The week leading up to our trip I could hardly contain my excitement. I wanted to pack all week but we needed our clothes so I held off doing laundry til Friday. On Thursday I decided to deep clean my whole house so we could return to our clean home. So when Friday morning rolled around and the weather for Saturday looked bad we decided leave Friday at 1. I hurried and did 3 loads of laundry, bathed the kids, got myself ready, packed EVERYTHING, and was only running a half hour late! I was so excited to be on the road. It was a good thing we left Friday, it gave us Saturday to unwind and relax before our big week started.
So here we go, day by day:
Friday March 14: after getting on the road we had a very smooth trip. Olivia did great, she watched movies and played with her new toys. ( I got her Cinderella and Ariel barbies and gave them to her when we watched their movie, I think I was more excited about them than she was.) she cried a little for the last hour of the trip but I don't blame her. It was 11pm and she only slept a little because she couldn't get comfortable. She did really great! Walter, what can I say? He slept the whole way, I had to wake him up to feed him. We got to grandmas house at 12:45am and unpacked the car. We visited for a little and Olivia played with the new and exciting toys until we were ready for bed. It was a hard night. Olivia only sleeps well in her bed, we knew before our trip started that the hardest part would be sleeping.
Saturday March 15: Walter turned 3 months old! Crazy! This was such a great day to unwind. We took our time getting ready and around 11 Lizzy, john, and the kids came over for a little. We visited then went to Costco to prep for the week. We relaxed the rest of the day and Olivia played with her cousin spencer and auntie Rachel. We had family dinner and enjoyed the rest of the evening. We went to bed before auntie Leah arrived.
Sunday March 16: grandma's ward (church) started at 8 so we went with Lizzy and her family to their ward at 9. Olivia woke up and went straight up stairs to find auntie Rachel. Lizzy came to pick Leah up for church and took Olivia with them so we could finish getting ready. I learned a lot about letting others help me with my children this week. We saw one of Michael's college roommates at church and visited for a little. Olivia went to nursery with Lizzy and enjoyed playing with new toys. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and visiting and naps.
Monday March 17: grandma and Lizzy had to work so we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. This was an awesome zoo! It made me sad that our little zoo is only open from April to the beginning of October but then again I doubt we would even want to go to the zoo in the winter. There were so many fun animals our zoo doesn't have. Olivia road the carousel and did not like it! I had a feeling she wouldn't like it because she hated every ride at Disneyland. The best part of the zoo was definitely feeding the giraffes. They had around 20 giraffes. After the zoo Michael and I enjoyed chipotle. Another thing we miss out on in Idaho that we took full advantage of was eating at good resturants. Olivia and I played in the back yard while everyone was busy doing things. Michael spent a lot of time watching March madness since we don't have cable (a choice we gladly made but we do miss out on watching a few things). That night Leah Marcia and I went shopping and I got my eyebrows threaded, ouch! It was fun being out with the girls.
Tuesday March 18: The big day!!! We were all really excited about that night so we made sure we were busy to make it come quicker. Marcia worked and Michael, the kids and I went shopping to get swimsuits. At 2 we went to Lizzy and john's gym to go swimming. It was so much fun. I wish we had cool gyms like that in Idaho, ok, let's face it I wish we could dig up our house and land and move it to Colorado. (As the week went on I tries thinking of ways we could move to Colorado, but I love my house too much.) Anyways, the gym had an awesome, indoor, 6 inch deep kiddy water play ground with water slides and the other side of the room had two adult slides. Olivia loved playing in the water. I'm so excited for summer and to play at Rigby lake with our friends. Everyone went to the pool but Michael who stayed home to get some work done. Once we were done swimming we only had 5 hours left till Daniels plane landed. We went home and showered and cleaned and ate dinner then it was time to leave to get Daniel! We left at 9:15pm and Daniels plane was suppose to arrive at 9:55pm. We walked into the baggage clam area and there Daniel was, 15 minutes early. His plane was so early that no one was there when he got off the plane. We told him to go back upstairs and we would call him when everyone arrived then he could make his big entrence. A few minutes later everyone got to the air port and we all had a fun reunion. We brought Olivia and Walt but they crashed the second we left the house and didn't wake up till the next morning. When we got home we all stood around talking for a few hours and showed Daniel all the technology he missed out on. It was good to see him again and crazy that it had been 2 years since we last saw him. He looked so cute and really tan.
Wednesday March 19: Marcia and Elder Woolley woke up early and went to get releases from the calling of a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. At 10:00 we went bowling as a family. This may have been my favorite part of the trip! Michael and I made a little wager and I dominated!! My consistency won me 100 dollars to spend when we went shopping later that day! After bowling we enjoyed some chick-Fil-a then headed to the castle rock outlets. We spent a few hours shopping until Olivia had enough and threw her first tantrum of the trip. I think it's great she lasted so long. We went home and spent time with family. Olivia was very tired by now and had slept really bad every night but this night was the worst. She cried for an hours or two (I was so tired I didn't even bother to look at the time) straight. We finally got her to fall asleep and Walter woke up to eat. It was a long night.
Thursday March 20: this was a day to calm down and relax from our nonstop week. We were planning to go to the Denver aquarium but we were all so tired. We spent the day playing at Grandmas house and watching Spencer and Charlotte while Lizzy and John went to the temple with Daniel. At nap time Leah and I snuck out and went to Panara for lunch and shopping. It was SO much fun to spent time with Leah. We met up with Daniel and we all went to the Buckle to look at pants. I got my first buckle pants and I am in love. I have never had a pair of jeans fit so well. Thanks Leah! After dinner Michael, Daniel, Marcia and I went to Denver to do a little shopping at cabelas and ikea. We got so many things at ikea that we had to leave some stuff behind for Marcia to bring up in a few weeks. It was a successful trip! While we were gone Olivia got sick and struggled falling asleep. Poor babe! It was a special experience to have Michael and Daniel give her a priesthood blessing to help her feel better and to make it through the rest of the week, which she slept great from that night on. I know Heavenly Father answers out prayers and blesses us. Lizzy brought over her defuser and we had doterra oils making our room smell great for the rest of the trip!
Friday March 21: Happy 1st Birthday Charlotte!! We went to kneeders for all you can eat French toast and boy was it yummy!!!! I have been craving it ever since! When we got back we were locked out so we played with some of Michael's childhood toys and chalk. We spent the rest day playing at grandmas house and getting ready for the big party the next day. Michael went shooting with John and Daniel. Later that evening we all met up and went to the mall where Olivia, Spencer, and Charlotte road the train with Aunt Leah and Aunt Rachel. After the train we went to build a bear and the grand kids built their birthday bears. Olivia's new favorite dog is Ruby and she loves pulling her around by her leash.
Saturday March 22: party day!!! We spent the morning getting ready for the big party and family pictures. Michael, Daniel, and I went to lunch and did a little shopping before pictures. We had been praying for good weather all week and although it was freezing and starting to snow it looked beautiful! I can't wait to get them back! Lizzy's friend who took them said it was a true Colorado setting. We were just wrapping up our photo session when we heard a scream and everyone looked to the pond where Rachel had fallen through the ice! The boys all ran over to help her and poor Rachel will never hear the end of that story! Daniel and JD teased her the whole way home and Michael joined when we got home. That will forever be a classic story and will definitely be told at her wedding roast! Charlottes birthday party started when we got home and it was fun catching up with Michael's family an hour after her party started it was Daniels turn and all of his friend arrived for his homecoming party. I feel so blessed to be a Woolley. I felt like I have been apart of their family from the beginning. Their long time friends welcomed me showed me and our kids so much love. The best part of the party was when Uncle Steve told a story about Michael when he was young. He said when Michael was really young they were over at Uncle Steve's house and were about to leave. Michael's dad was getting everyone in the car and Steve saw Michael walk out of the house and give him a look like he had done something. Steve thought to himself "I better go check the house before I go out and say bye". Steve walked through the house and went to the guest bathroom and saw that Michael had shoved toilet paper in the sink and turned the water on. When Steve found it the water was about an inch from over floaing! Steve walked out and said good bye and looked at Michael. Michael had defeat in his eyes but nothing was said between the two of them. We had a good laugh. I love hearing stories like that. The party was so much fun.
Sunday March 23: church started at 8 and we were only 10 minutes late. Daniel gave a beautiful talk in sacrament meeting. He is an amazing young man. I'm so blessed to be related to him. I learned so much from him the last 2 years. After church we went back to grandmas house and had a delicious brunch. It was fun being all together!! We spent the rest of the day taking naps and talking. Olivia had a great time playing with Rachel's dog daisy. She would grab her by the face and make daisy lick her and she also tried to carry her around. We said our goodbyes to Leah and Lizzy's family and went to bed.
Monday March 24: we took our time packing the car and getting on the road. It was a long trip back but we made a pit stop on our way out of Colorado. We visited Michael's dad's grave. It was a perfect ending to our week filled with family.
