ode to 2014!

Every year, or so it seems, Dennis questions whether I will have enough photos for this... especially since my photo opportunities have considerably decreased, but alas, I find I have way too many!

If you feel up for some extra laughs, here are the links for 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013, it is alarming how so many of these awards are still very fitting. 

I present you with our most memorable moments of 2014... it only seems to get better each year!

Best New Year's Resolution ever kept... Try it 2014 ... to Alyssa

New Year's Day trying miso soup

 introducing the whole family to roasted brussel sprouts

Most likely to strike a pose and wished he remember to stop doing that when Mommy has her camera...

 to Jaiden!

Most hair clips used at once... 

for a total of 16 clips ... to Alyssa!

The Biggest loser...

to Papi... seriously, this photo will go down in history in this house!

Most likely to be on the SCI Question Everything - Punkin Chunkin show...

 to Jaiden for his invention of a rainbow loom launcher ... launching loom cats, presents, turkeys and the infamous guinea pig!

Most dramatic...

 to Alyssa and her dance performance... among other less known performances throughout the year!

Most entertaining...

... to Dennis when he climbed on the roof to retrieve the kid's toys!

 Most likely to jump out of an airplane...

 to Jaiden and his birthday present of indoor skydiving... I'm a little nervous what the next adventure he will think of!

Most likely to live in an igloo...

 to Alyssa and her snow cave!

Most oblivious to not just things around them but even to things they aren't wearing and should be...

to Alyssa for forgetting to wear shoes when we planned to go hiking at RMNP!

Most live performances in a year... 5 which includes two sporting events! 

to Jaiden...

Star Spangled Banner in January at local high school basketball game...

 4th grade concert at the end of January...

Choir performance in May

Star Spangled Banner at Coors Field in August

Choir Winter concert in December

Most likely to reconsider visiting when our local county fair is happening...

to Tutu for her many rides with Alyssa on the Tilt a Whirl.

Best photo bomber... 

to Alyssa...at Jaiden's 10th birthday party

Best predictor of the photo bomber...

to Jaiden when earlier in December but he managed to still get in the photo

To the weirdest hair...

to Jaiden and his splat head shocking red hair!

And the final award for "where is (insert name of either child) and why is he/she so quiet?"

to Jaiden and Alyssa and their amazing Lego pool!

Happy 2014!

 

Watch out 2015... may this year be full of laughter, silliness and adventures! 

homeward bound

The drive home was beautiful for the first day to Santa Fe. The Southwest is beautiful. There is something so stunning about the mountains, dessert, cactus and sagebrush whether it's cold or scorching hot. 

Because we had to leave a day earlier than planned, Jaiden was a bit distraught that he wasn't able to go to Gamestop before we left Papi's house. I loaded the Gamestop app to try to help him cope with his disappointment, and every time we got closer to a town, I would search to see if there was a local Gamestop and if they had the Spiderman game he was so desperately looking for. Show Low proved to be further out of the way than expected so Gallup was next on the list. I secured it by reserving it online, only to find as we got closer, the game was not available. Jaiden decided to continue on to Albuquerque. The entire drive he waited somewhat patiently and somewhat mopey. 

At last, I found one at a store in Albuquerque! It was dusk and the directions felt very random. Dennis complained that it was out of the way, Jaiden got anxious but I said it would be fine. The area seemed a little sketchy and the line was long but here is the happy boy and his little sister examining other things while I wait in line and it was worth it.

The next day of driving was not as easy. The first half from Santa Fe to Maxwell was clear and blue skies, no threat of a winter storm warning but as we are very familiar with these winter storms, we knew how looks can be deceiving and how quickly that can change. 

Sure enough as we approached Raton Pass, the skies change to a more threatening look, as I reached the top of Raton Pass and started in towards Colorado, snowflakes started to drift down. By the time I hit Trinidad, I was in a full blizzard with low visibility but we slowly plugged on. There are no photos since I was driving and I am quite certain Dennis was just as white knuckled as I was. But we have done this many times and we both know just go slow and steady. Roads were nearly invisible and that lovely scenery of bare dessert with sagebrush becomes a vast white open land with blowing snow. The roads improved as we neared Pueblo but that is mainly because the crews are out in full force trying to keep the roads cleared.

We stopped at the infamous Bingo Burger (Dennis and Jaiden's favorite) and enjoyed the warmth of the inside, the good food gearing up for the next stretch of drive. Alyssa and I have never been and I have to say it was definitely a good burger. I'd highly recommend it if you ever found yourself in Pueblo and especially if you like hatch chilies!

We made it safely home and thankfully the roads were better maintained the closer we got to Denver, and then shifted on our way out of Denver, but home sweet home, we are!

for the love of creativity and messes

It's been a long time since this happened but when I came in to look something I up, I found several unfinished posts. I left you hanging or really myself since I have used this blog to help remember the stories that would otherwise be forgotten. 

This was one of those memories that I didn't want to forget. The one in which Alyssa used her gift card money and purchase an American Girl accessories book and kit. The one in which she spent almost the entire day creating at this very table. I wanted to remember the concentration and intensity  she had over this book and all the tiny accessories she made.

I wanted to remember how she read the directions carefully and still made mistakes. I wanted to remember that she was okay that it wasn't perfect.

I wanted to remember the mess, yes, the mess of her creativity, of her imagination.

I want to remember all of this because one day I know she will outgrow it and I will miss these days including the mess. I want to remember how I even had fun watching her and sometimes, if she let me, help her or make something of my own with her. 

share the merry...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning actually began at about 12:51am when I heard Alyssa quietly open my door and say "mommy, Santa came! Can we get up?"

I looked at the clock and told her no but when it was light outside, she could come back and get me then. She hesitated and said Santa brought Jaiden a Fennekin and I gently reminded her the sun needed to be up!

And you can bet that the minute the sun started to show light, they were back in my room at 7 am!

 Can you see that light blue to the left of the tree? That is what qualified for morning?!

We waited a little bit before Papi and Nana got up and then I let them open their stockings and one present which I strategically made sure was a Lego kit.

 I love Lego kits... maybe even more than the kids?! I love that every Christmas they sit down and are fully engaged in building their Lego kits for often an hour or more. I love peeking in on their progress, watching the intensity in which they build. Yes, I am quite certain I love Lego kits more than the kids!

Later in the day, they opened the rest of their presents when Nana's family joined us. They did really well given nothing was like how we normally did Christmas. 

 We had a lovely time with everyone. Enjoyed a fabulous dinner of crab, shrimp (more like mini lobsters), lobsters and steaks... well, really you could eat any combination of that. 

Brandi took care of dessert and you may remember her beautiful and clever desserts from a 4th of July hamburger cupcake, turkey cake pops or more recently the rice krispie turkey drumsticks! Well, she outdid herself again and made these adorable snowmen...

So darn cute and clever! 

And that pretty much summed a fabulous Christmas spent at Papi's!

shave and a haircut... six pence!

I am not sure if that's how the old song goes or not, but it's funny the things that stick in your head from years and years ago. Another nice relaxing day at Papi's ... I had no idea how badly I needed low key days until I arrived so it was good... no, great! I was outside relaxing in the sun watching Alyssa in the hot tub when Dennis informed me Jaiden was cutting Papi's hair and to get my camera... so I did!

I came outside the garage to find this...

Jaiden blowing out hair from the clippers!

I took a few more photos but this one cracked me up. So deep in concentration, he has his tongue hanging out. I remember when I worked at the University of Alaska, one of the IT employees paused at my desk and said to me "You know, my cat does that." And I looked up and said "Excuse me? Your cat does what?" He replied "When he's concentrating on something, he hangs his tongue out!" I am guessing this exact expression on Jaiden is exactly what my friend, Kerrie was telling me his cat did!

In the end Nana finished up the haircut but Jaiden did pretty well for his first time!

I then happened to come back inside to discover we had all been invited to a special swimming show of Alyssa's. 

Yes, this is the trouble we started...

she jumps into the pool from the hot tub and then...

... swims the full perimeter of the pool...

... with a big excited smile on her face! 

Never mind that she feels like ice when she gets out!

whirly whirly whirlpool...

The first full day at Papi's and already anxious to get in the pool or hot tub, in this case. Papi made it home that afternoon and we were so happy to have him "break free" from the rehab center. He heated the hot tub and I came outside to find them inside already!

 I didn't really understand what they were doing but it was funny nonetheless. They were saying something about going faster and faster and swimming or walking (not really sure) in a circle trying to make a whirlpool. I grabbed a photo and sat down to watch them and relax... little did I know I really did need my camera... only I wasn't fast enough nor could I control my hysteria.

The kids said "mom, it's getting really hot in here, can we jump in the pool?" 

I said "no, it's not heated. It is like 55 degrees in there and you will freeze to death."

And they persisted "please just for a quick jump in" 

Ready to tell them no again, I changed my mind and said "sure, why not?" and then I stood up to get closer to the pool knowing fully aware from my lifeguarding days that hitting cold water could put them in a bit of shock... well, the next thing I knew they jumped in and literally walked on water to get out as quick as they could. I was dying in laughter. Their expressions, their look of complete shock, and their scurry to get out of the pool as fast as they could was priceless. I was laughing so hard I told them to stay put in the hot tub and I'd be right back. I ran inside to tell my dad but I was laughing so hard, I could barely explain it. He followed me to the sliding door (as I couldn't push him outside in the wheelchair) and at the same time, he looked at his control for the heating system and it turned out the hot tub was 101... this only made me laugh harder... I mean, seriously what is wrong with me to laugh at my own kids?! But this only seemed to get more funny.

I asked if they would jump in for Papi and they obliged and just like the first time, the complete look of shock overcame their faces and they scurried out of the pool... even Dad was laughing at them... little did we know what we had started!

mah*waan, mah*waan

We didn't have a lot of time in Santa Fe as the second half is the longer part of the trip with an estimate of 7 hours 15 minutes and that is if we drove non-stop... highly unlikely. Me being the usual culprit of bathroom stops!

I woke early that morning to use the workout room and when I came back to our room, the tea and coffee had been set up outside the elevators so I brought in some for everyone. I proceeded to open the curtains and happened to catch the sun beginning to rise. It was a fleeting moment and while I tried to capture this beautiful moment, it didn't quite work as well as I would have like. The luminareas were still lit, and the stucco - a soft orange glow with streaks in the sky.  

 And just before we left, I had to take a photo of the beautiful turquoise doors with the vibrant red bows and rich green trimmings...

 Above the door is Mah*Waan Mah*Waan which is Tiwa for Welcome, Welcome.

Then it was back on the road and again I was in awe of the beautiful landscape... 

 This stretch is between Albuquerque and Gallup, NM... just before we stopped for lunch...

 I set up the camera on the dashboard to see what I could capture and when I saw this photo, I had to laugh... just too comical of these two. They were so absorbed in their drinks and a movie we had picked up for them!

a quick look at the painted dessert before I took over the wheel and we arrived safely to Papi's house!

santa fe trail...

 On Sunday, we left for Arizona. We decided to drive this year mostly so we'd have the flexibility to come earlier and leave for home when it was time... which actually worked out very well. We broke the drive up into two days - the first day to Santa Fe, the second day the remainder to Arizona.

Fortunately for us, the weather has been incredibly mild except for our previous cold snap in the beginning of November, so the driving was uneventful. 

The scenery was beautiful but for the kids? They enjoyed the down time of playing on their ds, my iPad or watching a movie on my laptop.

What I'd like to remember is that Alyssa laughed so hard and loud it was infectious even though we weren't watching the movie with her, even Jaiden stopped playing his DS to look over and watch part of the movie, laughing just as loud as her!

finally... Santa and Mrs. Claus

This year we had a hard time catching up with Santa despite seeing him have coffee at our local coffee shop earlier in the week. There were several Santa sightings at the Flower Bin, Ace Hardware  but we always seemed to catch wind of that a little too late. The number 1 priority for Saturday before leaving was to find Santa. 

While we waited for Santa and Mrs. Claus, the kids took in a show of Mr. Flexible... I swear this man has been street performing and climbing into a box for years. We have seen him a number of times but the kids were just fine watching him do it again.

 The wait wasn't too bad... not easy but seeing Santa and Mrs. Claus turned out to be pretty awesome.

 Instead of some majorly orchestrated overly commercialized mall visit, we had a more personalized visit where Santa chatted with the kids for several minutes. I was able to take many photos and in this time, captured two of my favorites. 

In this photo, Jaiden's eyes twinkle and Alyssa's is all smiles. It was a perfect visit.

And then it was one more pit stop before stopping for lunch... I needed this photo because it seemed so fitting given we had recently tried dying his head a shocking red! It didn't entirely work - the dying part but the photo?

love it... Joy to the Weird!