Oh yeah...it's still winter.

The past week has reminded us it's still winter. Last weekend we started our Friday with a snow day from school, then headed up to Red Feather for Sam's annual pond hockey tournament.

Sam left with his teammates early in the morning and I left around noon with the kids. I tried not to curse him for not warning me that I wouldn't be able to tell where the road was in places! I kept saying if this gets worse, I'm turning around...and Mac would then proceed to give me detailed directions because he did not want to go back home!


We got there safely in time to watch Sam's game. It was a bit of a white out. Before this snowfall that started Thursday night, there was only puddles here...now there's over 2 feet of snow.


The next day was awesome! It's usually windy and cold up here, but there was no wind, blue sky and lots of snow. The best weather we've ever had up there and the kids loved it! Mac was busy building tunnels and snow caves the whole time.


Elly helped him out.


Nate you could always find perched on a snow bank watching a game....didn't have to be a team he knew.


Sam taking a shot.


Sam's team. They made it into the top bracket, top 8 out of 24 teams, so did well. Always fun to watch.


Nate (bitsy in the middle) skated when he got some free ice...


and Elly got some in too. She's gotten much better on her skates through this winter.


Another nice picture of the area...


A couple weekends before the tourney, we stayed with some friends at their place in Winterpark. Here Sam and the kids are walking back up a long sledding hill.


The boys got their first snow-machining in, they of course loved it!


Elly loves sledding!


Her and her brothers have a need for speed that I'm sure will give me many heart attacks!

Cub Hockey

Goodness it's been a long time...there's a lot of pictures to post since our Christmas tree hunting...or even before then back to Thanksgiving, but I'll just start with today. The boys started cub hockey this week! It's on Monday and Wednesday nights, Monday being practice and then scrimmages on Wednesday. It's really fun.

The boys were sure to carry their own bags on their first night, unfortunately this didn't last by day 2. :) For cub hockey, you rent all the gear.


Nate was up first. He's in a 5-7 age group and skates for 45 minutes. They start with all the boys on one end of the ice, then have them skate as fast as they can. They blow a whistle and everyone falls to the ice and sliiiiiides. The farthest that slide are in the fastest group. They break the kids up into 3 groups.


Can you guess where Nate falls into? Skating with Sam every Saturday morning has definitely helped out this kid! The first day they introduced "hockey stops" as kids continued to run into the boards and each other. It was quite hilarious as no one knows how to stop.


After Nate's game tonight, he skated up to me and said, "Mom, do you want to know who won and what the score was?" They don't keep score, however Nate does, and knew that they won 4-0. The kid got a hat trick on his first night out.


Next up is Macalicious! This is all I see of him on Mondays because Mondays are also our night for cub scouts. Nate finishes up at 6, then Elly and I take him to his scout meeting which also starts at 6. Sam stays with Mac which his skate goes to 6:45 and his cub scouts start at 7:15. Our Mondays are a little crazy, but I'd rather have one crazy night then something on every night.


I did get to see Mac tonight though! He's in an 8-10 group and at the beginner level. He gets a little distracted at times, but when the pucks around him, he suddenly gets focused! :)He almost scored a goal! He wasn't so sure about signing up, but he's excited to go and has a great time...we're happy and encouraged to see him give it a shot!


Mac said he likes the practices better than the games...which I'm thankful for the way it's set up. I think having one day being fun drills helps the kids with their skills, but can also encourage kids who are younger and aren't as aggressive in the games.


"Here we go Ma-c, here we go!(clap clap)" This is what Elly would yell out every once in a while for her brothers with her hands cupped around her mouth. It was darn cute...she'd get everyone's attention on our end of the ice. I'm not sure how I ended up with such a loud child!


This is what the boys look like afterwards...bright red and completely tuckered out! They've slept well these past couple nights!

Finding the Perfect Tree

Last Sunday it was time for our annual Christmas tree hunting extravaganza! We had high hopes as the last two years our trees have been terrible. They were the usual sparseness that Colorado trees have to offer, but they were also very weak, barely holding more than one ornament per branch. Maybe that's exaggerating, but pretty close to the truth. I've been very tempted to take down the tree and go get one from a grocery lot!

However, for our family, it's a tradition to get a tree from the US Forest Service and we do love the experience. So with determination, we joined two other families to find some great trees for our homes.


We first stopped at the ranger station to see if Smokey the Bear was out...even though we don't need to be warned of forest fires at this time of the year. We weren't disappointed.


Got a group pic of my good friends Meaghan, Jenny and I with some of the kids. We each had 3 kiddos who braved the elements. This was not a warm day.


Elly, it's time to leave Smokey and go find a tree...


We all headed out...dad's with sleds, mom's with packs, some kids on snowshoes, some in sleds.


Nate and his buddy Jack on snowshoes.


Mac kept Elly on the sled...


...Sam was pulling.


There were a few spills.

Looking across a trench, Sam thought he might have spotted a grove of trees. Picture Chevy Chase seeing "the tree" in Christmas vacation...this is what Sam was sure he saw. So we all hiked down into the trench, but then let Sam and another dad, Jon, hike up to the other side by themselves since it was getting at least knee deep. We stayed in the trench while the kids played.


Elly and Janelle playing. This was before they got cold. Elly hit a point that she was cold and she wanted to go home. Fortunately, this was also when Sam brought down our tree.


Here's the beauty! Check out all the pine cones, one of the things we love about the Colorado trees! Oh yeah, and this was when Elly had had it.


Sam hiked back up to get some friend's a tree that couldn't make it, and Mac promptly popped the tree on the sled and started pulling it back towards the truck. I tried to tell him that it would be too heavy and we should wait for dad, but he was determined since that was the whole reason he brought his sled. So I got the rope around the tree to keep it on and Mac hauled it out. I was really impressed. He didn't complain, just kept inching in the direction of the truck. Wouldn't even let me help.


Look at this kid work! This reminds me of the poor dog on the "Grinch that stole Christmas!"


Much to Elly's delight, we all made it back to the truck (Mac got some help from another dad to finish the trek), and had some hot cider.


This little elf was also delighted.


It was a quiet trip home.


There it is! I am very happy with this tree. Yes, it's still sparse, but it's not wimpy. It did somehow come crashing down after decorating it Sunday night (a cat might have been involved), and I have yet to get the lights on nice again and all the ornaments back on, but hopefully by Christmas you'll get a view of the finished product.

Daddy's Girl

Elly has really turned into a Daddy's girl lately. She adores him, it's quite cute and her daddy is eating it up! Sam just gets a huge smile on his face with all her affection. When she gets up in the morning, she goes to his office first thing and stands as close as she can to him until he notices...then she crawls into his lap for a big hug.

The boys have gotten their dates with Sam, but Elly hadn't had one yet. Last night was her first. Sam looked at her and said, "Elly, what do you think of just you and I going on a date tonight?" She replied, "Sure daddy!" and "bye mommy" as she ran to get her coat and boots on. She was quite excited.


They headed to McDonalds for some ice cream. Sam said she was the best conversationalist out of all the kids on their dates...couldn't stop talking.


This is one happy girl!

One funny story about Elly, the other night I was tucking Elly into bed when she wanted to tell me a story. It started like this: Once upon a time there was a princess. The princess's name was King of Awesomeness. King of Awesomeness was going on a walk... How many little girl's have that name for a princess?! Her big brothers continue to rub off on her. :)

Mac Eliason, Age 8

That's there for any Ramona Quimby fans.

Today was the big day! Mac had a big smile on his face all day long, which for the most part, is the way Mac is. Of course he has his grumbles, but Sam and I were just saying how he really is a kid who sees the bright side of things most the time. His feelings don't get hurt easily, he's comfortable in any situation, he has lots of different types of friends, and he just likes to have fun! Our hope is that this strong sense of himself will be a strong sense in his faith in God and that his courage will make him a light for Jesus with whomever he's around.

Mac woke up to balloons (of course) and about 8 inches of snow. He figured he would tell his friends to bring their snow boots, so they could still play outside.


When the boys got home from school, they immediately got to work. They made a trail from the back door to the tree house and the trampoline.


Elly and Mac got up in the tree house and shoveled off the deck. They also cleaned it out. Apparently that's another area I need to check once in a while for filth!


Nate cleared the patio where we would hang a pinata


After eating some pizza, we headed out for some pinata action


Mac took the first crack...it took all the kids going through twice to break the thing open


Our birthday boy. I love the smile he gets when the birthday cake is put in front of him. I feel like I have many birthday pictures of him like this!


Make a wish!


I tried out a rainbow cake this year. It was a fun surprise to cut open the cake.


If you look super close, maybe you can see that we got Mac a mini-leatherman. It comes in a case that he can attach to his cub scout belt. Feels like a right of passage to get a little boy his first pocketknife or leatherman...Better start checking for carvings in their tree house!


All the boys wanted to check it out. That's a liability waiting to happen!


From danger to cuddly...Mac loved his Happy Napper from Gramma and Papa Eliason. He was saving his money for one, so was super excited to unwrap it. Mac just seems more and more grown up everyday, but then when you see his eyes light up for a new cuddly...I know my little boy is still in there! Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

10 years in Colorado!

This deserved it's own post. 10 years ago we moved to Fort Collins, CO and leased our first apartment on November 1st. At the time, we just thought we were exploring, checking out a state that had songs written about it and great ski hills. Little did we know that it would feel like home so quickly...and still be our home 10 years later.

Halloween and Snow!

Well, I'm starting with pictures from a week ago...our first snow. As I'm writing this, it's snowing again. A little nastier this time. We have a birthday party planned for Mac tomorrow night, and he was praying that it wouldn't snow so they could play outside. However, the weather man is right and we'll have to come up with some indoor games. Here goes...


Our first snow last Wednesday. We started our day with breakfast at McDonalds. Our family tradition to go out for breakfast on the first day of snow. We didn't have much time for more than McDonalds...maybe next year.


Elly in the snow with her two buddies that I watch Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, Eli and Mia.


Carving pumpkins. Mac's template is on the wall.


The finished product!


The kid's in their costumes with a crazy camera setting. Mac's a wizard...but not Harry Potter, 'cause everybody's Harry Potter (sometimes he's a little too original for me!), Nate is hockey player and Elly a nice warm, pink butterfly.


Met up with our friends for a great Halloween night of catching up and trick-or-treating. Notice Nate's roller blades.


Nate rollerbladed the whole time and was a sweaty mess by the time we were done.


Today is our lull day between Halloween and Mac's B-day. It was spent raking leaves before the storm hit and blowing up balloons, which is what Sam is doing now. Mac remembered waking up to balloons on his bed and thought it would be fun if that happened again. :) I'd better go help...

Hope you all had a happy Halloween!