Ringing in the New Year

Bryan and I traveled to Missouri to spend the New Year's weekend with my family.  Somewhat ironically, it started snowing for the first "real" time this season as we pulled out of the garage to head to the airport...but we made it just fine anyway. 

Just like when we were growing up, Mom and Dad had great toys and dress-up clothes...including Mom's own shoes!

We celebrated Christmas New Year's Eve morning, starting off with the traditional cinnamon rolls...



I love Sophia's little eyes peaking over the island!

Dad had a rapt audience when he brought out his guitar while the rolls baked.


Then the gifts were passed out and more fun began.





There were some good helpers...



...and some happy recipients...



...and some fun with new things...



That evening we stayed in for New Year's Eve...had some food and played some games...and managed to stay awake til midnight.



Who knew Frog's Eyes could be so tasty?



There was even a hoop for those who preferred basketball over Boggle... ; )

Bryan had a protege while he worked on a floorplan for our basement...



Ah the joy of being read to!!  And eating oranges, of course.

All in all, we had a wonderful weekend filled with good family, food, and fun.  We missed Gina and Justin, but are glad they had the chance to spend NYE in NYC.  Just don't do it again ; )

That Sunday we headed to Topeka to see Grandma Virginia, Uncle Dave, and Deanne, and had some yummy pizza and good catching up.  We were also lucky enough to spend some time with our friend Lance, and also catch up with Matt, Fran, and Brandon for dinner. 

We are blessed with awesome people in our lives - thanks to everyone for making our holidays so fabulous!

Christmas 2010

As mentioned earlier, we had a busy 2010 Christmas season...but we loved it all!  Dan and Christy came to town December 21, and after exploring downtown Denver, we had dinner and our "first Christmas" at home that evening.




December 22 we all drove up to the Ranch in Granby to have our "second Christmas" with Bryan's grandparents, aunt and uncle, cousins, and nephew.  We played in the snow, ate good food, drank a lot of tea, and enjoyed good company.


We finally saw snow!



We went sledding and snowmobiling

I'm pretty sure that sledding with Bryan's nephew Caden is when Bryan decided he wanted boys "because girls wouldn't take a face-plant in snow and still want to play more." : )  We built a little jump for us big kids on the sledding hill.  I held the record for the furthest airtime...until everyone else went, LOL! 

Bryan and Caden



Uncle Cal, Aunt Tami, Caden, Katie, and Cousin Ben



I even got to see my first live moose.  Those things are big!

Friday Bryan and I headed back to Denver, stopping first at Winter Park to ski and then Beau Jo's for pizza.  We then cleaned up and went to the Christmas Eve service at our church.  Christmas day was spent at home...opening our presents to each other and relaxing!


This was some pretty intricate wrapping for my stocking!


The day after Christmas Taylor, Maddie, and Dylan came over for dinner and a hilarious game of Balderdash.  Good times!

Be Back Soon...

Ahhh - I have so much that I want to share...I promise to make the time to at least start on it sooner rather than later.  Here's hoping everyone had a blessed holiday season!  Updates coming...