treasures for me...

For the past few days the girls have wanted to spend more time outside in this beautiful weather. Their favorite thing to do? Collect "treasures" for me. They walk in excitedly with their finds and present them proudly to me. It makes me smile and thank God for these simple moments.

aubrey's 4th birthday

Here you go, Erin. ;)

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We celebrated Aubrey's birthday a few weeks early this year. Spring Break always gets in the way of my daughter's birthday. :)

This year Aubrey decided she wanted a rainbow painting party. I had so much fun doing this for her and it was by far the most fun and laid back (even with all the paint!).

Now on to the good stuff; the pictures...

Before the party started we gave Aubrey her (almost) new bike. She was so excited.

As friends showed up we headed off to paint our canvases in the backyard- but not before gathering some inspiration.

We had all types of artists...

Serious artists

And silly...

But I think everyone had a good time.

Then after a lot of washing and an entire roll of paper towels...

it was on to lunch and cake! After thanking God for our food of coarse.

And I know I should have been focused on the prayer instead of snapping this picture. But come on, how precious are these boys?! I think even God was a bit distracted from Jeff's prayer by this cuteness!

Aubrey held her cake most of the morning and would tell anyone who would listen, "This is my cake!" Precious.

My mom spent hours on the cake and cupcakes! Isn't she great?!

And then the reason we have birthdays at our house... for this moment right here; the singing! My flash batteries died, but still... You can see the look of sheer delight on her face. She would look up at everyone singing to her then grin and look down. It makes me tear up every. single. time.

Then we opened presents. I loved how the kids all sat around Aubrey, got excited with her and tried to help her open everything!

Then it was time to hug friends and family goodbye.

After naps, our family of 4 ended the day with leftovers and a trip to the park to run off all the sugar.

And can I just say, my girls have the most fun dad.

I'm not nearly as much fun but I am desperately in love with my girls.

Happy Birthday, sweet Aubrey!

angel fire

We took a trip this week to Angel Fire, NM with our dear friends the Kelsos and Drennons. When we all talked about this trip is was just in passing and seemed liked a stretch for us all to make it work. But with a lot of planning, hard-work, favor asking and bribery....we made it. Without the kids! My brother and sister-in-law bravely agreed to add our 2 girls to their 3 boys for the week- we appreciate you guys so much!

Usually I just document my favorite memories from a trip and try to keep it short. But for some reason I'm in the mood to journal our daily activity. Feel free to skip my rambling since this is for us anyway. :)

We left Saturday morning and drove 10 hours to Las Vagas, NM. I'll admit, I was dreading the drive but it turned out to be a lot of fun. We talked, read, watched movies, got out and stretched our legs by running around an abandoned shack, ate at Freebirds, heard random trivia from Mat, and saw a bunch of towns that I am thankful not live in.

Jeff even got a little nap.

Freebirds in Lubbock.

Trying to act like I'm okay with my half of our Super Monster.
I am always embarrassed to order this big thing with Jeff but since we like the same burrito it's cheaper to split it than ordering 2 smaller burritos. Dave Ramsey would be proud, right?

Once in Las Vegas, NM, (our stopping point for the day) there wasn't much to do. So what did the guys do? See who could throw rocks the farthest, of coarse. It was hilarious hearing them discuss distance, arch, arm strength, etc. Women are made so different than men.

Our 2 choices for dinner that night, The Plaza Hotel or a New Mexican Restaurant. We chose...

Since everything closed at 8 we headed back to the hotel to watch Princess Bride and get some rest. It was a bit awkward sleeping 6 people in 1 room, but cheap!

On Sunday morning we ate a leisurely breakfast and then we all finished our drive to the Angel Fire Resort a few hours away.

We all settled in our lodge and got ready to ski.

Once on the mountain everyone enrolled in "Jeff Ski School" and I got a refresher coarse. Some of us listened to Jeff's instructions and others decided to zoom down the mountain with only a few instructions. Ahem, Tim. :)

After a 1/2 day of skiing we had dinner at Zeb's restaurant and then went to get some groceries. And a few more things...

A storm blew in while we were out and we ended up getting stuck going up hill to our lodge. Thankfully the brakes on our car worked well and held us until someone stopped to help tow us up the hill. An Aggie, by the way. :) Our guys were completely calm and amazing. I was freaking out a little while Lora stayed silent and Megan found the emergency lights and then took pictures. :)

We finished off the evening by playing Catch Phrase. The girls lost miserably.

We had over a foot of fresh powder the next morning.

Jeff and I headed out to enjoy a full day of skiing together while the others relaxed for awhile at the cottage before joining us. I loved skiing with Jeff and trying some tricky and steep "blue" slopes with him. I think he was a little proud of me. :)

While Jeff and I got in some extra skiing time that morning
the others played in the snow...

The rest of Monday I got to ski mostly with Megan and Jeff. It was a blast and one of my favorite parts of the trip.

That night we had an amazing dinner at The Roasted Clove. The sign on the door said "Top 10 Restaurants" which we laughed at because there's only about 10 in Angel Fire anyway. But, our Fillet Mignon burger was amazing and the cheapest thing on the menu. Yum.

Tuesday was another full day of skiing. We were all exhausted but had a blast skiing on the back side of the mountain this time.

Taking a break by the fire.

That night we packed up, took some more pictures and drove overnight to get back home. We had such an amazing, adventurous time!

Tim, Megan, Mat and Lora- we love you guys and feel blessed to have you as friends. Not only do we appreciate your friendship but we have so much fun with you all.