Thanksgiving In Colorado

Yes, I know I am blogging about Thanksgiving in April.  Just trying to catch up our little family blog.  Looking back at pictures I have also decided I am the worst picture taker.  So, here are a few highlights I did manage to capture about our Thanksgiving trip in Colorado.

For Thanksgiving this year, we had part of our family there to celebrate.  We took a day to explore the Denver Zoo.

Siblings.  (We missed you Lindsay and Kristen)

We had a fun time playing at Westlands Park.

My Dad and Julie introduced us to the Raclette.  It is a small grill that sits in the center of the table where everyone can cook their own dinner.  

Thanksgiving day, my family always has a tradition of going bowling.  I think it started way back when my mom was growing up to get everyone out of the house so the cooking could be done.  Miraculously, I don't have a picture, but I bowled a turkey (three strikes in a row) on Thanksgiving day! 

Sadly, this was the only picture I got of Thanksgiving dinner.  But, my dad did do a good job as always on carving the turkey.

April Happenings

April was a busy month for us.  I flew to Colorado for a day to see my brother perform in the high school play Brigadoon.  He was such a great actor!

I met Ian the next day in Utah for Brea and Mike's wedding.  This is Ian's group of friends from college that still stay in touch.

April also brought two showers.  A wedding shower for Valerie (my brother-in-law's fiance).  They will be married in July and we are so excited she will be joining the family.  Sadly, I did not take a picture of a single thing!  We also had a baby shower for my sister-in-law Megan.  We decorated onesies for her baby boy.  Again, no pictures sadly.      

The NCAA Volleyball Championships were held at UCLA this year.  I met Ian after school on Saturday and we went to the championship game of BYU vs. UCI.  BYU lost the game, but it was nice to see so many cougar fans.    

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Ian and I traveled to Denver for Christmas.  We woke up Christmas morning to a snowy, white Christmas.  I don't know how I managed to get through a whole five days of activities and not take a single picture on my camera!!!!  Well, I was actually trying to be techy and take pictures on my phone but my phone had a glitch and all the pictures were erased.  We had a madrigal dinner where you sing songs in between courses which we really enjoyed.

The day after Christmas we went snowshoeing with Nathan, my Dad, the woman he was dating at the time Julie, and her two sons.  The trails in Evergreen were perfect that day.

Ian and I enjoyed being in the beautiful Colorado mountains and snow for a few days.  We have so many happy memories from Colorado.

My brother Nathan.

Stopping for some hot chocolate half way through.

Anderson Family Reunion

Earlier this month my family was able to all be together for a few days in Colorado.  It is amazing that everyone was in town at the same time!  We had a great time doing activities in Denver.    

We hiked in Castlewood Canyon.  

 

Sisters picture.

A few of us hiked all the way to Castlewood Dam.

Another morning we rented surreys and rode around City Park.   

Like most vacations, I stopped taking pictures after the first day or so and didn't take nearly enough the first few days.  But we had a great time at the pool, BBQs, helping Nathan with his eagle scout project, and generally relaxing and spending time with each other.  I will miss living so close to family.  

Fire and Rain (Lots of it!)

Five months ago Ian surprised me with concert tickets to hear James Taylor live in concert at Red Rocks.  This has seriously been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember and Ian is always surprising me with things that I love.  What a great man.  I grew up singing James Taylor songs and they are somewhat sentimental for me.  Well, last night was the night we had waited for for months.  Red Rocks Amphitheatre is an incredible venue where you sit on the red rock with a view of the city.  Amazing view.  Being with my favorite person, in one of my favorite places, listening to some of my favorite music was heavenly.     

About halfway through, it started raining pretty hard.  We just put our rain jackets on and toughed it out until they stopped the concert because of a severe weather alert.  Just as they were advising everyone to seek shelter and safety in their cars, the power went out.  We decided being in the open, on a large rock, amidst a lot of metal probably wasn't a great place to be with all the lightning going on around us.  So, sadly we left the concert early with a large majority of the crowd.  What a night!  We finished the night out singing to James Taylor all the way home and eventually made it home safely.   

July 4th on the Western Slope

Before we move to California, Ian and I have been trying to check things off our bucket list in Colorado.  For July 4th, Ian's parents and brother Evan were nice enough to meet us in southern Colorado for a few days.  On our way down to Durango, Ian and I stopped at Sand Dunes National Park.  It was what you might imagine, hot, dry, and very sandy.  

Ian was especially excited to see the Sand Dunes.  

I was especially excited to get out of the car for a little while.

We finally made it to Durango and met Ian's family for a BBQ and parade watching. Apparently the original Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is located in Durango - we couldn't resist.  I sure am going to miss this place when we move.

Our group took a day to tour around Mesa Verde.  I hadn't been there since I went with my family in 4th grade.  

On a tour of the balcony house, we had to climb these really steep ladders - my legs were definitely shaking as I have developed a fear of heights as of late.  Some parts we had to climb through really tight spaces.

A view of their dwellings in the balcony house.

There was a hike to some petroglyphs that we enjoyed.  

In case you're wondering, my brother in law does have a boot on his foot because he had surgery two months ago.  And yes, he hiked several miles with us, went up and down ladders, and even participated in this jumping picture.

I just really like this picture of Ian.  What a handsome man.

The Animas River runs through Durango so we thought we would raft it.  

The rapids got a little rough in places and Ian was in his element.

The Western Slope of Colorado has many mining towns tucked away amidst beautiful mountain vistas.  It was a perfect day driving through these towns and enjoying the beauty.

A section of the highway from Durango back up to Glenwood Springs is called the Million Dollar Highway.  It cost $10,000 per mile to build.  Sure glad they have improved the million dollar highway since this picture was taken. 

Our group happened upon the Russell Stover factory outlet on our way through one town.  All chocolates were an additional %50 off the outlet prices because the store was moving.  It was heavenly.

One of my favorite stops was in Paonia, CO.  We happened upon the town's cherry days festival.  We tried their cherry soda.

We stayed at The Living Farm Cafe and Hotel.  Breakfast was organic, fresh from the farm.  Yum.  

We all enjoyed picking cherries in the morning.

Brad (Ian's Dad) was especially in heaven.  We all ate ourselves sick eating cherries.

We ended the trip by hiking Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs, CO.   

I will sure miss these mountains when we move to California.  Thanks for a fun trip Finlays!