~Home at Last~

Well after our week long trip to Vail, Glenwood Springs, and then into Utah, we are home! It was a wonderful week.

Vail was cold, too cold to ski. Mainly because you couldn't see 15 feet in front of you. Blizzard conditions/ snowstorm from hell. We were 20 minutes ahead of that massive 70 car pile-up leaving Vail. Crazy, the roads were terrible. Thank goodness for the 4x4 jeep. Needless to say we left Vail as soon as possible.

Glenwood Springs was great. A little on the cold side, but a cute little mountain town. I really wanted to take the kids to the hot springs pool, but it was only 35 degrees, and it just didn't sound like too much fun. So I went shopping. I love boutique shopping. If you ever make it to Glenwood Springs or Aspen, make sure to check out Sugar Sweet. The CUTEST clothes ever. Expensive, but worth it. We were there Monday through Wednesday, and had fun getting ice cream, playing in the snow that was rapidly melting, and riding the gondola up to the adventure park. I was so impressed that Zoey actually knew that a gondola was a boat from Venice. Go little Einsteins!! It took a while to explain that this gondola was actually a ski lift that took you to the top of a mountain. Whole way up she kept saying, "We're in the gondola boat?" We gave up after a while. Liam was a bit freaked out by the gondola, and had his classic suspicious baby face on.

See! wasn't so sure about the whole thing. Me and the Zoe at the top. Zoey in the 'Gondola Boat.'

Onward! To Utah! Next time I am there I am going to introduce this wonderful thing called a Zoning Commission!! Yikes! Those mountains are Phenomenal! But everything else, yeah, not so phenomenal. I got the itch to do spring cleaning while I was there. We stayed in Midway, ( again mountains are breathtaking, everything else not so much). Damon's cousin and his wife Nate and Davina had their little babies, well not so little now, but Little Chloe and Avery were sealed to them in the Salt Lake Temple. It was moving to watch as these beautiful children were sealed to their parents for time and all eternity. Especially for me. I was also adopted and sealed to my parents almost exactly 24 years ( plus 3 days) earlier in the Salt Lake Temple. How grateful I am for the sealing ordinance. Afterward, I got to photograph them. Here are some of my faves. Avery is Italian and a little Chinese, and Chloe is Mulatto. Lots of Flavor there! Beautiful, no?

After the Sealing. What a beautiful family!

Chloe and her daddy Nate. Damon and Nate are cousins. They are crazy when they get together...

I wish I could do justice to some of the conversations that went on this weekend...

After the sealing It was a lot of hangin' out, watching conference, letting the kids run wild. Davina introduced me to my new favorite snack. Whole Grain Crackers with Pesto. Yum. We met up with Cody and Breaelle and I saw her wedding dress! How fun! I still need to find shoes to go with my bridesmaid dress. Oh- Cody blew out his knee. He has surgery on Thursday. I feel for the guy. Not sure if he really grasps how hard this is going to be. We hung out at BYU, Damon, Nate, and Davina's ol' stopin' grounds. Its a small campus! I made the mistake of saying that in front of a bunch of people who went there. Much drama ensued. One thing I learned is never NEVER NEVER belittle BYU anything in front of the alumni. Still a small campus. Coming from ASU, who has over 60,000 undergrad students, and spreads over 5 miles in Tempe, going to BYU who has 35,000 total students and you can walk across campus in 20 minutes. They had spring fling going on in the quad, so Zoey had a blast, and Liam just enjoyed being outside. The Bookstore there is really cool. Chocolate covered cinnamon bears, anyone?

Sunday we headed back. I love the drive along the I-70. Amazing. God is an artist. We made it in about 9 hours. The kids did great. I am so glad to be home.