my beautiful niece's.

one is about to become a momma,, and the other just graduated from 8th grade.

kylee...6 mo along.

sierra.

they are sisters....on my brothers side.

aren't they just gorgeous? 
i think so.

kylee lives in arizona now, but came home for a baby shower.

she is having a girl...

i can't wait to meet her...i bet she will have her momma's beautiful smile and dimples.

i drove to my brothers house, through the crazy storms to fix sierra's hair for her graduation party.

my nephew wasn't too thrilled about pictures.

not even the lure of 20 bucks could get him to crack a smile.

sierra and her mom.

i loved her dress.

ahhh...middle school.

congratulations to both of you!
i love being your aunt amy!
i'm just not sure about becoming, GREAT aunt amy.
that just sounds so old.

last week.

since it's been awhile since my last post i thought i would catch you up on what i've been doing all week.

we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary by attending a valentines dance.

it was a fundraiser for the heart 2 heart child advocacy center in our town.
craig's job puts him in direct contact with lots of children that NEED this center.
it's always a good time with great music, food & dancing.

we also spent the day watching the daytona 500, because yes, WE LIKE NASCAR!

i hit up the local thrift store for their 1/2 off sale.

 scored a cute vintage apron for 10 cents and a $5 dresser that i plan on re-purposing.

i also stocked up on some clothing to make more ruffled pillows.
i made this one last night when craig got called out to a robbery. (sorry taco tico)

my kitchen needed some new fabulous looking drink ware.

my nephew was selling them to raise money for his ball team.
i wasn't home when he came by, so craig picked some out.  ...hence the sports theme.

the weather has been nice one day and crappy the next ALL WEEK.
translation: the groundhog is bi-polar.
on the nice days i did some spray painting.
i stayed away from the train cars and overpasses and just sprayed some old trays for a later project.

i used my 18 bags of leaves we still have for a table.

i also did a little painting indoors for some craft projects.
i love how this one came out.

i did it using my beloved silhouette machine.
i also made this one for my surrogate teenager for valentines day.

she can never find anything with her name on it because of the extra N at the end.
...which is my fault since i suggested it to her family when they were naming her :)
she's 15 and just started her first official job this week at braums. (ice-cream & burger joint)
we went shopping for uniform shirts and non-slip shoes...
some shoe designer needs to help cute'n those styles up for sure!
we ended up buying another pair of cute shoes for her, to counter act the ugly ones.
and i got a matching pair :)
we also shopped at hobby lobby & michaels for some craft supplies.
we ended the evening eating at genghis grill...MY FAV!!!!


of course there was real work last week too.
a few cuts and colors.  (not nearly as fun as shopping, dancing, & crafting)
i did one color with a flashlight since the power decided to go out multiple times one day.

all i know is i am ready for some nice (say 75 degrees?) consistent weather. 
no more snow, no more freezing drizzle, no more winter!
BRING ON SOME

pretty please??

Christmas wrap up.

opening gifts with my side of the family.

 my parents.

he scored on the under armour.

miley was having a great time with her new cousin izzy.

what's Christmas without a snuggie?

i think everyone who wears them, looks like monks.

a quick family photo of my brothers brood before we took off for our next destination.

it would've been nice if i had noticed the childs head growing out of my brothers before i took the picture...

***********************************************************************************
we spent the next few days with craigs family.

 our ring bearer...now a college man.

miley is grandpa's designated kitchen helper.
aka..the pre-rinser

we had brunch at a B & B just outside of town.

the food was wonderful, but the best part were these guys.

 lewis the 6 month old miniature donkey.

 some very furry cows...

 lewis looked just like donkey from shrek!  he loved to chase the sheep and show off his bucking skills.

a red chippy barn...
it would look really nice in my back yard.


we had a very good Christmas...lot's of food, family and fun.
and now i'm looking forward to an even better 2011.

one that hopefully includes the chiefs in the superbowl.

-amy

50 years...part 2

so now that blogger, or google, or picasa will let me upload more photos, lets get back to colorado
and the big golden anniversary celebration.

i believe i left off with the bonfire...which was for roasting marshmallows.
unfortunately, the marshmallows melted in the car, so craig's mom carefully pulled them all apart and placed them
on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer hoping to salvage the little boogers, but the kids had a better idea of what to use them for.

marshmallow war.

it's now a proven fact that melted, then frozen, then partially thawed marshmallows leave welts...
i guess grandma now knows where the marshmallows went.  oops!

after everyone recovered from the marshmallow war we threw a party for the happy couple.

somehow we managed to bake a rainbow cake in record time when craig's parents were off with the kids doing archery...but it started to rain, so we had the boys run interference and send them to the roller rink to kill some more time.
i have no idea how we managed to get it done without them knowing...we even made slightly burnt popcorn to mask the cake smell.

on our last day we spent the day at winter park ski resort...they have so much to do, even in the summer when there's no snow anywhere.

everyone's favorite was the alpine slide.

 you ride the chair lift up and ride a plastic sled with wheels down a big, slick cement chute.
we did it over and over.

at one point my husband pushed the limits of speed (imagine that) and flew off the track.
he had the most hidious looking wounds on his elbow and knee.  ...and they still haven't completely healed.

i snapped a couple photos on one of my many trips down...

i totally scolded a chimpmunk for hanging out in such a dangerous area.  where was his mother?

while i pulled out my old school gymnastics skills...andrea tackled the climbing wall.

then we played a little mini golf.

the weather was absolutely beautiful that day, and i was amazed at how much they had done to the area since the last time i was there...  which is always in the winter for skiing, this was the first time i had been there in the summer months.

colorado has some of the most beautiful rainbows and scenery.

storm in front of us, and blue skies behind us.

we had a full week of not only celebrating jim and marilyn's 50 years together, but 2 birthdays also.
and we had yummy food every night (with very trendy looking cooks)

( the yummy trout that was caught.)

marilyn spent 1/2 an hour carefully digging this little guy up with nothing but plastic utensils while the fishing was going on...she was very determined to bring back a colorado pine tree.

here are a few of my favorite pics of the family...just for mom & dad d.

thank you jim & marilyn for the wonderful week filled with food, fun and family.
and never forget...

..and as nick would say...i hope you enjoy another 50 years :)