Disneyland 2011

We spent 3 wonderful days at Disneyland back in January. If you ask me, 3 days is not enough time. I wish we had just one more day. We went to Disneyland with Kevin, Jonathan, Gus, Kevin's friend, Julie, and her children. It rained the first day we were there. POURED!!! But we are die-hards and we stayed and enjoyed the short lines. We also saw "World of Color" which is the new water and lights show at California Adventure. We saw it twice. It was probably my favorite thing that we did this trip. The Happiest Place on Earth once again lived up to it's name.

Our Hero, Uncle Kevin

The main reason we went to California was for my brother-in-law, Kevin's, retirement ceremony. He retired from the Marine Corps. after 20 years and 10 months of service. We are so proud of him and grateful for his service.

Texas Surprise!!!

On Christmas, while Shelley and I were sitting in the kitchen, she mentioned to me that she was planning to go to Texas to spend New Years with Ryan's sister, Bobbi and her children. We talked about how we hadn't seen Bobbi or her kids for about 5 years and how fun it would be to go surprise them. Well we kept talking and we all decided to do it. We left for Texas on December 29th and drove 16 hours to surprise them. They knew that Shelley was coming, but they didn't know that she was bringing the rest of us. We got there at 9:00 am and they were all very surprised and happy to see us. We ate breakfast and then went to Six Flags over Texas. We had such a great day. It's sad some times to live far away from family, especially when your nieces and nephews grow up so fast.

The Happy Meal McDonald's (as seen on The Travel Channel)

Ryan and Kira

Kira, Kathryn and Emma

Austin, Shelley and Braxton

Ryan and the girls on the teacups. Emma is on there too.

Me, Emma and Kathryn

Shelley

Me and Emma

Braxton and Austin

Getting on the teacups

One of the best roller coasters ever!!!

My tired and very cute kids

The whole gang

We had a great time with family. We were there for four days. Poor Braxton came down with the flu the first night and wanted to spend most of the time sleeping at the hotel. We didn't get much sleep, but we still loved being there. He misses his cousin Austin all the time, so it was so nice to see them together.

Christmas 2010

We had a very quiet and laid back Christmas. It was perfect. We didn't travel or have any huge party, we just spent the day as a family. Shelley came over on Christmas Eve and spent the night. Usually, we get to sleep in on Christmas morning, but this year, Braxton got up at 6:30 and was ready to go. We had a great dinner and it was fun to stay in our pjs all day and just be together.

Grandma and Braxton. Braxton just read the note that said that we were going to Disneyland in January.

Emma in the wonderful Christmas mess

Checking out our stockings

Braxton really wanted a Kinect. We didn't think Santa would be able to make that wish come true this year. Well, we won one at Ryan's work party this year!!! So, we gave it to Santa and let him take the credit for making Christmas dreams come true. The Kinect is really fun.

A very excited girl. Who wouldn't love a Dora ball and Sock Monkey?

Braxton has been asking Santa for Mario Kart for Wii for years. He FINALLY got it!!

Ryan, Emma, Grandma Shelley and Braxton.

The Official Countdown Now Begins (even though I've been counting down since July)

The unwritten rule in our house is no decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Ryan thinks that if I had a choice, I would just skip Thanksgiving and go into Christmas right after Halloween. Give me a break. I grew up in Canada, our Thanksgiving is the second week of October, so my mom always started decorating for Christmas the day after Halloween. Since we moved right after Christmas last year and 2 guys packed up all my Christmas in boxes, we are still trying to find most of our Christmas decorations. We finally found our Christmas tree stand this morning, so we hope to have that decorated by Monday. Anyway, since I have no awesome decoration pictures to show, here is my favorite scene from the movie "Elf". I almost felt the same level of excitement yesterday when we were at the mall and we saw that Santa was there. PS: I love "Smiling's my favorite."

Go Bobcats

This was Braxton's first year playing tackle football. His last game on on October 23rd. It was hard work, but he had fun. He played Defensive End and Tight End. I thought it was funny that most of the kids want to be on the defense and not the offense because they want to tackle. His team was called the Bobcats, they did great, only 2 loses. I didn't get to watch very many games because I chased Emma around the park, but I did enjoy being in the nice crisp fall air.

Braxton is #1

Lining up

Making the tackle

I would like to know who the genius was who decided that white was a good color for football pants. I went through a whole bottle of "Shout".

Trophy Time

Braxton and his coach

Safety Day

On October 23rd, it was Family Safety Day at Ryan's work. They had different workshops about being prepared and safe at home. Braxton was so excited because we got to go on a tour of the plant too. Since they make explosives there, it isn't a place that we can just stop by and say "hi" to Ryan. Most of the things they told us on the tour went way over my head (chemistry was never my favorite subject), but it was a fun Saturday morning activity.

Playing in the Ambulance

Fun with a fire extinguisher

Utah/Wyoming Game

On October 16th, we travelled up to Laramie, WY to watch the Utes play the Cowboys. We had awesome seats and were surprised by how many Utah fans were there. Our whole row and the row behind us were Utah fans. We met a fun family from Sandy who sat behind us. The weather was so perfect and the game was so fun. The kids had a ball. The Utes won 30-6. I must say that the Wyoming fans are very hospitable, they were all very nice to us.

In front of our seats.

It was free foam finger night, we used ours as seat cushions

At the tailgate park

Braxton kicking field goals

Braxton with Boo Andersen

Kenny

My mother-in-law, Shelley, celebrated her 60th birthday in August. We thought that turning 60 was a pretty big deal and tried to find her the perfect gift. We knew that she loves Kenny Rogers and that he was going to be in concert in Loveland in October. So, we bought her tickets so that her and Howard could have a nice night out and enjoy Kenny. Well, the concert was tonight and Shelley was soooo excited, she has been counting down the days. She called me this afternoon to tell me that Howard was sick and couldn't go to the concert and asked me if I would go with her. I love spending time with Shelley, so of course I said "yes". Plus, my mom listened to Kenny Rogers when I was a kid, so I knew most of his songs.

We had a wonderful time. Kenny has a great voice for an old guy. :) I was one of the youngest audience members. It was kind of nice to look around and feel young again. I am sorry that Howard isn't feeling well and hopes he feels better soon, but I am glad that I got to have a night out with my MIL.

Running Deer Trail

Fort Collins is a very "outdoorsy" city. There are many bike trails and walking trails. Yesterday, we went to the "Running Deer Trail". The weather was so nice, the perfect day to be outside. We even saw running deer while we were there too. I, of course, couldn't get to my camera in time to take their picture, but they were beautiful. I LOVE FALL!!!

Pickers

Wow, I am so behind with my blogging. Here's a few fun things that we did this September.

A friend of a friend has an apple orchard and nobody wanted the apples, so we were invited to go and pick them. Emma and I went with a neighbor and her kids. It was really fun. Emma loved it. She would pick them, take a bite and then put them in the bag. She is so cute. We picked alot and then ate alot of apples at our house. I finally gave the rest of them to Shelley so she could do some baking.

A week after the apple picking, we went to Miller Farms. It is a U-Pick farm. Shelley and I paid $20 and we got to pick 18 ten pound bags of produce. We picked potatoes, tomatoes, beans, corn, peppers, watermelons, onions, carrots, celery, and other fresh goodies. I will say that it was hard work and I am not cut out to be a farmer, but it was a really fun morning.

Our 18 bags of veggies Emma with our "driver/tour guide"

Emma picking potatoes

Emma trying to take a bite out of a pumpkin

My brown-eyed girl