Miner Visit & Broadmoor Weekend

Miner Visit

It was so fun to start our week with the Miners!

On Monday we went to Spring Canyon park and the kids ran and ran and ran. Jaren brought his drone and Bennett was totally entertained by it. 

Monday afternoon was slow and so fun -- tons of games, a movie, making pizza dough and homemade peach ice cream, and just having fun being together. When I lived with the Miners back when Michael and I were dating/engaged, we alway had pizza Mondays. They still get pizza on Monday nights before their FHE, so we decided to have a make-your-own pizza night. It was so funny to see everyone's -- Lewis had precisely on piece of spinach in the middle of his pepperonis, just for good measure. Jaren had some impressive layering, and Logan's was loaded up so well too. I miss Blaze pizza and put on all the toppings I always get there. We made them in pie tins so they came out like pan pizzas and they were really delicious! Then we finished off that peach ice cream faster than it took to make it -- I love making treats for crowds because you need a new treat the next day instead of eating the same treat all week back when we were just Michael and I. 

On Tuesday we hiked Overlook Point to give the Miners a nice view of Fort Collins and Horsetooth Reservoir. We drove through downtown after and stopped at Poudre River Whitewater Park. The kids loved playing in water and Lydia was sweet to help Camden have fun in the river. Then we came home to more games and a trip to the school playground.

That night Lydia and Jaren were so nice to watch all the kids for dinner and a movie night at home, while Logan and Jenny and Michael and I went to Ginger and Baker for date night. We love taking people to get that homemade chicken pot pie -- chicken pot pie isn't even something I love in life, but I do LOVE this chicken pot pie so much. We brought home a strawberry pie to share with Jaren and Lydia as a thank you for babysitting, and we had fun eating and playing Wackee Sixes. Jenny is the champion! Though Michael did sneak a win that last night. She was so quick every time we played though, she's got skills. 

Broadmoor Weekend

After a couple days of resting up, we tagged along with Michael to his weekend work conference at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The boys thought it was so fun to be somewhere "so so fancy!" and they were pretty great all weekend all things considered.

On Friday we tried to beat traffic and get down at a good time, but the drive was still an hour longer than it would have been if things were clear. People were grumpy... and that was miserable. But we got some food and got some sleep and that usually fixes most things. Michael had meetings on Saturday and I took the boys to the hotel pool and playground. They were so cute at breakfast too -- just all in their own little chairs outside at a cafe and such cute little eaters. Michael finished up midday and we took a paddleboat ride around the lake. The boys loved how close the ducks were getting to us. We paddled by the Orrs chilling on the shore and it just made me laugh -- paddle boats feel symbolic of this stage of life. Takes a lot of work to just get a little accomplished :)

We watched the live Lion King in our room after swimming, then we took the boys to the family type restaurant area and played shuffleboard and got them some kids meals. We went back to get ready for the dinner that evening and the cute babysitter we hired through the resort was a Speech Pathology student at BYU who just returned from her mission to Fresno, named Maddie. So funny. Camden wasn't too happy to be left with her but she texted a little while later that all three boys were asleep and I think skipping out on putting the boys to bed in a hotel room was one of the biggest perks to the whole weekend :) It was fun to spend time with the Orrs during dinner and have a quieter night. 

The next day the boys and I stayed busy around the resort just feeding ducks, playing around fountains, hitting up the playground again, and just killing time until Michael was done with his morning meetings. Then we took the shuttle to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for Camden's early birthday celebration. I feel so guilty that this cutie doesn't take regular zoo trips like his brothers did in Fresno and Indy. He loved feeding the giraffes and seeing so many animals that he's never seen before. It was such an awesome zoo! Then we tried to stop at a Jerusalem Cafe on the way home but it was closed, but found a little Greek restaurant on the old main street of Colorado Springs instead. It was not our smoothest dining out experience, and we drove home from 7:30 to 9:30 while all the boys slept. 

Such a busy week and weekend and we loved it. Westin and Bennett are getting to be such a fun age to travel with and it makes me excited for the future.

So many checkers games and all sorts of other games too!

Replacing my door hinges and doorknobs... first try was a fail but we found a better fit :)