My baby girl was 34 on February 19

I was in Denver over President's Week...which included February 19th...my baby girl's birthday.  I didn't even realize for awhile that I hadn't done a birthday blog on my baby.. 

34 years ago?  It doesn't seem possible...and I definitely remember it as if it was yesterday!

I was having contractions that morning...but they weren't real regular so I thought, "they don't count."

They continued.

I called my midwife on her lunch break.

She told me to come in when they got regular.  It was close to 4:30 or so when I went in.  I can't remember how I got there because Ron was out in the woods.  People were trying to get ahold of him...

He arrived at the hospital not too long before Lindsey made her appearance.

We had no idea Lindsey was Lindsey...we didn't have ultrasounds...it was all a surprise. 

When Candy, my midwife, said we had a little girl..

tears...

 

She was loved and cherished from the beginning.  Her brothers were protective, and loved her so much.  They always wanted to hold her...

and throw tonka trucks in her bassinet...

Maybe that's why she ended up so tough?

I loved to put her in dresses...

she told me when she was in around 2nd grade that she hated dresses.

She was a tom-boy

but still loved her dolls, too.

Strawberry Shortcake, American Girl...was it Kristen?....and others.

We had a boat for awhile...she tried her hand at knee boarding, skiing...she was always athletic.

This was in Sausalito...

In high school, Lindsey and her friend, Katie, somehow got connected with a lady who was planning an exchange with students in Japan.  Lindsey told me she was going to Japan.  I remember telling her, 'absolutely not.'  She went to Japan...which put the travel bug in her.

Soccer was a huge part of her life both in high school and in college...

During her days of college, she met Donnie....they were great friends until they decided maybe they should be more than that.  Their wedding was so special...and now they are a family of 4.  Benjamin and William have joined them.  What special little men they are! 

 She definitely loves her family...all her men!

I love you, Lindsey Nicole! 

I pray your 34th year is a blessed one!

Coors Brewery Tour

 
 On our last day in Colorado, even though we didn't know at the time it was our last day, we went to the town of Golden to the Coors Brewery.

 I don't even like Coors...or I didn't think I did.

 Coors and Miller's have merged...so there's so many different beers produced by Coors.  I had never even heard of most of these...and these are only some of them.

 

We had a personally guided tour by "Aunt Mary".  She's called Aunt Mary because her nieces have worked there and there's another Mary.  Because there were so many stairs on the self-guided tour, she gave us a 'modified' tour so Mom didn't have to maneuver the stairs.  Yeah, Mom!  Our tour was the best!  This is where the solids are separated from the liquid...or something like that. 

 George Killian's...never heard of it, but it was so good!

 These things are everywhere...and there are different things that go inside them.  Obviously, this was where some kind of 'mashing' was happening.

 Here's that thing that separates the solids again.  The solids go to feed...was it cattle?

 At the end of the tour, you end up in their tasting room.  Everyone over 18 can have 3 beers...full size beers.  You can choose from the ones offered that day.  Aunt Mary loves Batch 21...and it was delicious!  The Colorado School of Mines is in Golden.  I was impressed that the brewery allows you to come into this tasting room once a day, without having to take a tour, and enjoy 3 beers...at no cost!  Seeing as we were there on a Friday afternoon, it started filling up with college students. 

 Of course, you can also order soft drinks (see the menu on the wall).  However, my guy and my favorite brother were not ordering Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Diet Dr. Pepper, Sierra Mist, or Pink Lemonade.

 

As we were waiting in line for the shuttle to take us back to the car, I got an email from Southwest Airlines saying we should call and rebook our flight to SFO since a huge storm was suppose to move in that night.  At 4:15 we got the message.  At 7:30, we had taken Mom home, said good-bye, gone to John David's and packed, and gone to a DELICIOUS Mexican food restaurant called La Loma, and arrived at the airport for our 9:10 p.m. flight!

Whew!  It was a whirlwind...but Donnie was there at SFO to pick us up at 11:30 p.m.!  

It was definitely a fun day...and a bit exciting...but thankfully we made it back to California safe and sound!

Playing with cousins

 In Denver, Brody and Remy were playing side by side... 'parallel play'. 

 They were in the same area playing...and would occasionally go for the same toy..

 They had some times of actually starting to play WITH each other...

 Aunt Soo was helping her little nephew walk around...

 A few minutes later, someone said, "Where's Brody?"

I heard a noise...

went to look by the stairs..

and someone was on his way up!

 We gave the boys birthday presents...

Remy loved his elephant,

especially the trunk!

 I think he liked the blanket, too!

 Their granny wanted to take a picture...

 Brody was laughing at his lion...

These little guys are one year old now!  They're both definitely cuties!

Idaho Springs and Echo Lake

 We took a drive on this day...up to Idaho Springs.  There is a pizza place that was our destination.  Along the way, we were driving along this river...beautiful with all the snow.  We stopped to take some photos...

 

 There were tunnels, and then there were some more tunnels.  They had some incredible names:

Tunnel #1

followed by Tunnel #2

and Tunnel #3.

 We got pretty good at predicting the names of the upcoming tunnels!

 This town is really cute.  I would love to have more time to just roam around.  This day it was a bit chilly...and with the snow, Mom wouldn't have really enjoyed walking around.  Actually, with the wind and the snow, I'm not sure anyone would have enjoyed walking around too much!

 Here's the bar in the pizza place..

Beau Joe's..or something like that was the name of it.

 

John David & Becky

Ron & I

Mom

Addison, Soo and Remy all went.

 Look at my brother!  What a good driver...he's keeping his eyes on the road even with his favorite sister in the backseat being a bit distracting with her Nikon.

 After we finished eating, we had quite a time driving up to Echo Lake.  We planned to walk around the lake.  

First, we had to find it.

There were many wrong turns taken...Addison was never on the wrong path, just us older folks!  We stopped back in Idaho Springs (for the 3rd time, probably) and my guy ran into a store to ask directions.  He almost stayed awhile since he figured out it was a pot dispensary!  Rats...I would have loved to have taken some pictures!

After Addison coming to the rescue, we were on our way.  Heading up to Echo Lake, we stopped here at Ponder Point to

ponder over a few things...mostly, we pondered why in the world we were standing out in the freezing, windy, cold weather!

Back in the car and we continued to climb...

 Addison and his Jetta :)

We had reached Echo Lake..

and almost missed it.

It was frozen...and I thought it was just a big field!

Nope, a frozen lake.

 Addison, Soo, and Remy decided to take off and continue on...but my sister-in-law instructed my favorite brother to turn around and head back DOWN the hill.  We were at a bit over 11,000' in elevation here.  You can see the roads weren't completely clear.

 Before we took off, I hopped out to take a few pictures...and my sweet husband and favorite brother braved the elements with me...

 A closed lodge...

 The rest of the road to Echo lake that was closed...

a bit of snow blocked the way...

 Just in case you couldn't tell, there were signs up letting us know it was closed due to snow.

 THIS is Echo Lake...

 Ok, we saw the lake, saw that walking around it probably would be better in April or July...but definitely not February!

 Addison, Soo, and Remy made it safe and sound...

The boys were ready for bed and got to play for a few minutes.

Brody was content to be held by his Saddie, but Remy was going for one of the balls to play with.

We definitely saw some beautiful country today...and had some delicious pizza and beer in Idaho Springs!