Quilt & Paper

This past summer we helped my mother in law move out of her house so we could buy it from her. One of the things we had to do was clean out the closet of all of Joel's dad's clothes. It was a very hard day for both Joel & Rhonda as they took most of the clothes to the Denver Rescue Mission. What Rhonda didn't know is that Joel & I kept aside some of Joel's dad's favorite shirts. We put them in a box & hid them! Over Labor Day weekend, my friend Jordan helped me start to piece the shirts together into a quilt. My mom & Jordan's sister in law, Briony, helped me finish it up. I had to have someone do the quilting for me, but otherwise, it was my second quilt! I am very proud of it and Rhonda loved it--we gave it to her for Christmas. It is a great reminder of special times. Here is a semi-good picture of it.



We allowed Haiku to make a mess of our wrappings on Christmas morning. It was hilarious. Not as much fun as kids, but close! Doesn't it make you want to get a puppy?? Hope you had a very Merry Christmas! We did--we were in our pj's until 5:30pm! :)

The Snowy Day

One of my favorite books as a kid was The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and here in Colorado we have had MANY snowy days, just like in the book! Early last week the weather forecasters predicted a HUGE storm for Wednesday & Thursday but I'm not sure people really believed them. They have been wrong before, you know. On Wednesday morning (our last couple of days of work before Winter Break), we woke up to find that school had been canceled for Wednesday. Crazy because it hadn't begun SNOWING yet! But, alas, school was canceled. It's the first time I was actually sad to have school canceled-- we were going to see Charlotte's Web as a whole school! Joel was also a bit disappointed because Wed/Thurs were final days at school and it's always easier to get those over with rather than having to go back after break and finish them up. Anyway, as you may know, the city of Denver was pretty much shut down all of Wednesday, Thursday & most of Friday. Needless to say, our Winter Break started 3 days early!!! We had almost THREE feet of snow!!! The drifting made some areas of our yard pile up to 5 feet!

We had a great time being at home, shoveling our above- ground deck--have you ever shoveled your DECK??, meeting our neighbors (thankfully one had a snowblower he was lending out) and playing with Haiku in the snow. She was a bit scared a first--the snow is well over her head--but our neighbor's 80 pound+ yellow lab showed Haiku how it's done. Haiku has a new friend and they are super cute!We are dug out of the snow for now, although the roads aren't great! We went to Greeley last night to see our friends Garrett & Jordan and made it back in time for the Broncos game. (priorities here people). And, guess what? It's snowing again!

Tonight we will go to church and spend the evening with my mother in law, Rhonda, celebrating our Savior's birth. Our priority this year is to remember why we give gifts at Christmas--because Jesus gave us the best FREE gift of all. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Haiku Surprise!

Surprise! As many of you know, Joel has wanted a dog since before we even met. He's been really sad about not being able to get one this past summer. We were just too busy! So, this week when a parent told me in the dismissal pick up line at school she'd give me one of her black lab puppies for FREE, I just had to say YES! So, I told Joel he needed to come home early on Wednesday for a surprise. He thought maybe dinner & a movie! I had him pull his hat over his eyes and we drive all over town. I couldn't fool him though--he knew where we were (within a block). I had the student bring out on eof the puppies and put it in Joel's arms while he was still blindfolded. We all took pictures. It was so cute & Joel was totally surprised. He thought we were just there to look!



We went inside and he picked out Haiku (her name) from the 4 remaining puppies--3 girls and a boy. She is very calm (for a puppy) and is very sweet. We went and got her shots right away and brought her home last night! And so the joy begins!!

Surprise!