January Photo Dump

 I must interrupt our Mexico drive to finish up Jan. with just a few pictures!

Since Matias couldn't come to Estes Park, we had him and his girlfriend up so he could open his presents and have a nice lunch together!

A pretty SUNSET - it's hard to take pictures off our back deck because of all the trees but this one turned out nice!

After our fiasco that one weekend with the low temps in the house causing the smoke alarms to go off, I decided we needed a SMART thermostat so I could control it from my phone!  It was fairly easy to install after having to get another wire - but hooking up to my phone took a little longer!!  But I've got it all down now and can see the temp daily on my phone here in Mexico!

Henry was all ready to head to Mexico but the Christmas stocking hat wasn't going to work - so I ordered a set of straw hats (plenty to give the grandkids) and used velcro to secure it to his flat head - HA!  He loves it!!

Of course it would turn super cold right before we leave!!!

One last get together with the neighbors - we'll miss all of them while we're gone!!

And that's a wrap for January - time to continue the trip!!

Sedona/Prescott

 Next stop - Flagstaff - to get the car part!  We found Auto Zone easy enough and they DID have the part - Glenn put it on right there in the parking lot and it didn't take too long!  And it seemed to work as the engine light didn't come on - SCORE!!

Since we had plenty of time since Prescott wasn't that far away, we decided to go down Oak Creek Canyon and reminisce about our time living there.  We hardly recognized Sedona!!  But of course it's been 38 years since we lived there!!  The red rocks though are just as gorgeous as ever!!

We decided to head to the Village of Oak Creek which is where we lived to see if we could recognize our first house we lived in when we moved there - I did NOT remember the address but knew it was just a little over a block away from the Circle K gas station because that is where Jaime walked to catch the bus!  And a cute story remembering that - The Village and Sedona actually got an inch of snow that first winter - pretty rare!!  I sent Jaime down to catch the bus (this was in the days where you didn't have to worry about your child walking by themselves!!) and she waited outside like normal for a while - finally the checker at the Circle K walked out and asked why she was still waiting out there and Jaime replied she was waiting for the bus - the checker told her school was cancelled because of the snow!!!  So told her to go back home!!  I still chuckle about it to this day because we were from Iowa where they might cancel school if you got a foot or so!!!

Anyway we drove around several blocks but could not see the house - more than likely it had been torn down and a new one built - if I would have known we were going to be stopping there, I would have grabbed a picture of that house out of the box of pictures from that year!  So dang, we never found it!!

And then it was off to Prescott to see Jeff and Karen!  It was so fun to see them - Karen and I never stopped talking that entire afternoon and evening!!  HA!!  Glenn took a nap while Jeff, Karen and I went for a lovely walk in their neighborhood!!

Happy Hour time - YUM!

We had a nice evening with a wonderful meal - sure enjoyed visiting before it was time to head to bed!

Thanks Jeff and Karen for a wonderful time!  

Mexico Bound

 And before we knew it, it was time to head to Mexico!!  That last week and up to the day we left, I was under the weather with upper respitory issues!  I could still pack and such but sure didn't feel great and I was glad I had done so much in advance!!  It was mostly a bad cough the last few days and even through the begiining of our trip but it could have been a lot worse!

And we also had a car issue before we left - the engine light kept coming on and Glenn did the code deal and figured out what it was - so he ordered the part off Amazon and it was to arrive on Monday - well due to the big storm in the east, it was delayed but did say it would be delivered on Wednesday!  We were leaving Thursday morning!!!!

Waited ALL day and evening and no part......in the meantime Glenn had called Winslow, AZ Auto Zone to see if they could have it waiting for us - nope - but Flagstaff had it!!  So he put the car back together, we packed up and got left on Thursday morning!  The first day is always a long one!

Stopped in Raton for a quick bite of breakfast and I got some EXPENSIVE coffee to drink on the way!!  It's always a nice drive, just long!

We pulled into our usual spot to stay right off the interstate and were completely shocked to see a HUGE truck stop had been put in RIGHT beside the hotel!!!!  WOW - it was big!!

Glenn took a quick nap and then we were off to Relic Brewing - our favorite place to eat there!  The drinks and food were great as usual - yes we split as it's 1/2# pound of meat!!

And then it was a quick walk down the block for the mandatory pictures of  "Standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ"!!

We both got a great nights' sleep and enjoyed their breakfast the next morning!  And then we were off to Flagstaff!

The Northern Lights Again?

 I could hardly believe my eyes when I read there was another chance of seeing the northern lights!  It was COLD out that night so I peeked out the back but didn't see anything - and then I remembered that sometimes you can't see them with the naked eye, just your camera!  SO I walked out the front and sure enough I could see some purple (last time was red)!!  Back in to put on a heavy hooded coat and boots and walked back out so see what I could capture!

I wasn't disappointed!!  But didn't stay out very long due to the cold!

I love the 3 different shades of purple as I walked further each time!  WOW - once again I was amazed!

After coming back in and checking facebook to see if anybody else had posted any (and of course they had!!), I came to a local news channel that was asking people to send in their pictures!  SO I DID!

I was ready for bed at 10:00pm so decided to tape the news, JUST in case my pic would be on - and sure enough the next day when I watched it, there it was!  I was extremely pleased!

It's the little things in life that make you secretly smile to yourself!

Volleyball

 And the following weekend we headed to Denver for Kenzie's volleyball tournament!  Rayna and Jaime decided to come up too so we all met at the house to get adjustments!  Gary and Glenn stayed home to watch the Broncos game - and yes, another win!!  

The rest of us all went to the meet which Day 1 was at Kenzie's regular training place - there's sure not a lot of seating but we did get to sit right on the court and it was "watch out for flying volleyballs"!!!

That girl can jump!!!  And she's great at spiking the ball!

Support from her family!

They won 2 of their 3 games and played great!  In between the 2nd and 3rd game, the 4 of us went to a sandwich place to eat dinner - the sandwich was good BUT Jaime had to order on gluten free bread and her order took 20 minutes!!!  Not acceptable!

By the time we got home that night, we were all tired so it was an early night!

Since the team had lost 1 game, we knew the next day their games would be at Golden!!!  YAY - a chance to see Evan!!

We all got up pretty early - Jessi had frozen cinnamon rolls so she had laid them out and cooked them in the morning and Gary had made and cooked an egg casserole the day before so we just had to heat that up for breakfast which worked out great!

Jessi drove our car over with me and Kenzie and one other player as the girls had to ref early - Gary, Gwyn and Glenn came in Gary's car!

We met Evan in the lobby of his dorm and all enjoyed cinnamon rolls and coffee!

Evan opened up his birthday card since we'll be gone once again around his birthday!

Then he gave us a tour of the campus and we really enjoyed that!  It's hard to believe that Jessi went there for a year as I sure didn't remember much of that!

Then it was the first game in their smaller gym at the college - again, you sit right in front of where they play so had to watch out for the balls again!!  They won the first game and it was a real nail-biter!!!

Unfortunately they lost the next one but they played excellent and it went into overtime!!  A fun game to watch!!

Glenn and I with the kids!

We had packed a lunch so walked over to where the cars were and enjoyed a picnic in the sun - it felt good to be outside, even though it was a little bit windy!!

And then it was time to say our goodbyes and head back home!

Wrestling Meet

 January weekends are always busy as we try to see a wrestling meet and a volleyball meet before we head to Baja - so even though we just got home from Estes Park on a Monday afternoon, Friday found us heading back up that way to Ft. Collins!  And we had snow - it was a miserable drive up there as we didn't drive out of bad roads till we got past Castle Rock!  But we made it safe and sound which is all that counts!

We had brought both of our computers up for Robby to work on so he got busy on them - I actually relaxed a while till Jill got home!  After a great dinner, Jill had to pick up Parker from practice and then we played some games!

Saturday morning I woke up early, glanced at my phone and read the time wrong so I was up PLENTY early!   But noticed that I had 40 emails!!!!  I NEVER get that many in one day!!  So looked at the first one and then noticed they were basically all the same - an alarm was going off at our house!!  PANIC!  After I went upstairs, Robby came down as he was getting the same emails that I was getting as he is the Admin on our camera outside - I immediately texted neighbor Al to see if he was up but no response!  Robby said the outside camera which is mounted on the outside of the office wall, was picking up the sound!  At that time, we figured it was just a low battery on a smoke alarm (they're all connected) but it still was an unknown!  So I called Brad who was up and asked if he would drive over there to check it out!  Sure enough, it was just the alarms going off and as soon as he turned up the furnace, they went off!  Gosh that was a scary moment for a while!

Robby headed out early to get Parker to the meet and the rest of us followed later!  The meet was in Ft. Collins at a different school but the gym was really small!  In facte, all the wrestlers had to sit in the bleachers with the spectators so it made for some cramped quarters!

We got to see Parker wrestle at least 3 times I think!  In between we would get up and walk outside to get some fresh air or watch the other wrestlers!  Parker did great, even though he had a hurt shoulder.

Sitting in the stands - Aleah joined us late morning!

Parker pinned this guy!  He's fun to watch!

And another win!

His last match of the day was for the championship of his weight class - he did well considering he was wrestling a junior with 2 more years experience but he ended up in 2nd place which was great!

It was nice to grab pictures of the 4 of us at the meet!

Parker was hurting by the time he came home but was all smiles for the picture!

It was a relaxing evening!  And after coffee and donuts the next morning, we headed on back home!

Estes Park #3

 Sunday is our "relaxing" day - except for a couple of things, most of the day is "do what you want"!  There were leftover cinnamon rolls so after breakfast, I headed up to the big cabin to indulge with coffee!!  Sitting by the fire it was pretty darn special!

This is the crew that started crafts yesterday - mostly ceramic items at the craft building!

Glenn and I with the grandkids!

Kenzie's boyfriend Cam came up for the day and also spent the night!

We did our predictions - once again Jill and Robby were the winners!

Jill gave us wrestling shirts to wear for Parker's wrestling meets - AWESOME!  Now we will fit right in with everyone!

Robby brought a tv up and got it all ready for the Broncos game on Sunday - Glenn made wings (yes, he brought our air fryer up) and they had a fun time at our cabin enjoying the WIN by the Broncos!

This is a picture of Day #2 at the craft center!

After finishing up there, they came back to the big cabin and some of them worked with the sea glass that I pick up in Mexico to make cute ornaments!

We even managed to get a picture of the whole family since Cam was there to take pictures!

Here's most of the ones that made the ornaments!

Sunday night was soup night - yummy!!  I also enjoyed another cocoa with all the trimmings!!  And we even got a picture of our original family - how special!!!  We haven't done that in a long time!

Robby and Parker left that evening as Parker had an early wrestling meet on Monday!  And the rest of us packed up on Monday morning and were all out of there by 10:00 checkout time!!  Another wonderful Estes Park trip in the books!!

Estes Park #2

 Saturday was our "Christmas" opening!  After a quick breakfast we headed up the road to the big cabin and settled in for presents!

All the grandkids got Colorado hoodie sweatshirts!

The girls got these darling "animal" slippers where the stuffed animal wraps around your leg - they were so cute I just had to order them!

This is "Henry" and he sits in my car and smiles at me and his legs bounce up and down and sideways when you drive!!  His eyes are magnitized and have different faces you can attach!  All the grandkids also received one of these to either put in their car or on their computer and they all loved them!

Jill and Robby with their calendar I made!

The kids with their photo books - Evans' last year to receive one!

And Jessi and Gary with their calendar!

All the grandkids according to age with their new sweatshirts!

Glenn made these darling snowmen for the 3 girls!

Homemade cinnamon and caramel rolls with coffee!

The "kids" right, left, center game that we do with money - oh my gosh did it get wild and crazy!!

The adults played it after the kids did - then there is a 3rd game for anyone 18 and older with a buy in - here are the winners from the 3 games!!  

The kids did some crafts in the afternoon - the adults had some downtime - and we all congregated for our evening meal which was Italian!

Then we headed over to the gym and they played volleyball - they all had a great time!

Later on that evening, Rayna took some of the teens into Estes Park where they got some food and found this neat globe!

It was a wonderful day spent with family!