Steamboat, Colorado 2011

Last week we took our annual family trip to Colorado. We were missing two - Trett in China, Matt in California - but we gained one cute baby girl, so it was still a good group. This is a slideshow from the week.

In summary - lots of good quality time, good food (J's pulled pork sandwiches were a big hit!), and fun outdoor activities. Of course, we were somewhat limited by our kiddos' nap and bed time schedule, but we tried to make the most of it.

Anna Kate and Trip woke up around 6/6:30, and my still-in-college brother woke up about 6 hours later. This created a little bit of an issue, but overall we managed to have a great time.

Thanks, as always, to Mom and Kent for the awesome vacation. Anna, Whitney, and Timmy - thanks for your patience with our little family. You all are the best aunts, uncles, and grandparents!

Trip continues to ask about all of you. He has been playing with his toy airplane and asked me today if Gigi was on the airplane eating a chocolate chip cookie. (They serve chocolate chip cookies on Frontier, the airline we took to Colorado). He also still excitedly wears his camelback backpack around, "like Aunt Anna does."

We love you all, and we can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Tikatok

Thought I'd share this neat website. Your kids can make their very own books!

Mine are a little too young, but I look forward to using it in the future.

www.tikatok.com

My Heart

This little girl has my heart.

And, of course, she has her big brother's heart too.

... Most of the time.

Life is Messy

[I helped him with the glasses]

[Here he's on the phone with Aunt Anna telling her about playing with markers]

I am learning a lot from Trip.

Learning to play.

To listen carefully to understand his little 2-year-old vocabulary.

I am learning to turn messes into memories.

Every Day is a Party

Trip can turn just about anything into a birthday cake with candles to blow out. Here, for example, the carrot sticks are the candles and the tortilla is the cake.

Every day is someone's birthday around here and he is sure to sing "Happy Birthday" at the top of his lungs!

[Jack waiting anxiously for the food to drop.]

... and, just because she's so darn cute

Amazon Happy

There is something so great about getting a box from Amazon on your front porch! That big Amazon logo smiling at you.

I also appreciate that Trip gets as much enjoyment out of the box :)

Tough Life

Trip had a couple of late nights and early mornings in a row. I missed capturing it on camera, but when I first found him he was passed out positioned with the top half of his body on the couch and the bottom half hanging off. When I ran to grab the camera, he scooted up on to the couch.

It's tough being a 2 year old.