Random Pics

 Just a few pictures from the fun weekend - we sure enjoyed having Gwyn and Jasmine stay at our house!  Glenn cooked them pancakes one morning!

And took them for a ride and over to the rental one day!

Evan and Parker walked over one day to visit - of course you can walk right by the swing so Parker decided to try it out - oops - the rope was VERY worn and busted the seat right off - probably a good thing he did it and not Gwyn!!  But that old rope has done MANY MANY rides over the past 10 years!!

A bunch went over to Cripple Creek to see Rita the troll and found that the skating rink was open so a few of them skated and had a great time!

Rayna and her boyfriend Jarod getting ice cream over there!

Glenn also took the girls to the NEW Florissant playground - they had a great time!!  Now just so you don't think I didn't do anything with the girls, well I sure did as we played lots of cards!!

A great weekend for all!

Cornhole Fun!

 It was sure nice having 2 of the families right across the meadow in the rental - there was a LOT of back and forth between everyone!

Sunday we had a cornhole tournament over at the rental!  The weather was perfect (at least for a while!)

Jessi and Jaime

We were all inside when it started raining like crazy!!  But just for a short time and then a beautiful rainbow came out!

Whoops - this picture got out of place - but it's just a bunch of us sitting around after the tournament!

We had an excellent dinner all together and then celebrated Kylans' birthday!

The kids had found a jigsaw puzzle so really tried hard to finish it but that didn't happen!

Robby, Aleah and Parker had left Saturday night because the kids needed to study for finals (they weren't out of school yet!!)  Kenzie had to leave that night also because she had to work on Sunday morning!

But the rest of them left early Monday morning - Jessi's stopped over at our house of course to pick up the two girls and they all had a safe trip home!

Kylan's House Party

 After graduation we all headed out to Jaime and Brad's place for lunch and the afternoon!!

Lunch was served and it was great!!  But the cake was even better!!  YUM!

And of course we took all the mandatory graduation pictures!

Enjoying the cake and punch!

It's always fun to get an updated cousin picture!

The cousins were all downstairs playing a game so I snuck down and snapped a couple of pictures!  This is Brad's daughter Shannon and her husband Robby from New York - we so enjoyed meeting him and catching up with Shannon!

A perfect graduation day!!  And the fun continues.......

Kylan's Graduation

 Kylan's graduation day dawned cool but sunny!!  For a while there, we all thought they may have to move it inside due to a rainy forescast (which meant each graduate only got 6 tickets so none of us would be going, just watching it online) but the school made the decision to have it outside and it was a GREAT decision!

We all brought our camp chairs and set up in the grass - we did wear coats most of the time as it was chilly but the sun was bright so it was a wonderful service!

The graduates marched in while the band played!

Kylan receiving his diploma!

The graduates are all ready to move their tassels on their caps!

One smiling graduate with beautiful Pikes Peak in the distance!

And a picture of a few of us as we were all heading to our cars!

Onward to Jaime and Brad's house for lunch and the afternoon!

Family Time Before Graduation

 The day before graduation, Jessi's and Jill's family arrived along with Gale and Kris from Iowa - they had booked the rental through VRBO which is right across our back property - we can see the house from ours through the trees!!

Jessi got here first with Gwyn and Kenzie - Gary and Evan were on a motorcycle trip and arrived that evening.  I had Gwyn's birthday present to give her so they stopped here for a while so she could open her present!

I think she was surprised!!

Gwyn is into the jellycat soft stuffed animals!!  And Jessi had told me she really wanted this elephant so that's what we got her and she was certainly happy with it!

We visited for awhile and then I went over with her to the house to help unload and check the house out - it is really suited well with 4 bedrooms and 2 living room areas!  And of course beautiful views of Pikes Peak so all were happy with the house!

Kylan was over working on Irene's car (with Papa's help) and he had the dirtiest hands I think I've seen!

Gwyn brought a friend with her (being the youngest she NEVER has anyone to hang out with) so Jessi told her she could bring a friend!!  But since there were only so many beds in the rental, they asked if they could stay here so I had Gwyn and Jasmine for the next 4 nights!

Kylan's Capping

 A tradition at Woodland Park High School is the "Capping and Tea Ceremony"  My girls all got capped when they graduated and they still do this tradition!

The capping was held in the gym - the students who participated brought it their graduation caps and could bring up to 3 people to stand on the riser behind them and officially "cap" them!  It's a fun ceremony and we were glad to be a part of it!

The madrigals sang a song and then a slide show was shown - a picture of each graduate with some having their baby pics on it too, along with what the graduate was planning for the future!  It was very well done!

The graduates came up in groups of 5 or more and it was fun to watch the people try to get the caps put on - a lot of laughs!

After the ceremony they served drinks and cake in the lunch room and there was a great spot to take pics!

It was a great evening!

Company For Dinner

 We wanted to give Kylan his graduation gifts early - graduation day and the weekend was going to be pretty busy so this worked out best!  We had the Smith family over for a fish dinner and some of Kylans' favorite sides!

And then it was on to the opening! Since Kylan's birthday was also coming up, (May 25) we had him open his birthday card!

Next up was graduation gifts - I did the same thing I did for Evan last year which is a little box called "The College Survivial Box" and there are preprinted cards inside with places for money or a gift card!  Think "When You're Hungry For A Snack" and I put a DQ gift card or "When you need gas money" and I put in cash.  It's a cute box and a great way to give the kids the money you want to give them, but in a different way!

And last but not least, the scrapbook of Kylan's professional pics all throughout his life!  He loved it!

The guys moved downstairs to play pool and the girls stayed up and I taught them to play Swoop, our new favorite card game!  Kylan picked strawberry/rhubarb crisp for dessert and it was delicious!