I'm a Big Kid Now!

We started potty training Hallie over the summer and she wasn't too interested. Then one day she just decided that she was ready, and we haven't looked back since!
She is fully potty trained now, no accidents and wears her big girl undies, even at night! No more diapers!! :)
So proud of our Big Girl!!

Who Doesn't want a Hibachi Grill in their Kitchen??

This has been a very fun weekend and it isn't over yet! We decided it was time to update the kids' bedroom. We started off by getting the new bunk beds put together Friday evening, thanks to Matt and Jerry (we know I should be nowhere near tools, and/or sharp objects). We also got new pictures for the walls, new bedding for each bed, and a new bookcase!

Today we went to the Colorado Railroad Museum where we rode the Thomas the Train. Adam, if you don't know by know, ADORES trains, was very excited and was loving every minute. During the train ride we met the Train Conductor who punched our tickets, just like on a real train! (So says Adam, and I am inclined to believe him, having never been on a real train).

We walked around and got to meet real Firemen and the kids got to climb inside a real Fire Truck! Hallie loved it and Adam wanted to stay put and view everything from the ground and safety of behind Dad's legs. They each got cool fire hat to take home.

There was a miniature train set up that we checked out and the kids loved. Adam asked if we could get one. I don't think we have the room for one.

After we left the museum we picked up Grammie and headed off to take the kids to their first trip to Benihana's! (Matt and I's favorite restaurant) Adam loved the part where the chef threw the shrimp tails into his hat, he called it "magic".
The kids loved the food, and we had a great time! How cool would it be to have this grill in your kitchen? Imagine the meals you could whip up!

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

What better way to cool off in the summertime than running through the fountains? Adam had so much fun! Hallie wanted nothing to do with the fountains and stayed attached to Matt a good distance away.
Adam's favorite part was trying to "stop" the water from squirting up, and then letting go and running away as it sprayed everyone around him.
Such a fun day!

Week of the 4th - of July

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I LOVE fireworks. All my brothers and their kids come to visit, and it is fun to have the family all together. We do a lot of fun activities while everyone is in town!
To start the week off, we went to Water World. The kids had a BLAST as did the adults. My brothers, Matt and I decided our favorite slide was the timed racer slide where all 6 of you can go at once and it times you to see who is the fastest. Well, Matt won EVERY SINGLE TIME. We all decided that if we every win the lottery we are installing that slide in our backyard. It is so fun. The toilet bowl slide (The completely enclosed pitch black one) was pretty scary, and it was hilarious to watch each of us get "dropped" into blackness, and then spun around and around only to be dropped into ICE COLD water. (If you watch from the bottom you can see everyone go through it, though while in it you can't see anything). Not a ride for the weak at heart. We got there right when it opened and stayed until close!

Another day we thought it would be fun to go to Hammond's Candy Tour. (It's okay, nothing super special, but the kids had fun so that's what counts). The kids LOVED all the candy in the candy store, and each picked out some very fun treats!


We also took a ride (in 3 cars) up to Red Rocks to show the kids some of the mountains, and the amphitheater. They had a blast running up and down the stairs (not so easy coming up)! and climbing some of the smaller (kid friendly) rocks. They wanted to see a concert there, so hopefully next year there will be a good one playing we can all go to.


On the actual 4th, we had a big get together at my parents house. It is a open house, everyone invited kind of event. We had so many people over and stopping by, it was so fun to see everyone. Scott and Meg were in town so it was fun to have them over, too! My Mom kind of goes all out for this event, so we had pretty much anything you could want. TONS of food, and drinks, and she had set up a table for the kids to make cotton candy and sno-cones. Zayne was in charge and had so much fun making them for all the kids. I am pretty sure they were all on a very high sugar rush the entire day, but they had so much fun, they were outside running around all day, playing at the park across the street and in the yard. My parents live across from 2 big parks, which is really nice for the kids, and even better, we all walked across the street at night to go watch the fireworks. Didn't have to drive anywhere, and we saw 2 different displays, perfectly!
We also walked over to the fields where they have a huge outdoor event of tents, bounce houses, kid activities, face painting, balloon animals, etc. The kids had a great time, even though it was so HOT!

Zoo Day!

I am not sure why it suddenly seems to get about 10 degree's hotter whenever we decide to embark on a family adventure OUTSIDE. We thought going to the zoo would be fun, because it was suppose to be low 80's, perfect zoo weather. But, since weather people can keep their jobs even if they are wrong, as soon as we arrived, it got to be about 92 degrees. I suddenly realized what the wicked witch of the west felt like when she said "I'm Melting.....".
We had fun anyway, the kids had a blast seeing their favorite animals, and we ended the day with a swim at Grammy and Grandpas.