Our first full week in Durango has come to a close, and it flew by. I had forgotten how much I missed this gorgeous mountain town. We spent last summer here (July through September), which was glorious as we were able to escape most of the scorching Houston summer. I think we’ll only be here for a few more weeks, so we plan to make the most of every day.

Our good friends, Meredith (of Cake & Confetti) and Trent, came to stay with us on July Fourth. Trent’s parents have a house in nearby Pagosa Springs, so they visited for the two days prior to flying back home to Houston. We had a great time with them, rafting, hiking, eating, drinking, etc. I love holiday weekends, and July Fourth is definitely one of my favorite.

Some other highlights of the past week include:

• Lots and lots of family time. My parents are here, as are my relatives from Scotland. My older sister was also here for four days, so we’ve gotten to have a lot of fun hanging out together. I got to practice some fun Barefoot Blonde braids on my sister’s hair, which I enjoyed more than she did!
• Spending oodles of time in the wading pool. Isla is a total fish and would much rather be in the water than on the ground. You’ve got to keep your eye on her when she’s playing in the yard, as there’s a high chance she’ll climb in the pool with all her clothes on.
• Eating at our favorite spots in Durango – ice cream at Cream Bean Berry, frozen yogurt at Top That!, and meals at Grassburger, Thai Kitchen, Fired Up Pizza, Himalayan Kitchen, Carver’s Brewery and Rice Monkeys.
• Walking up to the top of Fort Lewis college almost every morning for some exercise and the view. I’ve also been running every other day and doing BBG workouts on the other days. I am addicted!
• Watching Isla learn to wink when we winked, which seriously cracked us up. Very short video here! She also learned how to go down the stairs, which is huge when there are three sets of staircases in your house!! We don’t have any in our house in Houston, as we live in a bungalow, so this has made us super nervous.
• Finishing reading Fangirl and starting The Little Lady Agency – summer book list to come this week!
• Going rafting down the Animas River (which was insanely freezing) and doing a 6+ mile  hike up the Animas Mountain (while carrying Isla) – needless to say, my legs are so sore today!
• Taking our new blanket from Lindsay Marcella on a test run to the park. It’s for a shoot later this summer, but we thought we’d make good use of it this summer while we’re here and the weather is enjoyable outside.
• Making s’mores with our cousins last night – is there anything better than sitting around a fire chatting with chocolate and marshmallows?

How was your holiday weekend? What did you get up to this past week?