1 fine weekend

Bet you thought I was done blogging for a bit now that I am home, but I need to at least keep Drew updated back in D-town! Kara threw Steph's shower this past saturday at Lora's house and we had a ball!! It was so fun to see the girls again. I was reminded this weekend with both the shower and Paul and Layne's going away party of how much encouragement you draw from friends and family. I've been so blessed by so many people and am always thrilled to see them all again!

Steph's shower
the gals.
jake and ashlyn are 2 peas in a pod.
dolls.

The In't Hout Family

Tonight I got to take family pictures for Kev and J and the gals. They turned out beautifully. We went at about 5:30pm and had a bit of rain towards the end...so that was a bummer, but the girls were fantastic and adorable as ever! It was Olivia's first photo shoot, so my camera was a bit drawn to her. Anyway...the pictures say way more than me rambling on and on.

Last Hoorah!!

Jamie came out to take me back home. We had such a great weekend!! She flew in Saturday night and we went out with the guys for some drinks. After struggling to get a cab, we finally got home at 3am (ya...that's 5am for J). Sunday morning we went to church and then to Heidi's Sandwich shop. We got home and went for a bike ride and then hung out at the park in the afternoon. We practiced our gymnastics and kicked around the soccer ball.


Monday morning was our hike...and boy was it a hike!! We got to 12,500 feet in elevation. The loop was about 5 hours long. We weren't thinking we would go that far, so we didn't take any food with us. By the top, all of our tummies were growling. Drew "was super proud of us girls" and we were so amazed by the views we were able to see.


The road trip was a good time and I am safely home. Enjoy the many photos. They were all so gorgeous, I couldn't decide which to post.

...on the road again...
wat leuk
trailin' it
"J Bird" is her new name becasue we discovered J's love for birds this trip.
At the summit: 12,500 feet: about 55 degrees F: legs=sore, arms=sore, tummies=hungry

my man
goodbye for now babe.

Californ-I-A

Things we did:

• Walked to breakfast (Martha Greens for French Toast)
  
• Jenny came down
• Went to the pool and had races (Julie and Nick vs. Mom, Jenny, and me)
  
• Silpada party
• Hiked a mountain in the blazing heat
  
• Thai food...mmm...and of course ate some frozen yoghurt

seriously yummy foods Julie made us:

• Apricot Bars
• Blueberry muffins
• Egg dish
• delightful French Toast &
  
• Berries 'n Cream

Things to check out:

• thepioneerwoman.com
• Regina Spektor (singer)
• stuffchristianslike.blogspot.com (simply hilarious)
• pink berry (frozen yoghurt store)

Nick and Eva in the salt water pool

We attempted to go hiking at Loch Leven, but as you can see, it was pouring...we tried to wait it out, but it was not letting up. We headed down the mountain and did a different hike.
What a beautiful view.
We were all sweating quite profusely, but after all those sweets, it was quite necessary.

Eva's 1 year pics

Enjoy some pics of Eva. She will be 1 year old on September 1...her golden birthday...already!! These are just a few of the adorable pictures of Eva Bear. I would love to get more practice, so if you are interested in having your kid's photos taken, let me know!

Garden of the Gods

Evie says to "Make this one funny"..... So I won't.

After church on Sunday, we went to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. This is a place of natural rock outcroppings that stand tall in the middle of a plateau. There are plenty of places to rock climb here, and we got a chance to see many thrill-seekers risking fate on the rock faces.
One of these risk taking daredevils goes by the name of Evile In't Hout. Her stunt included taking on a narrow crevice where claustrophobia quickly became an issue and she decided to turn around...... Crying (literally) out to her heroic man to come and "get her down". Instead of getting down, the Calvin Rec major became intrigued with the learning possibilities with the objective at hand and decided to climb to the top with her. This is where the story gets weird....

Once arriving at the summit. Evile turned from tears to smiles when she saw that the view was absolutely magnificint, and there was a little Dutch man all harnessed in peddeling Dropjes by the hundreds. "Aafje!" "Wil je en dropje heben?" So Evile took the dropjes and ate them by the hundreds... The only problem was that the crevice remained narrow and Evile's tummy grew larger. There was only one thing to do. Wait. After an hour passed, Evile turned to her heroic rec major and stated that she was ready to have her b.m. The current world record for a sky-dump is now 35 meters. On the way down, Evile shifted a rock, which fell on Drew's arm and he had to cut it off with a leatherman. Don't worry, he's just fine.

Pretty eventful day in Colorado. We'll keep you posted on our next journey, starring Jumpin' Jamie In't Hout.

sharing in the adventure

Mom came out to visit us for the day on her way to California to visit Nick, Julie, and Eva. She arrived at about 9am. After picking her up from the airport, we went to pick up the bikes at Keri and Beth's house. We drove to Royal Crest to try some of the chocolate milk and got rave reviews on it!!

It was quite important to me that mom enjoy her time in Denver, and I think we made that happen. We had a great bike ride and just hung out. Drew, mom, and I drove out to the mountains, grabbed some ice cream, and then headed downtown. We walked down 16th street (which is a walking mall--errig gezelig) and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. After a downpour, a glass of wine and some great conversation we headed back home to watch the opening ceremony for the olympics.

I loved having mom come out and see where I have called home for the past 2.5 months. Enjoy our pics for another enjoyable "day excursion".
The milk man and his soon-to-be wifey
Visiting Drew at Royal Crest
Mom and I on our bike ride through the garden at Wash Park
Lucile's for breakfast

A small birthday party

Last night was Andy Draayer's Birthday and so we decided to make him a cake, get him a keg (I realize the negative connotation that goes along with a keg, however it can't be that bad when 3/4 of it still remain), sing birthday songs, and have papa Joey tell some pretty lame jokes. Rachel and I went to go grab the cake and rushed home to make it before Andy got there. We all just sat around on Keri's patio and hung out in the company of some good people. This morning, Sunday, we went to Denver Community Church and then went to a breakfast place called Stella's in The Highlands. After which Drew and I went to register a bit more (this time at REI).

Keri and me
Rachel, me, and Keri
The patio
Keri displaying our work
Check out the cruiser bikes on the right. We took them out for a cruise last night as well.

Englewood, CO

I thought that I should take some pics of the guys house and garden, since there has been so much talk of it. I didn't want to forget the clothesline (going green one wash load hung outside at a time).
Each Zucchini plant has a veggie, the tomatoes have really grown in the last week, beans are sprouting like mad, peppers are coming along well, and of course the cilantro, well...a bit overpowering. Drew does a fine job of keeping that things watered down in this dry dry state.
Zucchini
Tomato
The backyard