Golden Style Christmas

We got our first taste of Christmas in Golden this week as we participated in the "Candlelight Walk". The city went all out with tons of Christmas lights and the "Walk" included a well decorated trail with stops and free admission at all of the downtown historic sites and museums. We had a good time wandering around with friends, downing lots of free cider and cookies and letting our kids run a muck along the trail. The highlights of the evening were the reindeer and the roasted chestnuts (I have always wondered what roasted chestnuts were like and now I know, thanks Golden).

Grandpa's Shadow

After his mom and dad, Oliver's next favorite person is his Grandpa Ross. When we are staying at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Oliver becomes Grandpa's little shadow. Anything that Grandpa does Oliver must do also. Whether it be eating chips and salsa, watching a Jazz game or, Oliver's personal favorite, feeding the animals. The second Grandpa comes home from work Ollie knows that it is time to put on the gloves and go outside to take care of the dogs and horses. Over Thanksgiving, Grandpa went one step further by saddling one of the mules and taking Oliver for a ride. Needless to say he loved it. After every lap he would sign for more and Grandpa couldn't say no. Consequently, they spent a lot of time walking up and down the street and around the backyard.

Brrrrrrr.....

So, I was reading a friends blog in which she was complaining about the freezing cold weather they were having. And, of course, I couldn't keep myself from commenting and rubbing in the fact that we had been enjoying a week of 70+ degree temperatures. Well, as almost always happens, I got my payback when I woke up the next day to a miniature ice storm. We didn't get any snow and I wouldn't describe it as a frost either. Rather, it looked as if someone had dumped a bucket of water over everything and then stuck it in a freezer. Instead of merely scraping of my windshield I had to use my scraper as a hammer to break up the ice. Needless to say, it was not very enjoyable. The cold weather has come to us at last.

On the bright side, that also means fun holidays, family gatherings and yummy food. So, to help me see the warmer side of things I thought I would make a little list of the things I love about this time of year (please note that scraping my windows is not included):

1. I love that my husband is more obsessed with Christmas music than I am. As soon as Sam wakes up and every time he walks in the door he heads straight to the computer to turn on FM100.

2. I love love love Christmas trees. Simple ones, fancy ones, barren ones, fluffy ones, you name it, love it!

3. I love that Christmas is the season for English Toffee and homemade caramel. I am pretty certain that both of those things will exist in abundance up in heaven.

4. I love that everyone is just a little bit kinder and a bit more thoughtful during the holiday season.

5. I love Christmas movies. No Christmas season is complete without "White Christmas", "A Muppets Christmas Carol", "Elf", "The Santa Clause", "Miracle on 34th Street", and "It's A Wonderful Life".

6. I love knowing that my in-laws will have a big bag of pistachio nuts in their kitchen and that Marie will let me sit at her bar and chat and munch on nuts to my hearts content.

7. I love to see the lights.

8. While I don't enjoy scraping my windows, I have to admit that I do love snow at Christmastime. What becomes old, cold and dirty in January always seems so perfectly new, fluffy, and beautiful in December.

9. I love Christmas shopping. The stores are always bustling with shoppers (stores may be busy at other times, but they only bustle at Christmas). And it is always so exciting to pick out what to give people.

10. Last but not least I love that there are so many excuses to get together with friends and family.

This isn't a complete list, and they do not appear in any specific order. They are just a few of the things that make window-scraping worth it!

Down the tracks

Yesterday was free day at the Colorado Railroad Museum and so we got together with our friends, the Steeds, and ventured into the world of massive locomotives. Seeing as our backyard borders the museum and we get to hear their train whistle at least once a day, we figured it was about time that we got better acquainted. True to form, Oliver was mostly interested in the rocks, but he has a Thomas the Train book and he got excited when he recognized Thomas on some of the model trains.

All-in-all the museum was pretty interesting and I can see how a train enthusiast could really get into it, but in the end I was glad we went on free day. From now on, I think we will just stick to waving to the trains from our window.




Other exciting events of the week included a trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I thought it would be a good place for Oliver to run around inside, and it was. He loved it. We'll probably have to schedule another trip because after two hours of "running around" we had only visited about half of it. Whew.

This week was also our stake's "Fabulous Friday" a.k.a. "Super Saturday" and I found myself venturing into the world of arts and crafts, a trail I don't often tread. While I probably picked the easiest craft available I have to say that I am still pretty proud of myself because I think that my little Family Home Evening chart turned out quite cute. It is so nice to have people with artistic ability share their talents with "creative duds" like myself. Since one of my callings is the Enrichment Committee I got to spend the whole day at the church setting up, cleaning up and mingling. Sam and Oliver spent the day together and it was a success all the way around.

Our good week ended on an even better note as Sam and I were able to go out on one of those rare things that we call dates. We make an effort to get out together quite often, but this time we had the luxury of going without Oliver. We have gotten together with some friends in the ward and now take turns watching each others kids on date night. So while Oliver ate chicken nuggets and chocolate chip cookies and watched 101 Dalmatians at the Koyle's house, Sam and I enjoyed a peaceful dinner and some uninteruppted adult conversation. Aaaah.

'Tis the Season

I know that for some hunters, there is no end to hunting season as there is always something that needs to be shot. For Sam however, there is only one hunt that really matters. The pheasant hunt in South Dakota. I'm pretty sure it is more about the time with his dad than the actual hunting. He confessed to me this morning that on his first day he fired over 40 shots and only took down one bird, which means it is probably a good thing that he goes just for the company.

Paul picked Sam up in Cheyenne on Thursday night and they drove through a pretty bad storm to spend the weekend hunting. We're glad that they had such a good time and even happier that he is back home.

Good things are meant to go together

I don't know if it is this way all over Colorado, but Jefferson County has a lot of land and funds dedicated to creating and maintaining "Open Space". The open space includes tons of parks, trails, ponds, etc. We love that there is a new trail and park to explore everyday. Best of all, there are some nice trails within walking distance of our apartment. One of our favorite trails is lined part of the way with pear trees. Ollie and I have been watching the pears ripen this fall and wondering just who they belonged to. Well, finally I took a friend on the trail and showed her the pears, she informed us that the pears belonged to the community. So, that afternoon Oliver and I took the bike trailer to the pear trees and loaded the thing up with the pears that had fallen to the ground (the trees were much too tall to be able to pick the fruit off of them).

We decided to make some pear jam and I found a great recipe for pear raspberry jam. Raspberries are not really cheap this time of year, but when the local grocery store cut the price from $5.00 to $1.00 a pint, we knew it was meant to be. We invited the Koyle's over and took turns watching the toddlers and stirring the freezer jam. It turned out super yummy and we had enough left over to make some pear cherry jam as well! Thank you Jefferson County Open Space for the pears and thanks to King Soopers for the raspberries, it was a match made in heaven!

15 weeks and counting...

No, I am not 15 weeks pregnant. It is even better new than that. Only 15 more weeks until Oliver gets to go to nursery! Yahoo!! Today while Sam was taking his turn attending Elders Quorum and Oliver and I were out collecting rocks on the side of the church I decided to tally up just how much longer my Sundays would be spent in such a manner. Sam and I still view time in mission-type chunks, so it was good news to discover that we only had a little over two transfers left of getting absolutely nothing out of Sunday School, Relief Society and Elders Quorum.

To be fair to Oliver I have to say that he never cries or gets ornery in church, he is just so busy that he becomes an absolute distraction to us and everyone else in the room. For example, a typical Relief Society meeting will include: banging on the piano, pulling the music conductors stand over on top of his head, pulling items from several sisters' purses, climbing up on every empty chair in the room, playing peek-a-boo behind the chalk board, taking a turn at teaching the class by standing next to the teacher and talking louder than she does, sampling all the other babies' snacks, dancing in the isle and running circles around the display table. I seriously am not exaggerating when I say that all of this takes place in the first 15 minutes of class, by which time everyone is paying more attention to Ollie than the teacher and I pick him up and head for the door. If you are reading this and wondering why I don't just make him sit still on my lap, all I can say is please come back and read this again when you have an energetic 14 month old, then you will understand!

Trick - or - Treat

Last night was Oliver's first trick-or-treating experience. He never quite got into the whole candy idea, but he did pull the top off of every pumpkin on each porch we visited.

More than the candy, Oliver was interested in the rocks. I am pretty sure that we collected more rocks from each house than candy bars.

Although he never was quite able to grasp the concept of knocking on doors and receiving candy, he definitely understood the concept of eating it. Just as long as his mouth was full of candy he happily marched to the next house. By the end of the night he was bouncing of the walls.

There is nothing like a holiday centered solely around candy, unless maybe it is a holiday centered around pumpkin pie. Yum.

Party 'till ya drop. . . . . . . . literally

Seeing as it was the last Saturday before Halloween, our day was filled with Halloween festivities. We started the partying at the Roberts' with chili and a pumpkin carving party. Yum!

Oliver didn't get too into the pumpkin carving, but he did find the 'guts' rather facinating. His new thing is to hide things from us and then look at us and shrug his shoulders as if he has no idea what just happened. He found his new game to be particularly effective with the pumpkins. He kept throwing different utensils into the pumpkin and shrugging his shoulders the whole time I was trying to get the seeds out.

After the pumkin carving party it was off to the ward Halloween party. Oliver got to be a dragon for Halloween this year and we have been practicing wearing his costume around the house. Sam and I each took turns wearing it and roaring and trying to convince Ollie that it was super fun. All our brainwashing seemed to have paid off becuase he kept it on the whole time without complaint.

Oliver loved the carnival games. Especially the ones that involved candy.

We even made a cake for the cake walk.

And decorated our car for the Trunk-or-Treat.

Unfortunately Oliver was done at this point. He has been PTS-ing (peevish teething syndrome) pretty bad this week and so we didn't even make it to our last party at Parker and Emily's house. Sorry guys. All-in-all it was a good day though and we are all practiced up for some good ole' trick-or-treating this coming weekend.

From fittest to fattest

Sam has officially accepted a summer internship with Marathon Oil in Houston, Texas. This means that for three months this summer we will be relocating from the fittest area in the country to the fattest. Sam thinks we ought to purchase a deep fat fryer so that we will fit in better in Houston!!

All joking aside, this really is a great opportunity for our family. Marathon is the fourth largest integrated oil company in the country and they pay their interns extremely well. Of course, moving for just three months isn't very appealing, but the company offered to pay all our moving expenses so we decided that we just couldn't turn it down.

So, it is hot and humid Houston for us this coming summer!

Our very first visitors!!

And the winner is . . . . . Grandma and Grandpa Peay!! That's right, Sam's dad and step-mom were the first to endure the eight-hour drive from Salt Lake to Golden to come and pay us a visit. It made us feel so loved that they would give up so much just to spend a couple of days with us. Not to mention that Sam was absolutely giddy with the opportunity to show off our new town and his new school. Their whirlwind trip included a walking tour of downtown Golden and the School of Mines campus. A wild game night in which Leslie taught us a really great dice game and then stomped on all of us (I am thinking maybe she held back some secret strategy to winning when whe was explaining the rules.) A trip to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. A visit with some of Leslie's family, who sent us away with a couple bottles of homemade peach jam so I guess that makes them our family too. And of course, lots of play time with Ollie. It was really a fun weekend and we are so glad they came. We wish more people would follow suit (hint, hint).

Here we are on a hike inside Rocky Mountain national park. Aside from the incredible views and scenery we also saw loads of Elk. There was even a herd right in the middle of town. Sam was quite the trooper on the hike considering his recent biking injuries.
Grandpa and Ollie explored the waterfall together.
Oliver has a complete aversion to remaining on the path, he would much rather wander off to collect sticks and rocks on the mountain side. He did okay holding Grandma's hand though.

To dream the impossible dream...

Why is it so hard to get a decent family picture? It seems as if the stars never seem to come into complete alignment where photos are concerned. If by chance you do manage to get everyone into clean, ironed, matching outfits; find a good location; and get good weather and good lighting, you are almost sure never to get a good smile out of everyone at the same time. Thus was our fate.

This year we decided to take the economical route, i.e. we had my mom take our picture with our digital camera. Despite all of my efforts and my mom's good photo snapping, we ended up with a lot more bloopers than keepers. Case in point:



Too bad I am not better with photoshop!!

Road Rash

Sam had his first bad crash on his road bike this week. It has been well over a year since his last accident, so he was about due. This time it was a head-on collision with the road after his tire turned and got caught in the railroad tracks sending him over the handlebars. He walked away, but with significantly less skin on his lower body. The poor guy has some pretty bad road rash and is in a lot of pain. By the way, this picture is not of Sam's road rash. His injury covers areas that would make this an R-rated post. But, his bum and thigh look pretty much just like this, so you get the idea. Ouch!!

Home again...

This past week Sam had Fall Break at school, which gave him a five-day weekend. We decided to take advantage of the time off and drive back to Utah. We had a fun-filled week with family that included a trip to the zoo, the pumpkin patch and Gardner Village. Of course, the best part was just hanging out with all the people we love most. While we were there Oliver picked up quite a few new words (which he seems to be doing on a daily basis now). Among the newest additions to his syntax were Grandpa and Caci (my little brother's fiance). I think that the rest of the family was a little jealous that Caci was first, she claims that it was because her name is so easy but we all know that Ollie has a crush on Caci and has been trying to steal her away from Donald for a while now.

I really can't believe how quickly he has started to pick things up. It is as if all of the sudden his little mind has opened up and he retains and understands things amazingly well. For example, I have been pretty lackidaisical about teaching him sign language but this week I decided to teach him the sign for "more." I used it once on Thursday and on Friday he used it to ask for more orange (without any prompting). By Friday night he gave up on the sign and just said "mo". I had heard that a child's development between 12 to 18 months is astounding, and now I believe it!

Great Garden; No Weeding

Oliver and I went yesterday with some friends to Miller Farms. It is a family farm that lets you go and pick your own produce. You pay $15.00 to get in (kids are free) and they have tons of fun kid activities like a petting zoo, playground, corn maze, tractor racing, etc., after all that you hitch a hay ride to the different fields and harvest your own veggies. Each person is allowed to pick 10 huge bags of produce to take home with them. It is an enormous amount of food. We came home with bags full of fresh corn, beets, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers and carrots. And, we had a lot of fun in the process.

Here is Oliver and Reese Koyle posing for a picture. These guys are best friends (unless they have to share something :)

Here we are picking carrots, don't worry, I managed to knock most of the dirt off that carrot before Oliver stuffed it into his mouth. He sampled absolutely everything from the onions to the corn. He nibbled almost as fast as I could pick!

Here we are in the back of the hay wagon.

Oliver's favorite would definitely have to be the tomatoes. He discovered, much to his delight, that he could squeeze them and make a fountain of juice and seeds squirt out the top. I left him alone for just a second and this is what I came back to. Happy, but messy.

The produce we picked was not at all wimpy. This onion is roughly the size of my head!

Confessions of a Christmas Junkie

Last night, in order to entertain ourselves while Sam was attending Priesthood Session, Oliver and I decided to peruse the local Kohls. While there I noticed that they already had all of their Christmas stuff out. I was shocked, I mean we are barely into October. However, while I must admit that I was disappointed with Kohls, today I made Sam turn on the Christmas music. Just for a second though; I don't plan to keep listening to it non-stop until December 25th. It is just that we spent our last Christmas in Hawaii and while it was lots of fun, I am really looking forward to a traditional Christmas this year. So, if you are like me and just love Christmas time, go ahead and listen to a couple of tunes. You won't regret it!!

On another General Conference note, below is a picture of Sam and Oliver posed in typical Conference fashion. That is: Sam sleeping and Ollie crawling all over him. A friend of ours joined us for conference today because they don't have the internet, her husband is out of town, and she didn't wan't to wrestle with her two kids at the Stake Center. With two toddlers and a three-month-old, Conference time was slightly less than peaceful at our place and we all found President Monson's talk about "Enjoying the Journey" to be both insightful and very timely!!

It has been awhile now since we have posted anything new. It is not that there is nothing new to post, I have just been somewhat lackadaisical when it comes to taking any new pictures and I didn't think that anyone (other than my own mother) would enjoy reading my ramblings if not accompanied by some photos. The past couple of weeks have found us somewhat busy. Oliver got his first of what will I'm sure be many black eyes when he came off worst in an encounter with a brick. He also set a new personal record yesterday when I pulled ten rocks out of his mouth at once. Ollie is a big fan of slides, his desire for adrenaline however is not accompanied by any amount of intelligence. When he approaches the slide he either keeps on walking until he falls and slides down or he dives down face first on his tummy. There have been some rather disastrous results when I am not able to reach him in time.

Sam is staying really busy with his classes. He did have some down time last week and put in a few hours at a construction sight, working for a guy in our ward. Ever since we moved here he has been going through B&K Construction withdrawals and was absolutely giddy when he got to put his working boots and Carhartts back on. Sam is currently occupied with interviewing for summer internships. He has one really good offer so far that might send us to Houston for the summer.

I am loving Colorado and all of the new friends that I have made here. Oliver and I keep really busy with classes, play groups and new adventures. We purchased a bike trailer last week and I have loved riding my bike into town and to the park. I also received a new calling as the 14 year old Sunday School teacher, scary!!! I finished unpacking a long time ago, but I am just now getting the house the way that I like it and that makes me happy.


Oliver insists on being my kitchen helper. Because he no longer nurses and won't drink milk I have been trying to find other means of feeding him enough calcium. A friend told me that molasses is a good source and gave me some good recipes. This is Ollie helping me to make some molasses filled muffins, yum.

Ollie and I go to an aerobics class twice a week at our stake center. Rather than play in the corner with all of the rest of the kids Oliver insists on standing in the middle of all the ladies and performing all of the moves as best he can. He is really good at marching, clapping, push-ups and sit-ups. It is so cute!!

A friend gave us this hand-me-down swing and we hung it up in Oliver's bedroom (don't tell the landlord). He thinks he is pretty hot stuff when he gets to swing in it.

Rainy Day Fun

We have had quite a few rainy days this past week and it can get pretty difficult to entertain a rambunctious one-year-old all day long in our tiny little loft. So, Ollie and I paid a visit to the Denver Children's Museum. It was awesome, they have a whole room dedicated to toddlers and Oliver had a great time climbing and sliding and exploring. Of course, as it was rainy, a lot of other mom's had the same idea so the place was pretty crowded. I think we may try it again on a sunny day just for fun.

Sam and Oliver like to create their own kind of fun, who needs a roller coaster when you've got a dad and a cake pan!

I pledge allegiance to...

This week the talking heads are saying that Colorado is a key state in the upcoming election. Seeing as we live in the liberal hot-spot of Colorado's most populated county, Sam's school got a surprise visit from Barack Obama this week. He is a pretty nice guy, we even invited him over for milk and cookies, but when he saw that we drove a Hyundai with no "Save the Earth" bumper stickers he figured we must be conservatives and politely declined. So, maybe we didn't actually meet him, but his visit did inspire us to register to vote!!

Colorado: Observations of an Outsider

I have officially lived in the state of Colorado for over three weeks and now feel qualified to make rash and biased generalizations about the people who live here. Before I begin I must say that I have found the people of Colorado to be extremely kind and outgoing. That said, I must admit that they are a bit funny.

BMW who?

If you want to make a statement in Colorado you don't drive a Mercedes or a BMW. Oh no. It is all about the Subaru wagon. And what exactly does the Subaru wagon say about a person? Simply said, it means that you are the epitome of outdoorsy. It isn't just a car, it is an all encompassing statement about who you are; the type of person who buys all their clothes at REI and wears temperature controlled clothing inside the mall just in case the temperature differs from store to store. You recycle everything and have a large collection of reusable grocery bags. You are a climber, a hiker, a kayaker, a skier and an avid participant in whatever other sport that Thule makes a car rack for. If you drive a Subaru wagon you don't just love the outdoors, you are the outdoors.

What a cute puppy??

Folks in Colorado are ga-ga for their dogs. I'm not saying that it is a bad thing, I just have never been in such a dog crazy place before. Several times at the park I have been carrying on a typical young-mother "How old is your baby?" "What is he learning to do" conversation with someone, only to discover that while I was referring to my toddler, they were talking about their dog. On top of that, the local target has only one small isle for baby food and four for dog food. Thats right, you can find organic dog food, meaty dog food, vegetarian dog food, and dog food that guarantees to help your dog grow smarter.


Do they come with neon flashing lights?

During those few moments that our faithful Coloradans abandon thier Subarus, they do have another identifying feature. Footware. I'm not quite sure what they are just yet, they appear to be a cross between a hiking shoe and a sandal. The best part about them is that they only come in hiteously bright colors so that they can be spotted from long distances, leaving no doubt as to the message their wearer is trying to send.