Toothless Grin

Kasey has had two loose teeth for quite some time now and was not willing to pull them out.  Kris' idea was the very same way he lost his teeth as a little dude.  Grab an apple for breakfast!  Kasey thought this sounded pretty cool... until he realized his tooth was coming out as a result!  The progression of pics tell it best.  He was timid, very sad and then super proud of his toothless grin! Don't mind the hair... it was 6am

Another first in the record books.  Kasey's first toothless smile!  Better put it in your tooth pillow for the Tooth Fairy later tonight!  Now, lets celebrate with some of GG's caramel crispie bars!

Colorado Staycation

Staycations are all the rage lately.  The gist is a get away, but not with a Hawaiian price tag.  This is our second staycation with Kyle and Angie and I think we pretty much know how to rock them.  Last time, we hit up a mountain town, but this time we stayed closer to home and Jim got to join us!  We stayed in Greeley, CO in order to head pheasant hunting near Yuma, Colorado (NE Colorado).

We got to Angie's house on Friday night and stayed up way too late playing cards.  I'm pretty sure I saw after 2am when we went to bed and the alarm went off at 4am.  But wow - what a night with friends!  And getting up at 4 was SO worth it!  Angie got us hooked up with some of her coworkers at the Yuma JBS feedlots.  We were so lucky to join their group.  They were incredibly hospitable and we ended up seeing about 30 birds flushed that morning.  It was an amazing day of hunting.  Private land is Way better than hitting up public land as we have in the past.  Normally in Colorado... we are lucky to flush one or two birds.  This was the better way to go!

We finally had to stop hunting to head to the final CSU game of the year.  We may have missed kickoff, but did enjoy watching the game from our field passes that we scored from our friend, Dan.  Plus, we took three of the birds home to cook up some sweet appetizers.  Man... what a weekend.  Can't wait to see where we go next year!

Happy Birthday, Holly-Pop!

Eek! Holly is Already One!  Can't believe this little munchkin is growing so fast.  She has even been walking for a couple weeks prior to her first birthday.  Too Fast, little one... too fast!  We all enjoyed some cuddles as we celebrated her big day. Well, until the cake came out.  At that point, Holly's eyes were fixated on Minnie Mouse (aka: sugar!!!)

Some kids have no idea what to do with the cake... this girl had it down!  She knew exactly what it was and wasted no time checking it out.  Amy had to giggle a little at the last picture.  I'm pretty sure my kids weren't taking selfies ("elfies" as Karsten calls them) until they were 3 years old, but Holly knew exactly what to do!  Here is proof of Ms Holly's very first Holly/Auntie Selfie.  Too CUTE!  Happy Birthday, Little Princess!

Karsten's Fairy Godmother

Yes, its true... Amy Loves when Lisa visits and so does Kasey (Kris too I'm sure!).  We all love having her around, but not as much as Karsten does!  He can't get enough of his Godmother.  This year, we got three trips together! Lisa wanted to come home for a CSU football game and as an extra bonus... came out over Halloween to help celebrate the holiday with her Godson and Kasey!

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jimmy decided to host an Amazing Halloween party at their house.  It had everything ~ Pinterest was hit hard that week.  Sarah had very creative food, a mummy game for the kids and super cute decos out at their home.  We of course had to start out the party with a pic of Karsten and his Godparents!  Not often do we get all three of them in the same state.

The party was a Huge success!  I think this should be an annual event with as much fun as it everyone had.  I mean really... what a great group we had!  I had to laugh as the night got a little later.  Karsten decided to catch a few zzz's and Kasey had the idea to give him a new hairdo.  What do you think? Do you like it? :)

The following day was the CSU game in Ft Fun.  Most pics have already been included in our overall CSU post, but I love this one.  The kids got to do a parade on the field during halftime.  Kasey was excited to hit the field too, but unfortunately fell asleep prior to halftime.  Being a kid is tough.

Because a full day of CSU football isn't enough for this crew; we also had to have an entire night of trick or treating with the Tiley family.  Even the girls got in on the fun!

The next day was the Broncos game against the Packers.  Of course we also needed a nature hike with the kids.  What a full weekend with Lisa!  Ten pounds in a five pound bag this weekend. Typical Cannode style!

Boo at the Zoo

Since Kris came back early from the big hunt... he was able to join his family for Boo at the Zoo!  It is our kiddos favorite time of year at the zoo.  Not only do you see the cool animals, but there is candy at Every Stop!  Imagine That!

We definitely had a blast and enjoyed a beautiful fall day in Colorado with each other.  I specifically enjoyed calling "Darth, Come Here!" and having both kids running over.  So Easy.  Why don't we do the same costume every year?  :)

Mattson Hunting Trip and Visit

Why do I love October so much?  Halloween?  Yes, but the bigger reason is for the annual Mattson hunting trip!  Sure, I love the quality time Kris spends with his father-in-law, but mostly... I love my Mommy and Me time.  Ok, so I guess it has turned into Grandma and kid time, but I love it just as I did ten years ago.  I can't get enough of the pic above as it really shows how big my little men grew in 364 days. They look more like little men than toddlers now.  So Handsome! (You look pretty too, Grandma!) This year, we hit the Lego exhibit at the Denver Zoo.  It was a Legotastic day!  The polar bear and her 3 cubs were built with over 133K Legos!

We had to of course stop off at the Lorrakeets to feed them some lunch.  The best part? The kids were thrilled to find ... no, it's not Ralphie... It is Thundar; the NDSU Bison!  Horns Up, boys! Go Bison!

We even got to go up for a CSU game! And what a beautiful day it was!  Go Rams!!

Once the ferocious hunters returned to town, we hit up a favorite hot spot (Buds Bar and Grille) for burgers, chips and some good ol' fashioned funny faces.  For those wondering, we all will have some elk meat in our freezer this winter.  Nice Hunt, Gentlemen!

Ram Proud

Amy became the new CSU recruiting representative for Leprino Foods this year.  That meant lots of fun new perks; including attending the CSU Gala!  We were lucky enough to get a few friends to join us too.

It was another fun season for the Rams.  No, we didn't have the best record this year (coach Bobo stepped up into his first year after coach McElwin moved on to Florida), but we sure had fun at our tailgates!  Sept 5th was our first game back!  We were excited for our new privileges this year as Kris joined the Rams Athletes Alumni Association.  That meant free pizza and soda in the alumni room at halftime.  Amy was also pretty jazzed to hang out with Garrett Grayson (former QB) for a bit.

The very next weekend started the "season of the gloves".  Karsten found out his cute little face was able to obtain some rockin' ram gloves from the CSU players.  This was his first pair that he coveted... until he got his next three pair the following games.  This kid is either super lucky, super cute or both! I go with both.  Kasey was too busy running around with Camden to get any pics of him.  Man, that kid is fast!

Hard to believe, but hours before the CSU/cu showdown... Cam#24 moved on to football heaven. We didn't even know until we saw Cam#25 down on the field at the game!  Crazy to see the difference in age of these guys.  This is definitely the youngest Cam I have ever seen.  Will be fun to watch him grow.

The annual CSU vs cu is always a fun game.  We have historically hosted at our house, but with only a couple more years left at Mile High.. on Sept 19th, we had to see what all the fun was about.  Our seats were on the 20 yard line in the 6th row, however, some of us lucked out with front row!

The Oct 10th game was fun for a couple of reasons.  The first and best reason was the large tailgate crew we had! Probably the best showing of the year.  The other was Amy cashing in on a few more Leprino perks.  We were invited to the alumni tailgate tent!

Oct 17th was exciting due to a special visitor!  The boys were up at Elk Camp, which meant mom was in town for a visit!  What fun to get her up for a game!

Another visitor at the Oct 31st game?  No way! We sure lucked out this year with visiting Ram fans! Karsten was pretty excited to hang with his Godmother; especially since she would play football with him.  Did you catch the game was on ... Yes... Halloween!  The kids got to trick or treat and wear their costumes in the game.  Aren't they cute!?!?

We have only one pic from the Nov 14th game as this was our "Staycation of 2015".  More on that later, but the gist was a weekend away (as the kids enjoyed snuggles with Gma and Gpa Cannode) to Greeley, CO for a little pheasant hunting.  Since we were hunting that day... we didn't make it in time for tailgating (or kickoff!), but were lucky enough to score all access passes to watch from the sidelines for a bit! Thanks Duffy!

Our State, Our Stadium, Our Time.  This was the theme of 2015 as CSU began building the new on-campus stadium; which is planned to debut Fall of 2017.  CSU hosted a brick campaign fundraiser and the Cannodes couldn't wait to be a part of history!  We were so excited that we ended up with brick #57!  We can't wait to see the finished product!  Ram Proud, Indeed!