Off to Highlands Ranch, CO for the graduation of our oldest niece and nephew from high school.  We spent two nights there.  It was so great to be around some of Chris’ family again.  We haven’t seen the Sutorius’ since our last “reunion” two years ago and Brent, Jill and Ethan flew in from Ohio for it too.  We rode the light rail into downtown Denver and walked the 16th Steet Mall in the rain.  Ate dinner at ESPN Zone so the guys could watch the nailbiting buzzer shot winner by LeBron James and the Cavaliers.  I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the downtown area.

We then drove to Estes Park (about 1 1/2 hours NW of Denver) and spent time with everyone in our condos.  It was cool and cloudy most of the time we were there.  Decent weather in the morning, then would rain in the afternoon and usually at night.  We walked the quaint little main street.  The guys and Corrin all went river rafting in the 40 degree river and had a blast while the girls and the kids went for a hike around Lily Lake and ate lunch at the historic and haunted Stanley Hotel.  I had a bbq pulled elk sandwich for the first time and it was surprisingly good!  Not gamey tasting at all.

We rode the aerial tram to the top of  a mountain and the kids fed peanuts right out of their hands to the chipmunks who are REALLY tame.  Spencer was so scared they would bite him that he dropped the peanut the first time one came close.  Even Josey got in the action and was so ticked when they ran out.  The kids wanted to go swimming just about every day even though it was an outdoor “heated” pool that didn’t feel much warmer than a cool bath.  They had fun and the adults sat in the hot tub!

Our last day there we went horseback riding and had a great time!   Spencer loved that our horse’s name was Fun.  He didn’t like it so much when I made Fun trot and said, “don’t do that again Mom.”  But I did it again   We also drove up to the top Visitor Center in Rocky Mountain National Park (11,784 feet above sea level) saw a lot of snow and a lot of Elk.  It was really pretty.  The mountains there are so different than the mountains in Utah.  We had such a great trip!  Check out the rest of our trip picts in the Photo Albums.

The morning of our trip to Colorado, Spencer graduated from CaveKids Preschool!  It was really cute to see him with his other classmates.  He had a great experience in preschool this year.  He learned to write his name by himself, he got better at cutting out things with scissors, he loved the songs he learned, and especially loved the fieldtrips (what kid wouldn’t!?!)  He struggled letting other kids be first and taking turns…the draw back of being the oldest child…and he is still really emotional when he gets in trouble or doesn’t get his way!  Things to work on next year before he starts Kindergarten.  Here are a few pictures of the graduate and his graduation.  He was so cute and is getting so grown up!

The 2009 graduating class of CaveKids

Listening to the program:  They sang two songs, did a marching band, read a story and gave out their “diplomas”.

Signing Yearbooks–interesting watching them sign each other’s yearbooks.  After about tree signatures, Spencer was DONE!  They did a really cute job on their yearbooks though!

The Spring Soccer season is over…Wow! What else is there to say.  I am not sure if I liked Spring soccer or not…more than half of the games were either played in the rain, wind or freezing cold.  We had a few games at the end that were warm and sunny and pretty much perfect!  Team Thunder had a pretty good season.  We won 5 of the 8 games played.  Spencer played hard most games, depending on his mood.

Back row: Drew, Noah, Josh, Jace

Front row:Cameron, Spencer, Treg, Sam

Not shown: Andrew

One of my favorite things this season was when Spencer was playing goalie and we look over and he is swinging from the top of the goal posts like a monkey, feet and arms wrapped completely around.  At this age soccer is all about getting them to pay attention to the ball and run up and down the field.  It was great fun!

Here are a few pictures from the season:

 Action Shot Corner KickerCheerleader

When is life suppose to slow down?  It seems like it just gets busier and busier!  I am trying to “declutter the busy” in my life, if that is possible…I’ll let you know how it turns out!  

So that being said, Sundays have been my least favorite day of the week because Chris is so busy with church stuff.  So today I decided that I wasn’t going to do anything but spend time with my children, and that is what we did.  While eating dunkin’ eggs for breakfast I read to them out of The Friend and then we decided to watch a Living Scriptures movie about Jesus.  When that was over we played together.  At noon when Chris came home the kids were eating cereal for lunch and we were all still in our jammies.  He looked at me and raised and eyebrow and I said, “Don’t say a thing!”  It was a lovely morning.  Everything else waited until bedtime tonight!  It always waits until a later time…ALWAYS!!!

So my presentation on Infertility and Adoption at BYU Women’s Conference was this past Thursday and sent me into near hysteria the night before. Panic set in as the reality of what I was doing hit me. It felt like I had a vice around my chest and couldn’t take a complete breath. Butterflies in my stomach, that felt like my stomach was in my throat! Having said all of that, I woke to a beautiful Spring day and dressed in my “million bucks” outfit. Green skirt, fitted crisp white shirt with green grossgrain ribbon belt, matching jewelry and of course my awesome green shoes I bought in NYC. My hair worked that morning and I felt good. As I was walking across BYU campus to my class a girl came up next to me and said, “my friends and I have been walking behind you and wanted you to know that we think you look fabulous! All of it! The shoes, the jewelry, you really look great!” That totally made my day!!!! I was a nervous wreck up until my time for my half of the presentation, and when I got up and stood behind the podium, the Spirit just took over! My nerves were calmed and it went really well! The best part were the people that came up afterwards to give me hugs and thank yous for validating what they were going through and feeling. One mom told me she was glad to realize that her daughter (also going through this) was “normal”. I felt really blessed and really honored to be an instrument in God’s hands and bless other people’s lives by sharing what I had gone through!