Family Vacation

On April 1, 2011 we took off for a vacation. Josh had to go to Colorado for some labs with his schooling so we decided to make it a family vacation. We left our house at about six p.m. and took a beautiful scenic route.

From our house to where we were staying is approximately ten hours. We arrived at our hotel at four a.m. and got a few hours of sleep. The kids did great on the drive there because they slept most of the way.

On Saturday we just relaxed and drove around a bit. It was nice to take a day after the long drive to just relax.

On Sunday we did a few things. Sunday afternoon we went to the Miniature Doll and Toy Museum which was free for the community. It was located in a house that they had turned into a walk through museum.  

 What's a vacation with out seeing the closest temple! On Sunday we took some time to drive to the Denver Temple but we couldn't get out of the car because it was raining.

I did roll my window down for a few pictures but I thought this looked pretty cool!

On Sunday it was Josh's 30th birthday as well.  So that evening we drove to Colorado Springs to visit Josh's cousin Chad and his family. We all enjoyed seeing them and our kids had a blast playing with all of their kids.

On Monday was Josh's first day of labs for school.

While he was at school we found some fun things to do!

Most especially we knew where several parks were located some even within walking distance of the hotel. Also I took some pictures while finding my way around the Denver area.

I also made it back up to the temple and got some much better pictures.

On Tuesday we went back to Josh's cousins home. Chad had made some wonderful dutch oven chicken and potatoes for us for dinner. Yummy!!!

On Wednesday after Josh got done with school we went to a restaurant called Casa Bonita.

While we were eating our meal there was live music and several different shows such as a fire juggling act, puppet show, and a diving show!

The kids were facinated with all of it! In this picture they are standing behind the waterfall from the previous picture.

On Thursday the kids and I went to Dinosaur Ridge. It was super fun and the kids both got to do some fun things.

They thought it was so cool they could pet the dinosaur. This particular dinosaur is laying on the ground because the wind knocked it over and broke its leg but they were still excited.

 This was inside the museum. Most everything in the museum was hands on except this. I was very impressed with their displays.

 Then we went on a small bus ride around the ridge to see where the dinosaurs walked. Next to Kaytlin in this picture is a large dinosaur print in the rock. At the time of the dinosaurs this was the bottom of a body of water and in the rock she is climbing were a few hundred prints that were very visible.

 When we picked Josh up from lab we toured the Tower of Memories on the grounds of the Funeral Home he was doing his embalming labs at. The funeral home is only a small building in the cemetery along with the Tower of Memories.

Let's just say we spent a bit of time in the cemetery while waiting to pick up Josh and got to see some neat looking headstones and a coyote which Kaytlin kept calling a dog.

That evening we went to the Colorado Railroad Museum! The only word that describes this experience is AWESOME!

 Oh No! Watch out for that train!

 This train was neat! It was a coin operated engine. Josh and Brayden put in a quarter and pulled and pushed a few buttons and it pretended to start up and gain speed. Noise and all was involved!

 Here is Brayden driving the coin operated train!

 All three kids sitting on the front of the train. Can you pick out Alayna? She was squeezed between Brayden and Kaytlin!

 Here is the operating roundhouse! I think this was my favorite part. They refurbish train cars in the roundhouse and we were able to witness them push one into the house to begin the process of refurbishment! We also got to watch them move several trains on the turntable!

After the train museum we headed over to the Air and Space Museum!

It was fun to see so many different planes! This particular plane was one used in the Star Wars movies. It was autographed and everything.

On Friday evening we met Chad's family at the Aquarium in Denver.

Here is Chad, his two boys Lance and Trevor with Brayden checking out the fish in the tank. For those of you that can't pick Brayden out he is the boy in green.

 The underside of a shark. We were in an underwater tunnel which was awesome!

 This picture was funny! Chad wanted to hold Alayna but she doesn't go to people well at all. So he told me to get ready to take a picture because he was going to take her from Josh and to get it before she started crying. Let's just say that after I took the picture she started crying.

 That may look like blood on Brayden's arm but it was a painted whale on his arm.

While we were there at the aquarium there was a mermaid show! Here is just a very small portion of the show for you! It would be best to turn off the music on the blog so you can hear the music on the show!

After the mermaid show they came out and we were able to get our picture taken with them! From left to right: Brenda (me), Kaytlin, Mermaid 1, Amber, Mermaid 2, Trevor, Brayden, Lance, and Mermaid 3.

I gotta tell ya that this picture of stingrays was taken by Kaytlin!

On Saturday April 9th we packed up and headed home! We took off from Denver at 10:30 a.m. and lets just say this trip wasn't nearly as good as going! The kids were cranky, the weather was bad, and they were sick of being in the car because it was daylight! I wish we could have drove overnight like we did the first time around so the ride home would have been a little more pleasant! Although, they could have been a lot worse! For the first few hours Kaytlin would ask us where we were going. We would reply that we were headed home. She repeatedly would say no i dont want to go home!

All in all it was a great trip! We had so much fun seeing new things, trying new things and just enjoying being in a new place. It is certainly nice to be home though!

Growing Like Weeds

BRAYDEN

He is a huge help to us! It is hard for me to believe he will be seven this summer. Right now he is in the process of losing teeth so check out the gaps. He lost his top middle tooth in a strange way. He was hit with a swing at school and that made it so loose I figured it would fall right out. It was hanging in there at some weird angles and it held on for a good week. He is getting ready to lose the other top middle one so then he will have a huge hole.

He loves the outdoors! We have been getting some very pleasant days here recently and the kids just want to be outside. Who can blame them! The only problem is that it looks nice out but it still doesn't feel that great out there. The kids believe that if it looks nice out it is time to get sandals and shorts and we aren't even close to that type of weather. I did give in one afternoon and allowed them to play outside for a little while.

KAYTLIN

Kaytlin is definately a tough girl. She stands up for herself and knows exactly what she wants. If only we could channel that to not include temper tantrums when she doesn't get exactly what she wants! She likes to see how far she can go before she gets into trouble! Baby toys around here aren't just for babies...

She got caught and then she felt very proud of herself. I had a hard time not laughing about this so I had to get a picture! Let's just say she had a hard time getting out of this predicament.

She wants in on any activity that doesn't include her. I was taking pictures of Alayna and Kaytlin insisted on it as well. I thought they turned out half decent even!

She even enjoyed the great outdoors the day they played outside!

Her hair is getting super long and check our her eyelashes! Personally, I think being three agrees with her! She is certainly one cute girl!

ALAYNA

She is growing the fastest to me. She is coming up on eight months of age and is so fun! She loves Brayden and he can usually get her to giggle lots. When she doesn't like something we can certainly tell! As always I couldn't just choose a few pictures!

 You can make her day when giving her something new to play with  instead of her toys. She loves bowls, paper, silverware, and just about anything else she can get to her mouth. I gave her this blue bowl in the pictures and she was in heaven. I once gave her a laminated bookmark and lets just say there wasn't much left when I checked on her a few minutes later.

 This is my favorite picture of her! It was almost like she hadn't seen a camera before or something!

 When she wears this outfit I like to call her my little red riding hood! She likes it because the hat is so huge she can turn her face and eat it.

She has just learned that when she is sitting on the floor and something is just out of reach she can flop over onto her belly and reach whatever she was going after. It is quite comical to watch her and then seeing the pure joy on her face once she gets what she wants. She hasn't figured out how to roll over yet and she HATES being on her belly so shortly after getting the object she was after she just cries.

She doesn't have any teeth yet but is working on them. I don't know who is more excited for teeth, her or me. When she gets some teeth she can then eat more things because the way it is now she just stares us down until we feel guilty for eating in front of her and get her something she can have. I found some hard crackers that she can gnaw on and eventually they disappear.

Enjoy this video and we hope it makes your day!

Alayna 6 Months Old

Alayna is getting so big and so much more active! She can now grab onto things most especially hair... just ask Kaytlin! She laughs and giggles at our funny antics and she jabbers like she is carrying on conversations with us! She loves eating! Oatmeal with Bananna's is her favorite cereal and she is still undecided about the veggies and fruit! So far she enjoys applesauce, sweet potatoes, squash, peas and pears. We are still trying to get her to enjoy the other things such as carrots and apricots. She certainly loves veggies more than fruits which is surprising! She isn't quite rolling over yet but I expect it any day! When she has a full belly and a clean diaper she is the most amazing little girl full of happiness! If only I could package up her laughs and giggles for you to enjoy with us!

She loves playing too! Anthony, Mandy and Mason came up to celebrate Mason's first birthday and Alayna just watched him. An interesting fact- They currently wear the same size clothes.

Brayden and Kaytlin both love holding her and playing with her until she grabs hair then the games are over. Brayden would hold her all day if I let him and sometimes she doesn't mind at all.

She is a very good sitter. Sometimes she needs help but she is getting stronger everyday. She enjoys rubbing the carpet and trying to eat it most likely because it is a new texture for her.

She is starting to chew on everything so my guess would be teeth may make an appearance in the next few months! Her fingers are always in her mouth which means her clothes are always drenched with drool!

 I am finally able to upload all the videos that have been taken of Alayna up to this point. Enjoy! This first one was when she was two months old approximately.

In this video Brayden and Alayna were playing ball and she thought it was so funny. She is 4 1/2 months old here during the Christmas season!

This video is when she was learning to make new sounds! If she talks like this now I think I have a good idea of how talkative she will be when she gets older. YIKES! She was 5 1/2 months in this video!

She is certainly growing fast and learning so many new things. I hope you enjoyed!