Happy Birthday Simon

All I can say is . . . . ABOUT TIME ! !

Seriously, Happy Birthday Honey.

Monday Feb 16th Simon turned 35. It is official. He is now on the down hill slide to 40. I can say that because he's been telling me that for years (:

For Simon's birthday we went to his favourite place . . . .

the mountains. Monday was a gorgeous day. The sun was out & sky was blue. Can you guess what Simon was doing for his birthday? Of course you can . . . . . . . . he was snowboarding & in Heaven.

Birthday celebrations started on the Sunday night. We went to church with the Woolley's and the Spiers' in Frisco. The Woolley's - Margaret & Kevin have 5 kids - Katherine, Ryan, Alyson, Julia & Abbey. Alicia & Jeff Spiers have 4 kids - Morgan, Harrison, Caleb & Andrew. Kaiden just loves them all. They are great play mates. Even Katherine, Ryan & Morgan who are teenagers. He just loves them & I think it is safe to say the feeling is mutual, which is awesome. Anyway, they are all our good friends from Denver. Marg, Alicia & I all serve in Primary together. Anyway, the Woolley's have a condo in the mountain town of Silverthorne & they invited us all over for a birthday dinner. Marg cooked one of Simon's faves & of course it was accompanied by a traditional birthday song . . . . Happy, Happy Birthday Simon dear . . . . Later in the evening when the kids went to bed the 6 of us spent the rest of the night playing Catan. It was lots of fun & the special birthday celebrations were so appreciated. We have great friends.

Katherine, Simon & Jared on Mercury Chairlift.

Kaiden & I were in the chair behind them.

Monday was a non contact day for all Cherry Creek Schools, so it worked out well. Simon took the day off work & we stayed in the mountains. It was a gorgeous day as I said. Jared, a friend from Denver came up for a day of boarding. He usually skis with his kids (Liam's Dad) so he loves it when he gets the chance to go snowboarding with friends. We also had Katherine join us which was fun. Anyway, she spent Saturday boarding with us & I guess she had fun cause she wanted to board with us again on Monday. She was great and we had lots of fun with her. Kaiden loved having her snowboard with us. As I said, he really loves Katherine. The more the merrier I say. Of course Simon was in his element. A better way to spend his day . . . . doubt it!

After riding the highest chair lift in North America we unhooked our boards & hiked to the summit of Peak 8. It is the 8th of 10 peaks in the 10 mile range. 10 peaks in 10 miles.

We did need to take a minute to catch our breath once we made it to the top. At almost 13,000 feet the air is a little thin. It was definitely an effort but one that was well worth it. Did I mention those fabulous views? This elevation sign was taken at the top of the Imperial Chair lift. Then we hiked a little higher.

Check out this spectacular view.

Looking across at the 10 mile range. GORGEOUS!

Katherine, Kelly & Simon at the summit of Peak 8

Katherine & Simon at the summit over looking Breckenridge.

Me making my way down the extreme terrain & Kaiden waiting for me. What a great day!

*** *** ***

Ten things I love about Simon . . . . . .

• He is a great Dad & Husband
• He puts Kaiden's & my needs in front of his own
• He is very patient & tolerant
• I thought he was handsome when we first met & I still do
• He is very intelligent - interesting to talk to
• He has a love for sports & loves to actually go to watch all sports
• He loves to have adventures
• I love that we share a love for travel
• I love that he has found a new passion - as if you have to ask -snowboarding
• I really admire him for stepping out of his comfort zone & moving 1/2 way around the world. I know that really wasn't easy for him.

Happy Birthday Simon . . . . Love you . . . .