We are off to visit the most photographed mountains in the USA 🇺🇸

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

We are very excited to get out of town for Independence Day weekend. A long weekend to explore Aspen!

We are stopping along the way to spend some time in Leadville. Cannon has been talking about Crocodile pizza for a month now.

Anyone been to Aspen in the summer? We have not and are so excited!

We are spending the day hustling to get ready for a weekend away.

We are headed to Aspen for a long weekend and I am super excited!

We have only visited once in the winter of 2011 so it feels like the first time!

Before heading out we visited on of our favorite splash pads and playgrounds.

Emmy convinced me that she didn’t need a nap but then fall asleep four minutes into our car ride. She really doesn’t want to nap but really needs to most days.

We got Cannon a haircut and this was the post they gave me. The matching outfits were completely unintentional.

We had ice pops in the yard while waiting for Cory to come home.

I enjoyed Rob’s Leadman episodes 1 and 2 while getting in a short run.

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What are your plans for the weekend?

If you have kids when did they stop napping? Cannon stopped napping by the time he turned 3

Would you ever attempt Leadman? From the Leadville website:

I can say with hight confidence that this will never be something I will attempt. My big crazy goal is just to run a 100 someday.

It’s July!!!

While I don’t like how fast this summer is going I am excited for July, there is a lot of fun to be had this month and a lot of goals to work on. It’s 4th of July, Tour de France and Olympics month! I am sure this month will go even faster than last month!

Some highlights from June were:

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Visiting our neighborhood pool, a lot!

Cannon went to bike camp to work on learning to ride with pedals.

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We celebrated Cannon turning 5.

We worked on our kitchen re-model….so close!

We went to Steamboat Springs for Father’s Day.

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We went to playgrounds and played with friends a lot!

It was a hot June for us and we took advantage by spending lots of time in the water. I am dissapointed that we didn’t camp and hike more, but that’s just a goal to set for July.

July Goals:

• Take the kids hiking on my own
• At least two camping trips
• 4 hikes
• More cross training
• At least 120 hours outside

http://chasingmyjoy.com/8728-2/

We started our day outside in our back yard.

It was such a nice way to start the day! Also I love the rainbows in this photo.

We attended a library story time for the first time in a year and a half.

It was held outside with plenty of room, the kids loved it.

Emmy missed Cory so much since he has been back in the office so we grabbed our lunch and had a picnic at Cory’s work. Cannon was sad that he didn’t get to go into the building to see the spaceship. But we did enjoy seeing Cory and some of his coworkers outside the office.

We spent the rest of the day running errands and playing at home.

Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Corn and Tomatoes

We had this shrimp pasta for dinner and it was amazing!

It has been very nice that we are having a bit of cool down this week. June was hot for us, but nothing like what has been happening in the North West! I feel for everyone up there, Portland hit 116 degrees!

It has been nice to spend the evenings outdoors when earlier this summer it was too hot to be outside past 11 AM

This is what our week looks like.

I did some “back to school” shopping for Cannon. I can’t believe how big he is getting and that in less than two months he will be going to Kindergarten .

The women at Western States seemed to handle the heat better overall than the men and it was an amazing race. Women’s Running has a great article about it:

At Western States 100, Women Really Showed Up—and Made History

How do you feel about running in the heat? I still hate it 😉

Anyone else feeling like summer is half over already? It’s not really, but middle of next week it will be, the weeks are speeding by way too fast! Before all we are talking about is back to school I though I would share some of our summer favorites.

I just picked up these Team USA shirts to celebrate the Olympics.

I posted these summer essentials before when we were running off to swim lessons every morning. I love my Yeti mug because it’s huge and it keeps my coffee hot. I love the kids Hydro Flak water bottles, they are cute and they keep their ice water cold longer than any other bottle we have tried. The white bottle in the middle is not my favorite, I will be looking to upgrade soon.

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We have been living at the pool this summer and have loved Cat and Jack swimsuits from Target.

The best summer shoes we have ever tried are Natives. They are light and fine in the water, I think they are so cute. Emmy often wears Cannon’s hand-me-downs but this year we got her a pink pair.

I have been living in my Birkenstocks, they are so comfortable and supportive.

When we need to wear masks in the heat we really like these “active” masks from Old Navy. They are comfortable and lighter then other ones we have tried.

Lastly I love this candle for the summer. We burn candles all year and this one has a nice summery scent.

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What are you loving this summer?

We had a great little weekend!

Emmy “read” me this entire book, it was precious.

It rained….a lot, and we needed it!

Started watching Le Tour de France.

Finally hung some art in Emerald’s room.

Watched a bit of Wester States, it was an exciting year!

We were very grateful for some sunshine for Cannon to enjoy his birthday gift.

Cannon chose homemade banana cake, and I was happy yo make it for him.

And we played in the yard, it was simple and good and reminded me how lucky we really are.

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How was your weekend?

It’s been a big day and I don’t have the luxury of just watching sports all day, I have been keeping an eye on Western States today.

Jim Walmsley just came in almost 90 minutes ahead of the competition. The women are still out there in a heated competition.

Hoka One One and Buff has sponsored an amazing live feed!

Check it out!

I can’t believe we are closing out our 4th week of summer! Over a third of the summer is done and I feel like it’s still just started.

We have been up to our usual summer playlist.

Visiting the library for books and DVDs (for car trips) I am excited that they have started story time back up outside and can’t wait to attend.

We read books.

I started prepping for Cannon’s birthday party this weekend. It’s just a small party for family since we had a little pool party for him on his birthday but it’s still fun to put together party favor bags.

We relaxed and watched Disney’s Luca (very cute).

I had to clean off our chalk board, I loved this one that my mom mad for Emmy’s birthday but it’s past due to have one up for Cannon’s birthday.

We went swimming a bunch

And we watched a thunder storm….

Then danced in the rain!

What did you get up to this week?