Rachel the photographer

Rachel loves to take pictures, especially of things in nature. I just thought I would share a few of her beautiful photos.

The Aspens in our yard.



Colorado's blue, blue sky.


More of our yard.


A Ponderosa pine.


Pine cone & rocks.


I'm not sure what the flower is, but it was blooming in our yard.


A self portrait.

Owl City

Rachel and I both share a love for Owl City His music is cheerful, poetic, creative, and easy to fall in love with. When I found out he was coming to Denver, Rachel and I decided it would be fun to go to the concert. We were excited to realize it was at a somewhat small venue (standing room only).

Here's Rachel waiting for the concert to start:


It had been raining a little when we were waiting in line to come in, so imagine a full room, packed with people who were slightly damp.


We weren't too far away from the stage, it was just a little hard to see, and we had to stand on our feet for a very long time.

The concert was at the Fillmore Auditorium and they had these cool purple chandeliers.



We could have done without the first opening act, Unwed Sailor, which was just an instrumental group. Next up was Mat Kearney.



I was pretty familiar with Mat Kearney's music, and he did a great job. I think Rachel liked him as well.

After lots of hours of standing on our feet, we were finally treated to the main event, Adam Young, the creator of Owl City. Owl city is not really a band, it's more the creation of Adam Young. He does take a band with him when he's on tour, but initially it was a one man show. He writes all of the music.



And plays a lot of instruments too:






It really was a great experience! After the concert was over, and we went outside to find our car, it was pouring rain - like flooding in the streets, thunder and lighting, raining cats and dogs. Needless to say, we got extremely soaked running to the car. It just added to the experience of the night.

Here's a video of Fireflies.


Give him a listen on MOG if you want to hear some more!

Hopefully we'll be able to see him next time he's in town!

4th of July, Utah Style

Right after the Bear Lake trip, we headed to Grandma's house to have a fun 4th of July. Here are the kids with some cousins waiting for the Kaysville parade.







A couple of days later, we had fun at Lagoon, courtesy of Harmon's Lagoon day!





I was a little negligent and didn't take very many pictures, but everyone enjoyed themselves and had a great time bonding with cousins.
Grandpa wisely told all of the kids to meet at the fountain in the middle of the park in case they got lost. We actually had a couple of missing kids who were smart enough to go right to the fountain. Everyone was found and had a fun time on rides, and eating the many treats that Harmons provides.

We look forward to this outing every year! A big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Madsen for their generosity.

Madsen Family Reunion at Bear Lake

We had a great time with the Madsens at Bear Lake. We stayed in a beautiful cabin with a great view.


Even though the water was cold, it didn't stop the kids!


They played in the sand.


And in the water.




Cute cousin Clara.


Josh had fun digging.


Emma was all smiles.



Paddling a raft.


We all got a turn on Uncle Richard's boat - either to water ski or go tubing. I don't have any pictures of that because I didn't want to risk losing or ruining my camera. The kids had a really fun time tubing.

Emma sitting in the "hot tub".


Roasting marshmallows.


Eating smores.


Here's the whole crew! Everyone was able to make it except for Nathan & Becky.


We're hoping to make it an annual tradition!