Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Eric and I have had an amazingly fun and BUSY month of November. We have hosted both sets of parents, along with my sister and her boyfriend, at our house on two separate weekends and snuck in a trip to Florida somewhere in between. (Someday I promise to get around to blogging about it all!). It was 2.5 weeks of straight fun and leisure but also a lot of work and preparation. So, when Thanksgiving weekend rolled around we were thankful to finally lay down our tour guide and tourist hats for four whole days of rest and relaxation.

Of course, Eric and I don't know how to relax for very long...

We had one full day of rest and indulged in a wonderful and extremely relaxing Thanksgiving with other military couples and individuals who, like us, could not go home for the holiday. Rebecca and Ryan hosted a fantastic dinner!

The Butler's hosted 14 people at their house for Thanksgiving and somehow I only managed to get this picture of the food and her in-laws. Looks yummy though, right?!

We couldn't wait to crash early on Thanksgiving night so we could wake up early and go SNOWBOARDING the next day! (I told you we don't relax much). We topped off our Thanksgiving night with a few rounds of Rummikub and chai tea lattes cozied up by the fire in our PJ's.

And the next day we went SNOWBOARDING! If you can't tell by the all block capital letters, I LOVE SNOWBOARDING! And I especially love snowboarding with Eric. It is my all time favorite outdoor activity that we partake in together. How lucky are we to live in Colorado right now?! It is pretty sweet to live within 2 hours of 10+ swanky ski resorts that all put even Mammoth to shame!



I was pretty stoked wear my new helmet and goggles!



And Eric was just stoked!

Saturday and Sunday we got into the Christmas Spirit and transformed our house into a winter wonderland.
My husband pretty much rocks and took Christmas to a whole new level this year. I've always wanted a light up reindeer in our front yard during the holidays and this year he made my dream come true! He even added in some sparkly twinkle light presents and candy canes in the windows! Swoon...


The candycanes were not hung outside of the windows yet in this picture (just propped up inside) but you can ignore that :)



Our pet reindeer! And pretty presents!

As if spending his Saturday hanging lights and making our house look awesome wasn't enough, Eric spent Sunday running around like elves with me. He drove me AND shopped with me at Pottery Barn, Home Depot, TJ Maxx, Verizon, Costco, Dick's Sporting Goods, Lowe's, and the grocery store. It's as if he knew that decorating and filling our house with holiday cheer when we're so far away from family was just what his little wife needed. As an added bonus, we are also half way done with Christmas shopping!

Happy Holidays! Hope you are getting in the holiday spirit too!

Small Town USA

     Eric and I are 100% certain that the best feature of moving around with the military is the opportunity it gives us to easily visit new places surrounding our new home(s). Visiting Eric's brother's family in Nebraska is obviously no exception to this! Yes, it just so happens that five hours outside of Colorado Springs, Eric's brother, Scott, is a Sheriff in a small town. So, when the Miller clan planned to meet out there to welcome Scott and Stephanie's new baby, Seylah, and celebrate older sister, Savannah's, 4th birthday we loaded down the ol' wagon and spent one weekend in September in Grant, Nebraska aka Small Town USA!

Please, press play on the video below as you scroll through the photos that follow!

     I couldn't help but replay all of my favorite country songs in my head the whole weekend. Most notably Jason Aldean's "Fly Over States" and Justin Moore's "Small Town USA". Let's just say I understand why God made those Fly Over States!

     On a side note, I realize how behind I am on this blog and am not oblivious to the fact that I am writing about events that took place in September when it is already mid November! Happy Thanksgiving all!

Halloween

It's fair to say Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I can't put my finger on why this is exactly. It's not like anyone poisoned my candy, or like I was ever frightened so bad that I peed my princess costume. And it's not like my mom ever dressed me up in anything so ridiculous on Halloween that I just couldn't face my first grade class on November 1st. (Looking back, that Hershey Kiss costume in kindergarten was actually kind of amazing)! With my unwarranted lack of enthusiasm for Halloween aside, I do, however, enjoy a good fright in a spooky haunted house and can appreciate a beautiful, crisp fall night searching for our perfect pumpkin at a pumpkin patch!

We definitely drove 60 miles south to Canon City, CO because Eric found a pumpkin patch that had a corn maze! Totally worth it!

Especially since they had a corn bin that Brody could play in too!

Although Brody couldn't participate in carving, we sure had fun turning our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.

Our Masterpieces!

Halloween was low key and wonderful. We spent time in the kitchen making some homemade beef stew and simultaneously handing out candy to rugrats.

We also met more of our neighbors, two of which brew their own beer and just so happen to live directly across the street. Lucky for us, they also like to share! I wonder what Eric's next hobby will be?

So, I guess Halloween isn't terrrrrible I'm just much more of a Thanksgiving and Christmas kinda girl.

Next year I promise to try and get into the spirit a little more and maybe even come up with a creative costume. If not for me, at least for Brody.

An Odd October

This month was not my favorite. At the beginning of October Eric was sent on a mid-week TDY (military talk for business trip). This is not uncommon. In fact, Eric has gone on numerous TDY's, all of which Brody and I would drive a mere 2 hours south for and spend the duration of Eric's TDY at my parent's house. While on one hand, it was awesome to spend this time with my family, on the other hand it has made adjusting to Eric's business trips a tad bit more difficult now that we live in Colorado and I can't just go home whenever he leaves. (Well, I guess I COULD, but I need to get used to this, right?) Needless to say, I was not looking forward to Eric's TDY in early October. Sleeping alone in a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom house all by my lonesome and over 1,000 miles from my closest family member just doesn't register very high on my "fun radar".

Eric, knowing I was feeling apprehensive about him leaving, left me this creative surprise:



A TDY Survival Kit

Cant forget the roses by the bath tub. Sigh...



Surprisingly, the TDY was cake. Cake compared to the 2.5 weeks of night shifts that took up the rest of the month. You see, Eric works in Air Force Space Command as a satellite analyst.  Being that he works with GPS satellites, he has to support new launches every now and again.  Certain orbits require the crew to come in and work at night since that is when the satellite is in view of ground stations that allow the crew to communicate with it.  The new satellite that launched this October had this particular orbit, which is why Eric had to go in at night this month. Hopefully the next launch will not be for a very long time, but because of the satellites he supports, I am able to navigate to Starbuck's when in uncharted territory.  So.....I guess it's ok.

While navigation is great, this crazy schedule took a toll on me! I couldn't sleep and ended up with a nasty cold. Boo.

It also took a toll on Brody who was completely confused as to why Dad was leaving in the evening, not home all night, and then sleeping all day. He became super protective of the house and then began acting like a spoiled kid who wasn't getting enough attention. He lashed out in very interesting ways. First, he tore apart the book I was reading for my book club (luckily, with the help of Scotch tape, the Library did not charge me for it). He also chewed through our locked trash can while we were on a shopping excursion in Denver. All of these actions are not normal for our sweet Brody!



Bad, Brody!



Towards the end of Eric's night shifts we truly think Brody was undergoing a case of depression! Yes, folk it is possible! Coincidentally, the minute Eric's night shifts ended, so did Brody's depression.

Tomorrow is Halloween and the FINAL day of October. Thank God!

November is going to rock.

Glenwood Springs

Over Labor Day we decided to take advantage of the four day weekend and go on a family vacation. On our move from California, we drove through the cute little town of Glenwood Springs and knew we had to go back for a visit soon! When my parents drove my car out they actually stayed in Glenwood Springs and loved it! Mostly because of the historic and dog friendly Hotel Colorado!

Hotel Colorado was built in 1893 and mainly served the wealthy and society's elite. Many Presidents have visited the hotel including William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. In fact, according to legend, the Hotel Colorado is where the teddy bear received its birth! Today the hotel is considered one of America's Most Presidential Getaways.

The hotel is truly a magical place. I joked with Eric that I felt like there were fairies in the bushes and pixie dust floating all around me! The aura that emerged between the twinkle lights, the charming downtown, the beautiful garden and lively entertainment was enchanting. It felt like a mountain fantasy land!

The drive to Glenwood was amazing and the vacation really started off there! The road went through all of Colorado's beautiful ski resorts- Copper, Vail, and Breckenridge to name a few. Every turn seemed to offer something more beautiful than the last!

Shortly after arriving in Glenwood we ate dinner at Baron's in the courtyard of the Hotel Colorado. The Chef of that restaurant used to be Oprah's chef!

Our entertainment for the evening was a comedy, song, and dance at the Glenwood Vaudeville Revue! It completely fit the theme for the weekend (staying at an old historic hotel and all) and took us back 100 years to something Theodore Roosevelt himself may have enjoyed! The Vaudeville Revue was hilarious and had us doubled over in laughter. The next time we go back to Glenwood we will be going back to the Vaudeville Revue! After the show we walked back to our hotel and I was so excited to finally have a view of the hotel in the dark! I. LOVE. twinkle. lights! We enjoyed a couple of beers in the courtyard and Brody (and his new friends) joined us.

The next day we hiked to Hanging Lake. So beautiful!

After our morning hike the hot springs were calling our names.

We spent the afternoon soaking our bones in the natural pools before heading back to the hotel for a much needed nap. This was then followed by beers in the courtyard and dinner at (no exaggeration) the BEST restaurant I have EVER eaten at! It is called Pullman's and it was absolutely exquisite! 

We then mosied our way on over to Doc Holiday Bar before returning back to our Brody Boy at the hotel. 

Hotel management loved our pup so much! They let us take him off leash in the lobby and he loved every second of it!

The next morning it was time to head home, but the vacation was far from over! On our way home we stopped for lunch in Frisco and for some shopping in Breckenridge!

It turns out Breckenridge was having some great Labor Day sales so I scored on a new snowboarding helmet, new goggles, and a neck gator for next season! Seeing the slopes and being in a ski town got Eric and I so antsy for snow season! We cannot wait to put our new gear and our snowboarding passes to use!

Finally, we had one last stop to make on our journey home and that was none other than Fairplay, CO just so Eric could get this picture:

Gotta love South Park :)