Colorado!

Last week (Oct. 10th-14th) we had a chance to go to Ft. Collins, Colorado.  Why Ft. Collins??  Well, Steve has some time off from the bank he needed to use and we've been missing Steve's family since they moved to Nebraska so we talked them into taking a few days off and meeting us about halfway... Ft. Collins, Colorado.

We drove all day Thursday in lots of rain and even slush and snow once we got into Colorado.  Pretty scary driving conditions, but Steve did great.  We hadn't told Preston about everyone else that was going to be there, so when we got there it was a big surprise for him, so fun and he was so so excited.  Ft. Collins was actually all booked up and busy that weekend because it turned out to be Colorado State's homecoming and family weekend... oops.  We ended up renting a house about 20 minutes outside of town.  We had to take some pretty crazy, curvy roads to get there but it was absolutely beautiful.  We were up in the hills with not very many neighbors.  We spent that night eating pizza and hanging out while the kids played nonstop.  Abby was so tired from the drive and the excitement and playing that she basically begged Angie to go to bed and put herself to sleep, poor girl.

Our stop in Little America.

Scary slushy snow!

The surprise!

Friday morning we just relaxed (we said it multiple times on this trip, but this house made the trip.  So nice to have a place we could all be together and just relax and the kids could do their thing.  It just wouldn't have been the same in small hotel rooms with us on top of each other.  It was great!)  Steve took the boys on a little hike.  After that we had a quick lunch and headed to the Museum of Discovery.  We all had fun playing and exploring.  After that it was an early dinner at Cafe Rio followed by a little shopping.

No zoom from the back window.  She even had a couple of friends come by too.

View from the front.  The trial always had a walker, biker or horses on it.

View from back.  So pretty!

Angie loves to be Abby's personal hair stylist.  Abby always sits so nicely for her to do her hair.

Saturday we headed into town where the boys went to a Lowes clinic to build a little project while the girls went shoe shopping.  Lunch at Chick-fil-A was followed by a visit to Lee Martinez Farm.  It was a cute little farm where we got to see and feed all sorts of animals: goats, sheep, pigs,turkeys, chickens, cows, and horses.  The kids even got to go on a horse ride which was the highlight of the day.  They even got to pick a little pumpkin.  After we went back to the house, relaxed and Steve, Papa and Preston went on another hiking adventure.  We made spaghetti for dinner and finished off the day with baking cookies and playing games.

She looked so tiny in her helmet and on her horse.

Both Preston and Tyson picked smaller horses (maybe they were ponies?) while Abby picked a big horse.  Preston's was named Dottie.

Abby's horse was named Ruby.

Love this one.

Feeding a cow, so gross.

On their adventure they found what appears to be a deer bone.  Preston was so excited to come back and show everyone!

Love these kiddos so much!

Sunday morning we had to get all cleaned up and packed up and had to say goodbye.  We were so not ready to leave yet.  We had such a great time.  It was beautiful, we had the right balance between activities and relaxing, and it was so great to spend time with family.  We are still so sad they live so far but we're trying to be brave.  The drive home was long and really not fun with a lot of rain but at least we made it home safely.  Grateful we had the chance to go!