Visiting Mackrorys in Colorado

February 6th-11th we went to Broomfield, Colorado to visit the Mackrorys in their new home. Except in pictures, we hadn't seen their new home yet.  We flew into the Denver airport in the afternoon and drove to their home.

We were greeted by five-year-old Audrey wiggling a very loose tooth.  Pretty soon she pulled it out herself.  She was so happy and proud of herself.

The next day was going to be the 100th day of school.  This was her homework.

Sweet baby Elisabeth:

Friday evening was a very special night and one of the two reasons for the timing of our trip.  Our oldest grandchild, Brielle was chosen to sing in an all-state middle school choir in the huge Colorado Convention Center located in Denver.  She was the first student from her middle school to ever make it in the choir. They made quite a fuss about that at her school.
 We drove to Denver on Friday evening in a huge snowstorm.  We met Brielle (who had been there all day rehearsing) and her teacher for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  New favorite restaurant! The menu is huge and, by reputation, everything is good!  Kristen chose the avocado toast.

Ken chose this pasta dish

Our hungry group:

I chose this chicken marsala over pasta- yum!

We then hurried over to the convention center.  The line of singers came by us as we waited to get in., so we snapped a picture of our precious Brielle.  Isn't she beautiful?

Brielle, when they moved to Colorado decided to change her name to Bria.  So that is how it appears in the program. She is a 2nd soprano. (I'm having a hard time making that change, but she answers to both!  A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, right?)

Some of her greatest supporters:

There was a mostly boys choir that was really good, too.  They were very inspiring to Nathan who plans to try out next year.

After they performed, they stood on stage for a few minutes for supporters to get closer pictures.  Do you see our Brielle.  She is in the third row up, left of center (with her young womanhood recognition necklace on)

Afterward, we took a few more pictures.

Then, after a kind of scary drive home on snowy roads, we had a cheesecake chocolate party at Kristen's.   Man, it was delicious!

Jared hurried home from work to tend the kids so we could go.  He was superman.  He fed them, cleaned the kitchen, straightened the house, got them to bed, and Kristen got a text from a neighbor while we were at dinner, "Is that your husband out there snowblowing our driveway?"  He did all of the neighbors.  What a guy!
The next day, Saturday, was clear and beautiful.

I love these pictures of Audrey and Jacob doing Wii dance.

Saturday evening was the Valentine Daddy Daughter Dance at Audrey's school.  Kristen fixed her up and she came downstairs feeling like a princess.

They had to keep Elisabeth's wrapped birthday gift from us at the bottom of the stairs to keep her from going up them.  But by the time we left, she was going up them, turning around all on her own and coming back down.  One year old and she's already mastered the stairs!

When they got home, Jared and Audrey demonstrated the dance they learned.  It was so cute.

Pure joy on that face!

Sunday was Elisabeth's 1st birthday.  It was the second reason for the timing of our visit.

We gave her this chair.  She loved it.

Cute little munchkin.

Now they have matching chairs.

Kristen made her a beautiful cake.

Hey, this is good!

Samuel.

Monday afternoon was Audrey's dance class day.  I took a picture when we picked her up as they weren't quite finished up.

Brielle sketched this during FHE that evening.  A child of many talents.

Monday is laundry day and Monday evening is folding time.  I am always amazed at Kristen's mountain of laundry each week with six kids.  I love to help her fold it all.

Kristen and Jared gave Elisabeth this car.  She loved it.

Double decker.

I love this baby and miss her.

Ken fed Elisabeth a lot during our visit and he also did a lot of dishes.  Kristen misses him.

Just like William, Elisabeth loved the Elmo song on my phone.  She would reach for me to pick her up, then look for my phone.