Christmas Lights

 One of our set-in-granite Christmas traditions is driving around, drinking hot chocolate, looking at Christmas lights. 

We have a few favorites that we visit each year, like this one in E’s old neighborhood that has light synced to music and a sign that tells you what FM station to tune your radio to. This year, just after we pulled up, an antique fire engine, all decked out in lights, pulled in front of us. M had to get closer to see, of course, and ended up knowing both “Santa” who was sitting in the back, and the driver, an old friend of E and J’s. I love living in a smaller community where we so often run into people we know. So different from Denver…

And a few more of our favorites, including one decorated almost entirely with Christmas dogs! (Rhianna loves this one!)

Isn’t this a pretty street?

The countdown is on… only a couple more weeks til Christmas!  😱

The Christmas season has begun!

 Our first big Christmas event is “Shop til You Drop” day. This started as a necessity, when one year I hadn’t even thought about Christmas until Dec 1st! Now it’s a tradition… the kids and I spend a few hours shopping and having lunch out. It’s kind of a big event and most years it’s the only time we go into a mall. 

The past couple of years we’ve kept to outdoor malls.  Last year we just window shopped in an outdoor shopping area,  this year we still shopped at an outdoor mall, but did actually go into stores to shop. 😱

Thanksgiving

 We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday yesterday… E and her crew were out of town, and we missed seeing them a lot, but B, K and J were here and we had a wonderful, relaxing day. 

I forgot to take any pictures, of course, but B took a few pictures of M with her new rescue dog and I especially love this one. 

Now it’s on to the big Christmas push.

 I have to say I’m not looking forward to all the Christmas “extras”, (shopping, cooking, more shopping, more cooking, oops forgot something… which means still more shopping), but I am looking forward to the joy, memory making, and happiness of the season. 

Jack-O-Lantern fun

 We didn’t see E and family on Halloween… but we stopped by for a visit today and a couple of the grandkids showed off their pumpkins. 

Yes, he really carved it out enough to fit on his head! 

And little T was so proud of her pumpkin. I just love the expression on her face…

Pumpkin party

 I love this picture…

…M and R and our little book club group at a pumpkin carving/decorating party we had this afternoon. 

It was cold, and windy, and we ended up having our party in a barn, and I almost cancelled several times after getting frustrated trying to work around the weather and everyone’s schedules. I’m so glad I didn’t cancel though… look at those faces.  They all had such a good time…

October Birthdays

 We celebrated K and R’s birthdays yesterday with a family get together here at the house. After months and months of not being able to get together in person, inside, I appreciate so much the ability to be together, inside, without masks, eating and enjoying each other’s company. 

This is part of our group text from before we got together…

Two years ago, who’d have thought we’d be testing ourselves for a potentially deadly virus before getting together for a simple meal? 😢

It felt so good to get together though, and I insisted on a picture of all of us of course… (all of us except granddaughter #1 who is away at school…and sorely missed!)

We’re kind of a motley crew! 

And here’s another one of our favorite newly engaged couple! 🥰

Dearfield

 We made another trip out to Dearfield today. 

We’ve visited several times over the past year or so but have never been when there has been an “event”… 

I have to say it’s MUCH better to visit when this tiny historic settlement is filled with people, music, and life. 

Dearfield was the largest Black homesteading settlement in Colorado, and during its heyday in the late 1910’s it was a thriving farming community with a several hundred residents. Sadly, a combination of the Great Depression and the dry Dust Bowl years doomed the community. It is now a ghost town… 

But today it was alive! There was a great little band set up on the porch of the old Dearfield Lodge, and all the buildings were open so we could wander around inside and get a sense of what things might have been like back then. 

Across from the Dearfield Lodge there had been a dance hall, which is gone now, but I could imagine how 100 years ago, right where we were standing, there had also been music and dancing and people laughing and babies playing just as there were today. 

The (trumpy ) congressman from that district spoke and seemed to compare Dearfield to Amache, a Japanese internment camp in SE Colorado, and I was offended. Dearfield was built on hopes and dreams, on strength and courage and the desire to create a better world… and through no fault of its inhabitants, it didn’t survive. Amache was built on racism, loss, and fear. 

But once the congressman was gone, it was a lovely afternoon with good conversation, good music and a lot of history. 

On the way home R kept saying this had been her “best day ever”. 

Early birthday morning walk…

 

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S

Grandma’s 90th Birthday

 We went to Arvada on Sunday for Grandma’s 90th birthday party. It was an outside event, and simple… just family, time to visit, and a little cake and ice cream. Simple is good.

R got to hold the newest member of the family 3 (4?) week old Theo. That was the highlight of her day for sure…

Grandma seemed to love the babies too, and looked so happy just watching them.

I didn’t take many pictures, but like this one of the grandkids and great grandkids who were there (plus a couple of aunts).

Poker Party!

 After missing last year’s poker party due to the pandemic, we took a little bit of a chance and let M have one this year. 

It felt good to have a normal kind of event after more than a year of socially distancing. 

We know the pandemic isn’t over yet, but we carefully minimized the risks (kept the guest count low, only inviting friends who were fully vaccinated, etc) and felt like… this time…the benefits were worth the risks.

I’m so glad M has such good friends,..

Rockies Game

 We celebrated Joe’s 65th birthday with box seats at a Rockies game. It was so good to all be together like this after more than a year of being so careful and not being able to get together like we usually do. 

There were even a couple of extra tickets for Dave and Tom. I loved seeing the three brothers watching the game together and just being able to hang out. Such a blessing…

My favorite picture from the game is this one with Tom photobombing… It makes me laugh every time!

 

Happy Anniversary...

...to us.

Today is the 10th anniversary of our move into this house. (If you haven't heard the story of our move in a blizzard, you can read about it here.)



It's been a wild 10 years starting with the fixing up of this poor neglected house we bought...










... and continuing through storms and sunshine....














.... an education every step of the way.





Here are a few more of my favorite blast-from-the-past photos of the past 10 years...

The goat days... how much hay CAN you fit into an Isuzu Trooper?






The day we realized M should probably not plan on getting a driver's license...



Got mud?




R and Grant...



The ever present deer...



... and even a rare albino one!



The day the circus came and painted our house gray and ran off with the kids...



... thanks to my brother's extreme photoshopping skills.

And, of course, the years of homeschooling...





It's been an amazing 10 years.

Here's the house before we moved in....



... and this morning... shrouded by fog from a cold front that blew in last night.



The barn back in 2006...





... and last summer.



If you like before and afters, there are a few more here...