Let's Go Fly A Kite

To crawl or not to crawl, that is the question

This is Evelyn just last night and today she's done her sit/crawl down the hallway with encouragement from Elizabeth.

This week we also had Evelyn's 9-month checkup. I can't believe she's already 9 months old! She's 16 lbs. 10 oz. (20th percentile) and 27 inches (25th percentile). Still small but she has the most beautiful blue eyes and can light up the room with her smile.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Another adventure with Justina this past Friday. This time we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and the girls slyly realized how they could turn a double stroller into a triple stroller and make me push them up the mountain. The first stop of the day was feeding the giraffes.

It's not real, obviously.

I forgot how long their tongues are

The three girls posing

Loved this poster

I must have been too tired to take more pictures from pushing the girls around but thanks Justina for another great outing!

The Tippy, Tippy Top of the Mountain

Yesterday we went down to Colorado Springs to meet up with another friend from Ohio (we love for our friends to visit, just drive through, or better yet move here)--Reagan Brant and his wife Jessica. We visited over lunch at Texas Roadhouse (they have the best rolls and butter--yum!) and then drove up Pike's Peak. It was my second time up but first time for Eric. The girls kept asking when we'd be at the tippy, tippy top of the mountain as it was a long but beautiful 19 miles one-way going from around 7,000 feet up to 14,110. We had a nice view of everything and felt on top of the world.

Aren't we just the cutest couple?
Look mom, snow!
And a puddle of water, we never see those!

On the way down we stopped a few places for the boys to climb some rocks and try to freak out Jessica.

The fox at the "brake check" place (aka they make you stop and go in the gift shop)

It was good seeing you again Reagan & Jessica, hopefully we can meet up in Germany while you're there, or at least here's to wishful thinking.

As we were heading back to Colorado Springs and home we had a most exciting adventure--Elizabeth spewed all over her seat. It wasn't motion sickness because she threw up on the way home and then again during the night. She definitely does not let a stomach bug get her down as she'll chat up a storm right after spewing. I wish I could be that happy when I'm sick.

Splish, Splash I was not taking a bath

I think I found my new favorite thing--white water rafting! On Saturday, Eric and I went white water rafting on the Clear Creek, just up the I-70 by Idaho Springs. We wanted to go last year for our anniversary but since I was pregnant, we had to wait a year. We did the intermediate level half-day trip and experienced class 3 & 4 rapids. It was so much fun but a little chilly. The water was a cool 36 degrees while it was overcast and in the 60s above the water. We wore wetsuits, splash jackets, and booties to try and keep warm. No one in our raft fell out but Eric came close as he sat in front and took the full force of most of the rapids. When we were coasting to the end, I asked Eric when we could go again or if there was a rafting place in southern Utah where we'll be next week.

Click here for some pictures of our adventure, our raft goes up to picture 63. Yes, I think I was smiling in every picture.

Happy Father's Day

To all the great dads out there, Happy Father's Day! A special shout out to these two men:

My fabulous dad and the wonderful son-in-law he practically hand picked. May they have many hiking adventures together like this one.

Doing the same for dads as for the moms, here are some great Father's Day quotes.

A father carries pictures where his money used to be. ~Author Unknown

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years. ~Mark Twain, "Old Times on the Mississippi" Atlantic Monthly, 1874

Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat. Then fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound. Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again. ~Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby, 1968

Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad. ~Anne Geddes

Spirit Week

With all the excitement from this past weekend, I forgot to post pictures from Elizabeth's spirit week at Preschool. Elizabeth insisted on posing with silly or scary faces.

Tuesday--Pajama Day

Wednesday--Crazy Hair Day
Thursday--School Colors Day (red, yellow, & blue)

Our Little Graduate

Elizabeth had preschool graduation yesterday and it was so cute. The kids performed a few songs for us, received their diplomas, and then danced freestyle. Miss Jen does a wonderful job with them and I only hope Elizabeth's kindergarten teacher has as much patience with Elizabeth as Jen did.
Lots of video so enjoy!


Eric and I were laughing as this instance just shows the love/hate relationship between Elizabeth and Cal. They have to stand next to each other but then they get mad at each other. Good thing they're going to separate elementary schools.

Camping in the Rockies

We went camping Thursday and Friday night in Rocky Mountain National Park. It's so neat to have such a beautiful national park two hours away from us. Our camping posse included Jim & Angie and their 4 kids, Mike & Nikki and their 4 kids, and Tom & Lara and their baby. All told, our gaggle of children played well together and got plenty dirty. We were pretty much on our own in our group site so the kids were able to roam without too much adult supervision (aren't we great parents?). We spent a lot of time around the campfire and ate delicious food--foil dinners, scones, pineapple upside down cake, cinnamon pull-aparts, smores, mountain man breakfast--we really feasted. I'm glad Eric likes to cook with the dutch oven and I get to eat it.

The kids went fishing at Trout Haven and each brought home a 16-inch trout. They gutted the fish at the place so we didn't have to do the yucky part. We cooked the fish over the fire with butter and lemon and it tasted really good, even Eric agreed and he doesn't really like fish.

Here are some pictures of our adventure, don't be too jealous of the mountains.

Our group site. If we all lose our jobs, we can make our own tent city.
From Sprague Lake
So tired, can't even do a 1/2 mile "hike"

Kids Playing

A river runs through it, at least in the valley behind our campground.
Enjoying the campfire
Most people drink when they're camping but us Mormons do our IBC root beer. Eric tried the drunk look, how do you think he did?

Overall it was a fun camping trip. It got really windy Friday night so we took down our gazebo and turned in early but I'm just glad we didn't get rained on. We even slept pretty well which is usually not the case and the downfall of camping. A combination of separate twin air mattresses with foam pads over to keep the cold off, ear plugs, clean warm socks, and a baby that sleeps all night make for decent sleep at night.

Now we need to plan our next camping adventure.

Hail & Tornado

Yesterday we enjoyed Denver weather at its extreme. Our house felt like it was being bombed. I didn't even know there was a tornado in the area (we didn't have our TV on and all I wanted was to take a nap) and it touched down across the freeway at Southlands Mall, only a mile from our house. Here's a news story about it since I didn't get any pictures on my camera. Here's a video that I did get out our back door. The hail started off the size of an egg and we got some good tennis ball sized ones plus heavy winds, obviously from the tornado.

Here's the resulting damage to our house.

We are thankful that our family is safe and everything is reparable, or at least I hope our homeowners insurance thinks so.

Random Photo Shoots

Not too much happened in the Carlsen household last week. I did take some cute pictures of 2 out of 3 girls so here you go.

My blue-eyed girl
I don't know how people took good pictures of their kids before the digital world. I seriously took about 20 pictures of the two of them together and this was the best one.
Middle Child? I do take lots of pictures of her.

Rachel wore this Ralph Lauren tennis outfit on Monday and she looked too cute to pass up a photo-shoot. Isn't she a little poser?