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As if 7 Colorado Road Trip blog posts weren’t enough, here’s a little vid of our trip, along with some of our recent favorite tunes (thanks Marc Wymore!).

Can we talk about hair?  I have always wanted long hair.  I love the beachy look of long hair 6 inches below my shoulders.  I’ve had this pipe dream that I’d grow it long enough to be able to donate it to locks of love one day.  That’s 10” from a ponytail.  But that’s never going to happen.  I think I just need to accept that and move on.  I’ve been growing my hair out for YEARS (!) and all I have to show for it is that is touches the top of my shoulders.  My hair is fine, limp, breaks easily, thin… It makes me crazy.  I trim it like I’m supposed to, but it’s just a frizzy, hot mess of split ends.  I rarely blow dry my hair (damage, right?) and even MORE rarely style/curl it.  I love it when I do, and the devoted Mr. Garland loves when I do it, but it just isn’t often enough.  I have 4 kids… I know you’re surprised when I tell you I don’t spend a lot of time primping in the bathroom.  Usually my hair is tucked behind my ear, or up in a pony for a run.  And I buy Costco brand shampoo and conditioner.  I’m not into spending a lot of money on expensive ‘product.’

So I keep toying with the idea of cutting it.  Here’s my hair in 2008, probably the shortest I’ve ever had it:

The simplicity of short hair appeals to me, but I’m nervous about not being able to fit it into a ponytail for workouts.  And I’m tall, so I wonder if it will look okay with my face/body type/frame.

But isn’t this a cute cut?

carey mulligan

Maybe this short cut (is this known as a pixie cut?) might work for me?  I shouldn’t have to get haircuts too regularly (because my hair grows so slow) but oh my… it’s a huge decision! I know people always say that your hair will grow back, but we’re talking decades for this girl!

Any advice for me?  Cut or not to cut!?

Moving on.

Our good friends had a baby boy 2 weeks ago…Trey one handsome fella!

While mom and dad were busy with their newborn, we got to play with their two sweet girls (Elaina and Violet) at our house:

This “cherry chomper” has been very popular at our house (thanks Aunt Julie!)… the kids use it to easily pit cherries for consumption:

Push down hard, then pop the seedless cherry in your mouth:

We are into water balloon tosses big time right now:

Our swing set slide was amped up to include a thick coat of dish soap and a splash pool at the bottom:

There’s now a 5 inch slash in the bottom of the pool thanks to the slide being in it.  Whoops!  I should have thought through that a little better.

Sarah and her friend Grace spent a week at Jr. Lifeguard camp, learning CPR and water safety skills:

Friends from camp:

Rachel, Zac and Josh on the slide:

What the rest of us did while Sarah was at camp:

Me, in a typical outfit, dropping of kids in the morning for camp.  I’m a Prana girl… Most everything I wear is Prana, thanks to their local annual warehouse sale where things are cheap times 50.  I tell my friends if Prana made underwear, I’d be wearing it:

Can you tell we’ve been out in the sun a lot this summer?

Abigail, Charlotte, Rachel and Sage (4 cutie pies!):

Cheyne, Zac and Chad:

Our good friend the Hansens are moving away (oh my how we’ll miss them!), so we had a “so long for now” party for them… 10 adults (drinking yummy margaritas… I’m slightly infatuated with margaritas right now) plus 18 kids makes for a great party:

Andrea with the spread of salad, fruit, bread, pasta and ribs:

Zac got a piece of watermelon stuck in his throat and couldn’t breathe during the party… totally scary.  Thankfully, the devoted Mr. Garland did the Heimlich on him, and quickly cleared the airway.  Hoo boy was that scary for this momma.  You better believe I was googling first aid choking videos first thing the next day.  Life is such a precious gift… thankful for these friends:

My sweet huz and I celebrated thirteen years of marriage while we were in Colorado.   Man, am I thankful for the devoted Mr. Garland.  He is my best friend, a rockin’ fun dad to our 4 kids and He helps me to do what is right and to stay close to God.  I love him to the moon and back. Here we are on our honeymoon in the Carribbean, looking care-free and about 15 pounds lighter: