The Traveling 12 Days of Christmas

And we are off for 12 festive and fun filled days with friends and family across Colorado.

We will be with Hill's family in Denver for Christmas Eve and morning and then off to Holyoke for Christmas Day through the 30th with Annie's family.

We will return to Denver in time to ring in the New Year and for Annie and Hill to get their Panic on at the Widespread show at the Pepsi center.

We will stay through Saturday the 3rd when we will celebrate the season one last time with the Ortner's.

Then, back home to the Winter Wonderland we call home...Steamboat.

With all the coming and going these holidays, we got Emery a portable DVD player. Here he is in the backseat with his sunglasses AND headphones on. Too cool for school!

Christmas Cards

It is the Monday before Christmas...and our cards have yet to come in the mail. Wanting to be both environmentally and financially conscious, we opted to do postcards this year. (No envelope to throw away and less money spent on stamps.) We ordered them back on the 9th thinking we had plenty of time. But alas, they are still not here. And, we leave tomorrow to celebrate the season with our families in Denver and Holyoke.

But, we wanted to be sure to say Happy Holidays to each of you...and look for cards maybe in the new year.

Here is what you have to look forward to! :)

James and Grace Come to Visit

This weekend Annie's brother Christopher and his family came to visit us in Steamboat. It was so fun for them to come. Hill was able to teach his 7th and 8th Austin family member to ski. Grace liked it...but James loved it. I think he would still be out on the slopes if we would have let him.

We had a great time playing in the snow! We can't wait for Chris, Julie, James and Grace to come back again!


Cuddling up together to watch A Christmas Story. I think it is only fitting that the first time Emery met Ralphie and heard about the official red ryder bb gun he was with his uncle Chris.


James reading to Emery before bedtime.


Emery and Gracie brushing their teeth.


Everyone went sledding on the hill behind our house Sunday morning. It was a treat!


James and the Giant Icicle.

It's begining to look alot like Christmas...

As most of you know, I'm a bit of a nut for holiday decor. At last count, I have 119 snowmen in my collection. Hill was a bit surprised when he married me that I came all this merriment. But, when you are the goddaughter of an owner of a gift shop who sells Department 56 Snow Villages and the niece of an Aunt who got you a very special Christmas ornament each year...you have lots of good stuff!


But, I am happy to say that my excitement for decorating the inside of the house has finally been met with my husbands excitement for decorating the outside of the house.

And Emery got in the spirit this year, too. He put FIVE ornaments on this one branch. He was very, very proud of himself!

Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum

For the last two years we have hiked into the forest to cut our own Christmas tree. It is beautiful to be out in the trees and nature...but there are no packed paths to the perfect tree. And after post-holing in hip deep snow for an hour, we looked at each other and asked why we just didn't pay the $75 for the one in the grocery store parking lot. Fa, la, la, la, la.


All ready to head in!


Emery thought that eating the snow was the best part.


Here comes Hill with the tree over his shoulder. Such a good guy.


And we've got it! Not really sure what we were thinking taking the VW and not the Land Rover to get the tree. Oh well...more Clark Griswold this way.

Parade of Lights

To celebrate Annie's mom's birthday, much of her family was able to gather in Denver for a yummy Italian meal at at Pagliacci's and then head downtown for the Parade of Lights. It was so fun to be together. And even though the birthday girl was in a foot cast, she was able to keep up with her of grandchildren.


The grandkids perched on top of the newspaper boxes to get a better view.


James was in awe of the Rudolph and his big red nose!


Emery, Hill, Mom and Dad watching Dennis the Menace round the corner towards the Daniels and Fisher tower. When we asked Emery later what his favorite part of the parade was, he said the great big Uncle Dennis balloon.

Happy Thanksgiving

There is so much to be thankful for this year. In such uncertain times, the love of family means so much.
We were fortunate to be able to celebrate the holiday with Hill's family in Denver. His mother and Hugh have just moved into their beautiful new home and opened it to each of us. Lauren is home safe and sound from a semester in South Africa. Bryson and Kathryn came from Portland with their new baby girl. And Amy was had an amazing year with the first graduating class from her first high school in May and the opening of her second high school in August.


We are so blessed.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.- Melody Beattie


(Thanks, Jenelle, for the quote...it is beautiful.)

Show and Tell

After our trip to Portland, Annie and Emery headed to Holyoke to help Trudy with her kids while Dennis is in India for work. Emery simply adores Austin, Josie and Lauren...so it will be a fun week.

Josie had show and tell today and wanted to bring in Emery. He was a big hit and gave everyone in the classroom a high five.

Addilyn and Portland

We were so lucky to be able to travel to Portland this week to meet Addilyn and spend some time with Hill's brother Bryson and his wife Kathryn. They have a beautiful home in a beautiful location. We will treasure the time spent with them. It was so special to see the three of them as a new family. Thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of this very intimate time.

Addilyn with her Uncle Hill and cousin Emery.


Hill putting Addilyn in the magic sideways hold to calm her. And Bryson putting Emery in the magical upsidedown hold to un-calm him.


The Slothower ladies.


Emery listening to a secret from Addi. What do you think she is telling him?


Emery, Hill and Kathryn at the water crank in the Portland Children's Museum


Emery brushing the alligator's teeth at the museum. (This one is for you, Russ and Julie.)


Emery and the St. John's Bridge.

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween Emery dressed up as "Max" from the children's book Where the Wild Things Are.


Emery as "Max."


Emery in his wolf suit admiring his daddy's handy work on his annual "Steal Your Face" Jack-O-Lantern. GOGD

He was very excited to put on his costume when he woke up from his nap at 4pm and kept in on until 10:30 that night. We went downtown for Steamboat's annual Trick or Treat street. It was really nice weather and Emery loved collecting all the candy and seeing all the other kids (and adults) dressed up in their costumes.


On our way to trick or treat street.


"Let the wild rumpus start!"


Emery and Hill in the "Haunted Hallway" at a local Real Estate office.


"And he tamed them with the magic trick of starting into all their yellow eyes..."
The staff at the local book store was so excited to see a Emery dressed up as a literary character that they had him pose for pictures with their "Wild Thing" stuffed animal.


Wild Thing, I think I love you.


The whole family...pretty scary crew, huh?

After trick or treating, we headed out to Kim & Peter Kreissig's house for a Halloween party. They had their house decked out and Pete had constructed a haunted house in their garage. (Hill was one of the spooks inside). It was a great time and Emery loved dancing with the big kids and playing with Jake and Taylor's toys.


Emery walking through the haunted archway up Kim & Pete's driveway.


Emery with Auntie Cheryl and Kimmers.


Emery with his daddy the spook...doesn't Emery look terrified? :-)



Emery with his buddy the Carving Cowboy and a steaming cauldron of Monster Juice.


A kiss from his fairy godmother disguised tonight as the blue M & M.

On the way home, Emery announced that Halloween was his FAVORITE day!

A movie based on Where the Wild Things Are is coming out next October. And guess who the screen play writer is? Dave Eggers! Isn't that WILD? He is also releasing a novel next year based on the book to coincide with the release of the movie. Dave is an author who first became acquainted with Hill's sister Amy through correspondence about one of his first books. He worked closely with Hill's mom for a fundraiser for the Webb-Waring Institute and gave a very generous donation for cancer research. He later climbed Kilimanjaro with Hill and his brother and sister. Maybe we should forward a picture of Emery and see if he needs a model for his cover artwork!

Happy 10th Birthday, Austin!

From Emery and His Llama!

And Aunt Annie and Uncle Hill, too.

First Snow

We had our first snow this afternoon. Emery and his dad were excited to see the white stuff. But, I'm not quite ready for it. We had our last snow here mid June. So, that left us only 4 months without it. Is it to much to ask for just a little more time? Oh well. Wishing for no snow in a ski town probably isn't the best thing to do. Maybe I'll go get a little cheese to go with my whine.

Way Down Yonder in the Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we traveled to Holyoke for a little bit of Family Fall Fun! Emery had a fun time playing with his cousins. The highlight of our stay was a trip to Imperial, Nebraska to a place called Cox's Pond. Like a page out of a storybook, a beautiful fall scene unfolded before us. With pumpkin lined ponds, a hay rack ride that lead us to a slightly spooky corn maze and a huge water trough full of corn...we had a great time! And Grandma Ortner came, too!

Emery in front of a great big SPIDER!

James and Emery in their overalls.

Children of the corn.

Josie being spooked by Papa under the big black cat. (Emery is not sure what is going on.)

Lauren offering Emery a tour of all the pumpkins.

And these are pictures from the hay rack ride and the "rooms" in the corn maze. There was a "Bat-room," a "Witch-en" and instead of a Living Room, a "Dead Room."

We can't wait to come back next year!