Welcome home Hermana Hannah

My little sister got home from her mission last week so the whole family got together for a mini-reunion in Denver.  (Denver so that I could drive there or they could drive to me if the babies were here, also it is near an airport.)  My parents rented a home and it was the perfect size for our family, plus there was AC and an ice maker...bonus.  Apparently I took 800 pictures...so this is a small sampling in comparison.

 Cousin bath

 playing with poppers in the garage...Alice as her usual blur.

 Hammonds candy factory tour

 The Honda Odyssey club

 Slack line

 Autumn just wanted to flip on it

 Rookies VS. Royals.  Surprisingly the Rookies won...and there was a gland slam...while I got up to use the bathroom.

The gang....At one point in the game my dad and Greg took the little kids to walk around.  So I straight up laid down on the bench because my back hurt...until a fan cam came around and I shot up so fast.  I may not be embarrassed to lay down, but I definitely didn't want the rest of the stadium to see me looking like a whale washed up on shore.

 The little girls playing their favorite activity of the week...playing in uncle Noah's car.  we had to make sure the front door was dead bolted or the girls would bolt out the front door to go joy riding.

DAY 2:  Picture day and "Holiday day".  We did a bunch of our family traditions for a bunch of different holidays, since we don't get to spend holidays together as a family

Aunt Jess and Henry

Rachel and Noah 

 Grandma tracing Alice's hand for the Thanksgiving thankful tree

Dustin, Korey, and Jess

 I was trying to tell Hannah how to pose to make her look skinnier...maybe someone should have told me never to stand sideways (36.5 weeks)

 Henry Hampton

 Autumn smiling to get her "reward" for taking pictures

 We tried to get a picture of all the grand kids, but we took too long...so we put on a movie and they were all looking my direction.

 pre-lunch time we had an Easter egg hunt.

 Korey found one egg and was satisfied with her findings and was done after that!

 Bow and arrow fun

 The results of egg dying

 Then we carved soap in honor of pumpkin carving...pumpkins are a little hard to come by in August

 Playing bingo (our Christmas Eve tradition)

 Eating Lime Sherbet/7 Up floats in honor of St. Patrick's day.

 More slack line

 Fourth of July

 Autumn was in love with the sparklers...even if both Autumn and I got burnt by the sparks.

DAY 3:  Birhday day

 The day started off at Cherry Creek Reservoir...While I watched day time TV and took a nap. 

Grandpa Brian doing what Grandpa's do best....giving Autumn a cookie

 Decorating T-shirsts

Grandpa Brian and Rex working on Rex' tornado t-shirt 

 Parachute time

 Traditional birthday party game...pop the balloon tied to your opponents ankle.  Autumn only wanted to pop her own

 Pinata time...Alice was not shy!

 CANDY!!!

 The self-proclaimed least athlete one in the family, Heather, knocked it down.

 Hitting a pinata is harder to do than I remember...Also Hannah taking more embarrassing photos of me.

 More party games...blow a cotton ball across the floor with a straw.

Noah, Rachel, Hannah

Autumn

 The dads

 Another classic Robins B-Day party game:  put Vasaline on your nose...then put your face in a bowl of cotton balls...then blow them off with your mouth.

 Pin the tail on the donkey

 bath time

 Decorating our own cupcakes...and singing Happy Birthday to...ALL of us.

 The grand kids with their decorated t-shirts  right before everyone departed.

Autumn giving a hug "good-bye" to Grandpa.

Things that Go

The Library sponsored a fun event where families could look at/climb in a variety of "things that go".  Autumn was particularly shy that night, but I think she still had a good time.  And of course I brought my helpers along so I wouldn't have to carry Autumn, since Evan was working out of town.   

A pony

 In the back of a police car "caught red-handed"!

Crawling underneath the snow plow

In the snow plow truck

Driving a fire truck

Hang loose...in a mini-airplane...that is only used for occasions like this and the parades around town.

Bakers

We've been lucky this summer to have a bunch of visitors pass threw Cheyenne.  My sister and her family came for a short visit on their way to Utah.  We took the kiddos to our awesome library.

I love cousin baths...This picture of Alice cracks me up...she is such a sass-a-frass

It was a bit of a struggle getting ready for church since Autumn didn't have pink church shoes like Alice! Gasp.  But they did have matching hair clips and similar dresses!  After church Greg and Evan took the kids to the park and I got a real solid nap.  Autumn and Alice however did not so they took turns that afternoon being crank pants.  (especially since they went to bed at 10 pm...I guess that's what happens when you let three little kids sleep in sleeping bags on the floor...WAY TOO MUCH FUN was happening instead of sleep)

Running through the sprinklers in their matching swim suits.

And of course Baby Henry.  We had a picnic dinner outside.  It is probably 10+ degrees hotter inside.  UG.

Sidewalk chalk time.

Baby shower

After the aquarium some friends from church hosted a baby shower for my twiners.  There was yummy fruit dip and fruit and some other yummy dip for veggies along with tomato/mozzarella skewers-and a cake.  Some people love baby showers games some people hate them.  I think the way they did the games was perfect.  We played 5 or so games really quickly and if you didn't want to play no one would have noticed.

How many pacifier candies in the jar game.

Draw a baby on a paper plate while it is on your head.  Some of the drawings were quite impressive...others were just really funny.

Party favors...little ice cream pens...went with the theme of "two scoops of joy, a girl and a boy"

Trying to figure out what baby food was in each bowl.

Then of course the "how huge is Amber's belly?" game...my sweet niece was a little off

Pregnant waddle game: had to carry a balloon in your shirt and quarter between your knees, then drop the quarter in a mason jar. 

Don't mind my posture in this picture...We also played guess how much all the baby stuff on the table costs..Price is Right style.

The next day we took the historical downtown trolley ride.  I bet you didn't know that the first hotel with phones in each room is in Cheyenne, or that The Yellow Pages started in Cheyenne, or that Wyoming was the first state to allow woman the right to vote?

Mermaids!

I've been wanting an excuse to go to the aquarium in Denver so I was thrilled when Evan's sister tagged along with her husband on his business trip to Colorado.  We went to the aquarium and the girls had a good time.

The best part of the aquarium is they have a mermaid show.  Autumn whined in the car almost the whole way to Denver...until I told her we were going to see mermaids.

The girls inside one of the tanks.

Meeting the mermaids after the show.  Autumn really enjoyed it, but you can't tell from her face.

A sting ray!  Autumn didn't want to touch it...I don't blame her..it was slimy.

See she really did like the mermaids...she didn't want to leave.  She just doesn't like to smile for pictures.

The gift shop proved to be just as fun as the actual exhibits.