Happy Thanksgiving from Colorado (Thursday, November 23rd, 2017)

We had the most leisurely day today.  We started out this morning in our PJ's watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade live from New York City and drinking coffee in the comfort of Steve's parents house.  Steve's parents left yesterday to visit our niece in Wichita for Thanksgiving, so we have the house to ourselves.  

I don't think that in our entire married life we have ever worn our pajamas past 9:00, unless we were sick, but we chose Steve's parents house to change our ways.  We milled around the house all morning, making our bacon wrapped dates, our amaretto fruit dip and cleaning up the kitchen, all from the comfort of our pajamas.  We were feeling a little bit guilty, but we didn't let that stop us.

Once all of our morning work was done, we finally showered and got dressed for our Thanksgiving festivities.  Our oldest daughter's in-laws, Shanda and Greg, invited us to join them for their family Thanksgiving, which was so nice!  So we headed over to their house at about 2:30.  Their house is always so beautiful for the holidays, and is always open to anyone who needs a place to be.

Our always dramatic daughter.

We sat in the dining room at the "Adults Table" with Shanda's mom Alice and her friend Marilyn, and the other in-laws Bruce and Karen.  We talked a lot about travels, which was fun for all of us.

Shanda and Greg sat with all the kids in the breakfast nook, where it sounded like a lot of fun was being had.

We really enjoyed our time at Shanda and Greg's house.  It was so nice to see everyone and enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving meal that everyone meticulously contributed to.

When we got back home, we swapped out our holiday attire for...you guessed it...our pajamas.  We hung out all evening in our PJ's doing absolutely nothing, except for binge watching a great show that Steve's dad had recorded called "Life Below Zero", about people that live near or above the Arctic Circle.  Since I am a warm weather person, the show truly freaked me out, so I just couldn't quit watching.  I could never live like that!!!

We stayed up till about 1:30, doing nothing but watching prerecorded shows.  We don't really watch TV at home, so aside from our time at Greg and Shanda's, this was quite the crazy Thanksgiving for us!

Heading to Colorado for Thanksgiving (Monday, November 20th, 2017)

We left the house early this morning to head back to Colorado for Thanksgiving.  We took a route that goes through Las Vegas, NV and then up through Utah and into Colorado.  

By sunrise, we had already been in four states.  We left Arizona, drove through the corner of California, through Nevada and into Utah.  This is a beautiful drive, and one that we really enjoy.

The Virgin River Gorge is in Utah, and is a gorgeous area with steep canyons and jagged rock faces.

Then as we got further into Utah, we enjoyed the plateaus and arches.

Our first glimpse of snow was also in Utah.

I always love the humor they use on the holiday anti-DUI signs, but I think this is one of my favorites.

There was snow on the ground most of the way through Utah, but none on the roads.

Then as we approached the western Colorado border, it all dried out again.

As we made our way through the Colorado Rockies, it really became beautiful.  The scenery from our Rovey's Needle ride yesterday to the snowy mountains of  Colorado today is such a drastic change.

We stopped at our favorite rest stop on the top of Vail Pass, and of course we weren't dressed quite right for the weather, but that's how we operate.  I love my sandals in any type of weather!

Copper Mountain Ski Resort

Dillon Reservoir

Silverthorne

We made our way through five states today working our way toward our destination.  Now we're in Colorado and so ready to see our family and riends that are waiting here for us!

Since We've Been Home (Saturday, December 17th, 2016)

Life has slowed down a bit since we've been home, but we've still had some fun events to reflect on.  

Shortly after we arrived home, we received an invitation to attend our son (in law's) promotion ceremony to 1st Lieutenant.  It gave us a chance to see both of them and to celebrate his accomplishments. 

Then we celebrated Thanksgiving with the family, a great time for all of us.  It's always nice when we can get as many of the kids together as possible. 

And over the Thanksgiving holiday, we got to meet our new grand kitty Albert.  He is the greatest addition to our family.  My whole life I have been allergic to cats, but somehow, so far, I am not allergic to him.  I sure hope it stays that way!  We don't get to see him as often as we'd like, but he is adorable!

I've also been doing some stitching on a Christmas tree skirt for our oldest daughter and her husband, but it definitely isn't going to be done this year.

But the biggest change at this point is how cold it has gotten.  Nine inches of snow and seven degrees today.  It's quite a shock from the temperatures in South East Asia.

I don't think Steve is having much fun today, but I'm in the toasty house just taking pictures.  Not too bad for me!

Touchdown in Colorado and then on the Road Again (Tuesday, December 1st, 2015)

It was so exciting to be home after our long trip to Thailand. We were looking forward to getting unpacked and readjusted before our girls got home so we could enjoy every minute with them while we were all home together. We came home to snow, and lots of it. It was very cold, never getting above freezing, and we were definitely not enjoying that part. 

When we arrived home, our house was empty. Our oldest daughter was out visiting her husband in Georgia and our youngest was still in school. We spent a few days getting unpacked and settling back into life. We made the first 12 hour time change pretty easily, but we struggled to the the last two hour adjustment made. We were up at 4:00 every morning and by 7:30 at night we couldn't keep our eyes open.  We weren't much fun to hang with in the evening but knew we would finish our adjustment soon. We talked to a few other people from our Thailand tour group and it sounded like they were all having trouble too, so that made us feel a little better. I tried to catch up on my work as quickly as I could, since our youngest daughter would be home soon.

After a few days our youngest daughter came home for her Thanksgiving break from school. It was so nice to have her home, and she is doing very well. We’ve had a lot of fun cooking together to accommodate her gluten free diet for Thanksgiving.

We were invited to Steve’s cousin’s house for Thanksgiving, so in addition to our dessert that we were taking, we took stuffing and gluten free gravy for our youngest daughter. We had a great time with all of the family. We were split among 3 tables for the Thanksgiving dinner, with four generations in attendance. The youngest and oldest generation were at one table, Steve’s parent’s and aunt and uncle were at another table, and Steve and I were seated with his cousin and his wife who are a little younger than us. It was the first time in a long time that we were able to really sit and talk with them. We really enjoyed every minute that we spent with them. The dinner was fabulous, but the company with the whole family was definitely the highlight of the day. 

We had a chance to face-time with our oldest daughter and her husband during our Thanksgiving celebration. He recently graduated from his officer’s boot camp, which was certainly the highlight of the month, but it was also their first Thanksgiving dinner with just the two of them and it was so fun to see their excitement about preparing their own meal and just having time together. 

When our oldest daughter got home from Georgia, we invited Steve's parents over for an evening, and had a fun evening of setting up for Christmas.  This will probably be our last time to have the help of our oldest daughter, so this was a very special evening.  

Hanging Stockings

Steve in his usual position handing out ornaments

Love my Charlie Brown Tree, so little and cute!

All done with ornaments!

Time for the nativity scene

Very careful placement!

The perfect nativity, but where's the angel?

There's the angel, Steve is adding her to the top of the tree!

A wonderful meal to end the night

Lobster tails, broccoli salad, beets, beet greens and polenta

I think she liked the beets!

When Thanksgiving break was over, our youngest daughter returned to school, our oldest daughter came home and went back to her routine of work and school, and we were once again on the move.

About a week and a half after getting home, we were off again for another trip to Lake Havasu City, this time with Steve’s parents. Our oldest daughter took us to the airport at 5:15 in the morning, before she left for school. We appreciate this so much, as she has such a busy life. We trade this favor back and forth for each other so that we don’t always have to leave a car in the parking lot while we’re gone. 

We had a treat for Steve’s parents on the plane, we had four Southwest drink coupons, so we all ordered bloody marys. Steve’s mom and dad loved it, and said that now he was going to have to do that on every flight. Steve's dad enjoyed the entertainment that he got out of pouring and mixing and pouring and mixing. The next thing he knew, we were touching down.

We landed in Las Vegas at about 9:30 am and headed straight to Avis Car Rental. We can do a one way rental from the Vegas airport to the little airport in Havasu. We are Avis Preferred, so when we got to the car rental building, we just looked for our name on their electronic sign, and it told us which car was ours. We walked out, got in our car and drove off. It is was so, so easy and very quick. 

We drove to Lake Havasu City via Laughlin, NV where we stopped at In-N-Out Burger for lunch. It’s always fun to enjoy our first In-N-Out Burger after we’ve been gone for a while. It’s about the only fast food that we really ever eat, so it’s a treat. 

It’s so much warmer here than at home, so it’s a treat to be able to run around with just a light jacket.

We have done the drive to Lake Havasu so many times over the last 20 years, that it is really a treat to be able to fly. It only cuts about 7 hours off of the commute, but it is so much easier than making the full drive. 

We got to Havasu, and we all felt great, and ready for the day. We had to grab some groceries and return the rental car, and of course, take some time to enjoy the 70 degree temperatures!