And then there were 6...

On Friday, June 29th, Kelley Semens arrived in Aurora, Colorado.  Kelley is a graduate from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL where she played volleyball and was coached by a wonderful volunteer named Jeff Dolan!  : )  After Kelley graduated, she got her master's in Occupational Therapy from Washington University in St. Louis and chose to do her clinicals in Aurora.  We were happy to agree to let her live with us during her 3-month rotation.  Kelley got settled in quickly and we have kept her busy since she got here.  We have already taken her for mountain high pizza in Idaho Springs, a hike at Golden Gate Canyon State Park, bouncing on trampolines at JumpStreet, a weekend in Estes Park and a fun (but rainy) night at a Rockies game! 

She blends in well with our family and totally just rolls with whatever is going on.  She bonded with the kids before they left for Iowa and is a total dog-lover, so Cody is quite happy with all the extra attention.  While the kids are on vacation, Jeff and I are using her as a good excuse to do lots of fun things on the weekends to show her around.  This weekend, we are headed to Dillon to visit Terry and to go downhill mountain biking at Keystone!

JumpStreet

We took the kids to JumpStreet twice this week and Mattea was brave enough to try some of her more advanced moves. She made a ton of progress in just a few hours. I love watching her... she pretty much rocks!!!

Jeff gave Josh some helpful tips on tucking while he does his flips and he went from some erratic looking flips to looking like a gymnast!

Alex was busy creaming other kids in trampoline dodgeball!

A Visit from the Jacobsen's

The Jacobsen's came to visit over the 4th of July holiday.  We (minus Jeff) took a trip to Glenwood Springs where we went to a zipline/adventure course, played in the river, swam in the hotel pool and did the Hanging Lake Trail hike.

After we got back from Glenwood Springs, the Jacobsen's took some day trips while Jeff and I were working.  The boys were able to tag along when they went to WaterWorld which was a fun trip for everyone.  We made a couple trips to JumpStreet as well and that worked perfectly... it wore the kids out!  It was so nice having them visit and we all had a great time!

Gymnastics

After taking a year off, we put Mattea back into gymnastics and she picked back up without missing a beat!  She is in private lessons with two of her friends and they are really excelling.  Mattea just recently learned the front walkover and she did so well at the last practice that her coach suggested that she try a cartwheel right after she does her walkover.  Not a problem for this girl... check it out!

She can also do a round-off dismount from the beam...

She is also working on her back handspring and a front handspring off the vault, but I will show you that when she's got it.  Enjoy!

Let's get caught up!

I haven't posted too often lately and, believe it or not, I haven't taken as many pictures lately as I normally do either.  I know that there has been a lot going on, so I thought I would just share any recent happenings and pictures to get all caught up.  Please excuse the randomness of this post.

Mattea's soccer team had a great season!

Josh was a much stonger batter this year!

As always, he was an AMAZING catcher!!!

He also pitched this year and did a spectacular job!

Cody has been super depressed after losing his best friend.



 The pool opened on Memorial Day weekend and the kids have been enjoying it immensely!

 Josh & Mattea attended the Sock Hop and had a blast!

I HAVE A TEENAGER!!!

On this day thirteen years ago, Alexander Robert Dolan was born.  This handsome baby boy was the first child for an excited and nervous set of parents and the first grandchild on both sides of the family.  He was loved before he was even born and became loved more and more with every breath he took.  Fast forward thirteen years and I am the proud mother of a wonderful TEENAGER who is kind, generous, polite, funny, responsible, creative, mature, helpful and loving.  I am so proud of the young man he has become.  I must say, though, I can't believe that I have a TEENAGER living in my house... one that shaves, gets emotional, questions me, doesn't tell me everything and would much rather play video games in his "man cave" than anything else.  I can still remember the day he was born and all of the days in between and it seems crazy how fast time has flown by.  Happy Birthday to my amazing thirteen year-old son, Alex!!!  We LOVE you SO SO SO much!

Dolan's Pride of Independence

It took me awhile to write this post because I just wasn't up to it.  There will never be an easy time to do it, so I better just get it done.

On May 13th, we bid an extremely sad farewell to Indy, our amazing, lovable and loyal dog.  Indy was born on July 4th, 1997 at a breeder's house in a small town near Maquoketa, Iowa.  I remember the day that Jeff and I went to look at the litter of Siberian Husky puppies.  Oh were they cute!!!  We had done a TON of research on puppies and had determined that a Siberian Husky was the best breed for us.  We had also gathered some tips on picking out the best puppy.  So when we went to the breeder looking for our puppy, we picked up and played with all of the puppies to help make our decision.  It was SO much fun!  We ended up choosing the runt of the litter.  Both of Indy's parents were on site as well, so we also received his purebred papers.  His official name was "Dolan's Pride of Independence" (since he was born on Independence Day) and we called him "Indy" for short.  We took him home when he was just 6 weeks old.  Since he was our first "baby", we even sent out birth announcements.  I'm pretty sure we thought it was funny, but the grandparents weren't nearly as amused.  Indy was alive for almost 15 years, so we have a lot of wonderful memories of him that we will cherish forever.  Here are some of our favorites... in no particular order.

When Grandma Carol and Grandpa Pete met him for the first time, they thought he was a cat!!! 

We took Indy to obedience classes and he did learn some good habits and tricks.  That's not to say he didn't misbehave sometimes, though.  I remember one time when we came home and there was a HUGE phone book ripped to shreds on our kitchen floor and Indy was laying on top of it trying to look innocent.

Indy once caught a bunny while he was on a chain.  Mad skills!!!

Before we had kids, we would wrap Indy's Christmas presents and he was able to open them himself.  We probably have that on video somewhere.  It was hysterical to watch!

When we moved to Colorado, the back of our Yukon was packed with stuff we didn't trust in the moving van.  At the very back in an extremely small space was Indy.  We have a picture of him in his spot and he's looking at us like "You're kidding me, right???".  But, I'm pretty sure he didn't really mind as long as he got to come along!

Indy could eat an ear of corn like a person if we held it for him.

Indy loved tomatoes, shrimp, pickled herring and, of course, corn on the cob!

When we gave Indy a new bone, he would drop it on the ground and then proceed to attack it and play with it before starting to chew it.

In our house in Colorado, if I would lay down on the couch in our living room, Indy would instantly get up and come over so I could pet him.  It didn't matter how tired he was, how sore his hips were or if he had just laid down.

Indy LOVED going for rides with his head out the window and the wind whipping through his fur.

One time shortly after Alex was born, Grandma Judie came to help us out.  She had to leave early in the morning, so she was tiptoeing out of the bedroom and down the hallway when she heard a low growl.  Indy thought she was an intruder and he needed to protect us.  She had to assure him that it was just Grandma Judie before he let her go any further!

Indy was such a sweet dog for our kids to grow up with... he got pinched, tugged, sat on and poked and he put up with it all (and always came back for more!).

Indy had a special relationship with Aunt Julie.  She spoiled him rotten and always gave him tons of attention, love and treats!

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A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his.  ~ Quote from "Marley & Me"

RIP Indy Boo ~ We Will Always Love You!!!

7/4/1997 - 5/13/2012