FORE!!!

I had some much needed down-time in my photography schedule this week! After the first couple weeks of the month, I was already feeling spread a little thin, so I decided to only take a few bookings for the last week of the month. I still had plenty to keep me busy. Editing sessions and finishing up weddings invites for my two September weddings clients! 

We were all a little in shock to have a FREE evenings! No swimming, no pictures for Mommy, no working late for Daddy, and nice weather! So, we ate dinner and headed out to the golf course. We've been members of the Country Club for a couple months now, and Justin has certainly been playing enough to get our money's worth :) They have great rates for membership, and Justin's friends were planning to join as well, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity. The course is beautiful, and Justin LOVES that he never has to make a tee time. I LOVED that we only saw three other people the entire nine holes we played. It was so peaceful. We're also looking forward to attending some social functions (wine and beer tastings, live music, etc.), and having one more place we can go to dinner. My parents have a pool, so I'm not sure we'll use the Country Club's much, but Justin also uses their indoor racquetball court.

Just last weekend, I had a photo session with a family that lives on the golf course. They have two older boys that golf all the time, so doing their pictures on the course was the perfect setting.

We forgot to grab some of Barrett's real clubs, so he used one we had in the Jeep!

It was fun to watch him...especially liked when he was concentrating so hard he would stick his tongue out :)

Let's zoom in on this one for a look at his concentration face!

I'm not sure where this face (above) came from, so I told Barrett not to look so mad...

and we got this. Much better!

The tongue is out again!

I shouldn't be posting the picture above, because when Justin mentioned getting new golf shoes a few weeks ago,
I told him the ones he had were just fine. Hmm...maybe they are getting a bit worn.

It was the perfect evening for it, and Barrett had a blast!
He was so good too. We will be spending a lot of time on the course this Fall. I might even dust off my clubs :)

Speaking of... Justin's out golfing now, and Barrett went with Mimi and the girls out to see Grandma and Grandpa. I'm going to proof my 2009 BLOG BOOK one more time, so I can send it to print. Yep, I did it...July 31st! I waited til the last minute, but it's finally ready!

Big Green Tractor

A couple weeks ago, we spent the evening with friends, at their place on the river.
Barrett loved it: big green tractor, dirt and sand to play cars in, and his friend Addison was there!

Here are a few pictures from our evening...

Goodbye Cabin: Colorado Day 4

Sunday morning, we woke up in our mountain cabin for the last time ;(


Barrett watched some Max & Ruby while I showered.

Because the owners were so gracious to let us use it, we wanted to make sure we left it spotless!
After many loads of laundry, making beds, and scrubbing tubs and toilets...we were ready to head home.

Uncle Bobby kept Barrett entertained while the ladies cleaned.

Justin went for one last hike.
We really wanted to see a moose on this trip...but the moose poop Justin found behind the cabin will have to do.

{a tour of the cabin}

A few gifts we picked up in The Village shops for the cabin owners

 

the view from our front porch

{our upstairs suite}

::The family::

Brandon, Jenn, Justin, Laura, Barrett, Dad and Mom

The camera was set up on a cardboard box :)
We had a take-two

Before leaving Grand Lake, we hiked up to see Adams Falls.

It was a little further than we thought, but so worth it. Thanks to Bobby for carrying Barrett!

It rained pretty hard on our hike back to the car. Daddy had to carry Barrett, and Brandon carried my baby camera under his shirt :) We thought we'd head down the road a little further for lunch, since we'd already eaten at several places in Grand Lake. Well, we didn't realize the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park was so close. Our plan was to take go through the park and into Estes to eat. After stopping several times to photograph wildlife and enjoy the views, we made it through in about three hours. Barrett fell asleep just before we entered the park and slept the entire way! We were just about 100 yards into the park when we spotted our first elk! It was so exciting. We pulled the cars over and everyone jumped out. I hurried to get my zoom lens on. They were quite a ways from the road, but still beautiful! We stopped several more times after that to see more elk.

Simply breath-taking views! God is AMAZING!!

Barrett woke up just as we were exiting the National Park. There were a lot of winding roads, and the poor little guy got sick. He'd been up for about 30 minutes, then I noticed he got really quiet. Thankfully Mama was on it fast, and Gigi had LOTS of napkins in the glove-box, so it wasn't too bad :) We finally reached Estes Park...starving! After looking for a parking spot for 10 minutes, we decided to drive on through. It is the cutest place, and I'd love to take Justin back one day. I remember going there as a child. BUT this time, we were just too worn out to deal with all those people! As we drove through, Brandon said it looked like a "tourist trap." So, we drove just a bit further and found a Chili's. By the time we got there...it was 5pm! So much for lunch, it was supper time!

After dinner, we said goodbye to Brandon and Jenn! They had a 3-4 hour drive back to Sidney, and we planned to drive a bit further and stay the night in a hotel. Barrett had fun swimming in the hotel pool, and sleeping in a big room with Gigi and Papa. Monday morning, we got up and finished the drive back to Winfield. It seemed so much longer than the drive there!

It was a great trip!! Looking forward to visiting Colorado again soon, and looking forward to next Summer's vacation with ALL the family. We missed having Brian and his family there.