My Colorado Girl

We moved back to Colorado in September and in October they allowed so in person “hybrid” schooling. You have to wear a mask at all times and stay 6ft. apart. You are very happy with it. It feels great to be in school. 

I am very nervous about it, but your courage and determination inspires me to be brave. 

Although when we get emails saying a case or two have been reported I freak out. I kept you home one day which did not make you happy. For me being safe and keeping you guys safe is my top priority so sometimes that’s going to be me making hard choices and you not being happy. I’m so sorry. This whole pandemic is unfair. 

You deserve better. You deserve to be in class during your final year of elementary school. You deserve to run at recess and laugh at a lunch table. You deserve to make friends and trick or treat and have your last years of childhood without being afraid of a deadly virus. I am so sorry. 

We are making the best of it though. 

Your sweet attitude and ability to have FUN in all we do makes life wonderful. We honestly barely know there is a pandemic going on. 

Bike rides in CO are gorgeous!

I love your beautiful braids!

You do them yourself!!! Amazing. 

Girl! You are shaving your legs!

I taught you a while ago in CA, but it’s still crazy to see you doing it. 

You’re just the cutest lil bug. 

Your beautiful hair is my favorite. 

Oh wait. I change my mind, your beautiful smile is my favorite. 

Nothing makes you smile more than APPLE NACHOS!

You can’t up with this awesome Halloween costume!

SURVIVOR!!

There could not be a better costume during COVID! 

You outwitted us all! 

We Halloween’d it up at home. 

I threw us a big Harry Potter day and you had so much fun. 

You said, “I forgot how much I like Harry Potter things”. 

Never forget my love!

Always. 

 

Shine Bright As You Grow

This little love wanted to go on a walk with me today. I loved it! She's so sweet and curious. Our one on one time is my favorite. Man these pictures really show me how much she is growing up. She's balancing between childhood and teenager, feeling all the emotions that come with it too. She has the biggest heart though and is very tender. It is a blessing to watch her grow up...I can't help wish she were still my little buddy on my hip though, she was my bestest friend!

Brynnly I am so blessed to be your mom.

You have given me hope, peace, and joy every day of your life.

You have shown me a softer way of looking at the world and appreciating all the grace God gives us.

I love your enthusiasm for life and how you appreciate everything.

You love things so deeply, especially your people.

You are wonderful!

You are incredible and I want you to always let your light shine, because you are a natural leader and shining star!!

Your influence will always reach far beyond you.

Moving Day!

 You and I were driving buddies!

Dad and B drove the other truck and Julia drove the van with Lauren!

We pulled out of Continente at about 12:00. We were hoping to get to the NV/UT border by 9pm. 

Best Friends and Road Trip Buddies!

Brynnly took my picture driving that big ol' truck! I was a little nervous at first, but caught on real quick. 

I took a picture of her...

 

My little roadie got tuckered out quick.  We had a fun time texting Lauren and Julia with emojis only that they had to guess what we were referring to, then they'd send us some.  We loved it!

The drive was looooong. We finally rolled onto our new street in the late evening.

We were excited to go in together and see our house for the first time. It felt beautiful and strange. It did not feel like home. That overwhelmed Lauren and she cried real hard. That made me cry! I knew we were just exhausted and overwhelmed. Everything would be better in the morning. We did start unloading a little though, in hopes of finding beds to sleep on. We were in luck we found my mattress and the box of sleeping bags. Brynnly didn’t even need that! But I got her settled on one after I took this sweet picture.  

This little sweet pea made the transition so happy when we were feeling so sad. She was delighted, overjoyed, and thrilled with this house  she said it was the best house we’ve ever had. She made my heart feel at peace and see the joy. That’s Brynnly, she’s always been our brightness! 

Lake Tahoe....again

 Our LAST weekend in CA and we decided to go to Lake Tahoe one more time to play in the water!

We went to King's Beach and it was sooooo fun!

We lucked out by getting there early (waking up at 5am pays off!)

We got the last jet ski slot for the whole day!  This was an unexpected decision, but what the heck, our last Saturday in our vacatio life... GO FOR IT!!!

It was AWESOME!!!

Ryan first took the Bs out...

Old Mama got on and off like a pro! I drove that sucker fast too...it was so much fun!  I stayed pretty safe though, because Brynnly was with us and on the back and I kept worrying she'd fly off!  Plus she was freaked out.  

Best Friends!

You are just THEEEEE cutest little bug in a ....life jacket! ;)

You loved Lake Tahoe.

I am so proud of how brave you are and adventurous!

Before we left we got some souvenirs and ice cream!

First Day of 5th Grade

Brynnly on her first day!

I can not believe this is her last year of Elementary school!

My last baby in elementary school.

Such a bummer of a way to wrap up this era, but maybe they'll be back in person before next May?

That is the great hope right now!!

She has been a champ adjusting to the online platform.

She even was excited.  She is definitely a leader and Ryan gives me updates as he listens to her interact with her class and teacher. She's the bomb!

I love she wore her tie-dye shirt and pj pants! Ha!! There has to be some perks of online school.

I love that this technology exists so she can start in CO even though we are still in CA.

She really is missing out on absolutely nothing, it is incredible!

So many things during this pandemic have really played to our advantage!

Lake Tahoe

This was the first time I had ever seen Lake Tahoe.

It was overwhelmingly gorgeous!

When we turned the corner and it was just there it literally took my breath away!

I had no idea!

We had no idea what we were doing.

So we parked because you could tell that parking was an issue and we walked to where we thought we were going. But it was the wrong way and treacherous behind the guardrail! So dumb!

We did get some gorgeous pictures though...

 

We happenstance found the trailhead.

We played Hunger Games at this awesome open area at the base of the trailhead.

The pine cones we chucked were HUGE though and we had some injuries! YIKES!

This was a GOOD HIKE!

It was challenging enough..probably felt harder than it was becasue we been held up in a house for 5 months! Our bodies were surprised to be moving for real again and for a consistent amount of time. It helped so much that a little rain could hung over the sun on our way back so we were kept cool. THANK YOU JESUS!!!!

We played a little in the water, but everyone is nursing some INTENSE sunburns, 

so we couldn't stay too long. Blisters had developed on everyone at this point and it was no good!

Girls Trip!

It is OFFICIAL:

We are MOVING back to Colorado!

So my exploring mind went into hyperdrive and knew I had to check off a few final bucket list items...

first on the list, visit Solvang, California.

Next stop- tacos in Santa Barbara!!!

This is a favorite stop of our for delicious tacos and a gorgeous view.

Next Stop: Downtown Disney!

Disneyland is still closed, but we could go and shop and eat.

We did some reminiscing and I shed a few tears.

Me and My Girls In Our Favorite Place!

So this trip was supposed to be a one day thing, but I was tired and wanted to go to a beach, so we slept in the van in a Beverly Hills neighborhood!  Too funny!!

We could not get over the houses we were driving by!  This state is so nuts that there is such a disparity of wealth.  We felt very safe and actually slept pretty well.  We took off around 6am and headed home.  I remembered seeing Ventura beach on our way into So Cal and thought that would be a better beach than the ones we drove to in Santa Monica that were teeming with homeless people.  It is soooo bad in LA.  We drive past tents after tents that had America flags on them, I knew they must have been government issued to try and give them shelter and space during COVID, but man it is obviously not enough.  They homeless population there is explosive!  We're talking thousands and so ver y very mentally ill and filthy.  It is unconscionable in the United States that people are living like that.

We headed North...

We eventually made it to Ventura Beach and we were so happy!

This was a NICE beach!!

I don't know if it was because it was a weekday, or it was early in the morning, but it was almost empty!

My little baby love, loves her mama...

This was such a fun trip, I hope it becomes a tradition for us in the future, to just take time to be together.

I love us!