Day Four - West Peak

West Peak MountainCaleb & Trey climbing up the rocky terrain
The animal they encountered climbing

View from top of the Mountain
Brittany, Trey, Trevin, Brendon, and Caleb made it all the way to the top

John on top of the Mountain
Playing the card game Rage

They started the day with 18 people wanting to climb the mountain. There were 7 adults and 11 kids. When they got to timberline some of them stayed and the rest climbed the mountain. They were a little unprepared. They didn't have enough food or water and didn't put on sunscreen so they were quite burned. When they made it to the top they were so thirsty they ate the snow. After they got back they played the card game Rage.

Day Three - The Meadow

All ready for the hike to the Meadow
Starting down the trail
Ella wanted to walk on the trail
All the cousins except for Molly
Gramma & Grampa with all the Grandkids at the Meadow

Our Family Tree
Gramma, Ella & Brittany resting in the Meadow
Ella & Meredith sitting during our Church Service in the Meadow

Ella & Ethan walking down the trail
Some of the older kids had walking sticks so Ella had one too

We took a hike to the meadow where John's family always went when in Colorado. Each family has there own tree that has there names carved in them. John carved Ella and the year '07 into our family tree this year. We also had a little Church Service in the meadow. We sang songs, some kids said Bible verses and Grampa talked for a little bit.

Day Two - Sand Dunes

John, Ella & Ethan
Walking in the muddy, sandy, watery beach
Playing in the mud
Messy Muddy Ella
Climbing up the Sand Dunes
The kids taking a break
Some of the kids climbing
View from above

Our second day we spent at the Sand Dunes. It had a big muddy sandy beach that had only couple of inches of water. The young kids really enjoyed playing in the mud and sand. Even Ella surprisingly since she never seems to like to get dirty. The older kids and some of the adults climbed up the sand dunes. But I don't think anyone is ready to make that climb again anytime soon.

Our first night at the lodge

Ella enjoying drawing

John, Roger and Phil playing pool

Singing songs

Ella praying

The lodge had provided paints and markers and other toys for the kids. Also they had a pool table and ping ball table. Ella had so much fun drawing with the markers. The guys had fun playing pool and the kids had fun rolling the pool balls out the door and into the woods and throwing them on the table. The first night there we all gathered in the family room for Devotion and Testimonial time and while Grandpa was talking Ella thought that he was praying. So she sat there quietly with her hands folded.

Our Colorado Car Trip

Ella giving out orders

She's ready to go

Avery and Ella listening to music

We left early Friday morning and all the kids were really excited. It was an almost 10 hour car ride with 21 kids and 13 adults. All the kids did really good. In one van was the 5 littlest kids in car seats the girls and the moms. The other van had two kids in car seats the older kids and all the guys and Roger drove his own car with his family. Avery, Malia and Ella had fun coloring, watching movies and listening to music. It was nice to finally get to Colorado. Our Lodge was nice and big with 3 floors and plenty of room for all the kids to run and play.

Our little Computer Genius

Movie and Popcorn

Pictures from this Weekend

These are some cute pictures of Ella & Ethan holding hands and playing together.

Ella's new bed

Ella all excited to sleep in her big bed.

This is how we left Ella for the night.

This is how Ella was this morning when I went in to get her.

We decided to get Ella a big girl bed and she loves it. She loves to play and jump and pretend to go night-night. We just put it together yesterday (Saturday) and she was so excited. We kept her crib up in her room just in case she didn't want to start sleeping in her bed or if she wouldn't stay in her bed. So last night she said she wanted to sleep in her big bed. Which of course there was a thunder storm last night but she still did really good. She fell off of her big bed onto her trundle bed in the middle of the night but I went in there put her back on her bed and she went right back to sleep. Which she must have fallen back onto the trundle bed but she didn't wake up that time. I am glad she did so well. I was a little worried at nap time but she did really well she went straight to sleep but after she woke up she had her shoes on, baby in her hand and books standing by the door. Her room was a little messy but pretty good. Hopefully she will continue to do good.

Ella's Bed time routine

Ella has a long bed time routine. Once she is in the room it takes about 20-30 mintues to put her to bed. We have to kiss all her stuffed animals and put all her toys away (which they all have there specific spots), read books, pray, sing songs and then its finally too bed. The reading books it what takes the longest. She picks out about 10 books and I end up reading about 5 of them and they aren't short baby books they are about 40 pages each. Lately she has been wanting to read the books to me and the baby. It is really cute because she actually remembers the stories. Some of what she says is just gibberish but she does pretty good reciting the stories from memory. Then after reading we pray which Ella loves to pray. Her typical prayer is that mommy and daddy will take her outside but she does pray for her little brother "choo-choo" (that is what Ella wants to name her baby brother). After praying about 5 times we sing songs which right now Twinkle, Twinkle is her favorite. Then when I lay her in bed all 20 of her stuffed animals that she sleeps with need to be covered with her blankets. Finally she blows me kisses night-night and now she is off too sleep. It takes along time to put her too sleep but she is worth every minute. Who can really complain that their daughter reads and prays too much. Hopefully she continues reading and praying as she gets older.