Cousin Fun!!!

I really do feel fortunate that Mikayla has been able to develop relationships with our cousins!! She loves them just as much as I do!

Here she is with Mark




Here she is "helping" get the leaves out of the hot tub.


Some of the family chillaxing




Chris always has his camera ready to go LOL


Always time for extra cuddles! Janet and Mikayla look so snuggly!!!!






LOL - Chrissie.... um... sorry but I had to!


Bon fire time.... (notice the blow torch to the right of the fire that was used to start it.....) we need one of those for camping LOL


Smore/marshmallow time....


I think they both wanted this smore..... LOL - it's mine, no it's mine...no it's mine.....



Some more chillaxing around the fire. I got Mikayla all warm and comfortable (wrapped up in a blanket) and she just fell asleep in my arms under the stars.... it was awesome!! By the end of the night there were five of us that were still awake and chatting, we pulled the chairs much closer to the fire because it got darn right cold out! I'm sooooo not used to that anymore. But it was really nice to have some great outdoor time!

Casa Bonita

While in Colorado, we had the opportunity to take in the Casa Bonita experience..... it is truly an experience. For the young.... it's fabulous... for the older, you leave with a headache... LOL

It really is a fun place to go, my dad remembers that my sister loved having her birthday parties here when she was little.


Wonderful fountain in the front.



Can you see the diver, the jump is about 30 feet into a pool below, it's pretty neat.



The table flags are the BEST.... you raise it when you need something and they come and lower the flag and after finding out what you want, they bring it right back to you. It's FUN!

Of course the mariachi band.... here they come!!!! Mikayla actually did cover her ears and say it's too loud!!

Some cousin fun

Uncle Frankie!

Papa, we are glad he's doing better to be able to come to the crazy house...I mean Casa Bonita

Girls Night In.....

When we were in Denver we were lucky to get to spend time with Janet!!! It was an awesome time (in spite of everything else going on....). We walked, shopped till we dropped, had an awesome lunch where we were able to eat outside, on the patio because the weather was SOOOOO wonderful!

Here we are at the Ft. Collins college campus, it's beautiful right in this area. Mikayla was running around like a nut (you will see proof below) but I was able to capture some FANTASTIC pictures of Mikayla and Janet!

Goofball pictures (referenced above)

serious goofball here LOL

Immediately back into "the pose"

This is one of my all time favorite pictures..... absolutely precious!!! Two of my favorite people right here!!!

Now after a full day of shopping and running around, we had some quiet time where school teacher Sara was helping Mikayla with her school work (we brought some to compensate for the days we were missing at school).

Such a sweet face :)

How cute is "Aspirin" (well that's Mikayla's nick name for her) LOL

Next onto drinks and stage one of our pedicures/manicures....

Now yummy camp fire and smore time!!! :) Mikayla loves "camping" at Janets!

Now for Stage 2 of Pedicures...... AWESOME - Janet has a paraffin wax heater, so she heated up the wax...ran the paper towel in it, put it on saran wrap and wrapped us all up for some intensive heel treatment LOL - we all had two treatments, it was fabulous!!!!

This is what Mark walked into.... LOL!!! He didn't want his feet done though :(

Thank you so much for such a great time!!!! This was the best girls day and night ever!!

A special tribute

Our dear sweet Grandma passed away on September 23, she would have been 101 years old in December. Such a blessing for us all to have known her, we are better people because of her.

I was very concerned about how to tell Mikayla, this is her first experience with death, that she can remember any way, sadly not the first in her young life, so I really dreaded telling her. She loves gram so much, speaks of her often. They were terrific playmates!! When we told her what happened, I saw every emotion play on her little face as what I was saying sunk in. It was devastating as a parent to know that I was going to break her heart :( after she started calming down a little bit I asked her if she'd like to go make something to give to gram. She said yes so even though it was past her bed time, we went right up to get to work.

Mikayla made her a cross, decorated with buttons and hearts, she wrote her a note in glittery blue ink, and decided she wanted to make her a bracelet. Mikayla picked out all of the beads and ribbon and set right to work. Well she then decided that she needed to make one for herself to match Grandma.... then she wanted me to match too.... so 16 bracelets later, all of the female members (and two male members) of our immediate family have matching bracelets... Here is my precious turning her grief into something productive and tangible for all of us to remember.... at the very least - to remember the love of a little girl for her Grandma.

This was also the very first time she purchased something from Hobby Lobby with her own money, we ran out of the ribbon she was using, so she took money from her jar and went to one of our favorite stores and she picked it out and paid for it. I didn't take a picture (shocking huh) of the event, but I did keep the receipt..... ;)

I love you Papa!

This was after Wednesday night family dinner.... Mikayla was "teaching" and Papa was her student.... LOL

Happy Birth-a-versary!!!

Last weekend was my birthday and Michael's and my 12th wedding anniversary. Here is some of what we were up to... little miss made us some cards :) I LOVE these, I wonder how everyone else stores their painted treasures, currently I have a 20 gallon bucket that is rapidly filling....

Here is the anniversary card.... I definitely see some promising crafty talent!! she had no adult help with painting .... only help with spelling

She picked these roses for us from Papa's front yard.... doesn't her hand look gigantic reaching for them!

Such a beauty!!!

To celebrate dad had us over for a good old fashioned turkey dinner - it was AMAZING!!!!

Some gluten free cupcakes :) they totally hit the spot!!! Scrumptious

We officially decided that Mikayla needed to share my birthday too, so she got a Happy Birthday candle and we sang to her too - even though we sing Happy Birthday at most meals.... LOL

What a fabulous weekend!!!! Thank you everyone!!!