Visit to Colorado

After celebrating Christmas with my family, we spent nearly a week hanging out in Colorado.  We got a little bit of snow at my parents' house which made the kids really happy since we don't see it much in Seattle.

Other than snow time, we mainly just hung out around Arvada.  

Uncle Josh, Poppa Mark and Jack showing their Bronco pride.

Riding the carousel at the mall near my parents' house.

At Zoolights

A visit to Denver always has to include time with my best friend, Andrea.  This year we met up with her and her family in Breckenridge along with other friends of ours - Chris & Jenny and Chad & Marcie.  They were all staying in a huge house outside of town so we spent a couple of days playing in the snow and visiting with great friends.  

The house was beautiful:

There was LOTS of snow!  They had made a huge snow slide outside of the house.  The kids had a blast hiking up and sliding down.

Here is Andrea with her beautiful daughter, Georgia.

Chris having fun with his dog

Kate and Jack got to spend some quality time with Max & Andrea's kids, Jackson and Georgia.  

Jackson and Jack

Lots of iPad time!

Kate spending time with her Godfather, Max.

We got a babysitter for the night and went out for dinner.  It was great company, but our meal left a lot to be desired!  Luckily the drinks were good.

Jenny, Marcie, Me & Andrea

Chris, Chad, Dave & Max

All of us

It was a short visit, but so great to see our friends.  Luckily I will see Jenny & Andrea again in April for a girls weekend in San Francisco.  I can't wait!

When we got back to Denver, Dave and I took advantage of the built-in babysitting and spent a day with my brother, Josh.  We walked around downtown, saw a movie and had an awesome dinner at a place called Southern Hospitality.  Here are Dave and I standing next to the big blue bear at the Convention Center - one of my favorite Denver landmarks.

On our last day in town, we even got a little swimming in.  There is a great indoor pool just a few miles from my parents' house.  The kids loved it!

Another great trip.  Hopefully it won't be an entire year before we get back there.  Perhaps for my 20 year reunion???  Eek!

Christmas

It dawned on me today that it has been months since I have blogged anything.  So I pulled it up and sure enough, my last entry was Kate's birthday back in November.  So I am way behind.  But I'll do my best to get caught up.  I'll start with Christmas.  

First we had to get in to the holiday spirit with:

a visit with Santa,

decorating gingerbread men,

trimming the tree

and checking out all of the lights.  This is the insane Christmas house in a nearby neighborhood.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  Every inch of the house and yard is covered in lights!

Christmas morning was spent at our house.  The kids woke up to discover that Santa had in fact come to our house.  He brought Jack the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Lair that he had asked for.  Kate had asked for a new microphone so Santa brought her a karaoke machine!

After opening the rest of the gifts, the family room was a bit of a mess.

Later that afternoon, we headed over to Grandma Cecile and Poppa Dave's house.  We were joined by Dave's Aunt Shelley & Uncle Fara from California as well as his Aunt Sandy and Cousins Loren & Andre from Oregon  It was fun to have so much family in town.  

Here are the kids with their Uncle Jeff

I didn't get too many pictures because we were so busy opening gifts and eating delicious food (and half of my photos didn't turn out).  But here are a few:

 A few days later, we flew to Colorado for a belated Christmas with my family.  When we arrived, the kids saw that Santa had also made a visit to their house!

Kate with her new cookbook

Poppa Mark

Uncle Josh & Kate

Grandma Linda

Jack and his new minion

Yes, Jack got a Bronco jersey.  We are from Denver after all.  But no, Dave did not let him wear it during the Super Bowl.  Only Seahawks attire was allowed in our house that day!

We had a fabulous 3 Christmases.  They were so great, it took me nearly two months to write about them!