Breckenridge Snow Sculptures

I've been wanting to see the Breckenridge snow sculptures for years now!!  But it seemed every year something was either going on or the weather was too lousy to go - NOT THIS YEAR!!  It was a perfect day to drive over (even though on the way home the wind had blown across the flats and it was nice and snowy) and that Colorado sky was blue as can be!!

We stopped in Fairplay at our favorite coffee place, The Java Moose and had some great coffee before heading into Breckenridge.  Silly me - I figured since it was a Tuesday that it wouldn't be crowded at all - my mistake!!  It took a while to finally find a parking spot in a lot and we had to walk a couple of blocks which was wonderful after that 1 1/2 hour car ride!!

Was it cold there?  ABSOLUTELY!!  I think it was about 18 as we were walking around the sculptures but the sun was out so we didn't freeze at all!

The sculptures were amazing!!!!  Beside each one is a picture depicting what it is and what it represents - there were teams from all over the world that participated.

This is a cute little travel trailer (not done by the world famous sculptors!!)

All of them are judged and the two below (taken from different angles) placed first - Mexico!  It was really cool looking and definitely deserved first place!!

It's amazing how these are all held together!  Cripple Creek always does the ice sculptures which are really cool also but I had never seen ones made strictly from snow!

A little warming place to warm up!!

Afterwards we walked to a place to have some lunch and this was our view!

What a fun day and hopefully we can do it again some year!!!

Fishing - Basketball - Dancing

Time to head to Denver and catch up with the Keppys!!  We drove up early Wed. afternoon so we could watch Gwyn while Gary went to a dentist appointment!  She LOVES to play dolls and was excited to have someone new to play with!

Evan's basketball game was later on that day - Gary thought the game was at 4 so we headed over by that time, only to find out it wasn't till 4:30 and then found out he played the 3rd game around 6:30!  It was a long wait but fun to watch the other boys play!

There are 6 basketball teams of 10 for the 6th grade!  Evan made it into the top 3 teams and they rotate who plays first!  He played an awesome game making a couple of baskets and doing a great job of defense!  It was fun to see him play and he has definitely improved since last year!  They won the game with a score of 43 to 11.  And yes, they have a VERY tall player on their team!

I think Gwynnie is counting the hairs on Papa's head???

Glenn headed out to fish Thursday morning so after we got the kids to school, we headed out for coffee - something we haven't done in a long time!  The coffee was great - the company was excellent - and Gwynnie was as good as can be!!

Jessi needed help decorating her house so we did a little bit of shopping and then went home to decorate!!  Even ended up going back out after Papa came home from fishing to buy something we had found for her dining room wall - it all looked SO GOOD by the time we were done!!

Glenn had a great time fishing (in the snow I might add as it snowed most of the morning) but caught some HUGE perch that he cooked up for an early dinner - they were amazing!

Kenzie had her jazz and tap practices so I went with Jessi so I could watch her through the window - she does great at dancing and I'm looking forward to her recital in June!

Matching pj's for these cuties!!

And they're all ready for bed!!

Such a great time at the Keppys!!  Thanks for having us!

A New Look

After I took down the Christmas decorations and put up the "usual" things, I decided I needed to change the items that are displayed on the top of my cabinets!  I'd been using a few baskets for years and I was so tired of them..............

Jaime had asked me to go to Colorado Springs with her to look for a buffet type cabinet to hold her wine glasses and china and I told her I'd love to go pick something out with her as long as we could stop at Hobby Lobby just so I could get some ideas!!

We stopped for coffee to go in town and then headed to Hobby Lobby first as it opened the earliest.  It was snowing like crazy out and we had decided the night before that if it was snowing, we wouldn't go - but here we were headed down the pass!

We had a ball at Hobby Lobby - found SO many things I liked so just decided to start arranging them together on the floor - so we would grab an item and try it and then put it back and try another.  I think we were there for at least an hour and a half arranging items!  But we finally got it to my liking (and then of course had to do the greenery!) and checked out!  I was excited to set it up!

Jaime did find a cabinet she liked at American Furniture Warehouse (our go to store) but it wasn't in stock and had to come down from Denver!  After lunch we headed on home and I put together the arrangement!  Of course what we had planned didn't quite work so I had to adjust things!  I've decided I need a couple more tall items to put beside the "gather" sign and then I'll be done!

In other kitchen news, Glenn finished up the slide outs on the pantry today!!  I LOVE it!

And lastly, here's the cute tree I got at IKEA - it's all decorated for Valentine's Day!!

Ice Fishing at Eagle Nest, NM

It's that time of year again where Glenn can't wait to check the ice fishing locations every morning to see if the ice is thick enough for fishing!  When he said the ice was thick enough in Eagle Nest, NM, I knew we would be heading there soon!

Last year the ice never got thick enough and they didn't open the lake down there - but this year there's been plenty of cold weather and it was open!

We left early on a Sunday morning and had a nice drive down - well except for breakfast at Arby's in Raton - we have stopped there a couple of times as they DO serve breakfast (unlike here in Colorado)and the place is clean, the breakfast was good and let's face it - it's better than McDonalds!!!

This year was the exception though - Glenn ordered a sausage breakfast on their toast and I ordered just a ham and egg biscuit plus orange juice ( I LOVE the fact they serve "Simply Orange" for their juice - even though it's expensive, it's SO MUCH BETTER than the Tropicana!!)  When the gal brought the sandwiches she forgot my juice so she ran back to get that while we opened our sandwiches - Glenn had gotten ham (not sausage) and I had gotten bacon (not ham) - really?  Glenn said he would eat his ham but I said I wanted my ham - so she went back to cook another one.  Brings it out about 5 min later and sets it down and returns to the kitchen.  I open it and it's sausage - you're kidding me - at this point I just decided to cut my losses and eat the first one which was bacon.  No points for you this time Arby's!!!

We arrived at Eagle Nest and got checked into our cabin - we had stayed here the time before so I knew what to expect!  Glenn headed out to fish - I grabbed my book!

About 4 hours later Glenn was back with his LIMIT - 30 fish!!  WOW!

Unfortunately perch are not very big AND a royal pain to fillet out!  But he got them cleaned and had brought along the electric knife to fillet them and soon had them done !  We also bring the electric sealer and I helped him do that!

From our stay the year before, we were aware that the lodge restaurant where we were staying ( and I might add, the only place in town to eat dinner!!) is not always open for meals!  So I had brought along a couple of frozen meals to heat up just in case and it was a good thing!!

Sunday night the place closed at 6 and Glenn was just finishing up cleaning the fish then and on Tuesday it was closed!!  So the 2 meals I brought were perfect and we ate out on Monday night!

Here's the view from the cabin!  The lake is in the distance.

 While Glenn fished all day, I read and watched movies while working on my Swedish weaving blanket!  I did take walks both days up to the edge of town and realized only 1 shop was open this time of year - the town kind of shuts down in winter!  It was cold out but the brisk air felt good!  This is the view from the other end of town.

Glenn caught his limit all 3 days - a LOT of fish to clean!  We both enjoyed our time there, both doing what we love so it works out perfect!

One more shot of the lake before we head home!

A Belated Birthday Gift

It's always a little sad to put the Christmas decorations away for another year - but on the other hand, it's nice to have the house back to "normal" state once again!!  I FINALLY finished all of the Hallmark Christmas movies I had taped and am already looking forward to next years' movies!

I just realized this is my first official blog I've written about the new year - 2019!  And I guess I better write down what we did for New Years' Eve or I'll forget because it's easily forgotten!!  We did absolutely NOTHING!  Watched some tv and were in bed by 10:30!  Since it was snowing outside, I had no desire to stay up and try to see the fireworks off of Pikes Peak as I knew I wouldn't be able to see them with all the cloud cover!

So January hasn't been real busy which you can tell since I haven't blogged!!  Glenn is faithfully going to PT once a week and doing his exercises!  I help Jaime about once a week as she tries to get more boxes unpacked from the shop!  Men are still working at their house so it's really hard to clean up after them and try to maintain a household when there is still work to finish!  SOMEDAY it will all get done!

My friend Joleen came out for a weekend and we enjoyed having coffee with another friend in Florissant and catching up with all the news!

Finally to my belated birthday gift!!  When we built the house, we decided to not have the cabinet builder do the slide outs on the pantry and one cupboard because it was so expensive to do and Glenn said he could do them later...........all women know about later.........so not this last birthday but my birthday before THAT, when Glenn asked me what I wanted I told him I just wanted the slide outs done in the kitchen!!!!!  It is so hard to see in the back of the pantry shelves - sometimes I just get a flashlight to look back in there!!

After I had reminded Glenn that I REALLY wanted them done, he ordered the slides from Amazon and started working on them!!!  WOW - I am so impressed!!

He finished one last week before we took our little trip (next blog) and today he finished another shelf!  Now that he has the hang of it, it won't take long at all for him to finish the rest!!  He's doing the pantry shelves (except for the high shelf) and one of my cabinets that we use for snacks!!  The kids will be thrilled to pull out the drawer to get to the fruit snacks which are always in the back!!

Last week we had beautiful snow - to the tune of about 10 inches!!  It was gorgeous out and I loved just relaxing in the recliner and watching it snow while I read!!  Here's a photo taken off the back deck by the hot tub!!

And next up - ice fishing in New Mexico!

Weekend Guests

Jessi's decided to come down last weekend not only to visit but to bring Evan down to spend a few nights with Kylan since they're all on winter break!  I had lunch ready when they walked in the door and our afternoon began!!

Glenn had started on his puzzle from Jill and Robby and it was a difficult one - a lot of water and sky so the pieces looked a LOT alike!!  Glenn kept saying that one was missing and accused me of vacuuming one up but I knew that wasn't the case as I hadn't vacuumed since he started!!  That evening when the Keppys were going over to see Brad and Jaime's house, Kenzie was putting her coat on over by the bench and said "Look what I found - it's a puzzle piece!!!!"  Sure enough, it was the piece Glenn was looking for - he had on his warm bib overalls for a while that morning but had taken them off over by the bench after working on the puzzle - and apparently one of the pieces had attached itself to the overalls!!  At least it was found!!

Can all the Keppys really get in the bus??  Apparently so!

Kenzie and Evan had fun playing on my keyboard!!  I learned after a while to just shut the office door - ha!

Glenn and Evan were going fishing Sunday late morning so Evan was practicing up!

And hot chocolate and "special" coffee are always in order when they come!

We had a great time together, even though it was short as they left by noon on Sunday!  But I always get the BEST hugs from Gwyn when it's time for them to leave!!

Christmas Day

I had brought a blueberry butter braid up to eat Christmas morning - they are SO GOOD and I wish you could buy them in the store because I never buy enough and if no grand child is selling them through their school, I don't get them!!  So I had one left and what better way to enjoy it than on Christmas morning!

It was so fun to watch the opening of the gifts!!  Jill's gave Glenn a jigsaw puzzle (which he has since put together!!) and I received a candle!

Robby was kind of under the weather so relaxed in the easy chair while everyone opened!

These two were ALL smiles ALL morning long!!

Jill received a really comfy blanket to use in the family room!

Both kids had received materials to make slime so Aleah attempted it - not quite what she anticipated on the first try but eventually she got it made!!

I brought up the ingredients to make this recipe I found on Facebook - I can't even remember the name of it but it was with puff pastry, little smokies and brie cheese!!  Kind of a pain to make but it tasted great!!!

Jill had given the kids Racko for Christmas so we had fun playing that - I hadn't played it in years!!

We had a great day just hanging out and playing games!!  Jill fixed a delicious ham dinner and I had brought punch so we all ate and drank well!!  After the kids went to bed, we watched the new Netflix show "Bird Box" with Sandra Bullock - I thought it was great as I like movies like that!!

The next morning Jill, Aleah and I headed out to shop just a little bit - I was completely out of Christmas wrapping paper and I always need tags!!  Even bought myself some Christmas earrings and a light up necklace for next year since it was all 1/2 price!!

Soon it was time to say goodbye and head to Co. Springs where we met Leslie and Nedelle for lunch at Red Lobster!  It was fun to catch up with them and Nedelle had just celebrated her birthday!

What an awesome Christmas!