What? A New Post - SHOCKING!

I know people have probably given up on me blogging ever again, but I've been feeling the guilt and decided to get caught up. We've had a really fun last half of summer and it needs to be documented!
WARNING!!! Picture overload beginning now!


Eric completed his first road bike race in the beginning of August with our buddy Doug (and his friends Marc and Stephanie). It was called the Copper Triangle and it was an 80 mile ride from Copper Mountain, to Leadville, then to Vail, and back to Copper. It you are familiar at all with the mountains around Vail, you will know what a hard race this was. Not only was he racing at 10,000 feet, he was doing some serious climbing!
We met the crew (from left Stephanie, Eric, Marc, and Doug) at the base of Vail pass so that the guys could drop their warm clothes and lighten their packs in preparation for the hardest climb of the race.
Here are the kiddos staying entertained by the DVD player in back of the car while we waited for Eric.
I guess we should have been spending the time making signs like Shauna and her kids did for Doug.
The guys finished in good time and said it was a great race. I was really proud of Eric for completing such a tough course.
The cheering squad! It was weird for me to be the one cheering this time instead of the one doing the event (not that I really wanted to do the 80 mile ride), but I was really glad I was there to see him race.
The next weekend we went up to the Grand Mesa for a quick family camp out. We found an awesome campsite and had a blast. We had tinfoil dinners, smores, campfire stories, and fishing, what could be better?
You can't really tell in this picture, but there were flowers everywhere. It was so beautiful!
Paige spent most the time throwing rocks in the water. It was fun for me the first hour and then I was wishing I had brought my book.
While Paige was throwing rocks, the boys and Eric were fishing the lake. They caught a ton of fish but I don't have any pictures because they released them all. The boys were in heaven!

The next Monday the boys started school. Logan is in Kindergarten and Mason is in First Grade. Logan was way more nervous than I thought he would be, but he did great saying good-bye to me and came home very excited about his first day. He picked out this new outfit especially for the first day of school and thought it was super cool. When he came home from school this was our conversation,

L: "Mom, nobody stared at me today."
M: "Why would people stare at you?"
L: "Because I looked so cool. When somebody looks so cool, you stare at them."
M: "Ohhh...I guess everyone was so busy with getting settled in their classes that they didn't have time to realize how cool you looked."
L: "Yeah, probably (totally disappointed and bummed here)."
Mason was a little nervous too because we switched schools when we moved to our new house, but his buddy from church, Thomas, was in his class, so that made the transition easier. It was harder for me to say good-bye to Mason rather than Logan because Mason's school day is from 8:45 to 4:00. I didn't like having to give him up for a full day. But we've all adjusted now and school is going GREAT!
The boys started riding the bus after the first couple days and Paige was so sad that she couldn't get on with them. I told her she has to be five years old before she can go on the bus. Now at least three times a day (no exaggeration here) she tells me, "When I am five and big, I go on the bus." She really wants to ride that bus!
In September, Eric went to Alaska with his buddy Josh to hunt moose. As you can see, he was quite successful! It's amazing to me that one little (well placed) arrow can take down such a massive animal. He had an amazing trip and said Alaska was everything he hoped it would be.
Here is Josh and his moose...
In order to spot moose, the guys would climb up these big trees and use their binoculars to find the moose and then hike to where they were. I thought that was pretty funny (Eric didn't see the humor at all).
Beautiful Alaska mountains
Post card picture perfect, I wish I could have been there just for the scenery.
While Eric was gone, I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon. It was roughly a mile swim, 25 mile ride, and 6 mile run. I did it with 7 of my girlfriends and we had so much fun. We didn't train very much or very seriously (and paid the price for that lack of training!), but had a great time.
I was most concerned about the swim, but that part seemed the easiest to me on race day. Probably because it was the first event! I thought the run would be a cake-walk, but it was killer! It was almost 90 degrees by the time I was running, and I was dehydrated and super tired. But I survived and learned that next time I will carry my own water (not rely on the super sparse aid-stations) and train better! I'm kind of hooked on tri's now, they are addicting!
Also in September was Mason's birthday - he turned 7!!! He wanted a Chuck E. Cheese party, so we rounded up five of his best friends and partied with Chuckie! Throughout the party, Mason kept coming up to me and hugging me saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He really is the sweetest kid around and I am so lucky to be his mom!
Chuck E. Cheese's was totally empty that night so the boys pretty much had free reign of the place - it was perfect! My mom flew in to stay with us since Eric was gone in AK, so she kept track of Paige while I monitored all the boys. It was so nice to have her there for Mason's B-day!
Here is Mason, Logan, Calvin, Connor, Sawyer, Oliver, and Thomas. All super cute kids. Everyone but Oliver are on the same soccer team, which is really fun for Mason. It's been such a joy watching Mason mature the last year. He really seems so grown up now, which is bittersweet. He's still the perfect older brother to his siblings and tries so hard to please us.
WE LOVE MASON!

Okay, I think those are the highlights. We've had a lot of fun visits from friends, and to friends, that aren't shown here, but I didn't want to go too crazy with the pictures. We are sad that our pool days are over now (just as of this week, the week before we still had high 80's), but excited for the change of seasons and upcoming holidays. So, please don't give up on our blog. I'm committing today to be a better blogger!