Thanksgiving 2011

November 2011 (I have to put that since I'm posting this entry so late and it's already next year!:) Bryan and I packed up the trusty Jeep and headed to Arizona to spend Thanksgiving with the hospitable Dan and Christy Skinner!  We stopped in Glenwood Springs for the night, and thoroughly enjoyed soaking in the natural hot springs...pure bliss!  The next day we got up and drove the rest of the way to Flagstaff, arriving in the evening.  It's a beautiful drive - love, love, loved the scenery along the way!

I wanted to get out and play for a few minutes...

Is he singing? 

We spent a relaxing Thanksgiving day watching football and eating yummy food, then set out Friday morning on a Jeep ride.  And when I say "ride," I mean climbing over rocks and up/down inclines that you might not think a vehicle could do.  It was so much fun, and full of more gorgeous views!

The area around Sedona that we Jeeped in

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but this was my first "we're going up that!" moment.

At our first "get out and look around" stop

I am the little red dot running to the top of the mound...

...and now I am the even smaller red dot that made it there

This is called Devil's Staircase and we rode down it.  It doesn't look that steep until you're holding on and trying not to squeal : )

Then we stopped at Chapel of the Holy Cross on a hilltop.

This is the view from the Chapel.  Check out that mongo huge mansion!!

Saturday the four of us headed out to the Grand Canyon!  I hadn't been since a family vacation in junior high (I think - maybe early high school), and was looking forward to seeing it again.  It didn't disappoint - that place is amazing!

 

Love my trees!

How very appropriate that we caught a raven on the raven sign

We didn't run into huge crowds most of the time because we started at the opposite end that most people did, but we hit some people toward the end of our jaunt



This wasn't as dangerous as it might look...

...but I wasn't taking any chances with getting any closer to the edge!!

Ah - such beauty.  God, you did good!  That evening Bryan and I drove a few hours to Kayenta where we stayed the night, then drove home Sunday and crashed on the couch to watch the recorded Broncos game.  What a lovely trip all around!

Driving home, we stopped to gaze back and take a picture...you might recognize this as the spot Forrest Gump stopped his run across the U.S....

More Fall and Some Celebrations

A couple of weeks ago we raked up the leaves in the front yard...our tree is always the last one in the neighborhood to shed it's leaves.  Bryan had already raked a bunch up the weekend before, and you see there are still plenty on the tree.  So the pile wasn't huge, but I jumped in it anyway.

Ready...

...set...

...go!

Halloween seems so long ago by now, but it was only slightly over a month.  Bryan always looks forward to having trick-or-treaters stop by the house, so this year we decided to dress up a little bit too.  I had just gotten a fabulous black cat mask, and Bryan had a flight suit from a work skit, so that's what we were.  We had a lot of kids stop by, several of which thought it was funny when Bryan referred to their costumes as "uniforms." 

Then a few days later I turned the big 3-0.  I had great birthday celebrations this year!  First I was surprised with a birthday celebration when I arrived in Texas to help out with my new nephew.  Gina and Mom made things lovely, and Justin grilled up some fabulous salmon.  So awesome!

Day-of it snowed, but I still took myself off to get a pedicure and then Bryan took me out for dinner that evening.  On the way home, he casually asked if I wanted to go bowling (as we drove by the place).  I almost said no because I didn't have socks on, but I'm glad I said yes because some of our small group friends were waiting inside to surprise me!  I even got the high bowling score of the night (luck was on my side).  Fun times!

 

Oh looky - my toenails match my shoes.

Bryan got Broncos tickets for my birthday, so Nov 17 we piled on the layers and headed to Mile High to watch Tebow lead the Broncos to a win over the Jets.  It was an exciting game the whole way through, with the winning touchdown coming in the last few minutes.  Another great birthday memory!

We were too busy cheering to take pictures during the game, but we got a few beforehand.

 
All-in-all, turning 30 wasn't bad.  In fact, I plan to make this a great year, so one could even say it was pretty good.  Thanks to all who helped me celebrate and made me feel so special!!!