Summer in no paticular order

I have neglected this blog for quite sometime now; this is our summer in brief.
First, I have some old river pictures that I uploaded but never finished a post. [the date of this post is a reflection of that]
Remnants of our June river trip:

At the beginning of the summer Ryan and I did a Triathlon in Vail. It was absolutely gorgeous up there. We stayed at a really nice resort which made for a very relaxing weekend.

This is where we did the swim portion of the race. Ryan and I were 2 of about 5 people who were not wearing wetsuits. BIG mistake I could barely breath the whole time. It was freezing!

A small reward after the raceOur hotelRyan and I purchased a Tent!

We used it twice this summer and hope to use it many more times in the future.

My sister Jamie and her family came in town from North Carolina and spent a couple weeks with us. It was great to have them here. It was so fun to wake up to my little nieces in the morning.

We celebrated many summer/ post summer birthday!and saving the best news for last...

Ryan and I bought a house!!! Well right now we have some dirt, we decided to build a new home and it will be done in 6months. We are so excited and hope the time flies.

The day we signed the papers. This will be our lot, behind the green house. They should break ground this week! Yipee.

Hallett Regatta

Who: Anyone who owns a Hallett boat
What: Every other year Hallett host a party where all the boat owners get together and celebrate. There is always a poker run and a party at night with lots of prize giveaways. The best part of all is the In-out-truck.
When: Father's Day weekend (I am really late in getting these up)
Where: Lake Mead NV
The next day we went to The Coffee Cup. It was featured on diners drive-ins and dives!

Georgetown

Today was Ryan's last day before he starts his new job. We wanted to do something fun before it is back to a 40hr work week. We heard about this old mining landmark by the name of Georgetown. In 1859 it was established, built on the discovery of gold and silver. It was so fun to run around to all of the historic buildings and capture them through photography. I love taking pictures of structures, so this was a gold mine! Along our mini road trip we stopped at Beaujos Pizza, and the one and only Buffalo Bill's Grave. The views where absolutely gorgeous, see for yourself...

The Incline

What is the Incline? The Incline is an old cable car track that was used as a scenic route for Mt. Manitou. The cable car used to take people up the face of the rocky Mountains before shutting down in the 90s. Now people climb it for fun. Well technically it is not open to the public, but everyone still does it. From start to finish it is about a mile long. You start at an elevation of 6574 and end at 8585. The average grade of the hike is 41% and in some parts 68%! Ryan wanted to see how fast he could make it up, he finished in 35 minutes! It was definitely exhausting, and today I am feeling the effects.

At the very bottom looking upMid way through looking down, that makes me dizzy!

Our car is parked at that white circle on the middle right side of the pic.

We made it!

Part Two: Garden of the Gods

Weekender

Last minute Ryan and I flew out to UT to visit my little sister and her family. I always enjoy spending time with them. Last I saw them was over the Easter holiday and since than Mason has grown so much. He's not a baby anymore he is a toddler! Tear. He has two front bottom teeth and he is huge!

We did so many fun things crammed into just a few days. We ate at a few of our favorites, Les Madeleines, The Pie, and Cafe Trio (which seriously deserves some national recognition!) We went to Red Butte Gardens and did a hike to a waterfall. Sorry don't know the name, but it was just east of Ogden and it was beautiful. The Mountains are so pretty, we really were deprived of doing activities like these in TX.

Thanks again Janelle and Kent for hosting a wonderful weekend! A few pics of the highlights..

Happy Easter

Hey Everyone! I hope ya'll had a great Easter. We had a great time celebrating. Saturday we went and toured a candy factory. It was so much fun, I think everyone enjoyed it. Who doesn't have a sweet tooth? That night for dinner we went to this place called White Fence Farm. It is mainly a fried chicken place, but they have all sorts of various attractions: farm animals, antique store, play grounds, live music, and the list goes on. It was a bit overwhelming. But plenty of things to keep the kids entertained for many hours. Sunday we did all of the traditional Easter activities, Easter baskets, dyed Easter eggs, Easter egg hunt, church, and family dinner. Some favorites...

Dying the eggs

The final product Ohhh you know, out for a stroll downtown before Easter Sunday

Candy Shop
Love birds

Me and Mason