Christmas 2011

So, for this last Christmas, my wonderful husband let me fly to Washington without him and spend the holidays with my family. It was a wonderful time of visiting.

Noni and two of my favorite nieces. :)

My dad found a little (very little) wooden wagon and pulled my youngest niece around in it. When he was ready to stop, she picked up the string and handed it back to him. :)

I love the sweet smile in this picture. I think this was the most still she was the entire time I saw her!

This photo of my aunt and her great-nieces turned out so well.

I, however, got stuck with some wiggle-worms and funny-faces. :) Still a good picture.

Another one of those sideways photos.

My grandma, aunt, uncle, and cousin out at dinner with me. I love how my aunt is trying to lean out of the photo - she's not too keen on having her picture taken.

Looking at a puzzle. I think we built at least 3 or 4 puzzles while I was out there. It was kind of fun to just relax and visit while building a puzzle.


Christmas day - Grandpa got a walking stick and he's looking at a picture of the gorilla on the handle.

My cousin and her new game.

My aunt with her sock monkey. He's wearing sunglasses because he's from California. :)

My sweet grandma and cousin.

Playing games Christmas afternoon.

I spent Christmas evening with my mom's side of the family. Here are some cousins and a very, very cute bulldog puppy. My mom wanted me to bring her home.

My aunt who loves to have her picture taken. :)

The girls at the party. It was funny how we all matched.

My aunt and her grandson.

My cousin and her boyfriend.

Another aunt and cousin.

One of my uncles and his family.

The boys.

This was how much it snowed the day before I flew home. I was kind of worried about getting delayed, but I was able to make it home with very little trouble. The snow had moved to Colorado by the next day, so the only hold up I had was in Denver.

Well, that's it. Mainly just seeing family and hanging out. It was very nice, and next time I hope to bring Mike along with me. Hope you all had a great Christmas, too.

And Introducing.....

Autumn Rayne

Born at 3:09 PM MST on 12/16/2010. She is 6 lbs 8 oz, 19 inches, and a cutie (in my humble opinion)

Our little Christmas angel. The hospital provided the stocking and the little hat. :)

Mom and baby

Proud daddy

Baby's first bath. She didn't like it one bit. She fell right to sleep afterward.

Tired parents. She was induced at 9pm on 12/15 so 18 hours of labor.

Grandma (how weird to say) and my little angel. :) Mike was afraid of holding her... so we don't have pictures with Grandpa yet.

Happy Anniversary

For our 5th anniversary, Mike and I decided to head up to the mountains to Mueller State Park for a nice day. We stopped at the Donut Mill and enjoyed very good (and very filling) breakfast. Then it was off to enjoy nature and the changing aspens. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

The car ride up.


My wonderful husband. :)

Scenes from the park itself.

I just love the variety of colors on the trees this time of year.

When we were hiking along, we saw this stump - it looks like a bear from a distance. It looks like a bear in this photo. :)

The happy couple.

The hike and the scenery kept bringing to mind Robert Frost's poem - "The Road Not Taken". Although we were only on one trail.

There was a bird in this picture - he's hard to spot but he's toward the middle.

The grass hit by the sun looked like it was on fire while we were walking. It was really interesting.

This picture was really funny. I was trying to do a timed photo so we could be in it together (there were no other people around). Anyways, when I got back, the picture was of the trail. You can see Mike and me at the very back. :D

Here's one that turned out better in the same spot.

I love this picture of Mike. The backdrop was perfect for a photo.