Old Friends

While there were so many friends I did not get to see during my visit, I was so happy to be able to see the few that I did. Time always feel so cramped while we are there and the struggle to see all my friends while soaking up time with my family is a difficult one. I am thankful to my friends that they are always so understanding of that. Here are my favorite girls"

Annie and me- We met at Emily ( Annie's sister) and Will's and had hamburgers and hotdogs ( and some awesome veggies ). Emily has three boys and Mackenzie loved playing with them. Annie's parents, Marcia and Dave also came over. It was so much fun to spend the evening with my lovely " Adens". I miss you all so much! ( side note: if you look, Annie and I have the same "fake" red hair. We didn't even call each other to coordinate)

Em and me:
Samantha, Jenny, Cass and I ( along with Cass's mom, future mother and sister and law and nephew) went dress shopping for Cass's wedding ( August 2011). Here are Samantha and Jenny:
We were also so glad that we could have dinner with Samantha, James and their two boys:
Cass and I got together again for coffee and to scope out more dresses online

A very special gift

Mike's best friend, Andrew ( Andy) is marrying Andrea ( Andie). They are both Captains in the military , stationed in Colorado Springs. While we were bummed to miss Andy, we were ecstatic to get to see Andie ( are you following all of this? )

We met her in Manitou Springs, right near Colorado Springs. She treated us to a fantastic lunch. My salad was so pretty I had to take a picture of it:
She is so thoughtful. She even brought Mackenzie the essentials: chocolate and princess crayons as well as an envelop and paper to send a note to Uncle Andy in Iraq ( she even found a mail box to send it off right away!)
An extra special treat was getting to follow Andie back to Denver for a sneak preview of her wedding gown! Just before we left, she gave Mackenzie a very special gift:

We had a great day with Andie and we can't wait to see her again.

"Rummy in the deck!"

My mom, sisters and I all had so much fun together. With Nicole now living in Arizona, the time we get together, rare as it may be, is crammed full of laughter , inside jokes and just plain nonsense.

Nikki and Carley battling it out in a good old fashioned thumb war:
Nikki and I wearing mom and dad's glasses:
Mom had to get in on the fun, too:

I think we all agree that the best time was spent playing rummy ( hence the name of the post). My mom taught us how to play that game when we were kids and it was fun to re-ignite the old tradition. It's only fair to report that Carley was the rummy champion of 2010.

Girls just wanna have fun!

Grams can play like the best of them! A quick snap shot of Mack and my mom playing together at the park.

Butterfly Chameleon

We spent one afternoon at the butterfly pavilion ( butterfly " chameleon" in Mackenzien) . Despite our bright clothes, the butterflies didn't have much interest in us. Mackenzie {almost} held a tarantula but decided against it at the last second.

Chores

A farmers work is never done. You can imagine how grateful my dad is to have Mackenzie's " help". Here are a few pictures of them hard at work:

Harvesting some funky gourds:

Off they go:


Feeding Chester:

" Here you go, sweet lil chickens"
Time for dinner, cow!

There is even time for a little fun:
Papa pays in trampoline jumps and kisses:
The end of a late summer day in Colorado:

Making up for lost time

A year is a long time to be apart. Here are a few pictures of Mackenzie catching up with her family. And there's more to come! Auntie Nikki comes in TONIGHT!

Grams and Mack looking at pictures of butterflies:
Papa and Mack talking to Buddy the puppy through the window.Kaleb

Brooklyn

The kids having so much fun on the trampoline. We sure do ,miss Taylor and Coley, though.

Mufasa ( Moofie)

Auntie Carley