Steamboat Springs

At the end of June we went to Steamboat Springs with Shayler's parents, his aunt Serenity, and Grandpa Sterling. Everyone stayed in a lodge except Shayler and I which we decided to "rough it" and camp instead. We went hiking, canoeing, and those who like to fish, fished. It was a much needed relaxed and fun weekend. 

On a hike

Canoeing

Shayler's cute parents

Me and Serenity getting ready to canoe. I had to talk her into it since she was a little afraid of the water at first, but she went and had a great time.

The view from our tent. We picked the best place to camp. No one was around us and we had the perfect spot to launch the canoe anytime we wanted.

Shayler hanging out with his Grandpa while he fished.

Shayler's dad caught a fish who was the only one who did

Smores...hands down the best thing about camping

Me and Shayler

The owners of the lodge had a cute new puppy. I spent some time playing with him. When we get a house, we'll be getting one. :)

Canoeing some more.

All of us together.

The day dropping Serenity off at the airport with Shayler's brother Jace and his wife Tara.

Terry's visit

In the beginning of June, my sister Jill and her 4 kids (and with one on the way) who now live in St. Louis, MO decided to go on a big trip and come visit all of the family in the west.  There first stop was our place.  We were way excited since I hadn't seen them in a year and Shayler hadn't seen them in over 2 years. 

The first day we drove up to Estes Park, shopped, went on a nice walk around a lake, and went to Susie's place (my Mom's best friend who lives down in Denver) to celebrate Jacob's birthday. The second day was Sunday so we went to church, hung out at our house, and celebrated Jacob's birthday again. The third day we went to Rocky Mtn National Park and drove to the top of Trail Ridge Road, then went to Shayler's parents house to have a barbeque to celebrate Shayler's dad's birthday.  It was a fun couple of days. We can't wait for October to come to go to MO and see my sister's family, and to meet there new baby who is due any day now.   

     

The walk we took around the lake.

      

Shayler pushing Sam.

     

Eating lunch....somewhere.

Jacob and Kadence

They really impress me with how well they get along with each other

Shayler keeping the kids entertained while Jill and I shopped.

Me and Sam

The sweetest thing is when a cute little guy like him comes running up to you, gives you a big hug, then proceeds to sit in your lap wanting your undivided attention. He is the sweetest 2 year old ever.

At Susie's place celebrating Jacob's birthday.

All the kids eating cake and ice-cream.

Giving Sam and Ben a bath for church. Love their cute smiles!

Sam

This is how you roll in church.

Ben laughing at Shayler.

Hanging out on Sunday.

Celebrating Jacob's birthday again with brownies and ice-cream at his request. Love the surprised look on his face.

Me and the cutest kids!

At the top of Trail Ridge Road

Along Trail Ridge Road

One of the scariest drives...

Me and Shayler.

This is one of the reasons why we wanted to live here, we love the mountains

Shayler giving Sam a swing at the park

Playing with the kids

Me and Kadence

Ben and Sam swinging, I thought this was a cute and sweet picture

Going on a walk around the lake after dinner

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was a little extra special for Shayler and me.  We gave talks in church on Mothers and both of ours where able to be there to see it.  My Mom flew in for the weekend (thanks to Susie giving my Mom flight benefits) and we are in Shayler's parents ward so it was easy for his Mom to be there.
My talk was mainly on my mother and I's story since it's different than most people's in the fact that I was adopted, and still remember calling my Mother, Mom for the first time.  Shayler's talk was a little bit about his mother and how ALL woman whether you are an aunt, teacher, sister, grandma, and etc., we are all mother's in one way or another. It was very sweet and comforting. We are both thankful for our Mother's and all they have done and continue to do for us!

Broncos Playoff Game

For the past few years I have wanted to surprise Shayler by taking him to a Bronco's game.  But with work schedules, traveling out of town and most games being on Sunday's I could never make it work in the past. Well the perfect opportunity came up for the playoffs game this year.

I had been painting a craft project and laid out some newspaper beforehand and happened to look down and saw this....

Ravens at Broncos

I thought, "no way...on a Saturday?" So I looked it up and sure enough it was the Saturday of the week. So I bought the cheapest nose bleed tickets I could get, and surprised Shayler two days before the game.




                                                                       Game Day

Shayler was so excited, and wanted to leave extra early.  We ended up being about 3 hours early and decided to go eat at the Burger King across the street from the stadium. I wanted to get this picture wearing our Broncos stuff since it was soooo cold and we had so many layers on. It was one of the coldest days of the year. 

Broncos Stadium

Before the game

Killing time since we got there so early.

 

Broncos doing there thing. Even though they lost in the very end going into overtime. :(

If you look to the right, you can see the guys breath. I accidently caught this picture.

Stadium lit up at dark, which it got even more cold...

Like this cold.

All in all we had a great time and enjoyed the game.  I defiantly would go again but not in the dead winter of February. Too cold for me. We might go again in September to watch the Broncos vs. Ravens first game of the season, which hopefully the Broncos will kick the Ravens butts!

Christmas Date

At Christmas time we went on a fun date. Shayler surprised me and took me to Maggianos for dinner which was delicious and worth every penny, and then turned in his "man card" and took me to see the Nut Cracker Ballet.  We weren't aloud to take pictures, so we tried to sneak a few but still got caught. But we managed to at least get these two even though they are kind of blurry.

One of the scenes from the ballet. 

Columbia, MO

Columbia, MO

There are things about Columbia, MO that I didn't want to forget living there the short time we did. Although we had some big trials there that we are still dealing with, we wouldn't mind living in MO again. At least in Kansas City, or St. Louis, and especially St. Louis since my sister and her family are now living there.

Labor Day weekend Shayler's parents flew out to visit us, and the next day Shayler's dad took us flying in his plane. It was fun to see what Columbia looked like from high up.

Random cute little duck family.

Katy/MLK Trail. We took this for most of our walks. It was nice and shaded. :)

Ted Drewes ice-cream in St. Louis. It is yummy!

Road kill...there is A LOT of it everywhere.

Missionaries Elder Derrit, and Woodland. We had them over many times for meals, and Shayler went trekking along with them everywhere. They were pretty goofy. They also got us doing FHE more since we weren't good about doing it before.

Working for MU/Mizzou (University of Missouri)

It was a fun job and I had an awesome boss. I worked in the Hill Hall building to the left that you can't see in this picture.

Columbia Mall sporting MU. When football season started, the entire town went crazy. Everyone you saw at the store, mall, movies & etc. would be wearing some kind of MU apparel.

Sleeping Dude outside the office I worked in. Every Tuesday and Thursday this guy would sleep for hours, sometime missing his classes. For some odd reason he was very entertaining to my boss Shawna and me.  :)

The bugs out there are HUGE...and kinda gross.

Kansas City, MO temple.  We did a session here but forgot to take pictures. I took this Thanksgiving evening before I picked Shayler up from the airport to come move me. It is a pretty temple.

A crazy MU fans bus.

The Velvet Cupcake Shop.  They had the BEST cupcakes. The kind that would leave your mouth drooling for more after devouring them. And this is coming from me, who's not a big cupcake fan to begin with. My boss and I would (waist precious work time) walk to the shop and get cupcakes about once a week, or maybe sometimes twice a week...they were delicious to say the least.

Wally World parking lot. Classic.

Always entertaining.

Hmmmm?

Pretty much sums up mid-Missouri!