memorial day at the sand dunes

we headed with some of our best friends, cole and mindy smith, down to the sand dunes (the tallest dunes in north america) for memorial day weekend. it was beautiful and logan did awesome (it was his first time camping)! even with ridiculous winds the first night (there were a few times during the night i was sure our tent was going to blow down) he slept like a champ. ironically, dave and i didn't sleep very well that night because we were worried about logan.

(left ) packed into our very full car (middle) dave & logan enjoying a veggie straw. like father like son! (right) mindy, the master fire starter

the view of the dunes from our campground

logan got LOTS of attention from lincoln and payton. they were so cute with him.

payton wandered off and we found him chilling in our tent, just chowing on his hot dog. he is hilarious!

(left) logan in the backpack, sporting his safari hat. i think he's the cutest! (right) some impressive butt crack. keep in mind i was pretty far away. he must have had some sand in some uncomfortable places.

we spent a couple of mornings playing in the "river" at the base of the dunes

the water was a little chilly since it's runoff and logan wasn't the biggest fan. i love the picture in the middle where he is climbing up dave to try and get out of the water.

mindy and i being our spazy selves

about 20 minutes away from where we were staying was an alligator farm. we were able to hold a little alligator and see all sorts of big ones. it was pretty cool, but seriously a trashy and rundown place. and it was expensive! we're still wondering what they are doing with all the money because it definitely isn't being used to keep up the place (i think the owners are living the high life there in mosca colorado :) it was still a fun and different place to visit though.

doesn't the sign on the right instill confidence?!

holding the little gator and getting our "certificate of bravery" signed (or teethed) by the gator

on saturday night we hiked up "high dune." it took us an hour and a half to get up and it was hard! there were so many ridges and ups and downs that you can't see before you start. i think at some point every one of us wanted to give up. thank goodness for positive peer pressure. it was really incredible! i must say there's something cool about doing a major hike in bare feet! everyone was carrying a kid except for me (every once in a while cole was even carrying 2), so i tried to pull my weight by taking lots of pictures (i think i had the better deal)! lincoln, who is 4 years old was amazing and hiked almost the entire thing by himself! logan did pretty good in the backpack considering we were hiking after his bedtime and it got chilly. thank goodness for snacks and his lovey that kept him content.

almost there

it was cold and getting dark, so we only spent about 2 minutes at the top. it was totally worth it though!

sunday after church we went on a 1/2 mile hike to zapata falls. it seemed especially easy after our hike from the night before.

(left) dave showing off his good looking hair (you always have good) hair after camping! (right) logan LOVES his dad (and chewing on the camelbak
if this seemed like a lot of pictures just know it could have been worse. we took 199.

weekend bliss

this weekend was wonderful for many reasons: dave had a couple of days off and so the weekend seemed especially long, a visit to the zoo as a family, i was able to teach an incredible family about the gospel of jesus christ with the sister missionaries (who happen to rock my world), dave spent saturday four-wheeling and i had 2 jewelry parties (i am now a jewelry consultant with premier designs and get to sell [and wear] pretty jewelry and meet new, fun women), and we attended a wonderful baptism. here are two other reasons why the weekend was blissful:

reason #1

pinkberry just opened in denver and their mango yogurt is divine! especially when you top it with fresh fruit and cap'n crunch. seriously, try it with cap'n crunch. it will change your life. just kidding. but actually, maybe not.

reason #2

the chicken bacon ranch pizza from papa murphy's. we are a match made in heaven (i think dave is ok with that because he knows we are the other match made in heaven). i think it was created with me in mind: creamy garlic ranch, grilled chicken, bacon, roma tomatoes (and of course cheese). their advertising worked like a charm on me. i had something else planned for dinner, but i saw the coupon that came in our valu-pak envelope and those plans went out the window. try it and thank me later! only $9.99 for a large! :)

apt. 17 - seattle 2010!

7 of us. including 4 pregnant ladies. traveling from 5 different states. leaving 14 children and 7 husbands (wonderful husbands who made it possible to go). for 3 fantastic days together. at our gracious host megan's house. for our apartment #17 reunion in seattle. it was perfect!

when i think back on my memories from college, at least one, if not most (or all) of these girls are included. and even though it has been at least 8 years since we have all lived together in bountiful courts apt. #17 and 2.5 years since we have all been together, these girls remain some of my closest friends. each of them are simply amazing and inspire me to be better. it was the perfect weekend of playing, eating laughing and talking (lots and lots of each of those things)!

i love you girlies! i can't wait for our next reunion in 2013!

take me out to the ball game!

kari's request for her birthday was for the whole family to go to a rockies game. unfortunately the birthday celebration/game was postponed a couple of weeks due to bad weather. but i think we were all much happier fans watching the game when it wasn't cold and rainy.

dave's tongue is always "slipping" out in pictures (usually touching my face), so we had to try again. luckily he behaved himself!

while i think baseball is one of the more boring sports, going to an actual game is a lot of fun. probably because it involves lots of visiting with fellow game goers and lots of good food with a little baseball on the side! i think i ate at least a little bit of all the traditional "baseball food:" peanuts, caramel corn (like cracker jacks but better), hot dogs, nachos, cotton candy and funnel cake. i'm hungry just typing all that! happy belated birthday kari and thanks for a fun night!