in mid-july, jamie’s parents, my parents, and jamie and i all met at his family’s cabin in deadwood, south dakota for a little weekend together.  i was really excited for my parents to get to see the beautiful cabin that jamie and his brothers built, and it was so nice to have our parents spend a little time together before our wedding.  deadwood is such a great spot in the summer!  we had a grand time showing my parents around and hanging out all together.  jamie and i had to be back at work on tuesday, but our parents stayed an extra day at the cabin, so the four of them got to spend some time together without their kids chaperoning. ;) ;)  and now for the photos… a good majority of these came from my mom, so i wanna give a special thanks to her for documenting this weekend a lot better than i did! :)

{somewhere in wyoming…}

{not a great photo, but those rock formations are pretty crazy-looking!}

{lots of fun memories have come from this beautiful cabin.}

{the ceilings at the cabin are so tall and awe-inspiring with all the wood.}

{more glimpses of the inside.}

{everything is wild and beautiful here.}

{i can’t remember if i’ve mentioned it, but my mom and dad are trying to tandem bike in every state!  south dakota was their 20th state – they went on the george mickelson trail.  here they were at the cabin right before the ride.}

{with their tandem bike that they rented in deadwood.}

{from what i heard, the first ten miles uphill were hard work!  but it looks like they got to see some gorgeous views at the top.}
{when my parents got back from their bike ride and jamie’s parents arrived, we went to a cool arts festival in spearfish that afternoon.}

{it was a lovely day.  the rain hit just as we were heading home!}

{grill master cal working on karen’s amazing kabobs!}

{beautiful south dakota}

{downtown deadwood}

{the old franklin hotel}

{haha!  i vaguely recall jamie and me having similar behinds at one point…} ;)

{where we stopped for lunch.}

{crazy horse!  in the background, you can see where they’ve carved out his face.  they still have a long way to go, but it’s pretty cool.}

{tons and tons of glass jars of beads that the native americans use for their beadwork.}

{this outfit for a horse was made of all beads and it was absolutely gorgeous.}

{here’s a close up of crazy horse’s profile.}

{standing in front of bridal veil falls.  seemed appropriate!}

{we stopped for a beer at miner brewing co on the way home!}

{family}

{this was fun!}

{this guy and his dog were cracking me up!  he had his pup thrown over his shoulders.  it reminded me of a shepherd and a lamb!}

{i was a total stalker.  but i couldn’t get over how cute that was!  the dog was as comfortable as could be.}

{the dads fixing things.} :)

{the next morning, my parents, jamie, and i took the 1880 steam train from hill city to keystone, where we met jamie’s parents [they brought the cars up there].  it was such a fun trip through the gorgeous black hills.  of course my dad was in heaven getting to check out the steam engine.}

{we all had lunch in keystone, and then jamie and i had to head back home to colorado, while our parents went to mount rushmore together!}

{my mom had been wanting to see this since she was young.}

{my mom also really wanted to see a mountain goat, and up there on that hill she got to see one!  see that little guy?  she took this picture and sent it to us.}

{they drove through needles highway…}

{…and visited lake sylvan!}

{they finished out the trip with one more evening together and dinner at the restaurant in the franklin hotel.  here are our cute moms ready for dinner!}

{we love these four so much and are so lucky that they are our parents!}

karen and cal, thank you SO much for hosting us and for such a fun weekend!  my parents had a blast, and jamie and i did too.  the next time all 6 of us will be together will be at our wedding in LESS THAN 2 MONTHS!!!!!  ahhhhh, can’t wait!  love you guys.  xoxo