Faith Redeemed

I am an idiot. Thank god. I totally forgot that when I got my new camera last year, Scott also got me another 2 mg memory, bringing the total I owned to two. SO I reach in to the the little pocket where I keep the cards and voila! There's two in there! Bottom line-- I have wedding pictures and a video of the ceremony and some other cool pics I took. Being such a space cadet really made my day.

Now I can show off some of our trip back to Indy (that's what the locals call it, you know). When we left Colorado last Friday it was unseasonably warm... but not really since Colorado weather generally rocks. Anyway, it was 63 degrees in the parking lot at DIA. (Sorry to anyone from Indy who is having to hear this story again for the umpteenth time) That's okay where we were going was going to be in the single digits. We fought the urge to "break down" on a golf course and headed off. Now for as cold as the weather is, the people are so typically, midwesternly, warm and friendly. On Saturday we did a little shopping and went to lunch at BW3's. Our bartender looked just like Steve Buscemi (I know I spelled his name wrong but you know who I am talking about.)

Then it was wedding time followed by a nice dinner and fun party... Derrick is a really good friend of ours and has been for a long time. He's just one of those people you like to be around. It meant a lot to us to be there for him on this day. And Crystal, he's been talking about it for a long time. As I've mentioned, both Scott and I come from "blended families". Which is such a funny term to me... would you like your family blended or on the rocks? Uh, guess I'll take blended. So it was great that Derrick and Crystal did so much to include their kids and obviously, it wasn't just for the day.

Kyra, Brice and Justice (really good kids)

Starman and D

The Happy Couple

Sorry to cut off the top of your head, Derrick. Like I said it was a fun party.

Bring on Aliza Mae!

Aliza Mae Jaksha

My friend Taz had a beautiful baby girl at 12:15am on January 20, 2009! (Her blog is Life on Podtburg Circle if you didn't know.) So exciting for so many millions of reasons. Taz got to watch the inauguration hoopla from the comfort of a hospital bed. Woo hoo. I got to meet Aliza that day, then went home and watched TiVo'd hoopla. Wow, she gets a really cool birthday! Welcome my little friend.

Mom and baby



Tress, Aliza and Rowan

Tressin was most into this little bundle. She kept giving her kisses. Even a baby loves a baby!

My name is Kirsten and I am a blog-stalker.

I'm trying to jazz up the blog a little... maybe I'll even do something with the background if I can ever figure that out. Always check out the "Blog Stalking" area. Good friends, good writers, cute kids. You will notice that I added one today- The Zeman 4. I have debated adding it for a long time because you see, I do not know these people. Never met them in my life. I've looked at a lot of blogs and for some reason, this is one that I go to regularly even though I have no idea who these people are. Nikki, the author/mother (first of many things we seem to have in common), is a good writer and much better at keeping up on it then I am. She has two boys, lives in the Springs, works, has a husband that travels a lot AND went to CU around the time I did. I'm older, of course. So while I struggled with whether or not to come out of the blog stalking closet, I thought, maybe there is someone out there who reads my blog that I don't know. Ya think? Hmmm...

Anyway, enjoy!

Frustrated but not giving up

Technology sucks. My recent frustration in it has played into my lack of blogging lately. I tried to upload this movie of our lovely trip down to Alamosa after Christmas but I could never get it to. So it is on my facebook if you want to check it out... But I am over that and on with a new year.

This past weekend, Scott and I traveled to chilly Indianapolis for a very nice wedding. Derrick (who we have known for a long time) and Crystal (who we hope to know for a long time) finally made it official with a very touching ceremony and fun little reception. Scott and I enjoyed our weekend together and I had many pictures documenting the whole thing, including a video of the entire ceremony. But this morning, when I went to transfer to my computer... NOTHING! Are you kidding me? So annoying. I do have one decent picture that was on a different memory card.

So I don't have any proof that we had a bartender that looked exactly like Steve Bucsemi (or however you spell his name,) that Derrick and Crystals kids were super cute or that it was 63 degrees in Denver when we left. You will just have to believe me. D&C&K&J&B-- we had a great time, thank you. We are excited to see you again so get your butts out here!

A big shout out to Kelly and Cory for taking such good care of our girls. We don't know what we would do without you guys. I, for one, am so lucky that Kelly is absolutely nuts! You are the best and thank you.

Now back to the real world... Tressin had her second speech therapy appointment today. I found out we were approved for help on the Co-pay from a local foundation so that means she can continue for the 20 visits insurance will pay for. After that, we may look into something through the school district. They have completely ruled out a major neurological issue or autism since she is doing fine when it comes to fine/gross motor skills. So hopefully a little therapy will kick start her consonant and vowel sounds and she can start bossing us around with actual words.

I am also impatiently waiting to hear word of Baby Girl Jaksha's arrival. Taz was to be induced this afternoon, I believe. Anxious to meet her and learn what her name will be. Most of all hoping for a fast and safe delivery. Not too fast... epidurals are beautiful things. We will keep you posted.

Blog at ya later...

Happy Hololidays!

Holy frijoles! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind to say the very least.

Time to catch up on all the haps from our little corner of the world...

Let's see, there was Rowan's school program. Super cute, of course, but also slightly disturbing. Rowan loved having her dad and I there plus little sis. Since Cody is in the same class, Kelly brought all the daycare kids. As for the disturbing part, I'll just say that some little ones really get the shaft when it comes to parents. My reason for the season #1: The wonderful teachers that went above and beyond and did everything they could to ease the pain of one little girl who clearly deserves better; like a mom who will show up. Grrrrr.

The next day was the shop party at Scott's work. Rowan was psyched to go with him in the morning and Tressin and I joined around 1pm. By that time Rowan was super pooped out from running around the shop with the other littles that came in early with their parents. Santa made his appearance at 2pm and I just love the picture of Rowan staring up at him as he began passing out the 50 some gifts picked out and wrapped by Kelley, Scott's office manager (she's so nice; crazy, but nice.) My reason for the season #2: Neil sporting the tree skirt in a very successful attempt to mimic an elf and the many, many belly laughs that ensued.

Then Starman's company Christmas party (for the adults), which I have no pictures of for some reason. We didn't even get that crazy. Curious. Anyway, it is always nice to get dressed up, have a good dinner, a couple drinks and enjoy the company of nice people. The highlight for me was that the next day he and I got to go grocery shopping together with no kids since they were at Grandma and the Bobcat's. Pretty sure it was not his highlight, but he's not the one writing the blog. So there. My reason for the season #3: The people who acknowledge and appreciate how unbelievably hard my husband works. He deserves it!

Then we started to really rev it up. After all day of cleaning in preparation, checking their flight status on line (they were delayed about 4 hours due to weather) and about 15 laps around DIA (it is a beautiful airport), I finally connected with Megan, Ryan and Mathisen. Yay! We had a little Holiday Open House on Christmas Eve with three kinds of soup and bevy's galore. It was so fun. We will do it again next year just in case you missed it! :) My reason for the season #4: We have great friends. And our neighbors make living in the ghetto totally bearable.

Mathisen David (he's so damn cute)

Tress getting the cookies ready for you -know-who!

Alas, the big day. Santa should make coffee on his way out. I think the girls awoke at about 5:20am. We were done long before the sun came up. I don't know if we, or Santa, hit the mark on the gifts. We toned it down quite a bit in reverence to GW's legacy. But they didn't go without either. Rowan was probably most excited about her "hip scotch rug" (hop scotch) or her notebook of lined paper (perfect gift for the little OCD'r). Tress didn't seem overly into anything in particular. Her biggest joy comes from stealing toys and being an all around annoyance to her big sister. Let me just say, she was full of joy! My reason for the season #5: I really wanted that ball retriever. Who needs an A-wedge? (Note: Scott got a rather large gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods from one of his work co-horts. And what did that stud do with it but buy me a new wedge! Sorry girls, he's mine.)

Tressin, Mathisen and Rowan (mid hip scotch).

My mom and the Bobcat joined us a for an awesome Christmas dinner- prime rib, twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, a green salad. And pie. Yum. Then we rested up a little for the trip south. We probably would have rested a little more had we known what was in store for us. And that will be the next blog. Tune in.

My real reason for the season: A year or so ago, this guy started working at Pinnacle. He was and is a real estate broker. At first, I have to say, I was kinda put off by the guy. I'm no wallflower but this guy was over the top, in an almost used car salesman kinda way. Every morning when I would say Good Morning and Howya doin? his response was, "Livin' the dream" most often followed by a "Baby". Blech. I mean come on. But as I have gotten to know Dom, I have learned a lot about him and myself. We all have our quirks, our bad habits and our downright struggles. We all just want to do what's right by our families, our friends, and ourselves. We all wake up every morning and make a choice on how we are going to approach our day, our life. This Christmas and from here on out, I have made my choice. I'm livin' the dream baby.

I hope you are too.