Colorado 2009

Sadly, this year's trip to Colorado trip will not go down in the record books as one of the best. Ben and Elizabeth took turns being sick - which meant Mommy spent lots of time cuddling and not so much hiking. And the weather was pathetic. It rained all but two days we were there. However, even if you have to sit around all day, there is no better place to do it than a beautiful place in the mountains.

So while this doesn't have a top ranking of vacations, we still had a lovely time! Here are a few highlights!

Mamo enjoying a cup of coffee on the deck.

The boys hanging by the tent. Just relaxing. . .

Ben loves to try and fill "big shoes". He says he is ready to go hiking! Omom is ready to go too!

Brian making dinner for the troops. We each take a night to cook dinner, to try and cut back on cost! 15 people is a lot of cash at a restaurant!Still so in love. Still so cute. :)

Kevin colored until his hand would do no more. :)

Hiking around Bear Lake with the four cousins. . . and they are good buddies too!

Seriously, even with cold weather (note the sweatshirts, coats, and jeans), the clouds, and rain, you cannot beat views like this one. God really outdid Himself in Colorado.

This one just makes me laugh.

Our happy little family. . .

55 degrees or not, there is always time for a water fight!

Elizabeth was given a task to rake up some pine needles. . .not only did she do it, she did it better than any adult I know would have done. She would not stop until all pine needles were cleaned up!

Michael and Sally's Visit/CFR Reunion

Rich and I will always consider Camp Floyd Rogers to have been a highlight of the summers that we were there. So it is always fun when we can relive some of those great memories. It is how we met, became friends. . .and then five years later, a couple!

It was so much fun having people come from all over the place to enjoy a BBQ, singing, and catch up conversation! Here are some pics from this event!

These three have known each other for over 20 years.
Kenny came all the way from North Carolina. . . and it should be noted that Elizabeth thinks he is the coolest. We get asked at least once a week as to when he is coming to visit again.

Nikki came from Colorado, Johanna was in Omaha, and Sally came from South Carolina (with Michael). Sally is holding Johanna's brand new daughter!

Michael played all our old favorites. It was the perfect mealtime merriment after our BBQ. Even Elizabeth and Ben thought it was great fun! AH, happy hearts, all around.

Austin's Visit

It is always fun when we can get together with old friends!! So when Austin and Ryan were in town, we were eager to see them. Unfortunately, Ryan had to head to NYC. So here is a few pics from our dinner wit Austin. So fun!

The Cornhuskers. :)

Patio Seating.

We have been friends for a long time! It was so good to see you Austin!!

A trip to Grandmas

It is so rare that I actually remember to take pictures when the family gets together, so I thought I'd better post these while I had them! We headed down to Grandmas to celebrate a belated birthday for Barb. We took it as an opportunity to get lots of pictures!

Here is Billie getting her picture taken with Ben and his "spiky" hair.

Ben was so proud of his "spikey" hair that Barb was the next one to get to have her picture taken with him.

Here the kids are intently watching Lucas the flipping beetle. Well, Ben is intently watching his meat and cheese, but Elizabeth and Sydney find Lucas fascinating.

The Hoffman kids. . .they're growing up so fast. . .well, kinda. . .they still spent most of the evening relentlessly teasing each other.

Grandma with her Hoffman Grandkids!

Syd with Grandma and her Mommy!

Elizabeth and her Mommy!

And here is Ben, showing off his amazing talent with food. Notice the sippy cup and his cheek. There was also frosting and lasagna on his pants and legs.

Father's Day

With some help from our friends the Ludshuks, the kids, grandma and I were able to surprise Rich with a trip to Springfield, Nebraska. Apparently they have an old fashion soda fountain that sits behind a big plastic Simpson's couch scene.

We were painting the basement on this day - so this was a nice break from all the work! But boy can you tell we were tired!!!

Ben was able to sit up at the counter briefly, but the stools were so wobbly he soon joined us at the table. He did enjoy his root beer float though!

Elizabeth was committed to the counter seating. She loved it up there!

Rich didn't want to take this picture. . .but his name was on the barrel and he is so cute, can you blame me? We love this Daddy SO much! He is a fun, loving, and involved Daddy. We are so lucky!

Playing with Emily

Here are some pictures of our day with Emily Reade! It was so fun to have her over to play!

Emily was kind enough to push Benjamin around. However, Benjamin was not always appreciating it!

Elizabeth blew lots of bubbles for the other kids to chase. Emily and Benjamin use the bubble stuff to splatter paint themselves and the driveway.

Dance Recital

Here are a few pictures from Elizabeth's dance recital. She danced to Tina Turner's "Rollin' Down the River" Her favorite part of the dance was when she would jump and face the back of the stage and shake her fanny at the audience.

A proud mommy!

A proud Daddy. . .who had to miss the recital, but watched the rehearsal twice!

A proud family - with sore bottoms from sitting through the 2 hours of dances to see Elizabeth dance for less than 3 minutes!

Elizabeth and her friend Zoie with their flowers from their adoring fans! Elizabeth LOVED getting flowers (she is always wanting to pick flowers - so to have legal flowers was quite the treat)!

Goofing Around

Why not do two posts in a row, right??? Since it has been so long since I have done any!!

Omom and Pawee brought home a new doll for Elizabeth from one of the trips. It is an American Girl doll and her name is Elizabeth too! Big Elizabeth LOVES taking care of this doll! Notice the matching PJ's the Elizabeths are wearing. :)

Grandma got both Elizabeths matching dresses for Easter. Daddy also got them matching dresses. I need to get a picture of the two of them dressed up together. It is pretty cute.

This is Elizabeth's handiwork that Benjamin is awfully proud of! The two of them like to play in Elizabeth's room and listen to music. One day, this is how Ben emerged. It is a bit reminiscent of Elton John, don't you think?

These are his new dress up clothes. :)

Here is one of the infamous Hoffman children dance parties. This one is in the kitchen - they are usually held in Elizabeth's room!

Easter

Holidays can be exhausting when trying to establish your own traditions and still making it to all the family get togethers. But it is always fun and our children have a blast - and always seem to end up pretty spoiled.

Elizabeth has quickly checked out her own basket and is on to Ben's to make sure that she got to see all of his treasures too.

Ben got some more cars from the Disney Cars movie. . .which he loves right now. And Elizabeth got High School Musical 3 "FINALLY".

Here they are with their handsome Daddy. . .about to start a hunt for the "Easter Eggs", aka jelly beans and M&M's.

It was a fun day!!!