Vacation equals one long post.

I don't think that husbands, and I know children, don't understand what a huge production vacations are for mothers. It takes me days of planning to be ready to go: the loads of laundry to do to pack, the putting away the left over laundry, the socks, the shoes, the church clothes, don't forget toothbrushes, diapers, wipes, diaper cream just in case. Hair brushes, hair bands, don't forget Claire's glasses, mittens and scarves, too cold not to bring those, tights, ugh I can't find those, socks, didn't I already pack those? Must have underwear...I guess (although I always have to remind the girls to change theirs, maybe we can do without. No that's wrong.) Pajamas, pajamas! Can't they sleep in their clothes?

Must pack my stuff, shoot my boots take up so much room, can I put away some of the kids clothes to fit mine? Don't forget contacts, glasses, contact solution, the 100 other things I require to look semi-decent for the day. Thomas' shaving cream, cologne, razor, I guess he needs deodorant too...what else?. I will let Thomas pack his clothes, will he remember to pack everything this time or will we have to figure out how to wash his one packed pair of underoo's everyday like we did a few years back?

Don't forget to find someone to watch the dog, make sure you have enough food for dog. Snacks for the road, DVDs for the road, reading material for the road. Find substitutes for church callings. Clean your house (too much for me to think about), take out garbage, make sure bedroom doors are shut, windows and doors locked, a few lights on...what did I forget? Probably a bunch, maybe the kids? Whew and don't forget all the Christmas gifts, which I may have single handedly picked out and purchased all on my own.

We're off...and once we're there, it's perfect, and worth it in it's entirety.

My wonderful, funny, talented, best friend of a sister in law Tamzen and her just as great husband, Lee were gracious enough to allow their home to be filled with 15 people for a full week, feed us, entertain us and tuck us safely into bed at night. They even allowed us whimpy Arizonans to mess with their thermostat on a nightly basis while they were probably sweating like pigs in their beds. (So Sorry).

Tamzen and Lee never cease to amaze me with their generosity. Not only did they have 10 to 12 extra live-in house guests for a long period of time, but they also hosted the Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Years Eve festivities. The time, effort, and cost of these creations are not unknown to me and I am at a loss of words to express my gratitude for the memories their hard work has allotted to my family.

Tatum, one of my other wonderful, and just as talented sister in laws, her husband, and their two sons were also our housemates for the festivities.

These two couples allowed Thomas and I to be the 'third wheel' on their shared anniversary dates to the melting pot. (Tamzen and Lee 14 yrs, Tatum and Jason 4). The food was delicious, the company amazing, and the sideline entertainment was the table next to us of about 14 goths talking about the cinema's....oh how my finger was itching to snap a few pictures of that!


An added treat to our trip is that my brother Darin lives about 30 minutes away from Tamzen and Lee and we are always able to take a day and spend it with them.

The girls always have a blast since Darin has 2 girls: Kennedi the same age as Alli, and Jaicee the same age as Claire.

Alli and Kennedi are two, sneaky, fun girls. They let the Waiter know right away that it was their shared Birthday and we overloaded with glee that the poor guy bought it and sang to them. Also allowing themselves to get a free ice cream sundae and balloons to boot.

Hugs goodbye are always a little hard, with questions of "When will we see them next and why can't we stay longer?" I'm so grateful that all of these girls get along so well and can instantly play together no readjusting time needed.

A day was also spent at a gymnastics arena, where the kids flipped, jumped and who knows what else with their cousins.

Can you find a needle in a haystack? It was a little tricky sometimes to figure out where the kids were, and let me tell you, those pits are hard to get out of, I now know from experience.

I was surprised at how long the girls got to stay in these harness'. This place would have been my childhood dream, becoming Nadia Comaneci.

I think this will definitely be on our to-do list again, as you can see, young, and semi-old all had a blast.

What could be better than sledding in Colorado? Uh, maybe sledding with your cousins in Colorado of course!

I'm not sure Rainier took to the sledding. Thomas took him down the hill and he pretty much freaked out, not too mention the lack of mobility he had acquired from the layer and layers of clothing might have inhibited his love for the snow.

However, I did manage to catch a smile on that kid. It's never really that hard since he is such a happy little boy the majority of the time.



I love this picture, I would watch Ainsley go down and every time she got to the middle where there was a bump she would close her eyes as tight as she could.

She and I went down together and didn't make it all the way through. Thomas thought he would help us out and pushed us before we were ready, sending us down unstable and me screaming to Ainsley "Hold on!" She quickly grabbed my right arm, wrapping her legs and arms around it, thus throwing us off balance even more, when we hit the bumps in the middle the inner tube popped and off we went skidding along the snow. Lets just say Ainsley and I had a huge complaint of fears and embarrassment when we got up the hill where Thomas was waiting.

Claire, as usual, was fearless when it came to the hill and would try various positions as she went down.

The kids were spoiled by their aunts and uncles, we were spoiled by the great company, and all of the fun, some amazingly enough I didn't even mention or get to take pictures of.

I've been married to this Coloradan for almost 11 years now and each year has it's own adventures and trials but each and every year I am most thankful to be going through them with him and our beautiful family.

Pikes Peak, the mecca of Colorado Springs, I snapped this picture as we drove out of my sister in laws driveway, on our way back to Arizona, another twelve hour drive, sacrificing my ear drums for a bored/tired one year old. My bladder for my 3 daughters to rush into the bathroom before me, and a bit of my sanity as I tried not to crack when I got asked "How much longer?" by three beautiful children at three separate times in ten minute intervals. All of which are so worth it for the wonderful time we had with our family.

Thanks Family!