Summer Vacation: Colorado

One last post about our Colorado segment of our summer vacation. The night we got to my parents house, my mom and dad stayed up until about midnight finishing building this swing set in their backyard, and it helped make the backyard one of the best places to be.

Jake was a sweet patient boy, tagging along on most of our adventures with hardly a complaint.

Cousins Dean and Neil live with their parents at Grandma and Grandpa's house and they LOVED Jake. It was so sweet to see these two 16 month-olds light up and wiggle from head to toe with joy every time they saw him.

Logan heard Grandpa had guns because he was a hunter and was so pleased when Grandpa showed some of them to him one night. Logan told me later, "Mom, I don't want to be an engineer anymore. I want to be a hunter."

The bitter-sweet part of our trip was saying goodbye to our beloved Teo. He had an accident playing ball that left him unable to use his hind legs. Uncle JD and Auntie Lianna had to take him to the vet to be put to sleep, but not before we were all able to say goodbye. Ali was especially heartbroken.

Other great, unphotographed moments of our trip included about six trips to grandma and grandpa's neighborhood pool and two trips to the reservoir. The pool was perfect because it is always nearly empty and the shallow end is three feet deep, deep enough for Ali and Logan to really try to swim without having to worry because they know they can touch the bottom. They played and practiced with me enough that when we went to Jason's Aunt's pool in St. George they both started to really swim! It was amazing to see!

We also had dinner at Uncle JD's and Auntie Lianna's new apartment; had three groups of old friends over for dinner/dessert/visits; visited my dad at his work and went to lunch with him in his office's cafeteria, and visited the little Aurora City museum they have there; I took my dad to a movie to celebrate Father's Day; and we hiked around a state park while Uncle JD took pictures of the kids. We had a great time!