fun valley=fun

42 hours and 3000 miles of driving later, michael and i ended up with a pretty good vacation. you see, fun valley is a pretty special place.

located in the beautiful, snow capped (yes, even now) mountains of south fork colorado, fun valley is a fantastic vacation place for kids. some of my best memories of being a kid, include riding my bike with amy through the roads of fun valley. we would spend hours at the rec hall listening to "i saw the sign" by ace of base and "love without end amen" by george straight while trying to whoop each other in pool. well, that and looking for the love of our lives. each year, we would take a black magic marker and sign our names somewhere in that rec hall (don't worry, we weren't vandals, it was expected). amy and i would always challenge landon and adam to a paddle boat ride and...we even beat 'em a time or two. i think. there were matching sweatshirts from the gift shop, cheesticks and ice cream from the snack shack, horse rides through the mountains, catching rainbow trout in the streams, rivers and meadow lake, square dancing at the entertainment hall, camp fires and aunt tammie's fried potato-squash-ocra-onion mix (yum!). don't forget flip flop wearing showers in the bathhouse, salt-water taffy, rainbow's grocery store and the best fried fish dinners in the camp. aahh. can't be anything better.

well, maybe there can. your cousin's wedding. we spent a week celebrating amy and alex before the wedding day. we spent nights around the fire and days fishing and watching the rain. it was cold enough for sweaters and jeans and that, is just good. we started the wedding day with a bridal breakfast thrown by marme at the rio grand country club. beautiful breakfast overlooking a beautiful lake and golf course with the mountains in the background. we moved quickly to a fun morning getting our hair done, make-up on and helping the bride get ready for her groom. amy was absolutely beautiful. her dress was gorgeous and her veil covered dark hair that curled down her back. her eyes were shiny and smoky and her super long eyelashes were curled perfectly. amy got married in the backyard (if you can call it that, with it's lush pine trees and mountains looming in the back) of the apple dumpling bed and breakfast. the back wall of the house is windows. when the music started for amy, she walked down from a balcony and flight of stairs that you can see inside the house. the view wasn't perfectly clear, but that made it even better. we stood under the canopy of the trees and watched the white silouette of amy make her turn down the stairs, walk through the living room on the arm of her dad, and come outside to meet her groom. it was breathtaking. she was gorgeous.

other than the wind blowing the candles out and the pastor asking both alex and amy to take each other as wife, hehe, the ceremony went perfectly. even down to alex's brother adam patting his tux while looking for the ring and amy's brother adam finally pulling it out of a small tackle box in his tux jacket. everyone laughed and it fit in so perfectly.

the reception was equally as perfect with amy surprising alex with bridal pics of her in front of a restored red mustang. he loves restored cars and his jaw dropped when he saw the pics sitting on his table with his godiva chocolate cheescake. so sweet. his reaction i mean.

i couldn't have wished for anything more perfect for my cousin. and what a great memory to be added to that special place.
amy-
i've been blessed to know you my entire life. you are so beautiful and i am so proud for you and alex. i hope your honeymoon was as wonderful as your wedding. something tells me it will be.:) hehe! i love you so much!

we finished our vacation in colorado with a day of fishing and our traditional fish fry dinner. it was a great week and i'm so happy to have been part of it.