Pupcakes and Other Sweet Stuff

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Karyn behind the waterfall.

Gunilla at the Donut Falls cave entrance.

Karyn at the cave of the falls.

At the falls with Karyn.

At the base of Donut Falls.

About to start the hike to Donut Falls.

After Donut Falls Donut Trip

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At the Falls

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Cute Girls

Still on the trail.

On the trail

On our way to Donut Falls

Evelyn, My Little Helper

This week Evelyn has been extra helpful! She has been quick to do what I ask her and she is always asking to help, especially in the kitchen. We took homemade pizza to a family in our neighborhood and she was with me the entire time helping me make it.

Evelyn gets up in the morning and most mornings gets all dressed by herself before coming down stairs. She gives great wet kisses throughout the day and is always telling me she loves me. I am so blessed to have such a great daughter! I love love love her!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Love you!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Garden has been productive this year.

Huge caterpillar

Monday, August 15, 2011

almost all weeded

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Memories of Taylor Family Vacation - Granby Colorado

Last week was family vacation time with the Taylors. We spent a week in a cabin in Granby Colorado with my parents, Lucas and Amber, and Hayley and her fiancee Jeff. Granby is about the midpoint between Grand Lake and Winter Park so it was a nice place to stay even though we spent the majority of our time in Grand Lake. The cabin was very nice and fit us all very well.

On the drive to Colorado we stopped in Vernal and spent some time with Gunilla's aunt Char. She was very kind and generous and bought the kids some clothes and we spent some time a park in town where we got to stretch our legs for a bit before we had to get back in the car for the rest of the car ride.

Our first full day on vacation was spent in Grand Lake walking through the town through all of the shops. It was very nostalgic to be able to walk through the shops that haven't really changed in the last 20 years. The town is a bit more commercial now, but still has the same feel that it has always had. After looking through the shops, we went bowling where I narrowly lost to Gunilla who came out with a very strong showing with a score of 144 which could be an all time high for her. Her score even included the scoring of Ewan doing one of her frames. She got a Turkey even at one point. I came in second with a score of about 136 or so, which is a decent score for me. Karyn and Evelyn seemed to be mostly interested in doing the arcade games but I think they had fun as well. Ewan had fun pretending to play the Crazy Taxi or speedboat arcade games which we would sit down with him to do in between our turns to keep him occupied. After bowling we went back to the cabin to hang out and eat. It was Lucas and Amber's night to make dinner and they made some very tasty BLT and avocado sandwiches. On a side note, Lucas finally did get a knife from Grand Lake that he had always wanted since he was a kid.

On our second day most of us, minus Hayley and Jeff, went to Adam's falls to see do the short hike with and see the waterfall. The water levels this year are very high so the waterfall was at full force. We hiked up stream a little ways to play in the water but quickly found out that the stream really was just melted snow and was a bit too cold and fast moving to play in long. We had hoped to have a moss fight, but the water was too deep and too fast moving for moss to grow on the rocks. Gunilla of course though had to show everyone up and made it out to the middle of the river just to prove she is still the champion. Our hike was cut short a bit due to a very quick oncoming rain storm with some very strong thunder. After the hike we went to the Rocky Mountain National Park welcome office where Karyn and Evelyn became Junior Park Rangers. They even got a nice little badge to prove it after their hour and a half lecture on animals, tree bark, etc. The rain finally started to subside and we left and drove back to the cabin for Gunilla and I to make our dinner. We made Cashew Chicken with Sticky Rice and Coconut Curry Soup. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, which was nice and we then played some games.

On our third day Mom, Lucas and Amber, and Hayley and Jeff went on a hike up to a ghost town in the Rocky Mountain National Park. After we were able to get ready we went to the beach with the kids where we met up with the hikers on their way back. Apparently the hike was pretty, but there was hardly anything left of the town. The day was nice for the beach though and the kids had a great time with Gammy and Poppy while the rest of us did tandem kayaking on Grand Lake. Gunilla and I had a great time. We spent about an hour on the lake playing games of chicken and doing races with the others. Gunilla often thought it to be funny to rock the kayak back and forth despite me not thinking that to be a good idea. At the beach, Karyn quickly made friends as she always does and they would run on the dock and jump off into the water. Evelyn was more interested in making sand angels while Ewan stayed close to Gammy to play. We left the beach to go have an early dinner of quadruple cheese grilled cheese sandwiches so that we could go to RMNP to see the animals and go to the beaver pond to skip rocks and build a fire to roast marshmallows to make S'mores. At the beaver pond, I was shocked to learn that Gunilla actually does have one weakness....she throws like a girl. Not like a baseball player girl, a doll playing, dress up loving, can't own too many shoes, girl. She is good at skipping rocks though, but not good enough to beat my most amazing rock skipping of all time. The rock must have skipped at least 12 times. It was incredible. My dad and I got a the fire started and Lucas and I sharpened some sticks with our mountain lion killing knives and we had a really nice time roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. Gunilla redeemed herself though by being the best marshmallow roaster. While at the park we were lucky enough to see three moose mothers (cows) with their calves. We also saw a decent group of elk and even a very colorfully patched coyote on our way out that peed on a bush.

On our fourth day we got up a bit earlier and went to Winter Park. This was a good day to close out the week. We had all day passes and used them to the max by going on the alpine slide about seven times. We also did miniature golf, the human maze, and the ski lift up to the top of the mountain. Karyn and Evelyn also did the jump harness where they harness you in to a rigging and put you on a trampoline so you can jump super high and do flips. Evelyn was the flip master. Right away she started doing flips and got to where she could do front flips and back flips. Karyn eventually got to where she could do a couple of flips but her big strength was in jumping super high. She jumped higher than anyone else that I saw that day. In miniature golf, I won with Gunilla 2 strokes down and we were all very far ahead of the rest of the group. Karyn seemed to start understanding the game and had a good time, although they would have much rather been on the alpine slide. The alpine slide (or apple pine slide as the girls called it) was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed the runs where I had Evelyn or Ewan on my lap. They both love speed and I could go as fast as I felt somewhat safe and they loved it. Ewan laughed out loud he like it so much on the runs. Evelyn would scream most of the way down, but not because she was scared, she just enjoyed it so much. On my first run down, I was behind Karyn and I was a bit concerned that I would catch up to her, but I never did, she must have been hauling because I did not go slow. I have three speed loving kids, and that is fun. The weather on the way the ski lift got very cold and started to rain a little but it was a beautiful view from the top and was worth it. When we got down the girls went on a very small zip line in the rain but enjoyed it. When we were all done, we all went to Hernando's pizza and had some food. The pizza is pretty decent and they have customer decorated dollar bills covering all of the walls, tables and ceiling which makes for a fun atmosphere. When we got back the cabin it was time to pack up and be ready for an early checkout the next day. We packed up and played a game of Mad Gab and figured out that speaking in an accent is the way to win the game.

On our last day, we finished packing the car and did our hugs goodbye. Our family went back to Grand Lake so that the kids could pick out a toy or souvenir. Karyn bought a grabby claw toy, Evelyn chose a flashing light ball, and Ewan got a T-Rex that growls and lights a light in his mouth when you push a button on it's back. After that we drove home with another stop in Vernal to see Char where she bought us Taco Bell for dinner and we played in the park again. On the way home near Heber I saw a mountain lion cross the road in front of us which was pretty cool.

When we got home, Gunilla and I worked like a well oiled machine and unpacked, cleaned the car, and got to a point where we were really back without having to feel like we were still living out of suitcases.

As always the vacation felt short, but it is good to know that we will be seeing them all again shortly for Hayley's wedding.

Follow up thoughts from the kids:

Karyn: "It was really fun at the apple pine slide, I was a speed demoned." It was her favorite part for sure. Karyn did not like scraping her knee at the beach. She loved the beach though and jumping off the dock.

Eveyln: "Uh, I had fun seeing the animals, the deer, and the elk, and the moose, and I loved going and seeing the rainbow on the way." Speaking of which, on the way to Colorado we saw a double rainbow all the way across the sky. It was fun as the girls were really confused as to why the rainbow kept running away from us.

Ewan: "Dinosaur". "Coptorplane."

Gunilla: "I like playing games and visiting with each other. I really like the alpine slide because it was my first time and it was really fun."

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Karyn says "weird mama having a fun time" and I agree!

Funny face Karyn...her idea " you take a picture of me and I will take a picture of you." I asked Karyn what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said "A mommy with kids. Well, I can't be a mommy until I have kids." She said she probably wants three kids. When I asked her about what kind of husband she thinks she would like to marry, she made the face you see in this picture. Her face turned red and she told me "I don't know! That's not something I really think about right now!" She is totally right and I loved her response!

Karyn has cookies and cream with swedish fish, sour worms, and gummy bears! I have mango with fruit and juice filled bead things that remind me of fish eggs! Awesome mommy and daughter date.

Just started sampling...Karyn in Karyn fashion is wearing her frozen yogurt already!

Evelyn's lemon lime tongue! I asked Evelyn what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said "I want to be a mommy like you." I asked her how many kids she thought she would want to have, she said "Four, that's more than you. Well, maybe six."

Evelyn and I on our mommy daughter date. Evelyn's favorite food is sticky rice and she loves lemon lime snow cones.

Junior park rangers

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Very tall sunflowers in the garden.

Bean pickling party. Today we pickled some green beans. We pickled some of them with different types of peppers. The lame thing is that now we have to wait for 2 weeks before we can eat them.