We headed home the next day and had one final day to rest, unpack and do laundry before we had to head back to work. We had a wonderful trip and it was so much fun visiting with friends!!!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Road Trip (4th leg) Utah
After spending a fun filled few days in Colorado we left the circus and headed on to Utah to visit some college roommates of mine. We stayed overnight with Petey, ate a Cafe Rio, Bonnie came over and we sat and talked and reminisced of our BYUH days. Ok, mostly we remembered some of the hilarious things Bonnie did while we were there.
It was a gas!
We only stayed overnight, unfortunately we didn't have more time off, but it was so wonderful to visit with such wonderful friends!
I didn't take any pictures because I'm a slacker, so here are some from the past.
Bonnie, Heidi and I at a BYUH reunion we had in Utah
Our Christmas at BYUH back in 1998 and making mini s'mores over candles during a power outage
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Road Trip (3rd Leg) "The Circus"
Where did I leave off...
So we arrived late into Denver, kids bouncing off the walls, we all finally crash, and back up in the morning for some good ol' fashioned Denver fun.
The first day we were up early, well early for us. Brandon and I are not used to having kids that wake at the crack of dawn. Today was candy shop day! We went to Hammonds candy factory for a free tour, it was cool! Martha Stewart also gets her display candy canes from this shop. I can see why, they are really beautiful.
Hammonds has the most beautiful candy canes, even Martha uses them to decorate.
After the candy shop we hit the mall for some shopping!! Basically it is weird when I spend time with Tricia and/or Jessica and not shop, or help put together some kind of event. We wandered around and around the mall looking for deals. Apparently JCrew was having no kind of sale, there wasn't even a sale section! I was disappointed, however, we did find some shoes that Brandon liked. We didn't buy them, we looked around a little more and finally found some that were just right, but that was in Utah.
Preston "reading" about a temple open house in Utah
That evening the kids when to the babysitter and Tricia, James, Brandon and I along with another couple that Tricia and James are friends with, went out to eat at Bonefish. I've heard about this place many times because Tricia's family really likes it, and we even have one in Boise, but we have never been to one. It was so good! I got the filet mignon, as usual. I just figure if we are going to be spending money I might as well get the best piece of meat I can! It was absolutely divine, medium rare, perfectly seasoned, melt in your mouth like butter, divine! It was a really nice evening out.
The next morning was Colorado "road tripin". We picked up snacks and after cleaning the sunscreen Preston managed to cover himself in head to toe while we were in the grocery, we headed on our way to "Seven Falls". There is a huge water fall and as you hike up and around you discover more, smaller waterfalls. It was so beautiful, and quite the hike. It is all stairs when you are going up next to the falls, lots and lots of stairs. Then some real hiking around trails and more falls. We also rode the mountain elevator, which was just an elevator up to a look out point. Tricia and James took the stairs on that one too, and almost didn't make it.
Seven Falls, if you look close you can see the stairs we climbed
More pictures of the falls
We rode the mountain elevator instead of taking more stairs up to the look out
Dorothy was checking out her wingspan
Little buddy's poor little eye, he got sunscreen in it during the sunscreen fiasco of 2009
Steep, steep stairs
Dorothy posing in a little rock cave
For some reason Brandon things all fuzzy little rodents should be his friends, here he is sweet talking the chipmunks.
Dorothy checking out the sites
The whole gang
After we finished there, we headed home, but since we were in the area decided to stop off at "Garden of the Gods". It was so beautiful here too, tons of unusual rock formations. We hiked around a while and Dorothy wanted a turn in the kid backpack so I got to wrangle Preston. Finally he went up on my shoulders, it was either that or he would have run right off a cliff, he's a little explorer. While on my shoulders he took control of my head and kept turning it and saying "look there", "look there". On our way back to the car Brandon was a ways behind the group taking pictures of stuff and Preston kept saying something. I finally figured it out! He was saying "c'mon Brandon" over and over again. It was so cute! That kid has a naughty streak, what kid doesn't, but you just can't help but love the cuteness!!!
Dorothy wanted a turn to ride the "back pack" which left Preston lose and running full speed toward every cliff, so he ended up on my shoulders and kept turning my head saying "look there, look there". When Brandon got too far behind he kept saying "c'mon Dandan"
Garden of the Gods is beautiful!
The picture on the left is "kissing camels"
We were beat by the time we got home, but still had a yummy steak dinner and homemade raspberry ice cream, mmmm. After dinner, Tricia worked on her talk for church and I worked on her handouts for her lesson in Relief Society. This is also when I fell in love with the cricut. I need a cricut! I spent a long time finding just the right set up for the handouts and then I got in trouble for spending so much time making them perfect. Tricia helped me finish and then it was off to bed!
Sunday we went to church with Tricia and James. They're chapel is very unusual, it has two sections, I guess the one is "overflow", but I think it is often utilized because the chapel isn't very big, the weird part is that it is separated by a wall and the curtain just opens on the top half. It was a good ward though, Tricia gave a talk that was very good as was her lesson. We had a good time at church and when we got home it was dinner time. Tricia went all out, she made some amazing Chinese food. The egg rolls were so good, luckily there were plenty for all, we also ended up feeding two sets of missionaries. We had strawberry shortcake for dessert that was delicious! After dinner Tricia and I started a sewing project. She has been making Amy Butler "birdie" bags for herself and family and I was so excited to make one for myself. They are so cute and Tricia always buys the cutest fabrics. We worked on those until late then headed off to bed.
The bag, I love it!!
Monday was Elich Gardens day! Elich is just a small theme park in Denver, but it was get in free with a pass holder day, can't pass that up. It was fun, but didn't take very long for Brandon and I to get Eliched out. We rode some of the bigger rides, some were close those and some had huge lines. I think everyone else brought a free friend that day too. After we had our fill we watched the kids on their rides and let Tricia go on some of the bigger rides with Dorothy while we rode some rides with Preston and Violet. It was fun watching how excited the kids were on the rides, they loved them! That night Brandon and I went on another search for shoes for him and did some shopping at Target. Tricia and I finished up our bags that night.
The kids loved the froggy ride, especially Preston. It would go up and the sort of bounce down.
Violet, the escapee, was taking a little nap and clearly was done with it.
Brandon, all Eliched out.
Tuesday morning we got up, got ready, packed up, cleaned up and headed off for Utah. We had such a great time with the Thomas family. Always something going on and plenty to do. We can't wait until you live closer and even wish it could be in the same city!
Thank you for a wonderful time!
We love and miss you!!!
So we arrived late into Denver, kids bouncing off the walls, we all finally crash, and back up in the morning for some good ol' fashioned Denver fun.
The first day we were up early, well early for us. Brandon and I are not used to having kids that wake at the crack of dawn. Today was candy shop day! We went to Hammonds candy factory for a free tour, it was cool! Martha Stewart also gets her display candy canes from this shop. I can see why, they are really beautiful.
Hammonds has the most beautiful candy canes, even Martha uses them to decorate.
After the candy shop we hit the mall for some shopping!! Basically it is weird when I spend time with Tricia and/or Jessica and not shop, or help put together some kind of event. We wandered around and around the mall looking for deals. Apparently JCrew was having no kind of sale, there wasn't even a sale section! I was disappointed, however, we did find some shoes that Brandon liked. We didn't buy them, we looked around a little more and finally found some that were just right, but that was in Utah.
Preston "reading" about a temple open house in Utah
That evening the kids when to the babysitter and Tricia, James, Brandon and I along with another couple that Tricia and James are friends with, went out to eat at Bonefish. I've heard about this place many times because Tricia's family really likes it, and we even have one in Boise, but we have never been to one. It was so good! I got the filet mignon, as usual. I just figure if we are going to be spending money I might as well get the best piece of meat I can! It was absolutely divine, medium rare, perfectly seasoned, melt in your mouth like butter, divine! It was a really nice evening out.
The next morning was Colorado "road tripin". We picked up snacks and after cleaning the sunscreen Preston managed to cover himself in head to toe while we were in the grocery, we headed on our way to "Seven Falls". There is a huge water fall and as you hike up and around you discover more, smaller waterfalls. It was so beautiful, and quite the hike. It is all stairs when you are going up next to the falls, lots and lots of stairs. Then some real hiking around trails and more falls. We also rode the mountain elevator, which was just an elevator up to a look out point. Tricia and James took the stairs on that one too, and almost didn't make it.
Seven Falls, if you look close you can see the stairs we climbed
More pictures of the falls
We rode the mountain elevator instead of taking more stairs up to the look out
Dorothy was checking out her wingspan
Little buddy's poor little eye, he got sunscreen in it during the sunscreen fiasco of 2009
Steep, steep stairs
Dorothy posing in a little rock cave
For some reason Brandon things all fuzzy little rodents should be his friends, here he is sweet talking the chipmunks.
Dorothy checking out the sites
The whole gang
After we finished there, we headed home, but since we were in the area decided to stop off at "Garden of the Gods". It was so beautiful here too, tons of unusual rock formations. We hiked around a while and Dorothy wanted a turn in the kid backpack so I got to wrangle Preston. Finally he went up on my shoulders, it was either that or he would have run right off a cliff, he's a little explorer. While on my shoulders he took control of my head and kept turning it and saying "look there", "look there". On our way back to the car Brandon was a ways behind the group taking pictures of stuff and Preston kept saying something. I finally figured it out! He was saying "c'mon Brandon" over and over again. It was so cute! That kid has a naughty streak, what kid doesn't, but you just can't help but love the cuteness!!!
Dorothy wanted a turn to ride the "back pack" which left Preston lose and running full speed toward every cliff, so he ended up on my shoulders and kept turning my head saying "look there, look there". When Brandon got too far behind he kept saying "c'mon Dandan"
Garden of the Gods is beautiful!
The picture on the left is "kissing camels"
We were beat by the time we got home, but still had a yummy steak dinner and homemade raspberry ice cream, mmmm. After dinner, Tricia worked on her talk for church and I worked on her handouts for her lesson in Relief Society. This is also when I fell in love with the cricut. I need a cricut! I spent a long time finding just the right set up for the handouts and then I got in trouble for spending so much time making them perfect. Tricia helped me finish and then it was off to bed!
Sunday we went to church with Tricia and James. They're chapel is very unusual, it has two sections, I guess the one is "overflow", but I think it is often utilized because the chapel isn't very big, the weird part is that it is separated by a wall and the curtain just opens on the top half. It was a good ward though, Tricia gave a talk that was very good as was her lesson. We had a good time at church and when we got home it was dinner time. Tricia went all out, she made some amazing Chinese food. The egg rolls were so good, luckily there were plenty for all, we also ended up feeding two sets of missionaries. We had strawberry shortcake for dessert that was delicious! After dinner Tricia and I started a sewing project. She has been making Amy Butler "birdie" bags for herself and family and I was so excited to make one for myself. They are so cute and Tricia always buys the cutest fabrics. We worked on those until late then headed off to bed.
The bag, I love it!!
Monday was Elich Gardens day! Elich is just a small theme park in Denver, but it was get in free with a pass holder day, can't pass that up. It was fun, but didn't take very long for Brandon and I to get Eliched out. We rode some of the bigger rides, some were close those and some had huge lines. I think everyone else brought a free friend that day too. After we had our fill we watched the kids on their rides and let Tricia go on some of the bigger rides with Dorothy while we rode some rides with Preston and Violet. It was fun watching how excited the kids were on the rides, they loved them! That night Brandon and I went on another search for shoes for him and did some shopping at Target. Tricia and I finished up our bags that night.
The kids loved the froggy ride, especially Preston. It would go up and the sort of bounce down.
Violet, the escapee, was taking a little nap and clearly was done with it.
Brandon, all Eliched out.
Tuesday morning we got up, got ready, packed up, cleaned up and headed off for Utah. We had such a great time with the Thomas family. Always something going on and plenty to do. We can't wait until you live closer and even wish it could be in the same city!
Thank you for a wonderful time!
We love and miss you!!!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Road Trip (2nd leg)
The next morning we got up and headed to Denver, by way of Martin's Cove. I've heard so much and my parents were apart of their Stake's trek there so I thought we should check it out. It was really neat! We didn't hike out to Devil's Gate, but it was so cool looking!
We walked around the visitors center and then caught a ride out to the Cove.
It was beautiful and there is so much wildlife out there. The antelope play out there!
From the cove we walked down to the statues of the three men who carried the remaining members of the Martin Handcart company across the Sweetwater river.
There was a very special spirit there and the strength and endurance of these good people. They lost so much. There were some good strong hearts who came to their rescue as well. It was a long day, but so worth the stop.
We arrived in Denver after 9pm. Tricia let the kids stay up until we got there and they were crazy! Bouncing off the walls and both so full of information to share and they wanted to pull out every toy and book and show it to me. It was a system overload, but they were just so cute!! The kids got settled as did we and we hit the sack shortly after.
That update next...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
