November: Ary Indy & Visitors

Stay tuned for more info...

October: Happy Halloween

September: Blue Angels

Brian, Jack and G'ma Marilyn head to Grand Junction to see the Blue Angels.

August: My baby is in Kindergarten!

First day of Kindergarten gets a Thumbs up...



I can not believe my baby is in Kindergarten! Jack started 1/2 day Kindergarten at American Academy this year. By the second day, he was giving it a "double thumbs up"!



















Big sister Olivia started 3rd grade this year. She is happy with her teacher, but highly annoyed that we have to go to school 15 minutes to drop Jack off first :(



















Mom is happy that Jack is excited about school, but can't help be a little sad that he is growing up so fast...
















Olivia turns 8 (But wants to be 16!). It is always fun to celebrate her birthday because it falls in the first week of school and she is back with all her friends. This year, instead of doing a sleepover, she chose a jewlery making party with some of her friends from school, gymnastics and the neighborhood. What fun...

July

June: Torch lake Family Reunion

Michigan Roadtrip!!! It is getting harder and harder for all of us to get together in one place at one time, so we decided to rent a massive 8000 sqft house on Torch Lake this summer for a week-long family reunion. WOW, did we have fun! It was so nice to have everyone together in one house so we could hang out, swim, cook, eat, boat, swim, play games, drink... together! The house was right on the beach, with it's own dock - at one point I think we even had 3 boats. I can not believe I grew up in MI and never went to Torch Lake - I can see why national Geographic rated it the #3 most beautiful lake in the world!!!

The Motley Crew: Mom, Dad, Todd's family (Marcy, Kate, Kelsey, Kristin) Jamie's family (Amy, Zach, Emily, Erin) and us. Also had visits from Chad Hilgendorf (long time family friend) and his family, and Uncle Terry and Aunt Jeanna.

The Guys enjoying beverages on the infamous "Sand Bar"

All the moms tubing - yikes I was scared. You have never heard so much screaming!!!

G'pa Tony's boat out for a cruise - notice the crystal clear water!

G'ma and the girls at the "Sand Bar"

June: Happy Birthday Jack

Yeah - school is out!!! We started off the summer with Jack's 5th Brithday celebration, complete with a baseball cake and party in our back yard. Having just finished his first T-ball season, he was pretty excited about baseball and we spent many days and evenings hitting balls in the cul-de-sac in front of the house. Marley liked T-ball too until Jack whacked him in the head while he was trying to "retrieve" the ball from the T while Jack was batting!

Olivia said one of the most important things she wanted to do this summer was to see Mount Rushmore (why???), so off we went for a quick roadtrip to SD. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised at what a good time we had, other than the food! SD is really quite beautiful. In addition to seeing Mt. Rushmore, we toured Wind Caves, saw tons of wildlife in Custer State Park, did the alpine slide in Keystone, saw the Crazy Horse Monument and of course played in the waterpark at the motel. Can't get much more patriotic than seeing the fireworks over the Mt. Rushmore Monument!

Terri and Brian before the Sheryl Crow concert at Red Rocks Ampitheater. Amazing summer night and an incredible concert! We need to do this more often...

May: Mother's Day

This year we celebrated Mother's Day by having brunch at Hudson's Gardens. It was a beautiful spring day and we took the kids and Brian's mom, Marilyn, on a hike around the gardens and, of course, to the outdoor miniature narrow gage railroad exhibit. It was a nice morning and reminded me how lucky I am to be a mother:)

May: School's Out

We are ready for summer! Jack's preschool class took a fun trip to the Littleton Historical Museum and Farm to finish off the year. At graduation, he told everyone he was going to grow up and be a fireman and a light-house operator (guess the lighthouse in Hawaii made quite an impression). He is really going to miss his teachers, Ms. Cathy and Ms. Reenie, and the wonderful director, Ms. Kay. Olivia finsihed up 2nd grade and also can't imagine a better teacher than Ms. Yrastorza! Other fun stuff in May... Marley turned one, but is still very much a puppy! Lauren, one of our beloved babysitters, goes to prom (sister Andrea and friend Marisa - both also favorite babysitters - are in the photo too).

April: Back in Business

After a little "sebatical", Brian found new office space and set up shop. He has re-united with his long-time friend, college buddy and previous business partner, Brian Voigt, to form Crown Energy Partners, an oil and natural gas exploration and production company. With some hard work and a little luck maybe they can help us "eliminate dependence on foreign oil..." and have some fun along the way.

April: Back to Boston

Despite retiring after the dismal rains of the 2007 Boston Marathon, you guessed it, Terri went back again! I just could not live with the soggy memories of my lifelong dream of running the Boston. Surely it could be better... I am happy to report that unlike last year's event, the race this year was fabulous (well, as good as running a marathon gets). I think most athletes dream of that "perfect race" when it all comes together, but we all know there are so many factors, many out of our control (ie. weather, losing your shoe, etc...), that make it nearly impossible. So, even though my time of 3:47:02 was about a minute slower than my best time, it was my "dream race". The weather was great, I felt strong the entire race, the fans were amazing and I recovered well (thanks to my new post-race plan...beer and pizza). We also got to watch the top women in America compete in the US Women's Olympic Marathon Trials the day before the race. What could be more inspiring??? The only sad part was that I had to run without my running buddy, Cindy, who was sidelined with an injury. She did however join me for the trip and has decided that shopping was way more fun than running in the race. Unfortunatley for me, she is also seeking redemption from that awful 2007 race and has talked me into going back in 2009!

March: Aloha Spring Break

We have not taken a trip for Spring Break in years, so we decided to do it up big this year and head to Hawaii (oh yeah, we were also sick of the snow again!). We spent a glorious week in Kauii. We did a little bit of sightseeing and a lot of laying around the beach and relaxing. The kids tried snorkling, but were a little frightened of the fish and headed back to the beach for massive sand castle construction. Then, we took a helicopter ride to see the island. We were worried about the kids getting sick (as were our fellow passengers). Despite the rain during the flight, it was beautiful. Jack took the worlds most expensive nap during the flight and Olivia did great! Whale watching and a sunset cruise were next. Once the rain stopped (are you sensing a theme here?), it was quite enjoyable, we saw some whales and the sunset. And... no one got sick here either (we do try to see the bright side of things, no punn intended.) We were not so lucky on our hike to Waimea Canyon, after a two mile hike (yes, in the rain) to a lookout point, we saw nothing due to the heavy fog, but it was fun. All in all, it was a fantastic trip. How can spending a week with our family, sipping tropical drinks, on a beautiful island paradise, playing in the sand be bad???

March: Back to reality...

So much for the beach, we are back in Colcrado shoveling snow! Olivia's class had some fun field trips this month. First, they had the honor of singing the National Anthem at the swearing in of the newly elected Castle Pines City Council. This is the town that her new school will be built in next year. Then, it was off to the Challenger Space Center in Colorado Springs. The kids got to conduct experiments in the shuttle lab, work in the mission control room, sit in the zero-gravity chair and take a cruise in the flight simulator. It was a fun trip for me to chaperone, I even learned stuff :)