I Give Up

So here was my brilliant attempt at taking my own Christmas card picture. Neither of which happened; a good picture or a card. In the 8 years Pat and I have been together I have never sent Christmas cards and every year I intend to.

The white on white looked awful for starters and my camera kept over exposing, but most of all I couldn't even get all three to smile at the same time.





Nevermind. I give up. I have 10 more months to pull something together for Christmas next year.

Snow Day

We have had a few big snow storms hit Denver this year. The kids have become pro sledders. In these pictures the kids are sledding down a pile of snow in our front yard area. It has kept them happy and outside a lot.

Very Helpful

Setting up our Christmas tree and decorations felt like sweeping when your child volunteers to help. You end up doing more work in the long run and it takes a lot more time, but the learning for both the child and the adult in the process are invaluable. In this case, it is about spending time together and enjoying the spirit of the holidays. Paul grasped the concept of the birth of Jesus Christ this year, and the spirit of giving. I loved it.

This right here is the opposite of helping Camille. She was picking off the color tabs on the limbs that tell you where they go on the trunk.


Good job! Emptying the Christmas lights.


Yes, very helpful.


This is what we live for. Moments of peace and tenderness.

Turkey Day

My mom has always called Thanksgiving Turkey Day. We spent our Turkey Day in Boise. We drove and stayed a week. We hit a snow storm driving through Wyoming. It was bad. We went 35mph for a good portion of that day, but we were safe and that is more important than our time.

As always we had a great time being with family.


Grandpa and Camille. Sweetness


Camille's first licorice. I just love watching babies explore messy foods.


A messy face is a happy face.

Road Trip!

Okay, it has been 3 months since I have truly updated and I knew that this post is the one I needed to start with chronologically. I have put it on the back-burner because I knew it would take me forever to pick and choose just the right photos and do justice to a trip I won't soon forget. Here goes an attempt to depict a trip that held late night laughs with some amazing women that I can "let it all hang out" with; who are incredibly kind, witty, hilarious, wise, and just plain fun to be with.

The kids did surprisingly well on the 9 hour drive to Wichita from Denver. The drive home was a little more eventful with Caleb puking and Lucy choking and kids saying things like, "Mom, Harrison is looking at me."

Liz, Monae, Tracy, and I went to visit our good friend Leslie that moved away from us. While we were there we celebrated Monae's birthday. And yes, the candles are matches.

It was also a good reunion for all the kids.

"Come on Tracy!" It is amazing what our bodies can and can't do as we get older.

The Air Force Base that Leslie lives on was doing a Trick-or-Treat activity for the kids one morning. Caleb was a cowboy, Paul was the Tin Man, and Camille was Tigger.

I can't believe that Leslie had enough costumes and dress-up clothes for all 16 kids. The rest of the trip was full of sugar; the best kind of vacation!

The kids had a good time hanging out at night.

The kids played all day and when the drove us nuts we sent them outside. Here is a picture of the kids one night in the backyard with glow sticks.

Just Dance girl's night. Let it be known that I suck at Just Dance, but love it all the same.

We went to a corn maze. They had several activities for kids and the adults enjoyed them equally.

Leslie and I bushwhacking to keep up with the kids in the maze. Despite our efforts we still lost one.

Even better than a hay ride.

Caleb and Harrison in the 50 gallon barrel train ride.

Cute Camille

They had a huge slide that Caleb lived on.

A tricycle track

Monae in the middle of the coolest fall from the zipline any of us have seen in a while. What grace!

The Coolest part of the Corn Maze Place was the huge trampoline thingo! What a good looking group.

The chaos that followed.

Meet some of the most amazing women I know. Me, Tracy, Leslie, liz, Monae

Monae has all sorts of moves that would impress you. I think she could have been casted in that new Footloose movie. :)

Next stop on our list, Tracy's flat tire. We know what we are doing, right?

We piled the kids into Leslie's car to watch a movie while we changed Tracy's tire. Thank goodness for modern technology.

We totally have this under control. Okay, we need someone heavier than Tracy.

Or how about just someone different. A nice man stopped to help us. That left us with a lot more time to goof off and take pictures.

Hey!

We are so helpful.

Then we were put to work because the van kept wanting to roll off the jack.

Let's put the kids to bed early tonight.

What a fantastic trip. Thanks Leslie for a great time!

Happy Birthday Susan!

I don't get on here that often but I decided to come on and let everyone know that today is Susan's birthday and we celebrated tonight with a great Italian meal served under the dim lights. I had my two servers dressed in their best. They did a surprise as mom came in through the door and then properly guided her to her seat. They then plated the table and sat down last. Of course they loved the huge chocolate cake and the game that followed. I love my dear wife and appreciate all that she does for us! Happy Birthday Susan!

Camilley Bug

Our little Camille is 7 months old in these pictures. Some of the things she is currently doing is army crawling, feeding herself (no baby food), and jabbering quite a bit. She is not as smiley as she was several months ago, but she is still generally happy and good natured.