Breck Part 2

First morning... first ski departure.  
Don't they all look so stylish and they all came back in one piece after a full day on the mountain!

 

 Meanwhile back at the villa, Mom and I had some fun times with the younger boys. Thomas loved the snow!

 

And Logan making snow angels - all his idea.  

How does a 4 year old from Texas know what a snow angel is?  I was impressed.

Throughout the week, we (pregnant lady excluded) got to enjoy all kinds of activities from skiing and dog sledding to snowmobiling, sledding, and snowboarding.  Everyone had such a blast.

Our cousins Meagan and Sarah Beth before heading out for a little afternoon adventure.

 

Snowboarding all day didn't stop Joe from enjoying some sledding when he got back to the house.

We had great family time in the evenings after dinner with movies, games and family fellowship.

Up next ... 4 year old on skis, a winter storm, and a downtown excursion.

25 weeks and counting...DOWN!

We are 25 weeks today!  Baby C had a checkup today and everything is going great.  In fact, our doctor tells us this morning "we start the countdown today - we will see you back in 3 weeks now instead of one month".  Countdown!?  15 weeks to go... holy moly.  I am a little behind on my belly pics - this one is at 24 weeks and 3 days.

 

We have also been busy getting the nursery ready.  We have one coat of paint on the walls in her room and have ordered her furniture.  This Daddy is getting really excited!

I will definitely post more before and after pictures once it all comes together.  We hope to make some more progress this weekend. 

And for those inquiring minds, Baby C is still Baby C.  No name just yet but we do get to see her sweet little face again next week at another ultrasound.  We cannot wait!

Breckenridge Part 1

Or Breck for short... as the locals and frequent travelers call it.  There isn't anything like a family reunion with the Garreys.  My mom is the oldest of 7 children and when we all get together it looks something like this:  11 aunts and uncles, 21 grandchildren + 2 spouses, and 3 great grandchildren, oh and .... a couple more grandchildren on the way.  We also had 4 significant others join in on the family fun this trip!  Yep it makes for a full house and so many memories.

Rewind for a quick second.  Around the holidays last year, a few aunts and cousins casually mentioned getting another family reunion in the works and how much fun another ski trip would be.  We happened to mention this to my sweet Aunt Terri who in a matter of days had this amazing villa tentatively reserved in the mountains of Colorado for our crazy family of 35+.  So, needless to say - we had been looking forward to this trip for almost a year. Here is where we stayed and yes, we recommend it!  Alpine Villa Retreat

A lot of us arrived in Denver on Christmas Day or the morning of the 26th, ready to pile into the two rented 15-passenger vans and make our way up into the mountains.   That was a bigger feat than anticipated - 15-passenger vans are strictly for passengers, no luggage.... definitely not winter/skiing luggage.  So what do you get when you have 20+ people trying to figure out how we are all going to fit...yep, that seat is taken!

After leaving a seat from one of the vans at the hotel for a week and picking up our final arrivals from the airport, we were on our way...Griswald Garrey style.

Breckenridge had wonderful snow fall the week prior to our arrival so after getting acquainted with our mansion home for the next week and everyone picking up their ski rentals, we were pumped for an awesome vacation.

Carson Christmas

J and I had a wonderful Christmas.  We started off our holiday fun with a quick plane flight to Oklahoma for Christmas with the Carson family.  We enjoyed Christmas Eve church service with Josh's family before heading to northern Oklahoma to see the extended family on Christmas Day.

Josh's brother - Nick.  We got him Legos for Christmas and he was in heaven.

Josh and I flew out to Denver on Christmas night for the Garrey Family Reunion in Breckenridge, CO.  This little one is quite the little jet setter already and does very well on a plane.  We were very fortunate to get to have Christmas dinner with Thomas and Christopher when we arrived in Colorado.  We didn't let dinner at 10 pm in the Marriott Hotel ruin our Christmas day!  We were off to bed on Christmas night so thankful for the wonderful weather over the holiday and praying for safe travels for the 35+ Garreys headed into town.

Side Note:  I must mention that I have a wonderful husband. You may recall in previous posts how I managed to donate our wonderful Olympus camera during our moving mania back in January of last year.  I have really missed that camera but was hopeful it would turn up when we unpacked all our boxes into our new house.  It never did and I really didn't think I was deserving of a new camera. Who donates their perfectly, wonderful camera to Goodwill!?  Well, that would be me.  So, J and I have been using a backup we happen to have....dreaming of a new camera...until now.  Meet my new friend that sweet J surprised me with for Christmas!

Yes, I plan to share and cannot wait to capture our little bundle of joy with this come May.  And lucky you - you can look forward to better pictures once I figure this thing out.

23 weeks and counting...

 

J and I enjoyed a wonderful week with my mom's family in Breckenridge just after Christmas!  More from that fun trip in another post.