1st 26.2 in 2011

Brendan ran his first marathon of 2011 in Salk Lake City last weekend! He and I flew out there on Thursday morning. We were lucky enough to stay with our friends, Scott and Claire in Park City, and enjoy the sights in the mountains until race time on Saturday. Brendan's parents drove down for the race and some genealogy research in Salt Lake City

Pre race stretch. The day started out cold and rainy, but cleared just before the start of the race.

Mile 12 - Looking good!

Coming around the curve to the finish line. 

Finish Line! Just over 3:22.

Post race with Ma and Pa

Brendan and Meg 

A well deserved massage after a great race

Brendan was happy with his time and felt great at the finish line... well as good as you can feel after running that distance. Next up, San Francisco on July 31st - anyone want to come cheer him on with me?

Garret is 8!

Happy Birthday Garret! What a weekend...you had your party on  Friday night at Extreme Challenge,  a baseball game on Saturday and Sunday, and birthday celebrations today complete with presents, dinner of steak and artichokes, and ice cream sundaes! Eight years ago you came into this world and life has never been better for mom and dad!

Garret Adams - Two weeks old

 Climbing the rope at your party. 

 Your Buddies

 Just played Sunday's game

 New basketball hoop - awesome!

 Your birthday list this year included new bedding (sports) and a suitcase! We always love what you come up with!!!

 Some pillows to go with the new bedding.

 You still love to draw, so a new book for you!

We hope you had a great weekend, Garret. We love you and are so proud of the little man that you are!

Let's Play Ball!!!

Yep... It's that time of year. Cherry Creek Blue, Garret's baseball team had their first game yesterday. It was action filled and had me nervous on the sidelines. Yeah, I know he's only 8 (actually two weeks shy of that) but it is so exciting to watch them complete a play or get a base hit. They won 17-16, or it might have been 18-17. Either way, it was a nail biter, right up to the last base hit. Garret plays first for the most part but also spent some time in left center field. Brendan is the assistant coach and Garret is thrilled to have him out there with him. Brendan Falde (aka Buddy) was here to share in the exciting weekend. With two of Garret's games and one Rockies game, we've had our share of baseball in 36 hours! While it was almost 80 degrees for the opening game, it dropped 40 degrees for today's game. We had rain, sleet, snow, and wind this afternoon! So no pictures today. It was too cold!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

With John's birthday falling just after  Barbara's we were lucky enough to celebrate with him too! After a chilly baseball practice for Garret, we headed out to dinner followed by cake and presents at home. We gave Papa a 'Cherry Creek Sports' hoody and baseball cap so he can be a part of "the team!" This is the league that Garret plays baseball for and also our local high school. 

After making Grammy her certificate book, we hunted for a clever homemade gift for papa. We found a tutorial for a Golf Ball Dog and thought it would be perfect... meet Diablo below. 

Broncos Stadium Tour - Saturday, February 19th

In looking for something different to do with 5 sports minded boys and 8 adults, we decided to venture up to Invesco Field for a tour of the stadium.

While waiting for the start of the tour, the boys found the room full of uniforms that they could wear.

Garret is ready to play!

Konnor is ready for some action!

Cute Quinn will stand in front of the Broncos jersey, but he still loves the Saints!

Owen and Hunter - quite the gear!

Anyone want to go up against this guy? Go Hunter!

Who wants to take on Owen?

The tour was quite interesting and we were able to see lots of different parts of the stadium. We learned that  it costs $12,500 to rent a party suite for one game for 30 people. That's before the food and drinks. We were thinking about getting one for Owen's 6th birthday in the fall, but unfortunately there is a multi year waiting list. Sorry Owen!

Visitor's Locker Room - This crew will scare them all away!

On the field - Daale's and Gopal's.

Ready to play - unfortunately the memo didn't make it to Tebow and Bailey! 

The Adams' attempt at a family picture - maybe next time?

Happy Birthday, Grammy!

It was Barbara's birthday last weekend and the boys wanted to make it extra special. When she and John left for a breakfast outing, we got to work decorating their place with balloons and her special birthday banner. The boys then got to work on wrapping her present and creating a special book of certificates. We all enjoyed having Barbara and John here for her birthday and we look forward to continuing the festivities with John's birthday this week!

Grammy's Homemade Birthday Sign

Yoga Time

Garret and Owen created a book of gift certificates - it  was a little bit of a challenge to come up with ideas that they could "give" Grammy without costing anything. We discovered that was kind of a tough concept. They wanted to write "Play a game with you" - except, that's what Grammy does all day long! They decided on things like bake cookies for you, out on a puppet show, do a dance for you, make your bed... all things that will make Grammy happy!

Ommmm....

Warriors in action

Who knew a yoga mat would keep two boys occupied for quite some time?

Happy Birthday, Grammy! We hope you had a great day!

Peter Pan - The Costume that Can Not Be OUTGROWN!

Garret and Owen love Peter Pan! It's been that way since before Garret was 2. We have books, movies, puppets, play figures, the new'ish novels by Dave Barry, and best of all, this well worn green costume. On Garret's first trip to Disneyland, when he was just over two and I was pregnant with Owen, my mom found this costume and insisted that our little "Peter Pan" have it. I balked at the price (err - it's Disneyland), questioned its quality, and wondered if Garret would ever put it on? We then walked the park for an appropriate sword (is there such a thing for a two year old?) and found the Mad Hatter where they would stitch his name next to the big red feather. While it took Garret a while to want to wear it, he finally decided it was worthy to be his Peter Pan costume. Boy was it worthy! After serving as Garret's costume for three Halloween, not to mention the thousands of battles with Captain Hook, Garret out grew the trusty green outfit and it was handed down to Owen. He received a hat and sword on his first Disneyland adventure and took off for Neverland just like a pro. 

We never fail to laugh when Peter Pan is around. When Owen pulled out the costume last week, dusted off his sword, and smoothed out his red feather, I just had to take a picture. I love this costume and all of the memories that come with it. Here are just a few...

 2005 - Garret, 2 1/2, the day before Owen was born. I think he heard who was coming and was headed to Neverland!

 Peter welcomes "Nana the Dog"

 Peter is off to Trick or Treat

2006 - Garret - 3 1/2, yep, he's Peter again!

2007 -  Garret 4 1/2 - Once again he's Peter Pan. But this time he's with a Peacock!

 2008 - That's Owen in the Peter Pan costume this time. They are reverse Trick or Treating with Great Grandma Mary in Phoenix. They knocked on doors and handed out candy!

2009 and 2010 - Peter Pan took a break from Halloween. But he was well used for dressing up all year. 

 2011 - Owen digs Peter Pan out of the costume bin. It's a tad small and looking a little worse for wear, but he didn't care. With his hat and sword he was off to find Captain Hook!