A Little Red Rock

In search of something warmer than a blizzarding Estes Park, we took my family to Red Rocks Amphitheater for another adventure.  My parents apparently had been there when I was just a baby, but that was awhile ago.  I love going there because I just can't get over how big it is, and I keep dreaming about the day when I'll finally get my act together and get concert tickets for a show. 

McKenzie and Ryan spent most of the time just climbing up the bleachers and playing tag with a piece of foam they found.  

Cambrie loves running on the rocks behind the stage looking for small caves.

And little Faye spent her time looking cute and posing for pictures. 

Here's a cute one of my brother's family...

oops...let's try that again.  Much better. 

We did manage to get a couple of whole family shots while down on the stage, as well as up by the really cool red rocks (obviously).  

And this picture has no real story, I just think McKenzie looks somewhat silly and it makes me smile. 

After we left here they had just enough time to grab some lunch at Taco Bell then pack their bags for their flight home.  It was so much fun having them come visit.  I wonder if we can bribe/convince/beg them to come back again soon.   

Estes Park snow parade

In the spirit of family adventures and making memories, we spent Friday afternoon up in Estes Park.  Every year they have a Christmas season kick-off party.  There are hay rides, carolers, window shopping, hot chocolate, and a light parade in the evening.  It sounded like a lot of fun so the women folk took up the kids for some window shopping and atmosphere enjoyment. 

It was pretty chilly so we made sure we bundled up.  We pulled out every hat and glove we own for our little girls and they were happy, more or less. 

Faye's face just cracks me up though:  "We're doing what?  Don't you realize that it's cold up here?" 

We managed to get on one of the last hay rides of the night and even though I was having a great time, the girls didn't want to sit on my lap and kept squirming.  The ride was simple a turn around the block, not much to brag about but a good ride nonetheless. 

Then it was time to check out the local shops.  We saw lots of goodies for sale:  caramel apples... 

and freshly pulled taffy.  We wish we could have eaten all the yummy stuff we saw. 

The whole festive atmosphere up there was intoxicating.  We did nothing but walk the streets and I was having a fantastic time. 

The men met up with us for the parade (they had been googling over electronics at Best Buy), and we enjoyed some pizza along the parade route.  By the time they got there a light snow was falling and it was a very picturesque scene with the lights on the tree and the music playing in the air. 

As we were waiting for the parade to start, we heard a cheer coming from up the street.  But it wasn't the parade, it was a windy wall of snow!  We were hit with a ten minute blizzard that made everything very wet and very cold.  We soon discovered that we were actually sitting in the gutter and all of the freshly fallen snow was melting right into our blankets.  Now it was cold, snowy, and we didn't have a single dry blanket to keep us warm.  The parade was simple, Christmas lights decorated town vehicles and local floats, but we soon realized we couldn't make it through the entire parade. 

The kids were freezing, I mean, look at Cambrie's face.  Doesn't it just scream, "What on earth are you doing to me?!" 

We stayed out as long as we could for memories' sake, then the crying children went back to the car to warm up.  Ironically the only ones left watching the parade were the guys and we had to basically bribe them to come up anyway.  Will we do it again?  I don't know.  I love stories like this and I had fun but if it is that cold in the future we will have to be much more prepared.  Yea for memories! 

Thankful for a perfect Thanksgiving

After the turkey trot, we headed home to prepare our Thanksgiving feast and enjoy the rest of the holiday.  I have a couple of favorite sounds on Thanksgiving day: one is kids laughing,

 

...one is all of the women chatting while preparing dinner amid the whirring of beaters and kitchen timers,

...and another is the cheering and groaning of the men while watching football.  For some reason it is a real homey combination for me. 

Preparing dinner at one house with one oven requires some good planning and coordination of dishes.  But the final feast was worth every dish dirtied and washed (and believe me, we washed a lot of dishes).  Doesn't it look tasty?  I'm glad you're drooling, because we were too.

After we feasted on turkey, home made stuffing, Lion House rolls, sweet yams, deviled eggs, spinach salad, cranberry Jell-O, lemon-pimento broccoli, and a little sparkling cider, we walked across the street to enjoy the Thanksgiving twilight. 

We tested out Ryan's new Frisbee. 

We played on the playground. 

And just enjoyed the absolutely most perfect weather Thanksgiving has ever seen. 

In fact, the entire holiday oozed perfection.  My entire family (sans Sis. Camille Johnson) were able to come out to our home.  There was a moment when we thought my dad would have to stay home alone because he was sick, but he made a truly miraculous recovery and we were so blessed that he could make it.  It wouldn't have been the same without my dad.  It was also the first year that Jeremy and I were able to host a family party.  We finally have space for everyone in our new home and it was so wonderful.  Family, food, and fabulous weather...it was a truly perfect Thanksgiving and I couldn't have hoped for anything better.

Turkey Trot

This year my family came out to visit us for Thanksgiving.  It was an absolute blast and one of the best Thanksgivings ever!  We decided to try something new this year and signed up for a local 5K Thanksgiving morning; hello Anthem turkey trot!  Alan, Hannah, Ryan and I signed up for the family 5K.  Basically the four of you run then they take your total time to compete for prizes.  We didn't care about the prizes, we just wanted to have fun-and I think we achieved it. 

We drove to the race in my dad's rented red Mustang.  We were way too cool for the other runners. 

As we were waiting for our start, my mom started taking some pictures.  Ryan may look grumpy in this picture, but let me assure you that he is just faking being grumpy.  He was actually having a good time. 

And here are Alan and Hannah at the start.  Unplanned, they are both wearing Riverton race T-shirts; it made them easy to find. 

While we were running, our cheering squad was waiting for us to show up.  They played with cat tails and posed with Grandma. 

Baby Faye came too and loved watching her mom and dad run their race.

When we came around the final turn, we were very excited to be done so we could go home and eat pie.  I finished in a 21:18. 

Ryan finished in an awesome 21:26.  And I have to say it is pretty incredible considering that it is his first 5K and he threw up twice during the race.  (We can blame it on the spaghetti he ate for breakfast.) 

Alan and Hannah came around the final turn holding hands and looking so cute.  What a cute couple! 

After the race we struck a victory pose for the camera. 

There was a kids' 1/2 mile race that we failed to sign Cambrie up for, but the event was so low key that I quickly pinned my bib on her shirt and ran with her across the finish line.

  She was so excited that she ran her first race and earned her very own mini Gatorade bottle.  We will have to officially sign her up next year.  I would have to say that it was definitely one successful turkey trot.

Laugh and take a picture

What to say about little Miss McKenzie?  To put it lightly, she is quite the adventure.  A couple of weeks ago she spilled yellow nail polish on the carpet, punched a hole in the dry wall and spilled a container of bubbles all over their bedroom floor...all on the same day.  This week she hasn't been nearly as destructive, but she still manages to keep life interesting. 

One day I decided to let the girls have Lunchables for lunch.  McKenzie built a tower out of hers and gave me a cheesy smile for the picture.  So much for eating them. 

Every few weeks we babysit Addy while her mom teaches preschool.  The girls get along great and are each other's best friends.  It's adorable.  Normally I don't have to worry about them getting into trouble.  But this particular day I had gone downstairs to finish a painting project, and when I came back upstairs I saw that they had helped themselves to grape Popsicles.  McKenzie opened the freezer, Addy opened the Popsicle bags, and the girls were in frozen heaven.  What a mess!

McKenzie has also learned how to open things that twist.  Yes, that's about everything now.  But this morning she opened my mascara and applied it herself.  I just burst out laughing when I saw her little racoon eyes.  My make up is now hidden on an upper shelf of my closet. 

After all of this destruction a bath was definitely in order.  That girl... :)

My giddiness

These are my new skis.  Do I want to use them?  Oh yes I do!  Please let snow cover the mountains.  Please let a babysitter magically appear at my door.  Please let it be Christmas so I can officially claim them as my own!

Pottery Barn Owls

While browsing for ideas for my girls' room, I found these adorable owl book ends. 

They are super cute and would match their room really well, but I didn't want to spend $30 on them.  So I made my own, for free!  I pulled out some old scraps of fabric and some ancient pinto beans and ta-da!  Pottery Barn knock offs.

Little Leaf Cyclone

If you live in Colorado, you might have noticed that it's windy today.  The wind left us a pleasant surprise on our driveway, a pile of leaves!  Because of the way the wind was circling by our garage, we had a nice and neat pile of leaves for the girls to play in.  And I didn't even have to rake it up!  So before we ran out for a few errands, the girls got to play.  I love leaf pictures.