White Christmas

We spent Christmas at my parent's this year, except we celebrated Christmas Day on Christmas Eve.... and Christmas Eve on Christmas Eve Eve. My dad had to fly on Christmas Day.... hence the alterations to the holiday celebrations.

Christmas Eve Eve Day was play in snow day!!!! Poppy's first snow day, in fact. Cooper refused to get into his snow suit. And John was the only kid brave enough to try (backyard) "sledding".

My brother is such a good dad :0)

Expecting #2...... yeah..... Ryan and Spring announced they were pregnant.... 7 months along and they were finally breaking the news!!!! Cripes! They said, had Christmas not gotten in the way, they would have waited to announce it until 2 hours before they were delivering the baby. I guess they could get away with it being secluded out in Texas. Oh, and it's a boy!

After naps, we headed over the Grandma and Grandpa's house to sing a carol, bring some goodies, visit for a bit with them & my aunt/uncle/cousins staying with them.... and then invited them over for Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve which... remember.... was our Christmas Day :)

Christmas Eve pajama gift tradition......

Since we grew out of it, we passed the tradition on to the grand-babies.

I wish they made footsy-pjs for grown-ups :)

Cooper's binky somehow got flung into the Chrismas tree..... after a desperate search attempt, I finally found it dangling in the tree.... whew.....

Christmas morning.....

So..... this was Cooper's attitude about presents...... (he wanted nothing to do with them)...

and the Christmas crust returns..... hahaha.......

I can't decide if my son not liking presents is a good thing or a bad thing..... anywho...

he got over it eventually and loved playing with his new toys.....

After presents we followed with our other Christmas tradition..... the movie theater!

My other brother treated us to Avatar 3D and it was AWESOME!!!!

Then Christmas Dinner...... well.... in this picture, it's Christmas dessert!

On the actual day of Christmas..... we headed to Cam's grandparents for another Christmas dinner.... and then home. Good times!

Help Portrait

One day I get this email asking if I would want to help volunteer for this thing called HelpPortrait. Basically on December 12th (all over the world), it's to donate your time and talent and photograph somebody. In this case, this awesome photographer, Sarah of Photo de Novo, organized a whole thing at a local coffee shop/church/non-profit venue- Everyday Joe's. She gathered a dozen photographers or so and several other volunteers, and then got the word out to various organizations of families who might benefit from professional photoshoots, of whom probably couldn't afford it otherwise. There were about 5 or 6 stations accomidating about 6 families every hour from 8-5..... full studio equipment and all. I was paired up with another incredible photographer, Josh Barrett of Ignite Images. Some of us hobbiest photographers (like mwa) who had little to no studio experience were geniously paired with professionals... and I learned a bunch!! Josh was great with people and was patient with teaching me the ropes. He also kept encouraging me to take my turn on the families coming through, but I was too chicken and rather prefered assisting him, observing, and learning. I did help with posing ideas when I had them and he claims that helped. And then finally, with a shove of encouragement, I photographed one family.

(with respect to the family's privacy, I won't be posting the results)

After the fact, I wish I had done more... but I was ok with it and was proud of what I produced. It was just scary and intimidating for my first time, but now I have a little more confidence... and I met some really cool people.... Sarah and Josh are tight :)

I'll Trade you My Cookie for Your Candycane....

Cooper's first Santa experience......

It was so cute... Santa gave Cooper a candy cane, and Cooper gave Santa his cookie :)

Work Christmas Dinner

My boss treated our office to dinner at The Melting Pot (a fondue restaurant)

for a Christmas party!

Let me tell ya- It was a real treat!!! The food and experience was too good for words...

Thanks Dr K

I thoroughly enjoyed my delectable meal and the gorgeous company!

Ten Out of Tenn

When Amber reminded me of the Ten Out of Tenn Tour passing thru Fort Collins.... I jumped in excitement and then rounded up some girlfriends to go with me..... Taryn and Amy :0)

Anywho.... this Christmas Edition tour is composed of ten musicians out of Tennessee.
Each musician sang one song off their album, and then one holiday song.... with each other musician jumping in as the back up band.

We have Andy Davis on the piano

and Trent Dabbs in the jacket, who started TOT with his wife....

(you'll count 11 names listed because Andrew Belle subbed in for Griffin House this year)

Butterfly Boucher rocked! Only the coolest Australian-Nashvillian I ever saw :)

Unfortunately I didn't get a decent picture of her, but you can see her here with the guitar....

Andrew Belle!!!

This up and coming artist caught my ear.

You have to at least check out his link if not any of the others.

.... scratch that..... check 'em ALL out :)

Erin McCarley sang an incredible version of Little Drummer Boy...

(which you can listen to if you click the link and push play)

K.S. Rhoads in the red pants..... well..... he jams!!!!!!!

He also produced and arranged the compilation TOT Christmas album.

(I totally embarrassed myself in front of Erin, K.S. Rhoads "aka Kevin" and Andrew Belle later after the show, but we're not going to get into that right now.... or ever haha)

Matthew Perryman Jones....

I was most familiar with his music (along with Katie Herzig and K.S. Rhoads)

Jeremy Lister is in the green beanie.... and the whistling Katie Herzig is originally from Fort Collins! Cool, huh?! She lived here all the way thru high school, went to CU Boulder, currently resides in Nashville... but comes back often when she tours. I love her unique voice.

And then there's Tyler James. He rocks the trumpet and pretty much every other instrument up there. He is super nice, too. After the show, I asked if he could sign his CD for me.... it turns out he is really easy to talk to and makes you feel like you've been friends for years.

The show was AWESOME!

Winter Tree

I've finally completed My Tree of All Seasons collection. This makes me happy.

Click here if you want to see the other seasons.

Early Mornings

Hallway Camping

Cameron was out. I just finished watching a movie. Found Cooper like this.

so sweet.

Two is Better