Snow!

We experienced typical Denver weather during our trip. On Monday it was sunny and 70 degrees! The temperature dropped nearly 35 degrees in one day - and there was snow on the ground when we woke up on Wednesday morning. Our kids were thrilled, but their cousins weren't too impressed! They are more accustomed to snow.

Nathan opened the drapes and announced, "Ta-da! God did it with His power!" He was SO excited that he was outside playing at 7:30am! He had a great time!

Beth enjoyed being outside in the snow as well, but she didn't last quite as long as her brother!

Here Allie strikes a pose. What a cutie!

Cousin Time

Of course, the best part of our Denver visit was just being together! The kids were thrilled to be with their cousins again and played so well together. The older kids even planned and performed a "show" for us on Thanksgiving. It was very fun!

Nathan and Cara enjoyed playing in the tub together!

Perler beads were a very popular activity!

Why is watching a movie on a laptop computer so much more exciting that watching one on TV? I'm not sure - but it gave the dads a chance to watch Monday Night Football in peace!

Allie loved playing with Cara - and Cara really enjoys her ice cream!

Quickly posing for a group picture on Thanksgiving night!

DENVER ZOO

We took a road trip to Denver to visit my sister and her family. On our first full day there, we were blessed with a beautiful day so we headed to the zoo!

Here we are at the polar bear enclosure. They are beautiful animals!

(As you can tell, Nathan was not in the mood to be photographed!)

checking out the ducks, geese and swans

We took a train ride and the kids really enjoyed that! It was so nice to be out of the car and outdoors!

Here's our kids' favorite animal of the entire visit - a peacock that wandered by while we ate lunch! They thought it was hilarious because it was eating Cheetos off the ground.

Friendship is a Special Gift

We enjoyed a weekend with some very special friends. Our friend Jane and her daughters, Mia and Rachel, came down from Escalon on Saturday and stayed for two nights. The kids all picked up right where they had left off and had a wonderful time. Jane and I enjoyed catching up and just being together. Jane's family lived across the street from us when we lived in Escalon and God has really blessed us with a lasting friendship. Friendship is such a special gift!

Dreams of a Little Boy

Nathan likes school, but he also enjoys his "mommy days." We walked to the park a few days ago for some playtime. When we were finished, we saw something that completely enthralled my little guy. He plopped down on the curb and just watched.

They are building a new school next to the park and a grader was working on the street. That really got Nathan's attention! When we finally decided to head home, Nathan announced, "When I be a grown-up, I want to drive one of those!"

Endangered Cat Haven

Today Beth's second grade class went on a field trip to the Endangered Cat Haven. Located just above Dunlap, the Cat Haven houses many large wild cats. It was a fun day, full of an informative tour, some class time, craft time and lunch. Both Beth and I are tired, but we sure had a good time! It is a blessing to be able to go on field trips with our kids.

This is our tour guide, Laura, with Tango. Tango is a cheetah and was amazingly docile. He was actually purring!

This is one of the bengal tigers - Goliath. He paced back and forth and watched us as we ate our lunch. Maybe he smelled something tasty!

Beth poses with her friends, Madelyn and Baylee, at the entrance to Cat Haven.

Proof that Mommy was there! It was fun to spend special time with my sweet girl.

Spoiled

Phil surprised me by bringing home tulips from Costco, just because he loves me. Yes, I am spoiled!

My miniature rose is all abloom in the backyard. When I received my master's degree in 1996, Tami sent me three potted miniature roses. This one is my favorite one. Half of it produces pale pink blossoms and the other half produces this lovely coral pink. Sometimes we actually get a bloom that is half of each color. This rose has moved with us from Hanford to Escalon, and then here to Visalia. And it has thrived! It makes me smile whenever I see it. Thanks, Tami, for such a lasting gift!

Better Late than Never!

Well, it's been nearly a week since Halloween and I'm finally getting pictures up on the blog. Part of the delay was due to sheer laziness and part of it was issues with uploading images. At any rate, we did have fun on Halloween. Our Halloween is pretty mellow - walking around the block to go trick-or-treating, then passing out candy at home.

Here is our sweet little Dash, complete with big muscles. Nathan had a fever so he wasn't very quick and wasn't interested in eating candy, but he enjoyed walking around anyway. Isn't he the cutest little superhero ever?

Allie wanted to be Tinkerbell this year. This is the first year that we've actually bought costumes - and will be the last year that we do that for some time! It adds up quickly. Allie had a ball trick-or-treating. Every so often, she'd stick her entire face into her bag (perhaps to smell the wonderful aroma of candy?), then exclaim, "Man! This is awesome!" She is our sweet tooth! We limit the kids to one candy from their bag a day - and so far they haven't noticed the rate at which the peanut butter cups are disappearing! (Mommy has been quietly taking care of those!).

Sweet Beth wanted to be Cinderella. She doesn't like candy that much but she wasn't scared to approach neighbors' doors like she was last year. Her favorite part of the entire evening? Passing out candy! She'd run to the door whenever the doorbell rang and politely give out candy (under Daddy's watchful eye, of course.) As you can see, we all had a fun evening!

Picture Trouble

I've been having trouble uploading photos to our blog so you'll have to be patient. I will post as soon as I am able to upload pictures again!