December Photo Dump

 It IS mid-January - time to get December put to bed!!  

Glenn has worked some on his lift for the shop - we had such a COLD December that a lot of days it just wasn't feasible to be out there!  But he's gaining on it and will have it finished up soon after we get home from Mexico!

I LOVE the park trees all lit up in Woodland Park!

I made a double batch of lefsa in December - and I'm eating the last bag (which of course was frozen!)  It was a LONG day making it, but totally worth the sore back when I was finished!

Pikes Peak after a snow - always a fantastic sight!

Kitchen FAIL !!!  My friend Beth had brought a bundt cake to our choir girls get together a couple months ago - I LOVED the shape of it and haul my bundt cake pan to Mexico so thought it would be a great idea to get another one and why not try the really different one!  Of course we were having company that weekend!!!  I was busy in the kitchen while it was baking and all of a sudden started smelling something burning!!  OH MY GOSH!!  The cake batter was just oozing over the top!!  I grabbed a cookie sheet and put it under the cake BUT about 1/3 of it was already on the oven bottom.  So I grabbed a dishrag and started mopping up the cake and using a spatula to try to get it up before it burned even more - NOT FUN on a hot oven!  WHAT A MESS!!!  Once the oven cooled, then I had to scrub the racks and finish it up!!

But yes, what was LEFT of the cake came out beautiful and I LOVE the pattern!!  But just not willing to risk doing that again in the oven so Goodwill, you're getting a brand new bundt pan!  I'll stick with my old one!

And that's a wrap for December!

Bunco Party for NYE

 Jessi helped me set up tables for the party and get the food ready - Jaime and Brad headed over, along with Matias and Maddie - and we were sure glad Kylan got off of work early so he could come too!

Believe it or not, I never took a picture that night - so thanks to Jessi for snapping pictures - guess I was just too busy playing hostess!

Glenn frying the egg rolls and the squaw bread!

Being silly in the kitchen!

Gwyn loved the egg rolls!

Matias and Maddie being crazy too!

We had a great time playing Bunco and Jaime was the winner!!  But we had prizes for everyone!

Lots of great food was eaten and the guys ended up playing pool in the lower level!

It was a fun night - everyone headed home around 10:00 - of course the Keppys spent the night!  Since I was too wound up to sleep I guess, I actually crawled out of bed at midnight and watched the fireworks over Pikes Peak - they were amazing!!!!!

New Year's Eve Weekend

 The Keppys came down!!  YEA!  Not only to spend some time with us but also because we were hosting the NYE Bunco party!

Kenzie and Glenn playing some pool - that table sure gets used when the kids and grandkids are here!

I checked to make sure Wild Horse Cafe was open Sunday morning and it was!  So Jessi and I got our special time together with some excellent coffee!

Because Kenzie loves coffee too but never gets invited (well, sometimes she does!),  I made her a special coffee once we got back home!

Gwyn had fun helping Papa in the kitchen mix up some squaw bread and egg rolls to cook that evening!

Jessi got new glasses and looks pretty darn sharp in them!

The Savages stopped by - we were glad to spend time with them before they headed into Woodland Park for a party at their friends' house!  It looks like they're sampling SOMETHING here that I would imagine is alcohol related - ha!   They took Kenzie back with them - so we missed having Aleah AND Kenzie for the Bunco party!

After doing some planning for Estes Park, the Savages headed into town, we ate some dinner and then it was time for the rest to arrive for the Bunco Party which is up next!

Christmas Day At Jaime's

 Christmas Day - This year was our turn to go to Jaime and Brad's house to watch them open their gifts!  I baked some cinnamon rolls in the morning to take and we headed over mid-morning to their house!  It was cold out - I DO remember that!

The kids had plenty of presents to open!

Jaime and Brad got Glenn and I each a Turkish beach towel which repels the sand and dries very quickly - they had bought some when they were in Mexico in Dec. and really liked theirs - can't wait to try them out!

Rayna got a super soft comforter for her bed!

   

Glenn wrapped up for me a new robe that is very soft and cozy - I picked it out of course and love it!

We had cinnamon rolls and coffee about 1/2 way through the opening!  And here's a nice picture of the Smith family when they were done opening!

Brad cooked a delicious prime rib for dinner - very tasty as he smoked it!  Games were played and we had a great afternoon before we headed back home!

Here's Aleah and Parker at their Christmas in Ft. Collins.

The Keppys' went to Iowa for Christmas so celebrated late when they got back home!

Everyone had a wonderful Christmas - and Estes Park (later this year) is still to come!

Ice Castles in Cripple Creek

 I really didn't drop off the face of the earth - life just got in the way the past few weeks!

BUT I am back on track and ready to finish out the year and start the new 2024 blogs!

The Ice Castles - I was so excited to go see them!  Glenn and I and another couple had been to them over at Silverthorne many years ago and I loved them back then!  But we had went during the day and I knew that this time, I wanted to go at night!

Since we rarely drive at night (unless we have to) I called Jaime and asked if she would take us!  She rallied her group and we ended up taking 2 carloads over!  Jaime drove our car with Glenn and I, Matias and his girlfriend Mattie.  Brad drove his car with Rayna, Kylan and Irene!

It was COLD out - very cold - we all dressed in layers and wore hats and gloves and boots but it was STILL really cold in there - what did we expect?  It was all ice!!

I loved that they posted these informative signs!

Rayna

The group

This is the short slide - and yes, I went down it!!

When you stood in line to do the slide, you were up much higher and the view was pretty cool!

There were several of these ice formations!

After an hour or so we were all froze and it was time to head home!   The only thing I believe they could have added is a hot chocolate stand on the way out - we would have sure enjoyed that!

Holiday Happenings

 This winter I have been content to just relax at home!  And that's OK - December is usually so full of activities but I'm appreciating my decorated house and the snow falling and the Hallmark movies more than EVER this year!  And since the family get together is in Jan. this year, there was plenty of time to shop and wrap!

But I did do a couple of things!  Joleen came in for a few days last week - it's always great to have my friend here!!  Saturday found Jane, Joleen and I at the Butte Theater in Cripple Creek for the Christmas production of  Angel of the Christmas Mine!  Last year we really didn't enjoy the production that much but I thought this years' was excellent!!!

Trying to get a selfie with 2 ladies who did NOT want their picture taken - ha!

When the production was over, the manager came on stage and said we all needed to stay in our seats for a while as there was a medical emergency in the back and the stairs (which you descend to get out into the street) had to be free of people until they could transport a person - sure enough, right at the back of the theater were the EMT's working on somebody - about 20 minutes later, they transported the person down the steps so we could leave!

AND we saw the famous ice castles which were still being produced (and now they are open!) which look amazing - I can't wait to see them inside!!

On Sunday, we had our Unchoir Party - yes, there are still 4 of us that STILL get together for a meal and sing a long!  I made the soup and the punch this year - Arlyne always makes this wonderful ice cream peppermint dessert, Beth brought corn bread muffins and Steve brought the relish tray - a great meal! Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures!!  DARN!!

And once again, we all ATTEMPTED to sing Christmas carols - we laugh and smile during this as we just don't have the voices we used to have when we sang in the choir - but it's still fun!

Christmas is right around the corner and it looks like we WILL have snow on the ground - how much?  Only time will tell..........

Jessi and Jam

 I was super excited when Jessi told me she wanted to come down and spend a couple of nights with us as she just needed a break - I get it - working and kids and activities and cleaning and cooking just sometimes gets to a person and you need some "mom" time!

Unfortunately the weather didn't look too promising on Friday when she was supposed to drive down so she rearranged her schedule and got left by noon - awesome!  AND she beat the snow!

We had a relaxing afternoon - lots of talking - a Hallmark movie - a good dinner - and watched the snow fall!

Woke up to about 8" of beautiful snow!!  Gosh it was pretty out!  Jessi decided to shower about the time the sun started to come up so I raced outside and took this picture!!  WOW!

Some time during the day we went for a walk - it wasn't super cold and the trees were just beautiful!

Jaime came over Sunday morning so we could make our jam!  This year we ended up making 4 batches - 2 peach, 1 strawberry and 1 cherry!  But not without some complications!  Somehow I only had 4 cups of frozen strawberries and I needed 5 cups and Jaime's frozen cherries unthawed but they were lacking a cup also!!  I dug around in my freezer and found some frozen blueberries and black berries so we added those to the cherries and Brad had some frozen strawberries in a bag so he brought them over with the promise of a soup lunch!!  It was a "win" situation so we could finish up the jam!

In the meantime, Jessi had brought her famous homemade cinnamon rolls so we enjoyed them BOTH days - they're SO GOOD!!

 Finishing up the jam - we make a good team!   And Jessi sat at the bar and blogged and talked to us all morning so it worked out great!

It was a fantastic weekend and I know Jessi enjoyed her time just relaxing and blogging and watching Hallmark movies in front of the fireplace with a snowy background - you just can't beat life in Colorado on snow days!!