Colorado Vacation

 This past week we were on vacation in Colorado.  My parents rented cabins near Lake George, CO for our Christmas present.  My sister Charla and her family, my brother Charlie and his family, and my parents were all able to make it.  Plus my niece Jordan and a friend of hers.  Unfortunately with work schedules we couldn't get it coordinated for everyone to be able to make it, that's what happens when you have a big family!

The area that we stayed in was beautiful and the cabins were nice too.  Unfortunately some of the activities we wanted to do were in Colorado Springs and since it was on FIRE, most of the tourist stuff was closed.  In fact, the highway to get into Colorado Springs was closed as well so we got a little creative with our vacation plans and saw other attractions that were closer to our cabins. 

 This is what we can see of the fires from Woodland Park.  It was on evacuation notice.

We arrived Saturday night.  Hung out with my sister Charla and her family since they were the only ones there.

Sunday we went to lunch at the pizza place in Lake George, great food, terribly slow service. (We also ate there for supper when everyone came into town, I about lost my mind the second time around.) They did have a cute older couple who played songs and sang.  They were really good and made the time go by faster.

Because the highway was closed we had to find alternate routes for our people.  Right when we were about to be concerned that they were lost in CO they showed up!

Monday we went to the Florissant Fossil Beds and the to a yummy coffee shop for lunch.  They had one of the best pieces of pie I've ever had.  We took naps in the afternoon and then went wading in the river before and after dinner.

Tuesday we were going to go to Royal Gorge but got slightly lost and ended up in Cripple Creek to go on a Gold Mine tour.  Adam needed to do some work so we headed to Woodland Park for some WIFI.  He worked, the boys and I played on our electronics, the little ones slept.  It was perfect.

Wednesday we made it to Royal Gorge.  We had a lot of fun walking around.  We met a cute little squirrel begging for food, the boys loved him.  Aiden wanted to bring him home.  Right when we got on the aerial tram they had to shut it down because the winds were exceeding 50mph.  Walking across the 83 year old bridge with 50mph winds had to be one of the scariest experiences.  I clutched on to Grayson and fearfully watched Xavier pushing the umbrella stroller across praying it wouldn't get caught in the wind and he would be flung off.  But we made it safe.  They ended up opening the tram later so Adam rode it with my dad and Jordan and Sydney.

Thursday we hiked about 4 miles (it felt like 50 with Grayson on my back).  My poor sister got the stomach flu.  We really just rested and hung out.  The boys had a great time running around with their cousins.  They were brown every night from the dirt.

Friday we packed up and decided to head home.  With the highway being closed still it was going to add a couple more hours to our trip and we had family in town for the weekend.  I wished we had one more day to play in the river.  I really wanted to float down it in a tube and it just never happened.  The way home was also quite frightful.  Driving 9 miles on a windy mountain DIRT road was not good for my heart.  We made it home at midnight with a very happy puppy.  Lockett had missed us!

Thanks Dad and Lois for the vacation!  We had a great time.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that half of our group saw a bear.  I'm a little jealous and a little relieved that I missed him!

Father's Day

Every year since the 2nd year of our marriage we have hosted a little Father's day BBQ for our dads. 

Every year we also fight about what year this is for our BBQ because I know we didn't do it the first year of our marriage but Adam thinks that we did.

I love that I get a "FINAL" say since this is my blog.

In years past we have always had hamburgers and brats but we changed it up a bit and grilled chicken instead.  My parents have driven up a lot to Manhattan this month so we felt chicken made it a little more worth it then just a hamburger.

I forgot to take pictures.

I really need to keep my camera strapped around my neck at all times.  

Or at least bring it up from upstairs.

It was a little more hectic this year then in the past since Adam had meetings all morning of and after church.  He didn't quite get the restful day that he probably wanted.  It also meant that I had to do all the grilling which is usually Adam's job.

I also forgot to get any presents for our dads like we usually do too.

Oops.

But hopefully our dads' still felt loved and enjoyed their meal.

After everyone left, Damon was reading on his Kindle and it reflected on the wall.  Grayson got the biggest kick out of it and was following the little reflection all over, trying to grab it. 

Milford & Movies

Wednesday, last week the boys and I and some friends trekked over to the Milford Nature Center for a picnic and fun.  They have a great little park that is completely shaded.  The boys loved running around with their friends and playing.  There is also a cute little nature center to learn more about wildlife that is in our area.  The boys loved seeing the lizards, snakes and ferrets all in their cages.  I could have done without the bugs.

We ended our afternoon with Sonic drinks and ice cream cones and a nap!



Thursday morning we picked up Grandma Little to go to the movies and see Chicken Run.  Every summer the local theater has children's movies for $2 per person and that includes snacks.  The movies are older but there are still some that we have never seen.  I also decided that it is the perfect time to take Grayson to his first movie.  We weren't out a lot of money if I spent most of the time in the lobby.   He did pretty good until the last 15 minutes or so.  For the most part it was a success.

I don't know what day this was, I just thought it was cute how Grayson was snuggled up with Damon.

Pinned It & Made It

Another little post of things I've made from Pinterest.  All has to do with food.  That maybe sad but we eat every day!  There is not time to craft and decorate every day!



I made these cookies for our memorial day bbq.  They were pretty yummy.  You can't go wrong with reeses pieces.  They make everything better. 

















I made this dip for Xavier's birthday.  Its an Avocado Ranch Dip, unforunatly it was disgusting. Maybe I did something wrong but it just didn't work for me. 














Xavier wanted Fried Chicken for his birthday.  So I followed this recipe.  I thought it was delicious, apparently I was the only one since no one in my family wanted the leftovers the next day for lunch.  THAT did not go over well!













We had this one night last week, Tex-Mex Pasta.  Again, we weren't fans of this one either.  It was rather unfortunate since it made a ton and there was a lot that we threw away.  







 













This is another dish from last week, Tostada Stack.  It was really easy, fast and yummy!  We will definitely make this one again. 

Dance Party

Last week Adam had meetings so I let the boys stay up a little late and we had a little dance party.  Damon and Xavier have become really interested in music lately. So we were playing some of our favorite songs.  It was a fun night.

(Until Adam came home and ended our little party and made everyone go to bed.)

(When Adam walked through the door and announced bedtime even Grayson was yelling, "No!" up to him and wouldn't come upstairs to go to bed.)

(At less then 2 years old, defiance is cute.  After that, not so much.)

Xavier's 9th Birthday

Since we were in Dallas during Xavier's birthday we celebrated his day this weekend.  Saturday we had a little swim party with 4 of his friends at CICO pool.  (I didn't take any pictures of said event but trust me it happened and it was cold.)

Sunday we had family and friends over for dinner and a party.  

He wanted a hexbug cake, this is the best I could do...

 Presents...

If you notice in this picture his present is actually suspended in the air...thought that was funny.

 Lots of cash for this boy, he's saving for an ipod...he SOOOO close!

 On his actual birthday last week Xavier and Damon had a baseball game so we took cupcakes to the game for the team.  We let him unwrap one present and Aiden also made him a present too.  (The little crumbled up pieces of orange paper are from Aiden.)

 We got him a Xavier University t-shirt.

Trip to Dallas

We went to Dallas over the weekend to see couple of cute little boys that joined our family a little over a month ago.  Preston and Jonah were blessed on Sunday and it was great to not only meet them but to see the rest of our TX family too.  In the Pics, Damon and Xavier are both holding Preston and the little guys are with Jonah.  The two girls are our great nieces Emma and Shawnee.  They were cute to watch running around the house playing. 

Sorry my pics are bad, I forgot my real camera and just had my phone!