Over the river and through the woods........

TO GRANDMOTHER'S HOUSE WE GO! (Note: This is a long one!)

We are back home - safe and sound - from our vacation to Colorado! We had such a wonderful time and I'm so thankful that we were able to go and spend that time with my family! They are the most wonderful people and I love them so very much! My girls were completely spoiled (even more spoiled than I could have imagined) - lucky ducks! I was actually pretty spoiled myself while visiting! Thank you so much, Mom & Dad for EVERYTHING! You guys are the greatest!

To prove just how easy it is to be a grand kid, here are a few things that my sweet little Taylor did while in Colorado that my parents simply smiled and thought was completely cute:

1.) Tay got into my mom's lipstick and painted it all over some of her pictures frames and one of the bookcases. My mom just told her, "Thank you so much for coloring me a picture, Taylor."

2.) My parents have a mini fridge in their bedroom just for bottles of water and one morning my dad went to grab one and noticed it was completely frozen. He laughed and said out loud, "I wonder who could have turned the temperature all the way up!" They love that little girl!

3.) Those of you who know my mother, she doesn't like getting her hair wet. Like when we go swimming she will always keep her head above water. Well, little Miss Taylor talked her into going into the hot tub not once, but several times and each time my sweet mother was soaked to death by a happy splashing two year old. Taylor even was throwing snow balls at my mom's face and they were both laughing hysterically! It was fun to see my mom so carefree and have so much fun with her little granddaughter! Again, they love that little girl!

4.) When we first arrived we put all our bags in the rooms we would be sleeping in. For some reason I thought I would be able to monitor Taylor and her wardrobe each day. I was way wrong! She helped herself by opening her bag and removing everything all over the floor! I guess so she could easily decide which skirt to wear with which appropriate top. Our room was a disaster all week and my dad didn't even say a word. In fact, the entire house was covered with all of our stuff and they just loved it! A little different from when I was growing up! That was NOT allowed! But when it comes to their grandchildren anything is acceptable!

Nothing too major, but just a few examples of how much my parents love being Grandma Susie & Grandpa Wally!

To sum it all up: We had a perfect trip to Colorado! It was Bentley's first time there and also her first time on an airplane - two big accomplishments for her! Plus, the girls really were so good for me the entire trip! Taylor said it perfectly when we landed back here in Phoenix, "Mommy, let's do that again!" I agree - we need to make those trips more often, but next time we're taking Jordan with us! We missed him a little too much!

We received a package from Grandma Susie a few days before we left for Colorado. It contained some coloring books for Tay and a toy for Beny to take on the plane. Jordan even got some gift cards while we would be gone! It was VERY SWEET, MOM - Thank you!

Taylor on the plane ride over to Denver!

I was able to take the car seat on the plane and Bentley slept nearly the entire flight!

Our first night in Colorado - Taylor was SO excited to see her grandparents....

.....And boy were they excited to see her and Bentley!!!!

Grandma Susie and Taylor dancing in the basement!

We had delicious meals for breakfast and yummy treats at night as we watched fun movies! Of course Taylor was involved in all the cooking and she was Grandma's #1 helper & taste tester!

We found this baby bunny in my parents window well one afternoon. I guess it happens quite often and my parents catch them and free them back into the wild - hopefully finding their parents again. My parents house backs up to a wildlife preserve and they are always seeing all kinds of animals. They even have roaming buffalo! Pretty Crazy!

My sister, Paige was supposed to have a soccer game on Thursday afternoon, but because of all the snow it was rescheduled for Friday afternoon. We all got bundled up BIG TIME to go and cheer her on and we still ended up watching the game from the car....it was bitterly COLD! We had fun being cozy warm!

I'm not sure if I took this picture or if Taylor did, but I absolutely love Bentley's eyes! Her face is just so pure! I love her so much!

Grandpa Wally and Tay filling up the hot tub with more water. For some reason it was a little low on water towards the end of the week. Probably because Miss Splash-A-Lot had to go in it at least once a day. Sometimes twice and even three times one day! Here is the proof of how much time we spent in the hot tub.....

Tay is our little fish! She LOVES the water and is so fearless! I definitely need to get her into swim lessons so I can feel just as brave as her! Thanks - Mom, Dad & Paige for letting her convince you to join her in the "hot tub of chaos" so many times! She had so much fun with all of you!

And then there is Bentley - Our little sweetie pie! Her first trip to Colorado was a great success! She was such a good little baby for me and was non-stop smiles! I just love her to pieces!

Great Grandpa Durdy stopped by to say hello and it was so great to see him! He is doing so good these days for an 83 year old guy! He kept calling the girls "pudding heads" and it was too cute to see him interact with his great granddaughters! He is such a special man to me!

The girls were SO spoiled the entire week! As my mom says, "They can do no wrong!" They even got to play a little pool and do just about whatever they wanted!

My mom, Tay and I (and Baby Shrek) stayed up late one night watching a chick-flick. We made a bed on the floor and giggled together and had so much fun!

Tay riding the "Penny Horse" at King Soopers. She loved it! Oh the good old days when something in this world only cost 1 cent!

The Happy Grandparents!

I LOVE this baby!

My mom had this old toy stove set that I used to play with when I was a little girl. Taylor had so much fun playing with it and pretending to make dinner. Turns out that my mom used to play with that same thing when she was a little girl at her grandma's house. The stove and all it's little gadgets are almost 50 years old! That was neat to watch!

Taylor played and played some more! She played so much that she even took naps during the day! It's been a long time since that has happened! I loved seeing her have so much fun!

Hanging out with Grandpa Wally - waiting for Chester (my parents chocolate lab) to come back home from an adventure in the trees behind there house!

There wasn't much that Taylor didn't LOVE about her trip to Colorado, but she especially loved my dad's Porshe! He took her for a short, safe drive around their neighborhood. It was hard to get her out of it. Later that day I heard a honking noise coming from the garage and when I looked I found her sitting in the Porshe all by herself, waiting for someone to take her for another ride! That kid!

These pictures are probably kind of boring, but I enjoyed looking at all the beautiful scenery so much while I was back home that I felt it necessary to include them. The last picture is of one of the buffalo that we saw - he is on the far right hand side. I can't say it enough just how pretty it was there! It makes me miss the four seasons so much!

Our flight home! I got lucky again and was able to take Bentley's car seat on with me, but that plane couldn't have landed any faster! I was more than ready to touch ground!

Tay watched a movie on the way home which lasted like 10 min. She was so BUSY on the way back! Probably pretty excited to see this handsome guy.......

I think we had enough stuff! We even came back home with one more bag than we left with!

Jordan brought us flowers and was waiting right at the top of the ramp to greet us when we came off the plane! It was SO good to see him! He had a pretty pink & white carnation for each girl and beautiful purple tulips for me! It was really sweet!

He even baked us a cake! We LOVE that guy!

I still need to unpack, but for now most of our belongings are still sitting in our bags in the guest room! Why is that the worst part about going on vacation?!!?

My sister gave Taylor this Baby Shrek doll and she just loves it! We have only been home 2 days and she has taken all of her naps with it!

Life is basically back to normal.....Taylor now has her closet back and is free to pick and choose what she wants to wear for the day. Except now I have been catching her in her sister's closet. The shirt she is wearing here is Bentley's 6-9 months. What am I going to do with her?