Anniversary Week

Can you believe it has already been 5 years since that wonderful day at Glen Eyrie where we said our vows and had a blast with family and friends? Yes, Friday we will celebrate our 5 year anniversary! Did I mention how blessed I am to have Paul as my hubby?! Anyways, we are celebrating Anniversary week by reliving some of our honeymoon memories. Tonight I made fondue because of our Switzerland experience at the Derby Fondue Restaurant. We drank tea tonight and read our journal from our honeymoon. We laughed at the many memories we forgot already...for example...we were staying in a snow town in Switzerland where they actually bring in snow so the streets stay snowy. Paul dropped me off at a tiny little church (built in 1492) and tried to find a parking space with his little Euro car. Well, this little car couldn't make it up the hill so Paul ended up taking the car down a tobogan hill...wheeee! Thank goodness no one was tobaganing and thank goodness for fun memories!

Tea Parties

For Christmas from my Aunt Deloris, I received a book called Tea with Patsy Clairmont. It's such a fun book to read because this humorous lady who is probably in her 70s talks about her tea times with her friends. She talks about how special & feminine it is to have tea with a friend...you can cry and laugh and share your heart during this time. I am totally on the same page with Patsy. I LOVE having tea with my dear friends and friends that I am getting to know. On Saturday, my close friend and former roommate, Jackie and I met at "The Old Stone Church" in Castle Rock. It is an extremely old little church that is made into a restaurant. Even the old confessional area is a "romantic table for two". Though we didn't have tea cups, we still enjoyed laughing and laughing, making up a story that we were in Italy after a long hike. At the same time we were in tears talking about the neat things and sad situations in our lives. I felt like I was in Patsy Clairmont's book on Saturday. There is just something about sharing those special moments with dear friends.

New Years in Texas

Saturday we headed down to the wonderfully warm state of Texas to visit Brian, Leann & Landon and meet with a doc at Lackland Air Force Base. Considering it was freezing with a foot of snow in Denver, we acclimated well to the 70 degree weather. Our favorite activity of the weekend was the "African Safari" we went on. I have seen nothing like it! Not too far from New Braunfels, there is a Wilderness area that we drove through that has African wildlife like African antelope, zebras, ostriches, cape buffalo, a rhino, etc. and of course a Texas longhorn. ( I took some pics for Sam, Joni) The zebras were hilarious! One came up to Brian's window and tried to stick his mouth in and then before we knew it another one was trying to stick his mouth in on our side of the van. As we tried to roll up the window, his horselike mouth almost got stuck. Who knew zebras were so friendly?

We also enjoyed the town of Gruene, the oldest dance hall in Texas, home of George Strait (correct me Leann if I'm wrong) and a really cute town.

Though we started on a medical note with Landon being sick and Leann cutting herself pretty bad on a food processor blade, we had a blast. Brian and Leann were so gracious and spoiled us with breakfast and dinner everyday (except for visiting their Thai friends and having them make us dinner:)) Now real life starts...no more family visits for a while and no more 70 degree weather.

Christmas Pics

I wanted to blog some fun Christmas pictures. We had a great time with lil' Santa, Bethany (and Mike) making a snowman, hanging out and visiting the salt mine in Hutchinson. We are holding salt we "mined". What a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Oh man, I really wanted to post pictures of our fun Christmas weekend in Kansas, but left my camera there. I love hanging out with family! We mostly hung out, ate wonderful food and played some games. Mom and dad babysat while Brian, Leann, Mike, Tina and us went to tour the Salt Mines. It was interesting going 650 ft. below the ground and learning about what is stored in the mines as well as how they mine. We enjoyed Christmas...watching the kiddos get excited about their gifts. Tina and I tried to play Christmas "duets" on piano, but I think everyone was tired of hearing us:) Our newest nephew is adorable. He was Santa this year with his costume. We had so much fun with all of the nieces and nephews! Wish we didn't have somewhat blizzard driving conditions coming home and wish Christmas was not over already!

Celebrating the season

We haven't blogged for a little while, because we have been busy enjoying the season. I guess busy is the operative word. A week ago we went to see "White Christmas" at the Denver Performing Arts Theatre. It was amazing! The actors/actresses dressed in fur with snow falling from ceiling in the whole theatre as well as LOTS of snow falling outside, too. White Christmas was the first movie we watched together.

This last week Paul's parents visited. As always, we had fun visiting antique shops and Paul's dad took a stain glass class and made a beautiful bowl. We enjoyed seeing the lights at the Botanicals, too.

Saturday I had my wonderful "brunch bunch" over (friends from college and surrounding area) and we had a great time talking and catching up. So cozy to spend time with friends and family this time of year especially.

Winter Wonderland

This weekend we experienced December's winter wonderland in the mountains. Our neighbors, Jenn & Mike and us went up to the mountains and enjoyed skiing, scrapbooking and hiking through the snow. I even learned how to cook vegan. We had a great time and we are so glad for wonderful neighbor friends!