Trip to Colorado Springs

I was lucky enough to find a cheap ticket to COS to stay with my sister-in-law Becki and the kids while my brother Jason is in India for school. We packed as much as we could into the 4 days I was there.

Thursday: Becki, Savvy, and Hailey picked me up and Savvy presented me with a beautiful fall bouquet. They are so sweet, every time I come I get flowers! The kids got home from school and there were hugs all around. We hung out at the house and then McKay babysat while Becki and I went to dinner. Apparently Jason told her she needed to take me out while I was in town. We wanted to have Mexican, but the wait was too long so we went to Olive Garden and then headed to the mall to look for shoes for Becki and outfits for the family pictures she wanted to take(Christmas card season is fast approaching ya know!)

Friday: The kids had a "sick day", due to the fact that they are all sick of school : ) We got ready and headed to a pumpkin farm that was supposed to be fabulous! We drove for about 30 minutes to discover the farm was closed due to weather (it had snowed the day before and the dirt roads were muddy and just plain bad). With the help of one of Becki's friends we found another pumpkin patch, but were warned it was pretty lame. Boy was her friend right! There was a hay maze that you could see across and cheat to get thru (which of course the boys did), a petting zoo that had 3 bunnies and 4 sheep, a slide (the kids liked that), and a hay ride that drove us around empty lots for sale and one gigantic house that was for sale. I was surprised the guy driving the tractor didn't say...."on our left you can see lot 82..." tee hee! We got our pumpkins and headed for home to eat our picnic lunch there (it was waaaaaay to cold to eat outdoors).

We had quiet time and then we attempted to take pictures of the kids...can you say disaster?!?! Only 2 really cooperated and Becki couldn't get the shots she wanted so we threw in the towel. The kids wanted a movie night and invited some of their buddies over. Their mom brought them over and then stayed and She, Becki, and I watched "Jacob the Liar" and ate the delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that Becki and Savvy made.

Saturday: Was game day, Carson and Logan play flag football thru the YMCA so we watched the boys play their hearts out. The day started out cold and cloudy, but eventually the sun came out. After the games the kids had to go to the church for practice, the Primary program is Sunday. While the kids (who were so excited to be at church on Saturday) were practicing Becki and I ran to the Joann's, what a zoo! It was their midnight madness sale and there were sooooo many ladies there! After a long wait to get the fabric cut we made it out with some Halloween crafts, and a costume for Becki as well.

After we got the kids we came back home for a Halloween party. I ordered some pizzas and we started painting our crafts. After painting and pizza it was time to get carving. Can I just say carving pumpkins with 6 kids is an experience! : ) (see Becki's blog for pics of the jack o lanterns)

Sunday: Church at 8:30 and then quiet time. After quiet time we rolled out the sugar cookie dough and had fun cutting out shapes. Becki made a great dinner of roast and potatoes and then as a last hurrah we frosted and decorated the cookies. The kids didn't want me to go home, they said they were going to hold me hostage and Ashley and Logan wouldn't let go :) It's nice to feel so loved.

Thanks so much for having me COS Madsens! I love you all very much!