Winter Fun!

We are officially on break!!! It was a last rough week at school, but we made it and no we are home free for 2 weeks! We have already taken advantage of our time by hiking, celebrating the holidays with friends, cleaning and running errands. Tomorrow, we are going to head up to Craig and relax and enjoy family. Vacation... we love you!

Here are some pictures of the Christmas Sweater Party







Girls making Christmas cookies while boys watch the Broncos (and interfere with making Christmas cookies :)).



Hiking Horsetooth

What's new???

Hello world!

Well, here we are with 3 days left before a two week vacation. Being a teacher is a lot of work (more than you might imagine), but we are very thankful that we have a job that lets us take time off to be with family at the holidays. We have 2 weeks of vacation time waiting for us!!!

Here are some updates:

Thanksgiving:
It was awesome! We started the holiday by spending time with Ang's dad in Gypsum. We went hiking, enjoyed a great dinner and played a lot of games. It was great to see everyone! Then, we head to Glenwood to spend Thanksgiving with Ang's mom and family. We had a great dinner, played games, played football in the streets and spent quality time with family.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to the lighting of the Hotel Colorado. We were really happy that Chris's mom and dad could make it down to celebrate! The lighting is a tradition for us... it is beautiful and gets us in the mood for Christmas.









Chris's Grandma:
Sadly, a couple days after Thanksgiving, Chris's grandma Joyce passed away. Her memorial service was a couple of days later and was a great time to get together with family and celebrate Joyce's life. She will be missed!

Getting ready for Christmas:
Would you believe that we are done Christmas shopping and have been for over 2 weeks? We decorated our house and have been doing a lot of baking and listening to Christmas music... love it!!!

Ugly Christmas sweater party:
OF COURSE! We had our second annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. It was a lot of fun to get together with friends and enjoy food and great company. This year we did a white elephant gift exchange which was...uh, er, let's just say very interesting :) Pictures will come soon.

To go to Hawaii or not to go to Hawaii:
Should we go to Hawaii for Christmas??? Chris and I both now have full flight benefits (thanks dad and Amber!!!) and a place to stay in Maui (thanks Jack and Jana). Part of us is asking "why not?" Yet another part of us feels like we should stay here the entire break. Hmmm... I guess we will have to see if there are any seats open on the airplane. We sure do love Maui though.

Well, I guess those are our updates. We are excited for Christmas and to spend the holidays with friends and family. We will be going to Craig for Christmas and can't wait!

Merry Christmas!!!