Breckenridge on the Fourth of July

Continuing in our annual tradition, we went up to Breckenridge on the fourth of July.

Of course, our first stop is Starbucks, the best one ever.

Jessalyn, Hannah's "Thorn" roommate, came too.

The professional chalk drawings were impressive as always.

Didn't know you can go all 3-D with chalk!

Goofing around. Hannah and Jessalyn took lots of pictures.

The baskets of flowers are always gorgeous. Trying to get people to pose, however, is not always easy.

And here we have Hope, who decided to fly this year. There is no way you would find me doing this.

Watching Hope doing crazy things.

Family photo in our Old Navy Flag Tees. Because of course.

Putting this here because it didn't make it into the wedding shots earlier. This makes me laugh.  You'd think no one in the picture had ever seen a camera before...

Hope at her riding lesson today. She is getting ready for a show and needs to prepare for it. One neighbor that she works for took her on a long ride on her horses earlier this week. She is loving the riding time!  I wish that we could have horses, but we are thankful for the opportunities that Hope has found to indulge her passion.

Hope and Jacob's Snapchat Fun

What we do for excitement around here.

Allison's Photos

As mentioned in the wedding photos of Doug and Shanan, our niece Allison and her husband Brandon have a pretty exciting life.

This is Brandon slack lining like a normal person.

And this is what he does for fun on the weekends.

Allison is the photographer.

She slack lines like a normal person.

So cute!

When slack lining over mountains gets boring, there is always the unicycle.

Pictures Snagged From Allison

Doug and Shanan's Wedding

On Saturday, June 25th, our nephew Doug married Shanan here in Colorado.

These are Brian's pictures, so hopefully Hannah's will be much better since she was the official photographer.  This photo is of Doug, Shanan, Harlan and Rhonda.

This photo is of Doug's family- parents, sister Allison and her husband Brandon, both sets of grandparents.

And pretty much the same photo again..

Brian taking selfies with his older brother Marty.

Then nephew Brandon jumps in. Brandon is an amazing slack liner. He has recently taken up the unicycle and is continuing to amaze us with his skills.

The Bride and Groom with Harlan and a neighbor (not sure of his name).

Hannah took lots of photos.  Cousin Allison is also an excellent photographer and she helped Hannah.

Brandon and Allison have been married for two years.  He does the incredible slack lining, she takes the amazing photos.

Leaving the church. 

At the reception with Uncle Harlan.

Late Spring

Hope is preparing to enter a horse show in July. Her trainer at the new riding place wanted her to enter, so here we go. We have no idea what to expect- should be an adventure.

Brian got an app for his phone that enhances the colors in photos. Our wildflowers are out in full force, but of course we are the only ones in our neighborhood with flowers. All the other neighbors have sprayed their fields so much that nothing but grass will grow. 

Hope is working on a drawing for Aunt Rhonda of her dog, Kona.  She looks like a big version of our dog.

Jacob venturing out for his first solo drive, now that he got his license last week. He has driven the family around and taken his sisters places, but had never driven all alone. He was nervous but did fine.

And finally, Pip asleep on Brian's desk as he works from home. He loves just hanging out with whoever will be still for awhile. 

And in other news, we had company.

Harlan, Brian's oldest brother and his wife were out from California to help their son Doug move apartments. They came over for dinner one night and we talked about Doug's upcoming wedding.

Last we heard, Doug was getting married next Spring, but they decided to get married before he deployed rather than after he returned so that Shanan could receive the spouse benefits while he is away.

So, one picture of us looking nice and smiley, the other showing our true selves...

A Few Pictures From Jacob's Graduation

With Mr. Ong, the founder of the school, whose wife had to call from England (where they were last month) to advocate for Jacob.

It was certainly a bittersweet ceremony for us, knowing what we had to do for Jacob to receive the diploma that was rightfully his.  Jacob decided a couple of days before that he did want to participate in the ceremony, so Hannah was already scheduled for work and couldn't come. But the five of us celebrated Jacob's hard work and marked this milestone in his life.