What We've Been Up To {{InstaFriday}}

Good morning friends!

Since it's been awhile, I thought I'd catch you up on what we've been up to via phone photos.

I spent last Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Sportsman's Expo in Denver.

By far the biggest show that I've ever exhibited at.

To set up, you actually drove onto the show floor -- the Colorado Convention Center.

It was quite the experience!

 

Friday night, John Wayne came to the city and stayed with me.
We took a pedicab to dinner in Downtown Denver.
It was such a fun date night!

Sunday was game day -- the Goldings were game day ready!

We watched the game with Justin's work family at Old Chicago.

So.much.fun!

The night, we headed out for family date night -- burgers, fries and ice cream! 

Monday, while John Wayne was in meetings, the kids and I did a little shopping.

Our Old Navy store rocks -- coloring for the kids, balloons, a gigantic bouncy ball machine.

Between our time at Old Navy and Chick-Fil-A's play place, the kids had a really fun time!

We didn't make it to the Stock Show as a family this year.
John Wayne went Saturday with some friends and I went Wednesday for work.

I hope that you've had a good week and here's to a great weekend!
We don't have much planned this weekend...yay!

Oh.
Did you hear???
Our Broncos are going to the SUPER BOWL!!!

Cowboy the Elf

This year, we did Elf on the Shelf for the first time.

Our Elf, Cowboy, arrived the Saturday after Thanksgiving and each morning until Christmas, the kids woke to find where Cowboy was and what mischief he had gotten into while they were sleeping.

As you can imagine, it was a big hit with the Little Lady!

 

One highlight was when Cowboy brought T a new Rapunzel outfit with a note to "Get up and put this on, you're going to go somewhere fun."

Gaga, T and I had an awesome fun girls day in Denver at Disney on Ice.

I'm pretty sure the Little Lady's face says it all!  

On Christmas Eve morning {he went back to the North Pole after this}, Cowboy made the kids a special breakfast, left them a farewell note and gave them a present.

I totally had fun doing this and will definitely do it again next year!

simplify

I have a word for 2014...

Doesn’t need much explanation does it?

 

It simply means, if you come to my kid’s birthday party, you might get store bought cupcakes.

If I give you a gift, it might not be handmade.

If you ask me to do something, I might say no.

Things like that.

 

If you know me at all, you know that I like to have the best parties, the best gifts, be involved in everything, etc.  And it’s finally caught up with me.  I have been really sick twice in the past six weeks and I chalk that up to simply not getting enough sleep. 

 

I can say that I almost never sacrifice time with my family to do all these projects, I do them after the kids have gone to bed. 

Did I mention that we have two night owls who stay up until around 10 o’clock most every night. 

And I get up at 5AM to exercise before work.  

So by the time I get my projects done, that often times puts me at 4-5 hours of sleep a night. 

My body is speaking up and I am finally listening.

 

Plus, I’m looking forward to a simpler, dare I say it, slower paced, year!

Like yesterday, I finished a book…that I started six months ago.

 

So, I’m just telling you all this because, well, I don’t know…my blog may get really boring while I’m busy being simple!

 

Happy 2014 friends!

Christmas!!!

Christmas morning was really fun at our house this year!

We finally woke our little sleepy heads up at 9AM!!! and told them that Santa had came.

{It worked out awesome, gave the guys a chance to get chores done and me a chance to get myself ready and breakfast made, all before presents!}

The Little Lady got her beloved Saige.  The American Girl Doll that she has been wanting for the past six months.  Santa really wanted to get GW something cool, but wasn't sure what GW would like this year.  Then he remembered this cattle truck that his elves had made and thought that was just the thing since GW loves to watch the trucks come and go. 

John Wayne and I decided on one big present for each of the kiddos this year.

T got her "iPad" {LeapPad Ultra} which has been a big hit and GW got his brand belt buckle.

Gaga and Papa came up to watch the kids open their presents from Santa and us.  Then we all opened our stockings and after breakfast headed to "the Greats" {my Grandpa and Grandma's} house for lunch with my aunts, uncles and cousins.

 

This is the best we got as far as a family Christmas photo this year : )

And it seems as though this is always were my camera gets pushed aside and I quit taking pictures.

After lunch and presents with my Dad's family, we all loaded up in the Suburban for a 100 mile trip to my other Grandparent's house for Christmas dinner with my Mom's family.

A busy, busy day, but so blessed to celebrate the birth of our Savior with all of our family.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was great!  

The kids and I slept in and then the kids had their farewell breakfast from Cowboy the Elf {I'll post on Cowboy soon}.

I got the pot of green chili started.

When John Wayne and my Dad got in from chores, we had green chili for lunch and watched some John Wayne.

Green chili and The Duke, that means it's Christmas Eve at the Golding's.

That evening, we mixed up our "normal" Christmas schedule and opened presents at Gaga and Papa's.

My mom fixed us a great meal and then we opened presents.

We usually open presents Christmas morning at my Mom and Dad's, but with the kids and Santa at our house, then rushing down to my Mom and Dad's, hurrying to get to my Grandparent's by lunch, it was all too much.  Opening presents with Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve worked great, made for a much more relaxed and enjoyable time!

The Little Lady decided we should wear our fancy clothes.

 

T's favorite present from Gaga and Papa was her new Rapunzel dress.  

The one they got her last year is literally in rags, because she wears it every.single.day all.day.long.

GW loves his Mickey Mouse that Gaga and Papa got him.

Mickey sings the "hot dog, hot dog..." song, to which GW repeated "hot dog!"

A little post present opening fun!

 

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After Gaga and Papa's, it was time to head home and get ready for Santa Claus.

Another tradition at our house is the kids get to open one present -- new pajamas, an ornament for their collection, a book and this year a movie, too.

Once they were in their new Christmas jammies, we got Santa and his reindeer's milk, cookies and carrots ready and then read our new book and watched our new movie.  It was a really fun night!

Christmas {Part 1 & 2}

I'm finally getting around to posting about our Christmas festivities!

The Sunday before Christmas, we had lunch at Justin's Grandma's house in Colorado Springs. The kids were very excited to go to Gigi's and play with their cousins.

The Little Lady was so excited to wear her fancy new Christmas dress, but then we had a major disaster. The shoes that I had bought for her to wear just like six short weeks ago {can you say growth spurt?!?} didn't fit, so in this little diva's eyes, "Christmas was ruined." Luckily this is the one Christmas that we had to go to the city for, so disaster adverted, we detoured to Kohls on the way to Gigi's house for new shoes and Christmas was no longer ruined. Although, her Daddy saw absolutely nothing wrong with these boots with this dress. Which really there wasn't. But, the Little Lady needed pink shoes!

The Little Lady just adores her big cousin Morgan. They got new dollies from Gigi.

Monday {the 23rd}, we hosted Justin's Dad and brother and family at our house for Christmas. I made a big Christmas meal and we all enjoyed the evening together.

Love this pic of big sis literally holding onto little brother.

And of course T and GW both just adore their big cousins who are so good to them.

Lots more Christmas pictures to come!