Happy Birthday Mike!

We celebrated Mike's bday this year as a family. Mike took the day off, but his hopes for golfing were dashed by the rain. So after I got off work, we made the most of it. We went to lunch at Olive Garden together. Faith is the only one that would let me take a pic. The food was really good (as usual) and we had a great waiter that brought him a plate full of chocolates with a candle in the middle to sing to him. It made us laugh and Mike was a good sport.

He had previously already bought himself his Bday present when he bought a Wii U a few weeks ago and I also bought him some nice workout clothes (per his request) while we were on vacation, so there was nothing for him to open from us.  After lunch , however, we drove to a comic book store to let him pick out a new graphic novel to read. Then it was back home to let the kids rest during the rainy day. After some naps, we got out the Mario Kart cake the kids and I made for him and sang and blew out the candles.

Then it was time to take C to football practice and the rest of a "normal" night. I think he enjoyed a pretty "ok" day with us.

Trace Time!

This year for my Mom's Bday and Mother's Day gifts, I got her tickets for us to see her very most favorite singer in the whole world. He just happened to be playing in Wendover, so we got to have a little girls trip, just the 2 of us.

Here she is after picking up the tickets.

After a huge dinner at the hotel buffet, it was concert time. We sang along and got up and danced a couple times. My phone died before I got any good pics of him up there singing away.

Then a nice sleep at the hotel and we were up for breakfast and then the drive home the following morning. It was so fun and even though he's not one of my favorites, I am happy I got to share in this experience with my momma and see her so happy.

Denver 2014- Day 5

For our last full day of the trip, we decided to take a long drive down to Bishop Castle.  It was a long drive, but in the end, we ended up going up a beautiful canyon to find it. This is a castle in the middle of nowhere that an architect has been building himself over the years entirely by hand. It was a little more run-down than we expected but the kids loved exploring it, climbing the towers and having a picnic there. As well as pocking out some fun hats in the gift-shop as their trip souvenirs.

On the way back, we stopped off in Colorado Springs for a quick-stop/drive through the Garden of the Gods, where we also met up with a cousin of mine for a visit.

Then we all went to a park where the kids got to play in the water of a big sculpture/fountain and then play their hearts out at the playground while us adults visited for a while and I got to play with the baby while the kids played with some cousins their ages.

Another rain storm kicked up and ruined our fun, so we said our goodbyes then decided to wait out the storm/rush hour traffic at the Red Robin for some yummy dinner burgers. Then the ride back to Denver was surprisingly pleasant while we watched a cool lightening storm ahead of us while enjoying a super bright (the picture doesn't due it justice) double rainbow out to the side of us.

Then it was time to pack our bags and gear up for the long drive back to Price in the morning.

When asking the kids what their favorite part was:
Caleb: The roller coasters
Zaden: The Amusement Park and riding The Spider
Zaric:  The hotel and swimming
Faith: Meeting the mermaids and buying a new umbrella stroller

Mike and I both voted for the aquarium and the aquarium restaurant as ours. Followed closely by everything little thing else.


What a great trip! 

Denver 2014- Day 4

Today we had set aside the entire day to go play at Elitch Gardens, the amusement park in downtown Denver. We started off the day by spending the first couple hours going on some family friendly rides and in kiddie land.

I got to go on one grown up ride with Caleb and Mike did as well. And then we had split up Caleb and Mike to go on more adult rides and Me to take the littles back to kiddie land and to get some face painting.

Right after this and while making plans for more rides, a big lightening/sudden rain storm hit and we had a bit of a scare when Caleb got separated from us while getting out of a line for a ride to seek shelter from the storm. Luckily, he was quick-thinking and borrowed a cell phone from one of the food vendors to call me and guide us to his location. We found him and decided to call it an early day since the rain wasn't looking at stopping any time soon and headed back to the hotel for some R&R. After a couple hours it stopped and then it was another walk to dinner and I got to enjoy a couple of my favorites, Chipotle, Jamba Juice and a stop at a gelato stand afterwards. It was overall a good day, despite the panic and the rain.