Our Trip to Denver

A week and a half after Chris and I got back from Mexico, we loaded up the car and headed to Denver, Colorado to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins! We had a really fun time and Will did awesome in the car both ways. We bought a DVD player for our car the night before we left and that helped a lot. He didn't seem to be bothered by the 9 hour drive at all.


This was our lunch break at Dairy Queen in Dalhart on the way to Colorado. Slowest Dairy Queen ever!! Don't stop there if you are in a hurry.

The first day we were there we went to the Denver Zoo. Will seemed to enjoy seeing all of the animals, but I think he liked running around like a big kid with my cousins the most.


Some of our crew at the zoo.


We saw a wildlife show with real animals and birds flying over our heads....Will was impressed!




These guys were probably my favorite of the day...they were swinging around playing a crazy game of tag.


And this one just sat below them exactly like this the entire time we watched.


Chris and Micaela...they were best buddies this time. Last time we went to Denver, Micaela was only 1, but Amanda was 5 and she loved Chris...remember this hilarious video? Amanda was more interested in Will this trip.




Grandma and Grandpa with Jessica and Amanda.

We spent July 4th at Kathy and Brian's house. They (along with their neighbors) put on a great fireworks show. It was the first time that I can remember being cold watching fireworks. It was pretty cool for the summer the entire time we were there (low to mid 80s), but I think it got down in the 50s at night. It was nice for a change.


This is the second time Will got to see his great great grandfather, Will's Pop's Pop.


Pop with Pop (my dad with his grandfather).

On Sunday, we took Will to a place called Tiny Town. It was basically a park with miniature houses and such in the middle of the giant mountains. It also had a little railroad around the park with a miniature train that we road. Will LOVED riding the train....he was so excited to get on that he could barely stand it.


A very small portion of Tiny Town.










Waiting for the train to start moving.

Monday was our last day in Colorado. We wanted to go to the Mint, but unfortunately the tours were full, so we went to the firefighter's museum instead and then we walked around the 16th Street Mall and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. That night, we went to a Rockies baseball game with the entire family. I don't think I watched any of the baseball game but still managed to have a lot of fun!


Chris and Will outside of the firefighter's museum in downtown Denver.


Will sitting on my grandpa's lap at the Rockies game...with my cousins surrounding him.


My family with all my cousins on my dad's side (minus Jeff, Lance, and Jackie).



On the way home, we stopped in Amarillo to visit our old neighbors, Mark and Elizabeth. They moved to Amarillo a couple of months after we moved out of our old house and we miss them a ton! It was so good to see them!

Back to life...

This is where I have spent the last week of my life:





AKA: Heaven on Earth!

Chris and I went to the El Dorado Royale in Mexico for our 5th wedding anniversary! This is also where we went for our honeymoon and 2nd anniversary...so it was our 3rd time there and it gets better everytime. I was literally giddy when I saw that our room was right on the beach. This was the view from our back door:



The little pool outside of our room was actually a "lazy river" that led to the big pool.


Here we are on the first night...so excited to be at our favorite place!

When we checked in, they gave us three vouchers that were each good for either a couple's massage, a candlelight dinner on the beach, or an expensive bottle of wine. We had no idea we were going to get the vouchers so it was a very nice surprise! Evidently it was a promotion they were doing when we booked the trip. Anyway, we opted to get three massages...so we did that 3 of the 5 days we were there. The best part? This is where we got our massages each day:



So almost everyday we woke up, went to breakfast (huge buffet that even had cheesecake...for breakfast!), read/took a nap on our beach bed, went to our massage, ate lunch, went for a swim through the lazy river, back to the beach bed for a nap, cleaned up for dinner, ate dinner, then went to sleep! Could it get any better?


The pool even had beach beds around it...this was new since the last time we went there! The first couple of days we were there, the wind was really bad right on the beach so we moved to the beach bed around the pool after we got tired of the wind.

The resort is referred to as a Gourmet Inclusive rather than an All-Inclusive because the food is delicious gourmet type food, but still free (well, included in what you pay to stay there)! There are 7 different restaurants to choose from and each one serves a 5 course meal. Some of the food is different...but very good! We ate way too much.


This was our dessert the last night we were there. We love it that our waiter wrote "nope to see you soon." :) Did I mention that the waiters, actually almost everyone that works at the resort, are the happiest people you will ever meet? They are so nice and friendly...and really try to do everything they can to make you happy.


And here we are the last night there...the night of our 5th anniversary! I am so lucky to have Chris to spend these special times with. He is such a great husband and provider for our family. I will never forget this anniversary! I love you, Chris!!

I was really nervous about leaving Will for a whole week...I thought I would be worried about him a lot and not be able to fully relax. But that was not the case at all. Once we got there, I was just so happy to be there with Chris and I knew Will was in good hands (thanks Mom and Dad!). This was a much needed vacation for just the two of us and highly recommend that every married couple with kids get away together at least once a year or so...it was so good for our marriage!

So who is giving me my massage tomorrow? Oh wait, back to reality... :)

Update: Since several of you have asked, I am going to give y'all the info for booking. First, go to funjet.com. Cancun (CUN) will be your destination (it is actually about 30 minutes from Cancun...but you fly into Cancun then a Funjet car or bus will take you to EDR). We drove to Dallas and flew to Cancun from DFW the last two times we went. If you fly out of Lubbock, like we did for our honeymoon, you will have a layover in Houston...and I would prefer to just drive to Dallas and then fly straight there without stopping.

Anyway, once you've selected Cancun as your destination, El Dorado Royale should come up on the first page of hotels. We booked a swim-up suite this time. Our building (#55) was the only one that had swim-up suites right on the beach...so maybe you can try to request it when you book or check in. After you have made all your selections, you should get to a page where it gives you the final price with insurance (you definitely want trip insurance). I always look at leaving different days because the price does vary for whatever reason depending on the day of the week you leave. Monday was the cheapest for us this time.

Once you see the price that you like, print that page and call Whitney Norman with Bell Travel at 806-796-2355 and give her the dates and flights you chose. She can get the exact same price through Funjet and can even take your credit card info over the phone, but I think it is best to have a real person to talk to rather than just booking on the internet just in case something goes wrong. For example, all the swine flu stuff happened right after I booked and Whitney kept me very informed by sending email updates. And if something does go wrong, you can use the trip insurance to book something else at the last minute...Whitney would take care of all that for you.

We only spent $150 the entire week...mostly on tips. We tipped a lot for our massages since they were free. We also tipped the maid a total of about $20 and $1-3 for each meal. We pretty much tipped everyone...you don't have to, but after you see how nice the people are, you will want to tip them too! We also spent about $20 to use the internet while we were there and we bought Will a shirt. However, we didn't leave the resort or do any excursions, jet skiing, parasailing, etc. That kind of stuff does cost extra...we were just happy to be not doing anything at all!

I think that covers everything...but feel free to ask more questions in the comments and I will answer!

Another Update: I just looked at the Funjet website and it looks like the promotion we got for the vouchers is good through December. Apparently, we got a voucher for each upgrade and since the swim-up suite is 3 levels up from just the normal suite, we got 3 vouchers.

Easton is here!!

Brice, Kristin, and Emma Kate welcomed Easton Brice into the world today!! He was born at 11:47 a.m. He was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 inches. He is sooooo sweet and cute!










This is Emma Kate getting her first peek at her new brother through the nursery window.

And here are a few of MY husband and Easton....anyone think me might have a case of the baby fever???

What happened to my mailbox?

This is how I found my mailbox yesterday when I went to get the mail. I have heard of mailboxes being ran over many times, but the bottom part is still normal? It's just the box part that is messed up. Any ideas?





You can also kind of see the pretty flowers that my mother-in-law helped me pick out and my mom helped me plant!

Future Tattoo Artist

Will hasn't told me his career aspirations yet, but I think he gives body art a new meaning.


Everything looks pretty normal...right?


Wrong.

I may or may not have been distracted by something else while Will was playing with a pen. And I noticed the wonderful art just as I was telling him that he didn't need a bath tonight. Wrong again. I am not exaggerating when I say that my jaw dropped and I covered my mouth (just as I'm sure many mothers have when they discover a real tattoo on their child). Will immediately started laughing hysterically at that point and kept laughing long enough for me to take off his clothes and take these pictures. Fun times!

The Shed

We have this really awesome shed in our backyard that I have been thinking would be fun to use for some photos. Apparently, our neighbors don't feel the same way about the shed, which means it will be coming down soon. So I took Will outside to play in it tonight. Turns out, he was quite the poser tonight...please ignore the fact that he seriously needs a haircut....I didn't bother to fix him up like I normally would since it was almost bedtime. I had no idea he would be so cooperative.







And I have been horrible about blogging about my little man, so I should probably give a little update. Although today really isn't the best day to do it since he has been constantly fussing at me. I think I heard the words "hold you" about five thousand times today. Normally, it would melt my heart...but about 30 seconds after I pick him up, he wants down...only to start the fussing again. Oh my. I am praying this phase passes quickly.

Anyway, besides the fussiness, he has really started talking a lot more. He will repeat pretty much anything we say....which hasn't been a problem yet. Except for my sighing and growling. ha...that sounds really funny. I have never noticed that I do this until Will started doing it. Apparently, instead of saying choice words, I growl..."argh!" And now Will does it too. Chris says we also sigh at the same time. Funny.

He has started watching a little bit of TV. He's still not too interested and won't watch for very long. Every now and then he requests "Elmo"...but he really means Nemo.

He has developed a love for his Hot Wheels. It's a good thing because Chris has a huge collection for him that he is saving for his 3rd birthday. I originally said he couldn't play with Hot Wheels until he was 3 since that's what the package says, but he probably has about 30 that he already plays with...and a track.

He has been eating better! He is a really picky eater and we have to bribe him with other food to get him to eat the food that is currently on his plate...whatever works!

He is really good at pointing to his eyes, ears, nose, belly, toes, etc. He tries to count, but doesn't really know his numbers...so he acts like he's counting by pointing and saying something...just not numbers (well maybe he throws a two or three out there sometimes). He sort of knows colors and animals...sometimes he knows them, sometimes he doesn't...or he acts like he doesn't. We have also been trying to teach him animal sounds, which is pretty hilarious.

He has made some neighborhood friends. There are several kids that live in houses that we share an alley with. Since our driveways are in the alley, they are out there playing most afternoons and Will cannot get enough of them. They actually get really excited to see him too...even though they are all much older than him (the youngest is 7).

He graduated from his one-year-old class at PDO and will be moving up to the two-year-old class next week. This made me really sad and I even cried when I read the book he (his teachers) made throughout the school year. I am not a crier, so this was a big deal. I really am nervous about this transition and I hope he does okay. He has really grown to love "school" this year.

Well that is enough updating for now...hopefully in the next update I will be able to report that the fussy stage is long gone!

Time for a funny story...

Maybe the pictures say it all, but I will explain just in case. :) Almost a month ago, I took Angela's family portraits. We were in the courtyard of a church downtown and thought we would try to take some family pictures around the fountain. Right as we were getting the photo set up, this man came and sat on bench right by the fountain. We went about our picture taking. At one point, Taylor decided he wanted to run off so his dad ran after him...Angela was a bit distracted by what was going on with Taylor when suddenly this man decides it is time to take off his clothes for a bath in the fountain - right behind Angela and Kami! Angela had NO CLUE what is going on, but I am dying to get a picture of this scene...so I say, "One more picture!" Now the man starts to jump up (as you see in the picture) and says he is sorry...like he didn't notice that we had been taking pictures there the entire time he had been there!?! Well, Angela also jumps because she still had no idea he was there...and this is when I start giggling uncontrollably. Good thing Angela is my friend because I'm pretty sure this would have seemed unprofessional if she wasn't!

Please understand that I am not completely insensitive and I am not in any way trying to make fun of this man. It was a hot day and I'm sure I would have done the same thing...just not with a camera pointing at me. :)