Marvelous May

 This is Emma with her second grad teacher, Mrs. Fitzpatrick on the last day on school.

 There was a big fifth grade graduation for Ellie.  Here Ellie is with her best friend, Claire, who lives right across the street.  They are standing in front of the 2012 banner.

 During the ceremony Ellie was one of 12 fifth graders to receive a pin and a certificate signed by the President for having straight As for her whole fifth grade year.

 There was a slide show with a picture of the student and their favorite part of fifth grade as well as what they want to be when they grow up.

 Ellie also received the "best writer" certificate for her class.

 As the students were entering the gym the halls were lined with other students from the school who were cheering them on and giving them high fives.

 Ellie also had her clogging recital.

 It is  fun to watch as she has become really good in the year and a half that she has been dancing.

 We do need to work on her "stage face" though. :)

 For the May long weekend we were busy enjoying friends.  We had the Southams over for dinner on Sunday.  On Monday we went to the pool with the Fowlers and then to a BBQ at the Johnsons.

 Kyle and I were lucky enough to sneak away for a long weekend in Vegas while the Coombs took care of the kids.

 On Sunday we walked around the Vegas temple.

 One night we took a helicopter ride of the strip.

 We also saw Phantom.  It was Kyle's first time seeing this play.

 And of course you have to do the roller coaster at New York New York.

 Just some cute pictures on the front porch.

Eco Week

In fifth grade the school takes the kids up to Estes Park for three days for Eco Week.  Ellie was very excited to go.  They went on hikes, had smores, went swimming, rollerblading and completed a ropes course. Here she is with one of her friends and roomies, Kyra

Rollerblading with another great friend, Claire.

 Some of the wildlife.

This is the dorm room where she stayed.  She was excited about all of her roommates and had a great time.

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Rafting

Kyle got the opportunity to go rafting last summer with some friends but I forgot to post about it so here are some pics.
They rafted on the Colorado River which was the highest it had been in awhile.

All returned safely but they had one girl go overboard.
He had a great time and is excited to do it again. He also completed the Tough Mudder last summer which is a 10 mile race designed by British special forces. There are obstacles along the route such with the last one having you run through hanging cords with electrical currents running through them. One of his teammates got knocked out during this obstacle. Kyle came home very dirty with some scrapes and bruises but he made it. Unfortunately I can't find any pictures of this adventure but will post them later if I can locate them.

Colorado Visitors

This week we had a host of Canadian visitors. First Matt, Lily and their kids came and then Josh and three of his kids came. We love having family visit and had a great time. Mini golf was on of our first activities.I think we went to three or four parks during the week.
We had a mini photo shoot at the Windsor lake and playground.




There was just a little ice cream consumed throughout the week.
Firefighters at the Children's Museum in Denver.

Delicious pizza.


Telling stories by the fire was the best way to finish our great days.

All week the kids worked on a art gallery and museum.
After it was completed we were invited to the grand opening.


It is tradition to go to sonic in our pjs when Josh comes to town.

Red rocks theater.

We also went swimming, to the Denver museum of Nature and Science and to "Wicked". We had a great time and loved every minute with our family!