Family Vacation: Vail Colorado Part 1

My dear friend Courtney decided to get married on a mountaintop and I couldn't miss her wedding. What better excuse than to just turn it into a vacation?

On the way there we started our trip in the early evening, drove 9 hours, and arrived in the early morning. It was pretty tough keeping our eyes open, but we filled our bodies with lots of caffeine while our dear babies slept. (This was actually my preferred method of travel, after we experienced traveling with the boys on the way home during the day)

I bought these really cool snack cups that let your child eat snacks, but aren't supposed to spill anywhere. They were absolutely enthralled with them and were entertained for awhile. I was beginning to think that I was a mommy genius, until Eli figured out how to take the top off and spilled HUNDREDS of cheerios all over the vehicle. Way to go, son, you win the baby genius prize.

Now let's talk about Colorado. Oh my goodness, it was beautiful, and the weather was perfect, and I never ever wanted to leave. 

Yep, I'll just build my cabin right over there please!

We met my parents there and we all had a wonderful time. I'm so thankful we went with my parents because they helped with the boys and Brian and I actually got to do some activities without babies. It was like a dream.

We did a lot of hiking. The boys were thrilled to get so much time to spend outdoors. Every morning as soon as they woke up they asked to doh doh (which is the equivalent of go). They loved hiking and really enjoyed the hiking backpacks we had for them. I really surprised myself on this trip and was able to actually carry them all over the place. I was sure that after 5 mins. I would be toast. Hooray, for determination.

Love my little family!

Vail is such a cute little town with cute big buildings :)

On our first day out, we took a ride up the mountain on the gondola, ate a delicious lunch while staring at mountains, and hiked along a trail. 

Vail from the Gondola 

Gondola riding with Mimi and Papa

Um, yeah, this makes my heart melt.

The view at the top. Let's all take a moment and soak it in.

Ready to hike!

Hiking selfie with a baby on my back...talented!

So glad I married an outdoorsman.

How did I get this blessed? 3 boys, hiking, mountains!

Me and my beautiful Momma, oh and Eli too ;)

Snacking on the trail

I miss this so much!

We went hiking the next day too! Surprise, Surprise. It was just as fun minus the fact that I got a sunburn on my scalp, but it was oh, so worth it!

Hand-Painted Sign DIY

I looked through a bunch of different pins on Pinterest and kinda combined them all together to make my very own sign. I'm so excited, because it was easy as pie.

Step 1: Find or cut a piece of wood to the size you want for your sign

Step 2: Pick out a cool font and the size of letters you want and print them out.

Step 3: Place the words where you want them on your sign and trace the outline with a ballpoint pen.

I used a ruler to make sure I kept the words straight. Would hate to have them all lop-sided. When you are tracing the outline of the words make sure you are pressing hard enough. It will make little ridges in the wood that you can follow along when you paint. 

Step 4: Fill in your traced outlines with paint. 

Step 5: Lightly sand the words to give your sign a more worn feeling and then stain the sign (this is really an optional step, you get to decide). When you stain your sign don't be afraid to put the stain over your painted words just make sure you quickly wipe it off. 

Can you believe that was only a 5 step process? See, I told you it was easy as pie. 

I currently have this in my bedroom until I can find a better place to display it. But, until then it is a really great sign to wake up to. Because, Lord knows, I need grace. You need grace. We all need grace. 

Making signs is addicting and I have hundreds more that I want to make. If only I had hundreds of places on my walls to hang signs. 

So, get to crafting. You won't regret it. 

Room Swap

We decided it was time to give up our bedroom to the boys. They needed more space to play, and wrestle, and have long conversations with each other.

So we switched.

We are now in their old room and they are in ours. Our room is smaller, but surprisingly I love it so much more than our other room. We repainted their room because it was baby blue, had a giant brown tree on the wall, and didn't match our comforter. :) (We used the paint color Latte from Sherwin Willams). Also on a side note, never paint a brown tree on a wall. It was such a pain to cover. We left our old room/their new room the same color because it was blue and just worked perfectly. I also wasn't about to paint two whole rooms in two days. No thank you!

Piles of all the boys' belongings in the living room. 

I had no idea how much stuff they had!

I promised the husband that we could have a cabiny room if he let me decorate the rest of the house however I choose. I actually really like our cabin room. We already had the furniture, bedspread, and everything else when we moved over to our new room. The only thing new I bought was curtains. I love them. They are from World Market (just the best store on the planet).

Since we moved into a smaller room. It feels so much more cozy. It's almost like we are actually sleeping in a cute little cabin :)

The best part about our new room is the closet. It isn't huge, but the way that it is configured we have so much more space. It's no longer claustrophobic. Also, my super handy husband was able to make custom shelves for it. He truly is amazing!

He used pine, so it smells like a forest every time I open the closet :)

The other side.

One full closet.

I made this necklace holder awhile ago and I finally had a place to hang it up. So happy about that.

The boys' new room pretty much just stayed the same, except they have a lot more space to spread toys all over the floor. I did however convince Brian to make book shelves from a picture I saw on Pinterest.

He built them and I stained them. I'm so happy with how they turned out. I'm so blessed to have a husband that is so willing to make any project I send his way. Yep, I'm pretty spoiled. :)

Shelves with books. Looks like we already have an avid reader. 

Or maybe, he is just trying to figure out how he can climb up the wall?

How to Catch a Llama

Meet Mike, our beloved Llama...

or should I say our beloved, wild llama?

His wool is very long and he is way overdue for a haircut (shearing). The summer is hot and we needed to help a llama out. In order to shear him though, we had to catch him first. Now, Mike is a super nice llama. He has never spit at us or been mean to us, but he definitely likes his space. He doesn't want us to get too close. He doesn't want us to pet him. He definitely doesn't want us to catch him. 

I've never had to catch a llama before. Well, let me tell you, it was the most exhilarating and terrifying experience. After a long time of offering him buckets of food and trying to get him to follow us into the catch pen, he did. That's when it got tricky. It was just Mike and Brian and I all hanging out in a little pen. He was walking back and forth trying to find a way of escape, and I was just staring at his ginormous claws, praying that we would make it out alive. 

Brian started to pet him, until he could get him in the corner of the fence and held him down while I slipped the halter and lead over his head. Phew! We did it, and without even a scratch. It took a whole lot of patience. 

After we caught him, he followed us around like a puppy dog, so we took him for a little walk outside the animal pen. 

He even let us touch him.

The closest I have ever been to this guy.

We even let him eat out of the feed bin in the garage...spoiled!

Then came time for shearing...

Look at that huge pile of wool! Look how tiny Mike looks now. 

I can't believe I ever thought he was intimidating. 

4th of July Fun

We had plans to go to a big 4th party, but the boys got sick a couple days before, and I didn't want them passing on any sick germs to the other kids. Instead we had a nice relaxing evening in Marion, Kansas with Brian's mom (aka Oma- German for Grandma). We decided to take the boys out for a little ride on the side by sides.

All ready to go!

Don't they look so big sitting up in their seats? They are growing up on me.

Oma and Eli on the loose!

I took pictures as we were cruising around:

Just us and the open road

We stumbled across picker's paradise. 

There were piles of antiques all over the place. 

This isn't even half of it all.

Me and my boy. He loved the ride. 

He loved it so much, he had his cute little feet crossed. :)

Down on the Farm

Since we just recently had a baby goat join the family, I wanted the boys to get to hold him. I decided it would be a good time to take them into the animal pen for the first time to meet all the animals. They have seen the animals and love them, but have only gotten to look at them through the fence.
I got out our little wagon and in we went. :)

The boys were beyond thrilled, so were the animals.

We took the baby goat for a ride in the wagon.

They were all about reaching over and petting all the big goats.

Bella, the pony, was in love with the boys. She followed them everywhere.

She was even giving out kisses.

Seeing the boys interact with the animals was the most adorable thing EVER!

On a side note... I planted some flowers a few weeks ago and they are just too pretty not to share. :)

If you live in the country, you have to plant something in cowboy boots.