Pancakes, Parades and Pikes Peak

We had a very eventful 4th of July this year, full of excitement and fun!

The day started out with a church pancake breakfast. The Sunday School was in charge of the breakfast this year, and since Gerald currently serves as the Sunday School president, he played a big part in planning and organizing the event. It was a huge hit, I think, and I thought Gerald looked great behind that griddle. :)

The breakfast was held at Civic Green Park, and the kiddos has a blast playing on the park and wading in the stream.

The parade went by a few minutes after our breakfast was finished, and we ran to watch the parade. I still need to write about my mom's visit here, but this was the last day of her week-long visit to us here in Denver. We had so much fun with her! Here she is enjoying the parade with Katelee.

Oh, and I have to show you the 4th of July hairdo Katelee sported. Can you tell it's a star? LOVED it!

After the parade, we headed for Pikes Peak. We had chosen to ride the cog railroad to the top of Pikes Peak as part of our fun day! Pikes Peak is a 14110 foot tall peak about an hour south of Denver - it's the tallest eastern-most mountain in the U.S. ;) If you know me well at all, you know I'm terrified of heights, so this was well out of my comfort zone. But I faced my fears and it was well worth it!

Gerald and Katelee on the train, before we left the station.

Mom and I. These four seats were facing each other, which I thought was really fun!

Katelee was excited about the train ride up the mountain!

Watching out the window as we got going . . .

This is a cog-railway, so it pulls us up the mountain like a huge gear. Like a rollercoaster.

It was a beautiful day and the scenery was stunning.

This is NOT the view from the top, just one of the many gorgeous views as we were climbing. Can you see how slanted the horizon looks? That's how steep we were climbing at that moment. It was even a steeper slant at other times. Yeah, that kinda freaked me out. :)

Made it to the top!

The views from the top were breathtaking. We could see five states: Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.

Fun fact: It was a trip to Pike's Peak that inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write the words to America the Beautiful. In fact, it was originally published as a poem called Pikes Peak. We thought that was a fun thing to learn about on the 4th of July! ;)

After our fun trip mountain trip, we grabbed a pizza and returned to Civic Green Park where we enjoyed a live band performance. Gerald and Katelee even joined in the crowd of dancers - Katelee was having a FABULOUS time!

Before we knew it, it was getting dark and time for the fireworks to start. We had good seats only a block from the site where they were setting them off.

We had to get a picture of the girls in their red shirts.

The fireworks were fun - here is Katelee enjoying the show.

And then it was home to crash.

What a fun 4th of July!

Ballet in the Park

I have about a billion pictures to post of our visit from grandma and the 4th of July, so stay tuned . . .

However, I wanted to quickly write about how cool my city is. The more things I discover here, the more I love this place. We are particularly loving the free cultural performances in the parks this summer.

A week or two ago, we went to see the Boulder Ballet do a fabulous performance in the park. We took a picnic dinner, spread our blanket on the grass, and settled in to enjoy the ballet. We went early enough to watch them warm-up and then enjoy the performance. The dancing was wonderful.

Below the state was a large open area, and the children quickly took over the space as their own personal stage. Katelee LOVED it! She would would stop and stare at the dancers for awhile and then join the dancing children as she tried to mimic the ballerinas.

(Can you see Katelee sitting on the stairs - in the orange dress with pink flower in her hair? She was mesmerized by the dancers.)

Katelee performing some of her own dance moves.

At one point near the end of the performance, the children were invited on stage to learn and practice a few basic ballet moves. Katelee was front and center, and very excited to be up there.

What a lovely way to spend a summer evening!

Medieval Sunglasses

I tried on my new sunglasses for Katelee today. "What do you think?"

She cocked her head to one side and stared at me for a second, before replying. "Mom, you look medieval."

Medieval?!?! My first thought was - they didn't have sunglasses in the 10th century (did they?). My second thought was - how does she know that word?

I wondered if she knew what it meant. So I asked her.

"It means," she told me, "the middle between evil and nice."

Ah. Medieval. It makes perfect sense.

But I'm not exactly flattered.

Maybe I should return these sunglasses.

Hairy Thoughts

Katelee and I have continued our adventures with hair. We continue to have fun experimenting and trying out new things. Here are a few of our recent favorites that I want to record for easy access in the future.

Corkscrew braids back into braid bun with curls. Tutorial for corkscrew braids found here. Tutorial for braid bun with curls found here. I love this bun! It's so elegant and pretty, but only takes about 5 minutes.

Loopy Braids

Tutorial found here.

Triple flipped ponytail.

Tutorial here.

I tried to do plain corkscrew piggytails this day, but Katelee really wanted them made into 'butterfly wings.' I think they turned out cute! For a tutorial on doing a basic corkscrew braid, click here.

Woven ribbon and braid headband.

(better pictures, maybe, on our Father's Day post)

Tutorial found here.

CrissCross Braids

We did this hair-do for a long day at the pool to keep Katelee's hair back and out of the way.

Tutorial here.

Hair wrapped ponytail - without bobby pins!

Love it! This takes five minutes. I do not use the topsy turvy tool they use on the website, I just use a $1 plastic craft needle, as shown in the video clip on the tutorial. Tutorial here.

All Hail the Queen of Australia

"Mom! Come see the throne I built!" Katelee called the other day.

"Wow! That is a very fancy throne, Princess Katelee!"

"I am NOT a princess," she exclaimed in her most regal voice. "I am a QUEEN. The Queen of Australia."

(Putting on her crown.)

After that, I ate dinner with the Queen of Australia.

Are you jealous?

A New Cousin

Katelee has a new cousin, and we have a new nephew! We met him this past week, and were able to spend more time with him tonight, and we are all in LOVE.

He's adorable and so, so sweet.

One adorable family.

To say I'm baby hungry would be a huge understatement,

especially after spending time with this sweetheart!

We love you, baby Elijah, and are so glad you are part of our family!

Ice Cream Cone Photo Shoot

We have had a lovely summer day. We spent almost five hours at the pool today with a variety of friends. Then Katelee took a long nap while I worked. After dinner, our summer day was finished off with an ice cream cone on the front steps. I couldn't resist taking pictures of my beautiful girl.

I L.O.V.E. how Katelee throws her head back when she laughs. :)

The End.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

Father's Day was made extra special this year by the fact that Gerald was out of town for 2 weeks and made it home just in time for Father's Day! We missed him so much and are so glad to have him home with us again!

Katelee just adores her daddy.

He is pretty wonderful.

Gerald & Katelee, Father's Day 2011

Last night for Family Home Evening, we read from President Benson's classic talk: To the Fathers in Israel. Towards the end of the talk, President Benson gives a list to fathers of 10 ways to give spiritual leadership. We read through it as a family and I felt so blessed to realize that Gerald already does all of these things. He is such a great husband and father. He is a true family man, who always puts his family first and works hard to take care of us and help us be happy.

I took these pictures in March of Katelee walking in her daddy's shoes. She wants to be just like her daddy, and I would be proud to have her follow in his footsteps.

Happy Father's Day, honey! We love you!!

Recipe Blog

I love to cook!

But I haven't been so good lately at my "Meal of the Month" posts I used to do.

I love gathering and trying new recipes. I love sharing recipes with others. Which is why I started a recipe blog. I love having all my recipes accessible from anywhere and all together and organized. I invited my mom and my sisters Melissa, Brittany and Taylor to do this with me, as we all love to cook and I LOVE their recipes, too.

If you are ever looking for a new recipe to try, check it out!

www.ThurstonRecipes.blogspot.com

With 173 recipes currently posted, and with us adding more as we find them, this should be a good resource for anyone looking for something new - or tried and true!