Christmas 2015

We started out Christmas Eve morning with a little "treasure" hunt for a Christmas present for the kids.  Clue #1 started out on the fire place...

 The girls anxiously awaiting for William to open the envelop.

 Quick, read it!

Down the the extra bedroom...

 Now outside - the girls sent William...

 Where do we look now?

 Trying to find the white "sleigh".  This seemed to confuse them

since both Brian and I have white vehicles.

 William realized it first, but didn't figure out the gift was under the blanket and climbed into the car all the way and was looking for the gift.

 Then, the girls figured it out and William climbed over the seats again!

They were all excite about the trampoline!

I was excited for them to finally "open" it, as it had been moved between cars for the 6 weeks before Christmas so the kids wouldn't see it!

After "opening" the present, we headed off to Eldora for a little Christmas skiing.  Well, Brian and the kids went skiing, I took lots of pictures.  Here are some.

 A few pictures before skiing.

They all enjoyed the few hours of skiing before heading home to get ready for Christmas Eve church service.  

Christmas Eve service was the first time Julianne had the opportunity to acolyte.  She did fabulous!  She had lots of candles to light.  

 Our happy family!

I am happy and blessed to call these three my children and friends.  There are days that they only make me smile, laugh and feel so very blessed!  

There are days I wonder if we will make it thru without another argument, tears or someone stomping off mad.  

No matter what, they are mine and I rejoice in all we have together.

Getting ready for Santa and his reindeer...

We hope you each had a Merry Christmas.

It was a day of celebrating each other and the birth of Jesus.

We know to count our blessings everyday and thank God for each other, our family and all our friends.  

Christmas with Grandma Kay

It is hard to believe that it has been over 2 and a half months since Grandma Kay visited and we celebrated Christmas with her.  We enjoyed having her visit for almost 10 days! Here are a few of the pictures I took while she was here.

We enjoyed a turkey dinner before opening gifts. It was great!

 Grandma Kay had a special gift made for each of us this year. We each got a bear made from one of Grandpa Dick's (Brian's Dad) shirts. There was also a little note and picture attached. We all loved them and they will always be cherished. Here are Julianne and Katelyn with their bears.

 For Christmas we got Grandma Kay a calendar. She had asked for a Colorado calendar. So, instead of buying a generic calendar, 

I created a personalized one. I used pictures that we had taken during our visits to Rocky Mountain National Park.

I am pretty sure she LOVED it!

 We also got Grandma Kay a pair of Denver Broncos pajama pants - I know she loved these!

 I think William likes his new Hot Wheels track!

 A pillowcase or a dress without a neck hole?

 William and Brian worked together to assemble his Hot Wheels track. They had a blast building it and then playing with it. In the above picture William realized I was taking the pictures.  

 Lots and lots of snow!  It was beautiful.

 Ready to play outside.  The kids had a snow day from school

(it doesn't happen very often here) and enjoyed every minute of it!

The day before Grandma Kay left we enjoyed making some cookies with her. William and some friends frosted these a few days later.

I love that he enjoys baking!

Thanks Grandma Kay for a great visit!  We can't wait for your visits in April and May.

A ball, a net and a few girls...

Julianne had the opportunity to play volleyball this fall at the middle school she attends.  Because of the number of girls that participate the girls play intramural volleyball in 6th and 7th grade, with 8th graders as team captains.

Julianne did a fabulous job! She learned a lot and improved as the season went on.  They had about 2 weeks of practices before the games started.  They played every Wednesday for 4 weeks.  And, now that the season is over at school, it's time to practice at home!

Watching Julianne brought back a lot of memories of my days of playing volleyball.  It also brought plenty of confusion for, a LOT has changed since I played.  I have kept up on most things, but a few things I didn't quite follow.

Towards the end of the season we were lucky enough to head to Denver and watch the USD Coyotes play volleyball.  It was a great mother/daughter day for Julianne and I.  We both also saw quite a few new things during the volleyball match.  Go Yotes!

Her are a few pictures from Julianne's volleyball games...