ROME'S 1ST HUT TRIP

Our friends, Courtney and Ozzie, are members of the 10th Mountain Division of Colorado and by doing so, they get access to these AMAZING cabins in the backcountry of Colorado.  Pictures could never do justice the beauty and serenity of these places.  This was Travis and my 2nd hut trip with the Frances', and it was Rome's 1st.  I have to admit, with all the traveling lately, I am pooped!  I almost backed out of the hut trip thinking that if I have to pack one more bag, I might lose my mind.  Thankfully, I powered through and decided that a night away in the peaceful mountains of Colorado was just what I needed.  Indeed, it was!  I am so happy we went.  It's always a good time and never a dull moment with the Frances.  Their friends Sarah and Steve also joined us, whom we had met on our previous hut trip.  And we had 3 little boys (Finley France, 11 months; Rome Bostic, 3 months; and Thomas Seufert, 7 weeks), so it was just perfect.  We can't wait to do it again!

We got to the hut about 2pm on Friday.  Luckily, in the summer, you can drive right up to the cabin whereas in the winter you have to hike about a mile in.  So, we loaded up a cooler and anything else we might need for one night "roughing" it in the backcountry ;).  We went for a short hike that afternoon and then just chilled in the cabin.  We tried to hang out on the deck, but the mosquitos were absurd!  I thought they might carry Rome away!  So, with the little ones, we hung out inside and took in the view from there.  Travis and I cooked steak chimichurri tacos for dinner and then Courtney whipped up a pineapple upside down cake in the cast iron skillet.  AMAZING!!!  It was so good that we didn't even have room for smores later on.  We had a campfire outside for a while, but everyone was pretty exhausted with all the little ones that we retired pretty early.  On Saturday, we had breakfast and then the guys went mountain biking and the ladies and little guys went on another hike.  We had perfect weather both days, which made it even better.  Here are some pics to try to capture the beauty we experienced:

The View...Stunning!

Beer Hike

Elevation: 11,200

In front of Walters Cabin (the one we stayed in this time)

More scenery

Courtney, Sarah and Thomas, Me and Rome and Ozzie and Finley

Rome snoozin'

Ain't that love...

Daddy and Rome on the deck

Courtney and Finley playing

View from inside

Dusk

Rome and Finley.  This is gonna be T.R.O.U.B.L.E. in a few years ;)

Sarah and baby Thomas

The Frances

Happy Mama

Rome chillaxin'

Finley cuttin' a rug

Rome in his sweater from Argentina (Thanks Jim and Jen)

I still pinch myself to make sure this is real...

The Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Book Time

More chillin'

The beautiful cabin.

The ladies hiking

Ladies and our little men back from the hike

UNCLE NATE AND AUNT TRISHA VISIT!

I'm a little late at posting this.  It's been a couple weeks, but Nate and Trisha came to visit and even though it was a short visit, I wanted to share some photos.  On Friday (July 15), Travis picked them up from the airport and we stayed in and grilled out.  They were excited to meet Rome for the first time, AND they were excited to be without their own kids for once.  Having twin boys and another boy 16 months apart is not an easy task!  They needed a vacation, for sure.

On Saturday, Nate and Trisha wanted to go up to Rocky Mountain National Park (it's where they got engaged).  Nate worked at the YMCA of the Rockies a few years ago and had a friend still there that he wanted to visit.  We had lunch at the YMCA and met with Nate and Trisha's friend for a while.  Then we headed up Trail Ridge Road to get the good views.  The weather turned kind of nasty for a bit, but we were able to squeeze in a hike after the weather passed at Bear Lake.  We had dinner at Poppy's Pizza, one of their favorites.

On Sunday, we were planning on going down to Pueblo to camp and go boating, but it was going to be 100 degrees with little to no shade, so we decided to stick around Denver and then go to Pueblo on Monday.  We went to the Farmer's Market for lunch and then grilled out at City Park Jazz for dinner.  It was a beautiful (but hot) day!

Monday, we all loaded up and headed south with the new boat to try out Lake Pueblo.  Minus a few unplanned encounters (which I won't mention), the day went great!  We hung out in a cove and swam for a while and had lunch.  We got Rome in the lake for the 1st time with his vintage infant life jacket.  He seemed to like it.  Unfortunately, we don't have pictures, but we took some video.  Travis and I took turns wakeboarding and surfing the rest of the day.  We are loving the new boat!!!  Just wish we had a longer season in Colorado.  We'll have to break out the wet suits before too long.

It was great to have Nate and Trisha out.  We love having visitors!  Now, we can't wait for Rome to meet his 5 cousins (on Travis' side) in Illinois this coming weekend.

One Happy Family!

Reminiscing their early years...and still in LOVE ;)

Bear Lake!

Travis and Rome on the hike

Loving Colorado

The Bostics

FIRST TRIP TO ILLINOIS!

We have been on a whirlwind lately.  We are definitely keeping this kid busy.  I recently realized, looking at a calendar, that we have something going on every weekend until I start work (in September)!  I know I have to come to terms with it, but it's gonna take a while.  Anyway, Rome and I took our first trip to Illinois last week.  I was a little scared to travel alone, but both flights went off without a hitch.

We got into St. Louis just an hour before Misty (my sister) and her family flew in from Florida, so I met Mom and got the video camera out and ready to record their reaction to seeing Rome for the first time.  I saw bleach blonde heads come barreling down the stairs and pushed play.  It was so neat to see Cameron, Ally and Griffen all run to see Rome.  I'm so glad I captured the moment!  I did it again when we pulled into Olney with all the Burgener kids.  It was definitely good to be home and everyone was so happy to be together.  I warned Rome he had a CRAZY family, and boy did that ever prove itself.  We had one crazy week at home full of baseball games, beauty pageant preparation, possible childbirths, and hospital visits.  The ups and downs of everyday life with a large family!  I don't know how my Mom and Grandma do it...but they do it well.  I took notes, however my famous saying while home was "two kids...MAX".  LOL!

Because I don't have much time to write, I'm going to re-cap with pictures.

Rome got LOTS of love from his cousins:

Ally, Briley and Faith giving Rome lots of lovin'

Braxton and Rome matched

Braxton and Rome...everyone said Rome looks like Brady did when he was a baby!

Rome and Griffen.  Griffen liked to baby talk to "Wome".  They're gonna be best buds!

Cousin Ally couldn't get enough of Rome...she was a good babysitter!

Rome got to meet both of his Great-Grandmothers:

Great-Grandma Keller (she really didn't want her picture taken)

Great-Grandma Ferguson.  Rome snoozed on Grandma Ferguson's lap for a long time!

Rome went swimming with Grandpa Ferguson, but we didn't take him under yet, at Daddy's request:

Still loves the water...

After all our hard work preparing, Aunt Logan WON Miss Richland County 2011!  We are so glad we were there to see it (even if it was 115 degree heat index!).  It was a SCORCHER!

Miss Richland County 2011....Logan Ferguson!

Rome and Logan at the Fair!

And finally, Rome got to meet his cousin, Cody in St. Louis before we left to come back home:

Rome and Cody...6 weeks apart.

Home Sweet Home!  It's always good to go back and see my CRAZY family.  We make it work and I wouldn't change them for the world!