Estes Park

Auntie was flying out of Denver very late, but we still wanted to do some exploring, so we decided to hit up Estes Park, which is about an hour from Denver. We thought it would be the perfect place to explore before having to go to the airport. 

I am so glad we decided to head to Estes Park because... WOW!!! it's so beautiful there. Added bonus, the elk roam around freely around the city, which is pretty awesome to see. 

On our way out of the city, we saw a bunch of elk on the side on the road. Naturally, I had to have Courtney slow down so I could take pictures of them. Pretty awesome to see these huge animals up close like that.

My favorite picture of the elks

Estes Park is beyond beautiful and I can't wait to go back!! 

Curt Cowdy State Park

AUNTIE IS HERE!!!!

Oh my gosh!! I didn't realize how badly I missed my sister!! And now I miss her even more, now that she is gone! 

But it's not just me that misses her, the kids miss her and were so excited to have Auntie come visit. So excited, that we ended up putting both the girls beds in McKaila's room and another mattress in there for Auntie. They thought it was so cool to have a sleep over with Auntie every night she was here!

We started her first day in WY with some adventures to Curt Cowdy State Park. We had never been, but had been talking about wanting to go hiking there, so no better time, then while Auntie it in town. It was perfect weather. Not too hot and not too cold, just perfect. 

Before we started off our hiking adventures, we stopped at the visitors center and let the kids run around and play. 

Let the hiking begin. We decided to go on the hidden falls trail. It's close to a 4 mile hike and the kids did great. We had to make a few quick breaks a long the way, especially on the way up to the falls, but overall the kids did awesome! 

Once we got to the falls, McKenna and Logan went straight to the water. The water was extremely cold, but they didn't care. Where there is water, they will play. 

The falls are actually behind us, which you can't really see in the pictures. There is a water fall there, but not a very large one and it's kind of tucked away into the rocks, so it was hard to get pictures of it. But it was still very beautiful, especially with the surroundings. 

The kids think it's pretty awesome that we get to hike up the mountains, so now that the weather is more like spring weather, I know we are going to be spending our weekends on the hiking trails!

Snowing in April

Saturday morning, we woke up to snow on the ground and it was still continuing to fall from the sky. Not the biggest fan of the snow in April, when it is suppose to be spring, but I got to say, the snow was looking very pretty that morning. 

 As soon as the kids woke up, especially McKenna, they were begging to go play out in the snow. So, we got ready for the day and before running some errands, we let the kids run around in the snow. 

Yes, it was snowing, but it was still 40 degrees, so it was actually nice to have the kids play around in the snow without having to bundle them up. Each one of the kids, truly enjoyed making snow balls and throwing them at Courtney and I. And even though there wasn't much snow, Courtney and the kids tried making a snowman. 

And believe it or not, by the time we got home from running errands (a couple hours) the snow had all melted away. That's including our snowman. 

The snow isn't too bad when you can enjoy it in the morning and by the afternoon it's like it never snowed at all! 

Shining Star Awards

McKaila is truly a shining star and she even shows that at school. She loves school and puts everything into it and I really hope that it continues throughout the years to come. 

Freedom Elementary has the shining star awards every quarter. They like to award the students for all their hard work in the classroom. 

McKaila was so excited to find out what awards she was going to receive. She really wanted to get an award for P.E., which she didn't, but she did receive an award for being a mighty mathematician and being an art shining star. 

We are so proud of McKaila and all the hard work she puts forth every day!

Toughest Monster Truck Tour

As a surprise for the kids, we took the kids to see some monster trucks. 

They literally had no idea what was going on that day, until we walked into the auditorium. I wish I had the camera ready to capture the moment they saw the monster trucks for the first time, but oh well. Their eyes lit up so big and huge smiles came across their faces, it truly made my heart smile. 

Courtney got pit passes for all of us, so before the event started, we got to walk around and get up close to the monster trucks. We could have gone up to meet the drivers too, but I don't think we were really in the mood to stand in a long line to get an autograph. But, we did enjoy walking around and seeing these huge trucks up close. 

Logan loves monster trucks and for him to see them in person, he was amazed. The smile on our little boys face was priceless!

One of my favorite things about the show was when the guys in motocross got to ride around and do some tricks. It's crazy what they can do on bikes.

We didn't truly know what to expect going to our first monster truck show, but I think I can speak for all of us, that we had an awesome time. I am pretty sure that we will be going to many more monster truck shows in our future!

It was loud and lots of fun, just what we like!