Keystone

Earlier in November we took a trip up to Keystone to hangout with the Harm's family at their condo.  We always LOVE making the trip up their and spending some time enjoying the beautiful mountains and relaxing with our friends.

I am not going to lie - this trip was a little rough...

Most of it was due to the fact that Eli and Ashtyn were getting head colds which made for super whiny kids and we all know how much fun that is and what made it even worse is the idea that Shannon and I headed up to Keystone on Thursday night with the kids, by ourselves - no husbands.  When we first planned the trip I imagined this earlier departure being much different - it goes something like this...

We would load our cute, healthy kids up and make the beautiful drive up to Keystone, where we would grab some pizza, head to the condo, get in our pjs and watch movies with the kids till they went to bed and then Shannon and I would have "girl" time and catch up on gossip and maybe have a pillow fight - jk!  Then the next day we would wake up, have breakfast and go shopping at the Outlets until our adorable husbands joined us for dinner and drinks. 

Sounds great right?

Well that is FAR from what happened, and let's just say we spent a two hour car ride with screaming, whiny, sneezing kids.  We finally got to the condo and there were no husbands there to unload our car, so I unloaded while Eli screamed his head off.  Finally after the mounds of crap we brought were unloaded we got the kids ready for bed, but they didn't want to go to bed, so we were up till ten getting them settled down and by then us girls were pooped!

Praying for a better day on Friday...

Well again, my kids woke up with head colds, making them extremely whiny and clingy.  Ashtyn broke her elephant at the grocery store that morning which then put her in a bad mood the rest of the day...so lunch and shopping were NOT fun!

At several times throughout the day I admit I completely lost my patience. 

Probably the icing on the cake was when I decided to go to the grocery store with my kids...

Let's just say the Dillion City Market is the busiest grocery store I have ever been too.  I could barely think about what I needed to get and of course I was the idiot pushing the big cart with the car on the front around annoying everyone in the packed isles while Eli hung out the side pulling items off the shelves.  It was a horrible shopping trip and the worst of it all is I managed to lose two pacifiers - TWO!

On my way out I grabbed a Starbucks to calm my nerves, and prayed the kids would just fall asleep in the car and hoped Matt would soon arrive to save me...

The wonderful husbands did soon arrive and the trip immediately got better.  We headed to Breckenridge for the night to enjoy pizza and drinks with the Pierce's.

I never knew or appreciated how great my husband is and how much help he is with our kids - seriously I would have never survived the weekend by myself.

And for the record, next time, Shannon and I will be heading up to Keystone alone while Matt and Kole handle the kids - not getting the short end of the stick two times in a row...

 I woke up in a much better mood Saturday, and even though the kids were still feeling yucky we stayed cooped up all day in our pjs relaxing and snuggling in the condo - which I think is a perfect way to spend a cold, winter day.  It was even snowing on Saturday which made the atmosphere that much better.  I made some yummy Tortilla Soup for dinner and we watched movies the rest of the evening!

 This picture pretty much sums up Eli's time at Keystone...

 Even though the trip started out ROUGH it ended great.  I think our kids are just at the age where it's going to be alot of work to do anything and not every trip is going to go perfect.

So this trip will be one I will never forget and hopefully one day it will no longer be a reality for me and I can just laugh at it all...

Thanks Harms for a weekend away - sorry we weren't better company.

Until next time...

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween!

On Monday, I only worked half the day so I could spend Halloween with the kiddos!  When I got home from work we had some lunch and then changed into their costumes so we could head to Pearl Street to go trick-or-treating with Nana...

 Eli HATED the hood to his monkey costume and would scream when I put it on!  So I never did get that cute "Halloween" picture of both my kids - heartbreaking I know!

Oh well, there is always next year...

 Tinkerbell riding her bike around...

 We spent the afternoon Trick-or-Treating on Pearl Street mall which they specially do for the little kids.  The weather was beautiful, so it was a nice afternoon to spend at the mall.  I couldn't believe how every store/restaurant participated - BJ's Brewery even gave small samples of beer for adults and homemade cookies for the kids!

They also had craft tables set up, games and other activities throughout the mall for the kids to enjoy.  Ashtyn loved it and got TONS of candy!

 That is a HUGE bowl of candy...

 Again, Eli didn't care for trick-or-treating and just wanted to play at the rock park.  So while Nana took Ashtyn up and down the mall, Eli and I played on the rocks...

Whatever makes the Monkey happy!

 He loves walking or now running across this bridge - over, and over, and over again!

 He finally pooped himself out!

 This is my ONLY picture of the two of them in their Halloween costumes - not exactly what I was hoping for, but it will do!  It has too...

 I needed my Halloween treat, so we rounded out the afternoon at Starbucks!

...and then headed home for dinner and MORE Trick-or-Treating!

This year we went trick-or-treating with the neighbors - Sarah, Todd, Carlin and Louie.  I have to say this was the best part of the day.  First off we always have fun with them, it was very laid back, the weather could not have been more perfect, and the neighborhood was very "happening". 

It felt like the good ol' days of trick-or-treating!

 They all enjoyed themselves running or "flying" as Tinkerbell did from one house to the next.

I was impressed with all the decorating of the homes and the treats people were giving out - full candy bars even!

 Eli even got into the spirit!

 Carlin was Spiderman!

 Louie was a Dragon!

 Carlin cracked us up when he was at the door.  He would not only take candy for himself, but also explain to the person handing out candy he needed some for his big brother Wiley and his little brother Louie - the kid totally made out with Candy!  I just wonder if he actually gave his brothers their share?

Oh, Carlin - you will be such a good business man when you grow up!

 Eli is always trying to kiss Louie and Louie always pushes him away,

maybe they can just HUG?

After about an hour we headed back home and while the kids dumped out their bags of candy and played, us adults enjoyed some beers and conversation.

I LOVE our neighbors and our neighborhood - we enjoyed our Halloween Evening for sure!

Halloween FUN!

We have been celebrating Halloween since Last Friday!  It all started with Ashtyn's Preschool Party and then afterwards we headed to Nana's to make our Annual Halloween Cookies to give away to our family and friends.

 This year was little rough - Ashtyn was only interested in the activity for maybe a half hour and then just wanted to play, and Eli was well, ELI!  He has an attention span for one second, so in between decorating a couple dozen cookies and constantly following Eli around or finding something for him do it was an EXHAUSTING, LONG afternoon!  But for the 30 minutes they did enjoy cookie making I was able to capture the moment nicely...

 Ashtyn is very PRECISE when it comes to her decorating.  She would put each sprinkle on one at a time...

 Here is Eli's attempt at decorating...

 Started off pretty good - he actually put a sprinkle on the cookie...

 but after that (I think he got a taste of the icing) it was all over from there, and he starting licking the icing right off the cookie...

 YEP! That's my boy - licking the cookie...

 YUMMY!  Even up the nose...

 I think he was quite proud of his accomplishment to totally lick all the frosting off the cookie and make a complete mess!  The boy seriously drives me crazy sometimes - I don't think he is quite ready for cookie making!  The cookies did turn out very cute and we wrapped them up to give away.  After the afternoon I had, I headed straight to Starbucks for an afternoon snack, while my babies took a nap - Whew!

On Saturday the Halloween Fun continued.  We met The Harms family up in Longmont for a Halloween Parade and lunch.  The weather was fantastic so we enjoyed being outside, in our costumes and having fun with our friends.

 Sweet Payton was a little Ladybug...

 Eli having a snack while watching the parade...

 Miss. Diva Ashtyn!

 After the parade they let the kids trick-or-treat down Main Street - which Ashtyn LOVED!

She knew exactly what to do this year...

 Payton and Eli could have cared less about the trick-or-treating...maybe next year!

 After trick-or-treating we headed to the Pump House for lunch.  It was so nice to sit down and some what "relax" - with three kids it's never easy to eat out, but we still managed to enjoy our meal!

I loved our Halloween outing with our friends and especially the Fall weather!

Then it was off to home for NAPS!

It was an exhausting weekend - but great memories were made!