Vacation, Part 2

So, horseback riding. I hadn't ridden in FOREVER, and lately it has been all I can think about. (Our ride in Vernal has cured me of that obsession, at least for a few days!) My mom's former co-worker has horses, so she called and asked if we could ride. He was pretty worried about it, because apparently one of his horses, Bailey, is quite gentle and easy to ride and the other...well, suffice it to say his name is Turbo. So my mom's friend was afraid one of us might get hurt. But Amy and I both used to teach horseback riding lessons, so my mom was confident we could handle it, and told him so. He wasn't so convinced, but he agreed to let us ride them anyway. We had a blast, going on a little trail ride and literally running and running and running the horses up and down hills and up and down the road, etc. It was GREAT!! I love to ride, because there's nothing quite like the feeling of the wind blowing through your hair, when the only things that matter in the world are you, the horse, and keeping your butt in the saddle. :) Hard to think about all the drama and craziness life throws at you when you're just trying not to fall off a huge animal hurdling down the road at breakneck speeds, eh?!

So I think my mom's friend figured out we really do know how to ride about the time we galloped up the road and stopped right in front of him. :) It was a great time.

Anyway, the rest of the time we just hung out with friends and fam, played my parents' Wii (which, by the way, if you haven't played with a Wii--soooooo fun!), and hung out. I highly recommend Wii Olympics. It's a blast. And watching Brookie box was pretty awesome, too! (Can I just mention how fun it is that my sister married the brother of a good high school friend, so now I actually see Brooke (Merrell) Alexander all the time!! Love it!)

Amy and I drove back the ol' Vail Pass way to Denver (also gorgeous!), picked Ster up, who'd been working in Grand Junction all week and missing out on all the fun, and headed out to dinner, then to visit Janna and Ryan and their kiddies.

Joe and Ben are AWESOME!! I've spent some time with Joseph before, and man is that kid adorable!! I've never seen a kid that age obsessed with Star Wars before, but he can't get enough. And Ben--what a great baby!! I don't think he cried the whole time we were there. They are sooooo cute. It was great to see Jan and Ryan again--twice a year is totally not enough. Jan and I have been friends since we were ten, and I introduced her to Ryan when we were freshman in college (Ryan and I worked together), so it's especially fun for me to see how they're doing and watch their family grow. :)

Anyway, Jan invited us over for brunch on my way to the airport, so she made us an awesome breakfast/brunch and we had a little photo op...that went on and on and on...that Joseph likes to be the center of attention! :) It was great to see them. Then my awesome sister and brother-in-law dropped me off at DIA, and it was the end of vacation for me.

The flight back was amazing, flying RIGHT next to the top of Mt. Hood as we came into Portland. It got even more amazing when my fabulous boyfriend brought me flowers at the airport and insisted on buying me tea at Starbucks! :) He's great. Then we went out for dinner and went to see "Kung Fu Panda" (which I HIGHLY recommend, by the way--it's hilarious!! And not just for kiddos, either).

So there you have it. That was my vacation. :) I feel like I just wrote a high school essay or something. :)