entertaining

with summer finally committed to staying, we have been outside and entertaining more and more. our first dinner on the deck was with gabi! she was home for a few days and invited some of her high school besties over for a barbeque. they loved sharing stories of their first year at university and savoring this relaxing time together again. gabi's friend caroline, the ginger-haired beauty, is a designer and photographer for the dance-inspired athletic wear company, kadyluxe. gabi has been modeling for kadyluxe for a couple of years and she and caroline took time out for a photo shoot with gabi modeling one of caroline's new summer designs. i snuck a couple of amateur photos as well :). i loved having gabi home and we took full advantage of our time together as well, going to the gym, lunch dates, making some of her favorite home-cooked meals and lounging around watching the bachelorette. oh yea.

paul and i have become involved with a youth community group and host an event for 14 - 18 year olds every quarter. we've just had our first youth night at our house with 50+ kids playing volleyball, singing karaoke (this went way, way into the night, they didn't want to stop) and eating gourmet s'mores. we loved having all these kids over and i must admit, it helps fill the void of our kids and all of their friends grown and gone.

this last weekend, we invited some of paul's coworkers and their wives, who are my dear friends as well, over for brick-oven pizza. sebastian and madison were driving from utah and arrived just in time as well. we had a great weekend with sab and maddi and their pup, smudge. how sweet these two were to make the effort to be here for father's day. it meant so much to paul. saturday morning, we all went on an 18 mile bike ride through and around boulder, stopping at the farmer's market and then back home for cold pizza from the night before - paul really, your pizza is the best! sebastian and madison are training for a half marathon next month and kept up with their training runs each day as well. thanks for coming, you two. hugs all around and throw a stick for smudge for me.

Adopt the pace

 of nature:

her secret is patience.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Utah getaway

we met up with three of our five kids in utah for a weekend getaway. andrew and margo, who are living in the san francisco area, spent the week with gabi in her cute apartment in provo and visited with friends and other family and then paul and i joined them at the end of their stay. while there, paul's mom, mervyl, margo and i stopped by my sweet niece julia's house (cousins margo and julia have been bffs since birth) and not only wanted a photo of julia and chase and their cute boys, atlas and little august, but took a four generation photo op as well!

another part of our family that is growing are the dog members!! margo and andrew have added the incredibly adorable and quite enchanting english bull terrier arnold to their family and sebastian and maddi have sweet, sweet smudge. now, there's a story.............so, margo and andrew were living in kazakhstan a few months ago and while there, margo became very involved in the stray and homeless dog situation in their city of atyrau. she fostered a number of dogs herself and found homes for many others. she tells the story of discovering a new litter of 10 puppies in the gutter near their apartment just a couple weeks before their scheduled relocation back to the states. with each new day, the litter became smaller and smaller. not knowing the fate of the puppies, big-hearted margo scooped up the last 3 and took them home with her settling them in and promptly naming them pudge, fudge and smudge. eventually, she was able to find homes for pudge and fudge before moving but smudge was packed up with the rest of their apartment making her way to the states, with an enjoyable layover with margo and andrew in amsterdam i might add, to finally land in utah in the loving arms of her adoptive parents, sebastian and madison. my oh my......lucky, lucky girl. puppies arnie and smudge, who adore each other, are pictured together fifth photo from the top.

back to the weekend getaway.....our son-in-law andrew's family has a ranch in the little mountain town of liberty, utah, just through the canyon from ogden. andrew invited us all up for a stay on this amazing family property settled by his grandfather, a well known and respected horseman back in the 1950's. what a treasure. we absolutely loved our time altogether in this beautiful setting. we stayed in the main cabin but there is a cabin named cabin as well as a trapper's cabin on the ranch which upon lifting the metal latch on its weathered wooden door, feels as though you've entered into a pristinely preserved mountain man time capsule. wow. we explored, we hiked, we biked, we spotted deer and wild turkeys, we went treasure hunting in the barn, we sat around the campfire and ate s'mores, we picked wildflowers and chased the dogs across meadows and into the stream, we made friends with the horses and listened to andrew's stories of his childhood on the property. we simply savored spending our time together in this unique setting. thank you andrew for your generosity in sharing with us, this very special family legacy.

Quality

not

quantity.