BOO!

We are all ready for Halloween! Hopefully, the sidewalks will be clear enough for us to trick-or-treat. We'll see.

Alex is a street rat (think Aladdin) this year. His costume inspiration was finding a HUGE orc sword and figuring out what he could be so I would buy him the sword. He is an adorable street rat!

Josh is a ninja just like he was last year. It's all about the weapons with these boys. He has double-swords on his back and some other weapon for the hand that isn't holding the candy bag! For school, he is dressed as a football player since they can't take weapons to school.

Mattea is Tinkerbell. I tried to talk her into being a ballerina since she has that beautiful, expensive costume from her recital, but she didn't go for that. Oh well, I'm sure she will wear the costume when she plays dress-up too.

The treats are strawberry ghosts and monster eyeball cookies. I am taking them in for Alex's class party.

Hope you all have a spooky Halloween!!!

Are we snowed in?

-- Mattea wasn't too jazzed about all the blowing snow in her face! --


-- A view of our backyard --


-- Alex, Mattea & the neighbor dogs playing in the snow! --


-- Cody amidst the boots, coats, snow pants, hats & gloves --


-- Indy in snow up to his giblets! --


-- Cody navigating his way through the winter wonderland! --



Oh yeah... we've got snow. School and preschool was cancelled today. The kids kept busy watching cartoons, playing board games, playing outside and warming up with hot chocolate. Who knows if we'll get out tomorrow for trick-or-treating!

Catching up

Cody and his birthday bone!
Flag football fan club - Mattea & Jordan
Josh on Crazy Hair Day
Alex & Daddy at Joshie's game

We celebrated Cody's 1st birthday on October 18th. Alex insisted we buy Cody a HUGE bone. It was hilarious watching him try to carry it around!

Josh finished up his flag football season this week. He had a great time playing and the coach had very nice things to say about Josh. We are very proud of him.

Jeff stumbled on a furniture closeout sale on Friday and we totally scored!!! We found a side table for the office which allowed us to rearrange the furniture to accommodate my new work printer/scanner/copier/fax machine, monitor & business phone. It was getting a bit crowded in there! My wonderful husband set up my new printer and got everything all organized for me. He was very patient and made sure it was just how I wanted it. He is too sweet and it looks absolutely fabulous!!! We also found some new bedroom furniture, so we spent all day Saturday moving the bedrooms around. Josh got Alex's computer desk and dresser, Alex got our old dresser and we got the new stuff!!! It's been 14 years of the same bedroom furniture for Jeff & I, so we are feeling pretty special!

We are counting down the days until Thanksgiving when we can see Pete, Carol & Julie... maybe Kevin, too! We are also waiting to hear baby news from Tim & Katie. I'm also planning Mattea's birthday party. I can't believe our baby will be 5 years old next month!!! She has been WAITING and WAITING to turn 5. She knows that we're going to Disney (next March) and that she starts kindergarten (next July) when she's 5, so she has really been looking forward to it.

Happy 14th Wedding Anniversary!!!!

Anniversary celebration

Jeff & I returned this evening from our wonderful weekend in Summit County, CO. We left at 3pm on Friday and headed to Cordillera Lodge & Spa in Edwards, CO. When we passed Loveland, we noticed they were making snow, so I HAD to call Terry to tell him. He was 6 feet below ground in a hole working on something at Cascade Mountain, but of course he answered the phone. We had a nice chat until I lost service driving through the mountains. The lodge was amazing... gorgeous views, fabulous service and beautifully decorated rooms. We had dinner Friday night at the hotel restaurant and it was the most delicious dinner Jeff & I have had in a very long time. On Saturday morning, I enjoyed a facial (my first ever!) at the spa. It was so relaxing and my skin felt as soft as a baby when I was done. After that, we headed into Vail for some shopping and lunch. Next, we headed to a small mountain town called Red Cliff to ride ATV's. After riding for 10 minutes, we discovered we had a flat tire, so we had to head back to the ranch to exchange our ride. Once we got that taken care of, it was smooth riding. We enjoyed beautiful scenery and found some mud & snow to get us dirty (that made Jeff very happy). We had such a fun time tooling around on ATV's in the mountains. We stopped at Gore Ranch Brewery for dinner (very yummy!) and then hit the local movie theatre to see Couples Retreat (funny!). On Sunday, we sadly checked out of our hotel room. We headed to Wolcott, CO for our last adventure of the weekend... zip lining!!! Let me just say that the thought of zip lining is much scarier than actually doing it. Once you get a feel for how well the harness holds you in, you get over the fear. It was awesome to look down into the canyon and take in the beauty of the area. Of course, I was snapping pictures & video along the way... I just can't help myself! We headed back to Vail for lunch where we found a sports bar so we could watch the Broncos game while we ate. After a little more shopping, we headed back home. The kids were excited to see us and told us how great Aunt Julie had been all weekend. THANK YOU, JULIE, FOR HELPING US TO ENJOY OUR ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND!!! We had a fabulous time!

Back to Vail!!!

Jeff & I are heading back to Vail, Colorado where we spent our honeymoon almost 14 years ago!!! Julie is literally on a plane right now so she can spend the weekend with the chitlins while we have some much-needed couple time. We really appreciate her generosity for allowing us to have this time together. We have plans to stay at a very nice lodge & spa. I have a facial planned for Saturday morning... I can't wait! It will be my first time, but Julie has assured me that I will enjoy it thoroughly! On Sunday, we are going ziplining. I am THRILLED about this exciting opportunity. Here is the website for the ziplining place. Watch the video!

http://www.zipadventures.com/

As of right now, we don't think Jeff has pneumonia so we shouldn't have to spend any time in the ER like we did on our first trip to Vail! Knock on wood, baby!!!

I'll post pictures when we return on Sunday. Woo Hoo!!!