Colorado and He's Home!

It all started on June 17th when this guy came home from his 2-year-mission to Tonga. We couldn't be at the airport because we were trying to get all of our work shifts in so that we could take off for a week to Colorado. But you can bet I was dying that I couldn't be there to see Levi walk off the plane!

We headed down Wednesday, June 19th to Utah, and stayed at my parents. The next day we all woke up, packed up and started the long drive to Colorado. My little sister, Lauren, rode with us the whole way and was so great at keeping Kyson and James entertained. It was a 9-hour-drive, and the boys did awesome! James only cried once!

We got there late Thursday, June 20th, and all slept on the floor at my brother, Mckay's, house. 

The next day we got in our church clothes and headed to the Air-force base where there was a ceremony and banquet for my brother because he was getting promoted to a Captain in the Air-force. It was so fun to be there for it. So many people had such wonderful things to say about my brother. He is a great example of hard work, honesty, consistency, and being a good leader. He works as an electrical engineer at the base there, and is hoping to start working on his PhD soon.

After a quick trip to the grocery store and the sporting store to get fishing licenses, we drove another two hours to Leadville, CO to our little cabin. 

My brother, Mckay, planned this whole trip...and you will see below, that he isn't used to having two young kids to base his plans around. But we sure did some adventurous stuff, and had a lot of fun:)

Saturday, June 22nd he told us we were going to do a little off-roading and go up to a mountain lake. So we piled into our two trucks and started. Um...off-roading doesn't begin to describe the next hour of our lives! I don't think anything besides a 4-wheeler has ever been up this road. We'd have to stop every couple minutes to move rocks and make the road drive-able. There was a steep drop off to one side and I spend the ride clenching the dashboard for dear-life and feeling nauseous. 

I had forgotten how afraid of heights I am. But this trip reminded me quickly.

Since I thought this Lake was remotely close to our cabin, I didn't bring warm water for James bottle. Luckily Clark had his Pocket-Rocket, but didn't have any matches. So we had to stop and the boys tried to make fire. They were finally successful!

We made it to the lake, and it was worth the drive! It was a little heaven-on-earth. We fished, canoed, and threw rocks in the water. 

The Tongan fishing.

My brothers have some serious poison-ivy issues. Mckay and Ty have already had pretty severe reactions to the stuff. Blake went camping with his friends a couple weeks ago and got into it. When I first saw his legs they were edematous, beefy red, and looked pretty angry. I had him on a steriod-dose pack pretty quick, and these are his almost healed legs! 

He melts my heart.

Best parenting idea ever...bring half of an old fishing pole for Kyson to carry around. He never once wanted to hold the real ones because he had his own. He and my mom threw rocks into the water for hours. 

Sunday, June 23rd, we hung around the cabin, went on walks and 4-wheeler rides and played games. My siblings are all so great with my kids. Kyson adores them all, and I don't think I ever hold James unless he needs to eat. My sister, Lauren, spent the whole trip either playing with Kyson, or holding James on this swing. 

Let's just say that camping with kids is a trip...not a vacation. 

 Monday, June 23rd, Mckay took us on a hike. He told us that the cool thing to do in Colorado is to hike a 14,000 foot peak. It's like a right of passage and Colorado has 52 of these peaks. Utah or Idaho only has 12,000 foot peaks. He said it was a must for this trip. 

To his credit, he warned us that this was a very difficult hike, that we would be hiking most of the day, and that you burn 4,000 calories doing it. My Dad and Lauren volunteered to stay behind with our boys so we could do it. We loaded up our camelbacks with foot and water and left at 6:00 am. We didn't get home until 4:00 pm. It was very steep, the altitude made breathing a little more difficult, and it was very high!!!! 

I had a mini-panic attack at the top when we had to walk along the ridge and there were drop-offs on either side. I really don't like heights. But it was beautiful! I was very proud of my mom (who has had reconstructive surgery on both feet because of ruptured tendons), my little sister Aubrey (who is 12) and my brother Levi (who was at sea-level for two years in Tonga, and was suddenly taken to 14,000 foot elevation) for all making it to the top of the peak. 

That night we were all sore and tired. So we fished for a little while, and I think we were all asleep by 9:00 pm. Fishing was sure fun though, we used worms, and were catching a fish with almost every cast. Kyson caught lots of fish and loved it. 

Tuesday, June 24th, we drove into the city of Leadville for lunch. On the way there Clark and I heard a funny sound, stopped, and realized we had a flat tire. My parents were ahead of us, but we were pretty sure that they would realize that we weren't behind them and come back to help. They didn't come for quite awhile...and when they did come back Clark had the spare mostly on. 

The reason they took awhile getting back to us was that they also got a flat about 1/2 mile down the road. So, while we were eating in Leadville, the cars got new tires. 

My family stayed until Wednesday, we left Tuesday to drive home because he had to get back for work. It was a fun vacation and was so fun to spend so much time with my family.