Stones Family Reunion

If you have read any previous posts you know that Elizabeth does not like her car seat.  She actually hates it.  We were a little nervous about all of our upcoming vacations and family reunions but she did pretty good.... eventually.  We left for Utah after work (around 5) June 27 for the Stones reunion.  She cried from Louisville to Rawlins (with occasional stops to calm her and her testy parents).  Finally in Rawlin's we got out and walked around the grocery store for about an hour to calm her and to get her to sleep. We then had a much more peaceful and quiet ride to Utah.  (Throughout the week we drove a lot and our poor little baby had to quickly get used to being strapped in and in the car- she did great!)

This year was Grandma (Alice Cox) Stones' 90th Birthday.  To celebrate we had a big family reunion for her at the Heber Valley Girls Camp in Heber Utah.  The camp was very cool with cabins, cooking places, activities, ect.  It was so much fun to see all of my Dad's siblings and their families (I saw/met cousin's I hadn't seen in 10+ years).  The day after the camp we had a big BBQ in Ogden; some of my Dad's cousin's came to this.  It was cool hearing stories and seeing how big our family is.  

The Larry Stones Family and Grandma Stones

Grandma Stones and all her Grandchildren

Grandma Stones and all of her Great Grandchildren

Ben and I then went up past Provo to the _____ Canyon to visit our good friends, the Thevenin's, who moved there.  They are renting a beautiful house in the mountains and it was fun to spend time in such a beautiful setting.  Ben and Benjamin got to go golfing and I was able to spend time with Emily and their boys (Damon and Cade).  Those boys are getting so big and they loved playing with Elizabeth.  It was so much fun seeing them.

We then drove to Logan to spend some time with the Baker family.  We got to go to the small Logan zoo and see all the animals; they had monkeys, turtles and baby ducks.  It was very HOT but really fun.  We also went to the Pepperidge Farms factory, Gosner's Dairy and the Fat Boy Factory while in Logan- all very important tourist stops.  We spent most of the time relaxing at Grandma Baker's house (some people got sick so it was good that we got to relax), playing games, watching fireworks (the teenage boys put on a good show) and spending time with family. 

We went to see the horses kept by Grandma Baker's neighbor.  Page was a little hesitant and Elizabeth was not interested (even though the horse was big enough to eat her).

On Tuesday we all went to Bear Lake.  We got jet skii's and a boat and enjoyed playing in the water.  The kids loved the beach and even Elizabeth walked in the water a little.  

Michael (17) and Elizabeth (20 weeks)

We carpooled home Friday night with Michael and Taylor.  The drive was actually really good; I think we wore Elizabeth out with all our driving so she slept move of the way.  We got back to Longmont really late so we all stayed there and slept most of the next day to 'recoop.'  I am excited that Michael and Taylor and the Dawson's get to spend more time in CO with us this summer. 

Spring Fun!

This year we had some LATE snow storms but finally SPRING IS HERE!

May 1st Snow Storm

Elizabeth's toes in the soft spring grass- Memorial Day (May 27)

We had a robin build a nest by our front door but did not notice until there were already eggs- so we endured with a super anxious mother robin for a couple weeks and got to watch  the babies grow!

The other day (June 7) Ben opened the door to go to work and there was a hot air balloon landing in the park right across the street from our house.  It was cool to watch them land and take it down. 

The City of Louisville is hosting 'Movie Nights' in the park across the street from our house.  They have permitted food trucks to come and set up a big screen.  The first night they showed 'The Goonies' (CLASSIC!); Elizabeth and I stayed for most of it but it started to rain and get cold so we headed home but Ben stayed with Rachel through the whole movie. We are excited for the many movies that will be showing this summer.   

May 23, 2013

The first fall we lived here I planted a bunch of bulbs in the front yard and got some beautiful tulips and daffodils (this year we didn't really get many because of the late snow) but one of them grew and never flowered.  It is right by my front door and is lanky and awkward looking- I have been contemplating pulling it and just naming it a dud-daffodil.  Then this spring...it blossomed and it's a beautiful purple Iris. This is our true life 'Ugly Duckling' story in our front yard... aren't all so glad that I am a lazy gardener and hadn't moved it?

Ben has been training all spring for the Boulder Bolder; last year he went and ran it without having ran for MONTHS and he was in a lot of pain.  So he has been running with Jesse and on his own around the park.  He sometimes takes Elizabeth in the stroller on his runs- that is a wonderful break for me!! He did a Boulder Bolder qualifying 5k one Saturday (May 11) and did great!

I have also been able to go on some great walks with Elizabeth in the stroller (thanks REI for the amazing Bob Stroller).  We walk to the library a lot and have even discovered some open space behind our house (I had no idea these paths were back there) that we take walks on.  

May 11, 2013

We got to have Andrew, Mylie, Wyatt and Gwyn come over with Nana and Grandpa to play in the water park across the street.  We love spending time with them and love having fun family time!!

June 1, 2013

Family Adventure to Colorado Springs

This summer we have two trips for family reunions, so we decided to do a 'trial run' family vacation to Colorado Springs with Elizabeth over Memorial Weekend.  I tried to plan with foresight; 'kid friendly' activities, booked a hotel, packed.... but alas we learned that a easy weekend trip with a baby is not an easy weekend trip.  

Here is some of what we learned:

- Carseats = NO FUN AT ALL!!  Elizabeth has never really liked her car seat but she usually whines for a bit and then falls asleep- during this trip however, she never fell asleep.  She screamed for two hours down to Colorado Springs, throughout most of our 'activities' and then the two hours back home.  

- A plan (even though it was tentative and very flexible) gets thrown out the window with a baby and your activities revolve around survival.   We did not end up doing even half of what we had planned but we were still able to do some fun stuff.  

We went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings.  These are a small group of real Anasazi Indian Cliff dwells with a pueblo visitor center and museum. It was cool to explore these and I was in wonder at the architecture and engineering put into these dwellings. (Elizabeth was in the baby backpack for this and Ben learned that 'low ceilings' with a baby carrier means...crawl!)

We went to Manitou, CO-  this is a super cute little tourist town.  We walked up and down their Main road, ate delicious food and enjoyed being out of the car.  

We also went to the Garden of the Gods but... more on that later. 

- Hotels have noises- even at night.  We didn't think about all of the 'little things' that we have at home to keep Elizabeth content, such as gas drops, lightweight blankets or a sound machine.  I love staying in hotels, I think it's fun and kind of an adventure, but I am a good sleeper so I have never thought about the constant sounds caused by tons of people sleeping in one building.  So our good little sleeper slept pretty bad and woke up to everything! Lesson learned- White noise sound machine is our friend!

- The Garden of the Gods is a National Natural Landmark with huge beautiful sandstone rock formations and paths interweaving among them.  I research this and found that to go on all of the paths is was only about 6 miles (something very 'do able') and the paths were paved- so we could take the hiking backpack or the stroller.  When we go to the park Elizabeth was already screaming (carseat!) so we went to the visitor center and ended up spending a LOT of time there to cool off and calm her down.  We then took the stroller and the path from the visitor center to go on a hike.  Well, we picked a less than 'stroller friendly' path and soon turned back to the car.  So we decided to drive around the park (and found the paved path on the other side of the park) but by this time Elizabeth was really hating her car seat- so instead of a beautiful relaxing hike, we drove through the Garden of the Gods to see the sites with a screaming baby. 

Not really working....

If this picture had sound- you would hear a wailing baby...

So our first 'family vacation' was not what I had hoped or expected.  Ben was wonderful and tried to keep a good positive outlook on the whole adventure (while Elizabeth screamed and I stressed/fumed/whined).  On our way home we got to go to Wyatt's 4th Birthday Party and the wonderful food and delicious desserts helped to calm me down... a little.  I am now worried about how our summer trips will go but am glad we got to spend some time together and learn A LOT about trips with the little Misses. 

That Sunday Ben spoke in Sacrament Meeting about Missionary work and did GREAT.  That Monday (Memorial Day) Ben ran the Boulder Bolder; he did better than his past two years (almost got his goal time;He did stop to use the bathroom in the middle of the race and we are pretty sure he would have made his goal if not for this detour.) and we are so proud of him!!