Carlsen Family Weblog

SNOW

2012-02-07T20:38:00.004-07:00

Even though I'm a California girl at heart, I must say I really like snow. It's beautiful when it comes down and very fun to play in. Yeah there's the shoveling and not being able to get out of your driveway at times but the bright side is a good workout and not needing to go anywhere. We have a fun little sledding hill right down the block and I bought a pair of snowshoes so I can get out on the trails by our house before they plow them. Now living in Colorado I know it will snow pretty good and then we'll have warm days before and/or after so it doesn't stay all winter and is a nice change-up.

Our most recent snow storm set some records for February with 12-18 inches depending on the reports but shoveling felt like more with the drifts. Thankfully Eric returned home from a business trip right as the storm started so his plane wasn't delayed or canceled and then we had a fun snow day with no school on Friday. A few pictures to prove I can remember the camera.

We pretty much couldn't open our back door because of all the snow on the deck.

Throw a snow suit on these girls and they're good outside for an hour or two.

Monkeying Around

2012-01-23T19:51:00.004-07:00

On this the last day of track off (have I mentioned it's been a long FIVE weeks?) I asked the girls what they wanted to do with a few suggestions and they said go to Monkey Bizness so we did. Some friends joined us and we monkeyed around for two hours and had lots of fun. I think Melissa and I might have had more fun than the girls as we had to try everything out ourselves. Jumping in a jumpy castle, climbing up a hug slide, going through an obstacle course, and playing air hockey (Melissa won :() is hard work but someone's got to do it.

My little Monkeys
Monkey Bizness is not just for kids, or maybe we're just kids at heart

Flying Kites in January

2012-01-23T19:42:00.003-07:00

So what do you do when you have a nice and sunny yet windy day in January? You go fly kites of course. I was so glad I picked up some kites at the end of fall and we finally got around to using them. The girls loved running around the field and seeing how high their kites flew and we got our daily dose of Vitamin D for a winter day. I'm sure we have a bunch of snow and cold in front of us before summer shows through but we'll take days like this in winter!

Getting a Little bit Crafty

2012-01-20T07:58:00.002-07:00

The girls' track off is almost over (thank goodness! I mean I love my children) and I realized I hadn't done any crafts with them. So we gathered up our supplies--empty egg cartons, paint, pipe cleaners, floral tape, empty jam jar, and modpodge. Here is the result.

Not as good as what I found online but still a good morning project.

Awww, how precious!

2012-01-18T18:38:00.002-07:00

We have a new (or returning) addition to our household. If you haven't heard, Honduras is pretty dangerous so they decided to pull all Peace Corps volunteers out so Melissa is living with us again. The girls got really snuggly this afternoon and I had to snap a picture.

Bring on the New Year!

2012-01-07T10:16:00.007-07:00

What do you have when there's 10 people sleeping in your house for a few days? A par-tay! My family (minus Melissa who is in Honduras) started coming into town the Wednesday before New Years and we got out and tried to see some of Colorado's finest together. Thursday evening we went downtown, got a quick bite to eat, tried my failed attempt at a walking tour, and ended up at the Capitol building where we all stood on the 5280 step. Of course the favorite part for my girls was probably riding the 16th Street Mall bus up and down.

Christmas lights were still up downtown, pretty sure that's City Hall

Friday we enjoyed the winter sports with a nice 50 degree day. Since the snow from our big storm the week before has melted off in spots, we headed up to the foothills and sledded/tubed/snow-shoed in Golden Gate Canyon park. Eric's sister Lynne and family joined us along with cousin Mike and we had fun with snowball fights and a lot of runs down the hill. I had to take my coat off as it was so warm but I think it was the perfect outing for 17 people until one person scraped their head pretty good. I tried to get pictures of everyone but it looks like I missed a bunch.

Mike, Rachel, Brian, Eric, Rob
Rachel, Brian, Eric
My dad
Eric's sister Lynne and my mom
My sister Tricia and her husband Danny

Rachel, Brian, And Stuart

Evelyn was very content to sit with uncle Danny while Elizabeth was off hiding the whole time.

On Saturday we had the baptism and luncheon with all 20 family members at my house--so much fun! After stuffing ourselves some went to see MI4 while mom and I watched the new Jane Eyre. When the movie goers got home, we ate even more food, talked, and danced our hearts out in Just Dance 2. I wish I had my camera for that one, can I borrow some pictures dad? I think only three people made it to midnight--Eric, Elizabeth, and Rachel (after a one hour "nap" from 8:30-9:30pm). Sunday we went to church, ate more food, and played Uno for hours in the evening and I think I only won one game--my Uno mojo is gone! Monday was somebody's 18th birthday (again!). We went out for Greek food after a Downton Abbey marathon (very good show and season 2 is coming out tomorrow).

Well, 18 or 29, neither is the truth but we won't tell your real age mom.
It's a miracle, Rachel's eating salad!
Now the house is back to normal size (until Melissa comes for a visit in a little over a week), Christmas is down finally, and we have a very memorable holiday season under our belt.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-06T19:48:00.008-07:00

We had a very nice Christmas and it was considered a "white" Christmas since we still had snow on the ground from a previous snow storm. After our Christmas Eve festivities of birthday, Christmas piano songs, and reading Luke 2, we snuggled the girls to bed and got all the Santa stuff done before settling down for the night. In the morning we were in a little hurry as the girls woke up after 7am--no early risers there--and we started opening up gifts, eating a quick breakfast, and getting ready for 9am church where I had to play for the choir.

Before the Madness
Christmas Pajamas--my sewing machine broke so I didn't make them this year which meant one less thing to stress about
Evelyn transformed into Cinderella (love Halloween clearance!)
And I'm one of "those" moms that make my children at all costs get a picture in their Christmas dress. As evidenced below, someone wasn't too happy with me.
To even the score, I got a picture of the parentals too

The big gift of the year, wait for it--RATS! Since I have vetoed cats and dogs as pets, and fish were too boring according to Elizabeth (there's a story you should ask her about that sometime), we did a little research. Rats don't carry the bubonic plague (anymore) and actually make really good pets. Unlike guinea pigs, they are not nocturnal and like to come out and play without biting you. We actually got the rats on the 23rd so no big surprise for the girls there but in the two weeks we've had them, I've been pleased. They are easy to care for and the girls love them (we'll see how long that lasts). If you want to try them out, just come on over for a visit and I'm sure you'll get over the long tail thing quickly as you look in their red eyes.

Their lovely abode, a quite spacious multi-level dwelling complete with exercise wheel and hammock that's not really used.

Our Christmas Eve Baby

2012-01-05T15:27:00.004-07:00

I can't believe it's been eight years since I woke up on Christmas Eve, my water broke, and I knew I was going to become a mom that day. Fast forward eight years and I have an 8 year old girl full of life and no one can tell her differently. In looking at the pictures I took on Elizabeth's actual birthday, I fail as photographer. Here's what I got.
Now what else happens in our church when a child turns 8? They can choose to be baptized. Elizabeth prepared by reading a book about baptism and practically memorizing it. She looked beautiful in all white and had lots of family to cheer her on in her big decision for her New Years Eve baptism.

Getting hair done by Grandma

Ready in her jumpsuit

With friends afterwards
And all that family from both the Carlsen and Bartholomew side
I love this picture of her first two of three white dresses
We love you Elizabeth!

December Happenings

2011-12-25T15:20:00.005-07:00

It has been a crazy busy December hence I'm just now getting around to blogging about it (or I've just been lazy, you decide). A few weeks ago Evelyn's preschool had a yummy Krispie Kreme tour where they dipped their own chocolate sprinkle donut.

We went to the library (I LOVE that place!) and watched a performance by Dr. Noize. One word--banana--look it up.

Let the Christmas festivities begin! Evelyn joined Rachel for her school Christmas party and felt like such a big girl.

Elizabeth did party dress attires for her class Christmas party.

Now we're on break for FIVE (gasp) weeks due to track off after Christmas so if you have any great ideas to keep the kiddos entertained indoors, I'd love to here them!

I was in charge of the ward Christmas party for about 250 people and we did "A Night of Lights" with ham dinner, program, and nativity scene. Poor Rachel got the stomach bug so Eric stayed home with her. I'm tentatively in charge again for next year so let the ulcer begin now.
We, I mean Eric and girls, decorated a gingerbread house. We will never go back to a put your own house together again. This one was already assembled and fabulous!

Rachel and Elizabeth both performed at our piano recital. It was fun to hear five little girls play Christmas songs (mine plus 3 others).

It SNOWED this week about a foot so we went and played in it. I realized I hadn't taken the girls sledding, like ever, so we quickly remedied that and had a blast just walking down our street to a great sledding hill.

Stay tuned for a Christmas post.

Sawing Logs

2011-12-18T08:23:00.003-07:00

Poor Elizabeth. We've asked the ear, nose, and throat doctor about her snoring but he looked at her throat and said things were okay. Granted, this is an extreme case, she's a little congested and very tired. But even so, most nights I check on her she's snoring to some extent. I hear you have to worry about snoring, could be an indicator of sleep apnea. At any rate, other than an uber expensive all night sleep study I'm not sure what to do at this point.

Thanksgiving Trip

2011-12-04T20:21:00.007-07:00

Eric posted about his century ride which gave us the perfect excuse to spend Thanksgiving in Arizona. Some pictures while we were waiting for Eric to finish. We went to the "nicest" park in Tucson and needless to say I was disappointed but it was fun to people watch some of the different groups taking interesting pictures.

Proud of their awesome (and very tired) dad

I have a sister in Queen Creek and another sister in Mesa and my parents drove out from California to spend the weekend with everyone. Eric's brother was also spending the weekend in Mesa so it was a family filled Thanksgiving. We tried to get the most out of the warmer weather and sunshine with outdoor activities everyday since we have come back to snow and cold in Colorado.

Monday we went to the Botanical Gardens and I must admit that when you put all the beautiful desert landscaping together, it does have an aesthetic appeal. Arizona is part of the only "living desert" and it can be pretty. The girls were very excited to see cactus but may of gotten too much of it at the gardens. I loved these huge sculptures they had all over.

Tuesday we went to the Goldfield Ghost town and had fun looking at reptiles, riding a train, going on a "mine" tour, and going in a sideways house.
This picture with the Superstition mountains in the background just reminds me of the many trips we made out to Apache Junction to visit my grandparents who lived out there. I have fond memories (some maybe not too fond) of waking up early and going running with my dad around the Superstition mountains.
Wednesday we attempted to go on a hike which ended up being a whine fest walk at best. The picture says a thousand words.

We then joined Aunt Tricia for some turkey crafts.

Thursday (turkey day) I ran a 10k and it felt great! We then stuffed our face with all the traditional Thanksgiving foods and watched some football. Friday we just hung out together. Saturday Eric and I went on a 30 mile bike ride with his brother and then we watched the Muppet Movie and went to the lights at the Mesa temple.

Yes we can get a group shot

Thanks Theresa for letting us crash at your place all week and letting my children incessantly bother JJ (the dog).
And to Tricia for making yummy food, entertaining my children while I took a nap (I was just giving you experience for you little one coming) and letting me stay over one night. Let's do it again sometime, next time here in Colorado--see you in three and a half weeks!

A Pink Birthday

2011-12-04T19:50:00.005-07:00

My middle child is 6 years old now! Rachel loves pink and she was so excited to have a pink birthday and a pink party. Thanks to great aunts (my sisters, not my parents aunts :), she had a great pink birthday away from home as we were in Arizona.

The new addition to our family. Rachel only wanted this toy dog that walks and barks and she named her Sparkles. Hopefully that will appease the girl's wish for a real dog that won't happen anytime soon.
Yesterday we had Rachel's pink party with a group of very fun girls. It was pinkalicious with pin the cherry on the cupcake, balloon dance, making glow-in-the-dark necklaces/bracelets, pink fingernail polish, making pink lollipops, and of course pink cake (carrot cake with pink frosting) and strawberry ice cream. I forgot to take a picture but for the party favors I made pink hairties and pink flower pens.

Even Eric got in on the pink action

It was fun planning and carrying out but I'm not going to make a career out of it, once every two years I can handle.

What we love about Rachel:

She loves to read and is doing fabulous in kindergarten
She is a great sister to both Elizabeth and Evelyn
She is very confident and independent
She loves the outdoors and going camping or hiking
She definitely knows her mind and right now loves pink

What not to do on your first century ride

2011-11-20T10:09:00.006-07:00

I rode El Tour de Tucson yesterday and generally enjoyed it and had a good time. It could have been even better though if some things had been diferent. Here's my list of obstacles:

Don't get a new job a few months before, leaving you with no vacation and little training time due to needing to work longer hours in the beginning.
Don't get sick starting the week before the ride.
Don't take ibuprofen to help with the headache at night from the cold, at least for me I become dependent and can't sleep without it. And I wake up once it wears off at 3:30 in the morning and can't go back to sleep. Like happened to me on Thursday night.
Don't eat something that makes you sick the day before the ride. Nausea, dizziness, fatigue, and a splitting headache. Combined with the Motrin problem, which I couldn't take because of the nausea, that lead me to the next problem:
Don't get 3 hours of sleep the night before the ride.
The other problem with being sick the day before was that I barely ate anything. We went out to eat and all I could stomach was a little Minestrone soup and a few stuffed ravioli's.
Don't stay at a hotel RIGHT by the train tracks. Not just by the train tracks though, because it was near dowtown the trains were coming all night and the horns would blare for about a full minute. No joke.
Don't make the first time you ride 100 miles (a century) also be the first time you ride 111 miles. I'm tempted to say the extra 11 miles made a big difference, and I think they did. Honestly miles 90 to 100 were the hardest (headwind and slight incline). The last 11 miles were after a rest stop, had less wind, and the adrenaline of being near the finish kicked in.

Even after all those problems though it was a good ride. I did it in about 7.5 hours total. I took my time at a few of the stops and felt like I still had some left in the tank at the end. Hopefully next year now that I know what I can do I can prepare better and improve my time substantially.

Catching Up (again)

2011-11-13T19:04:00.006-07:00

It has been a busy past couple of weeks but don't ask me exactly what we did besides what I have pictures for.

First off, as per Carlsen tradition, Evelyn found the scissors and cut a big chunk out of her hair so I had to chop it to make it look decent. Eric was out of town and was just about devastated that his little girl lost her long hair. It grows back, right?
After all our pre-Halloween celebration, we actually did go out trick-or-treating at a friends house where the school a block away had a trunk-or-treat and then we went around the neighborhood. The girls hit the jackpot with candy and I'm still reaping the consequences! Next year I will take the dentist office or school up on giving them leftover candy.
The haunted house at my friends house, the boys really went crazy on this thing and loved scaring the teenagers that dared enter.
Two days later we had our first snow day off of school. It was a very pretty powdery snow and I let the girls stay in their pajamas all day, watch movies, and drink hot chocolate by the fire. Rachel was my helper shoveling snow as Eric was still out of town. I still enjoy the task and it's a good chance to talk with the neighbors who are also out shoveling.
The girls had crazy hair day at school so I did the funky ponytail thing and got some color spray.
Last Saturday one of Elizabeth's friends was baptized and here are the three girls with birthdays within two months of each other and in the same class at school and church.

We also went to the Lion King. We had pretty good seats for the cheap ones as the elephant and hyenas and other animals walk into the theatre right behind our seats.

Rachel lost another tooth and the big ones are already growing in.

Guess who got her cast off? It's amazing how quickly children's bones heal, if only our adult muscles and bones healed as quickly.

Before going into the doctor

After
Elizabeth also became an official Brownie Girl Scout. Anyone want to buy cookies from us in February?

Whew, I'm tired just thinking about the last two weeks. Good thing we leave on Thursday for our extended Thanksgiving vacation in Arizona for Eric's century bike ride and eating turkey with my sisters and parents. It better be in the 70s the whole time we're there :)

Halloween Part 2

2011-10-30T19:22:00.005-06:00

I know that everyone is dying to see what Eric and I dressed up as this year. Well here we are, Mr. & Mrs. Clean.

Here are some other fun Halloween things we did at a party

The Doughnut on a String contest

The fun food I made--Dirt Dessert and Apple Smiles

Our winning pumpkin from the carving contest
Elizabeth borrowed a mask and wore it for a few minutes

Rachel as a zombie Godzilla

Bipolar Denver

2011-10-26T13:05:00.003-06:00

One thing we love about Denver is its unpredictable weather at times. This week was a good example of what fall and winter can bring. Monday was sunny and warm, high of 80 so we went on a little bike ride because we knew it wasn't going to last.

Evelyn on her balance bike. You'll notice there are no pedals and I think it worked with Rachel because it took maybe two days to get her up on a big girl two-wheeler so we'll see how Evelyn likes it.I usually don't like those sweats that have hot or pink written on the butt but this skort is just too cute and so is our Evelyn!
Today, snowing and just above freezing. I thought we were going to get more and have a snow day for school or at least a delayed start but alas, the roads have no snow or ice on them so good for running errands but I would like a day to keep the kids in their pajamas and watch movies while sipping hot cocoa in front of the fire. I'm sure we'll have plenty of those in the months to come.

Beginning the Halloween Season

2011-10-26T12:48:00.004-06:00

It is quite possible that we might be Halloween-ed out before trick-or-treating on the 31st. Saturday night we had the Monster Mash at the kids school where it was way too crowded inside a school cafeteria and too few games for the kids but of course fun to get them dressed up. There is no family theme to our costumes this year so each girl chose their own.

Elizabeth the witch (she has a pretty good cackle and witch face) and if you have the opportunity to wake her up early in the morning say for school, you'll see how true her costume is :)

Rachel chose the Godzilla outfit GRRR (or dinosaur who knows) that I got at a garage sale for a quarter.

Evelyn is our pretty pink princess.

Monday for FHE we carved our two home grown pumpkins. The girls loved watching them grow and it was such a success I think we'll do it again next year and maybe put a third vine in and let them take over the whole side garden.

So what might you asked happened to Elizabeth's arm? Short answer, she broke her elbow and I haven't taken a picture to make a separate entry. Two weeks ago she was playing at a friends house walking on the outside of the trampoline enclosure and fell and came crying inside. X-ray confirmed a broken elbow on her right arm, same place as five years ago on our Boston vacation. When we saw the orthopedic surgeon he threatened surgery but thankfully the elbow was place just within acceptable boundaries to not need surgery. He casted a black cast for her witch costume (we did plan ahead) and she has two more weeks with it and has been doing great. Elizabeth's now talking about training to be ambidextrous even when the cast comes off.

More Halloween adventures--library storytime trick-or-treat with Evelyn today

Now a ward trunk or treat and another Halloween party this weekend and then the real deal, even if Eric's going to be in Tucson for Halloween. You'll have to wait and see what we'll dress up as for our party on Saturday.

New Smile

2011-10-26T12:42:00.002-06:00

Rachel has been working a wiggly tooth for about a week now and Sunday after church she gave one last tug and out it came. She was so excited and of course the tooth fairy came too. Her new smile.

Fall Track off

2011-10-19T08:49:00.006-06:00

This fall track off went by so fast! Eric posted about taking the girls backpacking and our lovely first snow of the season but in between we've been busy with outings and playdates. These are the ones I took pictures of.

One morning we went ice skating and the girls started off on these helpers that I'm told really don't help your child learn to ice skate but it made it so they could get out there and have fun.

Elizabeth graduated to skating without a helper and realized she actually fell less. We don't have any Kristi Yamaguchi's on our hand but it was a fun and free outing (gotta love library summer reading programs).

Another day we had more girls to have fun with-Ruby & Sierra (who doesn't need more girls?) We went to the bowling alley, arcade, and park and had a blast. I don't know about the girls but I was beat after a morning and afternoon of fun!

Our local mall had a back to school celebration one Saturday and the girls got their faces painted and rode in the pink limo! I must admit I couldn't last very long in the Sweet & Sassy store but the limo ride was free and something the girls had never done before.

We had lots of great fall weather during the break and one day when the wind threatened to blow down everything at our house, we went to the zoo and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon sans wind with our neighbors and the animals.
Nine more weeks of school and then we have the long winter track off. Can we go to CA or Florida for that one?

Once there was a snowgirl

2011-10-16T07:51:00.003-06:00

This is one reason why we love Colorado, snowing one Saturday and in the 80's the next weekend. Anyway, last week we had our first snow and the girls loved it! It was just around freezing and wet snow so it was great for making snowmen and snowballs. Here is our snowgirl:

Into the Wild

2011-09-28T17:48:00.005-06:00

After promising my girls we'd go backpacking for a long time I decided this is the ideal time. I've got the time off work, the kids are off track, and we had some uncharacteristically warm weather.

Here are the girls at the trailhead with Big Cheesy. We went to Golden Gate State Park, which is a beautiful park just outside of Golden, took us somewhere around an hour to an hour and a half to get there.

At the start of the trail. Take a look at the yellow leaves falling off the Aspen trees. It was just gorgeous. Obviously I only took Rachel and Elizabeth. I told them I didn't want to hear any whining but they could take as many breaks as they wanted. They carried their sleeping bags, blankets, some clothes, and headlamps. We hiked in almost 2 miles, with about 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Elizabeth never seemed tired. Rachel had us stop about 6 times but after a few minutes she said, "okay, I'm ready to go." They did great!

After "setting up camp" we took a little walk on a wider trail. I love the evergreens and changing colors of the Aspens mixed together.

I said that I should have brought my hat when we took this photo on a timer (and I should have set the camera on a rock, obviously). When we got home Elizabeth agreed, "dad you would have looked better with a hat." They think it's time for me to let my hair grow out again. We'll see...

The only way I could do this trip without the girls carrying all they needed was because we hiked to a shelter. The thing was awesome. Three walls, nice semi-A shaped roof. Kept us warm and it was huge. They also had a log book in which we could write. Thanks Golden Gate Park!

Before bed we played Uno, read stories, and talked. The girls were perfect the whole trip, which is a miracle unto itself.

Like good little campers we didn't eat where we slept. Here was our eating spot, a nice rock that was probably a little too close to the Bear Pole. Oh yeah, another great feature. They had pre-installed poles with a rope and pulley system and hooks and eyes, which meant I didn't have to carry a bear canister or bear bag.

Another beautiful shot of scenery.

I should have taken a picture of my pack. It wasn't heavy but it was full. The trip back was better when I realized I could strap both of the girls blue foam mats to the outside.

After getting back to town I took them out to eat at Village Inn. We love getting breakfast there. They watched the old Parent Trap movie to and from camping and honestly, didn't seem to like it much.

Look Who's 3!

2011-09-28T07:38:00.004-06:00

Can it really be possible that my baby is three years old (plus a week now) already? Time flies when you're having fun with this sweetie of a daughter. Some of the things we love about Evelyn:

--Her bright blue eyes and infectious smile
--How snuggly she can be although Eric's trying to "steal" her from me :)
--How girly she is loving to dress up and be "stylish" with nail polish
--Her continued love for her blankie, a double edged sword really
--Easy going nature, she'll just hang out with me when the other girls are gone
--Great playmate for Elizabeth and Rachel
--How she loves to sit next to me at the piano and "play" her beautiful songs

Taking cupcakes to her friends at school. They had to be pink & purple along with just about everything else on her birthday.

Opening presents from Aunt Lisa Our little Princess in her castle tent
The aftermath of the night--look at all that pink and purple, poor Eric!

Field Trip

2011-09-18T20:58:00.004-06:00

Evelyn had her very first field trip on Friday to Petsmart. She was a little shy and clingy at first but warmed up to the animals. I was looking through some pictures and found one of Elizabeth's first fieldtrip with her joy school to the grocery store. Was it really only four years ago?

The group picture. We combined our field trip with a four-year-old joy school

Enjoying the rat they brought out. Who knows, maybe we'll have one in our home before the end of the year.

Playing with the catsHere fishy fishy!
These girls are so cute. Looking forward to more fun fieldtrips.

The International Economy we live in

2011-09-18T20:55:00.003-06:00

My neighbor went to Uganda this summer to visit family there and brought me back this dress. I looked at the tag and had to laugh that it was made in Thailand. You've got to love the international economy we live in--an African dress made in Thailand and sold in Uganda to an American "tourist".

Talking about fashion or maybe we weren't, I also found this picture on my camera of Rachel.

The Cheater Way

2011-09-07T10:31:00.003-06:00

Last Saturday we went up to the mountains again and did a family 14er (14,000 foot peak). We did it the cheater way by driving up Mt. Evans and then "hiking" up 100 feet to the top. There's something to be said about being on top of the world and looking down on everything that puts things in perspective. We love the mountains and being so close to tall ones here in Denver.

The view, a little bit hazy but can't you see our house?

Our fearless mountaineers. Seriously when Rachel was climbing on the rocks at the peak, I about had a heart attack.

Well aren't we just the cutest couple. Maybe next year we'll get out and do another real 14er together again.

Pondering the imponderables (I snuck this picture and now I'm posting it like a good wife)

First Day of Preschool

2011-09-01T16:27:00.003-06:00

Well folks, it's official. All of my kiddos are in school now, I never thought this day would come. Evelyn started our two day a week two hour mommy-swap preschool on Monday and is having so much fun with three other cute 3 year-old girls. It's kind of crazy to think she's old enough for school (she will be turning 3 in 3 weeks) but I think it's good for her to socialize since mommy is really boring. Here are some pictures: say cheese or cheesy!

Summer Piano Recital

2011-09-01T16:17:00.002-06:00

My good friend Melanie and I swap piano lessons for our daughters since I cannot be Elizabeth's teacher. Here are some pictures and video from that recital.

Elizabeth's Original Composition

DEN to DC

2011-08-22T16:54:00.014-06:00

Eric had a work conference out in the D.C. area last week and he asked me to tag along with him and after some long thought (about 1 second) I said sure thing. My mom was gracious enough to fly up and watch the kiddos so I could go solo. Eric went out Tuesday and I went out Wednesday and we came back together on Sunday. Here is the fun we had.

Thursday I went out on my own and visited the beautiful Washington D.C. LDS temple that can be seen from the beltway

Then I went to Great Falls National Park where the Potomac narrows through a gorge and some rapids are formed. I got to enjoy a good D.C. thunderstorm while hiking around and found safety in a rock outcropping. Proof I was there and didn't just take the picture off the internet somewhere.

After my hiking adventures I got to enjoy another one of D.C.s finest attractions--traffic. I grew up in southern California so I know traffic and D.C. was as bad or worse and I was amazed at all the ongoing construction on the beltway around the city.

Friday I struck out on my own again and found our home should we move out east (very unlikely event)

Wait, it's already taken by George Washington and called Mt. Vernon.

View of the Potomac

Here's the vegetable garden that I would love to have.

Burial Place

Just hook up a La-Z-Boy to this buggy and go
Saturday Eric and I went down to D.C. proper and took a tour of the capitol. We saw one of Colorado's statues, the mold of the statue on top of the dome (I didn't know it was up there), the mural on the inside of the dome made famous by Dan Brown and all the official rooms the tour showed us.

We also went to the Air & Space Museum, Nature & Science Museum (our kids are apes), Arboretum, and saw the White House (notice the snipers on top?)

In the evening we went on a bike tour of the national monuments and let me tell you, that was the way to do it! Even though it doesn't really cool off much like in Denver, I can't even imagine walking that whole thing in the sun and awful humidity! In the order we saw them--Jefferson, FDR, Korean War, Lincoln, Vietnam War, WWII, Washington

Sunday we went to Arlington Cemetery and the Holocaust Museum before flying home

Whew, I'm exhausted just thinking about all the walking we did over the weekend. We came home to this, I think some little ones were excited for mommy & daddy to come home and it feels good to be in my own bed again.

Running of the Antelope

2011-08-22T16:26:00.003-06:00

I realized last school year how much I hate fundraising for my kids. It's funny because I was the one always selling candy bars and tickets to car washes to fund choir, soccer, track, etc. I just can't seem to get into selling overpriced gift wrap, cookie dough tubs or whatever the school sends home. This year for our one and only fundraiser (hopefully) they did a Running of the Antelope where kids got straight pledges (not even per lap but total) to run for 20 minutes on a Saturday morning and get a pancake breakfast, shirt, and medal. That kind of fundraising I can handle so here are some pictures of the girls, not too many action shots because there were so many people.
The school also started a girls running club one day a week and I signed up Elizabeth and Rachel whether they wanted to or not. I'm still hoping that one day one of my daughters will be my running partner.

The Knack

2011-08-20T05:16:00.001-06:00

Borrowing Craftiness from Others. . .Again

2011-08-12T10:11:00.003-06:00

So what have I been doing with myself while the girls are in school? Trying to keep out of trouble, that's what! The first week I found it a little too easy to go shopping with just one and did a lot of it. One day, I saw my friend Devony at Target (when do we ever have a Target trip without seeing someone we know?) and she said she was teaching someone how to make easy circle skirts and I asked if I could join in the fun. Last week she came over and we made circle skirts and as an added bonus Devony also showed me how to make cute matching hairbows (yes mom, more hairbows!). I finally finished the hairbows today and thought I'd post a picture of Evelyn and her skirt. Rachel picked out the material and I made matching skirts and bows for all the girls. I have a little too much fun matching my three girls.

Thanks again Devony for sharing your talents with me.

More Copper

2011-08-08T17:16:00.009-06:00

Since Eric did the post about his ride, I'll do the post about the rest of our family weekend. We rented a two bedroom condo in Copper because I can't sleep in the same room as the kids very well and I wanted a kitchen to prepare some food. The kids loved the double bunk bed in their room and kept saying they were forgetting they were on vacation because it felt like home. We did many fun things in and around Copper as they try to cater to the summer crowd as well as the winter skiers.

The girls went "bungee" jumping

Rode the chairlift up the mountain

Did go-karts (I drove and it was fun), bumper boats where Elizabeth had fun soaking me, and paddle boats

Played the giant checker board

Climbed the climbing wall like a pro

Celebrated someone's 34th birthday

And while Eric was riding on Saturday, we had our own adventure as I took our budding hikers on a beautiful hike up Shrine Ridge. I wasn't trying to go all the way to the top, just wanted to see how far the girls would last walking and they did pretty well. We saw gorgeous wildflowers, little creeks, and lots of dogs for the girls to give attention too.

Thanks Eric for giving us an excuse to get up to the mountains again and doing such a good job on your ride. Maybe I'll join you next year!

Copper Triangle

2011-08-07T15:58:00.003-06:00

Ever since coming to Colorado I've gotten more and more into cycling. Partly due to the enthusiasm of a former co-worker...thanks Scott! It's a great sport for us guys past our prime in more traditional activities. I get to experience the beauty of Colorado and get some exercise. I like the speeds involved in cycling, it's much more entertaining than the boring monotony of running, you get to see a lot more scenery and cover a lot more territory. Plus it's easier on the body. Unless you crash, that is.

One of the reasons I love cycling here is because I love the mountains and they provide a great backdrop for cycling and a significant challenge. This year I signed up for the Copper Triangle. It's a bicycle ride that covers 80 miles in the mountains, going from Copper to Leadville to Vail and back to Copper. It goes over three mountain passes (Freemont, Tennesse, and Vail) and has a total elevation gain of 5,900 feet. Enough talk, here are the ride stats:

I was very happy to have a few friends along for the ride. A couple of guys from church did the ride and we rode together for most of it. That made the ride much more enjoyable, to have someone to talk to and draft off and feed off each other. Thanks guys!

I started the ride by noticing it was 52 degrees in Copper. Great, that's plenty warm, and I dressed accordingly. Then we hit the street and started climbing and it quickly went to 35 degrees. It was alright climbing, but after about 12 miles we started going downhill, in the shade, and it was still cold. One of the guys I was with said he'd never been that cold in his life! I was glad I brought a wind jacket in addition to arm and knee warmers, it made a huge difference on the downhill.

We skipped the first aid station then climbed Tennesse pass, which was quite easy. A bit after that we hit Battle Mountain, which isn't a pass but was a steep couple of miles. I was feeling pretty good. I told Alicia I could have done the ride with two gears, one for the uphills and one for the flats. The downhills I was usually just riding my brakes to keep from going faster than I was comfortable with. We stopped at the next couple of rest stations at the bottom of Vail pass and before it got really steep. At that point we split up and went up Vail pass separately.

I'm sure the really strong riders had already gone through. But I was feeling pretty good, so I hit Vail pass hard. It was a hard climb, probably the hardest ones I've done. But I pushed myself.I ended up passing hundreds of people, pretty much constantly on the left side. There were maybe half a dozen guys that passed me, but I think I caught at least three of them. At one point the grade hit 12% and that was pretty tough. I stood up and kept passing people, they were going really slow and I didn't want to fall over, but my heart rate went really high.

After that pass I waited up top for a while due to a little miscommunication about us regrouping. After realizing that wasn't happening I went to the finish. All told the ride went great, I really enjoyed it. That's the first time I've ridden that long, the breaks helped a bunch. I'd love to do it again next year.

Bringing Back the 80s

2011-08-03T07:00:00.003-06:00

Ah, the 80s! The crazy hair and clothes, shows like Punky Brewster and Care Bears, rock bands like Depeche Mode and Amy Grant, what's to miss? We were invited to an 80s party to fondly remember everything it had to offer and I must admit, I really enjoyed getting dressed up for it. My girls kept saying that I looked like someone else, even someone famous with all my bangles and too-tight acid washed jeans. I borrowed the clothes from a friend and went thrift store shopping for accessories and Eric's outfit. Now we'll have to find an excuse to wear them again.

Poor Girl Doesn't Stand a Chance

2011-08-02T06:14:00.004-06:00

As an engineer it's pretty much in my nature to be obsessive (or more likely that's why I'm an engineer). So I was amused (and a little saddened) the other day when I saw Elizabeth doing this. She decided she wanted all of the swirl chocolate chips separate from the rest of the granola bar and picked them out one by one. Poor thing.

Big Scary Dinosaur

2011-07-29T20:03:00.002-06:00

School's Ba-ack

2011-07-28T17:42:00.004-06:00

Yes, it's that time again for my lovely chilluns to go back to school. Elizabeth started on Tuesday and loves being a big 2nd grader and Rachel started today and had a great time at kindergarten. the day actually kind of snuck up on me but I was ready with school supplies and we made it to school on time.

I think she's trying to make a sign for second grade

This is the photo shoot we had on the 2nd day of the 2nd grade.

Rachel is the most excited kindergartner! A big wave goodbye and she was gone inside with her class.

We went to the Animal Fair. . .

2011-07-28T17:32:00.005-06:00

The birds and the beasts were there. You know the song I'm singing and now it's stuck in your head so you're welcome! On Saturday we went to the Arapahoe County Fair that came through town. It was a hot and sunny afternoon (nothing compared to our family in Arizona) but we braved the heat and walked on all the rides. Eric's comments about fair rides is they look like they came from the 70s. It's quite possible they have survived from the 70s traveling around the country

The girls were excited about the ferris wheel.

This is about the only place I've seen free face painting with absolutely no line! Love my rainbow and unicorn.
The staple carousel ride.
Elizabeth learning a new instrument.
Elizabeth and Rachel even braved the Drop Zone ride.

Tried our hand at fishing, the fish nibbled but didn't want to bite.

Overall, a fun family activity and next year maybe I'll enter the pie eating contest.

Camping Fun

2011-07-21T09:14:00.005-06:00

I know some wouldn't put camping and fun in the same sentence but the Carlsen family and a few other crazies like ourselves usually get together for a group camping trip once a summer. And here is our story.

In the three + years we've lived in Denver, Eric and I have never heard monsoon season connected with the city. The past few weeks we've not only heard the phrase but experienced its effects with thunderstorms rolling through practically everyday dropping buckets of water and lightning. Last Wednesday night a particularly bad one came through town and we were caught in it driving home and couldn't see where we were going. This rain is good for our lawn but did not bode well for our planned camping trip Thursday and Friday night. Thursday morning we still were deciding if we wanted to go up to the mountains and brave the predicted T-storm while the rest of our group bailed out and we ended up going thinking if it got too bad we would break camp and come home since it was less than 2 hours away. We camped in Pike National Forest and there was actually a fire ban along with a flash flood warning in parts on at the same time! We got to camp, set up our gazebo so we could eat dinner and got sprinkled on. The rain was light and came and went but the ground remained pretty dry (it is Colorado after all) and when it finally became steady, yet not downpour, we just played card games in the tent and went to bed. Thankfully we didn't have any lightning so we were able to stay at camp. Friday we went out to explore since it was beautiful out.

The view from our campsite

A deer we saw on one of our walksHiking along the Colorado Trail. One day Eric and I will thru-hike it.Cooling of in the little creek

By the time we got back from our little adventures our camping friends had come to join us in our group campsite, hooray! Even better news the fire ban was lifted so we could have a campfire and roast hot dogs and marshmallows and sit up until midnight talking around the blaze. And guess who started that fire? This is my turn to boast as I used the teepee method and started it with one match. All told we had 10 adults, 3 boys, and 13 girls running around the site and loving every minute of it. That is why we get group sites so we're secluded from everyone else and the kids can roam.

Some of the girls posing--boy are we all in trouble in a few years!
Evelyn's buddy Lily, they were just too cute together!

Friday night we only got sprinkled on thankfully but saw some T-storms up north of us. Saturday we took the kids on a little walk after breaking camp and tuckered them out some more so on the way home the girls were all asleep within 20 minutes.

I think this was another successful camping trip even if monsoon season threatened to spoil it for us. Let me know if you're in for next year :)

As the Summer Whizzes By

2011-07-21T09:00:00.004-06:00

I know all my faithful followers have been on the edge of their seat just waiting to see what else the Carlsens have been up to this summer. I must admit I was a little overzealous with our first week's activities and then blogging about it so diligently as you see I have been remiss in my blogging duties lately. Here are some pictures chronicling some of our adventures plus some days swimming (no pictures) and another separate entry of our weekend camping. I can't believe the girls go back to school next week--Elizabeth on Tuesday as a big 2nd grader and Rachel on Thursday as a kindergartner.

We went to the park with friends and caught bugs

The library had a Fun Bus activity. Despite Rachel's face in this picture she had fun.

July 4th Ward party that Eric was in charge of. We weren't expecting many people but crowds came and the guys were dutiful in cooking pretty good pancakes. I felt like it was the feeding the 5,000 with a few loaves of bread miracle. The kids had a bike parade and some fighter planes did a direct fly-over in formation (yeah Eric has ties at the Buckley AF base j/k:).

Our other July 4 festivities included a BBQ with friends complete with rocket pops from the ice cream man (a one-time splurge I assure you) and watching fireworks from Lookout Point by our house. The girls and Eric complained to me that we weren't "up close" to the fireworks but I didn't want to deal with traffic and thought the view of the whole Denver valley was pretty cool.

And Monday we finally used some coupons and went to Pirate's Cove water park where the girls had a blast splashing in the water and tubing the lazy river.

Arrrrrgh!

I got Fairied!

2011-06-27T09:47:00.003-06:00

I had some surprise visitors yesterday who pampered me with a manicure and back massage. The girls picked a salmon nail polish color so I had to wear my matching shirt today.

I feel so colorful now!

First Week of Summer Break

2011-06-27T09:26:00.007-06:00

It's officially summer now and we are off and running! The week started out with a ton of rain but true to Denver weather, we had sunshine and warmth the rest of the week.

Tuesday we went across town to Belleview park and took a train ride

Pet the animals like Wilbur and the fake cow--there really were real ones I just didn't get pictures of the goats, chickens, turkeys, and sheep

And played in the "river running through it".

Rachel helping dig worms out of the ground

Evelyn was in heaven playing with Sarah and copying her every move
Wednesday we celebrated cousin Carissa's sweet sixteen birthday with Wii Dance and cake. I can't believe she's sixteen as I remember the little five year old at our wedding!
Thursday we went to a splash park in the area with lots of girls.

Friday we went to a summer celebration fair and I finally broke down and waited an hour in line for face painting. I'd like to say the face paint lasted more than an hour but some girls threw a tantrum so it got washed off. Ah well, they were happy for a little while and I hope I earned points in the good mom account.

Friday night we had a "family" campout at a friends house. We roasted hot dogs and made smores before Eric, Elizabeth and Rachel slept out under the stars and Evelyn and I went home to sleep in our comfortable beds. Don't worry, I still love camping and we'll go for real in a couple of weeks.
Whew, what a week! Let's see what fun we can have this next week so I don't hear the "I'm bored" cry.

Father's Day

2011-06-19T21:02:00.003-06:00

"A father is always making his baby into a little woman. And when she is a woman he turns her back again." -- Enid Bagnold

I love this picture of me and my dad at my wedding reception. He doesn't like being in pictures and he probably doesn't want to admit that he was a little emotional at seeing me married off but I love him for it.

And while we're on a wedding day remembrance thing, I love this picture as it brings out our true colors. Yes, Eric and I smooshed the cake (we even practiced beforehand) and the picture makes it look like he got me good but see my cousin's husband in the background with the huge video camera? It tells the truth that I got Eric good. Now I just have to find that old VHS and convert it to DVD. Smooshing cake in your face Eric is just my way of saying thanks for being a wonderful husband and father to our girls.

School's Out!

2011-06-18T09:33:00.002-06:00

It seems like we were the last school to get out for summer break with our year round schedule vs. the traditional/modified traditional of our friends but we're done! Rachel had a preschool picnic complete with bouncy house on Thursday and Elizabeth enjoyed her half day yesterday.
So what did the girls do on their first day of summer break, a Saturday no less? Played school with Elizabeth as the teacher.

Come Monday they will be in "mommy school" for five weeks until I will officially have a 2nd grader, kindergartner, and preschooler. It's going to be fun but crazy!

Twinners

2011-06-12T18:04:00.006-06:00

A week ago Rachel picked a shirt to wear that I also have (adult size of course) and she asked me to be her twin. I love my girls at this age because I know it won't be too long before I "embarrass" them.

Class of 2011

2011-06-12T16:06:00.007-06:00

This week I had the chance to take a solo trip back home to Simi Valley, CA and see my baby brother Mark graduate from high school. It was fun not having to pack for four or five people and remember car seats, special blankets, and all other things kids need. I got a lot of reading done on the plane and in the airport where I usually am trying to entertain and keep kids out of trouble while not feeling irritated myself at long security lines, delayed flights, or layovers. I felt young again (at least at heart) as I stood on the Royal High School campus where Eric and I spent three years, albeit not at the same time. Here are some pictures to document the experience.

Mark's Graduated!

I think the seniors were excited to be done with the ceremony and high school
Our high school track/cross country coach Mr. Clarke also graduated (retired) with the class of 2011
Ah the siblings--Tricia, Mark, me, Theresa
Even though she's in Honduras, Melissa was with us in spirit--Theresa borrowed her shoes
The happy parents breathing a sigh of relief that they can now be empty-nesters (sort of)

My parents also indulged my whim of wanting to be a tourist in LA. We went to Garden of the World in Thousand Oaks.

Hiked up to the Hollywood sign where we felt oh so welcomed

Walked Olvera Street and Chinatown

And enjoyed the beach at Santa Monica Pier even though June gloom was very much in force

Thanks for graduating Mark so I could have an excuse to come spend time with you guys and So-Cal!

The Royal Gorge

2011-06-05T20:10:00.005-06:00

On the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we decided to head out of Denver down to the Royal Gorge outside of Canon City. It's a fun park with more than just a walk across one of the world's highest suspension bridges (that does sway with wind).

It's only a 956 feet drop. Eric was at the bottom last year white water rafting (or swimming since he did fall out) in very high water.They had an old fashion carousel.

I had my first (and last) show biz gig.

Some good ole west animals like an ox and goats.

And the wild west where the girls felt right at home.

All in all it was a fun day spent with the family. Here's to more summer expeditions exploring Denver and the mountains that surround it.

Night Shirts

2011-05-29T19:59:00.005-06:00

Eric and I have a bunch of T-shirts from various things so they're going to good use as night shirts with our girls. We still can't convince Evelyn it's a nightgown and not a dress.

JAM

2011-05-26T18:35:00.004-06:00

I remember my childhood days of standing over a pot of boiling berries with tons of sugar and stirring during one of moms great jam making sessions. She made (I guess I should use present tense but I'm talking my memory here) some pretty good jams in bulk--boysenberry, raspberry, pomegranate (I don't remember seeds being an issue); just about any berry she could get. I must say I have not followed suit with the canning skills but thanks to Ball I can still make jam--freezer jam that is. Just blend berries, mix in sugar & pectin, and voila a good batch of jam but of course not as good as mom's. No boiling or sterilizing jars necessary which is right up my alley.

My batch of blackberry jam (thank you Sprouts for cheap produce!)

My little helper

Three Layer Carrot Cake with Ginger Cream-Cheese Icing

2011-05-14T08:39:00.002-06:00

Here is what I made for Alicia on Mother's Day. It turned out pretty good. It was better after being chilled in the fridge and it could have used some rasins. But other than that it's probably the best carrot cake recipe I've tried.

I looked out the window and what did I see?

2011-05-12T07:19:00.000-06:00

SNOW!

I know it has snowed May 11/12 in Denver before but it through me and my mood for loop. We actually had a nice rain/snow/hail mixture that kept us homebound for two whole days. Thankfully I haven't planted any warm weather things in my garden yet, that's a project unto itself that will hopefully be done soon.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T14:54:00.004-06:00

It has been a wonderful mother's day today being spoiled with a yummy breakfast in bed (and a tempting carrot cake on the counter Eric made for dessert), gifts made by the kiddos and having them dressed and ready for church without my nagging. I love being a mother to my three girls as they teach me so much. I'm glad they are patient and forgiving of me with my many faults and those days when I'm not in the best of moods. Cheers to mothers and motherhood!

Four generation of mothers and mothers in training.

"A mother bird sat on her egg"--Guess which kids book this comes from
One last saying~"It's not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it." ~From the television show The Golden Girls.
Thanks Eric for sharing this journey with me and being a wonderful father and husband.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T14:46:00.000-06:00

So I'm a little late getting this out but Happy belated Easter (that's what date stamps are for). I didn't even try to do a real photo shoot in the morning, just snapped a couple pictures because I knew the girls would not cooperate. We had the dutiful easter egg hunt (who made up that idea?) and sugared the girls up before church and then went over to my sister-in-law's house for Easter dinner. I must say I love buying my girls matching dresses for Easter, we'll see how long I can get away with it!

It's the Little Things

2011-04-21T13:27:00.004-06:00

Do you ever have those moments when the simplest, little things just bring you so much happiness? Here are a two of mine caught on camera.

Piggy-back rides for my girls

My tulips blossomed--spring is here!

Memory Lane

2011-04-21T13:24:00.004-06:00

I went to my friend Shannon's wedding reception/open house two weeks ago and it took me down memory lane.

Almost 11 years ago

Track Off Weeks 2 & 3--check

2011-04-21T12:36:00.008-06:00

So the kids are back at school and now I'm finally deciding to finish writing about the last two weeks of track off.
Week 2--We went to Pump it Up to get our energy out (I even joined the fray as Evelyn would only go on some things with me).

On a nice, non-windy day (yes it can get very windy come spring and fall in Denver) we went to the park with friends.

We went swimming at the recreation center (no pictures).
After soccer on Saturday we went to the Butterfly Pavilion and got inundated with beautiful butterflies.

Week 3--This week is kind of a blur to me as I was super busy with tax returns, the weather wasn't the greatest, so the kids kept themselves occupied with movies. The favorites for the week--Tangled & Despicable Me. We are a movie watching family.

Saturday after soccer we went to the zoo as a family and had a great time. It took almost as long to find a parking spot as it did to drive there as it was a beautiful spring Saturday. The girl's favorite things were riding the train and eating banana flavored cotton candy but I told them those were pretty much a one-time special thing since we'll probably be coming a bunch with our new annual membership.

Don't they just have the best eating manners?

My little gorillas

Eric's favorite animal was the cheetah (maybe it reminded him of how fast I run :).

On Monday, our last day off track we enjoyed another overcast yet warm park day. Yes, I am a mom that let's my kids do crazy things like this. I hope they don't ever fall and snap their neck or I will feel eternally guilty.
Here's to nine more weeks of school and then summer break!

Shoulders...HURT!

2011-04-16T07:17:00.004-06:00

That is what my anesthesiologist (would you believe I didn't even need spell checker for that? lucky guess) told me right before putting me out. Thanks for the tip.
If you remember, a couple years ago I had a little bike accident. At the time I complained of my arm hurting and thought that was that. Well, about a year later I was playing basketball and had a subluxation. Think of that like a shoulder dislocation except it pops right back in. Good times.

I went to the doctor, got an MRI, found out I had a posterior labral tear, did physical therapy, and was told by a doctor I'd be crazy to operate on it. Let's just say it looked like this doctor was used to treating people way past retirement. The image below shows a superior labral tear, I think, mine was in the back.

At any rate, after that I continued to play basketball and was usually fine. But every few months I'd have another subluxation event. I probably had another three or four at least since the first one, with the last one coming from merely reaching for a loose ball. I'd had enough. I'm still pretty good at basketball, at least compared to the other middle aged Mormon men in my ward (I know) :-) and I'm not ready to give it up. I also felt instability in the shoulder when doing things like pulling on the handlebars while riding. So I went to another doctor to fix it.

First of all, a new fact for me, it's called arthroscopic, not orthoscopic. Secondly, I really chose the wrong time. It's nice out and I'm itching to get outside doing things. Anyway, back to the story.

(I know this is WAY too long and nobody will read it, mostly this is my form of a journal for family history reasons :-)

The day of the surgery Alicia dropped me off and picked me up a few hours later. The medicine they used to put me out worked just fine. This was supposed to be a fairly straightforward procedure, 2-4 weeks in a sling, back on the bike in 4 weeks, etc. But he got in there and fixed the labral tear but then "noticed that it was pretty loose in there so I had to tighten things up a bit." What does that mean?

I'll tell you what it means. It's called a capsulorrhaphy. The shoulder is wrapped in a capsule and that was too loose. So he had to stitch it tighter. I'm not sure but I presume that means cutting it too. So I feel vindicated that there really was a problem but bummed out that that seems to significantly add to recovery time.

After the procedure Alicia got me (after waiting an hour or two because I was out of it with those meds). They sent me home with a sling (thankfully not a bumper, just a plain old sling), some meds, and GameReady. This thing pumps ice water all around your shoulder and is pure heaven after surgery. I cried the day they took it away (okay, not really, but it is nice).

That is me in the picture if you were wondering. They also put a plastic tube (catheter) directly into the shoulder joint with some medicine on the outside that would pump it straight into the joint every hour or two.

That night I started on the oxycodone they gave me. Of course, the stuff makes you feel great. But I couldn't stand the side effects (nausea and well...constipation). So I was mostly off of that by the next morning, took it one other night. After that I used ibuprofen.

The pain really hasn't been that bad, sleeping was tough for a few weeks. The shoulder/arm is still tender and I can't move it certain ways, but I'm still in the sling and am not supposed to anyway. Surgery was on a Monday and I went back to work on Thursday, but probably shouldn't have, that week it hurt to move my arm out enough to type. Now that feels fine.

It's an odd recovery. I am not to do any physical therapy, just simple pendulum exercises. I guess it takes 4-6 weeks for the torn labrum to re-attach to the scapula. But the doctor just told me that in another couple of weeks (6 weeks post-op) that I should take the sling off altogether, all at once, and just be cautious (no lifting more than a couple pounds or reaching in extreme ways). He said I might be one of those guys who doesn't even need physical therapy. The shoulder feels fine, it does feel unstable at times and I told him that. I hear from others that's natural though, the weakened muscles aren't strong enough to hold it firm. He said he'd probably give me some exercises in a month I can do myself and we could maybe avoid the physical therapist.

Anyway, it's very different from a rotator cuff repair. I'll keep you posted on future developments.

General Conference

2011-04-03T16:55:00.003-06:00

We love General Conference weekend where we listen to the leaders of our church speak to us. Here's a cute song to help us remember all the apostles and the First Presidency.

Track Off Week 1--check

2011-04-03T16:19:00.005-06:00

Thanks to our year-round school calendar, we are off-track right now for three weeks but thankfully it corresponds with all of our other friend's more traditional spring break. The first week is always the easy week for me as I like not having to go to school three times a day to drop-off or pick-up and the girls are well behaved because they're not sick of being home or with me. By week three, we'll see if the tone is different in the house like it was on week 5 of our last track off in January (2 weeks Christmas break + 3 week track off) when my girls really needed to go back to school.

The activities of week 1:
Monday--"Fluffy" book club meeting at my house (a splinter group from our real book club of more serious & longer books)
Tuesday--piano lessons and bowling/arcade at Brunswick
Wednesday--craft camp for Elizabeth & Rachel and library, playdate in afternoon with friends from school
Thursday--playdate/Pampered Chef party at friend from school's house
Friday---playdate with neighbor, bike ride to park in the beautiful afternoon sun and minimal wind!
Saturday--soccer and General Conference. Did I mention I'm coaching Rachel's soccer team again? U-5 coed continues to be fun and humorous to watch.

It's also tax season crunch time and I am busy busy doing returns but the girls have been good playing by themselves when I need them to.

The only thing I took pictures of was our bowling excursion. Rachel has been practicing 100 pin bowling on the Wii but real life bowling was a little more difficult even with a ramp and bumpers--wonderful innovations for the child bowler.

Evelyn loved bowling and was so cute counting down to rolling the the ball down the ramp.
Typical Rachel face
Typical Elizabeth pose
Proof I was there, mostly as a cheerleader but I bowled a few frames.
Here's looking to week 2 of track off.

Music Concert

2011-03-25T16:36:00.001-06:00

What's more enjoyable than a 1st & 2nd grade music & recorder concert? Okay, well almost anything but it was fun to see how excited Elizabeth got to dress up as a moose for one of her songs and perform for an auditorium full of people--really it was overly cramped and I hoped we didn't exceed the fire code maximum occupancy.

I remember back to my elementary school days of the recorder, or what I knew as the flutophone, and how perfect our songs were (ha-ha)! We didn't start until 4th grade so I was surprised the 1st graders were learning. In case you want to enjoy the experience too, here's a video. My favorite part is the mullet-hair music teacher totally getting into the kid's songs but they love him. Sorry if it's a little shaky, Evelyn was in my lap and we were way in the back so I had to zoom in a lot.

Oh boy are we going to be in TROUBLE!

2011-03-23T10:01:00.004-06:00

The other day I saw Evelyn sitting in Elizabeth's room listening to David Archuleta (thank you Aunt Melissa!) and I just had visions of her as a teenager. We'd better watch out!

She also looked too cute sitting on the couch with her friend Carson.

Out of this world

2011-03-23T09:58:00.004-06:00

Rachel's preschool class has been talking about space and on Monday they made these cool space hats. Doesn't she make a cute alien?

A Mouse, a Moose, and a Little Green Frog Walk Into a Bar

2011-03-20T20:20:00.003-06:00

Okay, maybe they didn't walk into a bar...

Southlands Ward Has Talent

2011-03-20T20:09:00.003-06:00

Our ward had a talent show last night with some very good acts and I signed our family up for a little one to show support. I played Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy while Elizabeth and Evelyn danced on stage (Rachel elected not to participate). As you can see, Elizabeth does not get stage fright!

Another One Bites the Dust

2011-03-20T18:54:00.003-06:00

One more tooth down, still more to go before the tooth fairy can file for bankruptcy. Oh, and I had the privilege of pulling this one out when she had it perpendicular to her gum.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T18:59:00.000-06:00

The leprechauns didn't really visit our house (although Elizabeth brought home an invisible goblin named Naughty aka Tom) but I did go a little green this year.

My beautiful socks

Rachel & Evelyn having a picnic of Fruit Loops

Our leprechaun Rachel

Get Indoors and tri!

2011-03-06T18:02:00.003-07:00

I got one more thing off my bucket list yesterday--I did my first triathlon. I think it counts even though it was indoors at a gym. No specific distances just how far you can go in a 10-minute swim, 30-minute bike ride on a spin bike, 20-minute run on the treadmill. The results--18.5 pool lengths, 18.2 miles on the bike (my legs were really spinning), and 2.65 miles running. I was tired by the running and feeling the full effects of being lax over winter but overall enjoyed it and might try to put a little outdoor triathlon together with some friends in the summer. And here was my bib number--lucky #13. I actually had 13 as my soccer number for awhile in my younger years but it got changed since someone else claimed it to 14 (high school) and 17 (club).

Green Eggs and Ham

2011-03-06T17:58:00.003-07:00

Rachel has been learning about Dr. Seuss at preschool and they made green eggs and ham one day so the next day she asked me to make some for breakfast. This is what I came up with (had to add yellow cheese because that's what you do with scrambled eggs). I don't know how appetizing green ham looks but I promise it's just the food coloring!

Now I'm really hoping to see green outside soon because that dear old groundhog said it would be an early spring. Time to start the garden!

Cheesecake!!!!

2011-02-20T16:16:00.006-07:00

To celebrate our February birthdays, Melissa and I threw a cheesecake party with a few friends. Let the deliciousness speak for itself and let it be known I will be working out a lot this week!

Carrot Cake Cheesecake made by Melissa (I would have helped but things got crazy around here--I think she did an excellent job and I would have only ruined it)

Brownie Swirl Cheesecake made by Amelia (she claims it was her first time making a cheesecake but it turned out yummy and very good-looking!)

Pomegranate Cheesecake Bits (top plate)
Melissa having fun eating (don't kill me--I didn't take it:)
The girls (big or little I don't exactly know) got my camera so I got lots of silly pictures on my camera so I have no responsibility for them.

The dancing divas (we love Just Dance 2!)

Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T17:18:00.005-07:00

As many of you know and as I've written in this blog before, I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's day. This year though I thought I'd spend some quality time with my "loving to craft" daughters and created some homemade Valentine's cards for their class parties. Here's what we came up with and the idea came from here although I modified it a little bit. For those who even think I'm remotely crafty, I admit the Internet is the wealth of knowledge for me and I don't come up with anything craft-related on my own.
We also had to make a Valentine's box for Elizabeth so she mod-podged a whole bunch of Valentine's scrapbook paper to make this.
My kitchen is somewhat back to normal after all the paper and glue everywhere and I might just do it again next year which is saying a lot for me :)

Birthday Time

2011-02-13T17:08:00.006-07:00

I am not ashamed of getting a year older. I have to say I am loving my 30s! This year was a great birthday. I woke up to a delicious breakfast in bed and the girls were so excited to surprise me. I went to Elizabeth's classroom to volunteer and as I walked in the class one of the students gave me a huge hug. Then the whole class sang to me--so cute. We went out as a family to dinner and then Melissa and I went indoor skydiving (Melissa's birthday is the 21st so we celebrated together a little before she heads of to Honduras, sniff, sniff). I ate way too much chocolate cake but loved all the pampering of the day from my family.

So indoor skydiving is a huge funnel of air and the experience is pretty cool (I'll post a video later if I can figure it out). We didn't do any flips or big theatrics, I was just lucky I didn't stay on the floor or bump into the window the whole time. It was fun watching the experienced go like our instructor who zoomed up the shaft and then fell, spreading out just before hitting the ground to bounce back up in the air and walk up the walls. Definitely a fun experience and maybe Melissa and I will have to try the real thing out sometime.

Pics of our lovely convict orange jumpsuits.

I was in a very silly mood, giddy if you will, and this certificate did go on the fridge!

The potty's taking a shower!

2011-02-13T17:00:00.004-07:00

Elizabeth ran downstairs the other day chanting that plus "the door's taking a bath!"

We decided to take the carpet out of our master bathroom (who in their right mind puts carpet where water is?) and had tile put in. I think I've decided on bath mats so I can take the tags off (yes I have problems buying then returning because I can't make up my mind) and the tile looks great.

Ice Skating

2011-02-13T16:54:00.003-07:00

Last Saturday we thought we'd get out and embrace the snow and slightly warmer temperatures and go ice skating. Melissa, Elizabeth, Rachel, and I skated while Eric and Evelyn looked on. I've taken the girls roller skating before but they never really got it--come on just step and glide. Yeah, they pretty much just held onto the side and walked around the whole time. This time ice skating they found a bucket to push around and I think got the skating thing a little better. It helped that snow was piling up on the ice so it wasn't so slippery but they didn't mind falling. If not this season, we will definitely be going ice skating again as it was a fun time!

My little skaters. Yep, the snow was piling up and the "zamboni" was a golf cart with some contraption on it but they hadn't pulled it out yet.

Oh what do YOU do when it's sub-zero outside?

2011-02-02T16:36:00.004-07:00

Around here, we finally get motivated to redecorate the main floor bathroom! It's only been over two years since the girls started stripping the wallpaper off but now it's completely gone! Do you see the strip missing in the lower left corner of the picture? I don't know why but it also got really dirty under the medicine cabinet.

Melissa and I were wallpaper masters stripping it in an hour and a half. Taping and painting was the next day and took another 3 hours with a break to let it dry before recoating. If you can't tell colors from the pictures well, the bathroom went from a blue beach/nautical theme to a sage-ish flower/leaf theme.

The scrapbook paper that inspired it all modge-podged into pictures.

It feels good to accomplish something when the thermometer only wants to show negative numbers. I hope the girls enjoyed watching their movies as it was a snow day and we completely ignored them to get this done :)

Monday night was also a good time to spend together as a family drinking hot cocoa in front of the fire watching a movie.

Ahhh! Aren't my cuddle bugs so cute with Melissa? No pictures of all that happens during the day when they aren't so sweet to their aunt.

Snowshoeing

2011-01-26T08:23:00.003-07:00

One more reason to love Colorado--going snowshoeing! When it's too cold and white to hike, strap some snowshoes on and go out and enjoy nature.

Once you get walking it doesn't even feel cold

Melissa & Angie making snow angels

Christmas Celebration

2011-01-09T19:43:00.004-07:00

We had a nice and relatively quiet Christmas in our house. The festivities started after Elizabeth's birthday celebration with acting out the nativity and Elizabeth was Mary.
After saying goodnight to family we put the kids to bed with their Christmas pajamas and got everything ready for the next day. Here they are Christmas morning coloring on what was really Evelyn's present. I must say it kept them busy for a long time.

I know she'll kill me for this picture (that's what sisters are for, right?) but I even made Melissa some Christmas pajama pants.

The aftermath of opening presents.

We ate breakfast and then played the Wii (combined b-day gift from Grandma B that we just opened). I'm shocked at my lack of pictures of our Christmas activities. It was 50 degrees on Christmas day so after lunch/dinner at Lisa's house we went to the park and played. If you can't have a white Christmas, a warm one where the kids can go run around outside is just fine with me, reminds me of growing up in California.

Playing with cousins, poor Brian--my kids think he's just a climbing toy!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

2011-01-09T19:22:00.006-07:00

Since it's now almost the middle of January, I guess I should post about our Christmas and the special birthday we have on Christmas Eve. Elizabeth loves her Christmas Eve birthday and has said so herself many times. I think we've settled into a routine to help her birthday be special and then move on to Christmas Eve activities. The Carlsen tradition on Christmas Eve is to have a spaghetti dinner (good thing too since it's one of the few dinners Elizabeth will eat) so we had Eric's sisters and their family over for dinner. We couldn't fit everyone at the same table so the kids loved having their own space.

Afterwards we sang "Happy Birthday" right after Elizabeth turned off all the lights in the house and made sure people knew it was time and then we chowed down on Eric's yummy eggnog cheesecake. Our daughter has such great manners! She opened presents and loved every minute of it.

I guess the fleece outfit she had on which was her special birthday outfit got a little warm with so many people around so the quote of the evening was--"I'm getting so hot in my birthday suit."

Things we love about Elizabeth.

--With two introvert parents, we love Elizabeth's extroverted-ness. There is never a dull moment with her around to talk and make us laugh with her energy.

--She makes up such wonderful stories in her head and hopes to be an author and illustrator one day.

--She is a great big sister and has taken on little duties to watch over her younger sisters.

--She can be very sweet and give hugs to those that need it.

--She's a great bike rider and loves the outdoors.

We love you Elizabeth and can't believe you're growing up so fast! 7 already? Where did the time go?

Sugar Cookies, Gingerbread, and Piano Oh My!

2010-12-24T06:49:00.004-07:00

Tis the season to make gingerbread houses for FHE, decorate sugar cookies, and eat way too many yummy desserts!

The dessert making trio. We also had a piano recital/family home evening in there to celebrate the girls' talents. I swap teaching (this is my first time "teaching") with my friend Melanie so our kids don't end up like the piano teachers children that don't learn piano. Elizabeth had to pull out the bug eyes in every picture.

All four girls singing their song Christmas Bells.

I caught the very moment they heard it was time to eat dessert. Oh my little sweet tooth girls!

Santa Time

2010-12-20T13:58:00.004-07:00

I have never pushed the Santa thing but here are the girls sitting on Santa's lap at our ward party Saturday.

Here's something Elizabeth wrote in school the other day relating to Santa with the interpretation in parenthesis in case you can't read 1st grader.

"deer sanu. I donte bleve (believe) in you beecus they make up the randeer (reindeer). do you rilee have randeer do you. I wot a pupee a reel ulive pupee just bun (born) and can fit in my hand and veeree veree ceoot (very very cute). crismis is my fafrit halluday (Christmas is my favorite holiday) beecus my brthday. Can you make it snoe on my brthday crismis eeve?"

I think she might be disappointed because we are definitely not going to get a puppy (don't even go there with me) and it looks like we'll have a warm Christmas for Denver without snow.

Our Christmas Newsletter

2010-12-20T13:46:00.002-07:00

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope 2010 was a good year for you. Here in the Carlsen household we are trying to become true Denver-ites enjoying nature and all the cultural aspects here. Eric and I took a cross-country ski lesson together and hiked two 14ers (mountain peaks over 14,000 ft) in one day, we camped as a family, and enjoyed plays and many museums. Our big family adventures this year included celebrating our big 1-0 anniversary by going on a cruise in January while the girls stayed with Grandma in California, going to Utah for my sister Melissa’s BYU graduation in April, a weeklong camping trip with Eric’s family to Yellowstone in July, and another trip to California in October for my sister Patricia’s wedding. We even have a new member of our household, at least for a few more months—my sister Melissa who’s going to Honduras with the Peace Corps in February.

Eric has kept busy this year with bicycling (he got a new road bike and loves it), river rafting in June, hiking a 14er with the guys in August, playing football, basketball, and being a great dad and husband at home.

Alicia I have kept busy this year with the kids and activities (now I know how some of you feel as chauffeur). I started working part-time from home for a CPA and got my enrolled agent license (basically CPA just for tax). I ran two 10Ks and a 5K this year and did a duathlon (run-bike-run). Last weekend I even tried my hand at downhill skiing and it was fun.

Elizabeth (7) makes our house full of energy. Since she is now a full-day first grader and you can tell when she comes home because the house gets energized once again. Elizabeth loves arts and crafts and started taking piano lessons (I swap teaching with a friend). She still loves being read to and right now is really into the series Magic Tree House.

Rachel (5) likes a little bit of everything. She is in preschool four days a week and absolutely loves it (hopefully the love of school continues). She likes crafts and coloring, enjoyed this year’s season of soccer that I coached, and is now in ballet. Rachel is just starting to read and it’s fun to hear her sound words out.

Evelyn (2) is getting to be a little talker. She is still our happy girl with some typical toddler tantrums thrown in. She loves to dress up and try on multiple pairs of shoes and other accessories and is a great cuddler with Aunt Melissa.

“To the American People: Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.” ~ Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), American president. Presidential message (December 25, 1927).

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2011!

The Carlsens

Our Little Artist

2010-12-19T09:10:00.001-07:00

At what age "should" they "know better?"

The effect of Turkey

2010-12-05T11:53:00.002-07:00

I know it's late, but we did have a great Thanksgiving. One nice thing about having family in town is you don't have to travel far for dinner, a 15 minute drive is good for us. We spent the day at Lisa's (Eric's sister) house. After eating way too much yummy food, we watched "How to Train Your Dragon" (Rachel's birthday present), played some games, and ate even more food in the form of dessert. I just love this picture of Eric and Evelyn in the after feasting festivities.

Honduras Look Out!

2010-11-23T06:45:00.003-07:00

After an almost year long application process, my sister Melissa found out yesterday that she's going to Honduras with the Peace Corps helping with the HIV/AIDS program. Being the dutiful older (and embarrassing) sister, I took a picture of her with her letter.

We will miss you when you leave (yes even Elizabeth) but we are so excited for your adventure! Maybe Eric and I will just have to join you there for a visit.

I'm a whole hand now!

2010-11-21T09:03:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was a special day. Rachel turned 5!

What we love about Rachel.
--She gets so excited about her birthday. She started counting down once November hit.
--She definitely has an opinion about what she wants and even picked out her own Barbie and was great about letting me wrap it and keep it in my closet until her birthday.
--She loves to dress-up and pretend play but can also get down and dirty in the great outdoors and climb everything.
--She'll still sit and color forever, making rainbow patterns and all.
--She likes to help bake.
--She likes to read the Bob books to me.
--She's a really good sister to Elizabeth and Evelyn and a great daughter.

We love you Rachel!

Christmas Project

2010-11-17T14:03:00.001-07:00

Make The Mantel Christmas 5x7 folded card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Somebody stop me...I'm out of control!

2010-11-13T19:28:00.001-07:00

Lemon Buttermilk Chess Pie

Spice Cake

After having my manhood called into question from all the baking I think I have to admit I have a problem. Hello everyone, my name is Eric...and I have a baking problem. Even so, I haven't been gaining weight, but this week was a little tough with the snow and a bum knee, I wasn't able to do any physical activity. Beside bake that is...mmmmm.

Crack Cocaine Coated Pretzels

2010-11-07T20:18:00.001-07:00

Supposedly they're coated in "yogurt," but I'm on to you Sprouts. There is no way these pretzels are covered in anything less addictive than crack cocaine. Seriously.

While waiting for a prescription to be filled in Albertson's I stumbled on a Southern Living special food magazine edition. The yumminess was too much to resist, this is the first creation from the magazine: Buttermilk Pumpkin Pie. It tasted good, although mostly just like a regular pumpkin pie. I'm not sure the buttermilk flavor was strong enough to really notice. But it sure looks nice :-) Mixing 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg in the whipped cream sure adds a lot too. Rest assured we will be showcasing more recipes from the magazine. Those Southerners know how to eat!

Our Japanese Halloween

2010-11-07T08:41:00.004-07:00

No, we didn't go to Japan for Halloween but we were Japanese, complete with our own samurai! I think when it comes to Halloween, I'm a kid in a grownups body because I love to dress up and I couldn't miss out on the Japanese action and Eric, the good husband and father that he is, went along with it.

What we have to show for our pumpkin carving "creativity" this year. Eric pulled out the drill and I don't think we can go back to hand carving again.

Got worms? I don't know if others fully appreciated this one.

Wedding Bliss

2010-10-26T18:52:00.008-06:00

This past weekend Eric got an early Christmas present in the form of a new brother-in-law, aka another person to break up the estrogen at family reunions. We went to California and saw my sister Patricia (Tricia, Trish, Mrs. Pineda--how weird does that sound!) get married to Danny Pineda. They were married in the Los Angeles LDS temple and had a reception in the beautiful backyard of Ruth Gulden. Thank you California weather for stopping your drizzling action for 24 hours so we could have an outdoor reception!

I must say, it was fabulous being the sister and not the mother of the bride with all the craziness of wedding planning--you did great mom. I know my time will come for that with 3 beautiful girls. I definitely had some fun sister time.

Getting mani/pedis

Helping at the bridal shot, having a raging bachelorette party

Attending the wedding & reception

The fabulous candy bar--my sister Theresa is a genius!Cutting the Cake
And of course decorating the car (I mean I had absolutely nothing to do with that--it was all dad).

Love my sisters and I'm so excited for Tricia's new adventure into married life!

Announcing for the first time, Mr. & Mrs. Pineda!

Following in the footsteps of their aunt

All the beautiful nieces

One of the many possible pictures for the Bartholomew family Christmas card.

Siblings
Maybe the Carlsen Christmas card?This wedding brought back memories of our special day. I can't believe it's been 10 years for Eric and me and we still like each other :)

Where's the Fire?

2010-10-10T16:41:00.003-06:00

Friday we went to the Denver Firefighter Museum and learned how to stop, drop, and roll! The girls looked really cute dressed up as firefighters!

Take me out to the Ball Game 2

2010-09-29T11:40:00.004-06:00

Even though the Rockies aren't in series playoff contention anymore, we still went to their game against the Dodgers Monday night, hey it was free. You could say our allegiance flip-flopped to whoever won the game (Dodgers in this case). Since we grew up in the LA area and went to many a Mormon night for the Dodgers (famous for Dodger dogs) and now our home team is the Rockies it didn't really matter who won. I must say, baseball is a pretty boring game. It's more fun to people watch at the games than watch a bunch of guys standing around waiting for someone to hit the ball. It's also a good place to teach your daughter about beer and how it's bad and addictive.

For the girls, baseball games are all about the cotton candy.

Why so serious?

2010-09-29T11:38:00.001-06:00

Guess who found my lipstick?

A change in seasons brings. . .

2010-09-29T11:27:00.004-06:00

A new look for Elizabeth

A metamorphosized Evelyn

And beautiful scenery in the mountains

Eric rode his new baby (CAAD 9) from Bergen Pass to Echo Lake and we met him at the top to take a stroll around the lake. I love Fall!

Evelyn's 2!

2010-09-22T16:53:00.005-06:00

Can it really be? My baby turned 2 yesterday! She had her 2 year checkup today and was 25 lbs and 33 1/4 in. so still on the shorter end but way cute.

Can you believe she went from this. . .

To this. . .
In a blink of an eye?

So what did we do on her special day you might ask? She had a carriage ride to the park.

Played in the sand at the reservoir.

And had a bunch of strangers from Eric's work sing Happy Birthday to her followed quickly by devouring frosting from cake.

And of course, opened presents.

A few of the things we just love about this girl.

Bright blue eyes.
Huge smile and laugh.
Love of shoes. She won't keep her own on but insists on wearing everyone elses.
Following in the footsteps of her big sister Rachel, Evelyn loves to accessorize and one of her few words is necklace.
Loves to color, especially her hands and legs.
Excitement at seeing her big sisters.

We love you Evelyn!

Oh what do you do in the Summertime?

2010-09-18T16:11:00.005-06:00

Fall is sneaking up on us but weather wise, it definitely still feels like summer. So what have we been up to?

I have one more race to go for the year but a few weeks ago I did a 10K and got first in my age group, one nice thing about turning 30 this year.

Elizabeth lost her first front top tooth

We were bored last Friday and went hiking (aka walking with whining at the end) in Castlewood Canyon. Don't worry, they didn't fall in :)

Proof that Melissa is with us and we love her!

Soccer! I must say I have mixed feelings about soccer. First, I didn't realize it would take up our weeknights and Saturdays like it does. I don't know why I was that naive when I signed them up because I played for 13 years as a child and soccer was life for awhile. I guess I didn't realize the Saturday thing because in the last league we played games during the week. Anyway, I'm coaching Rachel's team and Elizabeth's on her own team without me as a coach but I'm a horrible sideline parent. We'll see how the season advances but right now Elizabeth doesn't really like it and Rachel is tired quickly but seems more engaged in the game than her sister. I would like to have daughters in soccer but I miss my Saturdays.

What to do on a holiday weekend night

2010-09-06T07:39:00.003-06:00

The girls have really wanted to get outdoors again and since we couldn't plan a camping trip this weekend, they camped out on our deck last night. I slept comfortably in my bed thank you very much but it was a hit for Elizabeth and Rachel. Rachel--"Sleeping outside is so much better than inside. The stars are much prettier!" Elizabeth--"Good" (understatement supreme).

The night was even complete with bugs like this praying mantis.

Dinosaur Fieldtrip

2010-09-02T07:44:00.004-06:00

We've been to the Denver Nature & Science Museum many times but never on an official fieldtrip. Today was Rachel's first preschool fieldtrip to see the dinosaurs and she loved it. For three weeks, her class learned about triceratops, T-Rex, diplodocus, and many other dinosaurs and then they got to see real bones in the museum. Here's to chaperoning many more trips.

Since this is a Rachel post, I have to post this picture. It's true, Mormons do have horns!

You are my dancing queen

2010-08-22T11:45:00.003-06:00

Friday we had a dancing kind of day. Rachel had the last of a short 3-week ballet class and she looked beautiful in her outfit. She looked bored a lot in the class but said she liked it. I'm excited for her to try soccer next!

In the evening we went to the Sounds of Southlands where the Nacho Men were playing with the wife of Eric's co-worker (I borrowed her bike for the duathlon). Since our husbands were out hiking some 14ers we thought we'd have a night out with the kids. I guess the Nacho men are a really big band in Colorado because there were a lot of people there. The girls loved running around in the landscaping (the security guards had given up at that point I think of keeping kids out) and running around the crowd. Oh yeah, they danced to the music too.

The little posers.

MJ is alive and well, and white!

Oh, and guess who we are so excited to have living with us now? Here's a hint.

Why I don't like film

2010-08-14T11:27:00.005-06:00

Remember those rolls of film you used to have to finish, drive to the store, fill out a slip, wait a week, drive back to the store, and then realize that half the pictures you took were blurry? I know, it's seems so archaic in this digital high-speed world. Anyway, I took a waterproof disposable camera on our cruise in January and finally finished up the film on our hike to the 14ers. Here are the better pictures that make me want to go kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking again.

At the trailhead two weeks ago

Pictures from kayaking and snorkeling in Cabo San Lucas in January

You know your child has an imagination when. . .

2010-08-08T16:37:00.005-06:00

Instead of imaginary friends, Elizabeth has imaginary children, and lots of them. They go everywhere with us and she reprimands them using my stern mom voice. It's kind of eerie. And just ask her about who the father is and you'll hear about good and bad guys and people killing each other or trying to kill her while pregnant. Um, so how did she come up with that? I have no idea as she mainly watches PBS but maybe the Simpsons? Anyway, Elizabeth is our imaginative little girl always thinking of stories in her head and we keep saying we can't wait until she can write better so she can share them with us. The other day she even prayed to be an author or illustrator when she grows up.

Even the toy dogs are her children all dressed up.

On a totally different note, here are some pictures from when we went to the Children's Museum when my mom was in town. Elizabeth was in school so Rachel got all of the attention. If Elizabeth's going to be a writer, here are some possibilities for Rachel.

Veterinarian (she likes cats, not dogs)

Bubble Scientist

Bunny Rabbit, okay maybe not that one but she looked cute