Quote of the Day

"Those were deer…but not pretty ones."

Cray Hill

Colorado Vacation.....Day 7 & 8

Thursday morning we finished up our one night camping trip. I think the best part was that morning we had smores for breakfast and the kids where over the moon excited about having sweets for breakfast. lol. I'm sure they are still asking if they can have smores for breakfast, poor Desha.

That afternoon Stephen, Cray and I went on a hike down the Black Cannon. First off this is now my number one favorite hike. It was so beautiful. First as you are walking down you see nothing but rocks, dirt, and sage. Then you start to hear some running water and before you know it a beautiful waterfall is running next to the path you are walking on. It was amazing!! The hike down was easy but back up not so much since we of course had to walk up out of the cannon. So worth it though.

On the last day the boys went on one last bike ride and Desha and I went on a hike close to town. Unfortunately the camera died at the end of our large hike down the black cannon. Someone left the charger at home. Not sure whose responsibility it was to grab it but oh well the camera stayed faithful and lasted almost the whole week.

So that concludes our amazing trip to Colorado. Can't wait to visit again!!

Colorado Vacation....Day 6

Thursday was rafting day. I'll tell you the truth I was scared about rafting. I was so worried that I'd fall out of the raft and get washed down the river. My brother was so excited and every time he'd bring it up he'd look at me and say "Amber you look more worried then anything". LOL.

So we got a great deal on a raft from the college, and an extra bonus Stephen has a friend that is a tour guide for a local rafting place and he came along with us for free. I think I can say at this point that my brother knows everyone in Gunnison and so we got some great deals. Rafting was a BLAST!! First off I didn't fall out...YAY...and second it was just fun. We didn't take the camera on the trip but took some photos before we went on our way.

After our trip down the river we made a last minute decision to go camping with Matt and Christina. So glad that we made that choice. We traveled back up into the Crested Butte mountains and found a great camping space by the river.

We had an amazing time eating and talking by the camp fire. Of course by morning my back was killing me but hey I camped in Colorado :)

Colorado Vacation....Day 5

On Wednesday we all hopped in my brothers truck and headed up to Crested Butte. It is at a higher elevation then Gunnison and they still have a lot of snow. We were hoping to go sledding but my brother forgot the sleds. No big deal we still played in the snow and had a great time. I was amazed at how much snow they still had. Here in Charlotte the snow stays for maybe a day if that. So here we are in June and I was standing on snow that was almost as tall as Cray. CRAZY!!

So our goal was to make it to the top of the mountain in the truck and then do a little hike to this lake that is on top but the snow stopped us from getting to the lake that way. Thankfully there is always more then one way to get somewhere. The lake was so beautiful and peaceful. I could have spent hours up there just taking it all in.

After the hike we went to Peta Paradise. They have amazing peta sandwiches. I had the hummus peta. So very yum-o!

That concludes day 5.

Colorado Vacation....Day 3 & 4

Monday morning the guys got up at 5 and went out to the Blue Mesa to fish. I was going to go with them but decided spending 8 hours on a boat with 5 boys didn't sound like so much fun. So Desha, the kids, and I went to the park and walked around town.

Here is one of Cray's catches.

That night we went to a cookout with their small group. Of course we all had to try the fish, it was very yummy.

Tuesday was another easy day for me. We went on a little bike ride with the children and played by the river. After lunch at the Blue Iguana, a great Mexican restaurant, the boys went for another bike ride in the mountains. At this point I'm guessing Cray thought Stephen was trying to kill him.

That concludes day 3 & 4. Some very relaxing days but don't worry some really fun trips are about to come up!

Colorado Vacation....Day 2

So the next day was Sunday. My brother is the music/youth minister at this great local church. If I didn't think the people would have looked at me funny I would have taken some pictures of where they worship. They don't have a building so they meet in this really cute coffee shop.

Their congregation is around 30 or so people. It's great...I'm so accustom to a very large worship service with a large praise team and all. It was nice to go to something very simple for a change.

After church we went back to my families house and had lunch with some of their friends from small group. It was cool to meet the people my brother hangs out with all the time. I love it that he is close to his friends in small group. I feel so blessed to have such great friends in my small group here at home and it makes my heart happy that my brother and his wife have that as well.

After a great lunch prepared by Desha (my sister in-law) Steve, Cray and I went mountain biking. Now I'm not great on a bike. 99% of the time I'm going to get hurt if I ride a bike. I wanted to give it a try though and check off mountain biking from my list for our week of vacationing.

Colorado Trip...Day 1

Last week Cray and I took our first big vacation together as a married couple. We decided to take a trip to Colorado. One my brother and his family live out there and two Cray had never been to the west side of the country (or on a plane).

I figured it all out and it would save us around 800 bucks if we flew into Colorado Springs and rented a car and drove the 3 1/2 hour drive to Gunnison. So that was the plan. We would spend 9 days with my family and do the extreme vacation. That included fishing, lots of hiking, mountain biking, rafting, camping, and eating some great local food.

The first day of course was flying out. Which was great! I love to fly and it was really fun watching Crays expressions and hear what he had to say about the airports and the flying. He loved the take off. It reminded him of drag racing.

Here is us waiting in Charlotte to board the plane.

Here is the view from the air.

Cray looking out the window.

Us reading while waiting for our next flight from Texas to Colorado.

The view in Colorado Springs.

This is part of Monarch Pass. I've been told that in the winter this is a crazy drive and you would be best just staying put. We did see a little bit of snow here.

That basically completes day 1. A whole lot of traveling but it was still really fun.