Colorado

Hello all! We are finally back from our vacation in Colorado which turned out to be a bittersweet experience. We visited Greg's grandmother for the last time. Her health had been declining in the past year and about a week before we arrived at her home, she was admitted to the hospital. We were able to visit her several times in the hospital before she passed away. Unfortunately we could not stay for the funeral because Greg had already taken a week off of work. Greg was happy that he talked to her and said his goodbyes the day before she passed on. Grandma Gorby will be missed.

We had a lot of fun in Colorado visiting family and friends. The weather was perfect and the scenery was amazing. The girls enjoyed looking for horses, cows and deer every time we got into the car for a drive. Greg and I enjoyed taking walks around the small town in the evenings. Almost every night Greg's dad got us together for a couple of games of spinner, which I completely "rocked at" the first time I played it. After that, I did not have the best luck. We all gorged ourselves on desserts. By the end of the week I was on sugar overload and for the first time in my life, I did not want to eat dessert. Now I am on a two week sugar detox diet.

We all learned that Morgan is a natural fisher. Greg's uncle Frank took Morgan, Greg and Dean fishing and Morgan "outfished" them all. She caught 3 fish on her own. Frank baited and cast the line for her and she hooked and reeled in 3 beautiful trout. Greg was so excited for her that he almost forgot to take pictures. The next night we ate some very tasty trout. Thanks Morgan!

The 4th of July in Paonia is a lot of fun for families. Festivities start July 3rd with exhibits, booths and activities all around town. The town has a large park to accommodate the carnival and food and craft booths. We entered Morgan into a competition for young kids that included tug-o-war, a potato sack race, water balloon tossing and a cherry pie eating contest. Morgan was not to crazy about the pie eating contest, so Taylor finished the pie for her! On the 4th, we started our day at the pancake breakfast sponsored by the police department. Then we lined up on Main Street for the "Cherry Days" parade. The pictures of Morgan and Taylor show their excitement at seeing horses and ponies, old fashioned cars, and clowns on bicycles. They also enjoyed collecting candy that the parade participants threw into the crowds. Taylor did not waste one minute enjoying her candy. After the parade we took the girls to the carnival for 45 minutes until the heat forced us to return home. The 4th was actually the hottest day of the trip. Later that day we returned to the carnival for more rides and snow cones. Just before the sun went down we drove up to the cemetery, of all places, to watch the fireworks show. Paonia has not had a fireworks show for years because it is always too dry. The whole town was excited to finally see a fireworks show put on by the fire department. After about 3 or 4 fireworks, the ground caught on fire and the show was cancelled. We did see a few more illegal fireworks set off by a group of people at the cemetery, but we decided to leave in case a fire broke out there as well. All in all, it was a fun day and now every time Morgan sees an American Flag she thinks it is the 4th of July. I hope as the girls grow up they will not be embarrassed to show respect for our flag and national anthem. Our nation may not be perfect, but I feel blessed to live here and I am grateful to the men and women in our armed forces who put their lives on the line for the rest of us.