Vacation time!

Warning......Lots of pictures ahead :) This year our vacation took us on a 12 hour drive to Vail, Colorado! We love Colorado, we would move there in a heartbeat! What made this trip even greater was the fact that our family from Wisconsin and Iowa met us out here! How we choose Vail was due to my cousin. She is dating a profession triathlete (crazy and absurd!) and we really wanted to meet him. We couldn't think of a better way to do so than to go to one of his competitions :)

 We all stayed at a fun, super family friendly resort with our condos close to each other. Goodness how it made us sad to not live close to each other. We got spoiled just walking over and walking in each others homes.

 I love mountain vacations because they are so outdoors. We spent time hiking, biking, having beautiful picnics and just being lazy having fun together.

 How exciting to watch Brandon compete! He finished 2nd place!!

Out order but, we took 2 days to get to Colorado. Lo and behold a Dairy Queen was just up the street! How perfect! And delicious! :)

 My aunt threw a birthday party for Aubrie :)

 The day after the triathlon, there were a couple trail runs. Here is our family represented with the 5k and 8k :)

 And there was even a fun run for Brody! Mike carried him most of the way, but gosh! I was so proud of my boys :)

 Brody got a medal for his accomplishment ;) Poor guy missed the ceremony due to needing to go potty ;)

 In the middle of our condos there was a beautiful barbecue area. Family meals, just the greatest!

I'm thinking this is the first of many annual family vacations! We had a great, great, great time!!!!



Happy Birthday Aubrie Marie!

Miss Aubrie Marie is officially 1! Can you believe it, because we can't! Way back when I got pregnant with her and realized her due date was right smack in the middle of summer, I began planning her Hawaiian Luau :) Mike of course thought I was nuts, but how perfect, right?

 These parties are really all for us as Aubrie had her one friend best friend there, Adele. Adele's mom and I were pregnant together with these two sweethearts and our families are great friends. Adele is one week older then Aubrie, they are so sweet together :)

 Our friend who watches the kiddos when I work has son, Jake, who is 6ish years old. He adores Aubrie :) So much so this was his gift to the birthday girl; a balloon that says "Happy Birthday Pretty, Pretty Princess" tied to a rose. Melt. My. Heart :)

 

 Keep the heart melting coming! This is Graham (Adele's brother). He walked right up to Aub's and started serenading her with "Happy Birthday"!!! The whole song! What a great treat :)

 We served chicken, shrimp and steak kabobs with Hawaiian rice, rolls and fruit. A very tasty festive lunch. Of course followed with birthday cake.

Another incredible cake by my friend. It's a pineapple with these beautiful flowers and sand surrounding it! If you look closely to the right and see the red string, its a Leigh! :) 

 This is Jake :) Can you tell he likes her ;) Aubs loved her cake (Did we have any doubts? No not one!)! I'm pretty sure we were picking cake out of her ears later than night ;)

Happy Birthday Aubrie! We feel so blessed to have gotten a whole year with you! You are such a sweet, sassy, princess diva, and gosh do we love you!