a large space at the library which was awesome!

And, the party went perfectly! I taught them a few cake decorating tips, they practiced first on some wax paper, then they each decorated a cupcake, and then finally they teamed up and decorated a cake. They had 20 minutes- Ben had a timer going on the big TV. Claire and Camille were the judges.

While I was making all the frosting, Claire said, "Mom, you really go all out for parties." It honestly isn't really my intention to do so, but it just seems to work out that way.

At any rate, the party was a major success. Everybody seemed to have a great time. My friend LaRae says I should be a party planner. Perhaps in another life.

Ella and Chloe with their winning cake

Adaley, Emily, and Sarah

Jessie, Dawson, and Candy

Oh, happy day! One more wonderful party in the books!