Colorado Springs–The Zoo

We flew into Denver last night and drove down to Colorado Springs to visit the Johnsons!! We are so excited to be here and see their new house and explore Colorado Springs. First item on the agenda – the zoo!

This zoo was awesome. It’s clean and beautiful and has great animal exhibits. It’s built on the side of Cheyenne Mountain, so you kind of make your way up as you wind through the zoo. The giraffe habitat was our favorite part. You could really get up close and personal with the giraffes! 

  

 

     

The zoo had some great views of Colorado Springs!

Taking a little break to play at the playground.

   

  

 

We ended our zoo day with a trip on the Sky Ride!

And then after the zoo, we made a little stop at a nearby waterfall – Helen Hunt Falls.

 

When we got home, we had a BBQ for dinner and Chris and Lisa introduced us to Garlic Toast Burgers. Just use Garlic Toast for a bun . . . . greasy, but delicious! The kids played outside and jumped on the trampoline while we played a little Dominion, and then we watched a movie downstairs in their basement. A pretty great first day in Colorado Springs!

Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival 2014

This was such a fun date night! 5 couples: us, Fullmers, Dyers, Wildes and Morris’s. This stage is just right at Sand Harbor, so we had a BBQ picnic for dinner on the beach before the show. The show was William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “As You Like It.” It was very well done and entertaining. The night was just gorgeous and the setting is so amazing! Such a great night. Can’t wait til next year!!

Utah Trip Part 2–at the Brinton’s

Sunday night, after our fun filled 4th of July weekend at Scott and Elisha’s house, we moved over to the Brinton’s house. Dan flew home early Monday morning to work, which left me and the kids in Utah to party with my mom and sisters for the week. My mom was there to take Michael to EFY, Steph had been with Brigham’s family for the 4th so she just stayed with her kids too, and Kristen and Ash came along to make it a fun girls week! We kicked the week off Monday morning by all of us escorting Michael to EFY . . . . he’s such a good sport to put up with his 4 older sisters:) We wanted to go to BYU campus anyway, so after dropping him off (he’ll have such a great week!) we headed over to the BYU Bookstore and then ate lunch at the Cougareat. (All pictures in this post from my iPhone.)

Monday night we went with all the Brintons to Brick Oven. The highlight of the night was when the balloon man came into our room and made anything the kids requested!

Of course we had a Seven Peaks day!! Lisa and kids (who were also in Utah that week) and Elisha and kids also met us there. It was fun spending the day with both sides of our family!

Monica was the perfect hostess all week! She even did a fun poolside breakfast one morning of German pancakes. Seriously, she’s the best. We were saying her house was the perfect summer resort!

A little nighttime swimming in their pool.

Shopping at the Riverwoods one day! This is at Blickenstaff’s, a cute little toy store there.

Kate was loving these cute and cuddly teddy bears! Trying to hug as many as she could at once.

Thursday, our last night, we hit up the Provo Food Truck Roundup. This is such a trendy thing right now, of course we had to try it! We got there right when it started to avoid the crowds, which was definitely a good idea with all our kids.

 

Donuts from the popular Art City Donuts:

Annie’s favorite food truck: Waffle Love

We had such a fun four days with my fam in Utah! Dan had the day off work on Friday, so he flew to SLC Friday morning, the kids and I picked him up at the airport in our packed up car, and we drove straight home to Reno. Isn’t that so sweet of him to fly there just to drive us home? He’s the best.

4th of July in Utah

We drove to Scott and Elisha’s new house in Orem on Thursday, July 3rd, just right after work. They had literally moved in like a week before, so they were so nice to host us amidst the moving chaos! The only stipulation was that we had to pull down any old wallpaper in the house any chance we got. haha. It was fun to see their new place and to hear about all the fun projects they have planned for it. Mike drove up from Phoenix for the weekend as well, so it was fun all hanging out together! Friday was the 4th of July and we headed out early to watch the Freedom Festival Parade in Provo. Hometown 4th of July parades seems to be the thing to do on the 4th, and yet, we have never been to one! It was fun watching all the little homemade floats go by. After the parade we went to Five Guys for lunch.

     

 

While we were eating lunch, the Brinton’s texted me asking if we’d like free tickets to Stadium of Fire. Uhhhhh . . . . . yeah! I had even said to Dan earlier in the day that I wish we were going to Stadium of Fire that night. And Carrie Underwood was performing! So exciting! Thank you, Brinton’s!

The show was pretty entertaining. The kids especially loved these trampoline guys dressed in super hero costumes doing crazy tricks. Kate’s favorite part was listening to Carrie Underwood perform. She would clap after each song. So cute. Carrie Underwood was my favorite part of the show too:)

And then came the fireworks! It was actually a really impressive firework show.

Saturday was a relaxing day just hanging out with Scott and Elisha’s family (Mike had gone to hike Timp that day). Scott took us down to the Riverwoods to show us where his new office was. He pulled this bad boy out of his work’s garage and we took it for a little spin. It was so fun. The kids loved cruisin around in it.

Then we rigged up this tree swing and the kids had a blast taking turns on it.   

Sunday we went to Scott and Elisha’s new Orem ward, and just relaxed at their house for the day. The kids played and had fun being with their cousins. Cousins are the best!