Florida Pictures

We are slow but here are some of our pictures from our Florida trip. We didn't get to many because our camera died. But Micah and Randy got some for us so we do have a few. Thanks Micah and Randy! Here is a picture in front of the Disney Castle. Unfortunatly you can't see it because it is dark.

This is Tailynne and her cousin Caden. Micah and Randy took them swimming while Thom and I enjoyed the morning at Epcot Center.
Okay. I know we are cheesey.
Of course we had to get a picture in front of the lighthouse at Sea World.
Tailynne loved the pinguins at Sea World. So we decided to get a picture in front of the pinguin mural. Tailynne liked it too. It is a little hard to tell but she is pointing at it.

Tailynne Getting Dressed

What a relief. We finally got our blog caught up less a few pictures from Florida to come.

Tonight I took off Tailynne's dress because she got berries on it, and she kept trying to put clothes on herself. She has been trying that a lot lately. Here are a couple pictures of her success. She can not get it all the way on but at one point she did have it over her head. She is such a funny girl. She can always bring a smile to our faces.

Just a quick little update on our family since Thom graduated he has been applying for jobs. He had an interview in Leadville last week and was offered a job there. He has a few interviews this week to come, we will see how those go. It is good to know we have a promising lead though. We keep praying for the spirit to lead us the direction we need to go.

Mormons Own Hell's Kitchen

Monday 5/19/08 we were invited to join a couple in our ward, Clint and Alisha Sowards" for Family Home Evening. There family owns land in Manassa called "Hells Kitchen." We had a weenie roast with them and our neighbors Christy, Dustin, and David Hinton. We were also joined by lots of the Sowards clan. Thom got to climb the rocks near "the Devils Chair" While Tailynne and I watched from down below. After the weenie roast (which I must admit after our trip to Disney World, I was sick of hot dogs) we had s'mores. Then we just sat around the campfire and talked. We also tried to see the grave that glows, but I don't really believe that it does because I couldn't see it. I think they were trying to see how gullible we really are. All in all we had a really fun night. We were glad they invited us to join them.

Florida

Day One: Good start... at least on-time start. I was still sick with the stomach flu, but luckilly did just fine on the car trip. We stopped at Denny's in Colorado Springs for lunch. Since we are not normally dine-out-on-Sunday people, it didn't even phase us that Mothers' Day was not the best day to go out to eat. The service was slow due to the high volume of people taking their mothers out to eat. We ran into Laci's parents there since they were on their way home. I fell a sleep for a while, and woke up to Randy filling one of their tires with air. Apparently they ran over something somewhere along the way and got a flat. Needless to say, we were running pretty late to the airport. Fortunately, we were still able to catch our flight, although Laci and I lost or cell phone somewhere in the security line we think. Anyhoo... we got into the Orlando airport kind of late, and got into our rooms at the resort somewhere around 11ish.

Day Two: We slept in. We took our time in the morning, and were at Magic Kingdom in Disney World by noonish. Disney World is HUGE!!! I had no idea! It should almost have its own zip-code (if it doesn't). At Magic Kingdom we did some Disney classics like "Pirates of the Carribean", "Splash Mountain", and "Haunted Mansion"... oh yea, how could I forget "It's a Small World!" We staid at the park until it closed so the kids would be good and worn out... not that they weren't already.

Day Three: An earlier start than day two, but still not a rushed start. This was our Hollywood Studios day. We watched shows and rides like "Muppets 3D", "Studio Backlot Tour", "Rockin' Roller Coaster", and "Tower of Terror." We also stayed until closing this night so we could watch the light-show "Fantasmic" where we watched Mickey fight off all the Disney Villains. It was awesome!

Day Four: We split this day up with Micah and Randy so each couple could have some time without the kids. Laci and I got the morning to ourselves at Epcot Center. We did the rides "Soarin'", "Spaceship Earth", "Mission to Mars, Advanced Training Lab," and "Living With the Land." We also saw the 3D show, "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience." We also "toured the world" in "The World Showcase" where we got to see a lot of cool architecture, some expensive restaurants, and took a ride on a Viking Ship. While at Epcot, our camera took a bath when our fan-spritzer thingy leaked, and mixed with our bottle of sunscreen lotion. Luckily the memory chip survived the accident, but we didn't get to take pictures, but Micah will send us some of hers, which we can post later. In the afternoon, it was our turn for the kids. While Tailynne napped and Laci spent time working on her talk for the following Sunday, I took Angie, Ben, and Caden to the bouncy castle on the resort. Afterwords we just lazed around the resort, ordered some dinner, and went to bed early.

Day Five: Animal Kingdom day! We went on the ride, "Dinosaur," which Angie didn't see because she convinced herself it was going to be too scary. She buried her face in Laci's arm the whole time. We went on a Kilimanjaro Safari, a Kali River Rapids ride (which we got soaked on), and the Expedition Everest ride. We were able to take Tai on the TriceraTop Spin (man, it was fun!), but all the other rides were too big for her. We also watched some awesome shows, like "Finding Nemo, the Musical", "It's Tough To Be a Bug", and Laci's favorite, "The Lion King"!
We ended earlier this night because Animal Kingdom closed earlier than the other parks.

Day Six: Sea World! It was hot, it was crowded, and it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but we still had fun. Surprisingly enough, the biggest disappointment was "The Main Attraction," the "Shamu Show." It was a lot of inspirational garbage about people living up to their dreams of being marine biologists, then about five minutes of whales doing jumps. We also watched a dolphin show called "Blue Horizons," but our favorite show was "Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island," which was a Sealion show--it was very entertaining. We went to a couple of the exhibits, like the stingrays (where we actually got to pet the slimy things!), the Dolphin Lagoon (where we tried to pet them, but only succeeded in getting close enough that I got splashed by one of them), the sharks, and Tailynne's favorite, the penguins (a girl after her dad's own heart). At the resort that night, just sitting around and visiting, Tailynne took her first steps on her own! Hooray! Lock the cabinets!

Day Seven: We lounged around the resort and packed in the morning. Tailynne went swimming in her onesy (why did we pack a swim suit?). We caught our shuttle back to the airport, and flew back to Colorado. Our flight was SOOO much longer than the one to Orlando. Randy ran ahead of us when we reached DIA so he could fix the flat tire while we tried to maneuver all the luggage. Randy was almost finished with the tire change when we reached the car, so we got on our way pretty quickly. We stopped at a Village Inn for dinner to avoid a traffic jam caused by a car accident only to catch another traffic jam due to a motorcycle accident... never fails. We got back to Alamosa around one on Sunday morning, and got to give talks in church that day!

It was a fun but exhausting trip. We were all glad to be home in our own beds.

Tai's First Trip to the Dunes

While my parents were down visiting us to celebrate graduation/Tai's birthday, we were able to take a couple hours and go out to the sand dunes. We weren't actually at the dunes for a couple hours--that includes driving time. We were probably only there for a half an hour at the most. It was Tai's first time, and she wanted to go in the water so bad, but we wouldn't let her because it was way too cold, and even if it hadn't been cold, she didn't have her bathing suit with her. We'll have to go back when it's warmer so she can play in the water.

Thom Graduated and Tailynne Turned 1 Year Old

Thom Graduated from Adam State College on May 10th 2008. He graduated Magna Cum Laude (Congratulations Thom we are so proud of you!) We had a fun little BBQ at my sister Micah's house to celebrate that and Tailynne's 1st Birthday. We were happy that both Thom's parents and my parents were able to join us. Along with Micah, Randy, Angelyn, Ben, Caden and Thom's friend Ren.

We also celebrated Tailynne's Birthday a day early, due to the fact that her birthday was spent in a car, an airport, an airplane, another airport, and a shuttle. Anyway, more about that later. She got lots of nice presents for her birthday including a memory book, a cute pink hoodie outfit, a green dress, and a walk and ride toy. Which do you think was her favorite? The answer... the ribbon tied around one of her packages. She loves it. Why did we buy her presents again? She also enjoyed her cake. Here are some cute pictures.

Let's Go Fly Some Kites

There were kites on sale at City Market not long ago, so Laci and I bought a few for a family reunion. Of course we had to try them out first. We've had a great time flying the ones we've opened so far, which include a dragon kite, an airplane kite, and one that is over six feet tall!!! Laci had never flown a kite before we bought the ones from City Market, and she did very well for a first-time flyer. The last time I flew a kite before this was a few years ago when I flew one on a p-day while I was on my mission. We had a great time. Tailynne loved watching the kites fly, too.