Our Colorado vacation began when Ellary and I flew to Salt Lake City just in time for my oldest niece, Ashley, to have her first baby, a daughter named Ylena. Kris, Alyson and Kourtney arrived in Grand Junction 5 days later on the 16th of June via car. It was so good to see them again.
Ashley did an amazing job especially considering her long labor (32 hours). What a trooper! Ylena is beautiful, and I am very happy I could be there for the special occasion. My mom and dad, great grandparents for the 3rd time, were present at the hospital too.
Ylena was a beautiful baby from the very beginning.
Here is Ylena with her proud daddy, Mark, shortly after her birth and bath.
June 17th, 2009-Our 10th Anniversary!
Kris and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary on June 17th. Wow! So, we celebrated it in style by taking a trip to Vail, Colorado...And of course, we left the kids behind. They had a great time with their grandparents while Kris and I had a great time together...Alone! Funny though, so frequently we saw things the girls would have liked to see or do that we couldn't forget about the little princesses we left at home. Here's to 10 more and many more wonderful years!
Here is a card I made Kris for our anniversary. We ate most of the candy while we were in Vail.
Vail Village
This is where we had our anniversary dinner. Surf and Turf...Yum!
Handsome husband + beautiful Colorado Columbines= Very Memorable Picture 
We took a hike up a waterfall along East Vail. It was beautiful.
We celebrated Father's Day when Kris and I got back from our Anniversary trip to Vail. The girls made a special card with Oma and Kris and I returned from our trip with a pillow shaped like a bear for "Papa Bear". Kris got some clothes, including a much needed MSU polo shirt and a neck tie with a picture of the girls on it.
Kris' mom, Eleonore, went to the temple for the very first time on June 27th. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful experience for her and everyone who joined her for the session. She left the temple saying,"I don't know what took me so long." Congratulations, Mutti!
Alyson, Kourtney and Ellary spent the whole day with Papa Bear playing with chalk and riding their bikes on the driveway while we attended the temple with Mutti. He also painted their fingernails. Here are a few chalk pics drawn by Alyson.
Alyson's Rendition of "Oma"at the Temple
Alyson's Rendition of Papa holding Ellary
Here Alyson and Kourtney are displaying their newly painted fingernails compliments of Papa.
Kris and his nephew Leighton took an all day trip down the Colorado River in a raft. They had a blast!
Mom and I took the girls to story time at the Mesa County Public Library one time as well. Here they are with their t-shirts to promote the summer reading program.
Alyson, Kourtney and I had lunch with my friend Angela. Here is a picture of our girls...Tyra (5), Kourtney (4), Anna (3), and Alyson (6). 
We went fishing two times while in Colorado. The first time was spent at Corn Lake (no pictures), and the second was spent on the Grand Mesa. Let's just say we caught our limit and had a great big fish fry a few days later. We also caught a few rays, a few mosquito bites and had a wonderful time!
We spent several Thursday evenings on Main Street at the Farmer's Market. We had so much fun seeing the vender's products, eating and dancing. Kris' nephew Leighton, his mom and brother and sister went to the market with us once too.
Mom (Nana) also took Alyson and Kourtney on hikes. Here is a picture of Mom with Koco at Connected Lakes and a picture of Mom and Alyson on Serpents Trail.
As with tradition, we spent the 4th of July at Lincoln Park. Kris and the kids swam most of the day while the rest of us held down the fort (a spot on the lawn to view the fireworks from), and just enjoyed some time together. My sister Renee and her husband, Rod and kids Jordann, Aubrey, Eli and Josh came for a visit from Utah (also keeping with tradition), and Mutti's sister, Uta and her husband Jim, pleasantly surprised us at the park. We had a great time!
Here Kris is doing acrobatics off the high dive.
Alyson jumped off the high dive with no reservation whatsoever. And she kept doing it over and over again! 
We stopped in Nauvoo, Illinois on our way back to Michigan so we could visit some friends we made when we were living in Bloomington. We had a fun time with the McConnel family and hope to get together with the again soon. The first two pictures were taken at a stop along our drive to Nauvoo.
The Beautiful Nauvoo Temple
Here are our kids and the McConnel kids at the Cultural Hall in Nauvoo (Eva, Kourtney, Alyson, Ellary, Eli, Ellary and Ezra). We got Ellary's name from the McConnel's family...obviously!
Here is a friendly cat outside the hotel. Ellary couldn't get enough of it.
Our sleeping beauties! They wore themselves out playing with the McConnel kids. We drove home later that morning, about an 8 hour drive. After such a great trip to Utah and Colorado, we were happy to be home. Many thanks to everyone who helped us make many special memories! 
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