Birthday Get-Away to Durango

Colton also got his wish to getaway as a family to Durango, Colorado for a long weekend.  I honestly think everyone in our family should always ask for a family trip for their birthday!

It was nice and cold in Durango, but no snow.  We enjoyed some time downtown, hitting all of our favorite places.

The kids wanted to do something in the snow, so we drove up to Purgatory Ski Resort one afternoon and they inner tubed and had a great time:

It was a beautiful day and gorgeous scenery:

Our family absolutely loves Durango and it was the perfect way to end Colton's 18th birthday celebration!

Bub's 18th Birthday!

It actually happened. I don't know how, but it did.  Colin and I are now officially the parents of an adult!  Colton turned 18 years old on December 30th.  We were still in Mimbres at the time, but we headed home after lunch.  He got a berry angel food roll for his first cake with his grandparents, aunt, uncle, great-gramma and cousins:

That evening we took him to dinner with his other grandparents and where did he choose?  Red Lobster, of course!  His favorite!  It was bottomless shrimp and I kid you not - the kid got 5 refills!!

Then it was home for a small family party - the second one. That's all he wanted this year as far as a party goes - and I was prepared to give him a bigger 18th birthday bash!  Oh well.  It was still a great birthday for him.  All he had really asked for, besides some lottery scratch-off tickets was a family getaway to Durango.

We got him a U of Wy license plate:

Cady got him the new book by Donald Trump Jr that he also mentioned he wanted:

And he was so excited that he did get some scratch off tickets!  He scratched  them off right away  and won $6 and was way too excited over that!

He also got a Henry Golden Boy - a .22 lever-action rifle.  That was a special gift his Dad wanted to get him and he was super excited about it:

I think it was a very good 18th birthday celebration!  Now, the countdown until graduation (GULP).

Head Family Pics

We have to take family pics each Christmas when we are all together - no matter how cold it is outside. We usually drive somewhere near Mom's and Dad's house but it was hard for Gramma Mary to move around in the snow so we just decided to take them there at the house.

The front of their house was really pretty.  The oak tree in back of these pictures was where our family had a picture taken when I was around 10 or so. It is a lot bigger 30+ years later!

Christmas in Mimbres {2019}

Later the next day, we headed to Mimbres for Christmas with my family.  It was  beautiful weather - snowed off and on and we all enjoyed our time together.

Trevor and Jayce brought gingerbread house kits for the cousins to do.  The boys worked together on theirs and the girls on theirs and they did a great job:

How many scrunchies can you get in your hair??

Our Christmas Morning Round 2:

So blessed to have Gramma Mary with us for Christmas another year!

Colton and Trevor took his kayak out on Bear Canyon Lake one frigid afternoon, crazy boys: