Grand Junction Trip

February 7-9

Matt attended The Wildlife Society annual conference in Grand Junction in early February so the kids and I took advantage of his hotel room and joined him. Matt left on Tuesday afternoon and the kids and I left on Wednesday afternoon, arriving just before dinnertime that evening. It's a 5-hour drive from Canon but it went well with just one stop to stretch our legs. Matt booked a room at a Residence Inn so the room had a little kitchenette and more space than standard hotel rooms. It was totally great for the 6 of us! The kids and I had zero plans for our time in Grand Junction. We ate dinner, swam, watched some tv and went to bed the first night. Thursday morning we ate breakfast, watched a show, went swimming, ate lunch at the hotel room (I brought food so we didn't have to eat out) and then hit the town. We spent about an hour and a half at the library (so neat!) and then went to one store to pick up a few things I was looking for. We were going to hit up the awesome ice cream sundaes at Sam's club but the deli was closed for construction. We went to McDonald's for sundaes instead and - SHOCK - I even let the kids play at the play place! After our playtime at the indoor playground, we went searching for a park to burn some energy off at an outdoor playground. Boy, did we find one! I remember there being a big soccer complex near our old church (remember when we drove an hour to Junction to attend Canyon View Vineyard church while we were living in Rifle? Yep!) so we went that direction. We found some amazing playground equipment and spent the remainder of the afternoon there. Goodness, the kids (and I!) had so much fun. It was a beautiful day and we were foot-loose and fancy free, skipping and hopping from one thing to the next as if we didn't have a care in the world. Fabulous, I tell you. I pulled the kids out of school on Wednesday at noon so they missed one and a half days of school, and I can't think of a better reason to miss school other than to play and be together as a family. We totally did just that. (Ok, except for Matt who was stuck in meetings... which was the reason we came in the first place...) We ate Easy Mac dinner with Matt before he had to go back for an evening banquet, and then the kids and I hit up the pool. We swam on Friday morning after breakfast as well, but I have zero pictures of us swimming because, you know, I was a tad busy! The kids had so much fun in the pool. Every time we were there, we had the place to ourselves. It was great! There was a little dessert reception one night at the hotel so we had some brownies, lemon bars, and tortilla chips while we watched HGTV, a luxury for us since we don't have cable. Don't worry - we watched some PBS cartoons for the kids as well. 

Matt's conference was done on Friday at noon, so we packed up and left Grand Junction around 1. We drove home a different way, taking some time to drive up to our old house in Rifle so the kids could see where we used to live. Charlie was pretty excited to see where we brought him home from the hospital! We continued our journey home with a short stop in Glenwood Springs at their new library (really nice!) and to stretch our legs a bit. Then, it was back to the interstate, taking us through Glenwood Canyon and eventually through Vail and up Vail pass. I hadn't driven that stretch of I70 since we used to live on the western slope! It was super fun to see! We cut off at Frisco and came down through Breckenridge, another place that I haven't ever seen in the winter. We only go to Breck in the summer! We grabbed some things at the grocery store for dinner (a huge mistake on a Friday night - soooo many people, and many were fresh off the mountain!) before finishing the drive home. It was a great little driving tour of the state! PLUS, when we got home, we still had Saturday and Sunday to be together at home. It was a great break from our normal routine! 

I snapped a bunch of pictures at the park in Grand Juntion. The equipment was amazing!

 Hattie was so nervous crossing this bridge! She crawled across instead of walking. 

Molly's Birthday Playdate

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Molly wanted so desperately to have a little playdate with her friends Harper and Alli for her birthday. I didn't really call it a birthday party since the girls just wanted to run around and play, but I made the mistake (maybe that's too harsh of a word) of saying that Molly wanted Harper to come over for a little birthday playdate, and then Harper came with a gift for Molly! Sheesh! Tina, Harper's mom, dropped Harper off for a bit while she brought their foster son to an appointment but then she stayed for a quick cup of tea when she returned. Harper's brother Bentley is in Alanna's kindergarten class so Tina and I have gotten to know each other quite a bit this year. So fun! Alli's sister Macy is also in Alanna and Bentley's kindergarten class so I've gotten to know Anita quite well, too. I LOVE new friends!! 

Hattie, Molly, Harper, and Alli 

Happy 4th Birthday, Molly Girl!!

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The makings of a mermaid tail birthday cake. It's usually a mess on the table and all the kitchen counters but it ALWAYS turns out. Matt jumped in to help by being extra hands and great doer of dishes. It was a successful evening of birthday cake crafting!

 Molly's mermaid tail cake. 

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And here she is! The birthday girl!!! Happy birthday, Molly! She requested donuts for her birthday and this mama delivered. Charlie had an early 8am basketball game that morning so we stopped by the grocery store for a selection of donuts. Molly was pleased as punch!

Later that morning, we took the kids to the Home Depot building clinic where they each got to make a beanbag set. They had a great time! 5/6 of us got paint on our clothes, but it came off in the wash. No biggie.  

 Molly begged and begged to open her birthday gifts, so after lunch, she opened a little over half of them. 

 Present time!!! 

 She opened lots of great gifts including these shoes that she put on immediately and wore inside for the next three days straight. Win!

 Hattie was perched and ready in case Molly needed help. Molly got a My Little Pony scooter from Auntie Kathy and Uncle Jason! THRILLED is an understatement. 

 A new Frozen Lego set from Eric and Mel in Roseburg (they're practically family). So fun!

 She opened lots more gifts and then we took a break to go play at a new-to-us playground at McKinley elementary. It was a beautiful day outside. But when we got home, we had a bit of time before dinner was ready so she opened the rest of her gifts. 

 After dinner it was time for birthday cake and ice cream! Molly got a new pack of bows for her birthday so she wanted to put a pink one on right away. So cute! She loved her birthday cake - it was just how she wanted it!

 So much excitement for this birthday girl!! 

We had a super fun day celebrating our Molly girl! Happy Birthday, sweetie!

Heard Around our House

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Molly LOVES to read this book, Hattie and the Fox. I bought it for Hattie for Christmas simply because it has her name in the title. It's a cute, repetitive book and Molly memorized it quickly. She now "reads" several times throughout the day. I wanted to get a video of her one night so I sat her down and recorded her reading the book. 

I also wanted to get a video of Hattie doing the May Sue hand game with Molly. Hattie knows quite a bit of the chant and has a lot of fun trying to make the other person's hands do what they should be doing. I think she gets this from when we first taught her and were making Hattie's hands do the motions. So cute! Everyone's favorite part is "Moonshine, Moonshine, Moonshine FREEZE!" And then Hattie laughs and laughs and says, "I want to go it again!" (Go instead of do - same diff!)

January 2018

January 2018 Update
We came back from Minnesota and we all got sick. Some kind of cold passed through us all, a wonderful gift that we seem to get every year. About the second week of January, Molly and Hattie took turns having fevers for 8 days straight. It was a long and quiet week for me! I got so much work done while the sick girls were vegged out on the couch watching cartoons. A silver lining, perhaps? Charlie started Rec district basketball and had practices on Monday evenings and games on Saturday mornings. He is loving it! His coach is an actual coach who is teaching them drills and technique and stuff. She's legit but makes it fun for the kids. Charlie's team is the Cardinals this year. Mid-January, I went on a Young Life leader retreat for one night up at Frontier Ranch. It was refreshing time and Matt and the kids found plenty to do while I was gone. The next weekend also brought me out of town for a YoungLives summit in Littleton so Matt took the kids to Westcliffe to go ice fishing. They came home with three trout and had a blast! I came home that night to my aunt and uncle who were passing through on their way to Arizona. They stayed two nights with us and we had a really, really great time together. Lots of games, lots of conversation, some games of beanbags outside, and more conversation. Thanks for taking the time to stay with us, Ronny and Terri! :) 

And with that, we quickly turned the calendar to February! 

Post-Christmas MN Pictures

Well, apparently I didn't take too many more pictures after we celebrated Christmas! Whoops! We had a fun week together with both sides of the family. One night we celebrated Jean's 60th birthday (a week or so early), and one night Edwards/Swensons/Rustands/Mom and Dad did an escape room in Fargo. It was a fun experience! The Legge adult kids got the escape room experience for Mom and Dad for Christmas. Jason and Kathy were gracious enough to host all 10 grandkids AND secured the two babysitters for the evening. It was a total win! We stayed at Edwards' house afterward for some appetizers, and then we slept overnight at Swensons. We tried to get in as much family time as possible, especially since we won't see Goulds for quite some time. :( It was SUPER cold while we were in MN so the kids only got to play outside in the snow one time. Matt and I bundled up once and went out walking on Mark and Jean's property trying to kick up a few pheasants. It was cold, but we were dressed appropriately and had a nice little day date (for an hour!). The biggest Gould girls, Alanna, Grace, and sometimes Molly had SO much fun playing school! 

The kids table was pretty packed! Hattie in the high chair, then Sophia, Alanna, Joe, Kolbe, and Molly. It was quite the line-up!

 Hattie looked gigantic next to Autumn (13.5 months old). Such cute girls! I see a mini-Julie and a mini-Craig, don't you?!?

 These two boys are pretty good friends AND cousins. Double bonus!

 Grandma's early birthday celebration. The only two missing from the picture are Justin and Hannah. What a load of grandkids. 

 Hattie and Joe both have quite a soft spot for Lucy. I think they both would sit there all day and pet her if they could. 

 Playing an intense game of school. These girls were holed up in Grandma's office ALL afternoon. It was epic. 

Snuggling with Grandpa. Aww!

 Alanna was having a blast helping Autumn walk. I love how Autumn is looking at Alanna with total trust and adoration in her eyes!

 So then, the night of the Escape Room in Fargo, Alanna decided to pull out another tooth! Her bottom two are now GONE!

 Matt and I before our walk. We both had frosty eyelashes when we returned. I guess we missed a pretty good hot chocolate bar spread while we were out. 

 Towards the end of the week, Hattie and Molly were wearing down. They both found little cozy spots, curled up, and fell asleep. I can't remember if this was before or after dinner - I think it was right in that 5-6:00 hour. Poor girls! Molly chose a more cozy spot that Hattie. She must have just melted onto the floor. She was so tired from all of the playing. 

And that was it! We stayed one extra day and then drove home on New Year's Eve. We normally don't drive on NYE because of the higher risk for drunk drivers, but we left early on Sunday morning and made it home by 9-9:30 that evening. I tell you, I think our days of driving through the night are officially over! Gosh, wouldn't that be something?! The kids traveled really well on the way home; history says that they are so dang exhausted from all of the festivities that they are pretty relaxed on the way home. Sure enough, that was true. It was another great Minnesota Christmas! Thanks for the hospitality, fam!