Oh, BOY!

Since moving here a little over four months ago, we've received a few baby announcements...and they were ALL boys!

First was my newest nephew, Lucas. (I've cropped each announcement to keep personal details off of here.) I'm so excited! 17 days till I head back to meet him for the first time!

Then Jake's cousin and wife, Jesse and Amanda, had their first boy, Jackson. So sweet!

And lastly, my good friend, Becky, had her second boy...Brody.

As you can tell, there is a whole lot of cuteness hanging around on my fridge. 

I LOVE BOYS!

Stop Motion Movie

Riley and Celia made a very cool Stop Motion movie in tech class...ENJOY!

Blue & Red

Half of our life is currently is storage during this transition year. Including all of our Christmas decorations. We decided to have a little, simple fun. We got a tiny tree from lows, red and blue lights and ornaments and let the boys go at it. It was all them, as I watched from the couch sick from the flu. You can't deny our fanhood... we are representing KU from Colorado. 

Grandma's annual handmade ornaments got here just in time for the tree!! Thanks!

Our "Elf on the Shelf"... 

Got our first Christmas card!! Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Roadtrip

I'd do about anything to avoid being in charge of cooking an entire Thanksgiving meal...but it's hard when your nearest family is 5 hours away and you have jobs you are tied down to. Well, we decided to head to Utah, because I just didn't want to tackle the feast this year. I'm glad we did...it was  a quick turn around trip, but well worth it.

Reece keeping his word and making sure he did his reading homework on the long drive.

The Colorado River before Grand Junction.

Not too long into Utah, we ran into some insane fog... the visibility was terrible.

Oops... should have zoomed this picture a bit. We stopped for a yummy (but very slow) meal at Balance Rock Eatery.

I mustache you a question...

Reece mustache (must act) just like Riley...

Just after lunch we found Balance Rock in the canyon ... what the eatery was named after.

I see the mountain that is very close to Springville, UT.

Cool windmills... although we never see them move.

WOW! I totally didn't take any pictures of Jill and family...I am very lame. We had an awesome meal and my sister was very on top of all the yummy food (we contributed a sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole). Sadly, we had to drive home after dessert, and on the way home I began coughing. Well the coughing turned into the flu. Amazingly, I'm the only victim (*knock on wood*) but it was a rough 5 days for me. Hopefully, it's almost gone and my happy, healthy Christmas season can continue as normal. Well, as normal as a first holiday season far away from family.

24 days and counting...

...till I get to finally meet this wide eyed, chunky cheeked little man!! 

My newest nephew is growing up without me and I am so anxious to head back to Kansas after Christmas to hold this cutie!! Technology is great, but not the same! Aunt Jacque is counting down to love on you Mr. Lucas!!

Milestone

Jake had a milestone birthday this year... 40!!

The day before the boys and I ambushed him at work, attacked him with silly string, and brought the staff cupcakes to celebrate. We also got him some art for his office...a picture collage of our adventures here in Colorful Colorado.

It's safe to say that Lowe's might want to be out with the old and in with the young... watch out, Jake. This guy has his eye on your job!

We were spoiled by our friends, the Scrutons and Brokers... we had an adult only dinner on Saturday and turned around and had an adult only breakfast the following day. Turning 40 isn't too bad!

And we saw our first ELK in the Scrutons neighborhood on his birthday! We had been waiting for this sighting!

So, Jake didn't have too much on his wishlist...but since we both did Insanity last winter/spring, he really wanted T25 (a DVD workout by the same guy, just shorter) so that's what he got. I'm excited to give it a shot, too. People think with all the hiking we've done here, we must be super fit living out here....well our waistlines don't reflect that theory, and with winter officially here, this will help us out with the winter blues.

Handsome Boys

We drove around all day to find a good shot for our Christmas cards... and this is what we found. We should have stopped after the first shot (the middle one shown) where the smiles were more natural and the boys cooperated best... that was the lucky winner of the Christmas card picture.

(Ignore that utility box... it would have been cropped out.) Mr. Sopris did not make the cut this year...what a shame! ;)