After 10 days in Texas, we headed for Colorado. We had a whole list of reason, like not having been there for a year and a half, Eldon's tractor needed some major work and the best dealer we've found is the one we bought it from (Montrose Implement), family to visit, and just plain wanting to!
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| At the top of my list was meeting this nephew for the first time. He's as big a mama's boy as my children but I did manage to rock him to sleep. Once. In a hammock. When his mom was out of sight. |
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| Poor Michael was still so exhausted he crawled in bed slept several times. |
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| It was hot-but a gloriously dry heat, so unlike humid Texas. The creek was a great place to cool off. |
Nakita got a kayak for her birthday so one afternoon we took it across the road to the canal and the children all took turns floating down. We had to do it in between headgates and but it was some great redneck fun. At one point the kayak, paddle, and 3 flip-flops escaped but we got them all back 😂.
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| Michael getting ready to go through the culvert. |
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| Roasting marshmallows |
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| Katelyn and Makayla made some yummy Monster Cookies. |
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| Alex and Michael play so well together even though they are 4 years apart. |
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| Poor Archer was not very impressed at this point. |
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| Emily and Nakita with Nakita's calf, Twilight. |
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| Not only can these 2 bake cookies, they can build things! This turned out to be an adorable table for the playhouse. |
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| These 2 are 17 months apart but I'm not sure if they would ever get tired of playing together! Here they are baking Nakita's birthday cake. |
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| The playhouse |
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| Birthday cake turned out! |
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| Michael has no boy cousins near his age so he's either trying to keep up with the big ones or has a trail of little ones behind him. |
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| Brian's new house. It was relaxing and peaceful! |
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| I grew up in Colorado but never made it to Flattop until this visit! |
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| The city lights were so pretty! These girls too 😜. |
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| The boys were all to happy to stand right on the edge for a picture. |
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| Ethan playing in the egg room. |
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| Ethan also loved Frosty. Silly dog just followed him around and tried to fetch anything Ethan threw. |
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| Eldon was happy to get in on some hay-making. |
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| Coloring time! |
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| Cascade Falls, Ouray, Colorado |
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| So gorgeous! |
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| Brian's and our children. |
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| And just for fun, here's the same children (minus Ethan) at the same spot, 4 years ago. |
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| Box Canyon was closed but you could walk up the road and into the canyon. So did and it was super cool. Let me just say that we haven't been hiking and the high altitude is brutal! |
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| Sunsets are my favorite! |
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| Saturday we went over to Evan and Kaylene's and tye-dyed all kinds of things. |
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| I was about to delete this picture until I noticed that the photographer (Makayla) caught Logan in the act. |
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| It turned out so well! |
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| Michael and Alex putting puzzle together |
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| So much color! |
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| Riding Kaylene's horse was a highlite for the girls. |
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| Michael did so well at keeping Archer entertained. |
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| Emily and Alex. |
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| Little stinker lunged to Makayla anytime he had a choice between me and her. |
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| Michael and Logan had all kinds of fun on dirt bikes. |
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| Trampolines are such a good investment! |
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| Logan is instructing Michael how to go up really steep hills when you're not sure if you can make it 🤦♀️ |
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| Austin, Ethan, and Alex. All three, all boy, 110%! Bugs,toads, and dirt is their thing. |
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| I taught Alex and Austin how to spit cherry seeds, good Aunt that I am :). |
Whew, I didn't realize I had so many pictures (and I even weeded a bunch out!) so if you are still here, good job! It was a wonderful week and children had a grand time with their cousins. We did get the tractor fixed AND they were even able to cover it under warranty!
The drive from Colorado to Montana was 12 hours so we left 1 afternoon and spent the night in Rawlins, WY. It wasn't as bad as I anticipated to have to drive for hours at a time. Eldon and I had 2 way radios so we could easily chat. We drove through some of the beautifulest country I've ever seen! Makayla got tired of me geeking out every time we drove past major landmarks (you know, like Independence Rock and Devil's Gate) but she survived.
We were extremely happy to be home and set right to work unpacking and ridding our house of flies. Even though it had been shut up tight, there was more flies inside then I've ever seen. I was also quite sad to find that our second refrigerator had shut off at some point and not restarted so that all had to be cleaned out and a grocery trip was in order. I had put ALL our food in that one so our propane fridge could be turned off and thaw completely out while we were gone but it may not have been the smartest move. After several weeks of airing out outside, it's working just fine and smells almost normal again.
Have a blessed week!
