I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Merry Christmas, 2009
I used to think how pretty it would be to have a White Christmas. It is pretty! I have witnessed several White Christmas's living in Colorado.

We received a Christmas Card from a friend and I liked what it said: Christmas: A time to warmly remember those who touch our lives in so many special ways....
A time for telling the special people in our lives they are fondly remembered, cherished and loved today and all year though.

This Christmas God sent guardian angels to watch over us on Christmas Day.

Terri & Gary Baxter invited us for breakfast on Christmas morning. It was a very special time visiting with their family and other neighbors & friends. It was a beautiful snowy ride over to their house and Terri had prepared a feast! biscuits, country ham, fruit salads, breakfast casseroles, sweet rolls, etc. (too much to mention). After eating and visiting, we were invited later that day for a prime rib dinner with Roy and Cheri Larson. We arrived around 2:00 along with other "homeless people" and enjoyed visiting, eating everything under the sun and ending with Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes.

I have to say that Sam and I did shed a few tears thinking about our family and missing them at Christmas time. We were able to talk to them and enjoyed hearing their excitement and the excitement of Will, Ellie, Byrum and Mia. Thank you for the "Wii" We set it up and played bowling and tennis. Thank you Jason, Ashley & Byrum for the surprise Wii Active game also. We have no excuse to be out of shape in 2010!

I am going to post a few pictures of what our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was like. I would label them, but am afraid to after trying a while ago and nothing seemed to work. In the pictures are Terri & Gary Baxter, Cheri & Roy Larson, "Sam" the Christmas Dog, Most of the friends that were at Cheri & Roys house, Jerrie, my friend at Sky Ridge, Driving on the snow covered road and a few scenes from the winter wonderland outside.

IRRITATED!

I just spent over 30 minutes trying to post something on this and for some reason it wasn't saved. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Byrum

What a nice treat it was to hear the phone ring this morning and hear Byrum's voice. He sounds so grown up; and he is, in so many ways. He is 5 now, you know! We remember how we waited at the hospital five years ago to see him for the first time. We all celebrated together! Byrum James Burgin..
Love your name and your nickname, "B". Not "Little B" anymore. Just "B".

I am proud of your parents for taking such good care of you and raising you up in a loving home. I am also very proud of John & Denise and Sharon & Dusty. We are so blessed!

Grandparents don't get upset over this sort of thing

Sam and I have everything put back in it's place now after the wonderful visit we had with Sharon, Mia and Dusty. Our house seems a little empty. We both laughed when we took the booster seat out of the chair in the dining room. I took a picture to help us remember all of the fun things that Mia did from that chair. She loves blueberries, strawberries and cookies. She enjoyed coloring from that chair and her favorite color is BLUE. She likes the color pink too. She fed herself applesauce with her own spoon and her Mom put a cheerio on top of her vegetables to help her eat them. After a while, we played a game with Mia so that she would eat her protein and vegetables. We would clap when she took a bite which she thought was funny, so she ate everything all up.

Our weather has taken a turn for the better as it has been sunny and much warmer this week. I can't believe how cold and snowy it was while Sharon was here. We still had lots of fun but a warm day would have been nice.

Saying "Goodbye" is so hard to do

Time goes by so quickly! It seems our holiday with family was just beginning and it is now over. I am so thankful that Sam and I were able to travel to NC for Thanksgiving and see all of our family. Hearing about things on the phone doesn't compare to seeing family in action and in person.

Dad and I had such a fun visit with Sharon, Mia and Dusty. The weather in Colorado didn't cooperate but we had lots of time to get to know our youngest granddaughter, Mia. We enjoyed every minute!

Sharon I enjoyed all of our little shopping trips and our cookie baking. Sorry we didn't get to all of the places we had planned, but our time together was very special.

According to what we see on the internet, you should be landing in Raleigh about now.

Love you and miss you

Happy Birthday Ellie

Happy Birthday Ellie! MeMe and PawPaw miss you and love you and wish we could be there for your 8th birthday!

Back to the Cheyenne Zoo

Our visit with Mia and Sharon is going by too fast. We visited the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo yesterday in 30 degree weather. Mia had never been to the zoo and she loved it and we had fun showing her the animals. I'm happy everyone had a good time and that the weather was nice enough to spend time outside.

Mia watching TV in her chair

Eating lunch at the empty zoo cafe

Baby Orangatuan, only 7 months younger than Mia

Watching the Baby Orangatuan

Watching the gorilla eat poop, she said, "Num num!"

Hippos

Mountain Goat, Sharon yodeled at it.

The giraffe's were inside this time to stay warm

She loved the zoo!

Monkeys!

The lions were sleeping, they were huge.

Mia loved the fish at the bear cage

Mia's first day in Colorado

Yesterday we got up at 5:00am and drove to Raleigh to catch our 11:10 flight to Colorado. After spending 3 hours in the car Mia was more than happy to walk around at the airport. Our flight was on time and there were lots of kids on the flight around Mia's age and younger so that made Sharon feel better. She fell asleep after takeoff and then I decided to try to move her so it was a short "nap." After that Sam, Sharon and I took turns keeping her entertained along with her new buddy Reagan. Since the flight was kind of bumpy she couldn't get up and walk around. It was challenging, but she did pretty well considering she had been up early and hadn't taken a nap. We were all very tired once we got home and Mia and Sharon were ready to go to bed early. Then last night it snowed and today's high has been around 20 so it hasn't been good weather to go anywhere, but Sharon and I took Mia outside anyways. 20 minutes to get everything on to brave the cold and snow and 5 minutes outside because Mia didn't like it...we managed to get a couple pictures before bringing her back inside. So that is Mia's first 24 hours in Colorado. Stay tuned for more.

Our "Carryon" Luggage


A short nap


Looking out the window


Not too happy about the cold


Still not happy about the cold

Thanksgiving in North Carolina

Sam and I were Thanksgiving road warriors in North Carolina catching up with our sons and daughter and their families as well as our mothers and brothers and extended families. We had a great Thanksgiving spent with Sam's mother's side of the family. There were over 40 people at the Thanksgiving/80th Birthday celebration for Sam's mom! Thankful to see everyone happy and healthy.