Fall Break Continued + Hamilton

Fall break continued!

After having fun in the hot springs, we watched the Curious George Halloween Movie that night and had Oreos and milk, then a fun breakfast the next day of strudels and eggs and sausage. 

The day was drizzly but we did a waterfall hike and drove through some beautiful mountain colors. A squirrel made us laugh so much on our hike, he was high high in the trees but dropping pinecones at us like little bombs and chattering away trying to get us to leave his space. We thought he was so funny.

From there we went to Colorado Gators, a reptile refuge that takes care of a lot of exotic pets that have been rescued or retired or all sorts of things. This place was wild... The boys loved feeding the gators and the tortoises. They mostly loved when an emu chased me down a path. That was actually terrifying. They spent a lot of time exploring there and loved seeing the animals. We will not be getting a reptilian pet anytime soon (ever).

From there we made it to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. This was another spot that totally exceeded my expectations! The boys were FREE and they ran and ran and ran. You can climb so high, but it's sand -- you can't get hurt, you can't ruin anything, you can't get lost, you just RUN FREE and they totally loved it. Asher and Camden needed some moral and physical support to climb the dunes, but we barely saw Westin and Bennett apart from far distant views of their crazy running. I thought this spot would be a checked box on our list but I would love to go back. In the spring time there is a river that runs at the base of the dunes and it looks like playing at a beach, so I think it would be fun to come experience the dunes at a different time of year. Such a totally unique spot.

We ate Mexican food again that night and then stayed in a log cabin in the middle of NO where. The best part of that was the dark, dark sky and beautiful view of the Milky Way. We even caught the comet that we thought we couldn't see anymore, but it was so dark that we were able to see it. The cabin was a rough night of sleep for Westin and me, I feel bad that he seems to have inherited my insomnia nights. Luckily they don't hit him all the time but he was up until about 1:30 that morning and really frustrated about it. The next morning the boys played "school picture day" with Bennett's camera and all the stuffed animals that they had brought plus all that they found around the cabin, and it was hilarious to Michael and me. They'd line up, choose an animal, Bennett would pose them, and they'd take a "school picture." Kids are so funny. Our boys had basically a completely screen-free trip apart from our one mini-Halloween movie night on this trip and some football catch ups. I love that they love to play together and listen to things in the car together.

The next day we drove home through Colorado Springs and stopped for a quick hike at Garden of the Gods. We were all feeling pretty ready to get off of road trip snacks and sleep in our own beds, but it really was such a fun and happy and laid back trip. We live in such a beautiful state!

We came home to family pictures the next day, which is always a whirlwind. Why are pictures so hard? But they're done :) 

Kindal was on my mind so much this week with her 10-year anniversary. My heart is with her so much.

We tried to take the boys to another ward's trunk-or-treat Friday but we didn't realize they were trick-or-treating first and not last. We caught a few cars though! Because the next day they went to our ward Halloween party with Marta while Michael and I drove down to Denver. We met up with Katie and Ryan for dinner and then HAMILTON which was such a fun night. I have been looking forward to that night so much. We saw it 5 years ago with Gary and Pam and we really loved seeing it again. The boys had a great night with Marta and they have a solid candy supply... and we're not even to Halloween!

Sunday was our primary program. The cutest thing. Camden and his friend Benjamin were on stools next to the podium for each song and I couldn't stop giggling at the cuteness. Best Sunday of the year by far. This weekend was just so happy.

Misty morning in Pagosa Springs. The boys saw a deer and they were super excited about it.

Waterfall hike. Pretty muddy, super pretty views and colors

Bennett with his camera :)

These colors were really so so pretty

Michael noticed that every single car was pulling off to this lookout point.
If you're on this road, you probably don't have anywhere you need to be at an exact certain time :)

Baby Gator! In just a year or so he'll be big enough to hang with the adults.

This tortoise head was wild. He's huge!

Emus should be fenced... this is what we learned!

Hiking the dunes was so fun

Spot our shadows!

Why can't we get cheese enchiladas like this in Fort Collins??

Playing "School Picture Day" :) :)

Oh pictures... we did a short 20-minute session this year and it was a good call.

Pumpkins and bats for dinner!

We had to stop by daddy's work to get chairs out of his car for soccer,
and he had a quick second to come give us a hug. The boys thought that was the best.

Big fans of daddy!

Camden has totally loved this season of soccer with Coach Oliver and his friends Benjamin and Piper

My sweet friend Lundi ran a couple errands for me in St. George to drop an anniversary present on Kindal's doorstep. So grateful for good friends.

Dressed up for the first of many trick-or-treating events :)

Hamilton! I've been looking forward to this for months!

This primary program... I loved it so much.
Next year will be the only year we'll have ALL four of our primary kiddos up there :)

First Half of Fall Break

 From visitors to fall break!

On Monday morning the Boones left, and we had pizza Monday with the Miners that night and played night games in the backyard together. They left on Tuesday morning, and my parents watched the kids while we had parent teacher conferences that afternoon. They left Wednesday morning, and Michael worked that day so that we could take off Thursday morning for our fall break trip through Southern Colorado.

We left Thursday morning and grabbed breakfast at Buc-ee's, then made the trek to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Such beautiful views! The drop offs were crazy and I was feeling grateful we did not go here with an 18-month old. We stayed in a house nearby that night, then drove to Telluride the next morning. It snowed on us, which we didn't really expect! We knew there was a chance, but it felt too hard to picture that after our 70-degree days in Fort Collins. We still had fun on the gondola ride and getting hot chocolate. We tried to visit a ghost town but the road was too snowy. We drove down to Four Corners while Asher took a nap, and hit four states at once. Then we had some Mexican food in Cortez and stayed in a Yurt that night. I really loved listening to the rain on the Yurt tarps and trying to stay awake for the BYU football game with Michael -- couldn't quite do it, and woke up to some fun highlights to watch. This season!

The next day we did Mesa Verde and the boys were champs on the hikes, especially little Asher on all those ladders. We tried three different kinds of fry bread after our tour through the cliff dwellings. One of them blew straight onto Westin's face when we went outside into the wind, which was unfortunately one that had honey all over it. This is why we're still a baby wipe family even though we've graduated from the baby stage. Haha we still ate the fry bread and he was laughing about it.

We stayed in Durango that night and had some pretty terrible Thai food and a pretty fun playground stop. The boys loved the treehouse at the Airbnb but I really don't like when it feels like you're living in someone else's very lived in spot -- I missed the Yurt!

We made it to Pagosa Hot Springs and attempted the hot springs even though it was stormy. We did have to get out a few times in the beginning when lightning would strike, but after a little while we had some good clear skies and loved dipping in all the different pools -- and even the freezing river running next to them! The boys had a lot of fun here and it really exceeded our expectations.

We're extending fall break, so a couple more days of fun still ahead!

Everyone wanted a wheelchair ride when Grandma was all done with it.
Lots of circles around our driveway :)

Let it be known that Ali held Kitty.

We finished the hardest puzzle we've ever done! So much orange and black.
I am gluing and framing this for a Halloween decoration,
my heart can't take it apart.

Filling up the swing set with cousins!

Made a haunted house!
Camden has been asking and asking to make a gingerbread house with Grandma and Grandpa,
so we went the haunted house route since it's October. He was just very attached to this idea!

He loves this semi truck that Michael had when he was a little boy.
He adds magnets to it and turns it into all sorts of vehicles.

My dad snapped a picture of me reading to my boys.
I love that all four of them want to stop and read a book with me,
or play with trains with each other, or whatever other little boy thing.
They just have a lot of fun together right now and I know their ages are at a special spot for that.

Magnet road!

First stop for fall break trip: Buc-ee's for breakfast burritos. What a funny place that is.

Our dog sitters threw Luna a birthday party.
Is this not the cutest thing?
She's two!

The boys brought their very loved stuffies from our Steamboat trip visitor center stop at State Forest State Park. I love how much they love those four stuffies.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
What a view! I was actually pretty nervous with kids here, those drop offs...
But they had fun even with my stress!

Painted Wall

Cruising from lookout to lookout, lots of in and out

Asher hahaha

Always happy when we have a deer sighting!

The boys love playing at different Airbnbs.
This was our first backyard and they ran and ran together the morning we were leaving while Michael and I packed up the car.

Snow in Telluride!

This first snow of the season in a little mountain town felt pretty magical.
But we were not very prepared for that!

Apple Cider (if you're Michael) and hot chocolate (if you're everyone else!) to warm up in Telluride. They had fun little Gondola car tables to eat in.

We had planned on exploring Alta Ghost Town but the snow made that road a little too exciting. We ended up having to turn around.

Asher fell asleep on the rocky snowy ghost town road and slept almost to Four Corners.

Four states at once! If Asher was more ok with pictures right now we would have put a boy in each state :)

Stayed in a Yurt one night! The boys loved sleeping in the loft area all together.

Camden loves a good picture pose lately :)

Asher conquered all the Mesa Verde ladders all on his own!

Exploring our Durango backyard before hitting the road

A drizzly day at the hot springs!

Vacation nights are tired nights. 
These little guys are so sweet. Camden and Asher prefer to share a room when we travel even if there's space to not have to. They're so cute.