Snowshoeing the Flatirons

Post-Christmas in Kansas, Jeff and Sarah stayed with us here in Boulder for an extra day of fun.


It was super cold and snowy, but that didn't stop us from layering on the gear, strapping ourselves into snowshoes, and heading up the road to the Flatirons. Using our cool new GPS, Kevin and Jeff decided to track our route and elevation gain.


Up, up, up we went...


...until we reached the Flatirons.


But of course we weren't really ON the Flatirons, we were just NEXT TO the Flatirons, so Kevin and Jeff pressed on, or rather up.


Kevin IN the Flatirons.


Our destination from the bottom of the trail looking back up.


Time for some cocoa.

Christmas in Kansas: Part Two

Christmas in Kansas! A very small contingent of Millers and Hankens converged on Paul and Jill's in Lawrence Kansas... and there was much rejoicing.


After a very aggressive yankee-swap-type dice game, everyone ended up with a joke gift or two including: David Beckham "Inspire" cologne, a fart machine a burp machine and an inexplicable ceramic cat mug.


Jeff and Sarah were there.


Kevin did great in the first round of the dice game snagging four presents, but lost them very quickly in round two. Things got ugly.


Though, Emily was the big winner of the night and soaked up all of the attention. What a cutie.


Though, the best present of all is getting to set aside the worries of the day and spend time with loved ones. Wow, the holidays go by far too quickly.

Christmas in Kansas, Part One

Our drive to and from Lawrence was full of both the expected as well as the unexpected. A few things we expected:

Kevin and Jeff geeking out in the back seat:


A bit of prairie here and there:


Oz:


And a bit of the unexpected:

An unfortunate typo:


We tried to go and see the six legged steer,


and figured that if the six legged steer wasn't around, we'd be fine seeing the world's largest prairie dog,


but we only got as far as the fence around Prairie Dog Town. Apparently they aren't open for business this time of year.



More later.

Kitties in Boxes

Stinker and Izzy are making the most of the holiday season and enjoying the extra boxes we've got strewn about the house.




We're looking forward to the arrival of Jeff and Sarah, our first overnight guests, on Saturday night, and then it's off to Kansas on Sunday! Hoorah!

Just when you thought you were rid of us

Goodness we've been busy since our trip to Maine. Seems that most of our time has been spent crafting prezzies for Christmas, so for obvious reasons we won't be posting photos related to that activity. Kevin has also been working tirelessly on his new site design for work, and it looks brilliant.

We did get a bit of snow over the course of the past few days.


Nice, eh? This is about a mile up the road past our house. It's not like we've never seen snow before, but it was just so pretty we couldn't resist taking a few photos.


The trees were all covered in several inches of the lightest, fluffiest little snowflakes. The snow was so light, even wispy plants like this seemed unburdened by the weight.


This super hot guy shoveled off the front steps and made a pathway to the laundry room. I've been doing a snow dance all day in hopes of seeing him in action again soon.


Stinker and Izzy have been doing their best to stay busy. Stinker's favorite new haunt is this brown paper bag. He likes to sit in the bag. He likes to sit on the bag.


Not sure what they talk about when we're not around, but it probably has something to do with chicken. I picked the yarn in the background up at the Handweaver's Guild of Boulder annual sale a week ago. Handspun and dyed by a guild member. At some point I hope to turn it into a neck warming device, but I have no idea when I'll be able to fit that into the schedule.


Sarah and Jeff should be swinging into town in about two weeks, and then we're all off to Lawrence, Kansas for Christmas. We can't wait!

Birds, Bees and and bit of Screech

Well this past week had a bit of everything.

Friends (baby due in January 19th!!)


A birthday (yes, the head wear says 'Party Girl' - the present opening was followed shortly after by a round of mimosas...or two)


Some turkey


A new addition to the family (not the guy on the right - he's been around for a while)


A bit of cheer (note the lobster stirry item on the left - Go Maine!)


The most stupendous turn at darts ever witnessed (M+M 2, Melvin 2 - the tie breaker to be played at a time and location to be announced)


A bit of family beekeeping


But not enough family time

Home Sweet Home

Try as we might, we couldn't avoid the paparazzi. Here they are greeting us at the Portland International Jetport on Sunday afternoon as we tried to sneak home for a quick visit. Where's Leslinka when you need her. That gal can spot the photogs from a mile away.