Our 10 Year Anniversary

For our 10 year anniversary we took a few days for ourselves and went to South Lake Tahoe. I was longing for a rigorous hike (without kids), and Travis found a good one for us. Unfortunately, I injured my foot in a local race a few days before we left for Tahoe so I didn't think I would make it on a hike. But Travis knows how to push me on, so we tried a short hike we've done before to test my foot out. It hurt, but it was a good trial hike. Angora Lakes were as beautiful as always.

Angora Lakes

So the next day we went on the hike Travis had planned, with the option to turn around if I needed to stop. Thankfully I have incredible hiking shoes and a great hiking partner, so off we went. It was a six mile loop that would take us to two different lakes, Winnemucca and Round Top Lakes.

Winnemucca  Lake

I thought the view was beautiful, so I took many, many photos. Little did I know that we were actually going to hike to top quarter of the mountain that I was looking at. 

 Winnemucca Lake:

My foot was feeling okay, so we kept going... UP.

looking back at Winnemucca Lake

…and up. Then we came upon Round Top Lake

 We saw a trail leading up the mountain to the peak and someone on the trail. Travis (who has no fear) was ready to head to the top. I was a bit leery, but I told travis I would go as far as I could.

Looking back down on Round Top Lake. You can see the dirt trail on the bottom right of the picture:

The top of the mountain.

 Lake Tahoe in the far right of the picture:

I made it about 100 yards past this and then started to panic. It was the slippery shale that made feel like I would loose my footing at any moment and slide off the side of the mountain. Travis would have kept going if he had been on his own, and I told him I was fine waiting for him, but he decided to come back down with me because he didn't even have a hiking stick for stability (he has smartened up in his old age!)

 The view was amazing.

 Thank goodness for self-timer!

 On our way back down, where I finally felt comfortable taking pictures again:

 Back at the beginning of the hike. My foot made it, but it was throbbing at the end. Definitely worth it. The happy hour cocktails helped ease the pain, too ;P

That night was our actually anniversary night, and we were blessed to see this out our hotel window.

It's hard to believe that it has been 10 years, already. Feels like we got married just last year.

Father's Day

Father's Day is usually the weekend after Travis' birthday and we have been spending it at the cabin because it's also the start of the summer concert in the pines. Good music, dancing, and a great park with a climbing structure for the kids. 

But first, the presents :)

The "kids" picked out a dive watch for Travis (and it was exactly what he wanted- go figure!)

Grandpa made out like a bandit with a new hat and a new keep-cool pillow- because we all know he's a hot head ;P

We also put together a memory box with Grandpa Great's service items.

 A few pictures of Grandpa Great, his purple heart, and the bible that the Hilmar pastor gave him in the hospital in Germany…a pastor from back home just so happened to be stationed in the hospital that Grandpa was sent to after suffering from frostbite from walking for miles and miles in the frozen forests. The story that I've heard many times (and never get tired of hearing) is that the military doctors were going to amputate Grandpa's legs because they were so badly frozen. The pastor came to pray with Grandpa, and after recognizing Grandpa, pleaded with the doctors to give him more time because he knew Grandpa was a farmer and needed his legs in order to have a livelihood after the war. It worked, and my Grandpa was able to keep his legs. He was considered 40% disabled for the rest of his life, but that in no way held him back from becoming an incredibly successful man. In fact, if you knew my grandpa but didn't know the story, you would never have guessed that he had little feeling in his feet. After knowing the story, you can see how special that small bible is to all of us.

After a night of dancing an playing, we spent the next day helping my dad build the new table set for the deck of the cabin.
 This is the raw wood that will be a bench…to give it a little scale, those are my dad's size 12 feet on the right side of the picture.

 First step is to knock off all the bark:

Then some seesaw time :) 

After that, my dad does a few more steps and then it looks like this:

This is actually the table portion, and it's resting on the pool table in the garage. It's going to be a huge, beautiful work of art when it is finished!

 On our way home we stopped off at the air show in Columbia. I remember going to air shows with my dad when I was Adaline's age, and I'm so pleased that my kids are interested in going with their dad.

Maybe next time Travis will be flying the plane :)

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

June was unusually cool this year, so we were able to have a backyard barbecue to celebrate Travis' birthday. 

Happy Birthday, Travis! Cheers to the last year of your 30s…something tells me that it is just going to get better and better from here on out :)

Mother's Day

I tried to create a series of three photos for a keepsake photo (thanks, Pinterest!)

Fortunately for me, the kids didn't want to stand by themselves and hold the signs, they wanted to do it together, and this is what became of it all. 

Turned into a beautiful Mother's Day present for myself :)

Gymfest

Adaline has been taking gymnastics classes for a little over a year now and loves it. This year I signed her up for the annual "recital" which they call Gymfest. It was so cute to watch all the Kindergym families cheering on their gymnast. We did our fair share of cheering, too!

She was so proud of her medal! 

Here's to many more years of gymnastics!