5 Year Anniversary :: Aspen :: Snowmass :: Hanging Lake :: Glenwood Springs

Its our anniversary! Well, it was on May 15th. Wow, time flies! It feels like its been no time at all and forever all at once. But there is no one else that i'd want to spend my days with. Here's to 50 more years!

To celebrate this year we went on a little getaway to the mountains of beautiful Colorado :: the twins even had to got to come.

We started the trip in Assssssspen (queue all the Dumb and Dumber references) and enjoyed the crisp mountain air. It is still technically the off season there so nobody was around. It was really quiet and relaxing.

We walked around town, picked up a pizza and made our way down to the river where we stumbled upon the John Denver memorial garden.

Our night wouldn't have been complete without a little ice cream treat (thank you Paradise Bakery) then we headed back to the Hotel. The pool was heated at our hotel so we took the babies swimming that night :: past their bedtime and after waking them up from a late nap. I'm glad Noah and Elleanna are pretty flexible and can indulge our adventurous spirits with minimal fuss.

Day Two :: The plan was to spend the morning/afternoon hiking the Maroon Bells but the weather had other plans. We went as far as we could but it just got too snowy, windy and cold to stay out any longer. It was beautiful up there, even though we couldn't see the tops of the mountains because of the clouds.

Since our hiking plans were a bust because of the weather, we drove around a bit and found our way up Smugglers Mountain which overlooks Aspen. It was so gorgeous and SO green! Most of these pictures are not edited at all! It was the perfect place to take some {more} pictures.

We had a nice dinner after our mountain photo sesh and picked up some frozen yogurt. That night we stayed in Snowmass Village. It was even more quiet up there :: SO relaxing!! We took a walk right before it got dark and snapped a few pictures.

The next day was awesome! We hiked up to Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs. We went a couple years ago when my family had a summer trip to Glenwood Springs but I didn't go all the way up because I was in the middle of the first round of IVF and I didn't want to do anything to compromise my eggs. So this time I was determined to make it all the way. It is a challenging hike for only being a mile long. It basically feels like you're climbing stairs the whole way up :: its really rocky and steep. But the end result is SO WORTH IT!!!!  We heard that they may be closing it after this year so if you get a chance to go DO IT!!

 After Hanging Lake we went to the hot springs pools at Glenwood Springs. It was the perfect end to a great trip!! The babies loved the warm water in spite of the rain and cold.

Bath time! 9 1/2 months

Noah and Elleanna love bath time. They get so happy and excited when they hear the bathwater turn on and can't wait to get in. They giggle at each other, splash around and play with their bath toys. I think they would stay in there all day if we let them! 

Here are some pictures we snapped a couple weeks ago during bath time ::

9 months and the Denver Botanic Gardens

My babies are growing up!!! :( I can't believe that they are so close to a year now. Its mind blowing that they are 9 months old now. Its so fun to see them grow and develop every day. The growth is so fast that you can almost see it happening if you stare at them long enough. Its funny how quickly they learn things too. I feel like Noah picks up new 'tricks' in less than a day. He's such a quick learner! Elleanna loves to go at her own pace but once she gets something she goes crazy with it... you should see this girl roll!!

These are a few pics from their 9 month photoshoot:

Her new 'do is my favorite thing right now. Its so cute and it keeps here hair out of her eyes all day. Win win!

They are starting to stand up and noah is starting to cruise around holding on to things so I thought i'd try to capture this milestone during their photoshoot.

I can almost hear him laughing!

His smile makes me so happy!

Getting so big!

This girl and her smile! Melts me every time.

Almost crawling!

The other day the babies and I went to the Denver Botanic Gardens for Earth Day. It was a free day so it was pretty crowded but it was a beautiful day so it was worth it. 

The grass was so green for April! 

The best garden was the Tulip Garden! So many beautiful colors! I couldn't get the best picture because all Ellennna wanted to do was eat the little rocks in front of her. :/