It's a Cotten life: Beginning of Colorado Pictures

I have a lot of pictures of Colorado. A bit out of the blue, I know. This is a conglomeration of pictures from my camera, pictures from Geoff and Jocelyn's camera, and, I think, a few from Dawna's. But they are all lovely pictures of lovely things. So I promise you won't be bored looking through all bajillion of them.

Continuing our road trip story, when Lily got sick and we had to change a lot of plans, we decided to drive through to get to Colorado that night. Then, we decided we were exhausted, driving through the night would be silly. We will stop in Salt Lake and get a hotel. So we called Mick and Dawna and told them we would get there the following day around lunch time. Then we continued driving towards Salt Lake. As I drove, I thought about unloading kids and stuff at a hotel and sorting them out in beds, brushing teeth, settling them into a new place, and sleeping fitfully in a new and different bed and it all seemed a bit much. Even harder than driving all night. Just west of Salt Lake City, we stopped at McDonalds for supper and I asked Justin how he felt. He thought he could dive through the night to Hotchkiss, so we gave up on the hotel idea. But we hated to call and bother Mick and Dawna again, just in case we got too tired and had to stop along the way and sleep. We didn't stop. We got to the ranch around 3 AM after twenty hours of driving. Only 14 more than we planned on as we left Oregon that morning. Then it was into the house, trying not to wake everyone, and failing miserably. Then it was bleary eyed hellos, hugs, sorting out beds, and finding jammies.

Dropping in, slighlty unannounced at 3 AM and we got hugs. I have pretty great in-laws.

When I woke up Tuesday morning, I found these waiting for me. Orianna and Poppa had gone irrigating and picked flowers for me. A few cactus blooms even, and those aren't easy to get! Made my morning!