Sunday, July 19, 2009

Happy 40th Anniversary Steve and Adele

Today my in-laws celeebrated their 40th Anniversary. Actually I should say that they initially started off celebrating their 40th Anniversary about 2 weeks ago when they took a cruise to Alaska. We (Adam, Logan, myself and Michaela) celebrated their Anniversary with them yesterday evening. We had everyone over to our house last night for dinner. I had "planned" on making a 4 layer cake. Each layer was going to be a different color; representing each decade that they have been married. I started making the cake Saturday morning. Well needless to say, "I'm definitely NOT a cake decorator." It was actually quite shocking how wrong I got this because I actually tend to put desserts together quite well. However, this picture describes it all.



I think it was a little too heavy and fell over and apart. Adam had to get a picture of it. Not to worry though, we saved the cake to show them. I did make them another cake that turned out great. I sent them home with this colorful cake and an extra container of frosting. The cake was quite good, it's was just not so great to look at.
After dinner we gave them the gift we had been working on. We created a slideshow of the past 40 years. They loved it. We hope their 40th Anniversary was spectaclar. Happy Anniversary. We love you guys.

Here they are 40 years ago

And here they are today....looking fabulous


It only took like 10 shots to get this photo to come out right.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Colorado Vacation

We just arrived home yesterday from our family vacation in Colorado. We drove 2800 miles and had a wonderful time. Although the driving began to be a bit much towards the end, it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be.
We started out our trip on Friday and headed to Kerrville, Texas. It's about 3 1/2 hours from Corpus Christi. We didn't get to leave until later that day because Adam had to finish up a few last things at work, but we wanted to knock some miles out of the way. Kerrville is a lovely little town. It was our first night in the hotel and I got the chance to see what Logan was going to be like sleeping....her foot was going to be permanently stuck in my ribs every night. YEAH for me.

Saturday morning we got up and started our drive. Our plan was to head to Carlsbad, New Mexico and stay the night there. The day was mostly uneventful besides some of the dirty towns we drove through and the fact that I through my car keys away in this disgusting trash can on accident and had to go get them. No it wasn't a dumpster, but it was still disgusting. Once we got to Carlsbad we realized that we could go much further and decided to head to Albuquerque. Thank you to our friend Brian for getting online for us and finding us a GREAT hotel to stay at. The entire drive that day was terribly boring, but we survived it.

Sunday morning we were back on the road for our first Colorado destination; Durango. It was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was perfect; warm but no humidity. We were told it was the hottest day of the year and of course we thought it felt amazing. We went to visit our friends, The Dupont's. On Sunday they took us downtown to check out the stores. It was so green and so beautiful. Here is Logan and the Dupont kiddos playing on these horses by the train station.



That evening we had a fabulous dinner at there house and sat on their back deck. I wish I would have gotten pictures of it. The view was pretty awesome.

Monday morning Adam, Logan and I headed out to do a few things on our own. We drove around the town a bit and went up to the College they have in Durango, Ft. Lewis College. The campus is awesome. It's on top of this mountain and it overlooks the city. Incredible. Here is a few pictures of us by the University.




After checking out the college, we went back downtown and walked around a bit more. The day was a bit cooler and Logan seemed to be enjoying her nap in the stroller.

That evening they took us on a drive to this restaurant by a lake. We had dinner on the deck and after dinner we drove around the entire lake. It was a pretty awesome view. Here are a few pics from the lake.



We had a great time with the Dupont's. Thank you guys.

Tuesday morning we headed off to our second destination, Castle Rock Colorado. It's a small town outside of Denver. My brother and his family lives there and my Dad was flying in from South Carolina to hang out with us.
Adam and I decided to take the "scenic" drive from Durango to Castle Rock. We went through San Juan National Forest. I can't count how many times we said, "Beautiful, Awesome, Unbelievable." The views were absolutely breath taking. Although the drive took us a few hours longer than the original drive was to take, we couldn't pass up on the experience of seeing these views. Adam did majority of the driving through the mountains. There were a few parts where it was a bit scary...huge drops to the side of us. Here are a few pics from our drive.


Yes, that is a cyclist in front of us...we were going pretty slow for us, but if I were on a bike it would have been too fast for me. Pretty impressive


I was so happy to arrive in Castle Rock to see my family. I knew my brother had something big in store for greeting us at his house. The last time we saw them was for our wedding and when Adam came over to the house they were staying at, my brother walks out in a speedo and gives Adam a hug..."welcome to the family." I of course am quite use to this display from my brother and take huge enjoyment in it. He cracks me up. Well here is the outfit that he greeted Adam in this time.


After the hilarious greeting we had dinner with my brother, my sister-in-law, dad and nephews. Logan and my nephew Ev had a BLAST together. They were all over the place playing with toys. It was so great to see them get a long so well. And it was so wonderful to get to be with my family.
Wednesday my Dad treated us all to a trip to the Denver Zoo. Although we only made it a few hours it was a lot of fun. Again, Ev and Logan had a lot of fun together. Logan loves Monkeys and she kept making monkey noises. It was very cute. The most "interesting" part at the zoo was when we went to see the Gorillas. There was this lady nestled on one of the ledges next to the gorilla...of course the glass was keeping the two from touching each other, but these two were having some sort of conversation together...if the glass weren't there I don't know what would have happened. It was very interesting to see the Gorilla interact with her like this. Here is a picture of what that looked like.

Here is a picture that we took of the cousins together at the zoo.

Aren't they adorable.

After the zoo we had lunch and then Adam, Logan and I went shopping at the outlet mall. Later that evening my Dad treated us again to a FABULOUS dinner at Pappadeauxs. It was so good. We took a bunch of family pictures while we were there. Here are a couple those pictures.





Thursday morning we said goodbye to my family and started our journey back to Corpus Christi. We spent the night in Amarillo and go a chance to meet up with our friends, Andrew and Adrienne Chaddick. We were so happy to see them before they get ready to have their first little baby in a few weeks. Logan had one of best meals while we had dinner with them. I didn't want her to scare them too badly. :) She also tried breaking in all the baby's new toys. We didn't get a picture with them, which we were upset about, but we wish them the best of luck in this new chapter of their lives. They are going to be awesome parents and we can't wait to meet their new little one.

Friday morning was back on the road. We left Amarillo at 8am and got back to Corpus at 7:30pm. After driving 2800 miles, listening to 2 different Dora DVD's, 1 Yo Gabba Gabba DVD and CD and many diaper changes in the car because many restaurants don't have changing tables, we were glad to be home. The trip was definitely an adventure and it was full of fun. We had a blast, but it was definitely time to sleep in our own bed...however poor Logan thought she was still going to get to sleep with Mommy.
Here is one final picture of what Logan looked like in the back seat as we pulled in to Corpus Christi. I think a week of vacation wore her out.