The 23rd of June we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary by going on a wild flower hike.  We were passed by about 40 men on mountain bikes as we climbed the Colorado trail by Kenosha Pass.  It was a beautiful day and I'm very thankful to be married to Mark who really wanted to be on a mountain bike but waited patiently for me to shoot my camera.

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 Orange Paintbrush

Colorado Blue columbine

 Shooting star

 Purple Fringe

 Tall Fringed Blue Bells

Prickly Rose

 Tall Penstemon

Shrubby Cinquefoil
But the most plentiful flower of the day was this happy yellow flower.  Here is mark standing in a whole mountainside of them.

Yellow pea sea.

My 46th Birthday Party

Danica threw me a birthday party.  There was an amazing pirate ship which had flaming sails.  There was a huge delicious meal followed by (this was truly incredible) a chocolate Godiva cheesecake.  mmmmm  I ate way too much and got sick.  Considering that Danica is sick most the week, I am very impressed at the sacrifice.  Actually Dave does make great whipped mashed potatoes in the Kitchenaide mixer  :)

Gender Stereotyping - Opposite of mom?

Have you ever noticed that at Halloween most little girls are princesses and most boys dress as super heroes? My human growth and development textbook lists age 5 as the time when children tend to categorize themselves into male or female. In the social learning model they model their behavior after either their mom or their dad. So will someone please explain this to me???? My daughter Danica is tomboy, she played rugby in high school. As a mother she MIGHT put on makeup and a skirt for church, but it's sweatpants and jeans the rest of the week.

But her Lily. Oh my. Last Sunday Lily put on the sleeping beauty costume at my house and danced and lept around the room as Danica and I sang "I know you, I know what you'll do, you'll love me at once". Then she put on the Ariel costume and flipped her fish tail as we sang "Part of your world" then she thrust her little arms up into the air for the finale of the song. Where didthis feminine creature come from??????

Contrast that to this: Celeste is a little more of a girly mom, especially when it comes to acting and theatre. But her 5 year old daughter Brooklyn......well, she doesn't exactly fit the gender stereotype of princess. Brooklyn was invited to a sleeping beauty birthday party and was supposed to dress as either a princess or a knight. Brooklyn wanted to be a knight with a sword and "because knights rescue people". When the father of the birthday girl jumped out at a dragon, the little princesses ran away. Not Brooklyn. She and the boys fought the dragon with their swords. After a few minutes the boys lost interest, but not Brooklyn. she fought for another half hour. She asked for a pirate coat for her birthday. (sigh) I just don't get this.

Christmas 2012

It started with the ward Christmas Party on the 5th and ended today when I took Aussie to the airport at 0'dark thirty. What a wonderful season full of family and happiness. Here is the px that Brad photoshopped for us. It was so great to have Tiana and Preston come for a few days and Aussie come for 10 days. Highlights:

1) The Home Pagent where we dressed Lily up as Mary and JJ as Joseph. Danica's Chinese exchange students were wisemen. Charley couldn't get over her costume and kept saying "I an angel!"

2) Making table runners. Watching Danica's kids so she could make gifts. (still so sick with her pregnancy, this was a huge effort for her)

3) "dates" with JJ and Lily were we make a gingerbread tree and played in the dollhouse respectively.

4) the beautiful snow, and boys to ski and board on it at copper mountain

5) We were in charge of The ward Christmas party (as the newest members of the ward) and we got to know some great people. Kyle Ankerman did the food and the chicken Marsala was the best we've ever tasted at a church building. Mark did the entertainment and people told their experience with a Christmas Hymn and then we sang it....all the while there was a beautiful slide show of px of Christ.

6) Family, Family, Family. Preston can be so friendly and interested in everyone. Tiana was so excited to be pregnant and fun to shop with, fun to show the things she decorated in my house., Aussie hung with Dave, helped alot and acts older and mature, having a career does wonders for the self-esteem. Our trainer was really impressed with his bulk and chiseledness since she last saw him. The grand kids squealing with delight at their new toys. We all rode the lightrail downtown to visit Dave at work and eat lunch downtown.