In the Springs

We had a wonderful time blowing off yard projects this weekend and taking some time to visit Ashley and Jarad in Colorado Springs.

It had been way too long since seeing their little family and we had a blast catching up, chasing the kids, and soaking up nothing but 85-degree weather. Crew feel in absolute love with their three little dogs (two being puppy-sat) and was such a good playmate to their one-year-old daughter, Addison. And no accidents on two nine-hour car rides? Lets just say I was one proud mama.

We kicked off the weekend with golf for the boys and then a Colorado Springs Skysox game that evening. They underwhelmed us with their scoring through all nine innings and then pulled out an amazing win in extra innings. Which we enjoyed from the parking lot, having lost all faith in them at that point. Isn't that how it always goes? :)

Crew was thrilled with his ice cream and continued to use that cap/bowl for any snack for the remainder of the trip.

Our Group: Crew, Maura, Jarad, Ashley, Addison, Lori and Reese

Sunday consisted of a giant waffle breakfast, afternoon church and a delicious outdoor dinner. Ashley and I pampered ourselves Monday morning with pedicures. After naps for all we were off to the Heritage Days street fair, dinner at Rudy's BBQ, finishing up the evening with old school arcade games in Manitou Springs.

With the Indian artifacts in the "Peter Pan" Teepee

The Lansford spread. Mmmmm, good!

Enjoying our Josh and John's ice cream. We loved the strawberry and dutch chocolate!

So...Colorado!

We had such a fun time and are thankful to the Reddekopps for such a fun weekend! After a long drive, it was nice to see home in sight!

Festivities

Regardless of the fact that the 4th of July was a million years ago, I couldn't pass up a quick post on the weekend. We were lucky enough to have Cole's family in town from Texas and the Depews up from Arizona.

In true Lansford fashion, we made our way up to Park City to enjoy the Alpine slide and coasters. The lines were long and the weather was toasty, but we managed to keep ourselves entertained. :)


After a fun day in Park City, we headed up to Odgen for BBQ with the Richins and fireworks with the Bukeys.

In between Crew decided it was time to cool off. My mom spent the better part of an hour helping him climb in and out of this bucket of water. Wish I had this on video but the pics are pretty cute too.

I guess the fireworks were a little bright for my boys...

Laborious Labor Day :)

The home of our dreams has left much to be desired in the way of a back yard but we have dreams and visions of it becoming a place where we love to host parties, watch Crew play and just hang out. Unfortunately, hosting much of anything has proved to be difficult since the home never had so much as a slab of concrete to house the beloved grill.

We were able to make the space work for Crew's blessing party, thanks to a tent rental, but I hardly doubt my husband will let me rent a tent every time we want company over.

So when we saw that a neighbor was extending his driveway, my excavating-skilled brother would be in town for a few weeks and we had a long weekend to dig... it lit the fire under our butts for getting started on a patio.

So here is a little "before" action for ya. We spent Saturday marking out what we wanted, moving all those rocks from underneath the stairs and rototilling a beatiful 13x13 section of our lawn.

Don't be fooled, people, the ground above looks all soft and ready for digging but you are wrong. Beneath the first 2 inches of dirt lay a hot mess of white clay. As an Oklahoma gal, I am used to working with this hard and stubborn stuff but what a surprise to find it here in Utah!

We opted to run a slow sprinkler over the ground on Sunday evening so that the ground would be ready for us first thing Monday morning.

And then we dug,


and dug,


and, seriously, dug some more.

By the end of Monday, we had a beautiful 8-inch deep hole in our back yard. Next we have to get the framing up and fill the first few inches with gravel. But first, we need a few days to regain feeling in our backs and shoulders. :)

My neighbors always question what we do with Crew while we are working. Have they met my kid? He took two amazing naps and chilled in his pack and play under a tree while he was awake. Love him!

Marriage Is What Brings Us Together Today

Gotta reference a classic where you can, right?
Saturday of our jam-packed Memorial Day weekend included my sister Anne's wedding. The happy couple was married and celebrated their special day at Tuscany Gardens in Roy, Utah. Despite my best efforts to fulfill my bridesmatronly duties and document with photography, the photos in this post have been shanghaied from Michelle Raye's blog, my sister's uber talented photographer. (Her photos are clearly watermarked)
We were lucky enough to have almost everyone there (we missed you Briggs!) and were super excited that our aunt and cute cousins were able to make it down from Montana.
I know I am biased, but isn't my cousin Carson the cutest ever? The couple had an outdoor wedding surrounded by family and friends. As the bishop of my parent's ward was conducting the ceremony I couldn't help but think back to the day that Cole and I were married. So excited, a little nervous and unable to snag a bite of that delicious food we had spent so much time planning.

Like Anne and Lucas' ceremony, we too were told that the most successful marriages were those that included not two but three individuals.

That Christ, at the center of any marriage, is a the rock that will help you pull you through tough times, savor the beautiful ones and overlook those *dang* dress socks your husband never quite manages to get into the dirty clothes bin. OK, so maybe I added that last one on my own. :)

Seriously, though.

We love you guys and are super excited for your new journey together!

Celebrating Halloween in Style

Cole's office decided to throw a Halloween party for employee's kids this afternoon and were, of course, encouraged to dress up in costumes. After bouncing around every possible idea, including dressing up like the gang from Jon and Kate plus 8, his team settled on a "Christmas" theme.

Enjoy the photos below of his clan in their ugly grandma sweaters, amid holiday decorations, ready to pass out their candy canes.

Their boss, Teddi, was out of the office today, so they dressed up the little bear to "represent"...