A Colorado Christmas

Instead of going home to Alaska this Christmas, my entire family came to Colorado. I've never hosted a family holiday before, so I wanted to do everything I could to make my place Christmas-y and homey for everyone.

I redecorated my guest room....

... and I set out the Christmas village my Grandma gave me...

Magnolia and I already had a stocking, but I thought it would be nice if the rest of my family had one, too. So I decided to forget that I'm a non-crafty accountant for an afternoon and decorated stockings for everyone. I was really surprised how cute they turned out!

(The fact that my cat has her own stocking doesn't make me a sad cat lady, right?)

It was like a Christmas explosion in my living room!

I also baked sugar cookies with frosting from scratch, which I'd never done before.

All this has led me to realize that not only am I crafty, but I like to bake. A domestic goddess was lurking within me all these years, and I didn't even know it. It's a Christmas Miracle!!

On Christmas Eve, I picked everyone up from the airport. We were back at my place in time for dinner, so I got to show off my new found homemaking skills by serving a home-cooked meal. Afterwards, we watched Christmas Vacation and played Cranium.

Cranium is always good for some funny pictures.

My dad and I had to act out "Time Machine" which is the most ridiculous clue I've ever heard. No one guessed it in time. Shocker.

Christmas Day was really nice. We all got up early and ate my homemade coffee cake (and I'll be damned if it wasn't delicious. Who knew I could make coffee cake?! Actually, it's Amy's mom's recipe, so thank you Ernst family!). And of course we opened presents....

Santa Claus brought me blinds. I've been needing them since I moved in last year. In place of actual blinds I had been tacking up a blue blanket as well as stacking pillows up to cover the windows. Classy, I know. Here's the before shot:

And the after. Much better.

I also got a pretty scarf from my grandma, aunt, and cousins:

My dad did a fantastic job modeling the jacket I gave him:

After presents, we loaded up in my car and headed to my grandparents' house.

It's such a beautiful drive to Salida.

It's always really relaxing and low key when we visit Salida. We play a lot of games... (that's Grandma and my cousin David along with Mom, Adam, and Leane)

(I wore that shirt as a joke, by the way. It was well worth the $10 I spent considering it's battery powered and blinks every time I breathe.)

Along with game-playing, I usually do a lot of reading. Although I'm a big reader, Adam has NEVER read a book outside of school.... no exaggeration. So when I heard he'd brought a book for the trip, it was definitely a shocker. And definitely picture worthy.
We were driving around in Salida when we passed this house:
There were at least 15 Christmas blow-up decorations in their front yard. It was pretty ridiculous, but you have to admire their Christmas spirit.
Downtown Salida is really cute, so we walked around and did a little shopping.
On Sunday, my parents, Adam, and Leane went to Breckenridge and I stayed in Salida with my grandparents. It was nice spending time with them - they took me out to lunch and then we went to the cemetery. Yes, that's right. The cemetery. And it wasn't the first time they took me there, either!

Let me explain...

There's a cemetery a couple miles from their house, and we always spot deer there. So we like to drive around and see if any deer are hanging out. Here are a few we spotted.

On Monday, we came back to Denver. Over the next few days we did a lot of eating and shopping. We also went down to the Air Force Academy to show Leane where we used to live. A lot has changed in the 12 years since we've been gone, but the chapel on the Academy is just as beautiful as I'd remembered it.

The soon-to-be newlyweds....

All too soon the week had passed, and it was time for everyone to head back to Alaska. I hope Leane enjoyed her first trip to Colorado, and I can't wait to see everyone again in May!

Kansas Weekend with the Ernsts

During the weekend of November 14th, Amy and I flew to Kansas City to visit her family. Her brother (John), sister-in-law (Heidi), nephew (Joe), and brand new niece (Carlie) live nearby in Olathe, and her parents moved from Iowa to Kansas earlier this year, so it was quite the family gathering!

Our flight was a little early, so we had time to stop by Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte before her parents came to pick us up.

After Amy's parents picked us up, we drove to Olathe to see John, Heidi, Joe & Carlie. After taking a tour of their beautiful new house and playing trucks with Joe, we headed out to dinner. Dinner was pretty uneventful until Heidi made the statement that she was 5'6". Everyone was up in arms over her comment, since she's clearly shorter than that. Since I'm pretty sure I'm 5'7", everyone told me and Heidi to stand up back-to-back to see if she was only an inch shorter. So there we were, at a busy restaurant, standing up back-to-back next to the table. When I felt Heidi lean her head back and it only came up to my neck, I knew there was no way she's 5'6". She finally conceded that she's shorter than she thinks she is. However, that got the whole family wondering exactly how tall we all are, and once we got back home, everyone got measured. (Turns out Heidi is 5'5".)

Amy and I spent the night at John & Heidi's. The next morning we both got some Carlie time in.

Carlie is the absolute best baby I've ever spent time with. Not that I've spent time with a lot of babies, but she is just SO good and easy going. I'm definitely not a baby person, but it's hard not to like Carlie.

That day we had tickets to see the Kansas/Nebraska football game. None of us are either Kansas or Nebraska fans, so we were really just going for the experience. And the tailgating.

Our morning got off to a good start when we made it to Lawrence and were looking for a parking spot. Amy spotted a Taco John's across the street and burst out like a Tourette's sufferer, "Potato Ole's!!! Potato Ole's!!! Potato Ole's!!!"

"WHAT is a Potato Ole?" I asked.

"POTATO OLE'S!!!" Amy chanted.

John raced across traffic to get to the Taco John's and went straight to the drive-through. I found out that a Potato Ole is a delectable treat much like a tator tot. Only greasier. And better.

We finally found a parking space, so we loaded up our Potato Ole's, and tried to figure out where the tailgate party was. Here we are trying to figure out where we were going...We had to walk through this Nebraska tailgate before we made it to our destination...
Heidi thought it would be funny if she flaunted the fact that her alma mater, Iowa State, beat Nebraska earlier in the season.The tailgate had some yummy fried chicken, pasta salad, and potatoes...
Amy meant business when she put on her drinking gloves. Those Bloody Mary's didn't know what hit them.

The Ernst kids.

After we were fried chickened out, we decided to pack it up and head to the next tailgate....

... which ended up being that of our friend, Brad.

Brad is the little brother of one of our friends, and we met him when he was in Denver over the summer for a wedding. He says he's moving to Denver when he graduates in May, and that would be okay with me, because (truth be told) he's pretty cute. I figured going after someone five years younger than me gave me definite cougar status, but Heidi informed me you can't be a cougar until you're at least 40. She says you're a "cougar" in your 40's, a "lioness" in your 30's, and still a "kitten" in your 20's. This is all pretty good news for me. Heidi then started asking Brad where he plans on living when he moves to Denver and after he told us he's going to live with his brother, Heidi said, "You should live with Lindsay, you know she'll give you free rent. Do you like cats?" Thanks Heidi.

After hanging out with Brad, we headed to tailgate #3. John & Heidi had some friends hanging out near the stadium, so we dropped by for a bit. On our walk there, Amy randomly ran into her college softball coach. His kids go to KU, but it was a big surprise for her to see him there!

Here's a view of the stadium from our last tailgate party.

When it got close to game time, we headed to our seats.

Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk!

We left the game early so that Amy and John could watch the Iowa game... which didn't go quite as they'd hoped.

Not even seeing a hardware store with their name cheered them up.

We were all pretty exhausted after the game, so we headed back to Amy's parents to pick up Joe & Carlie, had dinner, and went to bed.

The next day flew by. We all went to church, and I held Carlie all through the service -- she was SO good! After church, Amy and her mom made a fantastic breakfast of eggs, toast, sausage, and coffeecake. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Denver....

.... which had gotten about a foot of snow while we were gone. Poor Amy scraped her car in the airport parking lot while I stood around taking pictures.
It was a fast trip, but I'm really happy I got to go, spend time with Amy's family, and see a different football stadium. (Better luck next time, Jayhawks.) Thanks Ernst Family for letting me tag along once again!

A Little Monday Night Time Travel

I found an awesome website that lets you recreate yearbook photos throughout the ages... and since my DeLorean experiment isn't really panning out, this is the next best thing to actual time travel!

Here I am way back in the 60's.

My brother, dad, and I hitting the ice for some hockey:

Dan and Amy being sporty as usual:

Jen and James really HAVE been together forever!

I'll never forget when Carolyn, Melissa, and I were on the Homecoming Court. Nice dress, Carolyn!

You really can't beat 80's hair.

Pom Squad just wouldn't have been the same without Jen V and Kirstine! Lovin' the fro, Jen!

Not my best look.

Adam liked to keep it real with his high tops and electric guitar.

Channeling Tina Turner.
Glamour Shots by Deb.
Class of 2000, yay!