Estes Park, CO

Friday after school, I hopped on a plane and flew to Colorado to spend Labor Day weekend with Autrey and the rest of the Duke crew. We stayed in Estes Park at a vacation home right on the river. After a month and a half of being apart, I was just happy to see Autrey. The fun vacation part with the rest of the fam was just a great perk. On Saturday, the girls went to check out the arts and craft fair downtown. Then we all went mini golfing, including Maggie. She even got a hole-in-one. Me, not so much. I could use the excuse that Lori basically hit it for her, but I don't think it makes the situation sound any better.

Chillin' on the deck while the burgers were cooking:

After our BBQ, we watched BYU pull out a major upset win over Oklahoma on the huge flatscreen down in "our room." (Instead of sleeping separately on the other set of bunk beds in the same room as Crystal and Natalie, we took the top 2 twin mattresses and put them together on the living room floor. I like to think of it as camping indoors.)

Grammy with the babies in the morning:
On a walk with Tommy behind the house:On Sunday, we hiked around Bear Lake. It was absolutely gorgeous, as you can see:



Autrey and Danny decided to climb straight up the side of the mountain and hide to scare everyone else as they came around the corner. Here they are on their descent:

The rest of the family headed back after hiking around Bear Lake, but the 3 of us wanted to hike to Alberta Falls as well. I love this picture of us:

We saw all sorts of wildlife on our trip. The animals were not shy, that's for sure. I set my camera case down to take a picture and this little guy ran right up next to me to check it out:

This big elk wasn't shy either. He is looking at the camera because Autrey decided to get a closer shot and had just stepped on a stick near him, giving him a good startle. Real smooth, I know. I am pretty sure the elk is deciding whether he should come after my crazy husband or not:

We worked up an appetite after all of the walking around. Autrey and I came back and made BBQ chicken, shrimp, and veggies. We grilled pineapples and peaches for dessert. Actually, he did the marinating and BBQing. I just helped with the chopping and skewering:

Autrey takes his grilling very seriously. I apparently broke his cardinal rule by interrupting his cooking to take a picture, thereby jeopardizing the perfection of his culinary masterpiece. The expression on his face should have been my first clue he didn't want to be trifled with. That's why he looks a little bit psychotic. Totally my fault. He didn't want me to post this one, but he can't stop me from down in Texas:

On Labor Day, before we all drove back to Denver to catch our flights back to our various destinations, we went mini-golfing again at a different course and went to look at the various lakes in the area. We stopped at Lake Estes where Matt, Allyson, Autrey, and I rode the buggy/bicycles around it:

We hopped off the bikes to check out the "elks/mooses," as Autrey and Matt were calling them: *shaking head*

This weekend was great. I'm sure it will be our last care-free vacation for a while!