colors of the season

I've been looking forward to today all week. Monday is Matt's day off, and every Monday morning when we wake up he asks, "what's our plan today babe?" I sheepishly reply, every time, that the plan is to catch up on cleaning, yard work, and grocery shopping. He always complies with no complaint. This week I decided we would actually do something special. We spent the day driving from Durango, to Silverton, then to Ouray to soak up the nothing-short-of-magnificent change in colors. An almost 200 mile roundtrip, and over 4,000 feet elevation climb and decent. It was spectacular, breathtaking, and an absolutely perfect day. I am so happy that the day went better than expected. The boys were happy. Matt was happy, awake, talkative and smiley. I just couldn't believe how beautiful it was. I loved the fresh air blowing in our windows, listening to the boys giggle in the back, and holding my mister's hand as we wound over, around, and through the mountains.

As we climbed out of Durango we came upon these four little rams in a perfect row enjoying a snack. They didn't seem to even notice the cars all parked on the side of the road and a bunch of people snapping their picture.

We took the opportunity to stop at lookouts, take pictures, and wander around wherever possible. (If only the photos could do the actual beauty of the scenery justice.) We stopped at a rustic little store for treats and cold drinks, and the boys were so cute in the backseat with their candy covered faces and sticky hands.

When we got to Ouray we wandered the main street. I had forgotten how cute that little town is. They call it the Switzerland of Colorado. We had hamburgers and fries at a little cafe and then headed over to the ice cream shop. I wish I had gotten pictures of the little people inhaling their frozen treats. They were positively in Heaven.

I had planned on taking some family photos on this little trip. I worried about the sunlight being too harsh on the way up, but by the time we were heading back we were quickly losing the sun. The pictures didn't turn out at all. My camera wasn't focused right, Kaden was hyper and Beckham wouldn't smile for anything. I was running back and forth from the tripod to my spot before the picture snapped. I was trying to tickle Beckham and say "cheeeeesse" for Kaden and we all look pretty ridiculous in every picture. It was fun anyway.

I kind of love it when Beckham looks at Kaden like he is crazy.

I'm so glad the day went perfectly. Sometimes I get excited for things and someone is grumpy, it's too hot, too cold, someone is whining, etc. but this time things went even better than I'd hoped.