Colorado

So we went to Colorado July 19 to July 26 and I'm finally going to blog about our fantastic trip! I think I'm going to do it in two seperate enteries. The first about our time at my parent's home and then I'll do the second installment when we went up to Breckenridge, Colorado - a beautiful ski resort town that is just as amazing and beautiful in the summer. So here goes...

We arrived on a Saturday and then spent Sunday going to church and then having a big Sunday night dinner together as a family. Oh how I wish that could occur so much more often. On Monday those who could went on a picnic and a drive through Garden of the Gods (an amazing state park in Colorado with these red rock formations).

L to R - My dad, my younger brother Patrick, Mark, my mom, and my niece Hannah.

This is in the state park. This particular place is called balancing rock and with the two pictures you get two very different views of this rock!

L to R - Drew, my nephew Braiden, Dallin, Mason, my niece Hannah, and me.

More of Garden of the Gods.

Growing up we saw deer run through our yard and eat trees, but they would run away when humans got near...now since the neighborhood has grown more than 10 times the size it was when I lived there the deer have little place to run to. So they camp, we could not run this deer with her twin babies off our yard. The kids loved seeing this mom and her twin babies come several times in the few days we were there, so I had to include a picture. Though Grandpa was not happy with the bushes they were snacking on.

Trip to Oregon

Getting this entry in has taken me several days. I have to keep coming back...It's really July 16th now. We spent 10 days with the Hamilton family in Oregon. It was a whole lot of wonderful days just being with family. There are now 15 grandkids ranging from 16-2 in ages...and it was a blast. Our kids loved having playmates constantly. And Mark and I enjoyed catching up with everyone and playing with all of our nieces and nephews. We spent the 4th of July up in a big mountain home with most of the family, just enjoying the mountains and each other. We are so blessed with amazing family. We feel blessed by the love we feel from them no matter where we are. Here's some of the highlights of our trip.We had lots of pictures, and I didn't do a very good job of only using a few. Oh, well...


One of the first nights there, we went out to Mark's sister's new home out in the country...the kids had a great time learning to drive the 4-wheelers. Drew spent most of the night holding on to his "buddy" cousin Shane, while Shane drove them around on his 4-wheeler.

For the 4th of July weekend the whole family went up to the Blue Mountains (about an hour from Pendleton, OR) and had a great time enjoying the mountains and eachother.

This is Dallin and his cousin Caden taking care of their frog Hopper. That little frog survived a whole weekend of lots of little fingers...I have no idea how.

There was a little pond not too far from the cabin that the kids threw rocks in - for a very long time.

There was this great, very long table to eat at...it didn't fit us all, but pretty close.

There was an elk farm very close to the mountain lodge...it was pretty amazing to see those huge animals so close up.


There were no fireworks allowed due to fire danger, so we spent the 4th night with a contained fire pit roasting marshmallows for s'mores and telling funny stories about each other.


Mark and his mom.

Here are a few pictures of just some of the fun things we did while at Grandma and Grandpa's home.

The cousins had a craft afternoon and it was so fun to watch all of them create. Grandma has all the good stuff for a perfect afternoon of crafts.

Drew and cousin Clayson had fun with the hot wheels and building tracks. It is really a neat experience to see our children interact with their cousins. We feel blessed to live where we do, but we do wish our children could be with their cousins and family more often.

Dallin and Tyler showed there BYU spirit (do you think their dads have influenced them at all?).

The cousins just having fun!

Mason and Grandpa building Legos -- the boys talk about Grandma and Grandpa's millions of Legos all the time...they always spend a lot of time building while we are there. We went bowling one afternoon and Mason got the highest score of all the cousins (even the teenagers) - 112.

Some of our special visits...

Mark and Grandma Davis (his grandmother on his dad's side).

4 generations are represneted in this picture...

Great-grandma Last, Grandma Hamilton, Me
Dallin, Mason, Mark, and the oh so happy Drew
Some of our most favorite people happen to live only one hour from Mark's parents - we are so excited that we get to see them when ever we visit Oregon.

We met the Sumsion's in Ottumwa, Iowa and Mason and Logan were the best of friends. It is amazing to see them together because still after all these years apart, they are very much alike. They have so many of the same interests. Thank you Heavenly Father for bringing amazing people into our lives.

Things to Do

So at the beginning of June Mason, Dallin, Drew, and I sat down and made a list of about 10 things that we wanted to do during the month of June. They include things like taking a "hike down on the river trails (which has been post-poned for a while), having picnics, and attending different farmer's markets each week (that way we know which ones are the best). We live about a one minute walk from the huge school playground, so we go there nearly every day. So here are a few pictures of what we have been up to in the past week or two.

As many of you know, my kids could go to the zoo at least once a week and still want to go more. They never get bored there. So we always have a family membership to the current zoo. This was last week at the Blank Park Zoo here in Des Moines.

I think I would prefer to skip the snakes, but my kids love them (maybe it's a boy thing).

There was a elephant statue that shot water out of it's trunk every 10 seconds or so, Dallin and Mason really enjoyed it!

Today, was craft day. We went to Michael's and I let them each pick out a thing or two to do. Mason and Dallin each got a snap together model jet and one plaster animal to paint. Drew got three animals to paint. Here's their master pieces.

They were so focused and very quiet while painting - at 69 cents each I think I better go back and load up on these.

High and Dry

I wanted to thank all of our concerned family and friends checking on us Iowans. We are dry and safe. It has been devastating watching much of the state succumb to the flood waters and severe storms. We have been extremely blessed and have had no problems. We happen to live in an area not very close to any creeks, rivers, or lakes. Though you don't have to go far to see flooding. The only thing we noticed was our sump pump working hard the last couple of weeks. The ground is simply saturated. We are grateful that the storms seem to be calming. We love you all and thank you for thinking of us.

Fun in the Sun

Today was one of the first Saturdays in a VERY long time that we didn't have any plans. Usually I love to have lots to do, but I felt like just being home with nothing to do sounded great! We all slept in and that was heaven, I can't remember the last time I slept for 9 hours in a row. The last week has had many long nights with the very strong storms (including a trip to the basement to wait out the tornado warning), Dallin doesn't do too well with lightening. So this morning we had breakfast on the deck and then worked on the lawn while the kids rode bikes and squirted us with water guns. It is very hot and very humid out today, so we entertained ourselves by running in the sprinklers(Drew cheered from the sidelines, he wasn't a huge fan of the sprinklers). I love days like this.

Dallin Turns Six!

Dallin when he was 5 days old.

Dallin turned six on Friday! I have a hard time thinking about my sweet little guy turning six. Kindergarten has flown by. For his special day we had some family friends come over and eat "cake" and ice cream. Dallin isn't a big fan of cake, so we improvise and have doughnut cakes.

Dallin wanted to go to the Omaha zoo for his birthday. On Saturday we headed over to Omaha and had a great time. The Omaha zoo is incredible, we spent most of the day there and still didn't get to see it all. It's a good excuse to go again.

Science Center

Last weekend we went to the Des Moines Science Center. The kids had a great time (as did Mark and I) playing and learning. The kids got to go on a "safari", travel to outer space, build rockets, and even play with wildlife.