Christmas Recap: Tuesday, Christmas Day, and Wednesday

Christmas morning! Josh decided we had to get up at 7:30 (early, yes, but much later than we have gotten up in past years). He woke us up at 7:25, and we waited on the stairs to see what Santa brought!
We then went into the living room to check out our stockings and open gifts. We received many nice gifts.

I have lots of pictures of us opening gifts, but this is one of my favorites. Josh got Guitar Hero for Christmas, and he just looks so joyous in this picture!
Jason and Josh playing Guitar Hero

Daisy and Oscar even got some presents!

Oscar was worn out from all the festivities

Snatch (Nessa's dog) even got to come in to open his gifts!

In the afternoon, my aunt and her family came over for a little visit. We had a great time catchinig up with them! Here we are with our cousins.

Each Christmas Day, we spent time with my mom's side of the family. This year we met at my grandma's house--it was us, my grandparents, aunt and uncle, their two kids, their son-in-law and grandson, and my uncle. We had a VERY yummy meal!

Nessa and Mamaw
Papaw and his dog, Muffin

Kadyn, my cousin's baby, LOVES Josh!

We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends during our time in Texas, and as always, it went way too fast. Wednesday morning we headed back to Denver and thankfully had perfect weather. We did miss one of our turns (we were too busy playing Family Feud on the laptop) which made our trip a little longer, but all in all it was a great drive. And we came back to lots of snow in our yard that fell on Christmas day! I am so thankful for my family and that we were able to be together for Christmas. I can't wait to see them again!

Christmas Recap: Monday, Christmas Eve!

Much of Monday was spent in the kitchen cooking. I started out baking cookies using a new recipe I found in a magazine, while Mom started cassaroles and other Christmas delicacies. We made sweet potato cassarole, broccoli rice cheese cassarole, candied sweet potatoes and deviled eggs (I am sure there is something I am forgetting).

My cookies--they are called stained glass ornaments and were so pretty and yummy!

We did take a break mid-day, though, to run a few errands and for Starbucks, of course. In case you don't know, my husband is a Starbucks junkie and has to visit one (or more, if available) in every town we are in.

That evening we prepared to go to my grandma's house (my dad's mom). Dad had to work Monday, so we had to wait for him to get off before we could go. Our Christmas eve tradition is for each person to open one gift. We opened our gifts from Vanessa--she gave me some lotion and soap from BBW and the cutest wooden plaque that says "Our perfect companions always have four feet" with pawprints, too. It was so sweet and so perfect--I can't wait to hang it in my pug room!

After gift opening, we headed to Mamaw's house. This is always an adventure because you never know who is going to be there. My dad is one of eight kids, so there are lots of grandkids and great grandkids. Some years it is REALLY crowded but this year it was pleasant. Mamaw got us all a gift, and then we did a gift exchange where you still. Every year, my family brings gifts that we want and then we try to get our own gifts. And we were successful! I almost caved in and picked a gift someone else brought, but Jason told me to "stay the course."

My grandma with some of her friends

Josh, Jason and I at my grandma's house

Christmas Recap: Sunday

Sunday morning we got up and went to church, then came home for a yummy brisket lunch. I napped that afternoon, then we went back to church. After church that night, we went to the Fantasy of Lights, a light display on the campus of Midwestern State University. It started many years ago on the lawn of a family in town, and was eventually given to MSU to display on campus. My dad remembers seeing the lights displayed when he was little! It is really fun to visit, because it brings back so many good memories.

After the Fantasy of Lights, we drove around town for a little while looking at lights, which I love to do!

Our Christmas trip recap: Friday and Saturday

Last Friday, Jason and I got off work early and left Denver around 4:00 to head to Texas. It was snowing in Denver, but the roads were fine. We drove through southeast Colorado, the panhandle of Oklahoma, into the panhandle of Texas, where we stopped in Dumas for the night. The roads were fine, but the blowing snow made it pretty hard to see the road.

We got up Saturday to what looked like a blizzard outside. It was only snowing lightly, but the winds in the pandhandle of Texas are horrible! I went outside to load up with wet hair in a ponytail, and the tip of my hair froze! We hit the road (after a few breakfast fiascos) and found what looked like a sheet of ice on the highway. Thankfully, Jason is an excellent driver in ice and snow and God was protecting us, because we made it through without any trouble. Later we heard there was a 50 car pile-up in Amarillo on the very highway we were on. And my poor sister--she drove in from Kansas and hit lots of bad weather. What is normally a 7 hour trip turned into 12 hours, and she was by herself. Poor Nessa!

We made it in around 3:00 to cold but no snow. My parents live on about 6 acres, and the pugs love running around the yard. Everytime we turned around, Daisy was waiting at the front door to go out. Saturday night, we had dinner and gift exchanges with some longtime family friends and one of my best friends from childhood. It was great to see them!

Many more pictures to come!

Merry Christmas (a little late)

I hope everyone had a wonderful, blessed Christmas! We made it to and from Texas without incident and had a great time. I have LOTS of pictures (about 250) which I will post later. Right now I am going to snuggle with my husband on the couch for a movie while the snow continues to fall outside. We came back to almost 8 inches of snow from Christmas Day, and it has snowed all day today. It is a winter wonderland!

Secret Santa gift!

Last night when I went to the mailbox, I found our Secret Santa gift! Look what we got!

We were given authentic Alaskan salmon jerky for dogs and a REALLY YUMMY candle!

Daisy and Oscar really liked the candle. Oscar even licked it!
And, of course, the treats were a BIG hit! You see how good Daisy and Oscar were sitting for them?
Thanks so much, Frances Louise! We love our gifts!

Thanks!

Thank you guys so much for your wonderful Christmas cards! I have been in a Christmas funk, and your cards have made me so happy!

And we received our Secret Santa gift today! There was no name, but the initials on the return address were FL and it was from Alaska. Any ideas? (Hehe) We love our gifts and will post pictures soon of us enjoying them!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful, blessed holiday season!

Santa!!

Last night was Santa Paws & Claws at one of our local malls, so we went and had the pugs picture made with Santa! It was so funny to see all of those dogs (and one cat!) in the mall.

I was pretty pleased with the result. Oscar never looked directly at the camera, but he's still cute! Hope you all are having a great Christmas season!

Ski Day

Jason had a conference this week in Vail, so I met him there on Tuesday night and stayed with him, and then we skiied on Wednesday. The snow was AWESOME!

The view outside our hotel room window. It was so beautiful there--the town was all decked out for Christmas, lights, wreaths, and trees everywhere. I loved looking out the window and seeing the lights twinkling while the snow was gently falling. It was amazing.

The slopes. The snow was really fresh, powdery and deep. The day started out overcast and cold but got warmer and sunny later.

It was a great ski day, and I can't wait to go back. We probably won't get back up until after Christmas.

Anybody want a present?

Tonight Daisy was helping me wrap presents, so I decided to wrap her, too. Anybody want a Daisy gift?

Christmas Meme

Getting to Know You: Christmas Edition

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper!!! I LOVE wrapping gifts!
2. Real tree or artificial? artificial, I hate the mess of a real one, plus I am super paranoid about the fire hazard
3. When do you put up the tree? either Thanksgiving night or the day after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? usually New Years Day
5. Do you like eggnog? blech, no, plus it is SO high in fat and calories
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Little Tykes kitchen and a bike
7. Do you have a Nativity scene? No but I want a Willow Tree Angel one
8. Hardest person to buy for? Jason
9. Easiest person to buy for? My mom
10. Worst Christmas Gift you ever received? I honestly can't think of anything really bad
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail cards--I love them!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? usually mid-November
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nope
15. Favorite thing to eat/drink at Christmas? Hmmmm, this is hard. I love Starbucks Peppermint White Mochas
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? clear
17. Favorite Christmas song? I have so many.....my most favorite are O Holy Night (especially the Josh Groban version) and What Child is This
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel to Texas
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yep, thanks to the song
20. Angel on the tree top or a Star? angel
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? One on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas morning

I tag anyone who wants to do this!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!

Ski Day!

Sandy, Page and Jessica, you asked for pictures, so here you go!

As you know, yesterday we headed up to the mountains for skiing, and we had a GREAT day! The roads were a little snowy and icy, but we stayed safe and on the road.

Scenery along the highway

It's kind of hard to see, but there was a BIG herd of bighorn sheep just off the highway

On the slopes

We went to Breckenridge and had LOTS of fresh snow to enjoy!

On the way back home

It was such a great day, especially for our first day up this season. I was definitely rusty but got better as the day went along. We are heading to Vail on Wednesday, and I can't wait!

Ugh...

Why am I up at 5 am on Saturday? Because it is a powder day! The mountains here are getting TONS of snow, so we are going to try and go enjoy it. This will be our first ski day of the season, so we are excited!!!

Let's wrap this up.....

I am thankful for...
Unending love christ has for us
Vehicles to get us where we need to do
Weather (I love the weather in Colorado--we actually have seasons here, unlike Texas!)
Xtraordinary people in my life
You! I am very thankful for all of the new friends I have made through blogging!
and Zoos!
Thank you guys for sticking with me and reading my thankful alphabet! There are so many more things I did not list but am thankful for. May we remember all of the wonderful blessings in our lives this holiday season!

T is for....

....traveling! I LOVE to travel and am thankful to have the opportunity to do so. I love experiencing new cultures and meeting people from other places. One of my favorite travel experiences was going to Brazil. I was blessed to be able to spend 7 weeks there one summer as an intern. I lived with a Brazilian family and worked with a couple missionaries in Campinas, Brazil. Next on our travel agenda is going to Florida with Jason's entire family, and then I want to go to Hawaii, New York City, and Europe. If only I were independently wealthy....this work stuff kind of interferes with my travel plans!

S is for....

...sister! I have one sister, Vanessa, and I am so thankful for her! She is 4 1/2 years younger than I am, and she is a beautiful, talented woman.

I love you, Nessa!