On to Denver

Friday June 6

(Happy Birthday Jeremy!)

Today we headed to Colorado to spend 5 days with Joe's brother and his wonderful family. It took some planning on me and Amanda's part to figure how we were going to get all of my luggage and both car seats to the ticket counter. Kaiden came with me and I loaded the 3 suitcases and Kaiden's car seat on an SmarteCarte while Amanda and Kalli parked the car. Amanda carried Kal's car seat while pushing the stroller (Elizabeth was with an aunt-thank goodness!). It all ended up working out nicely and the sweet lady at the counter didn't even charge me for my 50+ lb bag. Before going through security my sister Autumn's best friend, Lauren, was so sweet to come and meet us. I knew Autumn would love knowing we got to see Lauren and I wanted to surprise her with some pictures. Lauren is the cutest and sweetest girl ever. She's getting married next month and is so bummed that Autumn can't be there. Lauren told me her finance' said he thinks she loves Autumn more than him b/c she's always talking about her. Too funny. Those girls were so funny together, they cheered at BYU together and were roomies too. I know Autumn loved seeing the pictures and was totally surprised.
I was very nervous about the plane ride with both kids on my own and especially with the way they've been acting! I was very relieved with how wonderful they did. Going through security is never fun since you have to take jackets, shoes and belts off, but we survived. Even with Kaiden's 24 month jeans falling down as he walked through-I'm sure is was a site to see! The SLC airport had a little play area right by our gate so that worked out wonderfully. The flight was only an hour so it was a good test run to see how our flight would on our way back home. Thank goodness for modern technology and portable DVD players!! This is what the kids looked like the entire time with exception to take off and landing.


Once again I was really amazed how easy it turned out to be. We watched a few Baby Einsteins ate some snacks and then we landed. Sharon met us at baggage claim and luckily she was able to get a close parking spot so it didn't take much to load everything up. Kaiden was very excited to see all of his cousins again. Me and Kalli were pooped and Kaiden was too wound up for sleeping so Sharon took him and Cameron to run some errand while Kalli and I snoozed. I slept for 2 hours (which was nice since Kal kept me up the night before) and Kal slept until almost 6. We had a fun evening visiting and Kaiden even slept in Cameron's room like a big kid. He did cry out once but was fine once Sharon went in to check. Kalli and I slept in the basement and the long nap came to bite me in the butt. She was up all night. I was in tears b/c I was sooooo tired and she would not sleep. If I laid her in the crib she would scream but when I laid her in bed with me she became more awake and wanting to play. I remember calling Joe and 3am b/c I knew he was awake playing xbox (go figure!) but he wasn't much help-I guess he couldn't really do much. Finally she fell asleep laying on top of me and I once I was able wake up enough I moved her back to the crib. Unfortunately the boys woke up early and Kaiden wanted Momma right away. So Kalli got to sleep in while I was up and about.

Sat June 7

All of us except Nate (who had a book to read for a book report) went to The Plains Reservation. There they had a room filled live and stuffed animals that live on the plains as well as puzzles and books about different animals. We had fun in there and then it was time to head outside.

I think Kaiden had just flicked sand in his eyes!

Uncle Mark, Jake and Kaiden Cameron, Aunt Sharon and Kalli playing with the puzzles

Outside they had huge prairie field that also had prairie dogs. The kids liked seeing them go in and out of their holes. There were 3 huge Tee Pee's that they boys were able to play in and then a house and school. They were built with sod and clay just like they were back then and seemed to hold up pretty well. There was also a little chicken coop which included lots of chicken (go figure!) and 2 turkeys. Kaiden had a bag of pretzels so the chickens kept following him but he was too greedy and ate them all himself!

The boys in the Tee PeeKaiden and Cameron with the chickens

It was a lot of walking and it started to get really hot but Kal didn't want to sit in her stroller any more! The boys rested while waiting on us girls.

I have many more pictures to post from our trip to Colorado but it will be in the next couple of days.