Grandparent Fly By

Grandma and Grandpa Mattson fly through Denver twice every spring - on their way Out to their Snowbird home and on their way Home.  We are glad every time they do!  This trip was especially fun since there was No 'warm up time' for the boys.  Since we were just in ND for Christmas, the boys were ready to continue snuggling with Gma and Papa.

Side story - We continue to explain to the kids that they have two grandmas and two grandpas.  Kasey adamantly stated - "No, I have my Grandma, my Other Grandma, my Papa and my George."  Too Cute.

Ok - back to the trip.  While they were out here, we had to set up a VIP Tour at Coors Brewery.  Yep - tour never gets old!  We were excited to head to the VIP tasting room for our beverages as it was a Friday during Happy Hour and evidently, all students from the School of Mines finish off their week with a tour.  That means Long Lines for a small beverage.  After the tour and VIP tasting room, we were able to head to the VIP Employee lounge (aka: Bill's Bar).  Grandpa Bill felt right at home at this establishment!

VIP Tasting Room

Hi, Karsten! (Yes-You made the Picture!)

Some other fun activities were meant to get the Wiggle Monsters out of our kids.  That meant, Bundle up ~ We are heading Outside!  As I mentioned in a previous post, the boys received tricycles for Christmas from Santa.  We hadn't been able to go outside and play on them due to the snow.  This was the day! Obviously, they Love them!

K - Bye, Mom and Dad!

What do you mean, 'We are too far'?

Learning to use the pedals

Kasey's First time on his Own! YEAH!

My engineer realized if he held onto Karsten's powered Tractor...
He could just go along for the ride with his manual push four wheeler

Even though we had plenty of outdoor fun in our Very short weekend, there were also plenty of good meals and cuddle time.  We even got a beautiful Sunday, which allowed us to grill some ribs out on the deck!

Some pictures can't be explained, but they were too cute to not include.  Well; although I can't explain why Karsten has a bucket on his head - I can explain the tissues.  My Engineer Father is suffering from a cold and couldn't find himself too far away from the kleenex.  The solution?  Mount it to you so it goes where you go!  Brilliant!  (Patent Pending~ha)



Girls' Weekend in Denver

You want to know the Perfect way to start a Girls weekend?  Sushi!!!  We had a place in mind, but the snow storm disagreed and told us to go closer to home.  After checking out a 'few' spots; we chose a sushi restaurant right near my neighborhood.  I think Lisa would agree, the service was lacking (they were closing and pushing us out the door), but the food and drinks were yummy!  Since we were told "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here" at the Sushi restaurant... we decided to call it a night and catch some zzz's.  We did find plenty of time to catch up the next morning though!

We also had fun visitors from the North!  Annie, Alan and their new 3 month old baby, Braylon came to join us for lunch and spend the night at our house.  There is only one pic of lunch as we thought it told the story perfectly.  We might have wanted to chat for a LONG time at the restaurant and some of us just wanted to go home for a nap.  We might have missed the signs, but at one point, Amy was talking and looked down to see Karsten's hand and face directly in his half eaten plate of food.

 That night, we had recouperated and had plenty of kiddo cuddling time.  It was an uneventful night, but a great night none the less.  It was filled with chatter and even some hot tubbing.  Amy and Alan had a contest of who's hair froze the hardest in the cold temps!

 Alan has never been on a brewery tour before; so ... as we are a part of the Molson Coors family now... we Had to fix that problem.  We bundled everyone up and headed out for the tour.

 Lisa's final day in town was spent up in Winter Park.  It was Cold!  I don't mean "brr; I'm a tad chilly" cold - I mean "My Eyes Are Froze Open" cold.  I believe it was -20 degrees Not including windchill.  WOW!  One bonus was that due to the Extremely cold temps; very few people were sane enough to get up on the mountain.  Lisa and Amy weren't scared!  Lisa is from Chicago and Amy grew up in North Dakota.  This wasn't anything! (ha).  Ok - it was COLD!  But - Totally Worth It!  What a Fun, Sunshine filled day!

Amy and Lisa don't get to spend too much time together anymore and it was great to have a weekend just for us to catch up over the latest dramas and fun filled events that we call our lives.  Can't wait for the next girls' event!  Maybe we go someplace WARM!

Few more important Christmas stories

When we arrived back to ND, the boys Immediately noticed that Santa left them some shiny tricycles under the tree!  They were overjoyed and tried to take a spin around the house.  This is where Amy, the not-so-fun mom, took them away and told them to wait for a warmer day.  We have been out since and they love them!

We also had a wonderful surprise when we arrived home.  Kasey's birth mother, Mallory, sent presents for the boys.  A birthday gift for Kasey and a Christmas present for each boy and home-made bath salts!  My favorite part is that she inscribed a note to the boys in each of the books.  Kasey's books were especially cool as they were connections to her.  Mallory's favorite book as a child was "Go Dogs, Go".  She made the comment that her Dad had it memorized as she had him read it so many times.  This makes me laugh as I think about bedtime last night.  Karsten did Not want me to read the book.  Instead, he read it to me and got 90% of the words Perfect just based on the pictures.  Kasey also got 'Where the Sidewalk Ends'; which is Mommy's favorite book as a child.  In fact, she still has it in her bookshelf!

Another fun surprise for the boys were presents from Karsten's Godmother, Lisa.  She got a personalized book for Karsten and a place mat for each boy.  The book is really cool.  It is a Speed Racer book and the three racers are Karsten, Kasey and Lisa.  There is even a cool picture of Karsten in the book.  It is a favorite of both boys for bed time stories, but Kasey does ask if next time he can win the race.

New Years and the Big "4-0"

I will start out wishing you a Happy Valentines day... then we will admit - we are Still behind in our postings.  Here is the final ND Holiday post ~ Happy New Year!

The kiddos haven't quite learned how to stay up past 10pm yet (Thank God!)... So, we decided it would be a good idea to grab a baby sitter and head to a good friends home to celebrate.  Melissa Olheiser happens to have a birthday on January 1st; so - what started as a New Years Eve party; escalated into a Birthday party within 30 seconds of the ball dropping.

Happy New Year!

"Happy Birthday!"

Brady is obviously not sure how he feels about 2013

Happy Birthday, Melissa!

After the big party, we wound down with a nightcap and a warm fire while we watched some of the New Years Eve broadcasts.  Was the perfect end to a Great night!

A tradition on New Years day is the Bloody Mary bar with Eric and Barb Oleruid.  And it was Delicious! We had lots of fun veggies for the beverages, apple cider for the kiddos and all got to make Ziplock Omelets for breakfast.  Delish!

Cheers, Brother!

Here is to an AMAZING 2013 for our Family and Yours!