Steamboat Springs/Denver trip July 11-15, 2009

I have been meaning to 'attempt' to catch up...but have been busy doing lots of boot camps, so I keep putting it off! So, finally here are some pictures from the trip Tom and I got to take (sans kiddos!) back in July. It was so wonderful having some time together. We spend a LOT of time "training" for the triathlon I did a couple of weeks later...so we went jogging in downtown Denver and swimming and bikeriding every day. It was so great! I LOVE Colorado! It's the most beautiful state and we loved getting to see some different parts of it...

This is in Steamboat. There's miles of paved paths along the river...so breathtaking!

the river...

a hike we went on in the mountains to this beautiful waterfall:

Tom being goofy...

they have a hot springs/water park that's open year round. There are two big slides...it was lots of fun!

Tom talking with Abe and Ben....

Our favorite mountain pizza place...so good! Whole Wheat crusts...mmmm! I wish they had one here!

downtown Steamboat was super cute...wish I had better pics...

back in Denver...we stayed at a nice hotel right in downtown...Keith Urban's crew was staying there too!

downtown Denver....it's more incredibly quaint then I realized! I LOVED it! We jogged and just walked up and down the streets and people watched and ate desert at a cute gelato place (below) and breakfast at a little cafe...it was so great!

the gelato.

I'm a sucker for twinkling lights and hanging baskets of flowers! I was ready to move there! ;-)

after our ride at Cherry Creek Resevoir (where my tri was going to be in a couple of weeks).

July 13th...Royal Gorge Park

Fourth of July Weekend...

I forget that summers are actually SO busy for some reason! My classes that I teach have gone from 15-16 during the school year to 6 today... Everyone is out and about and for some reason, we find ourselves so busy and I find myself too busy to blog...Well, actually, I just think I don't take the time for it. Catching up can be exhausting and I have a LOT of catching up to do...on my blog and reading all my friends. Well, here's my latest attempt at catching up....a little: This is what the 4th of July was like around our neighborhood this year...

We went up to the Air Force Academy...it was chilly! So, we walked around for a while and headed home.

This is Max riding forward facing in his new car seat for the first time...he LOVES it!

We'd sworn off taking our kids to restaurants on Memorial Day, but broke down and went out to eat again...they actually did better than expected, but we aren't planning to keep taking them out much....Isn't it funny, when you become parents how you develop these little "rules" amongst yourselves, like 'Only go out to eat when it's NOT a busy time of the day...like 4 in the afternoon!'.

We finally got a bike trailer for our kids and it's been great. I think Taylor and Max look so much alike in this picture.

Sailing Shoes 5k: June 20th

The weekend of this 5k, Tom's parents and little brother Mike came for a fun visit. We had a great time with them and love when they come and see us. The pics are a little out of order... our kids didn't use pacifiers...Taylor did until she was 5 months, Max never did, but on this particular day they found old pacifiers and were both gnawing on them. They don't know how to suck on them so it looks pretty goofy and funny! I think we disposed of the pacifiers after that...

After the 5k...family shot.

This is us with our neighbor and my really good friend Rachele who ran it with us. I love this girl! We passed each other a couple times during the race and she would let our whoops and hollers. She looks like Scarlett Johannson and is so much fun!

Taylor got to run for part of the kids mile race...yep, she was all dressed to run in her flip flops and pjs. :-)

Max's public diaper change...he LOVED every minute of it!

trying not to pass out...or throw up after the race... ;-) I was excited to have run it pretty fast (for me) and get my best time with this race, but I also came the closest I've ever come to puking! I crossed the finish line and gagged 3 times (I know! Embarrassing!) I had to sit down on the street before they even got my tag so I wouldn't lose it! I'm SO glad I didn't lose it!

But, Tom's little brother Mike on the other hand....lost it! ;-) Yep, he threw up in one of the outhouses and was so glad b/c he felt much better afterwords. He is such a fun, goofy guy. I love this kid! He hadn't run at all since he visited us last October and we all ran a 5k together. Well, he did awesome and ran it in right around 25 minutes...but, didn't feel so good after the race (until he finally puked! :-) Here are a couple more funny pics of the poor guy!

Taylor and Tom's mom share a birthday (July 15th) so while they were here, they had a little early birthday celebration for themselves...

Catching up from end of May and early June!

Our good camera broke--so forgive our fuzzy old camera pics...just trying to catch up a little!

This was so funny! Taylor found my breast pump (I haven't used it in almost a year) and she was pumping Max's tummy! So funny! We have a little video footage below...

Taylor giving her puppy a piggy-back ride! She did NOT learn this from us! ;-)

My sweet baby boy!

This was the first part of June when he finally started standing up!

our friends going on a car ride to the store with us....Taylor's doing. :-)

Our somewhat damp, smelly, skin tight get up from our rafting trip the end of May.... ;-)

my friends...

I feel SO blessed by the great people I can call friends! Here are a couple of those friends' most adorable blogs:

Callie

This momma of three is just starting to use her creative, artistic talent to help other people have less stress on their occasions. And, she is SO good at it! I feel blessed that she took her time to help me learn some of her tricks to make Max's cake!

Brooke

This gal is also super creative and talented! She's also a mother to four and get this, she's paying her kids 60 bucks to go off sugar for the summer (and she bakes these amazing deserts!). Her kids are actually excited about the challenge! How cool is that?!

I just wanted to share some of them with you because they are so worth sharing! Those are just two of the biggest-hearted, incredible, amazing friends I've been blessed with! I have so many more and I feel SO grateful for you!!! (wink-wink!)

Tri Training...

I have another 'catch up' post coming soon (hopefully!), but, in the mean time, I thought I'd share some goals...

I'm doing my first triathlon in 32 days and since I've been doing my boot camps in June, I totally put off my tri training. I running this morning (with the kiddos in the double stroller--oh, it's not fun!) and I went swimming this evening. I'm doing a sprint triathlon (thank heavens!) so I have to swim a 1/2 mile and honestly, I know this is pathetic, but I haven't swam yet this year! Anyway, in the smaller pool at the health club I work at, you have to swim 24 laps to equal a half a mile!!! This is the sad part...I swam two, yes, just two and I thought to myself 'this is SO HARD!!!'. I thought at that point, maybe I should just swim 12 laps for starters, but eventually I defeated my inner woes and kept going and swam 26 laps (give or take one-b/c I lost count after just 7 or so laps! ;-). It was much harder than I thought it'd be (I'm not a swimmer) and I had to vary it up with breast strokes and back strokes. Anyway, I have 5 weeks (counting this one) and I have the goal to swim (26 laps-or just over a half a mile) a total of 15 times before the tri (that's 3 times a week). I'm thinking about adding a tally on the side of my blog so I have to 'fess-up' about my training and hopefully, I won't pucker out.

I also am setting the goal to run 15 times (anywhere from 2-6 miles). Thankfully, during the tri it's only a 5k!!! And, also to ride my bike (or attend spin class) 15 times. One more goal: at least 3 times, I need to put them all together for a mock tri-trial run. We'll see how it goes! Wish me luck and please hold me accountable! I need ALL the help I can get!

womanly...support.

Monday I got my haircut...just a trim mostly at the Dillard's salon. I had a good coupon so it only cost 13 bucks! And, then I ventured to the semi-annual BRA sale they were having. I love this sale! It's crazy how much you fluctuate with being a momma, nursing and all the ups and downs. I love the sale (I got two bras for 14.99 each) but, what I mostly love are the two little, older ladies, Mitzi and Anita who come in the dressing room with you and tug at the bra and tell what fits well and what doesn't, what looks fantastic and helps you in and out of bras and then have you leaving their department feeling ever so....lifted!

Anyway, dear friends, I just wanted to tell you that Dillard's is having their semi-annual bra sale (at least here). Anita said the bras on clearance will be there till they're gone. Here were a couple things I learned in my wonderful bra fitting specialists:

-When you buy a new bra you want to hook it on the loosest hook and then as the bra loosens through wear, you should gradually start hooking it on the next tighter hook.

-when you try on a bra, slip your top on over to give you a better idea of it's fit and look.

-the tendons in your breast area can actually deteriorate from a poor supporting bra, so in order to avoid 'more' sagging, you want to make sure your chest is lifted and well-supported.

-wearing the right bra can help a woman stand taller and make some women look as if they've lost 5-10 pounds.

-it's very healthy for your body to have good support!

If you're a neighbor of mine, go visit Anita or Mitzi (they're WONDERFUL!). ;-)

Craft it Forward...

I mentioned my friend Andrea, who helped me finish Taylor's dress (pictured earlier from the wedding we went to). She's an excellent seamstress and had this Craft it forward post on her blog...I couldn't resist, so I'm doing it too:

This is how it works:

The first three people to type "Melody is trying to be crafty!" in the comments on this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. The catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and give the same offer to the first three commenter's who will also craft it forward.

Here are the contingencies:
1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be.
5. I reserve the right to make something extremely strange.
6. You must post a picture of what you win when you get it.

:-) Fun, eh? I'm excited! Craft away!

1st ever boot camp week...

La Central French restaurant, Denver, Colorado

Denver Art Museum:

Last week (June 1-7) was a great, but long week! I've been wanting to do a boot camp for a while now...attempted it last January with not much luck...but, as they say, "Try, try again!" So, I did...and it's been going very well. I decided to imitate one of my favorite trainers (Tracy Anderson) and do a two week boot camp so that the time commitment wouldn't be so difficult and people could get a jump start on their fitness level for the summer AND I could offer a morning session and an evening session and people could do one or the other or both. My friend Alyssa was the first person to officially sign up and it just touched my heart when she enthusiastically gave me her registration form and check. All of my friends have been such a great source of support to me! Anyway, Monday at 6:00 a.m. was my very first day of boot camp. I had eight amazing ladies join me in this venture and we have 7 days of 90 minute workouts behind us now and 3 more to go for this first session! Yay!

Last week was tough on me because I slept so poorly! I was so anxious each night to get up early the next morning and a lack of good sleep doesn't settle well with my former mono-ized body! I survived though and it was a fun and great week...I think I was more excited than anyone for last Friday when it finally rolled around and I could get some rest over the weekend! Friday evening I went to a friend's store Real Deals for an exclusive party she had for VIP customers. I was mainly going to do some cross promotion for my boot camps and pick up some coupons and prizes for the ladies, but I also got to enter a drawing for a 50 dollar gift card and I won!!! It was SO nice to be able to shop without feeling like I shouldn't be shopping!

Saturday, we got up early and drove to Denver to go to the big Art Museum...the first Saturday of every month is free and we'd been wanting to go for a while. There was also a fun Peoples' festival' going on downtown with live music and tons of booths. It was very diverse (which I really enjoy). There was a UFO briefings booth and everything else you can imagine. We came home, I had to run off to the mall to pick up some things for the boot camp participants, and then we had dinner, put the kids to bed and I went downtown to a dance performance at the local college. One of my Pilates students' daughters was in the performance and invited me to come. It's funny; I didn't really want to when the time came because it had been a long week and day and I wanted to just rest with Tom, but I went and it was SO incredible!!! I'm so glad I went! It's funny how often that happens to us...we hold ourselves back from experiences and if we literally do, we miss out...but, when we take the step to go and do, we are most often truly blessed!