Durango family reunion

DURANGO CO

We just got back from a wonderful family reunion just outside of Durango CO where we had many opperturnities to try new things. We drove 1800 miles in 7 days. We got to see the Hogal Zoo where there was a soon to be mommy elephant (my favorite animal), rinos and many other animals. This is where I learned that my mother in law loves Tigers- we learn more every day J. When in Colorado we got to see Indian Ruins at Mesa Verde. It is amazing what people did to survive in our history. We walked right down to some Ruins where we got to see how they lived.

We got to go to the small city of Silverton Colorado (my personal favorite) where we went through a gold/silver mine and panned for gold and silver- it was a little cold on our hands but fun. This is where I came to realize my kids are much more adventurous eaters than me. In 24 hrs Lance (age 4) ate a cricket, a scorpion, ostrich, alligator and Elk. Chase (age 8) ate salt and pepper crickets, alligator, and ostrich. Gabe tried this stuff PLUS he has a buffalo burger for lunch. Lance ate his cricket and scorpion in suckers but Chase was a different story. We went for dessert and Aaron, Gabe and myself got ice cream, sierra got a push pop, Lance got his cricket sucker and then Chase got a box of salt and peppered crickets. NASTY- he was such a happy boy. He loves watching Andrew Zimmerman on the Travel Channel. And now got to try the bugs that he has seen Andrew Zimmerman eat.

On the way home we went to Temple square which was my second visit there and my kids first. It was great to watch the kids show us what they were seeing. As I walked through what kept going through my mind was my babies are growing up. 3 have been baptized and this Sunday Gabe will get the Priesthood. What a wonderful blessing to be a member of the church.

So for me this trip wasn’t only 1800 miles, 7 days, lots of family, and lots of fun. We had lots of new experiences. Aaron’s family reunions are wonderful. Every year I meet new family members and see ones that we have already meet. We have tons of fun and play hard.

This is the miner that brought us through the mine.

Silverton CO

This is one of the scorpian suckers that our kids ate

Aunt Christy bought one for each kid

This is our kids after a long week of playing in front

of our cabin

This is one of the rock Indian homes at

Mesa Verde.

Since I just learned how to add pics I will have to go through and find more (better) pictures of our trip like Chase eating the crickets.