Our Denver Trip!

Well, it's been over a month since we actually went to Denver, so this seems like the perfect time to finally post some photos.  ;)  We had a poor, sickie Evie Sis and not very much sleep, which always makes traveling extra fun, but seeing all the fam is always worth it!  Here are some pics!

- K

Our first stop was seeing our old condo (which is officially sold!), then we headed downtown for a carriage ride down the 16th Street Mall.  Ryan and I stopped at Wahoo's Fish Taco, one of our favorites in Denver that we would always walk to from our condo.  I ordered one shrimp taco for myself, and there were a variety of others for Ryan.  This is a picture of him eating MY taco.  Not bitter at all.  ;)

All the baby girls sure loved these horses and the Christmas lights!

Speaking of baby girls, there's another one in this family!  The baby you see in that belly is here, and she's beautiful!  So many girls, so little time.  :)

This is Grandma and Pop's cat, Fancy Pants.  She is ornery as hell and for some reason that makes the girls want her even more.  They've learned to tuck their hands in their sleeves before petting her though, so that's good...?

Resting B Face is real.  Even for cats.

Aunt Dodo surprised us with a visit while we were in town.  So fun!

This poor sickie had strep throat for the first time ever.  A paci, videos and mama were about the only things that didn't make her scream.

Lyla and Brailyn had so much fun together.  Brailyn loved playing with Lyla so much, it was adorable.  She also had a pretty stellar pout face whenever Lyla had to take a break from playing.  Ain't nobody got time for lunch when you've got a big, fun cousin to play with!

They were the cutest.

Bucking up for a quick horse ride!

This is Brailyn's dog, Peyton.  I'll spare you the details, but he had a pretty rough weekend.  Poor guy.  ;)

This horse is the coolest.  It actually rides across the floor, and the girls (all of them!) are obsessed.

Taking a quick break from that paci for a little ice cream.  Strep is not fun...for anyone involved.

Luckily, this girl was happy as ever!  My sweet little Lyla.

We had lunch with Grandma K, Auntie Sav and little Bane.  He is such a cutie pie!  So many good faces.

Lyla and Grandma K cuddles.  Love this picture  :)

Finally on some antibiotics and feeling a little better.  And sillier.

Exploring with a magnifying glass.  :)

A) I cannot get enough of this chick, strep and all.  And B) why is she getting so big?!? 

Stop. It. Time.

Lyla got to play with her friend, Jackson, again!  They are such little best buddies and they rarely see each other.  I love it.

The sillies played school and stamped each other's foreheads with "Very Good!" stamps.  :)

Lyla's favorite game at Papa's house is cat hunting.  I think the cats might feel differently. 

This seriously might be one of my favorite photos of all time!  That cat face.  Haha!

Papa took us girls on a winter sled dog adventure in Winter Park!  It had just snowed and was so beautiful.  Lyla and Evie loved every second, despite the 7 degree weather that froze my own toes.  They were total troopers!

If there's something that looks climbable, you can bet she'll be trying it.

Such a fun trip!!

The Condo

Last week we took a little trip to Denver to see our condo one last time!  When we got engaged we searched out the perfect first home, and ended up choosing a little one bedroom condo in Uptown Denver.  We absolutely loved every one of the 725 square feet, it was the coziest little first home we could have asked for. 

We only lived there 2 years before we had to make our first move for Ryan's company, and then quickly outgrew it with the addition of one Miss Lyla Rose to our family.  But we held on to the condo and rented it out, and even talked about hanging on to it forever, using it as our downtown home after retirement.  But this year we decided to simplify our lives a bit, and with the booming Denver real estate market we ended up deciding to let go of our first home.  Which logically makes so much sense for us, but emotionally makes my heart break a little bit. 

We really hadn't been back to the condo since we moved out, so I knew we had to go see it one last time and show the girls our first home.  It was so fun and sentimental and emotional walking through the building and our unit for the last time.  It was only two years, but there were a lifetime worth of memories.  So many parties and celebrations thrown in our little condo or at the pool or in the beautiful lobby that held our rehearsal dinner after party, so many bridal showers, engagement parties, birthday parties, and more.

Our lives sure were different back then, but I wouldn't change our journey for anything.  We've exchanged late night parties for late night potty trips or late night figuring out my phone is missing and finding a certain 4 1/2 year old watching youtube videos in her bed.  At 2:45 in the morning.  Whatever.  But, having our girls at our first home was so special, a full circle kind of moment.  We'll miss that place so much and will always cherish the memories!

Here are some throwback photos from some of the parties in our condo, and from our very last trip with our girls.  :)

- K

 

This was our first ever party, Halloween 2008.  It was about 2 weeks after our wedding, and 2 hours after Ryan tore his patellar tendon playing rugby.  I'm not sure he actually remembers this party.

 

Our New Year's Eve party one year.  Pretty sure this will go down in history as my favorite NYE ever.

 

Jersey Shore, baby!  :)  I was going to say this was our last party, but then I remembered that we had a second Halloween party the very night before we had to be out of the condo to move to SLC.  We were not even close to fully packed.  Good decision making at it's finest!

 

 

I had to get a shot of the door to our very first home.  We'll miss you, 1605!!

 

Checking out the view with the girls.  So bittersweet letting go of our first place!!

 

The capitol building.  I'll miss that view forever!

Winter Park

A couple of weeks ago the girls and I took an impromptu trip out to Denver to visit our family while Auntie Kate was in town.  Ryan was too busy doing things like "working" and "paying bills", so he didn't get to join us.  Poor guy.  ;)

We hadn't been to Denver for almost a year, and I can't remember the last time we were there in the summer.  It felt so good to be back.  I always miss family but I forget what a sense of "home" Colorado still holds.  It hits me every time we land.  Those mountains, the city skyline, the no humidity.  Ahh, the no humidity.  You and your silky hair have no idea how good you have it, my Coloradans.

We have so many people in Colorado that we don't often get to do things.  We spend all of our time darting from one person to the next, trying to see as many as possible and always failing to see them all.  We rarely get to take the kids to experience any fun things in Colorado, so this time we got to escape from the madness for a couple days and hang out in Winter Park.  It was so beautiful and we had so much fun, I'm dedicating a whole post to those Rocky Mountains.

Here you go!

- K

 

The girls are completely obsessed with their pink running shoes right now.  They insist that the shoes make them run SO FAST.  Impromptu races break out frequently just to prove it.  ;)

This picture makes me laugh because I was just telling my neighbor yesterday about my first day of 8th grade in a new city.  I wore a navy blue t-shirt with this Coca Cola polar bear on it, and cried the whole way home after realizing that this new city was WAY fancier than my last, and a polar bear t-shirt was not going to cut it.  Ahh, memories.  Haha!

 



There were so many wildflowers everywhere, it was gorgeous!  And so many hummingbirds buzzing around.  Can you spot this cute little guy??  :)

 

We took this little ride over the town.

It was so beautiful!

 

Love this chick!

 

We stopped in a candy shop but I hadn't brought my wallet.  We were on our way out when we ran into Grammy who said "Oh, I have my..." and Lyla whipped her little self around and excitedly said "You have your wallet?!"  Needless to say, they ended up with candy.  ;)

This is probably my favorite picture of all time.  I honestly didn't even realize that sign was in the background, but I managed to somehow crop it perfectly!

The flowers were seriously amazing, and just everywhere!

We paid so much respect.  ;)

That stink eye is a generational problem, really.  :)

My brother is living at our Dad's house right now, along with his cat Miso.  Miso was incredibly patient.

The next morning we went on a little adventure in the great outdoors.  And Evie obviously did something quite displeasing.

Back to being friends.  :)

 

"Look, ma!  A bat!"

 

No really, we found this tiny little bat hanging out on a rock next to the river.  He was still alive, but definitely heading towards the light.

He was so tiny and kind of cute, in a creepy, batty kind of way.

 

Mud on her face.  Still being fancy.  This chick is redefining the tomboy and princess categories.  ;)

 

Lyla has always wanted to try this and she did great!

 

Evie was even big enough to try it out, and couldn't wait after checking out her big sister.

 

She even nailed a couple of flips!

 

That tiny girl in a harness!

 

Evie had a blast.  She's not quite as naturally courageous as her big sister, but she tries her best to follow Lyla's lead.

 

My littlest love.

Pizza!

Lyla loved the time spent with her Uncle Joe!  She rode the alpine slide several times with him, and couldn't get enough.  I'm telling you they FLEW by me and Sis, and we were going pretty fast!  But even Sis traded up to riding with Papa, so maybe I didn't go that fast after all.  ;)

 

After lunch we made another candy store run for dessert.  :)

The focus is all jacked up, but I love this picture.  It shows Lyla's little character so perfectly.  She's always in on the joke, and always up for a some fun and a good laugh.   Love that girl.

 

These poppies were so perfect!

Two of my favorite girls.  So much fun!!