Matt's birthday weekend

We took our annual trip to Colorado for Matt's birthday this past weekend. What an eventful weekend! We arrived late on Wednesday night and had some activity planned for every day we were there.

Matt took off on Thursday morning with his brother-in-law, Clayton, and Clayton's dad for a camping/fishing trip. This past year Matt's gotten into fly fishing and is taking advantage of every opportunity to be out fishing. They had a good time together, from what I hear. The exciting part was that Matt caught a rainbow trout. Too bad it's catch and release. I have a picture on Matt's computer that I'll post later. The bad news was that the fish caught Matt. While Matt was holding the fish to take a picture, the fish decided to make a break for it and the hook got caught in Matt's thumb. He ended up having to go to the emergency room on the way home and got a tetnus shot to wrap up the trip. Otherwise, a good trip.

While Matt was on his trip, Zoe and I went with Nana and Papa to visit her new cousin, Nehemiah. Again, those pictures are on Matt's computer and will be posted later. If you can't wait to see what he looks like you can check out his blog under Michael and Jennifer on my links list. He's a precious little boy, and so tiny! Zoe did well with him around. She said his name over and over and even gave him kisses. Her ultimate fascination was with her Uncle Michael's turtle, however.

On Friday Zoe and I went with Matt's family (he wasn't home yet) to a BBQ in Denver with their church congregation. We had good food and fellowship. I don't know many people there, but I meet more every time we visit. We had intentions of Zoe staying up to watch the fireworks, but she faded too quickly. Maybe next year.

Saturday we got up early and went to the Denver Zoo. What fun! Zoe enjoyed riding in a wagon and seeing many animals we don't have at our zoo in Salt Lake City. She even rode the train for the first time. Clayton and Rhianna and Papa went with us on this outing. Zoe's favorite animal this time was the gorilla. They have a big room that the gorillas play in with a window wall for observation. Zoe was up at the window when the gorilla came face to face with her. She beat her chest and made gorilla noises. She kept making gorilla noises for the rest of the day. We got her a plush gorilla as a memory of that visit that she's been carrying around. She calls it "go-ri-ra".















Sunday was Matt's actual birthday. His present was to take Zoe to her first Rockies baseball game. I was a little worried how this was going to work since the game was during nap time. She did beautifully and ended up sleeping the entire ride home and then some. Matt taught Zoe how to say "Go Rockies!" She's pretty good at it. Zoe enjoyed being outside and being able to scream as loud and often as she wanted. I don't think she bothered the people around us. :)
















We made it home safe and sound on Monday afternoon just in time for us to eat a late lunch and take a nap. Good fun and good memories! Take a look at the rest of the pictures and videos here.