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A celebratory salad. Downfall of the Denver Cafe Rio? The parking lot. We were lucky to make it out of there alive!

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 What 2 year old doesn't want to saddle up a dinosaur? Luckily our girl was given the chance! (We had to, it was a landmark in town for us and we made her look for the dinos every time we drove past!)

 KC doing his best impression of a hamster. It was a really good impression.

Punkin got to explore the bouncy house since she was too little to go inside the beach balls like mom and dad. She didn't mind. She LOVED the bounce house, well until she found that she was sharing air with a little spider. All good things must end sometime, right?

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 After church we had lots of fun exploring the botanical gardens in town...

...even after it started to rain!

Then we went back home for naps and dinner and such before walking around down town. Here my crew is sitting with Mark Twain and crew. How fun!

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 So, vacation days I take so many photos, it is hard to narrow them down to just one per day. Let's see- here we have Punkin and KC on the alpine slides. The both thought they were GREAT FUN!  (I loved when Punkin shouted out "Yay! So fun!")

 We also caught up with some of our horse friends who were participating in the rodeo that evening. (Which we did not attend, more on that later.)

 Punkin's first time on a chair lift! I was so stressed out the whole ride that she would wiggle too much and wiggle herself right off the seat. She really was having more fun than the photo suggests. KC was behind us and she was having so much fun waving to him and looking at the clouds.

 Punkin at the top of the mountain where the big gondola drops you off in town. They were having a mtn bike race this day, so we didn't hike or explore too much up here.

One of my friends from college (MMM!) just happened to be playing in a small chamber orchestra this evening. She got us tickets, but sadly, I didn't get to talk to her for very  long. We did get to hear her play, and it was AMAZING! The event organizers weren't going to let Punkin in since she was under 6, but they were nice and let us stay. We only stayed through intermission since the concert started at bed time, but Punkin was amazing. She was rivited by the music and even kept time at points. It was pretty awesome all around. But seriously, MMM, next time I want to see you for longer. Every time I've seen you as of late, it has gotten shorter and shorter.

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 My first time in the mountains! It sure is pretty huh? At least there is water here unlike in the foothills. This MI girl craves water in her landscapes!

Punkin took to the condo like a fish to water. Our favorite part? How she took off and placed her shoes inside the door.

Her favorite part? The "secret" hiding spot she found that had her own "oven" in it (aka the safe) where she could "cook" her own food. Silly kid. She would sleep in there if we let her.

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 We found a pretty cool, free, splash park in our new area. It wasn't nearly as cool as our one in VA, but it is still a lot of fun. Too bad someone seems to think that the splash ground is just a giant water fountain. (And I brought her juice to drink even! Way better than spray ground water!)

This red mushroom looking thing was her favorite feature. This spray ground rotates which features are on and Punkin always got upset when the red mushroom was taken off the rotation. She would, then, get all excited when it came back on and defended it like that specific spout was deeded to her. Silly girl!

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Awww! She is all grown up! She finally figured out how to ride the (3 wheel) scooter all by herself.

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The day is here. This book has controlled our summer.  It will all be done tomorrow night.

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Little snap (for once) sat still enough and allowed me to braid her hair tonight. It is such a struggle with us. She has this long beautiful strawberry blonde hair, and she never wants me to play with it. Sometimes I wonder where she got it from- I love having my hair played with! (But, she is also a kid who won't be bribed so....yeah.)

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We took a Sunday evening walk. I particuarly liked the sky over our church this evening.

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A fun new purchase. I dragged the whole family to the mall just so I could find this bright colorful little pouch.

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Family bike ride! We had a lot of fun this morning enjoying some sunshine. We found this awesome hill to run up and roll down.  Our ride back from this point included a coyote sighting and a long ride up a steep hill. Great way to get some morning exercise. My question is when can the little one ride her own bike so I won't have to pull the heavy trailer?

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Look at that pout! She is a pro. And who would have thought it would have happened at such a fun place like the playground? (haha, it is because she wanted to "snuggle" home and I was making her walk. Such a rough life.)

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This morning we were scoping out the area around where the bar exam will be next week. We stopped in BK for breakfast and I saw this sign. It cracked me up. We are now saying which pops pair well with which fast food? Is Coke now like a fine wine at a fancy restaurant?

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 Today we went to an awesome birthday party here at this pool. The waterslide ROCKED! Happy Birthday little C!

Punkin was obsessed with the "treasure" bag that she got for going to the party. She has carried that thing with her all day. Too cute!

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 I

 LOVE

 EATING

BREAD!!

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 We took our little girl up to the temple for our Sunday evening outing. It was all closed up because of the lawn and parking lot work being done, but we had fun reading and laying in the grass.

 Daddy had fun just chilling and napping.

While Punkin and had fun taking photos on her phone with me. She even let me catch a few when she wasn't "taking photos" on her phone. (and I wasn't even doing phone photos this time around! I had my real camera!) It was a delightful outing!

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Between the farmers market this morning and story time in the park, we found this little stream under and overpass where lots of kids were playing. Punkin had to join in the fun as well.

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Punkin got her nails painted for the very first time today. Here she is waiting for them to dry. It has been really cute catching her looking at her pretty nails and showing them off to people. My favorite part was when she said it was time to wash her hands to get it off. It is hard to tell if girly girl or neat freak is going to win out with this one.

July 12 on 12

1. I had to import this stuff from Michigan. They don't seem to sell it in Colorado. It is a shame since it is DELICIOUS! 2. Daddy daughter slam dunk! oh yeah! 3. Punkin finished her summer reading program! 4. Adjusting to altitude is kicking me once again. How much water do I need to drink to make it an easier transition? 5. Super DAD! Figured out how to drive his girl around on the big trike. 6. Today/Week to do list. 7. Someone got to learn to crawl under trees to get back her ball. It will be a useful skill as the smallest member of the family. 8. Punkin LOVES to play with my bracelets. Now if only I could teach her how to put them away neatly. 9. ROCKET SHIP BOOK! Punkin's old nursery class teacher introduced us to the book and, let me tell you, we love it! 10. Costco cookies were on sale today. This was the last box of the variety pack. I wouldn't need to bother with the variety pack if they sold a package of just white chocolate cookies. 11. Punkin got to sport her new PJs today. the 12-18 month ones are starting to get a little small. 12. Mommy was a softie tonight and let someone come snuggle in Mommy's bed for a little while when she couldn't sleep.

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KC loves it. Me, well, I'm not much of one to play contact sports, but tonight I tried. For him. I didn't do so bad, but I was done with the activity long before he was....

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In my efforts to enjoy/become part of the local community, Punkin and I hit up a "rock the park" type event at a local park. It was loads of fun, but Punkin really wanted to play on the playground and it was over run by big kids. So, if you asked her she might say it wasn't a hit, but that girl is obsessed with the playground. Can you blame her?

Earlier in the day, A and I were working on making come collages on canvas. Punkin wanted to take part. We gave her some water, a brush and a canvas and she went to town. She didn't even seem to care that we kept her away from the modge podge and paper.

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We broke out the bath crayons today during bathtime. Punkin was working on writing her name. Pretty clear, huh?

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 On our last day in Michigan, we had lots of fun checking out some local animals. I love the peacock, but Punkin's favorite was the Donkey! (She is currently on a Shrek 2 kick right now!) And the fish were at our favorite Chinese place where we grabbed lunch before heading to the airport.

Speaking of Shrek- for half of the flight home, Punkin was shouting out "I'm an OGRE, RAR!" Lucky for us, the people around us found it cute, not annoying.

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 What do you do when church gets canceled because the power is out? We worked on our doll fashion photography and then we made some brownies. Fun alternative, huh?

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 I love a wedding. I love my friend KH. I am so happy for her and her new husband! Congrats guys. Who knew that all of this could start in the Palace parking lot during a summer job? (and seriously, the kilts were such a fun touch!)