A Crazy Start To The Weekend

 It was time to get an adjustment, say goodbye to Jill's and Jessi's and celebrate two birthdays, and have a dr appt up in Denver - so to Denver I was headed on Saturday morning!

Since the car was a mess, I decided to stop in W Pk and wash it!  Yes, I knew it was only 25 degrees but I figured the sun would come out soon enough!  I started washing the car and when the sprayer hit my side mirror, it immediately folded in and locked the car - REALLY?????  And yes, my key fob was in the car along with my cell phone!  I finished washing the car and luckily there was a very nice man waiting to use my stall so I walked back to him and borrowed his cell phone - LUCKILY Glenn was in the house (because usually he isn't) and he headed in to bring the other key fob. It was darn cold standing there for 20 minutes waiting for him!!  I was SO HAPPY I hadn't waited to wash the car in Co Springs or Denver and I learned a valuable lesson - always put the key fob in my pocket!

After I got to Jessi's, we tried to recreate what happened - I walked quite a ways from my car with one key fob and she tried to lock the car with the keys inside - nope - it doesn't happen (which I knew).  You can't have your key fob in the car and try to lock it - it WILL NOT LOCK and the car just beeps at you!  So why it locked during the car wash I'll never know!

I FINALLY got to Denver and it was great to see the Keppys - we took a walk and played games and enjoyed the afternoon and evening (and I had Chunky Monkey ice cream - always a treat!!)  Evan had his hair all pushed up on top of his head so we decided to take a picture - yes, I look like a midget!

Jessi and I snuck out for coffee the next morning and had a nice walk - and then Jill and the kids arrived for the day!  We played lots of games and had a wonderful time!

Evan will turn 14 in Feb. while we are gone so we celebrated him!

And Parker will turn 10 in Feb. so he was all smiles too!

We had blueberry muffins and cupcakes for everyone!

Gary fixed a great dinner for all of us - the kids played well all day - and we took one last picture before Jill's headed out the door for home!

Monday morning I had my endocrinologist appt before I headed back home - we leave Sunday for Mexico so it's time to finish up the packing and all those last minute details!

Happy New Year!

 It's a new year and I believe everyone was ready to leave 2020 behind!  Although 2021 hasn't started out so great either...    Time will tell!

So I'm sure you are all so excited to hear what we did on New Year's Eve - yea, right!!  We old folks just don't have the stamina to stay up late - but we did see the fireworks set off of Pikes Peak at 9:00 (they also did it again at midnight!!)  It was fun to see the fireworks - I opened up the window of the office to look out as it was just too cold to stand outside!

Our evening was just supposed to be watching TV - Glenn was getting up at 5:00am the next morning to head to the Denver airport to fly out to Sioux Falls, SD!  He was going ice fishing with son Neal and grandson Chance to a few lakes up that way!  And Brad had already left to drive up there the day before!  (Gary and Brad were BOTH supposed to go but after it was planned, Gary couldn't get the time off.)  They had reservations at a nearby hotel up that way and had spent hours and hours planning this trip and spending time at the computer talking to guys about the fishing up that way!

Well, about 8:30 on New Year's Eve, Glenn gets a text that his flight has been cancelled - WHAT?????  Apparently the plane wasn't full enough to do the flight!  I immediately got on the computer and called United and did all those things you're supposed to do when a flight is cancelled!

Of course I had already paid for his luggage both ways but after getting ahold of an agent, she assured me it would all be refunded if we didn't accept the flight they had changed it to, which was the next day and that wouldn't work!!

Flights to Sioux Falls were now at a whopping $384 which Glenn would NOT pay of course!  There wasn't a lot of choice of course - but I did find a ONE way option to Sioux Falls for the 1st AND knowing that Brad was already on his way up there, Glenn could just ride back with him!  SO that's what we did -  booked the one way flight!

He left the next morning (New Year's Day) and came back on the following Tuesday!

Of course what happens when your spouse leaves?  THINGS BREAK DOWN!!

I noticed the next morning that the hot tub seemed to be running ALL the time so I went out and checked it - icy cold - I texted Glenn and he said it was a complicated procedure to reset it but as long as the pump was running it wouldn't freeze!!  I played with the buttons for a minute and then left it - the next morning I did NOT hear it running so rushed out thinking it had frozen overnight - nope - it was warm as could be!!  Whatever I had done seemed to fix it!

Also Saturday morning, I woke up to a cold house - 57 degrees!!  And I noticed as I laid in bed that the furnace would go on for about 30 seconds and then shut off - it did this several times till I felt the air coming out and it was COLD air!!  So much for heat!!  I got the wood stove going well, turned on an electric heater for a while and turned on the fireplace.  Again I texted Glenn and got the same answer  - it was a complicated procedure what needed to be done!!  So I just ran the wood stove (which works pretty darn good!) till he got home and he fixed it!

Glenn had a great time fishing - they didn't catch a lot of fish but enough to bring some home to the freezer!!  Brad got the catch of the day!  Here are a few pics:

We usually go to New Mexico ice fishing and stay in their cute cabins - not happening this year as the governor shut down the state parks to all non-residents - that didn't make us happy!

Glenn probably will only go ice fishing one more time before we head south of the border!  But then he can fish to his hearts' content in the warmth!!

Christmas Day

 Yes, the Christmas posts are coming to an end!!  Early Christmas morning we drove up to Ft. Collins to be with the Savages'.  The kids had already seen their Santa gifts so we quickly unloaded, had some coffee with cinnamon rolls and fruit with dip before the opening commenced!

It's always fun watching everyone open their gifts!!  And I love it when the kids are as excited about "giving" gifts as well as receiving them!!

I received a Christmas towel and a pair of Christmas earrings (which I immediately put on since I didn't have any!!).  Glenn got something that deals with testing batteries - and a gift pack of different types of popcorn and seasonings!!  (we've already tried the popcorn - excellent!!)

These kids received the light up gloves also and they loved them - watch for them in the below pictures!!

We had an enjoyable day taking a couple of walks as it was quite nice outside - watching a movie - and playing games!  The ham dinner that night was delicious!

Saturday morning Jill, Aleah and I headed out to do some after Christmas shopping!  One stop later we were done!!  Walmart had what I needed - just a few things for next year - and Aleah was spending some of her money she had received which included a lamp and shade and cubbies for some of her things!  It's always exciting when you find what you're looking for!  And yes, we had stopped for coffee before shopping!!

We had an early soup dinner because we headed out early evening for a couple of light shows!  The first one was an outdoor drive through one which required reservations!  It was at a lake and it was sure fun to drive by and see everything!

Santa actually catches a fish in the below picture but of course I didn't snap in time!  The reflections of the lights on the lake were really pretty!

The next one was a walking one - we parked and walked in to this amazing place and really enjoyed it!

Check out the kids' gloves!!

This display was set up on a ridge and turned colors to the music playing - of course I LOVE it when they play the song by Trans-Siberian orchestra!!

There were several places to take cute pictures but this was one of my favorites!

Love the heart that we walked through!

It was a great evening and we all enjoyed it!!  

Sunday morning it was time to say goodbye and head back to the mountains!!  Christmas has officially ended for another year!!

Christmas Eve

 Are you starting to think that our Christmas never ends?  You're right - we just keep on celebrating!!  We love being around our family, especially because we know we'll be heading to Mexico soon for 2 1/2 months and won't get to see them!

After picking up Evan at Kylan's on Wed. morning, we headed to Denver!  Jessi was working but did get off fairly early that day!  Kenzie was so excited to see Spyro!  And look, he's even smiling at me!

Evan helped Jessi make the homemade rolls - YUM!!

I always look forward to coffee with Jessi when I'm in Denver - we picked up our coffee and went for a walk at this neat park - I love the stepping stones behind me - in the summer you can walk across them to get to the other side but they were too icy to navigate!

Church was early afternoon  - we all dressed up!

We took our picture BEFORE the service which was a smart idea - it was really busy afterward!  The church service was lovely with many traditional hymns sung which is always my favorite part!

Glenn and Gary went out to fish awhile so Jessi joined me in getting gas in my car and trying to get our filthy car through a car wash - but the line was long so I just ended up spraying it off myself!!  You could hardly see out the windows it was so bad!

After a delicious dinner, the girls opened a gift from us - light up gloves - the story behind those gloves is they were SUPPOSED to get in by Halloween but they never made it - guess they worked for Christmas too!!  Evan got extra cracker mix which he loves!

The Keppys gave me this wonderful frame with a picture of all of us the weekend before - perfect!!

And Glenn - who at Thanksgiving announced that he should have gotten a medal since he was the first to get Covid - well, that's exactly what he got!  Great idea Jessi!!!  But he also got an underwater light too!

We played games that evening and helped sprinkle reindeer food for Santa's reindeer along with setting out cookies for Santa - and all those awesome memories of when the girls were little came back to me!

Christmas sure is a special time!

A Sleepover At Nana and Papa's

 All 3 girls slept great - I think they were exhausted from the past 2 days of Christmas!!  We enjoyed hot chocolate before Jill's came to pick up Aleah!

Evan went with me to the Food Pantry on Monday - I knew he would enjoy working and he DID!  We put him in charge of packing the potatoes, gravy and butter when we started packing the boxes!  It's hard to imagine Evan is just in 8th grade as he not only looks like he's in high school but also talks and acts like a much older teen - it was a pleasure to have him there and he enjoyed visiting with a lot of the workers!  They also had a drawing for the workers that day - Evan and I BOTH won!!  He picked out a bundle of microwave popcorn and I picked out a basket of cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer - perfect for our Mexico trip!

Even though it was chilly out, Gwyn and I had our coffee and hot chocolate the next morning on the deck with the snowmen!

She loves to draw and color!

I decided that we needed some fresh air and a walk and remembered that we had hidden Freddie the Frog the previous summer but NO ONE had found him!!  So our journey was to find Freddie - how strange that the FIRST tree we walked to had Freddie behind it!!  

We were excited that there was chocolate fondue left - and I had brought home the leftover pineapple and brownies - yum!!  A perfect dessert!!

Fondue and Predictions

 Yes - we decided to do fondue for our evening meal - we had tried it years ago when there were only a couple of little ones and we all loved it!  But as the babies arrived, we knew we had to put fondue on hold until the small ones were old enough to enjoy it and appreciate it!

It is a LOT of work to get ready for fondue!!    I ended up just buying all of the groceries and then we split the cost - there was chopping and dicing and prep work and getting all the fondue stuff dug out of the storage room and taken to Jaime's and just LOTS of planning!  We really had no idea how much "cheese" fondue to make and as it turns out, we made way too much so we have noted that in our file!!  The kids weren't overly impressed with the cheese in which we dipped bread and veggies but they still enjoyed it!

Before we started more prep work, we had the kids do their grab bag gifts - the theme was New Year's Eve and there were some really cute things!

The adults also did their grab bag gift exchange - both the adults and the kids roll the big green dice and do what our chart tells them!  It's always a lot of fun!  Glenn and I ended up with a gift certificate to Texas Roadhouse (love that place!) and 2 new games!  SCORE!!

And finally fondue!!

After the first course of cheese fondue, we dismissed the kids for a while and got the next course ready - steak, shrimp, and oven chicken thighs along with ceasar salad!  It was all delicious!!

We wished we would have had one more table top grill!!  Will keep my eyes open for one!

And last but not least was our chocolate fondue - oh my - the kids LOVED it as much as the adults did!  But we were all SO FULL from the huge meal that none of us ate a lot - that meant leftovers!!

We did our predictions too - because of covid, some of the questions didn't pertain the way they SHOULD have, but we all had to take that in stride!!  I can't believe Glenn and I won this year!!  We haven't won for many years so the $60 will be taken to Mexico and spent on a nice meal - requirements demand that we send a picture to the losers!!!!

Jessi and Gary headed back to Denver yet that night - Evan stayed with Kylan and we took Gwyn, Aleah and Kenzie back to sleep at our house!  The Savages picked up Aleah the next morning before they headed back to Ft. Collins!  What an awesome Christmas spent together!!