Our New Ride

Check it out!!  Yes, we love Ford Explorers (I think this is our 4th one to date) and we graduated up to the fancy model that has heated front seats!!!  Gosh, do I enjoy pressing that button!!

It's not brand new of course - it's a 2010 model - but for us that's NEW!!  We'll be selling our old 1996 model - it's served its purpose and there's no way I'm going to keep 3 vehicles and a pickup insured!! 

Since Glenn will be using the 02 Explorer for his appointments now, this poor baby has to sit out in the cold so we can keep the daily drive vehicle in the garage!  Of course, maybe if we moved around all of Glenn's THINGS in the garage, both would fit - hmmmmmmm - we'll have to think about that!

Our Christmas Celebration

Merry Christmas!!  Even though we said it to each other on Saturday (our celebration day), the meaning was the same!

 

Everyone was all smiles as the smell of Jessi's homemade cinnamon rolls filled the house and we prepared for our Christmas Day Celebration!!

 

The Savages and the Smiths arrived right on time - and we moved right to the coffee and cinnamon rolls - yum - Jessi does a fantastic job on these and everyone was smacking their lips!!

And then it was time to open presents!!  Once again we had the "Opening" chair and Parker quickly got the hang of it - you called his name and he would crawl right up on that chair with a big smile!

Wasn't it only last year that we were buying toys for Rayna???  Probably not - but it sure did seem strange for her to just open clothes and boots and slippers and volleyball items!

Kenzie was all smiles on everything she opened - especially the dolls!

Jaime had my name this year and I received a wine rack, wine pourers and stoppers, a beautiful pair of silver earrings and a black cape!  Glenn bought me an IPOD Shuffle (I already have an IPOD but I wanted just a smaller version to put all of my Christmas CD's on - and I've already started the task of downloading all of them to my computer - a major task!!) and a laptop holder - a lot of times I'll take my laptop to the lower level and use it while we watch TV and I discovered last night that the holder is WONDERFUL!

I bought the 3 little ones these cute lanterns - and I even put batteries in them before I wrapped them - they were a big hit of course and I guess I should have gotten a couple for Kylan and Evan too!

Both boys are into Angry Birds - don't they look cute in their new hats?

This year instead of doing small flip books for the little ones, I did posters!  They turned out really cute and each one's background was a different color!

We got both Kylan and Evan remote controlled vehicles - Evan's was a truck and Kylan's was one that flipped over - I'm not sure who liked them more, the boys or their dads!!

Our 3 beautiful girls!! (NOTE:  Not only did Jessi and Jaime have on the same shirts, but Rayna's matched Jill's!!!)

After the opening of gifts, we had brunch which was our usual fruit with dip, egg bake and sausage casserole - we decided that for next year, we do need to make double batches of the casseroles - the kids are growing up enough that we need MORE food!!

The guys decided to go ice fishing and we played some games and cards with the kids!

What a cute looking bunch of grand kids!!

The guys enjoyed their ice fishing and came home to a wonderful dinner of prime rib, cheesy potatoes, baked beans, crunchy coleslaw, crescent rolls and punch!  It was all SO GOOD!!!

And of course the girls and then the guys had their annual stocking exchange - it's always a lot of fun and I received a cute plaque to hang in my laundry room that has the LAUNDRY RULES on it!  Glenn received a box of hand warmers (which he used the next morning) and a visor with lights on it!  It's always fun to watch the guys - I think they're more into it than the girls are!!

By evening we were all winding down - the Savages left to go home and soon the Smiths left for their house - and soon we hit the sack too!!

Sunday Jessi and I slipped away for coffee - always a must when I'm in Denver and then on to church!  Jaime had to work - Gary had to work - and Glenn and Brad went ice fishing!!  I took Rayna to a movie "The Rise of the Guardians" and we both enjoyed it!!

More games - more food - the day was fun just being with the grand kids!  After leftovers for dinner that night, Jessi and I watched a holiday movie.

Since Glenn had so much fun ice fishing, I told him to go ahead and go on Monday and we would head home after that - so he and Brad went fishing again and I took the Keppys out for breakfast at Village Inn - YUM!!!

After spending 3 nights up in Denver, it was a quiet ride home and even MORE quiet at the house!  But quiet is good sometimes - and we were both excited when it started snowing on Christmas Eve night - driving to church that night in the snow was wonderful and we woke up to a beautiful Christmas Day, spent at home relaxing and watching movies!  It was a wonderful 4 day holiday!

Christmas Eve

Happy Holidays!  I always look forward to the Christmas festivities and this year was no exception - my Christmas "travel" tree and all the decorations were up early so we could enjoy them - the little bit of Christmas baking I did was done - gifts were all wrapped and under the tree - and the Christmas music has been playing ever since Thanksgiving!

 

This year we changed it up a little - the girls were wanting to spend Christmas morning with their immediate families so our celebration was celebrated the weekend before Christmas!

 

Glenn and I closed the business at noon on Friday and after a stop in the Springs for a couple of last minute gifts, we headed up to Denver!  We unloaded all the gifts at Jessi's before heading over to Jaime's for OUR Christmas Eve celebration!

 

Everyone was there by late afternoon and we started the festivities with a glass of wine!

 

Our Christmas Eve menu is soup:  baked potato and meatball tortellini - you can tell the grand kids are eating more and more as there was only a cup of soup left!  Add in some veggies with dip and Hawaiian sweet rolls and you've got one great dinner!!

The little ones sang "Away In A Manger" and attempted to do most of the actions in front of the tree plus a couple more songs - it's always fun to play the guitar and sing!

Next on our list of traditions was the reading of the Christmas story from the bible and The Night Before Christmas!

And then it was time for our "Prediction Questions List" - I KNEW Glenn and I weren't going to win this year but we were only ONE behind the winner - in fact the Keppys and the Savages tied - which means we go to the tiebreaker question - the price of gas at the Western in Woodland Park!  Even though Jaime and Brad were NOT in the running for the frog, they guessed the EXACT amount of the price of gas!  And in the end, Jill and Robby took the frog home...........I'm just sure next year will be OUR turn again!!

Jessi had a great idea already planned out for the next event - she had gold tickets printed out and we pretended they were the special tickets for the "Polar Express" - Gary punched each of the kids' tickets with his special punch he uses on his bus route and they all grabbed their coats and mittens and we headed out the door!!  We all got into 3 cars and did a special loop of looking at Christmas lights - it was wonderful and we all thoroughly enjoyed it!!!

Some of the homes were beautifully decorated and had music set to the lights!  What a fun night and we decided it has to become one of our traditions!  Then it was back to Jaime's for festive yummy jello cake!!  What a fun evening spent with the kids and grand kids!

Tea at the Castle

Cold icy weather, snow coming down, and crazy howling wind..........but it wasn't enough to stop the "church ladies" from heading to Colorado Springs to have Christmas Tea at the Glen Eyrie Castle!

 

It was fun to dress up a little bit (but dressing VERY warmly too) and walk into the castle which is always decorated so pretty at Christmas time!!  Here's our menu:

 

The hot dip was waiting at our tables when we sat down and we were immediately served tea - it was delicious and smelled like almonds!  Here's a picture of our main course that we thoroughly enjoyed!

And last but not least was our dessert - we were quite full by our last course!

Merry Christmas Joyce, Arlyne and Karen - what a fun day we had!

Trout For The Freezer

The ice is finally frozen around here and with a new auger in hand, Glenn headed out Sunday to do some ice fishing at 11 mile!

 

He was smiling from ear to ear when he walked in later with his 3 fish!  And of course last night he asked me if I posted the picture on Facebook!!!  I said no, I RARELY put pictures on Facebook but I would be glad to blog about it!  So he said to say, "I not only caught 3 large trout, but also a great can of coke!"  Leave it to Glenn.............

 

Trees Now Adorn Our Showroom!

Bringing the outside into our showroom is a magical effect!!  And what a beautiful job Amy Springer did!! 

 

Glenn had met her when she had done a painting on a wall of one of his clients and invited her to come in and meet me - after I looked at her portfolio, I knew she just had to do some trees on one of our walls!!

Her detail is impressive - and though you can't see it in the pictures, it's a 3-D effect as the base is like a plaster template and then she paints over the top of it!

The aspen tree is my favorite - because of the build-up she did in the corner, you can actually "feel" the holes in the tree!

I guess because fall is my all time favorite season anyway, the aspen leaves make me smile every time I look at them - some of them are even painted a metallic and when you stand in a certain spot and the light hits them, they sparkle!!  WOW - I am truly impressed with her work and we have a small display set up, hoping we can drum up some business for this truly artistic gal!

A Special Hug

Our oldest granddaughter, Rayna, is growing up - she's almost 11 and into that kind of awkward "tween" time - you know, where you're embarrassed by your parents and really don't like to hug or kiss Nana and Papa anymore!!

She can be quite moody at times - and then a few minutes later, be laughing and acting like a kid again!!  Ah, I'm SO glad I'm not starting the beginning of those teenage years!

Sunday when they were ready to leave, she gave me the obligatory hug and walked out to the car!  I ran to the office window to watch them leave and saw her hugging and I mean HUGGING Glenn like she was never going to let go - and she let him kiss her on the cheek and she hugged him tight again!  And then I saw her run towards the house and I raced into the living room as she opened the front door and threw her arms around me, hugged me tight and told me she loved me.  When we broke apart, we were both crying................now that's ONE SPECIAL HUG from a granddaughter who will always be extra special to us, just because she was the first!!