From the Bolder Boulder to 4th of July, this is my largest post yet!!

4th of July again and this year may be one of our more memorable ones due to the weather. Took our friends the Tice's and their relatives visiting from Nebraska to what we thought was going to be a beautiful Colorado 4th of July.

Started out nice with some good food!

Brad with his ketchup and powdered sugar funnel cake (that's what we all thought-it's really strawberry jam)

Emily and Megan get ahold of the camera and take a few cute shots of themselves.

I just had to photoshop this one-too good to pass up

I took this shot behind my back without looking! Check out how the sky is turning!!!

Then the wind picked up and all the men had to hold our tent down. Joe has ahold of one of the poles! Notice little Andrew (Rebecca's nephew) in the stroller-he covered himself up entirely with his blankie to protect himself from the wind!

This is the point where we are all thinking "Should we stay or go?" Then the clouds opened up and the rain came down...

...and we packed it up and RAN! Sam under our wool blanket!

This was our wonderful weekend with the Wilson's, Jocelyn and Levi. We stayed at our Bishop's beautiful cabin in Tabernash, Co. The weather was terrific and although it was a weekend full of bumps, bruises and morning sickness, it was still lovely. Read on...

The first night we barbequed and Samantha was our waitress...Here she is getting Brad's order.

A really cool shot of the American flag thru the window taken by EMILY! She took many of the photos that are posted (like this one of me that is not half bad! Thank you Ems!) She is becoming a great photographer

Ma and Pa Acker sittin' by the fire

A Sam and Dad moment

Sam checking in with the kitchen about her dinner orders!

I told Emily to go into the trees and act like "Bella" in Twilight. Great interpretation.

Brad played a game of ping pong...or should I say Levi played with the help of Brad!

On Saturday we took a stroll into Winter Park...

...and that is when Levi fell off a 3 ft. wall at the playground and got a huge goose egg on his forehead. Before long he was playing and smiling again, thank goodness! I love this photo, looks like he is saying "uh-ohhh, goose egg."

Christopher climbed down a tree from the cabins deck and to his surprise the last two branches that he grabbed onto were dead and SNAP! He fell to the ground (I would guess about a 6 ft. drop!)

Here he is...alive...with the two dead branches along side him! Luckily his head didn't hit the large rock above him! Ugh!

To calm his nerves after his fall, Joe took him for a walk and played patty cake with him on the old tree log. Actually, that isn't true. I have no idea what they are doing here.

And what is a weekend in the mountains without pedicures and Teen Beat magazine?

Jocelyn and Levi. What a hard working mommy she is!

Melanie and I enjoying the mountain view

Levi had all the kids retrieving the beach ball each time he threw it off the patio!

Emily took these next few photos of Levi and Sam

Finally it was time for SMORES!!

My brother sure loves being a Grandpa

A game of catch in the mornin'

So cute. We are so blessed.

And to top it off driving up Berthoud Pass we saw a moose on the side of the road on our way home! So cool.

Emily joined a swim team this summer and has loved it. This is one of her meets.

Megan and Maddy Tice with Ems

We shared a great afternoon at Red Rocks with my family. Not the most exciting event, but one that we all enjoyed very, very much.
Brad is always exploring outside of the beaten path. Emily hates it and gets very nervous when he gets to close to the edge.

Doesn't Joe look like one of the Big Foot sightings that you see in the tabloid magazines?

Samantha and her dirty shoes after our hike. Notice her sad face.Finally, wings at Willy's Wings in Morrison, CO.

In May we had Samantha's Dance Recital. We love watching her dance hip hop. She was awarded Best Overall in Dance and Performance! I tries to upload her video here but Blogger denied me...ugh!

Emily's 7th grade year included volleyball. She had a great serve that usually earned her team some points.

She looks so grown up in this photo I just had to include it!Emily and Megan before their final 7th grade choir performance. It was called the "Boogie Fever" concert and I enjoyed it very much because I could sing along to every song from the 70's.

They even did their own rendition of the ever popular "Feelings"

A crowd of Emily Acker's... fooling around with photoshop

Do you ever come across photos on your digital camera that you weren't suppose to see? These are a few of Samantha and Maddie at their private modeling photo shoot. I got such a kick out of these especially this one of Sam and her tomahawk.

Our first lemonade stand of the summer. Samantha, Maddie and Kira made $3.00 a piece. They weren't happy with their sales and screamed at any passerby to stop!A fun Saturday morning at a Kid's Festival put on by South Suburban. Wasn't sure what to expect-the girls had fun and I had to practically drag Joe to each booth. Here is the life size checkers board.

Face Painting...

life size chess and Joe bugging the girls

Still bugging them...

Craft table!

Joe and his sad excuse for a craft.

life size Chutes and Ladders! Wheeeeeee!

Poor Joe, bored to tears. He just came along because he knew I was going to buy lunch afterwards.

MEMORIAL DAY 2010-THE BOLDER BOULDER 10K! Here are our runners...Brad, Joe, Nick Tice, Emily and Megan Tice

Joe doing his deep knee bends to warm up!

Megan over applying the sunblock

The first to come into the finish line...Inspirational!!The Kearns and their smiling faces! Jason finished in the top 50, I believe.

Here comes my Brad!!

The girls were great spectators and cheered everyone on!Brad and our buddy, Ken Kearns

After a few hours, Maddie and Sam got creative and started organizing all the free stuff they collected. I thought it was cute how they lined them all up.John, Rebecca and Nick Tice

Blowing bubbles onto the runners

Sam, me , Rebecca and MaddyHere comes Joe!

The Avatar people were a big hit!

Here come the girls-laughing all the way, of course!

Family and friends!!

Our handsome boys

Harassing the Little Caesar's Pizza guy

The men in uniform were so impressive this day as they stood at attention for the remainder of the race as runners came in and the crowd was cheering

The men's competitive Ethiopia team ran together neck in neck the entire race and decided to finish together as a team, holding hands. It was thrilling to watch!

I have always thought Brad has a perfect profile to make into a scultpure. Yes, I am still smitten after all these years.

Moving onto Youth Conference in Winter Park-Joe with a plethora of girls (one being his cousin Taylor)

Getting prepped for ropes course with Taylor

Joe climbing "Jacob's Ladder"

Finally got around to taking my kids out for annual photo session. It was hot and sticky and we were all hungry. That being said, I think they turned out great!