Valentine's Day

Wow-- Wes did well! What a cool bouquet!! (Wish I'd taken a picture before it began wilting.) He even remembered to sign the card... this is a first!!!


My favorite meal... Deelish!! And way cheaper than eating out, especially when the filet mignon is free!!



What could be more romantic that a candlelit dinner at home with the kids?!

hApPy NEW YEAR, 2010

Happy New Year!!!
We had a rip-roaring good time!
... at home
... in our PJs
... watching TV...
Okay, so it was kind of a boring evening, but it was nice to spend time at home as a family!


The kids piled up blocks at the bottom of the stairs and then slid down in their pillowcases--brings back memories!


Gotta love New Years Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest


Wes in a VERY old jacket BBQing in the snow!
(He will kill me for posting this picture!!)


And, FINALLY, it's midnight... we made it!! Can we go to bed now???

Christmas 2009

After wrapping the tree with 11 strands of lights, I turned the decorating over to the kids. They did a great job and enjoyed it way more than I would have!


The finished product. It turned out to be a beautiful tree!



Here comes Santa Claus!

OK Kurt, remember, you can only ask for one thing

Katie giving Santa her best "please move me to the nice list" smile

Kurtis at Primary Program... not sure why he's facing the opposite direction as everyone else??

Katie singing in the Primary Program

Look! Santa's been here & he sampled our cookies :-)

Oh Boy... I think Santa's sleigh tipped over here!!

Kurtis... and everything on his list

Katie-- amazed & over-whelmed by gifts, guess she was good after all!

Kurtis checking out his new MP3... what happened to needing a screwdriver and pliers on Christmas morning?!?! Now we gotta have computer skills and spend the morning reading instructions and formatting pocket-sized computers!! I miss the hand tools!

Katie's new pink John Deere bike... I think Wes & I were just as excited as her... it's so cute!! The anticipation was just as good-- she had the biggest present under the tree for 2 weeks and the suspense was killing her!

Cowkids! Both sportin' new duds! Kurtis's chaps were custom made from really nice leather and they match dad's!

Wes playing Guitar Hero

TrEE-TiMe!

"We're kicking off our fun old-fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols!" -- Clark W. Griswold

We headed up on the west end of Boulder this past weekend to get our Christmas tree. We went with our good friends and neighbors, The Crane's. It was one of those days where both the weather and the scenery were breath-taking, but we had a blast, even with a windchill of -19!!

Me, my dear friend Lisa & her grandson, Chase

The two trouble-makers that brought us all together as friends:
Samantha & Kurtis!


Katie & her faithful protector, Daisy


The Crane's brought a huge tube and we managed to find snow deep enough to try it out. This entertained the kids (and mom's) for hours while the men headed off into the woods to cut down our trees.


Kurtis (with his head down), Sam (screaming and hanging on for dear life) & the feet belong to Brooke!

Amber doing her best, "What the....?!?!" Oops, Lisa! I think ya took that turn a little too fast!! ;-)

We literally had to carry Katie to the tube kicking and screaming, but once she tried it, she didn't want to stop! Once her turn was over, true to form, Katie puffed out her chest, strutted around and bragged to everyone about how she braved the wild ride and had so much FUN!! Thanks, Brooke, for hangin' on to her!

Brooke & Chase sledding... too cute!

My gingerbread man costume!

I HATE being cold, so I bundled up a little! The clothes were obviously made for someone Wes's size, but they did the job... I stayed relatively warm, which made it worth all the teasing!!

The expert tree-hunters (Jordan & Wes)! These two would HUNT anything-- especially when it involves using chain-saws! Go ahead, pound on your chests, boys!!

Hey look, the boys actually brought back something to decorate! This pix was taken AFTER they got unstuck-- yay for tire-chains!!

Fun with BUGLES....

My 35th Birthday

I "celebrated" my 35th birthday on December 4th... and for some reason, I was really dreading being 35!! I suddenly feel OLD! :( We didn't really have much planned-- maybe going over to Richfield for dinner, shopping and to see Santa. I cleaned house most of the day waiting for Wes to get off of work. Long story short, Wes wasn't able to get off in time to do anything, so we stayed home and I cooked dinner. But the worst of it came when I backed out of the driveway without checking for Katie's kitty who tends to hide in the engine of my car. You guessed it, the kitty is no more!! I cried as I broke the news to Katie (who, incidently, had lost her pet hermit crab the day before!) It was terrible... she just sobbed!! We went down to the farm and told Wes about it. He felt so bad about my lousy birthday, he surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a sack full of my favorite goodies (including Sobe drinks & chocolate covered cinnamon bears!) I cried again, but this time it was because I felt so blessed to have a sweet, loving, thoughtful husband!! Thanks, Wes!!!

Thanksgiving '09

We spent Thanksgiving day at my Grandma & Grandpa Nowers' house. It brought back so many wonderful memories of holidays when I was a kid!! Kenny & Julie's family was able to be there, and it was great to catch up with them since our vacation!

The adult table

The kids' table

Me & my siblings: Courtney, Kevin & Kayden--

yeah, I'm the shortest!

Courtney & I

Katie feasting on the only thing she gets excited about eating... pickles and cheese!!

Kurtis tree-climbing. This is a luxury since we have no trees big enough to climb at our house!

I think Katie is trying to knock Kurtis out of the tree-- as Gavin learns how to take care of older siblings!!

Dad & Kayden stretching their bellies after the feast! (That's Wes behind the napkin!)

Thanksgiving #2!!

We got a second feast at Grandma & Grandpa Rees' (in Bicknell) the weekend after Thanksgiving! This is Katie eating pumpkin pie... again!!

After dinner, we all pitched in to get the lights on Grandpa & Grandma's house--- Don't fall, DeeAnn!

Grandpa Rees and Mackay trying to untangle the "ball" of lights.

Wes, Grandpa, Mackay & Lyn riggin up Grandpa's tree of lights!