Have A Holly Jolly...Halloween?!

It's October 29 and it might as well be December 29. We are working on our 2nd straight day of snow with the 2nd foot of snow starting to pile up. Needless to say, we got our first official snow day of the year (except for poor Wes who is sitting at work!). Lots of shoveling, sledding, and my best attempt at a snow cave/tunnel. Gotta love Colorado!

A Villainous October Evening

On Saturday night, Wes and I attended a villain-themed Halloween bash at the home of our friends Jeremy and Lindsay. We threw around several ideas...Pete Carroll (the coach of USC), Black Mamba from Kill Bill, and clowns (people are scared of those right?!) but nothing seemed to materialize. So, we decided to recycle one of our favorite costumes from a few years back and attend the party dressed as old people. No, old people are not villains, but we decided that getting old could be.
As we got ready, Brady and Payton weren't sure what to expect. Brady told me to "take that thing off your head" and Payton said I looked like a grandma. I guess that was the point.

We had a fun night of friends (I mean villains), food, and a rousing game of Pirate's Dice. Thanks Jer and Linds for a great night! And thanks, Gwen and Tim for taking care of the kiddos!

Grandma & Grandpa Syers. Man, getting old is a bummer...
Bellatrix Lestrange & Professor MoriartiPirate's Dice. Arrrggg! Never trust a pirate!

Onward To Victory...Almost.

Last weekend, Wes and I flew to South Bend for the Notre Dame VS USC Football Game. Wes had been to one game before, but this was my first Irish experience. Needless to say, it was amazing. We flew in to Chicago Friday morning and drove straight to South Bend. Upon the advice of my dad's secretary who gave us the tickets (THANK YOU!), we took care of the book store and other sight seeing musts BEFORE 80,000 other people showed up on Saturday. We also took a trip to the College Football Hall Of Fame. Saturday morning, game day, we met up with Jim and Kyle (Gwen's dad and little bro) and had an awesome day checking out the sights and cheering on our favorite team. Our favorite part was watching the team walk from mass to the field. We realized after seeing a diamond studded number 7 that we were standing directly next to Jimmy Clausen's mom. Check our our great footage of all the players! The actual game was unbelievable. And not just because we ALMOST beat USC. We stood, minus tv timeouts, four four hours straight in row 17 of the south endzone. So much fun. Unfortunately, ND couldn't pull out the victory. But, if we had our way, we'd go back again this weekend. Thanks mom and dad for taking care of the kiddos. Here is a video of our adventures...

The Weekend That Was...Supposed To Be A Trip To Hastings, Nebraska

This past weekend, we were supposed to take a road trip to Hastings, Nebraska with the Craig family. The plan was to drive half of the seven hours on Friday night, the rest of the way Saturday morning, watch football and volleyball Saturday afternoon, swim and eat pizza at a hotel Saturday night, then spend all day Sunday driving back home.

Well, we got as far as the first half of the seven hour drive on Friday night.After a quick stop for dinner, it started snowing. And blowing. And getting icy. Notice the ice monsters that were growing on the side of our car.After seeing several cars in ditches and squished under semi-trucks, we decided that it woudld be best to cut our losses and turn around. By 11:30 PM, we had booked a room in Sterling, Colorado where we hunkered down for the night. Before heading back the next morning, we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast and dip in the 5 x 5 foot indoor pool.After a cold and snowy drive back home, we ended up hanging out with the Craigs Saturday night. So, a slight change in plans, but a good weekend overall.

Chester's Visit

Remember Chester the Raccoon? Well, he is making his way home with all of the kindergartners in Mrs. Dissler's class. At the end of each day, Mrs. Dissler picks a student who gets to take Chester home for the night. Today was Payton's special day. She was SO excited to get to bring Chester everywhere she went! There is a notebook that travels along with Chester so students can read about all of his adventures. Here are the pictures and stories we added to the notebook for Payton. I think he had a great time at our house!

Payton was SO excited to take Chester home on October 8. We had a very busy day and kept Chester very busy. Right after school, we went to CiCi’s Pizza for lunch. (SIDE NOTE: Cici's is our Thursday lunch outing. It's my day off, so we always meet there as a family) He LOVED the pizza and brownies! He also liked to play the games.
Next, we went to the Arapahoe Volleyball Game. Payton’s mom is the coach. She is on the bench wearing black in this picture. Molly’s big sister is on the team too! The Warriors won the game. Chester helped cheer them on!
Finally, we headed home to get some rest. Before we went to bed, Chester and Penny the Bunny had fun playing together. They hopped and jumped all over Payton’s room! Then, it was time for bed. Good night!

Lunch At CiCi's Pizza + Silly Faces + Camera Phone

Brady's "Silly" Face

Payton's "Mean Old Lady Face"