We spent the past week in Gunnison, Colorado with Joel's parents visiting Jarrod and Michelle. It was beautiful there! The weather was also perfect! I definitely liked the thought of it not ever really being very hot! We got there Sunday evening. Michelle made us a diaper cake!
We stayed at Three Rivers Resort in Almont. It was a nice cabin and I highly recommend it!
Monday we woke up and went for a 6 mile hike (3 in, 3 out) up to Lamphier Lake. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be but definitely worth the work! :) It was so nice and relaxing (when we took breaks) just being out in nature and enjoying life. We had to cross two small creeks along the way. The dogs did not like crossing on logs very much but we made it across! We stopped at a lower lake along the way to try some fishing. Jesse was the only one to hook into a cutthroat at that time. I just wondered around and relaxed and caught my breath from the hike up. We then continued on to the top, up to Lamphier Lake. It was beautiful up there. We got a little rain storm with some hail, but it did not last long. The boys did some more fishing but did not have much luck up there either. They caught a few. We then headed back down. We had to stop again at the lower lake for Jarrod and Joel to do some fishing. They ended up catching some really nice cutthroats. Jesse, Donna, the dogs, and I began to make our way down while the boys finished up fishing. They caught up to us pretty quickly anyways! It was a very nice hike. I can't wait to go back and do another hike to another beautiful place (when I'm not pregnant!!). This is our "family photo" at the top of the hike:
After the hike we headed back into town for dinner and the fireworks show! We went to a park in Gunnison. Michelle's EMS group was doing a cookout with the police and firefighters at the park for the fireworks. It was one of the best firework shows I've ever seen! We were really close to the fireworks. Ranger would bark at them at the beginning, but then he calmed down and started to enjoy it a little more. Zee was pretty scared and did not look at a single one! She just hid under Joel's legs the whole time. We really enjoyed the show, though.
Everyone was exhausted afterword! We went straight home, showered, and were all wiped out! Tuesday, Joel and Jesse went up to Blue Mesa to kayak and do some fishing. They did not have any luck at all! Donna and I walked around Gunnison checking out all of the little shops and just taking it easy. We then went up to Crested Butte to meet Michelle for an easy wildflower hike. It was a little rainy, but that made it kind of nice and cool for the hike. The flowers were very pretty. Wednesday we went to the Taylor River Reservoir just up the road from our cabin. I relaxed, enjoyed the scenery, and took pictures of Joel fishing and Jesse and Donna on their kayaks. Joel and Jesse both caught quite a few fish up there. I then took my turn out in the kayak. I was a little nervous about my balance and did not want to fall into the freezing water! I did good. I got out to where Jesse was and tossed my line in the water. I hooked a fish! I got so excited I couldn't decide whether to keep reeling it in or to get the camera out so I could get a picture and I lost the fish when he was a couple feet from my kayak! :( Then the wind and clouds rolled in and it got a little too choppy out there for us so Jesse and I headed in to shore. We then went below the dam to the catch-and-release area where the fish were huge! Joel and Jesse worked so hard to catch some of those fish! Jesse caught a couple of nice fish and after a lot of hours of work, Joel caught his nice brown trout too.
We then headed back to the cabin for spaghetti and Jarrod made homemade ice cream for dessert! Yum! :)
After dinner we went to Jarrod's slowpitch softball games. He hit a homerun on his first at-bat. I don't know if his team won either game, though. Thursday morning we woke up pretty early, got packed up, and headed back home to the Texas heat. We had such a wonderful time visiting Jarrod and Michelle. I wish we could get up there more to spend time with them. It is such a nice place. I always tell Joel he is more than welcome to find a good job in Colorado! :)
Friday I spent most of the day just relaxing and catching up from the trip. I had my maternaty-leave meeting at school to find out how much money I will lose for being out once my days are up :( = not fun at all! I know God will take care of us and provide, though, so we are just trusting in Him through it all! Last night for dinner I made mom's crab-crusted tilapia recipe using some of our trout from Roaring River. It was delicious! Joel was very impressed with the feast we had last night! This morning I went to a breastfeeding class. I learned a lot about it and what things you need or don't really need at all. It definitely made me feel a little more confident about breastfeeding once Sawyer gets here. Speaking of Sawyer, she is definitely growing and taking up lots of room in there! I'm getting bigger every day and getting more and more ready for her to get here! She moves like crazy all throughout the day and night. It is one of the weirdest feelings to have something moving around inside of you like that! I heard some of the women talking this morning about how they only got 2 or 3 hours of sleep because their baby was moving so much...I'm not looking forward to that!! I love my sleep! Tonight we're going to have dinner with some good friends, Omar and Miriam. Miriam is due July 26th so I'm interested to see how she is doing! I haven't seen her since the first week of June. Monday I leave for Austin to see dad and to get a 3D/4D sonogram. I'm pretty excited. Joel won't be able to make the trip because he has to work, but it will be nice to spend some time with dad. :) I'm very excited to see Dad and to get to spend some time with him. This summer has been so much fun and full of adventures. I hate to see it coming to an end. I know we have a lot of other, different adventures ahead of us with Sawyer on the way too!
Here is a link to the rest of the photos from our Gunnison vacation on Joel's facebook:
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Love yall!