Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day weekend we did a little trip to the mountains. On Saturday, we left, got stuck in traffic and finally made it to Rifle, CO late afternoon. We first went to Rifle Falls which were actually really neat!



We could walk up behind the falls to see the view and the whole place was covered in really neat caves too.








Everything there was so pretty, someone was even holding a wedding there off to the side!
We hiked along a small trail behind the falls too and when we got to the top of the hill we had these beautiful views!



A few miles from Rifle Falls is the Rifle Gap which is this really pretty manmade lake in the middle of the hills there. You can't quite tell from the pictures, but the water was such a pretty blue!
Everything was so pretty up there, I really loved the scenery and the weather was just perfect. Things finally started to cool a bit just in time for Labor Day weekend, so it was a really nice afternoon. That night we found a restaurant in Rifle and then we headed to our hotel back in New Castle and took Jacob swimming for the rest of the evening.

Sunday we headed back to Rifle and went to one hour of church. Luke had served in that ward as a missionary so that was a little neat to go back, but he only recognized one person. Afterwards, we checked out of our hotel and headed to a park across the street that sat along the Colorado River.
Afterwards, we headed to Glenwood Springs which is where we intended to spend most of the weekend. But we just drove through town, got a quick lunch, then decided that since both the boys were ready for a nap it would be easiest to just drive on home, which was about a 2.5 hour drive from there. So even though it made for a quick weeknd trip, the boys slept all the way home and Luke and I enjoyed the beautiful drive as the trees were just barely starting to change colors.
Monday was Labor Day and so I got to dress my boys as twins again. It's funny how much bigger Blake has gotten since the last time I put them in these shirts on the 4th of July.



Jacob helped me make brownies, and Luke smoked some ribs and made homemade fries for dinner. We ended up eating a lot earlier than expected so we headed to Sloan's Lake just west of downtown and walked around. Again, it was such a perfect weather day!






We had a fun relaxing weekend together as a family!

5 Years Later

Luke and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on August 26. Well, actually we celebrated early on our trip to Vegas, and so we kept it fairly simple on our actual anniversary. But Luke did get me these beautiful roses and a sweet card.

We went out to dinner that night without the kids- for the first time! It was nice to get away real quick from both kids, but that's all it was- real quick. I didn't want to leave Blake for very long yet. So we decided that since we got philly cheesesteaks at the beach on our honeymoon, we would go for some quick philly cheesesteaks again that night. So that was fun :)

And the boys celebrated that day by Blake wearing his "I love mommy" shirt and Jacob was wearing his daddy shirt. They're our biggest fans :)

And I've caught a lot of smiles from our little Blake lately so I had to share. His smiles just make my day! :)
And Jacob has been so sweet with Blake lately too. He likes spending time next to him, and tries to help and always laughs like crazy every time Blake burps. He even tries to pick him up now and will say "I'll feed him"- haha, it's sweet and I love seeing the two of them smile and have fun together, even already.


Here Jacob was trying to show Blake how to ride a horse, haha.

I was also excited to have my friend Shandra practice her photography skills and take some pictures of us. Jacob and Blake didn't quite cooperate and smile as much as I would have liked, but we did get a couple cute ones and here are just a few of my favorites:







And I still like this last one even though Jacob is making his "mean" face and Blake is crying- I guess it's just a "reality" picture. As I think back on the last 5 years that Luke and I have been married, not everything has been smooth and perfect but I do feel like things keep getting better every year. And at times I do get stressed and annoyed and overwhelmed with my boys, but I still wouldn't trade it for anything. I adore my sons (and my husband!) to pieces and I am quite happy with the life I live now. When Luke and I were married, if we projected what our life would be like in 5 years, I'm pretty sure I'm living it now- it's just what I want and where I want to be. And although we have our non-picture perfect moments, I'm so grateful for my sweet little family!

Millions of Peaches

On our way home from our trip to Utah we made sure to stop at Palisade. Luke has been wanting to go for over a year so that we could pick up a couple of bushels of peaches, since supposedly they have the best!

You could see the peach orchards everywhere and they had a little store right on the road at the edge of the orchard. Anyway, we went ahead and got 3 boxes, which were each a half bushel. And since we mostly just wanted to cut the peaches up into dehydrated slices and make jam we bought the #2 boxes since they were cheaper. So they don't look as pretty but still tasted great on the inside.

Well we got right to work and ever since we've been home it has seriously been a peach factory over here. Luke has made racks and racks of dehydrated peach slices- he wanted enough to last a lifetime! And I've made several batches of jam. This is just a sample of jars I got from just one batch.

And here's how the peaches look when they're done drying- yum. We've had fun working on the peaches together, and needless to say, we'll be able to enjoy these peaches for a long time!