July 2020 Highlights


Saturday, August 1, 2020

Here's what we were up to in July 2020, the craziest year ever!
 The Evans family has an annual reunion and this year it was held here in Colorado. We have all been healthy and quarantined and took our temperatures and whatnot so we felt comfortable gathering together. It's been a month since we gathered and we've all remained healthy, no Covid outbreaks.
 We met up at the Aurora Reservoir for an afternoon of fun and sun by the water.

Fox & Jane had the best time.
 Olympic games in Tom & Margi's backyard. We made paper airplanes and flew them off the deck and then popped water balloons with forks taped onto hats while blindfolded. Fox won both of his heats and Jane got doused.

That afternoon we drove up to the cabin. The drive was oh so pretty. Hello Mr. Moose!
 We were the first ones to arrive and we loved exploring the house and surroundings. SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
 Tom & Margi and Jay & Haylie purchased this cabin in the woods (near Breckenridge, in a town called Fairplay) and have done a really great job fixing it up. It's available to rent HERE. Description: Fall in love with the natural beauty of Colorado from this tranquil 4-bed, 3.5-bath vacation rental! Wake up to breakfast on the spacious deck overlooking beautiful forest surroundings before hitting the slopes at Copper Mountain or Breckenridge Ski Resort. Come summer, grab your fishing gear and head to Fairplay Beach. Complete with 2 living rooms, a loft lounge, full kitchen, and private hot tub, this cabin offers all-season thrills for adventurers ready to explore the best of Fairplay!

Jane is absolutely terrified of any bugs with wings so she was scared as we were taking photos outside. She's a good sport for still posing for pics.

The next day we headed up to Hoosier Pass to check out the old mines, waterfalls, and the views.


While we were being careful to tiptoe around the mud, these ATVers went right on through!
 We drove into Breckenridge and found the awesome troll by Isak Heartstone.
 Picked up some yummy sweet potato fries in Alma on our way back to the cabin.
 O.M.G. A bear!!! In the wild! So close to us!! Half of the family was terrified and stayed inside, the other half was fascinated and wanted to get as close as possible but also didn't want to get eaten lol.
All he really wanted was to get in the garbage bin.
 Duuuuuude!
 Eventually the boys scared him off by banging on pots and pans really loudly and we never saw him again. He was super duper coolio. Bye Mr. Bear!
Entire Evans family! Only Nick's fiance is missing.
 Church at the cabin.
 Nana did a fun craft project with all her grandkids - they made hummingbird feeders and within minutes there were hummingbirds drinking the nectar!
 A rainbow following the rain.
 The last day we drove down into Fairplay to visit the Museum.

Jane did NOT like the taxidermy animals. Me neither Jane.

Old school dentist office.

Back at home. There was an amazing cloud formation one night.

Every Wednesday I have my alarm set to make pool reservations at one of the four local recreation centers. The kids love swimming and it gets them off screens for a couple hours.

The Haunted House Lego has been sold out online but our local store got a shipment in on a Friday morning so we lined up and got one! If you've been following me for a few years, you know we LOOOOOVE Halloween and all things spooky. We have a whole Halloween Lego village and can't wait to build this one. Fox took coding classes at a hotel and both kids took a cooking class at the rec center.

Cooking class concoctions.

I didn't know at the time, but this was our very last visit to my most favorite place to eat in all of Highlands Ranch called Crave. It closed unexpectedly this past week. DANG VIRUS! I can't handle any more bad news.
 Our first date night since February! We went to Cafe Rio for dinner and then lots of home improvement stores to look at flooring options.
 Beautiful sunset.
 Shiba Inus are supposed to blow their coats twice a year but maybe it gets more frequent with age? He just lost his coat in April and already needed to be groomed again. He looked much better after his grooming but I didn't get a photo. Joey will be 11 this September!

RACHEL.

My constant kitty companion, outdoors and in.


I was feeling really lousy from all of the bad news that accumulated lately, so I decided to wash my hair, style it, put on make-up, and actually get dressed, and I felt like a new woman.
 Fox rarely does this so I'll take it! Morning snuggles!
Me'n'Jane: Checking out the Fairplay Museum. / Playing cards. / Pre-birthday selfie.

Jane having her baptism interview with the Bishop via Zoom.
 The day before her 8th birthday Nana took Jane to get a pedicure and Cotton Candy Blizzards.

Jane is 8! I can't believe it! Where has the time gone?! Here is a look at Jane from birth, monthly to her 1st birthday, and then every year until 2020. She brings us so much joy! And lots of scrapbooking material :)
Chris took her to the Waffle House for her birthday breakfast.

Partied so hard she crashed on the couch in the middle of the day.

On the last day of July (so, yesterday), my parents arrived from Seattle! They drove all the way here to be at Jane's baptism today.

Onto scrappy news!
I worked on something top secret and fun that I can spill the beans about in... January lol. Sorry for the wait!

My new collection called Go the Scenic Route was announced! Check out THIS POST to see everything in this line! I can't wait to receive my order and create more and more layouts with it!
 I started working at American Crafts on January 3rd 2008 (just a few months before I started this blog!) as an in-house scrapbooker and product designer. What an amazing 12+ years it's been since that day! From creating papers and stickers to being on and managing the design team and then getting to make my own signature collections, I have loved working at American Crafts. Huge congratulations to all these team members from around the world. Some awesome stuff is coming your way, that's for sure, so follow them allllll :)
Here are the 5 free cut files I gave away in my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group:

There are now over 144 free cut files in my Happy Scrappy Place Facebook Group! Make sure you join to get a new one every week :)
 Speaking of cut files, I sent out all 20 of my Summer Cut Files to those who signed up! You can now purchase the entire bundle HERE.
I shared 9 projects in July - from top left to bottom right:
Hello Little Craft Place Exploding Box // Die Cut and Painted Flowers Layout // Silhouette Holiday Ornaments // Sandcastle Layout // All of my Pink Paislee MemoryDex Cards // Beautiful Banners Layout // Magic Embellishment Star Layout // Relax Layout // Tag Flip Book
To finish, I have been a big fan of EttaVee for years! Her use of bright colors and splashes of gold speak to my soul! Last summer she had a shop update with original works of painted glass and I was able to grab one of her beautiful pieces which now hangs in my Happy Scrappy Place to admire and stare at all day every day!

Another month in the books! August is sure to be another interesting month!

1 comment

  1. Wow!!! What an exciting month!!! Happy birthday to Miss Jane!! I can't believe she is EIGHT!!!!!! And I can't believe you saw a BEAR!!! I would have been in awe and scared outta my mind at the same time! LOL!!!! Loving all the photos, looks like an AMAZING month!!!!

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