Countdown to Christmas

Well, first off, I got my truck back (it was an ordeal, but we finally did). It looks good as new!
I just try to avoid driving around all these crazy CO drivers! I swear, they do drive differently here....darn city drivers anyways! Not what I am used to at all!

My mom was here for a week over Thanksgiving, we were all very happy to have her visit! The boys had a great time showing her all their new tricks and making her play with them ALL day long! And of course we enjoyed getting a few early Christmas presents while she was here! She got me a Kitchen Aid Mixer.....I know many of you are saying "Why?, What will YOU do with that?"....I do make good Christmas cookies!!! (thanks to my friend Challi). It will come in very handy, heck, maybe I'll learn something new! Or maybe not, let's not be silly!

We took her for a drive in the mountains where we came across some very friendly deer who could've cared less that we were sitting inches from them and taking pictures.

We finally got our plane tickets back to Ohio for Christmas. Watching airline prices is NOT fun let me tell you. They change every second! We finally got a decent deal. We will be flying home non-stop into Akron/Canton on December 23 (about 6pm) and leaving bright and early December 31 (6am), non-stop. I'm so glad we got non-stop flights, we won't have to keep Gino occupied for quite so long. Wish us luck!
I'm sure it will be an experience that I will not want to do again. Dominic is looking forward to flying in a plane though. We see them fly over our house ALL the time (some look like they are going to touch our rooftops).
We also watch the fighter jets train (base nearby). That's pretty cool. Some are VERY loud too (you don't hear them coming, but you sure do hear them leave!).....we never tire of hearing them though. It's pretty cool to watch them land and take off too. They look like they are going to land, than shoot straight up into the air and circle back around to land. Pretty amazing what those pilots are trained to do.

Of course we would like to see as many people as we can while we are back, so we will do what we can. Be sure to call or text me to see what's going on!

I keep hearing about all the snow everyone in OH is getting and we have a coating at the moment...the rain (from the 60 degree weather), just turned to snow as I write this. Is is supposed to be in the 20's tomorrow. But wouldn't it figure that the year we decide to move out west it snows buckets in the east? I come to find out that we will not see much snow where we are. They are getting dumped on in the mountains though (foots of snow by the hour)...that's about the only place CO get's snow. That's a bummer. Last year they got a bunch, and everyone was snowed in for like 6 days, but I guess it is rare. It figures. I guess we'll have to either drive an hour or fly 2 to see a good amount of snow...how silly. We do plan on getting in at least one good ski day. We have to experience it at least once while we're here. Dominic would probably have fun too. Gino doesn't really like the cold though.

Check out the new "4-wheeler" as Dominic calls it that his Momo bought him while she was here...he's such a sweet talker!

I have to share this funny picture of Gino too. Him and Dominic were in the bathroom getting ready for their bath when I stepped out for a minute...next thing I know Dominic says "Gino fell in the tub!"....I come in to find this


I guess he was ready for his bath! I must not have been quick enough for him. What a goofball!





If anyone has talked to me or my mom you already know how badly I am ready to move back to Ohio. It has proved much harder than we imagined being away from everything familiar and our families....maybe harder for me in that sense because I have never lived further than 20 minutes away from home. We both want to though in the very near future...it's just a matter of making it happen. We are signed into a 1 year lease here, but we have ways around it. Andy would also need to find a job first. He does have a good paying job here, and they treat him very well, but he's not sure if he likes this type of work....though he is gaining some great computer knowledge...I think he even knows more than me about some things now! So, wish us luck.

There hasn't been anything happening with our house either...very disappointing. But I suppose it's the market right now. If you hear of anyone looking, please be sure to tell them about it.

If anyone hears of a job opening that would be right for Andy too please let us know.
And please continue to keep us in your prayers as we try to figure out this mess of a life we've created. Thanks everyone!

And if I don't get a chance to write before ......

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND HAVE A
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(wow! long blog...I think my fingers are getting tired!)

Life's Ups & Downs

Well, where to begin?...It's been a while since my last entry. Nothing too exciting going on lately. Unless ya'll want to hear about me wrecking my truck. Yup, ran right into the back tire of a semi while switching lanes (coming to a red light)...Not so pretty, but nobody was hurt. Only damaged right front of my truck and slit the trucks tire. It was stupid...but also just an accident. Not used to these "city" drivers I guess. I drove it home and the insurance company sent a tow truck to pick it up. Should have it back Wednesday. I will be happy to have it back.It's always great having a 4-year old with you when you do something stupid to, because they are great at reminding you ...over and over and over again. "Boy mom, you really wrecked your truck" "You shouldn't have run into that truck mom" "I have to tell Jared and Jacelyn at Christmas that you hit a truck".....yes, the comments go on and on. That's not all, the rest of that afternoon he kept running his bike into "other" bikes and wrecking. But, life goes on.....
Other than that we are just enjoying the last few nice days we have been given before it gets cold later this week. Today it was a high of 72 and it will be a high of 28 and snow come Wednesday. Lovely.
My mom will be visiting this week. I am looking forward to seeing her. So is Dominic.


Gino's latest word is "Lightning" (from the movie CARS). He loves to say that and "dad". He is also beginning to do everything Dominic does. He follows him everywhere and watches everything he does so he can do it to. This could be trouble. He is still teething....that goes on forever I think. Needless to say, not much sleeping going on around here.


Dominic's favorite thing to do right now, besides try to be just like Andy, is to play with his "real" train track that Andy built for him. He set up an old train that Jim Bussell gave to him. He LOVES it. He will spend hours in the basement playing (as long as Gino leaves him alone).


We would also like to wish EVERYONE a very...
(We will be spending Thanksgiving at my friend Laura's house with many friends. Should be a nice day with lots of food...she loves to cook)

*Added more pictures at bottom of page*

Denver Zoo

On Sunday the Denver Zoo had a free day, so we decided to go (only 1/2hr away). Glad we went soon as it opened, because it got VERY busy. Pretty nice zoo though....lots of animals and cool habitats. There were baby giraffes, a baby zebra, baby kangaroos and baby deer. Dominic loved the elephants the best. Gino didn't care for any of it really, but he did seem interested in the Zebra's. Isn't the baby adorable???


Here is a picture of the baby giraffe too. We didn't go in very many buildings, because it was too crowded. Maybe some other time. Most of the animals were all out in the sun anyways. It was a nice 71 degree day.

DOMINIC would like everyone to know that he can now ride his bike without training wheels!!! We took them off because he has rarely been using them. He rides like a pro. Got right on and went without falling and even stopped all by himself the first time! We are very proud of him. He is so very excited too. He has lots of "bike races" that we have to watch. He goes pretty fast, thank goodness for helmets...but he is very good on it. "Look Ma! No Training Wheels!!!"

Snow In The Mountains

Hi everyone! Nothing new and exciting happening in our part of the country. Well, we did attempt to rake our 5 leaves from our one little tree in our front yard. We managed to get just enough to make a small pile to play in. Dominic had fun. Gino didn't want to play in them...but he did help rake.

I thought I would also share some pictures I took from a road behind our house of the snow covered mountains. Very pretty. They have gotten about 3 feet of snow there already. It is still nice sunny and warm where we are. 70's at the moment. I'm sure the snow isn't far away though.

I had Gino's 15 mos pictures taken yesterday, that is always a treat! Normally you can look at him cross-eyed and he laughs hysterically, but of course not when you want him too. We did manage to get a couple cute pictures out of him with Dominic's help though. He is really beginning to watch and try to do whatever he sees us doing. Him and Dominic have lots of fun playing this game as you can imagine. He is finally waving "bye bye". His favorite thing to say is "knock knock". Him and Dominic like to hide in the huge closets (Gino is usually knocking to get in or out). He also likes to use a napkin at mealtimes to try to wipe his face (doesn't help much with the food strewn all over the floor...but every little bit helps I guess!). He is definetly a character and keeps us all smiling. Dominic most enjoys riding his bike every chance he gets...and it didn't take them long to realize how much fun it is to throw balls, socks, shoes, etc from the top of the steps (over the railing of course).

Each day is full of new adventures in our house. We would also like to know what is going on in your lives, be sure to keep us posted!

Our First Snowfall!

Check out the snow! It was 78 yesterday and 40 today! We got at least 3 inches of snow. Dominic had a great time playing in it. He was making snowballs and throwing them at the door and sledding in our backyard. We have the perfect little hill for him to sled on! Gino wasn't so sure of it...pretty cold and windy for him. He looked darn cute bundled in his snow pants though. It is supposed to be 65 again later this week. And we thought Cleveland had crazy weather!

Fall is in the Air

It has all of a sudden turned fall....you would not believe the sky!!! WOW! Is it breathtaking to look at the cloud fomations and how they change. It has gotten a little cooler too. We had to break out the jackets yesterday.

The mountains had their first big snowfall the other day. Usually a drive to Wal-Mart would be boring, but not when you can watch the mountains with snow covered peaks! Didn't have my camera along, sorry. They were georgeous though! I am sure I will get more kodak moments in the months to come.

We live right next to Buckley Air Force Base so the jets that fly by are so cool to watch. Dominic loves seeing them fly right over our house (some look like they are going to rub the roof tops!). There are some that rattle the windows too when they fly by. It doesn't get old though. We like watching them.

One of many adventures to the mountains

Today it was a nice cool fall day and we took a drive to the mountains (only about and hour to hour/half away). It was around 60 degrees at home but when we got to the top of one of the mountains (at about 8,000 feet) it had dropped 20 degrees. We had rain (thunder/lightning), hail, sleet and snow all in the matter of seconds! It was pretty amazing. Dominic enjoyed seeing snow, though we had been in search of fall foilage. We ended up driving through a place called Central City and Blackhawk. Small towns, but BIG on casinos. It was an old train station town, so Dominic enjoyed seeing the trains they had all over. We went off on any dirt road we could find...just to see where it took us. Dominic wanted to go "mudding" of course. "Not in mommy's truck!" Maybe him and daddy can go find mud another time.

The views were georgeous, even though it was cloudy. We saw a heard of deer cross the road too. It is crazy to see HUGE houses perched on top of every mountain top. I can only imagine the view from some of them.

We also went to the Bass Pro Shop. That place is HUGE. Gino and Dominic enjoyed playing on all the ATV's and climbing in the boats. Gino did not like all the animal displays though.

Enjoy the pictures!!! Hopefully will go exploring again next weekend!

First post

Well, we are slowly adjusting to our new life in Colorado. The weather is great! Very cold for sleeping and waking, but warm and sunny by afternoon. The mountains are breathtaking!!! Also love the HUGE shopping center (Southlands) only 10 minutes away! We still get very homesick at times...but hopefully that will pass in the months to come.

Dominic loves riding his bike and scooter on the sidewalk (and street). Gino loves pushing his cozy coupe around. Our driveway is slanted down so he stands at the top and pushes his car down so he can run after it. He has the scraped up knees to prove it, but he has fun.

Gino has discovered that steps are fun....but not all the time. He has taken many tumbles. Luckily no serious injuries.

Dominic met a new friend yesterday. He is our next door neighbor and is 5. He also has a scooter and bike. They enjoyed playing with his t-ball set too.

Well, bye for now! There will be more to come soon I am sure.

I will post more pictures soon too.