Labor Day Fun

So, we had a GREAT Labor day weekend! I was missing going to Swiss Days a little bit, but Cole seemed to be quite alright about it! What is that all about! Don't boys LOVE boutiques that you can walk through with about a million other people? That is what I thought. Oh well...so we did some other fun stuff instead! On Friday night, we went with 6 other families in our ward and went up to Rocky Mountain National Park at the Glacier Basin Camp Ground and had a GREAT time camping for the night! Lots of work for not much time, but it was worth it. It was so great. 14 adults, 8 kids, 4 pregnant ladies, 2 nursing, and one that was thinking that this was all GREAT birth control! :) We had a great time. Thanks to everyone for being able to come. It was well worth the trip. The boys slept GREAT in the tent! Cole and I were a little bit cold, but the boys braved the cold like little champs. Don't mention the fact that Lincoln was in a sleeping bag meant for 20- and Payton was in hisHere are some highlights. I am not a very consistent picture taker, but here is what I DO have.

Then after the camp out, we went for a fantastic hike! We tried to all go together, but we could never find enough parking, so we all split up and the Wesslers and us went to the top of the mountain and did a few hikes up there! It was a spectacular view and some beautiful lakes. Lots of fun.

Then, we drove home- very tired to say the least- and crashed! Had a great Sunday, and then Monday we woke up and took a VERY long bike ride fully equipped with our new bike trailer! It was SO much fun, but of course I forgot my camera! There are pictures on Cole's phone, and I will have to figure out how to get them on here for later, but for now, you just have to trust me that we had a great time! We kept looking back at the boys, and they were either having a GREAT time, or they were zonked whilst lying on TOP of each other. It was so funny! But it was a very productive weekend, and now we are back to trying to un-bury ourselves from all the laundry and filth that always accumulates! Enjoy!!!

Payton and Lincoln both thought that it was PRETTY sweet that they could jump and play on the air mattress in the tent! Here they are in the act of popping my mattress! (Just kidding, they didn't really pop my mattress, but it sure did feel like it in the middle of the night!)
No, that's not my two year old hitting puberty early and growing a great 'stache. He just had a cold and was wiping his snotty nose all over his face which was covered in dirt. Yummy!
This is Lincoln still asleep at 8:00 in the morning- might as well have been NOON! But he was all bundled up and so cozy! Most of the night, all you could see were his little eyes!
The boys starting up on Breakfast! A few of them at least!
Me and my little bear.
A couple of the kids throwing rocks...hey they weren't throwing them at each other...for the picture at least!
Payton decided that he wanted to eat some DIRT for breakfast! This is what he will look like with a beard! Hehe...
Steph, Anna, Princess Sascha, Payton and I getting ready for the hike.
We hiked to a BEAUTIFUL lake, and Lincoln wanted to go swimming, so we let him wade his feet for a minute. He quickly changed his mind about the swimming idea, but had fun anyways!

More Jackson Pics

Here are some more updated Jackson Lake Pictures! We sure had fun, can you tell? These pictures really don't do this place justice! It is the most gorgeous place on earth! Really!
Cole catchin' some SICK air on the wakeboard! :)
Not my favorite background, but we didn't have any with the Tetons in the back! That's me if you can't tell!
Daddy-o on the air chair---he is really good!
Here we are on the sweet tube! If you can't tell, Lincoln is holding up his first finger-signaling to Tyler (the driver) that he wanted to go Faster!
My Cute parents- Thanks Mom and Dad!
This one is at Bear Lake! Just hangin on the beach with everyone!
My dad has a couple of swings that he purchased for the House Boat down at Lake Powell, and he brought them to Jackson and BOY were they a hit! The only problem was that there was only 2 of them and there are 5 grandkids! Good lesson "Sharing and taking turns"

Lincoln and I even SURFED! He loved it, even though in this picture he didn't seem like it!
All the Miles' girls...we were just missing Ruby-doo!

Is THIS my life long calling???

....because if so, then I QUIT!! It's potty training time again around the Smith household! Why is it that I become my worst self when I have to clean up someone elses waste all day everyday? That might be a silly question, but I sure feel like the wicked witch of the west lately! It is SO hard for me! We started up with potty training with Lincoln a little while back, and it was going pretty good, except for the fact that he still hasn't really ever told me that he has to go to the bathroom and then actually gone- but it has gone RIGHT downhill in the past week! It is SO frustrating! And even more frustrating because I know that it is my fault that he is regressing! I think we just put SO much pressure on the little guy that he just hates to use the potty now! SOOOO... a little bit stressed out about that! But what can you do eh?
In other news, sorry it's been so long since I have posted, but there are Olympics to watch you know! Now that Cole is home all the time, it is nice because I can actually hang out with him instead of having to try and find something to do while he studies! So we just watch the Oly's together. It's quite the fun time!
No pictures this time, because-ohhh- I broke our camera-yep the new one that I just got because I lost the old one- on our trip to Jackson! It's amazing Cole has stuck with me for so long! What a guy! But we will get some pictures on the camera that I found after I bought the new one that I just broke, and get them on here lickity-split!

Here's a random shot of the brother, and how he falls asleep sometimes for his nap! What could be more comfortable than sleeping on like 15 books! At least he CAN sleep like that! I guess I should be grateful eh?

HE DID IT!!!

CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT!!! Cole GRADUATED! After a full year of hard work and all that jazz, Cole is a COLLEGE GRADUATE for the second time of course! Cole graduated from Denver University with his Masters of Science in Real Estate and Construction Management! YEAH! I am so proud of him. He worked SO flippin hard this year and he did REALLY well with his classes and all of his grades. And to make things even better, he got a J-O-B!!! He is official now. He has been working for about a month now and is loving it. So that means that we are here in Denver for a little while longer at least! We really love it here, and are having so much fun, so we are way excited to stay here for a little bit longer. We have some pretty amazing friends here, and we are excited to be able to be a part of their lives for a while longer at least! So here's to college graduates! Now to just take care of all those loans.....:)

Here's Cole receiving his "hood" the night before Graduation

Here's Cole and I in front of a really creepy Hockey dude...whatever!
Getting the DIPLOMA!!
Way to go Cole! I am so proud of you...now I can have a HUSBAND again! Totally worth it!

P.S. Thanks SO much to my wonderful parents who made the trip out to Denver to celebrate with us, and to Cleve and Maxine for being able to watch it Online! Technology is SO cool! We really appreciate all of BOTH of your love and support! We couldn't have done it without you.

Long trip....LOTS of fun!

Well, we are finally back from our much awaited trip to Utah and Jackson Lake! It was SO much fun to be in Utah for a WHOLE week with my family before we headed up to Jackson Lake for the BEST TRIP EVER! We (the boys and I) stayed at my mom and dad's house for a whole week with my sister and her kids. IT was SO much fun to be with Court but mostly to meet my little Ruby-doo! She is the most PRECIOUS little squirter ever, and it was so much fun to snuggle her a little bit! I can't BELIEVE how fast my little Payton is growing when I put him up to littler babies. So sad. Payton was SO close to crawling the whole week before we left for Utah, but much to Cole's chagrin, he didn't start crawling until the day AFTER we got to Utah! Sorry Cole! But Payton is the cutest crawler ever! He started right up on his hands and knees, and hasn't stopped since! NOW, he is even pulling himself up to standing, and even taking a few steps if he can manage them- only while holding onto things though! AHHH!!! I need to put a rock on his head! He is getting WAY too big! Of course, this is all much to the dismay of his brother who now has to protect his toys with his LIFE if necessary! Payton is sporting a nice big bruise on his cheek because he decided that he wanted to play with Lincolns trains, and Lincoln didn't think that was the best idea in the land. Poor little guy! I'm sure it's just the first of a long line of bumps and bruises those two are going to give each other! Anyways, back to the trip! Payton started crawling, and that made for an interesting trip! He was of course into everything, but he is so cute, that we just couldn't get mad at him! :) But the week was full of alot of lounging around, and just playing! The boys and I made it up to Bear Lake where Cole's family was staying for the week of the 24th- and had a great time there too! Lincoln and Payton had a blast with their cousins. Then we went back to Bountiful and headed up to Midway for a couple of days and played there! The kids LOVED to be up there, and it sure brought back a lot of memories for me. I love it up there, and miss it tons! We used to go there all the time when we were kids! So it was fun to be up there again.
Then, after the week of fun, we headed up to Signal Mountain Lodge located on Jackson Lake, and had an amazing week of boating, eating, playing cards, and just all sorts of fun! The kids all loved it, and we had such a great time. Lincoln even got up on the surf board, and tubed a little bit! We sure missed Cole, until he was able to come up on Thursday night to spend a couple of days before we headed back on Saturday afternoon after an afternoon on the lake and in Jackson! We had the greatest time, and it is alway so sad to leave Jackson Lake. It just might be our favorite trip place of all time. Perfect weather- great for the kids because they aren't on the water all day, and we can do all sorts of other fun stuff!
We were glad to welcome Cole up to Jackson, and even more glad that he was able to drive us home! The boys and I flew into Utah, but then took the 10 hour drive back to Colorado with him. Man were Cole and I doing EVERYTHING to try and stay awake! We finally rolled into our house at 2 in the morning. We were sure tired the next day.
Now that we are home, we are just enjoying every second of the Olympics! I am the BIGGEST fan of the Olympics. I don't think that they have turned off since the opening ceremonies. That is what it is all about! GO USA! And, of course, we are back on the potty training band wagon, and BOY is Lincoln rocking the house! He is doing SO well! He didn't even have 1 accident yesterday ALL DAY!! What a rock star. Here are some pictures to reminisce about the trip! Enjoy.
Lincoln and Grandpa Dick sporting their shades on the boat...Lincoln LOVES the boat, and Grandpa Dick! He was one happy kid.
Can't bet much prettier! Oh wait, yes it can. At 9:00 in the morning when the water looks like a MIRROR and I am skiing on hit! HEAVEN!
Me and my boys at the Bar J Wranglers
Lincoln and his cousin Karden...great little buddies!
Here is the elusive Grandchild shot! Kind of tricky with 12 kids that don't really want to smile, or even look at the camera for that matter!
My grandparents have a "Surrey" bike at midway and the kids LOVED to ride in it! Here we are on one such occasion! SO MUCH FUN!
Three little squirts that are ALMOST as hard to all get to smile as the 12 in the previous picture! These are two of Court's kids Mylie Jane and Drew.
Payton wasn't such a fan of his life jacket....don't I look good! ;)

Family Pictures

So, it's a miracle! We actually got some family pictures taken! SO GREAT! We haven't EVER had pictures taken as a family since Cole and I got married FOUR YEARS AGO! Oh boy. and I call myself a scrapbooker. Heather Schafer took them again...she is so great! Here are just a few of the ones that she took- she took a WHOLE BUNCH! It's alot harder to get 2 boys (well, really 3 if you count the big boy:)) than it looks! So we took a WHOLE BUNCH, but just a few are TJ's (tear jerkers for those not in the Nelson family).













This is more what most of the pictures were like trying to take! Silly boys!

Okay, so there were more than a few that I liked! Now it's just trying to narrow them down to blow up and put on the wall! YIKES!

Happy LATE 4th of July!!

Around our house, at least for Cole, the 4th of July is one of the favorite times of the year! I have so many fond memories of the 4th, particularly going up to Midway (where my Grandfather has a cabin) and doing all sorts of fun stuff! There were always the Nelson family Olympics, the watermelon eating contests, the relay races, decorating anything available (including our bodies) and having a SWEET parade around the driveway, and then of course there were the wonderful fireworks at night off of Memorial Hill, and also our own fantastic fireworks. Mostly trying to beat all of my cousins around the driveway, or to see who could go the furthest on one sparkler! Oh, so many memories. But the one that I am the most fond of that I was commenting on to Cole was seeing my beloved Grandmother throw taffy off of the balcony. My sweet Grandmother passed away a few years ago, and things have just not been the same without her. She was the LIVING SPIRIT of the 4th of July. She LOVED it, and it would make us all so excited to see her step out onto that balcony to throw the taffy to the people that she loved. I guess this year, my Grandfather got up onto the balcony and took over the tradition and threw some candy off the top. I am so sad to have missed that wonderful occasion, but I know that it was a wonderful thing.
For the 4th in Denver, we had a great time! In the morning, we woke up and walked over to our neighborhood party. We were a little bit late because Payton was taking his nap so we missed the parade, but we made it in time to see and get into the firetruck that was there! Our good friend Chad from our ward is a local fireman and he was actually the one running the truck! So it was WAY fun to see him, and to be able to have him show us around. They even opened up the FIREHOSE that is up on top of the truck! Oh, talk about cool! You wouldn't believe how much water can come out of those things in such a short amount of time! On the highest pressure setting (or however you manage that:)) 1000 gallons can come out in a MINUTE! So we were all soaked! It was great fun. Then we came home and took some GREAT 4th of July naps then that night, we went with some GREAT friends of ours to the Colorado Rapids game. The Rapids are the professional soccer team here in Denver, and it was SO much fun! The game didn't start until 7:30 so the boys were troopers the whole game! It was so much fun. The Rapids totally wasted the New York team, and it was great to watch. The fireworks started at 10:00 p.m., so our boys had about had it, but they were still being really good! The firework show was about 1/2 hour long, and the boys made it for about 10 or 15 minutes. Then they were both zonked. But it was a fabulous day, and we sure reflected alot on those men and women that have fought and are still fighting for our country's freedom. We are so grateful to live in such a wonderful country.

Sitting in the passenger seat of the firetruck! COOL!!
Lincoln has a bit of a hard time doing the thumbs up thing, and Payton MIGHT be in a daze!
At the park during the party. Everyone was either laughing or chastising us for putting a sticker on Paytons head. I think he's cute!
As we got home from walking back from the park. Sleepy boys!

Happy kids at the soccer game! One of very few smiles from the big brother.Right by where we were sitting at the game! Right after this the Rapids scored a sweet goal!
Here's us and the Wesslers right before the big firework show! We had a great time. Thanks guys for letting us join you!

4 years down!!!

Well, i have been a slacker, and haven't even written that it was my anniversary! I have now been married for 4 years! How about that! It sure doesn't seem that long, but we have sure done alot during those 4 years. Our actual anniversary was on the 16th of June, but we were traveling back to Denver that day, and had purple puke, barf and blowouts to deal with that day, so we couldn't even really celebrate! oh well...we know we love each other right? anyways, these past 4 years have been absolutely amazing, and I love my wonderful husband more than anything. He is the most loving, kind, generous, hard working dude ever, and I love him so much! He definitely makes me want to be a better person, and I would have to say that I married up for sure, because you don't get much better than Cole! He is a terrific father (preferred by his boys to their mother) and is SO much fun to watch with his boys! Even though we are a little bit older with creakier joints and quite a few pounds heavier (teehee :) what can I say, I must be a good cook!) we love each other more than life and wouldn't trade each other for anything. So Happy Versary Cole...I love you so much!