Hurst Family Reunion

At the beginning of August we had a Hurst family reunion (my Dad's side).  We went to the coolest Lodge ever called Hidden Springs Ranch in Utah.  All fifty something of us were able to sleep comfortably under one roof.  There was so much to do, including a fun 35 foot climbing wall that was really a challenge.  This is a funny slideshow of my brother Phil and Michael having a "duel", basically trying to tear one another off the wall.  It was so funny!

Here are some other cute pics from that weekend.

Me!  I didn't make it very far.  Later I made it to the top in an easier place.

My brother-in-law Keith climbing.

Grandma Shirley and nephew Grant... thinking.

Ellie showing off her belly to those who asked.  Very proud.

Everyone watching and chatting.

Cousin Gabe's family.  Such cute boys.

This boy sure loves his cars :)

Phil and some of his kiddos.

Landon and Ellie climbing the wall.

My brother's beautiful daughter Raya.

 Uncle Larry, cousin Jessica and sons.  Cousins Kira, Alissa, and Lindsey.

Landon.  Grant.  Ellie.  Playing in the tire mulch.

 Cousin Jessica's boy Ryan (left).  Nixon getting a drink from Grandma (right).

 Grant's car.  So cute.

My Dad with nephew Brett.

My sister Annie and her hubby Keefe and baby Hazel.

On our way home we stopped at the Flaming Gorge.  Happy baby after throwing up.

Such a cutie pie!

The Denver Zoo!

In June we went to the Denver Zoo with Grandma, Aunt Stephanie and cousins Callen and Tyler.  They just had a new exhibit open called "Passage to India" so we thought we'd check it out.  It had all animals India, of course, and Ellie enjoyed seeing the animals.  It was a hot day but worth it!

Ellie checking out the Elliephants!

All the Kiddos.  On the right is a pic of Ellie at the end.  She fell asleep in the car :)  So tired.

Way cool Monkey exhibit.  The trunk the monkey is standing on is about 30 feet in the air.  The monkeys could swing along the vine over the people to another island tree trunk.  Can you see the white monkey in the upper right pic?  Pretty good camouflage.

Kiddos sitting on the Indian Taxi car.  Callen learning how to look through the telescope thing.  Ellie and me sizing up next to the polar bear.  He still wins.  How scary.

Squirt bottles are great in the heat.  Callen was incredibly rambunctious and squirted Ellie a little too close just when I was taking a picture.  It was one of those funny sad moments. :)  No worries, Grandma Kathy to the rescue.

July

Reading a book with Dad. So cute.

My Mom made this apron for me when I was a little girl.  It barely fits as you can see.  She loves it!

 Styling her hair with greasy fingers from pasta.  Works quite well.

Reading the mail.

 She thought she was so cool.  Kept glancing over at nothing and grinning, then back to the "paper".

Ellie loves her camping chair.  Even uses the cup holder.

We went on a day trip in July with Grandma and Grandpa Huntington to Georgetown, Co.  It's an old mining town and has a couple lakes to fish in.  Grandpa taught cousin Callen how to fish.  Fishing wasn't so great here, so we drove up the mountain to some other lakes.  The water was about 20 feet low and was a steep climb up and down.  When Grandpa caught a fish Callen was giggling.  Like "Oh that's why we're doing this over and over again."  His facial expression was priceless.  Ellie and I went and got soaked wading through the little creek that went into the lake.  It was such a beautiful scenic drive home through the mountains as you can see, with even some rain.    It was soooo much fun!  Good thing we brought an extra outfit!

Babies having a snack on the back of the truck!

At the trail head of what would be a really fun hike to the top of this mountain.  Pretty!

Michael's parents.  Love this picture!

I wore her out!

Hanging out on Grandpa Fred's Chair in June

Here is Ellie hangin with her cousins Callen and Tyler.  Cute kiddos.

SUMMERTIME: Around the House

Ellie loves to color with markers.  She's quite good and even holds the marker with proper technique.  A future artist?  Well, like usual, it got all over her hands, and naturally made it to the face as she was getting tired and rubbed her eyes and face.  "NOOOoooooo, oh well."

July 4th we went to the Party in the Park.  We got a free snow cone and Ellie thought it was pretty good.  Just really cold!  She doesn't get treats like this very often so it was funny to see how she liked it.

My living room was pretty colorful and beachy this summer.  I had seashells from my trip to Mexico back in the day strung in the windows and star fish adorning my pinecone wreath.  I had a lot of other seashells around.  For some reason this is the only picture I took, so don't mind the laundry on the couch :)

So I had a container garden out front and moved my plants around to find the best sun exposure for each.  I had placed a large pot over a crack in the sidewalk, and when I moved it the next day, YUCK!  At least a thousand ant eggs!  The worker ants freaked out and busily moved all the eggs back down the crack.  It took them a couple hours.  Bet they were tired after all that hurried work, poor guys! J/k.  It gave me the willies.

Ellie thinks it's fun to do yoga/pilates with me.  She loves the big rubber bands!

Check out my fun t-shirt projects!  Ever have so many t-shirts its insane?  Well, being married to a runner will do that to you.  Race after race it builds up, and Michael refuses to get rid of any.  So I raided the closet and took the shirts (of course not a UW crosscountry/track shirt, those are pretty precious) that were cheesy or a size too big that he would never wear and created a laundry sorter for my laundry basket and a coat closet organizer, both of which I love daily.  So handy.  I just eyeballed everything.  It was pretty liberating to not have a pattern and just sew without worrying about messing it up.  I even had the brilliant thought of adding a stain pouch, so I don't have to look at each piece anymore.  Best thing is that Michael totally gets it now.  We used to have a divided basket and he would just throw his clothes in, not getting the sorting idea.  I've learned labels make the biggest difference in whether or not things get sorted. :)

Gorgeous I know!  Just a bunch of sleeves sewn on.

Fun with Family

My sister Ann stayed with us before she moved/flew to North Carolina.  Here are some darling pictures of her Hazel after her bath.  Such awesome hair!

We went to Denver for several days to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hurst.  This was the pair getting ready to make the long flight to North Carolina at the Denver airport.  Go Annie!  Super traveling Mama!

When I got back from the airport this is what I found Ellie doing with Grandma Kathy...helping pick weeds!
So cute.

Oops!  Lost a shoe.  She's such a Cinder Ellie!

Scrubbing under those nails for sure!

The next day I helped Kathy take down her awesome 80's wallpaper that was totally clashing with her beautiful new Lazy Boy furniture.  It was sooo much fun!  We just peeled off the vinyl layer with our hands real quick and rented a steamer and steamed and scraped with a putty knife.  It took time, but was easy and fun!  Wallpaper... Fun, impossible... no, possible :)

Before

Bookcase silhouette is on the left and a shelf  and mirror hung above where you see the lamp.

So funny thing, after we took off the vinyl layer the paper layer under had changed colors except for where the bookcase stood and where a couple other things hung on the walls.  I thought it was cool looking so here it is :)  Much better looking!  Good times.

Baby Shower

At the beginning of June, we went to Utah for Michael's sister Amber's baby shower.  She had a baby boy they named Coulsen, and at the time we didn't even realize that with all there names: Amber, Briton, Coulsen, that they were the ABC's.  My mother-in-law Kathy, who put it together, chose the ABC theme from a cute picture of abc block cakes, which we made of course.  The food was yummy with Kneaders deli sandwiches, fruit salad, cheese ball and crackers, etc.  I designed the invite with Kathy's input, so that was fun.  I think it turned out cute.  The shower was just family so it was real fun.  We were supposed to have it outside but a nasty windy storm rolled in and we had to move it indoors.

Kathy and Stephanie were real clever and made the "A" cake apple flavored, "B" cake banana, and "C" carrot cake.  Too cute, and tasty.  I piped the design on all three cakes in 30 minutes flat!  (we had a time crunch :)  It was so fun tho!  We played the funniest matching game.  On the backs of the letters were things like "stomach post birth" and if you found the match you got a bag of Jelly Bellys.  Isn't that the cutest.  They came up with a lot of clever and very funny matches.  I got "price of baby" and received an Hundred Grand candy bar.  It was the most fun game I've ever played at a shower.  We had a great time laughing and seeing all the cute things Amber received for Coulsen.  Such a fun time!