We're going to Colorado!

We got booted out of our house for two weeks in August for the motorcycle rally. The people we rented the house from already had it rented before we moved in so we didn't have much say in it but we made the best of it and took a much needed trip to Colorado. Luckily our employers gave us the week off. We stayed with my parents for a couple days before then took off for a 9 day trip to Colorado.

Taylor and John snuggling while we were at my parents house.

We're going to Colorado!

Taylor's picture of Humpy Dumpy. Not bad huh?

 

Sleepy girl

We arrived in Colorado on Saturday evening just in time to go to our good friend, Shannon's surprise 30th birthday party. We were so lucky to be able to help her celebrate! That night we stayed at John's aunt and uncle's new house in Firestone. We sat outside and had some drinks (I had lemonade) and chips and salsa and relaxed with some of our favorite people. 

Sunday morning, we were able to go to Flatirons, our old church that we love so much. They were in a brand new building that was pretty amazing. It was really nice to be able to go back there. After church, we headed back to Weed and Denise's house and grilled with Jenni & Cole and the boys and Taylor took a quick nap. After she woke up we packed up and headed south to go stay by John's sister and her family. That night they took us to a place called White Fence Farms in Lakewood. It was a super fun place. They have amazing home cooked meals and the grounds are beautiful with lots of fun stuff to do. There were gardens, playgrounds, a petting zoo, an aviary with peacocks, carriage rides, lots of gift shops, live music, homemade fudge, and much more. Riley and Taylor had a blast running all over the place and playing. The food was good and we definitely stuffed ourselves, especially on the amazing corn fritters.

Taylor and Riley playing at the playground

Petting the goat

How cute are these girls in their matching skirts? No, we didn't plan it :)

Sweet girls

Playing in the super cool treehouse

Swingin'

 

After we left White Fence Farms, we decided to eat even more and go get some Cold Stone. mmmm.

We went back to our hotel to catch some zzz's. The next morning (Monday) we got ready and went and did some shopping. That afternoon we went to check out the new Ikea store in Denver with Becky and the kiddos. It was pretty amazing. They probably had 100 employees outside of the store directing traffic and helping with parking. Once we finally got parked we ventured inside. We were there for 3 hours and that was just walking through the place. We didn't even really stop much. Pretty crazy! We bought a few things and drooled over a few more things then finally got out of the madness. After that, we headed back to Becky and Kelly's house so the girls could swim and play and we bbq'd after Kelly got home from work. It was so great to spend some time with them.

Riley and Taylor playing in the pool

 

We stayed one more night in the hotel and the next morning (Tuesday) we got up and headed to Elitches (Six Flags) with Jenni and the boys. We had so much fun. We started out at the waterpark so our little water baby was immediately in heaven. She had a blast swimming and playing in the pools. After playing there for a few hours we headed over to the amusement park side and rode on tons of rides. Taylor was so much fun and wanted to ride on everything with the boys. The kid has no fear!

Xander, Taylor & Jacob on a mini version of the Tower of Doom :)

On the roller coaster. This baby went fast and I didn't know how she would react to it but she LOVED it and gave a thumbs up every time they went around.

Jacob took such good care of Taylor. I think he needs a little sister. :)

Thumbs up!

SO fun!

Swings

Airplanes!

After no nap and a super fun/busy day, Taylor crashed on the bench while we were waiting for John and Jacob to get back from riding the roller coaster. She is so NOT the kid to fall asleep in random places so she was definitely tired!

Sweetheart

After Elitches we had planned to go shower and then go have dinner with Kole & Shannon but it was too late so they got us all stinky. That's when you know you have good friends :) They cooked us an amazing dinner and we hung out and chatted while Taylor and Payton played. We love getting together with them and miss them like crazy.

Wednesday morning we got our family pictures taken by the amazing friend/photographer, Corrie Kraft. It was so great to see her and spend some time together and get out pictures taken on top of it. I'll post the pics as soon as we get them. From what I saw, they are amazing! We went out to breakfast with her and her son, Noah after we were done. Sad we didn't get to see Leigh on this trip. Next time!
After that we went back to Weed & Denise's for a nap and some down time. That evening we went over to Jenni & Cole's for a BBQ with a bunch of family and good friends. It was so nice to see everyone and we're so thankful to Jenni for putting that together <3 <3.

Thursday morning Taylor wasn't feeling the best and none of us slept very well so we decided we needed some down time. We hung out at Weed & Denise's all morning and took it easy. That afternoon we went to Flatiron's Mall to go look for a 10-year anniversary ring. Yeah baby! We had fun strolling around our favorite mall and we got a beautiful ring ordered. We played in the play area and had some frozen yogurt from Red Mango and sat outside in the beautiful weather. Taylor hit up the bouncy castle then we headed back to Weed and Denise's for a spaghetti dinner. Thanks Nise!

Friday morning we got up and headed down to the Denver Zoo. Taylor still wasn't feeling great but we made it through the entire zoo, rode the train and the carousel. What a trooper! We love the zoo and were glad that we were able to go on this trip.

On the train

All tuckered out after a long day!

After the zoo, we went back to Weed & Denise's. Taylor and I took a little nap and John went to go have coffee with one of his old co-workers. We were planning on heading back down to Denver that night to go eat at our favorite restaurant (Marco's Pizza) but we were all pretty wiped out so we decided to scrap that idea. You know we're tired when we pass up Marco's :(

Saturday, we got all packed up, said our goodbye's and went to Estes Park to meet my cousin Matt and his family. We had lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, then walked by the river and let the girls play for awhile. We had rented a cabin at the YMCA so we got settled and went to check out the place. We played some mini golf and walked around for awhile then went back and Matt & Courtney cooked us a great meal. The girls had a blast together and we had a fun time sitting on the amazing deck, relaxing and catching up. Taylor did not sleep well that night. She was up crying every hour so none of us got much sleep. She hadn't been feeling well for a few days but we definitely knew something was wrong after that night. She had had a rash for a few days and it had moved to the palms of her hands and feet. We didn't think too much of it until John got the bumps on his hands that day. We found out she had a virus called Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. Poor baby! No wonder she hadn't been sleeping good. She was still such a trooper though as we drug her everywhere on this trip. The next morning we got up and Matt cooked us breakfast. Yeah, we were kind of spoiled! We hung out for a while then got packed up and ready to go. We hit up the craft building before we left and let the girls do some tye-dying. Taylor did a t-shirt and it turned out really good. We played at the playground for a little while then decided we should hit the road since we had to drive all the way back to SD that day. :( We stopped in Longmont on our way through and had a yummy burger at Freddy's with Weed and Denise then we hit the road for our long trip home.

We stayed with my parents for a couple more days before we could move back into our house. Two weeks away was definitely TOO long and we were all exhausted and ready to sleep in our own beds but we had a great time and were so thankful to see all of our Colorado peeps. It was a great trip!