Christmas letter

Last year I was able to post our family Christmas letter on the web for all to see, but this year I've been having problems accessing the server from a remote location (i.e. home). Because I'm a genius, I was able to create images of the letter for your enjoyment. Feel free to post comments on funny results, if you desire.

Merry Christmas!

A fish story

Seth and Mom went to the Denver Aquarium for a field trip, complete with feeding "Big sharks", "Big turtles" and feeding the Manta Rays. Seth also enjoyed the bubble machine outside the Aquarium.

Christmas at the Soddies

While David and Dad enjoyed a day of skiing at Copper Mountain (sorry, no photos), the girls went to enjoy a day of "Christmas at the Soddies" at the Plains Conservation Center. They got to go to school in the schoolhouse, made Christmas ornaments, learned how to make the most excellent ginger cookies and met Father Christmas.

Sweet and Sassy

Sarah was invited to a birthday outing at the appropriately named "Sweet and Sassy", where she got a makeover. After that, the group went to lunch at the Olive Garden. She was definitely in her element!

Thanksgiving weekend

We went to Colorado Springs for a couple of days to celebrate Thanksgiving with Devin's family. The weather was fantastic, so we spent some time at the park on Friday. The evening was highlighted by a trip to the ballet for the girls, who went to see The Nutcracker. Since we hadn't brought proper clothes for the ballet (it was kind of a last-minute thing), we got to go on a shopping spree to Goodwill, finding some fun outfits for a song. We followed up the shopping trip with a trip to ColdStone, where we combined birthday ice cream and gift cards to feed everybody for 83 cents.

Four oh!

We had a few friends over for an 80's party to commemorate Devin's 40 years on the planet. 80's trivia and 80's karaoke never, ever get old. The same cannot be said, however, for fashion trends.


Another totally awesome cake by Stacey!

Thankfulness

So, the whole "thankful bloggg" thing didn't work out so well. Nonetheless, here is a list of things for which I am thankful (as posted on facebook over a one-week period; funky formatting on here is unintentional):
I am thankful...

• for four children who have plenty of love to share with me.

• for sisters who are good to me, in spite of many years of the big brother treatment. I miss getting to see them very often. They rock.
  

• for the few discernible talents that I possess.

• for a good memory (and good memories!).

• for my mad Karaoke skillz.

• for good food. After sight, I think taste is my favorite sense.

• for good parents.

• for a great job.

• that, at 40 years old, my body still works the way I want it to.

• for all of the Happy Birthday wishes!

• for friends.

• for my education.

• to live in Colorado.
  

• for the technologies that make life so comfortable.

• to have family close by.

• for my relationship with Jesus Christ.

I hope that everyone had a fantabulous Thanksgiving!

This was posted by Devin, but I must have been logged in as Stacey.

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I'm so thankful

Thanksgiving's coming! It's among my favorites because it's much less commercialized than the holidays that surround it. For me, it's just about spending time with loved ones.
On that note, I shall begin my series of things I'm thankful for. First:

I'm thankful for my wife, who is without question the most awesome person I've ever met.

Boo!

We got a pretty scary bunch this year (hey, a talking cowboy doll is scary!).

Cooking with Buzz...

They cook some pretty mean rice up in the Gamma Quadrant.

A Wicked outing

Stacey and I enjoyed a fabulous 24-hour period, which went something like this: Dropped off the children at Grandma's house, headed to Downtown Denver, had a fabulous steak dinner at Ted's Montana Grill (Stacey had the tenderloin filet and I had an out-of-this-world Bison Ribeye), saw 'Wicked' at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, stayed the night at the Downtown Denver Sheraton, slept in a little, breakfast at the Delectable Egg, a brisk walk on the 16th Street Mall (did I mention that we had a couple of feet of snow fall in the last 36 hours?), a trip to an indoor mall for some clothes shopping (Stacey was owed an outfit), then back to Grandma's to pick up the children. Cloud nine, my friends, cloud nine.

Field Trippin'

In spite of very wet snow falling the whole time, Seth and I took a preschool field trip today to the Nursery for a hayride and a couple of hay mazes. Seth got to pick out a pumpkin to take home at the end of the day. Seth got to experience his first taste of "What?! My teachers exist outside of the school?" He wasn't too into that.

Birthday fun

We went to Heritage Square to celebrate Sarah's B-day today. They have a nice Music Hall there where they put on a fun children's theater matinée on weekends. This go 'round it was Sleeping Beauty, which happens to be Sarah's favorite princess story. In addition to the music hall, the kids got to ride a ride each (thanks to some strangers who were trying to unload their ride tickets!), then Stacey's Dad treated us all to the Alpine Slide. Woohoo! After spending about 4 hours in Golden, we headed back to the house for dinner, cake, ice cream and presents. A fun day!
Hannah took the above photo. After that she wanted to take every shot! She's hooked.
Sarah bestowing a gift on baby Aurora. Hannah then got to bestow a "keen wit", though she had no idea what that means.
This was taken at the top of the Alpine Slide. I can't believe I actually got a critter next to the sign!

There they go!

It's Autumn Time!

Makin' applesauce for FHE. Mmmmmm!

...IF you have no problem with printing thousands of these without having someone with a triple-digit IQ proofread them.

I picked up this postcard at the West Branson Wal-Mart for my sister, the badge-carrying grammar cop (of course, I can never remember to drop it in the mail!).

The heinous "YOUR from Branson" caught my eye initially, but the absolute butchering of 'hors d'oeuvre' sent me over the top.

I don't even care about the content--This is egregious.

Three years of Seth

Labor Day outing

To celebrate Labor Day we met my parents and my sister's family at Castlewood Canyon for a nice afternoon hike. The weather was perfect, and the children weathered it very well. We managed a 2+ mile loop without any casualties! Afterward we all came back to our house for some great BBQ. All in all, a fun time. Thanks to everyone for coming!

Belford and Oxford

I finally got to climb some fourteeners after a two-year hiatus. I felt every bit of that hiatus on the way up Belford, which offered no respite whatsoever. That thing was straight up! But I did it, and it felt great--actually, it didn't feel great at the time, but it does now, now that I can climb the stairs again.