Emily's Quinceañera and Fajita Smackdown

It's Emily's 15th birthday this week.....YIKES!   In many Latin American Countries 15 year old girls celebrate with a Quinceañera so we decided it was a good reason to have a party! We had a big fiesta and invited some of the best cooks we know and challenged them to a Fajita cook off smackdown.  This was a great idea and turned into a great party!   



We got hooked on making paper flowers and banners and decked out the whole house even into the backyard.

 Emily's BFF Grey was able to come for the day too...these two have been busy and haven't seen each other all summer!

She brought Emily the cutest Vera Bradley wristlet for her birthday!  My BFF Kimmo and I also got hooked on Vera's back in high school and still can't resist them today!

All ready for everyone to arrive!  Emily shows off her super cute Tres Leches cake. 

There were some fantastic prizes at stake and the cooks started to arrive and the cooking got underway!

While the cooking was going on PePaw got to spend some time with the kiddos

After an hour or so of bbq and prep it was time to eat!!!

All the cooks with their hard work!

Everyone dug in!!!!!

These kids love their dads fajitas!!!!

 There were also some pretty intense washers matches going on in the new washer pit!  

Emily opened her presents and the kids took whacks at the pinata before we had cake....and make Em put on the birthday tutu! 

Then it was time to announce the winners!  The competition was rough!

Pepaw won the washers tournament and Ryan was voted the winner of the smackdown, by only two votes...

Emily with her two favorite guys....and their prizes!

We are so lucky to have such great family and friends so glad they could all be here to celebrate with us!  We love you all!

Back to school....sort of.

Sweet little girl all ready for Montessori School August 1998.

I'm not gonna lie...this makes me a little sad. 

Sophomore year!!

Starts Monday....
Economics
Choir
Latin III
Humane Letters
Pre-Calc
Chemistry

Creede 2011

 This has been one of our best trips to Creede in all the 13 years we've been coming here.  There are still new places to see and always too many things to do in the few days we are here.  We have kayaked, hiked, atv'd, learned to play washers, and of course had a Freemon's burger and ice cream!  Here are some pics to highlight a great week!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun group ATV ride to Phoenix Park and East Willow Creek Falls just above town. 

Inside the Mountain Man's Cabin.

Rustic Old Cabin at Phoenix Park the Mountain Man Greg Coln used to live out here.  We were lucky enough to raft Greg once several years ago...something we will always remember! 

Emily and Pepaw looking out the window. 

Hiking to the falls....the wildflowers were just beautiful. 

Emily almost there.....

My parents at the falls. 

At the falls....

We were all hungry after our hike and had a great picnic before finishing our ride.

My mom and Emily...who is taller???

Emily did a great job on the ATV....she's a pro at the rocks and knows how to handle the steep trails. 

Ready to kayak the Rio Grande

Put in spot below the Concrete Bridge at Collar

Emily did a great job documenting our float from at least three spots along the way.

My mom waiting for us at the Green Bridge.

Emily and Pepaw making some bear claw necklaces.

Rocky in the Rocky Mountains.  He loves it here, but how can you not!

Yellowstone & Grand Tetons

We left Phoenix early Saturday morning and headed about halfway to Yellowstone and camped one night in Utah. Sunday morning we were up early and got to Grand Teton National Park about 3:00. We got a nice camp spot in our favorite campground Lizard Creek on the north end of the park. The next morning we were able to move to a spot a little farther in and right on the shore of Jackson Lake.
Monday Fourth of July we spent the whole day in the bottom half of Yellowstone and saw lots of geysers and beautiful scenery. We got back to the campground and got a fire going to make our traditional Fourth of July roasted hot dogs (which were not the same without sharing them with Bill and Jon) just before it started raining like crazy! We were able to eat inside the camper and spent the rest of the night inside.

















Gorgeous view right down from our spot on the shore of Jackson Lake.




















We kayaked on Jenny Lake with a fantastic view of the Teton range.


























Emily's favorite spot in the park, the gorgeous lobby of Jackson Lake Lodge, with free wi-fi.
















Breakfast in the camp spot.




















On Wednesday we did the LONG drive up to the north end of Yellowstone and the original entrance of the park all the way in Montana...this would make 5 states in just 5 days for us....Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.
















This was also the day we saw the most animals. There were two or three cow elk and about 5 babies in the field.









I love the big heards of Buffalo especially the babies. We saw lots of them this day driving back down the east side of the park.















Also saw this adorable black bear....she was only adorable because she was pretty far away. :)
















Our last day in the parks we had a great lunch at the Jackson lodge and a little quieter day. Resting up for the 15 hour drive to Creede the next morning. Six nights in the camper "roughing it" was enough for Emily...and she was ready to see her Pepaw!!

















Post some pics from Creede soon we've had a fun few days so far.