breck

We were all pretty excited for the long weekend. We are back in our groove for school and work and it’s nice to have a little quiet time to ourselves. We took a few days off and went up to the mountains. We explored, read books, colored, played games and just enjoyed the time together.

I didn’t take many pictures of our adventures, but managed to grab a few when we stopped in town and hit the hot tub.

Pretty excited that we picked up A LOT of Mountain Mary cookies

The girls have really upped their shuffleboard game. They have both gotten pretty darn good. We played several pretty intense games. I love it!

It was pretty chilly up in the mountains. The girls were excited to take a dip in the hot tub.

We headed back early Sunday morning to meet friends for a BBQ. That extra day to sleep in on Monday was pretty great too.

bmk | stroganoff, paprikash, tenders, chimis

When I arrived at the kitchen for our Thursday lunch I was pleasantly surprised to find so many goodies waiting for me. B had been a cooking fool this morning!

B had four different dishes for me to photograph and then we got to eat a bit of everything for lunch. Thursday has quickly become my favorite day of the week. I don’t ever want to take this for granted. I’m a lucky gal and that B is one talented chef.

Beef and Bean Chimichangas

Waiting for the egg noodle dishes to be plated up. Everything is just better at Blue Mountain Kitchen.

Chicken paprikash

Beef Stroganoff

This has always been one of my favorites and it certainly did not disappoint today.

Baked Chicken Tenders

We had so much food. After lunch we still had LOTS left. B packed it all up for us for the holiday weekend. We are going to be eating well!

field day

I have volunteered to be the yearbook coordinator for the girls’ school this year. I basically have to attend important events, take pictures, and with the help of the yearbook crew (students grades 5th -8th) compile the yearbook at the end of the year.

This seems like a perfectly good fit for me, because I like an excuse to be at the school that doesn’t bug my children and I clearly enjoy taking pictures. Seems like a pretty fit for my service hours.

This morning was field day so I hopped on over to catch some photos of the action. I took tons more of all the students, but here are a few of my favorites of my girlies and their friends. The girls had a great time and Annabelle’s team ended up with the 1st place win!

braces

We officially have two brace faces!

We waited a while to get these braces. The girls needed a few teeth to fall out and a few more to grow in. Finally poor Gwyneth had a tooth grow in on the roof of her mouth an another one coming in even more wonky and enough was enough. It was time!

I think they are lucky because they have each other to commiserate over the pain. And there was most certainly pain this weekend. We did a whole lot of nothin’ as they recuperated this weekend. We had lots of soft, mushy foods and they watch lots of movies. Their mouths were so, so sore, but they sure do look cute!

bmk | green chili chicken enchiladas

With the girls back at school, B and I finally have time to tackle some of the projects on our to-do lists. One of those things was updating the pictures on the BMK website.

This is a lovely plan for me because I get to take pictures (LOVE!) and I get to eat the food that B makes for the pictures (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!).

We started today with his most popular dish and strangely enough one that I have never tried. He made green chili chicken enchiladas and they were AH.MAZ.ING! Holy cow, I could eat those everyday.

Here’s a few pics from our fun little lunch photo shoot. I can’t wait for the next round. Yum, yum, yum!

rockies and pancakes

We hopped right back into the swing of things around here. The early morning alarm clock is not welcome, but the return of schedules and structure sure is. I like to have a plan and being back in school and in a routine certainly helps with that.

We had tickets to the baseball game Tuesday night but only B and Annabelle could attend because Gwyneth had dance classes. They got there early…but not too early. There should have been more people than THIS. They had the place to themselves and it never really filled up that night. It was a pretty dreary night for a baseball game. Besides B dropping his hot dog right on the ground after one bite, they said they had a great time and didn’t mind the lack of other fans. (I had a good laugh when he texted me that little tid-bit about his hot dog…it may have included a few choice expletives, but he was good natured about it and Annabelle shared her nachos with him.)

Gwyneth has PE and three hours of dance on Tuesdays. Mentally she’s up for the challenge, but physically her leg is giving her a hard time. I’ve asked her if she would like to skip class until she has surgery, but she won’t have it. Her BFF is in all 3 of her dance classes and since they don’t go to school together she would never miss the opportunity to see her.

After class I had planned to make dinner at home, but Gwyneth mentioned pancakes so….

That girl loves her breakfast!

She’s a tiny little thing, but she can eat! I watched in amazement as she polished all of this off…

1st day of 5th and 6th grade

And just like that, summer is over.

Locker combinations have been mastered. Lunches packed. Let the new school year begin.

Gwyneth had a rough night. She was so very, very excited and just could not fall asleep. She finally dozed off around 1 am. She hopped right out of bed when her alarm went off; all smiles and ready to tackle 5th grade.

Annabelle didn’t seem the least bit phased for the first day of school. She was relaxed and excited…except about math. She’s a little worried about math, which is weird to me, because she’s really good at it. Once she gets in their and starts learning her stuff I think her heart will be ease…even with algebra.

After a full school day, we had to divide and conquer. Gwyneth went straight to dance for 2 hours of poms and ballet while Annabelle went to volleyball practice and then to dance for an hour of tap. We all met up at home and everyone collapsed on to the couch. The girls had nothing but wonderful things to say about their school teacher, dance teachers, friends, etc, etc etc. This is going to be a great year!

broncos vs bears

What a night!

Our fab friends, the Tylers, sold us their Bronco season tickets for this season and we have been so excited planning for our first game. The Broncos played the Bears which could not have been more perfect for the girls’ first NFL game.

Annabelle sported her Bears gear, but she was rooting for the Broncos right along with us. The girls asked lots of questions and were hooked on the action. It was actually just a bit chilly, nothing like our December games will be, but our seats are pretty high up and felt a bit of a windy chill.

We had such a blast! The Broncos lost but thankfully this was just a pre-season game. Our first regular season game is in just two weeks and we can hardly wait!! Go Broncos!!

great wolf lodge

All the schools around us started back this week, but our gals were lucky enough to have a few more days of summer vacation. I did a little research and found an awesome deal for a few days at Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs. The rooms were more than 50% off so we snapped up the deal and headed down for 2 nights.

Our first day there we practically had the place to ourselves. It was great! We spent most of our time in the wave pool, but managed to do a few water slides too. There no lines and the girls were thrilled!

B had to be in the Kitchen on Wednesday so the girls and I were on our own during the day. Luckily he was able to make it down to meet us for dinner.

We were up bright and early the next morning for another day at the water park.

Our last day was a quiet one too. The girls decided to skip the water park and spent the morning playing mini golf, bowling, and doing the ropes courses. B had to head back to work, but the girls and I stuck around until after lunch time. We realized a storm was heading in so we packed up and hit the road so we could beat the hail. We made it home just in time and headed right to the girls’ school for their open house. It was a really great few days of swimming and fun with these little ladies. I can’t believe we are counting down for the first day of school already….

fairy tale treats camp

Today was the last day of summer camps at Blue Mountain Kitchen. It has been a busy, busy summer in that kitchen and B hosted some really great camps for the kids. They learned a lot and had plenty of fun too.

Today’s theme was Fairy Tale Treats and it was fabulous. The kiddos made Sword in the Stone donuts, Princess Cupcakes, Snow White Caramel Apples, and Alice’s Mad Tea Party Cucumber Sandwiches and Tea. B gave them instruction and then they set off to make their creations. It was hands-on and they really made their way around the kitchen. Gwyneth pulled me aside and said “this camp is awesome!”.

It was a smaller group, with only 6 kids attending. Many of the local schools are already back in session. Having a smaller group is pretty nice though and all the kids, AND B, really enjoyed it.

Snow White’s Caramel Apples…they opted for sprinkled apples instead of poison apples