Colorado Trip... Friday

Friday morning Tim and Matt were up at 5:30a to fish but home by 9:15a so we could do something as a family the rest of the day. Tim and I decided to take Evan to Mt. Evans. 

At first it was fight with Tim because he didn't want to drive the very narrow, winding mountain roads... but in the end he coinceded and we went. He later stated that he was happy that we did. The whole family loved it more than Rocky Mountain. It appeared to be untouched, other than the highway. The trails weren't obvious, the views were beautiful and the weather was cold. 

There was a stop where the boys enjoyed running the paths.  Evan really enjoyed this stop because he could get out of his seat and run off some energy. 

Our next stop was about 5 miles from the top. The boys got to run a bit again and Tim and I took some pictures of the area. We also had to get Evan with the Mt. Evan Trail sign.

Oliver also wanted to snap a few family pictures but once again he didn't push the button on his camera hard enough. There were some ladies waiting in the bathroom line and they asked of they could take a family picture.. once again Oliver says "sure" and hands over the camera. 

It was windy and my hair was everywhere. 

We didn't make it all the way to the top the boys started getting restless and Oliver started "not feeling better". Tim also said that he was feeling a bit drunk from the altitude, we were at 12,000+, so we started heading back down the mountain. 

The plan was to get back to Silverthorne, stop at the outlet mall and go out to dinner. However Oliver had other plans. No sooner then we got through the Eisenhower Tunnel on Rt 70 I turn and ask Oliver if he is ok. His response "I'm ok" and then he throws up everywhere. I was prepared with a puke bucket but he said that he was ok so I didn't give it to him.... UGH! We rushed back to the house, stripped Oliver down, got the car seat taken apart and started cleaning Oliver, the car and the car seat. After all that excitement we decided that we weren't going to leave the house again so I finished our laundry and headed to our room to pack for our trip back to Illinois. Once we had everything packed and loaded in the car, minus the items we still needed, we tucked our boys in bed and headed to the fire pit for our last night there. We didn't stay long and then we headed to bed. 

Colorado Trip... Wednesday

Wednesday morning we were all up by 6:30a, showered and ready to spend the day in the car. We, all 17 people in the house, were caravaning (minus the family that left 30 minutes earlier then everyone else) to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was about an hour or so from where we were staying and such a pretty drive. Of course we had to stop at the sign to get several pictures.

Yes, we are reading the newspaper... our local paper puts these pictures in, and I thought it would be fun, so I brought a paper from home and we got a picture, minus the early birds mentioned above. I submitted it to the paper later that day. Anyway, we weren't in the park 30 minutes when we happened moose, but no babies. She was just grazing. 

As we headed up the mountain we got to see beautiful landscapes and kept a watch out for bears and mountain goats... unfortunately all we saw was a bunch of elk from a distance, as we were on the highest point of the Rocky's. 

The boys took turns looking through this contraption, which I didn't see much through and then we moved on to another site where there was snow, in August. The boys were shocked and kept pointing out. Oliver was the most amazed. 

At a few other stops we encountered the cutest little chipmunks that Carter was just amazed with. Since I was the only one who could quickly get out of the car I snapped a few pictures of these cute creatures for him. They were just chasing each other and playing like no one was around. 

Before we knew it it was time to eat. We stopped off at a hidden valley called Beaver's Meadow for lunch with Tim's parents and Carter got to get pictures of the chipmunks that were basically begging for food. 

Oliver really wanted to pet one... We had to hold him back because they would have really had a hayday with him. The sites were gorgeous but the car ride was long... and on the way home it got so hilly and windy that I started to get a little car sick. This made me worry about Oliver because he is my car sick king.

Once we finally made it back to the house we spent the rest of the day relaxing around the fire pit and in the "hot pool", as Oliver would call it.  We definitely made some family memories. 

Weekend Wrap Up

What a great weekend had with family and friends... mainly family. Since it was Memorial weekend we stayed with tradition and went camping at the clubhouse with the Vasquez family. Friday night my Aunt had her son's college graduation at the clubhouse. Where we visited and sat around the campfire until the early hours. 

Saturday Oliver was up when Tim left for work, 5:30a. Tim got him set up with a drink and a movie and was quiet until about 7a, about the same time grandma text to let me know she was up. Oh, ya, Tim's parents were camping with us. Anyway, Evan was upset with Oliver for waking him so I put him in bed with me, changed his butt and gave him a cup of milk and he was back to sleep in no time.. we got to sleep until about 9:30a.

My 1st cousins boy Jackson. She is just the snugglest thing.

Once we woke we headed to the clubhouse for breakfast, which was baggie omelets (I will share this tomorrow). Some had left after breakfast for other graduation parties and such while the small group left at the clubhouse was relaxing before we had to get ready for a family wedding. This small group, which consisted of my in-laws, Uncle Mark, Aunt Lynn, Cousin Sam and Cousin Kelli, Brother Eric and my boys and nieces, was surprised when my brother Randy's Tahoe pulled up. He was at the party the night before and told us that he wouldn't be there the remainder of the weekend because he had to work. Only then we realized it was my baby brother Bryan, the one I visited the weekend before in Minnesota. 

He even knew he was showing up to the clubhouse the weekend I went to visit. It was the best surprise. We talked him into going to the wedding as well, he actually took my +1 because Tim was working. Before we knew it we had to get ready for the wedding. My boys stayed back with my in-laws while I went to church with my family and then to the reception where our favorite Fish Eye guy was there working the photo booth. They had some of the best wedding cake every... so many choices, from red velvet to peanut butter to german chocolate and coconut. 

My Uncle Jay and I (we are only 6 years apart)

Randy was at work but he made it for a bit...lol

I was ready to leave about 10p so I hitched a ride back to the clubhouse with my brothers where I stayed up a bit longer before calling it a night. 

When your baby brother doesn't show up to camp but once in a 

blue moon you photo overload him. This is Bryan and Evan, his godson.

Sunday Tim didn't have to work so he, Oliver and Evan (poor kid was woke by Oliver again) were up and out of the camper early. I slept until about 9a and joined everyone for breakfast. Once everything was cleaned up we played a very competitive game of kickball before needing a permanent break.

Carter and Uncle Eric practicing pitching... Eric even has Carter throwing better.

The remainder of the day we played other games, rode bikes, rode 4-wheelers and just enjoyed not being rushed. It is amazing how fast time goes when you are having fun. I called it a night about 1am and I am glad I did because when I got to the camper, where Tim and the boys were already sleeping, Evan was crying. I showered and then put him in bed with me, since Tim was sleeping with O. 

Two of my favs.

Monday mornings of 3 day weekends are my least favorite. I hate seeing fun weekends come to an end. I was up at 8 and started packing the camper and then joined everyone else for breakfast. We visited a bit, cleaned the clubhouse and gradually everyone was packed up and leaving the clubhouse by noon. We have unpacking down to a science so it took about 10 minutes and the laundry was done in only three loads. We relaxed napped the remainder of the day and watched Moana and Trolls. 

Evan and O attempting to share a bed.

I had to move them because they had switched spots

and Evan was about to fall off at one point. 

I can honestly say I did not want to wake up this morning nor did I want to come to work... but here I am. How was your Memorial Weekend?

Family Pictures

Do you have an new addition in your family? Maybe your kiddos have grown and changed since your last family photo shoot. Or are you one that likes going to those backdrop photographers, you know the ones where their camera's are permanently attached to a stand that glide back and forth or up and down? How about those over priced photographers, the one you don't even get the rights to YOUR pictures, the pictures you paid for, and feature YOU. Well, I like to have family pictures taken often and I prefer to have the rights to my pictures, after all I am paying for them and I (my family) are the subjects so why shouldn't I have the rights to my pictures. Really, for what reason would a photographer really want to keep a picture of you, no matter how good looking you are?

Well my hubby (pre-me) purchased a very expensive camera, one that today's digital photographer use, so we should get our use out of it. I also have a sister-in-law that has a similar camera and really knows how to use it and knows a little about lighting. When I put the two together it makes the perfect combo. We have a photographer, that will use our awesome camera, that will do our pictures for FREE, and the best part WE HAVE THE RIGHTS. Sunday all those stars aligned and we had a few family snap shots taken, I can't wait to get them printed to the sizes we want so I can include O in the "family" frames that are hanging around the house.

Now, don't get me wrong, I will still pay a professional to take pictures every now and then. I like when they know how to do the cutesy baby pictures. This past Sunday we also had O's 3 month pictures taken by a photographer. We can't wait to get the CD... that's right I found a photographer that will give us the rights to our pictures, and it doesn't cost an arm, leg and first born. Once I get them I will post them, Until then I leave you viewing our family pictures. These are the un-edited versions. What do you think?

She did a good job, right? I think she did perfect. I love them. There are a few that are my fave so we are going to blow one up for the big family picture and we are going to get some for family members to have.
 

Embrace the Camera

One day I was surfing the blogging world and came up on the anderson crew, she was doing a blog called embrace the camera. She started becasue she was looking for a picture of a relative and couldn't find one. That relative was most likely always the one taking the camera, like most moms are. I love joining in this link up because I too am one of those moms that always takes the picture and is rarely in them. I am taking the pictures off my new iPad. I have an app on there called Pocketbooth. I have it on my phone as well but on my iPad is more fun. Anyway, it takes pictures as if you are in a photo booth and they print out in a strip. I have played with that and a few other pictures this past week so I am going to share...oh, and check out Pocketbooth. I got mine for free because Starbucks was promoting it a week or so ago.

 

Onto the embracing...

 

 

Me, myself and I... on my birthday! 

First picture on the iPad :-)

 

This is the app I was telling you about...

it is so fun.

 

 

And my cute kitty Lucy!! She is a tiny thing.

 

That loves to sleep close..

 

and sit on Tim's newspapers.

 

Don't hold back, embrace a camera today.

Embrace The Camera ~ 10/4/12

I have not linked up with The Anderson Crew since June. I can't believe how time has flown so to catch up with the embrace the camera blog I will share camera embraces from the last couple three months. I stumbled upon her blog one day as she was talking about how she was having problems finding pictures of certain family members and so she started this and urged other bloggers to embrace with her. I truly missed linking up with Emily and can't wait to get started so here we go...

The post that started it all

 

End of June, Carter's VBS Program

 

 

June, my Grandma Ruth and I at my shower

July, Carter's Birthday

 

July, Tim and I at Fair

 

August, My girls and I at my Bachlorette Party

 

August, Aunt Lori and I at the Color Run

 

August, my dad giving me away.

 

My husband and I on our honeymoon.

All of these moments are times I am happy to remember.
How will you embrace the camera?
Who will you embrace it with?