Happy New Year

To ring in the New Year, we went to the Parkway with Jack & Lynne. As you can tell, the boys were in the spirit!

big winter storm

We had a big winter storm 2 nights ago/yesterday. As you can see, we got nearly a foot of snow, which is very unusual for us. Suffice it to say, after driving nearly 40 miles to work in this, we are reconsidering our stance on not having a 4WD vehicle…

But today, the roads are completely cleared, the sky is blue, and we just went snow-shoeing around the reservoir near our house. So I guess the moral of the story is that even a big storm is fun as long as one is retired!

Adrianna is learning to skate

Our niece, Adrianna, has been playing roller hockey this year. (You go, girl!) I wish I could see one of her games…

This week, my parents took her ice-skating (I suspect for the first time). My dad sent me this photo, which I thought was great. Apparently, the ice rink encourages new skaters to push around a stack of buckets to help them balance. This sounds like a FAR better idea to me then having the kids yank their parents (or grandparents) down with them as they fall...

making holiday treats

Every year, my pediatric-hospitalist partners and I make gift baskets for the nurses at our hospitals. This year, Alma helped me make loads of cookies for the baskets.

We made vanilla-bean "refrigerator cookies," fudge, and spritz-cookies.

I liked the spritz-cookie recipe, because it was a ginger-dough, rather than your standard vanilla/plain. We had fun doing different decorations.

In the end, we make >200 cookies, and 100+ (small) pieces of fudge. YUM.

deck the halls

While Alma and Tyler were visiting, Tom had a gig at the Boulderado. They were all dressed up for Christmas.

another great day here

The weather has been so gorgeous here -- Tom and I wanted to get out for a walk/run. We went to a trail near our house -- as you can see, it was a perfect day to enjoy the sunshine.

Fortunately, I had yak-trax in the trunk. I swear, whoever makes Yak-Trax ought to be paying me! I swear by them -- and have bought them as gifts more than once. As you can see, the trail would have been slippery in shoes (or even boots). But with my trusty Yaks, I had no problems running 4 miles.

catching up!

We've been so busy… in a good way! Last weekend we had our 2nd annual "Almost Winter Solstice" party. I promise: we had a blast! Why are there no pictures? Maybe because we were both pretty busy slinging drinks… that being said, a good time was had by all, I'm pretty sure… We had ~75 people. We are definitely looking forward to next year's bash.

The next night, we went to a work party. And the night after that: a gourmet potluck dinner with Mark & Joanna, and Tom & Mitzi. Since it snowed about a foot, and we were all enjoying the wine -- we all spent the night at Tom & Mitzi's. As you can see, they live a little way's up Boulder Canyon. The morning after a snowy night is always so gorgeous… and an extra thanks to Tom for shoveling out the driveway the next morning!!!!