WARNING: This post is long with lots of picture but all of it happened in less than a 2 week period and if I didn't lump it all together, I would have never caught up.
In October, we had family come visit. Not just 1 or people like normal. This time Annie and Brian with their kids plus my parents and Grandma Bonnie all came out over fall break. Ellie was unbelievably excited for them to be coming.
One day, we went and hung out downtown. Annie's family actually made it to the US Mint tour. We missed it but still had fun looking through all the souvenirs. Within walking distance is the City and County Building as well as the Capitol Building. We decided to walk around inside the Capitol building.
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| Sitting on the steps of the Capitol. |
The gold marker on the steps is one of the two newer indicators of the real "One Mile above Sea Level". Technology has changed the measurement twice since the original words were written.
Inside, the colors, architecture, and design were gorgeous. Completely different than what I was expecting having been inside Utah's State Capitol. Of course the kids just wanted to hurry and see everything.
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| Monkey Ellie climbed onto a bench and then into the molding all by herself. |
We actually walked all the way to the top of the building to the dome. It was really fun to see things from a different perspective and learn about the history of Denver and the building. Ellie wasn't really into the building other than trying to jump up and down skinny stairs or wandering outside the protective tape to keep people inside the dome and not on the ledge.
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| Ellie loved having this fan blow into her face. |
We continued walking around on the 16th Street Mall but mostly so we could go see the Big Blue Bear and a few other markers. After all this, we headed to the Museum of Nature and Science. We had so much fun. The current, visiting Dinosaur exhibit is so great. The life-like roaring dinosaur unnerved Ellie slightly but I think she was intrigued. They even took these
fun pictures as you were leaving the exhibit. Loved it.
The next day we headed up the mountains to Georgetown and Idaho Springs. There was window shopping, playing with trains and dinner.
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| Engine in Idaho Springs |
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| Old water wheel decorated for Halloween. |
Saturday we took of early for Colorado Springs to see Air Force Academy and to explore Cave of the Winds. The cave was really cool and they showed you all the fun formations, explained who the cave was discovered, and showed you how people used to enter the cave a long time ago.
We had such a fun time with them. It's always hard when family has to head back home and everyone has to return to regular life; working, studying, hanging out at home, etc.
A few days later some friends, the Stephens, came over so we could carve pumpkins.
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| Ellie loves sticking her hands inside to pull out the guts. |
After helping with the yucky parts, Ellie and her friend Elena painted small pumpkins instead. They loved it.
Ellie actually wanted to sleep in the "dress" she was wearing that night.
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| Our finished projects. Can you tell which one is Jake's? |
At the end of that week, we had an impromptu trip home to Utah. Jake's grandpa had passed away. Earlier in the year, his grandpa was diagnosed with cancer but had undergone surgery and chemo. Things looked good. At a check-up, they found the cancer had come back but had spread to vital parts. They gave him around 6 months. A few days later, the nurse came in to check on grandpa and everything looked fine and an hour after that he was gone.
Friday, we jumped in the car after classes and drove home. Our only hold up was a semi that had been blown off the freeway near Walcott, WY. Passage was blocked for 30-45 minutes as they cleared the road. The next morning, we were again in the car heading to Bluebell for the funeral. It was a good service. Grandkids were encouraged to share their memories of Grandpa. After packing our sack lunches, provided by the wonderful Relief Society there, we again were driving. This time to Price for the burial. The graveside service was short but beautiful. Grandpa was a veteran so the local unit came by for a 21-shot salute and to present Grandma with her flag.
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| A beautiful coffin for a wonderful man. |
Of course, family chatter and kids play after all the seriousness is over.
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| Ellie and daddy having fun. |
Ellie had to explore with the older kids and found one of her favorite things, dandelion puffs. She likes to blow them. This is such a cute picture. Can someone with photo editing capabilities volunteer to remove the boogers off her face? It was a little chilly, ok.
Sunday was a relaxing day, mostly. The kids decided they wanted to "help" Grandpa Steve with the leaves in his yard so the raked some and played some.
Even Ellie and Becca tried to help.
The big kids even got involved a little.
In order to make the pile bigger, they found a wheel barrow to cart leaves from on side of the house to the other. Ellie only liked riding in it when the leaves weren't there.
After a nice family dinner and spending time with the Watterson's, we had to head home on Monday, which was also Halloween. (That's a lot of driving, if your keeping track).
The drive home was slightly more eventful than the drive to Utah.
About 20 miles west of Laramie, WY on I-80, I did something I never wanted to experience again. I am not sure what exactly happened. I have a very patchy memory of the event. I know we rolled and I have been told that the car rolled 4 times. I know several kind people stopped to help us.
We were taken from the crash site to a hospital in Laramie by ambulance. There we were assessed. Ellie, miraculously, was not hurt at all. She never complained about anything hurting and acts like herself (other than she was so happy and kind to the ER doctor but I imagine that was so Jake and I wouldn't have to worry about her). Jake was also released from that hospital. He left with a strained wrist, bruised lungs, some sort of rib problems, a bruised spleen, and quite a few bumps/scratches to the "money maker" (aka his face), including a broken nose. His Halloween picture looks totally realistic. :)
I, on the other hand, was cared for slightly differently. Being 16 weeks pregnant, I was immediately placed on bed rest. The doctors thought they saw slightly placental tears but there hasn't been any bleeding, cramping or anything and the heart rate looks fine and the baby was moving. No worries there. I also had some bruised lungs and an awesome seat belt "floor burn" on my shoulder and collar bone. The biggest problem was the partial collapsed lung. The ER wasn't set up to handle problems like that so I was flown to a trauma center here in Denver while Jake and Ellie waited for a wonderful friend/angel to come and pick them up.
Luckily, the trauma hospital was able to re-inflate my lung without putting in a chest tub and I was released from there after only a day and a half. Through this whole thing, our families and ward families have done so much to care for us and help us out. There were a few sisters at the Denver hospital within 20 minutes of my arrival. Jake's parents arrived at the hospital before Jake did.
Long story short, we are all ok. Our physical injuries are healing and we are feeling more blessed and watched out for more than ever. Someone was protecting us. We are so grateful for loving friends and family and all they do to help us. More importantly, we are grateful to the Lord for saving our lives and keeping every member of our family safe.
P.S. That's another Halloween Ellie really hasn't been able to go trick or treating. One day, I promise baby. I will make sure of that.
