Summer Camp 2024: Rocky Mountain National Park

What an incredible week at Rocky Mountain National Park last week with Ashlyn's BSA Troop 219 from Denton, TX.  This was the troop's summer camp this year.  We started our journey on Saturday, June 8th and arrived at Sugarite Canyon State Park in New Mexico.  Prior to arriving at the state park, we took a detour and visited the Capulin Volcano National Monument.  This was Ashlyn's first time to visit the volcano.

We had a windy evening while at Sugarite Canyon State Park in New Mexico.  The girls tented in one big tent, which collapsed on them.  The stories were funny between the seven of them since one slept through the tent collapsing and another was content and chill through the whole thing.  They were laughing and telling stories the next morning.  They ended up packing it up and just slept in a few vehicles instead of dealing with the hassle.  Prior to bedtime, we had one of the most beautiful sunsets.

After arriving to Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday June 9th, we stayed at Glacier Basin Campground which had incredible views from our hikes.  Our focus for our hikes were within the Bear Lake Corridor Trails.  We would either walk over or take a vehicle to the park & ride to catch a bus.  This bus would then take us to three specific trailheads: Bierstadt Lake Trailhead, Glacier Gorge Trailhead, and Bear Lake Trailhead.

On Monday, June 10th, we hiked up to Emerald Lake.  It was about a four mile hike overall with a variety of terrain changes including snow!  This hike was the most challenging out of all the hikes we completed and I am thankful we completed it first.  However, the end result was worth it and we had lunch prior to hiking back down.

 

The following day, Tuesday, June 11th, we hiked about two miles and saw the Alberta Falls.  Originally, we had a tubing excursion planned but were unable to complete due to the water speed.  Six of the seven scouts went to a water park and had an enjoyable day while the rest of us stayed at the campsite area.

Wednesday, June 12th, we all traveled to Colorado Adventure Center and scouts and adults completed a ropes and zip line course.  It was pretty impressive to watch them maneuver through the obstacles.

On Thursday, June 13th, four of us hiked another four miles.  We purposely started near the Bear Lake Trailhead which resulted in only a bit of incline and the remaining was primarily downhill.  In about three hours, we casually hiked four miles.  Our goal was not so fast paced as our previous two hikes had been from Monday and Tuesday!  Here is the picture of Bierstadt Lake from the hike.  Near the end of the hike, the four of us hiking could see our campsite from the hill.

Also on Thursday, June 13th, scouts and some adults completed rock climbing!  I suspect many were tired from the previous day's ropes and zip line course.  Those attending rock climbing stated the hike to get where they had to go was pretty brutal.  However, from all the pictures it appears they had a great time and experience.  Ashlyn mentioned rappelling was a bit challenging and required the most trust from the other person.

As scout led, they did a fantastic job planning out the meals for an entire week.  The girls decided to work on a variety of merit badges including astronomy, climbing, camping, cooking, citizenship in the nation, and first aid.  A few of the girls also worked on trail to first class.  Ashlyn completed climbing, cooking, and the astronomy merit badge.  She is almost completed with her camping merit badge too!

Between the scouts and adults, we hiked the trails at RMNP, went to a water park (due to the tubing plans getting cancelled), completed a ropes/zip line course, rock climbing and rappelling, shopped, and a few a scouts visited a Colorado University!  It was such an amazing experience and thankful I had the opportunity to attend.

2014 New Year Resolutions

2013 sure seems it has gone by quickly.  Roland turned seventeen, Jakob turned eight, and Ashlyn turned two in 2013.  Jeff was diagnosed with Pre-Diabetes early June and through changing our diet and increasing our exercise we both have lost weight!  He went back to the doctor in October and due to our changes we made he is no longer on the diabetes spectrum.  Since his diagnosis, he has lost about thirty pounds.

I began my 5th year teaching eighth grade math and algebra.  I also finished four more classes towards my Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of North Texas.  The fall semester was extremely challenging because I was enrolled in two classes, but through the help of a great husband I made it through with two A's.  I now have a 3.875 overall GPA and have only four more classes remaining to complete the degree!  My goal is to graduate with a minimum of a 3.8.

Resolutions

1. Exercise on Elliptical (3 times/week) and Daily Step Goals (7,000 daily; 49,000 weekly)
   Since Ashlyn was born in 2011, I have lost about 20 lbs.  I would like to continue to tone and lose about five to ten more pounds.  I set my goal for 7,000 steps because I am currently averaging about 5,000 steps per day.
2. Blog… Kid accomplishments, artwork, family stories, menu plans, coupon savings, etcToday, A Frugal Friend posted a daily photo challenge with daily themes.  I have done a challenge before which was called Project365.  I will do my best towards this challenge, but it correlates perfect with wanting to blog more!  
3. Read at least six books and read my Bible.
   As sad as it seems, I have not read many books in 2013 due to my crazy schedule.  I want to slow down a little and read more.  Six books may not seem like many, but it much more than I read last year.  Part of the reason I haven't read fun books in the past year was because I was reading college textbooks.  I did finish Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods recently!  I started reading a new book from Janet Evanovich, The Heist.  My goal is to have it completed by January 18th since it is due back to the Denton Library on this day.

Weekend Update

I finished reading a Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evavovich on my Kindle a few days ago.  I am finding that I am more interested in reading recently and just relaxing.  The author will be making an appearance on June 24th at a Barnes and Noble near us.  However, I doubt I will worry about it.  Wristbands will be distributed at 8am and then the event itself is not until 6pm. However, it is neat to me that she will be there!

Three To Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As always, Janet Evanovich writes a comical mystery involving her klutzy bounty hunter Stephanie Plum! Many laugh out loud moments throughout the book!

View all my reviews

Since I finished the book, I was debating on a different genre to read.  I started looking at USA Today's top books and came across Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin.  Reviews were pretty good so I thought I would give it a try.

Yesterday, the four of us went and saw Thor in Irving using some free movie tickets Jeff won from a radio station a while back.  The movie was pretty good.  After the movie, Jeff asked if I liked it and I told him the beginning was a little slow but other than that, I enjoyed it.  The whole time I was trying to figure out what movie I knew the Professor from and right as I was looking it up on my phone I realized he had played on Mamma Mia!

Jakob is excited about this upcoming Monday.  His teacher will return from maternity leave.  He also has Kindergarten graduation on Thursday!  Kindergarten sure went fast!

dad's LOVE

This week's song challenge over at Scrap It With a Song is "Just the Two of Us" by Will Smith.  The lyrics are up on the blog. You can take whatever inspires you from this song, the words, the title or the overall theme of the song. Upload your creations onto the Scrap It With A Song blog by Sunday and you could be this week's winner.

This picture is from Jakob's first season of playing Blast Ball in Lewisville.  They needed a coach and Jeff volunteered.   We have some really cute pictures of Jakob and the other boys who played that season.  While listening to the song challenge this week, the message that came across was the powerful love from a dad and thought perfect!




My inspiration for this layout comes from Creative Scrappers sketch #131.

2010 Family Portraits

Jeff and I have not done family pictures in three years, and knew it was time! 

Jakob (5 years old) and Roland (13 years old).  Roland is about to have his 14th birthday on December 1st and Jakob will be 6 years old on February 1st.

I really like this one of Roland and Jakob.  Both boys are growing like weeds, but seeing the height differences is really cool.

This was one of the last pictures and Jakob was wearing out.  Our photographer was great and kept Jakob just laughing and saying funny things.  Jakob was adding his own comments, but he couldn't have had more fun!

Boo

My goal this year was to create 50 scrapbook layouts.  I'm doing pretty good with 36 layouts completed so far.  The layout above is from last year's Halloween.  Jakob enjoyed his costume last year and went with Jeff to Southwest Airlines for their Halloween event.  The boys both carved pumpkins after visiting the Pumpkin Patch.

 

The layout was created using paper from Coordinates Collections.

Jeff's 33rd Birthday

I finished work early and left school to go to Wal-Mart to surprise Jeff with something for his birthday.  When I got home, he said he saw me at the light to turn left to head toward Wal-Mart!  I couldn't believe the timing.  I ended up getting a chocolate cheesecake sample and a small individual white cake for Jakob to eat.  I suspected he would not be happy with the cheesecake, and I ended up being correct.  :)  Jeff turned 33 on Thursday!

Jeff received this card from his co-workers from work.

Jeff received this card from his grandmother, Donna, in Florida.

This card came from Jeff's work.  It was cute and says, Cake-Check, Presents-Check, Balloons-Check!

Jeff received this card from his parents.  It's cute and too funny since we play those games together when we got to one of the Abilene pizza places!

Jeff received this card from my parents.  My mom really enjoys the song cards!  When you open it up, it plays, "You Know You Make Me Want to SHOUT".

8 Years Ago...

8 years ago on October 19, I married my best friend.  Let's take a trip down memory lane.  :)

I found out after the wedding, my brother, Randy, and his friend, John, played security at my wedding!  I couldn't stop laughing when my mom told me the story!

I really love this picture!  It amazes me to look at this picture and know Cherokee is in the 9th grade now.  I still remember how excited she was to be our flower girl.  She twirled around and really loved her dress.  She was so excited because our dresses looked similar! :)

Jeff and I danced to our song, "Hanging by a Moment" by Lifehouse.  The lyrics to the song are great for the two of us.

My mom sent us this card for our anniversary.

Jeff found this card and bought it for our anniversary.

Inside: ...and married me anyway!

Jeff's parents sent this card and it is too cute!

Briefly Upside Down

This week's song challenge over at Scrap It With a Song is Upside Down by Jack Johnson, from the movie Curious George.  The lyrics are up on the blog. You can take whatever inspires you from this song, the words, the title or the overall theme of the song. Upload your creations onto the Scrap It With A Song blog by Sunday and you could be this week's winner.  This week's prize is sponsored by the very own Christina!  She's giving away an assortment of Primas!

Jeff, Jakob, and I would walk to the elementary school's playground for exercise.  On this evening, while playing, Jeff helped Jakob hang upside down!!  Jakob actually saw me working on this layout and said he could not do it by himself!  I told him it was okay.  The song worked beautiful and Jeff added his comments to help with my title.  He is always so good at the titles for my layouts.  I used paper from Coordinates Collections and a September 2010 Pagemaps sketch to create the layout.

Boys are with Grandparents

This week is sure going fast! Last Thursday, I picked up Roland since Jakob and him were headed to visit with Jeff's parents for the week.  We met Gerry on Friday at Chili's in Fort Worth and had a nice lunch.  Jakob was funny as we were leaving.  I got him buckled in his seat and was saying bye and he was like, "Mom, we're leaving - shut the door!"  Jakob was extremely excited to visit with Jeff's parents and all he could talk about was he was going to the Mimi with the trampoline.  It is also the first thing he told Roland when we picked him up on Thursday!  The boys will return this upcoming Saturday.

On Saturday, Jeff and I went to Olive Garden with Joe and Brenda.  We had a nice dinner and afterwards went to Strikz Entertainment to bowl.  Jeff and I went and saw Toy Story 3 on Monday.  It was a cute movie and afterwards we did some shopping.  I found a dress to wear to my brother's wedding later this month.  I still need to do other things to get ready, but we'll get there!

I spoke to Lana today and she said Jakob was having a blast and said he wasn't ready to come home.  She said he says he misses us, but is obviously enjoying his time with grandparents!  She told me at the lake he jumped off the ten foot dock at Horace and Kay's house!  Once he did it once, she said he swam back to the dock, and did it again and again! At the lake, she said he rode the intertube with his Uncle Brett and with Roland.  He sure loves the water.  After they returned from the lake, they have been doing things around the house.  She mentioned she purchased a Slip'n'Slide and both boys have really enjoyed it!  As mentioned, Jakob was excited about going to their house because of the trampoline.  She said, they have been on it everyday since they got to the house! This afternoon, they are going to watch Toy Story 3.

I have been doing chores and scrapbooking this week.  I had a dentist appointment yesterday and it went well, no cavities.  Since I had no cavities, I treated myself to a pedicure.  I have made four scrapbook layouts since the boys have been with grandparents; three of the layouts are completed and posted on my blog.  (Links below).

• New Home
• Christmas '08
• Bright Day at the Zoo

Grand Canyon Weekend Vacation

We woke up Friday morning early around 3:30AM!  Our flight departed Love Field in Dallas at 6:20AM and landed in El Paso.  Jeff had found a flight that we could stay on and from El Paso, it would go Phoenix, AZ.  After we landed, the pilot stated it would be a full flight and he needed to see a few people.  I knew he was calling non-rev customers.  He starts calling names and I'm hoping with my fingers crossed he doesn't call any of us!  Yet, all of a sudden, he calls Jakob!!  Jakob was really excited and said, "They called my name!" Jeff went up and shortly after we all got off the plane since obviously we could not fly without Jakob!  They have all of the non-rev people in a list on the computer and we were the top group.  They had exactly three seats available and we needed four for all of us.  The attendant then realizes again that Jeff is an employee and mentions he could ride fourth in a flight attendant seat.  It was super nice of them to let Jeff fly on that seat so we all could get there on that flight!  I knew the plane would be really full getting back on it since we were one of the last ones to get on board.  I saw two seats in separate rows but together and grab them.  Jakob did well on the plane and played his game a little.  I could tell near the end he was ready to get off the plane.  I'm sure it was a little different not sitting directly next to either Jeff or me, but overall I think he did fine and didn't appear to annoy the other two people next to him!  I was glad I grabbed those two seats since once we sat down other people were still debating where to sit.

We landed in Phoenix, AZ at 7:20AM (their time) and took the shuttle to get our car.  Shortly after arriving at the Rental Car Center, we had our car and were on our way toward the Grand Canyon.  We stopped on the way to get snacks and then eat lunch as we drove to the Grand Canyon.  It is about three-four hours from the Phoneix area to the Grand Canyon.

Once we arrived at the Grand Canyon, we purchased a few waters and began admiring the beauty of it all!  We started walking east around the edge and took many pictures along the way!  We walked and walked until we came to the end of one side and then took the bus back to the visitor center.  The Grand Canyon had three different color paths and we had finished the green path.  After we returned to the visitor center, we took the bus on the blue path.  We found a gift shop once we got off the bus before walking east again.  Jakob and Roland both bought hats and shirts.  I found a scrapbook and a pink hat with a shirt.  Jeff found a few t-shirts.

We stayed in Williams, AZ on Friday.  It is about an hour south of the Grand Canyon.  After leaving the Grand Canyon, we had a few snacks in the car but decided we would eat at the Pizza Hut in Williams near our hotel.  We did not realize until Saturday that it was really two hours behind CST, so by the time we got to Pizza Hut it was really 9:00PM to us!  I laugh because Jakob was exhausted and was pretty much asleep after eating a few pieces of pizza!

We woke up Saturday morning and had breakfast at our hotel.  It was a really nice continental breakfast including cereal, muffins, waffles, fruit, juice, and milk.  After breakfast, we finished packing up and checked out of the hotel.  We headed south to Phoenix to meet Jeff's uncle for lunch.  We arrived at his house around 11:00AM and had a nice lunch together.  After lunch, we had intentions of going to a Sea Life place that I thought would be like the Dallas World Aquarium.  However, it was a small attraction inside Arizona Mills.  The mall was designed the same as Grapevine Mills and the tourist attraction for Sea Life was not worth the $20/person price!  I was quite disappointed and we walked around the mall and then went to check into our hotel near the airport.

We relaxed at the hotel for a little while before heading out for dinner.  It was really hot in Phoenix.  The temperature for the weekend was 105.  Even though they do not have humidity, it was still really hot in Phoenix!  I was pretty worn out from the overall day at the Grand Canyon.  After watching some television, we went out for dinner.  We found an Applebees and then comically we went to a nearby Costco for ice cream!

Once we finished we went back to our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  We had an early morning flight to catch out of Phoenix to Houston.  Our flight left the next morning at 7:00AM.  We were able to easily non-rev the flight with plenty of seats available. We landed in Houston at 11:35AM CST.  We were able to eat lunch at the airport before our connecting flight to Dallas.  Our next flight left Houston shortly after 12:30PM.  The flight from Houston to Dallas was really short and Jakob slept most of that flight!  I told him before getting on the plane he was taking a nap!  He was exhausted and at the point where he was hyper-silly!  I wish I could have gotten a picture of him because once he fell asleep, he was OUT!  He even slept through the entire landing and did not wake up until our plane stopped at the gate.

Overall, it was a really fun weekend and great experience.  Here are a few of many pictures I took from the trip!