busy-ness

It always seems so busy this time of year. Not like I have a bunch of Christmas parties to go to or anything. I realized that I was supposed to go out to dinner this past Friday with some girlfriends of mine and I totally spaced it. Sorry guys - if you happen to read this...I feel like a heel! After coming back from Denver the week just got away from me before I could get myself organized. Then today my friend Cari calls and says that she left me a message last Friday on my cell phone...and I haven't returned her call, and am I ok? Um, yes...aside from feeling like a total heel again. You know I love ya Cari! I know at one point Friday my cell phone battery was about dead so I turned off the phone to charge...I don't think I ever turned it back on. We have, however, put up the tree and lights. The decorations are still in boxes - I am trying to get the umpf to start unpacking them. It just seems like such a chore this year. Here are some more photos from our trip to Colorado.

The picture (above) on the left is of Lindsay standing next to a cowboy that my dad carved. Cool, huh? The picture on the right - well, I'm not sure why I like it so much. It just looked neat to me. The tree had just a ton of pinecones right at the top. (Guess you had to be there...lol)

These pictures above - this is the view from my parent's driveway. How awesome is that? I should've taken a panoramic but honestly - I just didn't think to try it (never done it). We used to go hiking up the mountain and climb the rocks as kids. Now, if you were to drive up the road to the top of the mountain (on the right hand side of the 2nd picture) you can see the lights of Denver and all the suburban areas. The picture below stinks because I didn't have a tripod...but you can get the idea:





And the following is a picture of the mountain range to the north of the valley. You can see the passenger train...I'm guessing that it was full of people going skiing. No snow on this mountain - but there will be snow where they're going!


The last 2 photos are from the Downtown Aquarium again...they were blurry - I tried to sharpen them up a bit. The photo on the left is of some seahorses - they are so fun to watch. Love them! And the 2nd photo is of a lionfish. They are pretty cool too if you ask me. :)

we're baaack!

Hi! Long time no blog, I know. We went to Colorado to visit my family for Thanksgiving so I haven't been able to blog for awhile. We had a wonderful trip although Tom isn't real fond of cool weather so he is glad to be back in this warm and muggy weather here in FL. The girls loved going to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We have many wonderful memories that we will cherish forever. Grandpa took the girls for tractor rides and they had so much fun.

Thanksgiving day was wonderful. Mom and Dad brought the little table and chairs (that dad made) downstairs as well as one of the MANY teddy bears from my mom's collection so the girls could have a special table to sit at. They even pulled up a chair for teddy. Dinner was fabulous as usual. Thanks to everyone who contributed!

The day after Thanksgiving (I think - my days are a little jumbled) we went to the Butterfly Pavillion. I didn't see the big blue butterflies that I had seen the last time I visited - but it was still amazing to see all the pretty butterflies flitting around. Besides the butterflies they have a very small room where you can touch a starfish and some other things - and they also have a small room with spiders and bugs in it. This is the room where "Rosie" resides. Rosie is a tarantula and they have a person there that will let you hold Rosie for a moment then they give you a tarantula sticker that says "I held Rosie!" - I was very surprised that Lindsay wanted to do it. She was very brave about it after she was told that it would just tickle a little.

The next day we went to the Denver Aquarium. It was really neat after I got the girls past the first dark hallway. They were both crying and insisting that we do NOT go in there. LOL...but watching the playful otters, watching the sea turtles, jellyfish and sharks, "talking" to the scuba divers through the glass (they were SO great with the kids!) and then going to the area where they could "pet" the stingrays -- it was all very memorable and the girls LOVED it!

The girls got to play with their cousins and wish they could've come home with us. We miss you Hannah and Joey! I also got to see my nephew and his wife's house and we had dinner at my brother's house - which I'd never seen before since it's just been built within the past couple years (we don't get to Colorado as often as I'd like). Tom and I also got to go out to dinner while my parents watched the girls. We went to Simms Landing - which overlooks all of Denver and the surrounding areas. We had an amazing dinner and it was great to actually have a 'date' of sorts.

One more picture. There are tons of deer around my parents house since they do live in the mountains. They have to keep a tall wire fence around their house to keep the deer out of the garden and from eating the flowers etc. Here is one curious little guy in my parents back yard - he came right up to the fence.

It was so refreshing to be back up in the mountains where I grew up. I love the mountain air - I love being able to see every star in the sky at night - I love the wildlife. I especially love seeing the city lights at night from the top of the mountain. It is truly breathtaking. A wonderful place to grow up - I know the girls now have an appreciation for this beautiful place.

Anyway - I now have lots of unpacking and laundry going on but wanted to share a few photos from our trip. Thank you mom and dad - for everything! It was a most wonderful trip...can't say that enough!