A Week in Durango

We were so excited to visit Durango for a week in August!  We left late on a Friday night and got to Durango at 3 A.M...luckily we made it just in time for me to attend a women's conference Saturday morning and hear Lucy's awesome talk as the keynote speaker.  Even though we were driving late, and Ethan was tired, he couldn't go to sleep because he was so excited to get to Durango!  For him it is the perfect place...Grandma and Grandpa, horses, 6 wheeler rides, a trampoline, wide open spaces, and his best buddy cousin Henry!

Clark was able to stay with us for the weekend, then left Sunday to go back to Greeley and work, and then came back for us the following weekend.  We ended up in Durango during an extra great week...Peggy and Creed were also visiting, Seth and Sam were showing their steers at the fair, and Shun (the foreign exchange student) was in town so we were able to tag along on his amazing tour of the area that Lucy provided.  

Here are a few highlights from our fun week!

Game Night:

Shun really came out of his shell during a game of Last Chance!

In a moment of excitement, Lucy won!

Walks Down Memory Lane:
Ethan thought it was so funny that is hair looks just like his Dad's used to when he found this picture of Clark in elementary school.  We added the glasses to complete the look.

Bonding time with Grandpa:

The boys loved 6 wheeler rides and sharing morning hot chocolate with Grandpa.  I'm pretty sure Ethan put a big dent in the year supply of cocoa.

Adventures With Grandma:
One day we took the beautiful drive to Silverton and took a tour of an old mine with Lucy and her boys.  To begin the tour we got to ride and old mine cart into the mine, it took us right back to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that we rode a few months ago in Florida.  It was a fun experience to see the inside of an old mine and learn how hard mining really is.

Just panning for gold.

Ready to head into the dark!

Sunsets and Trampolines:

The sunsets in the beautiful Durango sky can't be beat.  The boys spent part of each day bouncing on the tramp.  I joined them one night to watch the sun set and try to keep Quinn from being bounced right off.

Sun and son.

Little Rancher:

Several times a day Quinn finds his brothers "ceowboy boots" and puts them on.  He would say, "Hi ceowboy boots, I a ceowboy."

County Fair:
We were excited to be in Durango this year for the fair so we could see Seth and Sam in action as they showed and sold their steers.

Henry and Ethan had the best time riding all the sketchy looking carnival rides.  They make the best facial expressions and were so cute to watch.  They were apparently feeling really confident when they decided to ride the hammerhead together.  I think the carni must have been day dreaming during their ride because they just kept going and going about 10 times longer than all of the other rides.  At first their looks of terror and surprise were pretty entertaining on their faces, but it quickly turned into just looking sick and miserable.  They both decided later they would never ride that one ever again.

Before the dreaded hammerhead.

It was pretty tough to get a picture of these two cute cousins that are constantly in motion.

So many boys!

Cousin Creed:

Creed was so kind and patient with my boys all week.  Quinn chased and followed him around the house all day long.  When Clark and I got married Creed was Caden's age and he was my best little buddy.  It was fun to remember that inquisitive little 3 year old Creed as Caden asked me questions constantly.  Time really does go by so fast!

Mustache Party:

So funny,

Caden's hairy smile was the funniest!

Such a fun trip!

Flaming Gorge 2014

My lack of blogging this summer is not because we've not been up to much...actually the total opposite is true.  We have been so busy adventuring this summer my record keeping has fallen by the wayside.  I want to catch up on some of our summer fun and then get back into blogging our day to day living.

A few weeks ago I posted a video I made from our Flaming Gorge trip, it contained all of my favorite pictures and videos of the boys water skiing...but I wanted to post a few more pictures from the trip.

Flaming Gorge has been a tradition for my mom's side of the family for years.  I love seeing pictures from past trips there when I was little.  It was on one of those trips that my family all skied behind the same boat at the same time when I was in high school.  I appreciate my Grandpa Turpin and Nada for making these trips happen over the years.  I love seeing Grandpa and Nada on NOTAYOT, they are awesome boat captains!
It was so special this year to have 4 generations enjoying the Gorge together!  This year we had Grandpa and Nada, Dean, Colleen, Lindsay and her friend, Tari and Bart, my parents, our little family, and James and Erica.

We had two beach days...playing in the sand, and playing behind the boat.  One day we took a long boat ride to the dam, and then spent the rest of the day swimming, fishing, and exploring the lake as we made our way back to the dock.

I love these pictures of Caden getting ready to ski for the first time.  He is such a thinker, and was analyzing every possible option that could happen in the scenario.

I don't know what Clark is whispering to him here, but I love his little grin...such a perfect Caden expression.  

While the boys learned to ski, Aunt Erica got Quinn settled in for a water nap.

Uncle Jaime

Grandpa

I love this toothless grin!

Caden's new nickname after the trip was Captain.

Quinn loved going fast, he would giggle when the boat hit big bumps.

 

Plenty of sunscreen!

A little follow the leader action.

 And my favorite picture of the entire week!  Little Quinn, who thinks he's as big as his brothers, attempts to water ski!

We stayed in such a fun place this year called Rocky Ridge Outpost.  It was so quaint nestled in a pretty little valley.  We rented a cabin and a tepee each night.  It was perfect!  A big field to play baseball, a fishing pond with a pedal boat, and even a bed shaped like a covered wagon! 

The tepee and cabin we stayed in.

Grammy and Grandpa took a night in the tepee with Ethan and Caden.

This next little series just proves how hard it is to take a good fishing photo: 

Slippery little devil.

All around perfect summer trip!

Why I Have Dark Circles Under My Eyes

Holy cowboy, as Quinn said, this little guy is so much fun...even after midnight.

Flaming Gorge Video

I plan to post some pictures and write a little bit about our fun family trip to Flaming Gorge in July...but until then, here is a video I made with some highlights!  Including a little shaky footage from the boys first attempts water skiing (I was pretty excited, hence the shaky camera).