Cute Cousins

Since we've lived in Colorado, we've enjoyed seeing my brother Jason, his wife Andrea, and their daughter Aliyah more often than usual.  It has been fun for the girls to play together.  They get along some of the time :)
They made this cute sign to remind my brother Mark who's on a mission in Canada that they really do love and miss him.

One thing is for certain....they do love their Gramie!

Labor Day

So....I haven't posted anything in forever.  Mostly because life is busy crazy and partially because I lack the drive I used to have because my mother isn't reminding me everyother day to post since we live with her.  I'm sure she's in part looking forward to looking forward to posts again.  I am going to play catch up over several posts since this is the best family journal I'm keeping right now. 

Over Labor Day weekend we took Luke up for his first semester at BYU-Idaho and caught the Forsgren reunion in Lava Hot Springs on the way.  We have sure missed Luke!

Clearly, she's a fan of Uncle Gerrit as well!

It was fun to catch up with family we hadn't seen in too long and enjoy a nice hot pool.  We missed Jordan though.  He spent the month of October in Tuscon, AZ and enjoyed that area.

So weird how old we're all getting!  Just Natalie left in my parent's house! (Well, not really yet, but we don't really count either).

Minneapolis

Brynlee and I just returned from Minneapolis where we visited Jordan.  It was good to feel like a family again and we were able to do some fun things!  I really enjoyed the area!  I wouldn't mind living there if that's where Jordan gets his residency. 

Jordan cracked me up from the get go.  On our way home from the airport he suddenly yells, "Bunion!" looking at some lady walking down the street.  At the mall he commented on a group of ladies good choice in footwear and was disgusted by the fact that a baby with club feet were not casted.  There's more too...much more!  I'm glad he enjoys feet and I'm confident he'll make an awesome podiatrist!

MALL OF AMERICA

All I can say is that its huge...bigger than I anticipated.  We spent a full day there.  It was fun to pretend we could afford to shop.  Jordan humored me as we dress shopped in Bloomingdales and dreamed in Burberry and other stores.  We did pick up a few things and enjoyed the lack of sales tax!

Besides shopping...we did some playing too.  We visited Lego Land, rode the carousel and ferris wheel, and visted the aquarium.

LAND OF 10,000 LAKES

We certainly didn't visit them all...but it really is cool how they are everywhere!  I guess I didn't realize that the Mississippi River runs right through as well.  We enjoyed walking around Lake Harriett and visiting Minnehaha Falls.

ST. PAUL TEMPLE

I was very surprised how small the temple was!  It is right next to a stake center and I really think the stake center was bigger.  It shares parking with the building as well.  Still very beautiful!

COMO ZOO & CONSERVATORY

I love it!  It might even be my favorite thing we did.  It was such a beautiful place and a good size.  The best part was that it was free!  They suggest a $2 dollar donation per adult but even that is almost free.  It was such a nice day (especially for midwestern weather) and Brynlee loved seeing the animals.

Awesome butterfly exhibit

MILL CITY

We visited an the old industrial milling side of Minneapolis last Saturday.  It was fun to see the old buildings and walked the farmer's market as well.

Jordan's marijuana discovery...he's still always looking at plants.

St Anthony Falls on the Mississippi.  It used to be natural and much prettier.

SCULPTURE GARDEN

It was so nice of this couple to let us stay in their home.  We only know them through a family connection and they were completely sweet to loan their home to strangers while they are away. Brynlee loved playing in their toy room and in their yard.  It was perfect for us and we're so grateful!

Sorry for the extremely long post!  Hope all is well for all of you!

kelley +

My old coworker and great friend Kelley came to visit last week from Iowa with her friend from North Carolina allowing me to play tour guide for a few days.  Brynlee loves Kelley and it was also nice for me to get out and do some fun things with the ladies (thanks to my terrific babysitters!).

We went to the butterfly pavilion one of the days they were here.  Brynlee thought it was pretty neat...hopefully they did too!

She was also very interetsed in all the other kids there...though they weren't nearly so interested in her.

That night we went to see the Rockies lose.  Still a good time!

We also went up toward Idaho Springs and 'hiked' around Echo Lake (its more like a walk) and went rafting that afternoon on Clear Creek.  Very fun!

Not where we rafted :)

I just love the mountains!  We haven't spent nearly enough time in them this summer! 

I, of course, have to thank Kelley for the pics!  I thought it was too funny that she took a picture of this sign!  Oh the novelties of a mountain state!