Our Super Duper Week! (Or when Keri comes to CO!)

Allen's sister Keri came to visit for a week and we had SO much fun! We packed in as much fun as we could into 7 days!

When she first arrived the temperature was about 20 degrees! Let's just say a sweat shirt, 2 blankets, and a space heater later and she still wasn't warm! Luckily it warmed up and we enjoyed some nice sunny days.

We went shopping, out to lunch, to the zoo, to the aquarium, out to dinner, to Casa Bonitas (yes, this deserves it's own mention, separate from regular dinner!), to Sidney's ballet class, to Porter's football game, not to mention lots of staying up late and making good desserts!

Porter and Sidney got their faces painted at the aquarium for the first time ever! They were loving it. Poor kids, who hadn't had their faces painted before they are 8 and 6 years old!! Seriously, who are their parents!

Feeding the sting rays. There were some seriously BIG sting rays! I was a little nervous someone was going to loose an arm. But luckily all that happened was a lot of splashing thanks to the kid next to us who was holding his fish out of the water so that the sting rays had to propel themselves out of the water to get it. It was freaking me out!

Loving Aunt Keri!

Watching the cliff divers at Casa Bonitas.

You gotta love Casa Bonitas!! We had so much fun with Keri. We were all begging (yes literally begging) her to stay longer! We love ya Keri!

Trip to Utah

The Farm.....and a little hockey

Sidney had her first official kindergarden field trip. That girl was SO excited! The field trip was to Miller Farm which is North of Denver, quite a long bus ride. I don't know if she was more excited about the farm or her first bus ride! They went on a hay ride, picked their own vegetables, picked a pumpkin, played on the hay stack, and had lunch. It was a very busy and long day for half day kindergartners. Instead of getting out of school at 11:35 on a normal day, they didn't get done until 3:30! There were some tired kids on the hour bus ride back, but I think they all had a great time.

We went to a Avalanche Hockey game and had a blast. The kids love any sporting event and are always really good. They really enjoy all the excitement and everything going on, and we WON. Go AVS!

The Boys Trip to The Sand Dunes

Allen and Porter headed south to the Sand Dunes to help one of the Young Men in our ward with his Eagle Scout Project. They camped over night and had a great time. They worked on the campground, trails, and fencing.

They made sure to get some good play time in also!

Soooo cute! The girls and I felt very loved!

They came home with sand EVERYWHERE! I can't image how that happened. I am glad they had so much fun.

The Mountain Man, better known as Allen

While the kids and I were in Utah Allen decided to hike Mt. of the Holy Cross. It is quite a drive and I think he started at about 2 am! He was also hiking by himself which is generally not a good idea, but don't worry......Luckily Allen is very friendly and met up with a scout troop and hung out with them. The weather was cold, raining, and snowing. Good times!

Awesome pictures! Good job, Al. We are so proud of you.

Sidney is 6!!

It's true! Our sweet girl is 6. Man, time flies. Sidney was very excited for her birthday! She started off with some bday pancakes.

She had quite the fan club for her birthday. Porter and Rylee were very nice to Sidney and made her day extra special. Rylee kept singing "Happy Birthday to You".....all day long!

Sidney had been asking to get her ears pierced for about 3 months. We told her maybe for her birthday. I thought she would change her mind, but she just got

more and more excited as her birthday got closer. So we decided she was ready.

She could hardly wait, she asked about every 5 minutes if it was time to go yet. She picked her earrings, you'll never guess.......yes the pink ones! She only got nervous when the girl was marking the spot. I told her she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to, but she was brave and squeezed her bunny and my hands and it was over! She opened her eyes wide, smiled and said, "I can't believe I have pierced ears!!" So funny. She was excited to check them out in the mirror.

Checking them out again at home. She has been very careful and we are cleaning them really well, so far so good.

Opening presents. Thank you to Grandma's and Grandpa's, Great Grandma's and Great Grandpa's, family, and friends for all of the presents and phone calls. This girl felt very loved.

Fun Strawberry Shortcake cake. Sidney is all girl and with that comes a lot of emotion. I love it when that emotion is SO excited. She made me feel very good about the very homemade cake!

Grandma and Grandpa came over on Saturday to celebrate. Grandma's cake really put mine to shame! Our good friend Shelly that works with my Mom made this awesome cake. Sidney loved it!

More presents, and lots more emotion!

Porter and Rylee got in on the fun with special "Thanks for being a good brother and sister all year" presents!

Sidney is such a sweetheart. She brings joy, laughter, emotion, and pink to our family. She loves her little sister and totally looks up to her big brother. She is our girly girl, but loves Star Wars and anything Porter is doing. She is loving Kindergarden and making lots of friends. She seems to have grown up so much this last year. She says she had the "best Birthday ever because I got to get my ears pierced!" Six years ago I was so excited to meet our first little girl, we have been best friends ever since.

Happy Birthday sweet Sidney girl! We love you!