4th of July

On Thursday, we celebrated the 4th of July with the Taylors.  We gathered at Aftie and Aaron's for breakfast, patriotic songs and stories of the veterans who have touched our lives.

 Jett, Tucker and Dallas had fun playing on the teeter-totter

Jayson and Kimbre sitting in the shade

 Paul, Ryan, Dad, and Aaron catching up over breakfast

Nikki, JR and Courtney

The Taylor daughters and in-laws.  Aftie, Natalie, Julie, Nikki and Shay

 The Pledge of Allegiance

We all enjoyed listening to the stories and singing songs!

Later that night we had our own fireworks show!

Sweet cuddles of Lisa and Ethan

 The kids loved running with the sparklers!

Jacob with his sparkler

Great little fireworks show!

Jason and Brayden enjoying the fireworks

 The neighbors were shooting off huge mortars!

 It might have been a little loud for the wee ones

That night we had a sleepover with all the kids!  It was a great 4th of July!

Splash Pad and Playground

 Friday we all went to the park and splash pad.  It was nice to cool off and have some fun.

Papa holding Brooklyn and Ethan

 Ava, Jacob, Brycen and Jett having fun on the playground

Ethan's loving it!

Ropes Course

Saturday the family set out to conquer a ropes course! 

 Jett and Ashley ready to start!

 Lisa and Jason on the course

Lisa and Jason taking a rest

 Jett and Ashley taking it slow

 Everyone ready to go!

 The babies and kids had lots of fun on the playground below

 Mom and Dad starting up the ladder

 Jett, Kimbre and Drew on the platform

 Mom on the course

 Jason and Dad on the beam

 Ashley striking a pose!

 Ashley doing the splits!

 Jett on the course

 Mandy on the ladder!  Thank you Mandy for organizing this fun event!!

After we were done, some of us went to visit grandma.

It was a great week and we can't wait to get together again for the next reunion!

Jacob is SIX!!

Since the twins were born just two days before Jacob's birthday, I always try to celebrate it a little later than the actual date.  This year, it kindof ended up extending his birthday for a week or more.  We went swimming--and for the first time Jacob tried and did very well swimming with NO Floaties!  Woot!woot!

We happened to go a bounce house place on his birthday with our friends--go Two-fer Tuesdays!  However, he was messing around on top of the baby bounce house (instead of inside like you're supposed to) and managed to fall off, bonk his head on a window sill, and get a nice gash-- scared everyone to death with all the blood, but he was fine.  Sheesh!

Auntie Shannon took him out to lunch and they talked all about Kindergarten and what school is about, and what to expect.  It was soooooo sweet of her!  She answered all of his questions and got him all excited.  For his birthday present she even put together a "homework" tote with brand new pencils, erasers, crayons, etc---JUST for his homework!  He is very excited about school!

For his actual "birthday" celebration.  Grandma Dawn let him pick the menu for our Sunday dinner!  I love his handwriting!

We love our Jakey-man!  Can't believe he is getting so big so fast!!!

The Big Crunch

So, last Thursday, the 11th, I was out running errands with the kids - I had just finished grocery shopping and was on my way to pick up my raspberry order and right after I came to a stop behind some traffic, the vehicle behind me did not stop at all and slammed into our van! The vehicle behind him then slammed into him, hitting me again, and all this caused me to ram into the car in front of me which then hit the car in front of him and so on. I ended up being the fourth car in the 6 car pileup. The police came to help sort it out, but thankfully no one was hurt and now we just have to deal with all of the insurance aftermath. I was able to get my raspberries and then drive home, but with a new odd sound. After Jayson ripped the bumper off, it turns out my exhaust pipe was kinked really bad and pointing down. I'm glad I made it home! Our adjuster came out today and declared the van a total loss, so now we'll see what we get out of it... At least it wasn't our new truck that got hit and that we have a nice new truck to drive around! And so very thankful we're all safe!

AND, after we got home and all settled down, I was still able to make some yummy raspberry jam! ;)

Cars 1 and 2 were able to pull off to the side of the road. Then there's car 3, me, and car 5. Car 6 is behind that, but not in this picture.

Yikes.

 Here's the guy who hit me and caused it all....

Denver

This summer we headed to Denver, CO with Matt's parents, Kent and Martha.  We arrived Sunday night and stayed with his oldest brother, Brant.  On Monday we started our vacation by heading up to Rocky Mountain National Park.    Way up in the Rockies, just outside the park, is a town called Estes Park which is about 7500ft above sea level.     

 We kept driving higher to eventually get to Bear Lake.  When we got there we had to load onto a shuttle to get to the lake. 

    Matt took Riley on a separate hike to Alberta Falls.

 The rest of us hiked around Bear Lake.

 Me, Brant's wife, Leslie, her girls, Katie, Kori and Aly.  Their other 2 kids, Tyler and Aimee went with Matt to the Falls.

 We saw a lot of elk along the way!

 We ventured even higher to get to the top of the mountain!  This is us at a lookout near the top.

At the top is a visitor center.  As you can see the elevation is quite high and we could definitely feel the difference.  Feeling out of breath and slightly dizzy, we were ready to head back down the mountain.

We came back down to Estes Park and enjoyed some ice cream.

 Tuesday threatened to be wicked hot so we went to the local pool.

Riley loved the lazy river!

 The slide took some coaxing but she loved it too.  Even when she got dunked by dad.

 Splashing was the best!

 Later that night, Matt and I went to a Rockies game.  It was pretty hot and we were staring right into the sun.  Nothing an expensive visor couldn't handle.

It was a great game!

Wednesday we headed over to Matt's brother, Erik's, house.  The whole reason for this trip was for Kent and Martha to watch their kids while Erik and Jamie and their daughter, Hallee, went on a Trek.  

Thursday was a lot of relaxing, watercolor painting and playing outside with a sprinkler.

Friday Brant and Leslie and their family joined us at the Littleton Historical Museum.  It was free and it was fun!  They had two set ups of what life looked like in the 1860's and the 1880's.  Complete with houses, outhouses, barns, animals, and a school.  

 This was what Riley looked like most of the time.  It was hot and she wanted to be carried almost the entire time.  Lots of crying.

Even with the tantrums and the heat, it was still a fun day.  

Saturday we got up early and went with Brant and Leslie to a Firetruck Parade in Littleton.  It was a short parade of just Firetrucks but it was fun.  After the parade, all the trucks parked at a nearby lot and we got to  see them up close. 

 Typical Riley picture.

 Waiting for the Firetrucks to drive by!

 Brant and the kids were part of the parade!  That's them in the back of the truck.

 Riley got into the excitement waving and clapping.

 This was by far the coolest, most tricked-out firetruck!

 I was sure Riley would be afraid of the fire hose but to my surprise she got right in there and had some fun!

We waited in line for about an hour to take a ride on the firetruck and it lasted maybe two minutes.  It was worth it!

On Sunday we celebrated Riley's birthday with the family.  Sorry, no pictures.  They're all on Kent's camera.

On Monday we started on our journey home.  We decided to make some fun of it by heading to Mt. Rushmore. But what would a real trip be without some inclement weather?  On the way up it started hailing on us like crazy!  We were seriously worried that our car was going to get damaged. Thankfully it wasn't and when it stopped we continued up the mountain.  The sun broke through a couple times but the crazy storm wasn't through with us yet.

 You can see the storm brewing behind us...

 We were just heading back to the car when it hit.  Thank GOODNESS we weren't caught in it out on the trail!

 Yep, the hail was about the size of walnuts.  Thankfully our car was in the covered parking lot.

 It was an exciting ending to a fun day.

We stayed the night in Rapid City,SD. About 30 mins away from Mt Rushmore. 

Tuesday we headed to Bozeman, MT and stayed the night.

Wednesday we finally made it home.

10 days and 2600 miles! It was a long trip but tons of fun! A big THANK YOU to Brant and Leslie, Erik and Jamie, and Kent and Martha! Thank you for feeding, housing, and being our tour guides to the great city of Denver, CO!