We Simply Love.: July 2012

Thursday, July 26, 2012

I love the Olympics

The Olympics are awesome... Everyone knows it. Every two years the excitement builds and we get to watch our countries compete for gold medals.

Living where we do, we get to visit the Olympic Training Center whenever we want! Its a blast, every time we leave the kids talk about what they will do in the Olympics.

All around the Olympic Center they have different statues representing different sports.

The scenery is also pretty spectacular, Hello Pikes Peak!

They have Bobsleds that you can pose in, do you spy Hailey?

and the walkway is beautiful

Our Favorite spot, who gets the gold!

Don't mind me, I just taught a zumba class...thought I was pretty awesome.

and little dude, had to have his five minutes of fame.

The Olympics start TOMORROW!!! We will be downtown, our city is hosting an Olympics ceremony, I am beyond excited.

Friday, July 20, 2012

The Waldo Canyon fire started on an ordinary Saturday, the kids and I were headed to the theatre to see Brave. Driving Northwest on I25 I saw the familiar plume of a forest fire, and I remember thinking how close it was to our beautiful city. The fire started out slow, but ended up making world news.

It spread 18,247 acres, 347 beautiful structures were lost, two beautiful lives were lost. It is the most destructive fire in Colorado history.

Now the fire is contained, and 347 structures are still lost. I pray for these families every night, and donate as much as I can to them.

The other day, before an outing with my girlfriends, I was very close to the burn zone. Nikon in hand I decided to drive over and witness it first hand. Within half a mile of the zone, the smell of smoke lingers, and the feeling of loss hits you dead in the chest. I immediately felt the overwhelming power this fire had, police still zoned in the area...and families were still seen sifting through the ashes.

Here is a glimpse into what I found.

Thank you so much to all the brave men and women who responded to this tragedy, to everyone in our beautiful community who reacted and took each other in. I am proud to live here, among all the heroes.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Disney Day three!

Our final day at Disneyland, was a very special day. Our little man Owen, turned TWO!!! Can you believe how fast that went? Remember THIS?

I love how in this photo, Owen is trying to get Minnie to sign the autograph book.

Owens birthday breakfast, Mickey Mouse Pancakes!

Goofing around while we eat our breakfast...he got yelled at for being on the wrong side of the banister, sorry Disney!

Watching the Mark Twain boat go by.

Hailey and her baby Dumbo

Brair Bear!

Watching the New Orleans Jazz band!

What am I supposed to do with these beads?

Funny story....a family was walking by during the bands performance. The wife wanted to stop and watch them for a minute and the husband said "No we can watch it on Youtube at home, lets go!" Sheesh, why come to the park at all? just watch it on YouTube! So afterwards every time there was a performance or a line we joked and said "Nah lets skip it, its on YouTube!"

Birthday boy waiting for his train

Big Sis

POOPED out, he took a 2.5 hour nap in his stroller....

During Owens Nap, Hunter was picked to fight Darth Maul! Three years ago when we went to Disney, Hunter fought Darth Vader, he was telling the little kid not to be afraid.

Padiwan Hunter!

Listening to training instructions.

Darth Vader trying to get the kids to join the Dark Side.

NEVER!

I like how you can see the crack of Hunters smile.

Right after the fight, Darth Maul snuck up behind me and scared the CRAP out of me. He stood behind me breathing on me, I thought it was Russ so I turned around to say back off and Maul was standing there and yelled BOO! I may have said an expletive in the park.....