Trip to Laramie

The last time we have been to Laramie to visit my parents was in June so we have been anxious to make a trip that way. Both my parents were going to be in town as well as my brother Ryan and his wife Kristin. On top of that, Matt's elk season had just opened and he planned to be hunting, so the kids and I packed up (half the house!) and headed east!

We arrived on Friday morning, unpacked, and met my mom for lunch. She took the big kids back home with her while I ran a few errands with the littles. That afternoon Ryan and Kristin came into town and everyone relaxed playing pool and the Wii.

That evening, we went out to eat at Corona Village to further celebrate Spencer's Birthday since my parents weren't with us in the Valley on the actual day. We really miss this restaurant, so it was nice to get to go. The food was delicious and Spencer was excited when they sang Happy Birthday to him!

After dinner we came back to my parent's house, ate ice cream cake, and Spencer opened his present!

He got a kit to build different remote control machines. It couldn't be more perfect, building, remote controlled, and various robots? Definitely a GREAT present.

My mom has a book called "Where is the Green Sheep?" by Mem Fox which has been a favorite of all my kids'. Mason is the most recent to fully appreciate the book. The pictures turned out blurry, but I think the sentiment is still conveyed...

Saturday morning, the kids, my mom, and I went shopping downtown. We went to Quilt Essentials- fabric store, Maurices, and Bath and Body Works. It was fun to go to these stores that I don't have where we live. Afterwards we picked up some pizzas and went home for naps and football. While the little kids were sleeping, my mom was kind enough to let me use her sewing room to make baby gifts for my friend Gelsey who is having twin boys soon. My mom has a great space with all kinds of handy gadgets and tools, and it was great to be able to work in there!

I made Gelsey two puppy blankets and I was really happy with how they turned out. When I first saw the pattern for these I thought they were a little odd, but Mason loves his so much...they have really grown on me and I think they are darling now! The only bad part is having to cut the animal in half. I couldn't do it, Spencer didn't want to do it, but Avilee jumped in and chopped them. That girl is hardcore!

Here are the finished products

This is Mason's, he is obviously loved!

We spent the next day in Denver, but I am going to give that part of our trip a post of its own because it was such a busy day!

The last day I had planned on staying until late afternoon before heading home, but the weather had other plans for us. We packed the car back up and went out to breakfast with my mom, intending the leave directly from the restaurant. However, Sawyer slept all the way through breakfast and then woke up as soon as we were finished. For his sake, I decided we would find something to kill an hour or so in town before we hit the road and he had to sit in his seat again.

The kids had fun playing Wii bowling at grandma and grandpa's house, so I decided to take them to actual bowling! (The big kids are in their pajamas since we had originally planned to just be in the car that day)

Mason's first roll went really, REALLY slow down the lane. We were cheering it on all the way down!

It was a fun way to end our trip! The drive home was a little dicey, but we made it back. It was so nice to see my family. We can't wait to come back again!