Muller Family + Colorado = Fun

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The Mullers are in Colorado! That's right...our dear friends from Omaha, NE came out for a few days to visit and we had a blast. These should be familiar faces to you if you've been around my blog for awhile. After spotting each other at the Des Moines Farmer's Market in the summer of 2004 (both of us slinging our babes)...we decided we had much in common and have been hanging out  for the past 7 years.

So...what did we do?

We smooshed into our van so we could drive around together and do fun stuff.

Isaiah stalked all of the best skate parks...and we loved watching his sweet tricks.

We played A LOT.

We drove up to Nederland and enjoyed the mountain views.

Denise showed up sporting brand new baby dreads...how cute is she?! I was so excited to see she finally did it!

We spent time on Pearl Street.

And found cool new shops.

We hiked up the trails at Chautauqua and I only had to stop 4 times to catch my breath. To my defense, I was carrying an almost 2-year-old and a very heavy camera. :)

All smiles on the way DOWN!

The kids loved climbing on the rocks.

We showed those mountains who was boss!

We ate lots and lots of yummy food...John Henry and Annora have celiac disease, so we were on the hunt for gluten-free and vegetarian options. Boulder has LOTS of that...and we were pleased.

But most importantly...we spent time talking about life. Laughing together over tea and other delicious hot beverages. Reminiscing about times gone by. Reconnecting with old friends is the best.

We can't wait to see them again SOON. We crammed a lot of goodness into just 3 days, but there is still so much to do! You can see the full set of photos here.

Oh, and be sure to check out John Henry's company, What Cheer. If you need a website created...he is your man. Seriously. He rocks. And if you live near Omaha...go to one of Denise's classes at Bhadra Yoga. She just started teaching there and she's amazing.

We have two more sets of friends coming to visit in the next 2 weeks...the Hasslers from Indiana and Monica from Portland. Yippeeeee!! I'm more than a little excited.

Hope you're all having a great week!

A Quiet House

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Our house is quiet today.

Dan and Laura flew home Monday. Nana and Papa left this morning. Bella is out running errands with Jess. Lucy is asleep.

I wanted to share a photo of my new "Happy Wall" with you. I printed out a bunch of photos from our travels taken with the ShakeItPhoto app on my iPhone. Matt hung some ribbons on the wall and then we secured them with some clothespins. I love having our favorite memories out there for us to see every day!

Speaking of photos, I don't even want to think about how long it's going to take to edit all the photos I took this weekend! :) We're slowly getting back into our normal routine after having such an enormous amount of fun!

And now, I think I will put down the computer and settle into my corner for a cup of hot tea and a good book.

Busy and Beautiful

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Bella turned SEVEN today...so the morning started with a celebration!

We had breakfast, a candle, and presents... and Jess surprised Bella and drove up from Boulder with her favorite treats from Starbucks!

The next stop was dropping Bella off at "Raccoon Clan"... her nature/survival day school.

The land where they meet is so beautiful! I will be blogging about it soon...

Nana and Papa arrived from Iowa while she was gone...so they went with us to pick her up. It was a fun surprise!!

When we got back to the house, Laura and Dan had arrived from Minneapolis and were waiting impatiently in the front yard :)

Such sweet reunions...

We went out to the Pumphouse Brewery for supper. We laughed, ate delicious food, drank margaritas, teased each other, encouraged each other, and just had a fabulous time together. Everyone is in town except for my brother Michael (we miss you!!) :)

We ended the evening with a "family viewing" of last night's American Idol performance and tonight's results show. I feel so blessed that my family is so stinkin' amazing...we have such fun together. It's like spending time with my best friends.

Looking forward to an amazing weekend with them! I'll be taking the weekend "off" from the Internet to focus fully on my family. Can't wait to connect with you all next week!