denver... the pictures at last

i am just catching up on our doings from the past little bit now that i have some more pictures. i figured since denver was the furthest back, i'd start here.

my mom planned a little sporatic trip to denver, and before she knew it the whole family had decided to make an event out of it. in order to accomodate all of us, my dad decided to rent a yukon xl. we all fit... sometimes. the ride there was short- mostly because we all fell asleep- well everyone but dad who was jamming out to some sweet tunes on his headphones.

by the time we made it to denver, it was sooo late at night. the door was locked at mandy's so we knocked and waited... called mandy and waited... rang and waited... pounded and waited.... repeatedly rang and waited.... listened to her two dogs inside bark at us and waited.... pounded more and waited... glared back at the neighbors who came out to glare at us for making such a scene at 3 in the morning and waited... tried to break in and waited... finally, mandy picked up her phone and in a sleepy stupor came to rescue us. i guess they had a big fan going in their room and somehow were cut off from the whole world. it really made our entrance quite dramatic- i think that is what she was really going for.

we jam-packed the trip with lots to do. mostly i just loved hanging out and chatting with everyone. one aspect of denver i love is all the amazing parks. this is something utah is REALLY missing. we went to a few and let the kids play- but usually we all ended up swinging one another around on some contraption or playing on the swings ourselves.

on saturday, we spent the day at the children's museum and aquarium. i must be pretty emotional because just walking into the children's museum and seeing all those little kids learning and playing made me tear up! it really was a very creative museum and we all had fun. so much fun, in fact, that after lunch the kids went to sleep and all the adults went back to play a little more before we had to go home. we put on a big puppet show- but we got quite a few stares after people started realizing we didn't have any kids with us. i would love to build a big childen's museum one day. that would be the greatest job ever.

the only downside to the museum is wearing these footie socks everywhere...i mean, i don't much like foot fungus- but i don't much like those socks.

on the way home we all crammed into the yukon again to drive home through wyoming. we stopped in a small city and the only food place they had was a taco johns. now i like a good bean burrito just as much as you- but when 8 of us all eat burritos and pack back into a car... let's just say i don't much like them anymore.

grammy especially hated our taco johns decision because she couldn't stand it when we rolled the windows down.

for any of you who have ever driven through wyoming, you are well aware of the palace that is little america. starting 365 miles east, they start advertising with a zillion billboards. i have made this trip so many times and i find that by the time i am to little america- i am so sick of hearing about it. despite all my trips and fake complaining about it, i have never actually been there but secretly always wanted to. to our big surprise, dad pulled off at the exit just so i could see what all this hype is about. it was a highlight to say the least.... the cones really are 50 cents. and yes, i am wearing my brother's size 14 shoes in this pucture because i left mine at mandy's.

in the end, the trip was great and i already miss my sister...