Fall Festivities

November 29, 2014

Fall Festivities

Greetings, loved ones! We have made it through our first 2.5 months of mountain life. All is going very well here in the front range.

Not too much has changed since my last newsletter. Jeremy has is still happily working from home and I have been picking up a few more hours at work. Work aside, we are enjoying the mountain sunsets and the Christmas lights that are being put up. Us mountain folk are a simple kind. :)

We spent Thanksgiving at Uncle David & Aunt Joyce's house this year. Aside from the schmorgasboard of good food, we got to enjoy some of the finest pumpkin ale and imperial stout crafted by Jason & Jeremy. There was plenty of football, laughs and corn-hole to go around…around the 28 foot Thanksgiving table!

This year, I decided to 'spice up' my usual Thanksgiving day dish by making a fun pumpkin spice dessert.

Considering my perfectionist tendencies, it is amazing that I ever finished. However, I think I have stumbled upon a new hobby.

The Williams' have this awesome Thanksgiving tradition of making a Christmas ornament together every year, this year we made these adorable little reindeer ornaments. Definitely the highlight of the evening for me.

The day after Thanksgiving, we joined the Williams clan for the downtown Parker lighting festival. While a part of me missed the Kansas City lighting ceremony that we typically patron, I was too distracted by the funnel cake smells, carolers, jingling sleigh rides, the warm gingerbread latte in my hand, and incredible lights in Parker to be sad for long. It was a great way to kick off the holiday season!

So there is no good way to subtly slip this in to the newsletter, but I want to brag for a bit about a recent accomplishment. One very large goal that we targeted after our nuptials was to pay off our student loans. So in just 5 short months, we can happily say that we are student loan free! (Yahoo!)

On that note, we have set sight on our next financial goals and have decided that we really like the location (& price) of our town home enough to stay for a few more years. So with that, I went to work on a little home improvement project. *Landlord approved.

Before:

(Almost Done) After:

Lastly, after years of battling Alzheimer's Disease, my grandpa, Don Davis passed away in October. He is finally at peace and back to his old, wonderful self. He was a great man and grandfather. He was a principal for many many years and eventually a superintendent. Career aside, Grandpa was a decorated World War II veteran, who served in the Battle of the Bulge, Africa and Japan during the war. He was a great role model in our family. He and my wonderful grandma, Jean were able to enjoy 63 years of marriage. We were fortunate enough to get to go back to Independence to be there for his memorial service.

I thankful that my grandpa to get to be in a better place. During the holiday season, I can't help but reflect and be grateful for the life that we have. I am looking forward to all the laughs and memories that are ahead.

Speaking of memories, here are a few fun moments from the past couple of weeks:

We have experienced our first snow of the season!