Ringing in 2017

After returning from our hike date, we go things in order to have a little New Years party with the girls. We did Fondue again. I'm sure our little spread didn't hold a candle to my parents Fondue Parties that I envied as a kid, but these guys thought it was the bomb!

 After we finally put the forks down, we watched some AFV and then everyone had come up with a game to play. Mark typically just wings it but he did purchase a bag of candy earlier in the day, so he must have thought it out some. He put us in two teams and one person from each team hid Reese's and the other two found them. The twist was that you hide for the person on the other team to find so you wanted to make it hard for them. Didn't see that coming did you? Emmrey taught us a game she played at school where you have to work as a team to pass the TP through legs and back over the top without breaking it. 

 We made it all the way to the end of the roll .. Go Team!

 Karsy's game was picking a card with a nonsense word that you had to read with an emotion on another card. I smoked everyone ... I guess I am pretty good with reading emotions;)

Next was candy ball game... or New Years ball in this case. I wrapped little treats and even a few bucks in the plastic wrap and you could unwrap and keep the items until someone else rolled doubles. Not a very original game {Pinterest;}, but a good standby and the girls had fun with it.

 And finally, Bailee did the dime in the flour game again. Always fun unless you end up having to move the dime with your nose.

Bailee crashed around 10:30 and the rest of us were barely hanging on {except for maybe Kars}. We actually did make it to midnight and toasted in the New Year. I was too tired to remember to take photos. Here's hoping 2017 brings more adventures and good memories!

Gem Lake

For our last date in 2016, Mark and I decided to take a hike. We headed to Estes Park/RMNP for a 3.5 mile hike to Gem Lake.

 The weather was clear and sunny and other than it being a little on the windy side, it was pretty ideal for December.

 Still smiling about half way to our destination

 I was excited to try out my new gaiters and crampons. Initially the trail was so dry I didn't think I really needed them.

 There were definitely spots that had been protected from the sun.

 As we neared the top we found this interesting rock. Looked like a foot to me {with a hole in it}.

 Coincidentally, the hole peeked right through to part of  a tree making for a pretty cool image.

When we reached the top we were a little disappointed in the lake. Not much of a "Gem" in the winter. It was all dried up and what little was left was frozen, but it was a nice setting.

We enjoyed a snack and the fishy smell for a while

 Heading down was a bit tricky/icy in spots and I was glad I had those crampons ... they worked real good;) Mark had forgotten his and so I offered to lead in case I needed to break his fall ... HA!

It was so nice to experience a Colorado trail without other hikers right in front or behind you. Doesn't happen in the summer months. Surprisingly it was not so quiet in Estes Park. We stopped in at Peppers for some lunch and Laura's for a Caramel Apple. The streets were quite full of people celebrating the Holiday. I always enjoy a trip to Estes Park and especially love spending the day with my Marko:)

The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya

Last winter Mark and I stumbled upon a pretty remarkable site on our Anniversary outing. It just so happened to be a place that Bailee had originally told us about wanting to visit. 

 She was not super happy that we had gone there without her. With everyone having some time off after Christmas and Bailee really in need of a shake up, I suggested Mark take her on an outing to the Shambhala Mountain Center.  

offerings left outside Stupa

 It is quite unexpected as the Stupa itself isn't even visible until you have traveled nearly 20 minutes on the trail. By then it is just looming over the treetops.

Bailee getting a good look

 The colors on this are unbelievably vibrant. Although I wasn't there on this visit, I remember the peaceful almost eerie quiet. I am told that this time there was someone in the Stupa meditating which added an interesting component. 

 Stupas are said to promote harmony, prosperity, longevity, good health and peace. 

Sure hope that holds true for Bailee {and the rest of us}. 

The EVES

At our house we have a little celebrator! Emmrey will look for any reason to celebrate or count down an occasion. Yes it may be overzealous but it's also charming;) We get a daily briefing of not only how many days until Christmas and Christmas Eve, but also how many days until the Eve of Christmas Eve. On the "Eve of Eve" we cleaned the church and then treated the girls to Starbucks {Bailee was at the club}

 On the official Eve of Christmas, we started the day with a hike. It has become tradition since moving to Colorado that Mark and I go for a hike in the morning. We have been lucky enough to have good weather those years. We hiked at Gateway Natural Area up Poudre Canyon. Most of the initial climb was in the shade but once we got to the top the sun felt so good! We sat there basking for a while and were surprised it was warm enough to have flies buzzing around.

When we returned we spent the rest of the day working on our puzzle ...
Bailee was the most diligent this year.

Later in the afternoon we made our Gingerbread Houses. This year they were not authentic as they were really Graham Cracker houses. I think we need to do the real thing next year cause I love that smell of baking gingerbread.

We did pull out the hair dryer but I don't know that we really needed it. That frosting hardened up pretty well on its own

The two oldest struggled a bit with their design. One tends to over think it and the other tries to hurry and gets frustrated if it doesn't work out just right;) Emmrey just throws all the candy she can on hers and eats equally as much. The finished masterpieces .... complete with a Tee-pee, buffalo, campfire and river as well as an outhouse with a little "extra detail" inside

After eating and hitting the hard stuff .... {straight up Nog}, we could take Emmrey's pleading to open her gift {to us} no longer. She had made each of us these cute little yarn hats at school. She wanted them opened because they are ornaments for the tree. She was so darn excited about those!

She had also made us these cute cards. I love her messages ... especially the "PS Bailee I don't want you to go to College".

 I think most kids made one or maybe two of the hats. Our Emmrey took the prize for making the most in the entire 4th grade .... 8 hats people! This wasn't all of them.

The girls opened their gift from us. You guessed it! PJ's and no book this year but the next three seasons of Little House. Bailee started with this love many years ago and now has her sisters loving it too. We finished our book The Best Christmas Pageant and then decided to watch the movie, tracked Santa for a bit. set out stockings and a treat and called it a night after reading the Christmas Story on Bailee's bed (since she was already in it;)