My baby is FIVE!

 Alyssa Joy turned FIVE!  She was so excited for her birthday. We celebrated for about three days, which was lots of fun.  She spent one day at the pool with friends.  She is a water baby, and loves to swim.  It was a hot day, perfect for the outdoor pool.  It was fun to swim with her good friends Hannah and Morgan.

 Then we headed to the park for cupcakes, bubbles and playing.  Fun birthday!

 Alyssa got a new bike!  She was able to ride down the street and looked so big on that new bike.

 Our big five year old, she is so precious!

Then we had a family party in Denver.  We went to a couple fun parks there.  We love parks, free, fun, and outdoors.

 Some of the free fun: Dallin climbed to the top of this geometric shape, without using the ropes, or at least using them very little.  He climbed the poles, crazy kid!

 The famous spinning cup, my kids love it and I don't know how they do it without getting dizzy.  I get dizzy just spinning them.

 On the way to the car Dallin found this hurt bunny on the path.  They rescued it and placed it in the shade, after being disappointed that Mom would not let them bring it home.  They were so sweet to it and sad for its hardships.

 The breakfast in bed - a fun tradition

 Birthday girls, first thing in the morning.

 Dad took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese while I was in the temple.  Brea got a jackpot of tickets!

 The other fun park.  That was the kids request for our last fun thing in Denver.  They have such a fun Dad, he chased them and put them in this 'jail' on the stage.  HE almost got them all, but Brea hurt her toe really bad and they had to stop.

 Taking the victim to JAIL.  The screams were for fear and for Joy at the same time.

 A couple more shots of our 5 year old.  Such a pretty, smart and funny girl.

Glenwood Springs Getaway

 I stole Jeff for his birthday, and took him on a trainride to Glenwood Springs.  The train was so nice, big comfy seats and large windows with amazing views.  The scenic drive through the mountains was breathtaking.  We went through 27 tunnels, one was six miles long.  The train ride itself was a vacation! 

We flew my parents in, which was  surprise, to watch the kids for two days and then the Drakes came for a day and a half.  They were spoiled and well taken care of, which made it a nice trip for us.

 The nice comfy seats.  They reclined and had leg rests.  Plus there was a separate viewing car and dining car on the double decker train.  Train is the way to go, it does take longer, but was so nice.

 I found a cute condo in downtown Glenwood Springs.  We had the whole place to ourselves, and it was WONDERFUL!  The decor was charming, and it had a jacuzzi tub, a fire pit and BBQ outside.  It was very relaxing just to stay there. 

 There are bike paths all over Glenwood Springs.  We rented bikes for the whole time we were there and rode up to a beautiful hike and back (about 10 miles each way).  We rode along the river and the views were breathtaking.  We are blessed to have such beauty so close.

 The hike we did was so gorgeous, even the walk up was amazing.  I wanted to stop and take pictures all along the way.  It was fun to spend the day so active together.

 This was the steepest part, right before we got to the lake/waterfall.

 Tadaa!  The pictures do not do it justice, but it was beautiful.  It looked like a tropical island.

There were a bunch of waterfalls all around the lake, and this one I was able to walk underneath.  If it had been a little warmer it would have felt great.

 I love this picture, it captures well the beauty we rode through.  It was really enjoyable to bike everywhere.

 We did a couple of cave tours as well as a ride on top of a peak.  The cave tours were fascinating.  The ride was breath taking in a frightening way.  Poor Jeff had to close his eyes, a fear of heights has come with age.  It was a fun amusement park with lots of daring rides. 

 This outhouse cracked us up.  Unfortunately, they had it roped off so we weren't able to try it out!

 These are some views on our way home.  It was such a nice get-away.  I love my husband so much, and really enjoyed spending time with him.  It was a beautiful ride back and we even saw bald eagles and their nest.  We brought our goals that we had written on our honeymoon and wrote some more for the next 5 years and 15 years.  We were celebrating our 15th Wedding Anniversary and Jeffs birthday at the same time.  It was honestly been a wonderful 15 years together and we are excited for the future and the plans we have made.