Goodness, Gracious! Great wheels on fire!

Our trip to Missouri went great! We headed out their with our friends, Josh and Emily and ditched the kids (woohoo!) while we went to pack up some of Emily's parents things out there. Poor Emily I think developed a hangover from the caffeine gum and I got alittle ill during the drive. Yes, I will admit I gorge myself on junk food anytime it's available, and then always pay horribly for it later on. Luckily, the Eliason's were way nice about it and Larry just laughed at my stupidity, so overall, it was a good start.

After getting all settled into the place we were staying, we went out to start getting things going on the packing. We got to meet Mr. Bean himself (actually a great duplicate, from the vague expression on his face down to the uber-thin fabric plaid shorts...*shiver*) who was a real treat to have around, especially since he was the one renting the truck and teaching the men how to drive it and hook up a car trailer to the back of this beast of a truck. Seriously. It was almost the size of a semi.

We then found ourselves wandering aimlessly through the storage units, wondering what crack-addict had numbered the units, and after finally finding the right ones, we realized that despite the efforts Emily took into calling some men to help from a ward nearby, no one showed. But nothing could break down the Eliasons and Eyrings! We had two storage units plus a car all cleared out and pack into the van in two hours flat! I'd like to see "Two men and a truck" beat that!

The next morning, Emily and I ran a 5k! It was so much fun! We had even made ourselves "Team Colorado" shirts with cute little cartoon refrigerators running on the front, just so everyone knew who it was whizzing past them. ;) While waiting, Larry and Josh amused themselves by taking pictures of everything (including strange men stretching) And sadly, our camera undertook a beating, but thankfully recovered almost 100% This is the pic right before it's fatal fall.

The race itself was great. Emily even took third place for our age category! I was so proud of her! We pummeled some young college girls at the end to the finish line. It was great. And we even got a free massage after. I'm totally enjoying this running thing. After the race, the Eliason's treated us to Chevy's, the best TexMex one can get. Yummm. I'd go there just for the chips. We even celebrated Larry's un-birthday! (a fun joke played on him from Josh. Thanks, for the free ice cream, btw.)

We went down to St. Louis and went through the FREE zoo! It was seriously the best zoo I have ever seen, and being married to Larry, I've seen many a zoos'. Did I mention it was FREE????...though it was $10 for parking, but that's just a formality... Larry LOVED it and was able to once again, terrorize some animals while there. I guess he calls it playing, but I wonder what the zoo keepers would say...

The next day was THE DRIVE. Have you ever driven a semi-like truck across Kansas, while a whole other car is towing behind it? Thought not. It was a slow, l...o...n...g drive, where we all ended up sick, except Larry who has a stomach made of iron. The trip back took us from about 11:00 at night til about 5pm the next day, which, as funny as it is, the highlight of our trip began about 20minutes from home.

Because Larry and I were driving the SUV in front of the truck, we really don't have a front-row seat version of this story. What happened on our side was we had pulled over on the side of the road to wait for the moving truck to catch up with us. It didn't show up. We then got a phone call from Emily, who was saying they thought they had a flat so they were pulling over. As we drove back, we did indeed find them on the side of the road, but the trailer holding the car behind the truck was smoking! Apparently, all we can think of what happened, is that the brakes somehow locked down on the wheels, and instead of peeling off the rims like you'd think they would, they caught on fire. Actually, we only saw two of the wheels completely on fire, the other two were already melted to the road, so we just assumed. While the Eliason's called the truck company, I called the fire department and got to talk with a very overly-animated woman, whom must have been imagining a pillar of fire on the side of the highway or something, because she sounded more terrified than I did. She even screamed on her end of the phone when one of the tires exploded from the fire. It was pretty funny.

So, after watching one tow truck take the car to its destination and another tow truck peeling the trailer off the road, we went and picked up the kids and went to home sweet home.

Between the long drives, nostalgic music, a gps named "jill" with a horrible sense of direction, and a trailer on fire, this was definitely a fun trip for us Eyrings. Though it is always nice to be home.

Again, Have I mentioned I'm a loser?

Because of the fact that I haven't blogged for a number of weeks, I have a plethora of photos that I've been too lazy to put up.



Hmmm...where to begin?










After our anniversary, we went out as a family to the Denver Aquarium. I highly recommend going if you ever get a chance. The restaurant there is fantastic and the aquarium itself is mind-boggling. I couldn't believe how large it was! Edana loved it...at first, until we eventually came upon the "Rainforest" exhibit, which would have been cool if it hadn't been for our bad timing. Due to the fact that we arrived at the aquarium rather late, by the time we got to this exhibit (mind you, it was a complete sun-lit room, so at night that = no light.) it was pitch black. Along with the "rainforest" sounds playing in the background, we literally felt like we had just landed in the rainforest in the middle of the night, and whizzed our way through with a crying child. Note: just to add to the creepiness, they actually had animatronic animals in the rainforest. Poor Larry had to deal with a crying baby and a wife vice-gripping his arm, screaming "What's that!?"



Edana has been loving playing with her cousins, Sienna and Jake Rasmussen. We've been able to hangout with their family a few times now and are always enjoying ourselves. I wanted to add these cute photos taken on our last play date with them. I think Larry was loving the sand more than the kids! ;)










































And last, but certainly not least, I have found the cure for "sick child not eating anything"...a common ailment, yes? But maybe next time try serving the chicken soup in a favorite past-time toy. Luckily, Edana's just happens to be a Cinderella tea set, so it was easy to serve in. I'd hate to think of the outcome if it was Lincoln Logs....

3 years and still going!

Well, I'm a loser. This blog is a few weeks late partially due to the fact that I couldn't find old wedding photos to put on here, been busy, and really just plain lazy. But tada! Here it is without the "memory lane" photos I wanted on here. :( *sigh*

On September 10th it was Larry's and my 3rd anniversary! I can't believe how fast everything seems to go by and at the same time I feel like we've been together for our whole lives. It's hard to remember what life was like without Larry around. I would never wish to go back to that, even if my life depended on it. He is the love of my life, my bestfriend whom knows me better than anyone else, and my comforter. I'm so blessed to have him in my life and am grateful to his family for the man they helped make him today.

For our anniversary, we started our day by dropping Edana off at our Aunt Michelle's house where she had a ball playing hard all day and off we went to be just the two of us. We first headed to Chuck-E-Cheese where we went to basically waste time til our movie started. We stayed clear far away from the creepy animatronic of Chucky himself and enjoyed playing silly games for small amounts of tickets. The prizes we got were kind of crappy (since it's a monopoly there. Everything has a Chucky stamped to the bottom of it) but it was still fun to play around like silly kids again.

We then went to Mummy 3 and had the whole theater to ourselves! I guess maybe that should have been a hint to us of how the movie was, but we didn't care. It was fun to be as loud as we wanted and make silly comments throughout the show.

Next we headed to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. No, not to see the animals, but ride the skylift! For all of the hundreds of times we've gone to the zoo, this was the only thing we hadn't seen since Edana was always with us! When we got to the top we had the most amazing view of Colorado Springs, climbed a rock wall they had set up and enjoyed mint-chocolate icecream. Yummm. My fav.

The swing set was where we ended up next (after hitting a candy store on the way there) and Larry showed me his smooth moves on the swing. It was disheartening to findout that we couldn't spin on the swings like we did when we were kids. Apparently the first thing to go is a strong stomach when you age.

To end the night, we dined at Applebee's and exchanged our $3 gifts: a pumpkin carving kit, a 'tradition' bracelet, a card game called "gross out" and the movie "So I married an Axe Murder" which of course led us into singing "Happy Happy Happy Happy Anniversary". I think the people at Applebee's were done with us by that point. It was an awesome way to celebrate a whole three years!

It really was an amazing week that we had and kept wishing that we had all of you along with us. Maybe this could be an incentive for all of you to come see us?? *wink wink* nudge nudge*

Today

My what a day. It's funny, because nothing really spectacular happened, but so many things seemed to stand out. Maybe it's from having to stay in the house, because of Edana's cold, but I actually had time to take some good pictures today, especially because I have felt so appreciative of everything around me.

I had a little time to watch the Today Show this morning, where they talked about an LDS couple that had gotten into a plane crash, and both are in a burn unit in AZ, while their four children are staying with family. The most incredible thing about it, is that because of this woman's popular blog that she has made, so many people are reaching out to this family and praying for them. If you ever get a chance and want to read something fun and uplifting, read her blog at http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com. Her positive attitude in all of her blogs really makes you appreciate what it is that you have and appreciate the children we are blessed to raise.

It makes me wish that I could somehow help. Help all of those families out there that are in so much pain. Do you think that if you pray for the world, it actually helps? Maybe it needs to be more specific, hence entering names in the temple. Sorry. Silly things I've been thinking of. But hey, it a blog! I'm suppose to ramble!

On a lighter note: Today was BelgianWaffle day in the Eyring household! Ahh! The glorious Belgian Waffle! I don't know why, but these waffles truly made my day. So, yes. I took a picture of them.

Edana has managed to go dirty up all of her warm clothes within the last two days, and since she was cooped up in the house because of her cold, I had to improvise. I stuck her in an old teddybear jumper we had for her when she was little, while I washed her clothes. She loved it! She kept singsonging "Poo Beah. Poo Beah." *meaning Pooh Bear, and she really did look like a little Pooh Bear. I've decided that the bear suit must be warm and comfy because in the middle of lunch her head just nodded back and she was out. I couldn't stop laughing. I love this little girl.

To end our day, I decided to serve up some Spaghettios (partially because I was lazy and partially just to reminise.) where those of you who know me really well will be surprised to know that I did indeed cook the Spaghettios and I EVEN put them in a bowl! But it really was gross to eat. I don't know why I use to like it so much. At least Edana loved it.

Would you like to fly in my beautiful balloon, while in search for some cache?

Despite the initial response of "nothing" to the whole "What will you do for Labor Day?" we actually have had a blast this weekend doing all sorts of things!

We started out our Labor Day weekend celebration by going out Geocaching with Aunt Michelle out in Security, CO. We have become very excited about this whole geocaching thing, especially Larry. The last cache we went to find was about a two mile hike there (and back!) out to the middle of nowhere, really. And to top it off, the cache was hidden in an actual ant hill! You should have been there to see Michelle's and my face when Larry bent down to pick up some weird random lump on top of the ant hill. We all came back with not only a cool coin and pictures, but some lovely sunburns as well. It was all alot of fun!





We then went to the Colorado Springs Balloon Glow where a bunch of hot air balloons stay planted on the ground while they illuminate their balloons at night. What a sight to see! It almost was like going and seeing Christmas lights! We really loved experiencing this, even though Edana was screaming, "All done! All done!" Within a few seconds of being there. We think she was scared of the loud noises the balloons made. Go figure. ;)

We then went again this morning to watch the balloons actually take off. It was alot of fun getting to hang out with our friends, the Eliason's, and are grateful they put up with us "not so much early-birds, Eyrings". ;) We then went around to the booth's in hope of some free stuff. After much searching, we did indeed find our much envied swag! (Don't you love the foam cowboy hats?)

Then, to end our Labor Day, we again went out with Aunt Michelle, her kids (Jake and Sienna) and her parents for some more geocaching. We decided to go have an early dinner at Garden of the Gods and do all of our caching there. We did a lot of picture taking to prove we were there to enter in our caching and hiked up a portion of Palmer Trail for a beautiful view! All the while kid "trading" on our way up the trail because not only were the kids tired and needing a break, but us adults as well! It has been so much fun to have family nearby to hangout with and Edana had such a blast copying EVERYTHING Sienna does. :)

Overall, this is probably by far the best way we could ever spend Labor Day.