Steamboat Lake with the Gerdes Family

Steamboat Lake, Colorado, December 27-29

Our good friends Brian, Stephanie and their baby girl Sage were in town from Georgia. What better way to spend time with our out-of-state buddies than making a trip up to the Kois Cabin in Steamboat Lake (about a 5 hour drive from Denver). Brian is from Colorado, but Stephanie is a true southern belle straight from Atlanta who has never been snowmobiling, So we left Broomfield around 5:30pm and headed to Beau Jo's Pizza in Idaho Springs. Unfortunatley, we also hit all the skiers too as we had to wait a bit to get a table. But it was worth it. The Idaho Springs Beau Jo's Pizza is amazing - mountain pies at their finest.

One of my favorite things to do is see if I can hold my breath through the Eisenhower Tunnel. But usually I'm driving so I don't try it (my wife doesn't want me to pass out at the wheel because of a silly game). But since I wasn't driving, I got to try it. And guess what - I did it. I know, you're all so jealous.

But what you really should be jealous of is the sweet ride what got to drive in. Brian's brother let us use his Dodge 2500 pickup truck. This thing is fully loaded including DVD player with 3 screens (2 in the back and 1 in the front). I've never been in a car with a DVD system, but now I'm sold. Those things are mircale workers in terms of keeping everyone entertained. Rilynn was so impressed as well and now is thoroughly spoiled and will probablhy want one in our car too.

We arrived at the cabin just before midnight. Brian and I hiked in through waist-high snow. I went inside to flip on the heaters while Brian took a snowmobile to get the girls. But it didn't take long before Brian got stuck. Rookie mistake, but I can't blame him because I would have done the same thing too. We were supposed to cut a trail first before trying to pull a trailer with all our supplies. Oh well. After several minutes of digging and pulling, we were good to go.

After we got everything and everyone inside, we tried to go to sleep. But it was only 32 degrees inside. Brrr, that's cold. Everyone threw on a bunch of blankets and we eventuaull got some rest. When we got up in the morning, the cabin had warmed up to 40. A little better, but not much. Brian got a fire going and that really helped. By lunch, it was a nice 70 degrees.

The day was perfect for snowmobiling. Blue skies, no wind and tons of snow. It was incredible. Several times throughout the day I just stopped and looked at the beauty around. I am very blessed to have a place like the cabin to get away from it all with good friends and enjoy God's creation.

Rilynn did some snowmobiling too. Before I put her in my lap, I told her that if she needed something, then she should tap my leg. Seconds into our ride and she starts to tap my leg. I stop the snowmobile to see what's wrong. All she had to say was, "I love you daddy." I am a lucky father.

The evening was spent building towers out of dominoes, playing Go Fish with RIlynn and eating delicious chili. After the kids went to bed, we introduced Brian and Stephanie to the wonderful world of Catan (Catan = the awesomest board game ever invented). We definitely have a convert in Brian, maybe because he won, but we are still working on Stephanie.

The weather changed completely the next day. Instead of blue skies, calm winds, and great snowmobiling snow, we had whiteout conditions. The snowmobiling wasn't great, but we still got out a bit and had fun. Because it was snowing like crazy, we decided we better head home early just to be safe. And it was a great thing because had we stayed any longer, we wouldn't have been able to get out of the cabin.

It was a long, slow trip home. It took us over 7 hours and at times, was very miserable. But despite crying kids, cramped muscles and traffic jams, when you're with good friends, life is good.

Check out the photos

Video montage

Christmas Time is here!

December 1st slammed itself right into our life like a speedy train, right on track.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the end of the year comes. And each year, I look forward to Christmas time but then dread everything commercially attached to the holiday.

This year, we'll have a new approach.

As a family, we will make a conscious effort to stop and enjoy each other and to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

Yesterday, we went to a bookstore to buy The First Christmas Story, a beautiful childrens book written as the story is told through history. Rilynn's response to the meaning of Christmas ("presents and Santa") made me realize I wasn't doing a good job reinforcing why we celebrate. She had absorbed more from Dora the Explorer than from what I was saying (or not saying). So, we began to read. And we'll continue to read our book each day.

This practice is not just to teach my 3 year old where love came from. My heart always has a rough road this time of year too, trying to get into the spirit of things. My hope is that in reading this story each day, Jesus will bring joy into my heart and allow for enjoyment and purpose in everything I do.



Sugar cookie batter



So, clearly, the only way to begin the enjoyment is to start with some Christmas cookies! :) And the way I enjoy them most is by eating them. But also, taking pictures along the way...



There's something magical about making sugar cookies.

The beaters... who gets to lick 'em.

The delicious smell wafting from the kitchen that fills the home with sweet warmth.

And the shapes we cut the cookies in.

Angels, Stars, Shepherd staffs.

They each play a part in the story.

And this year, in memory of my
sweet Grandma Petersen,

I used her cookies cutters.

This cookie making session felt

extra special.







Fresh from the oven



Sweet Sparkly Sugary Star

 



May you and your family be warm in your home this Christmas,
surrounded in peace, hope and love.



Nuggets Family Night

Each year, we've begun sort of a tradition. We get the family 4 pack and take Pops to the Nuggets game. Comes with a drink and dinner too! It's lots of fun. Of course, Rilynn loves the pizza.

During the game, the fans around us were thoroughly entertained by the biggest fan in the stadium. Rilynn yelled at the top of her lungs. She yelled for Rocky, the Nuggets mountain lion masscot who is probably the best Masscot I've ever seen. He knows how to entertain. So the majority of the game, we were spotting him in the crowd.
And then, she saw it. The man with the cotton candy above his head. And of course, it is in her blood to need some, just like her Mama. :)
So we went on a hunt to find someone who takes credit cards since we used all our cash on parking.
Mama and Rilynn took a few laps around the entire stadium only to find that they do not sell cotton candy at any of the kiosks, only from the man, and only with cash. So we settled with some icecream. Disaster averted.

 If this isn't the cutest thing ever, I don't know what is! Pops, RJ and Daddy :) So sweet!

Everyone being kind and nice before the game. Rocky wants to play too.

Sitting in Daddy's lap enjoying the game.

Rilynn would yell with the crowd saying

"DEFENSE" except she was saying "BE FRIENDS!"

I like her encouraging spirit!

This game against the Bulls was so close.

So at the end, when Melo scored the winning basket to beat them by a single point,

the crowd was going wild! And this was the face of my husband and daughter.

PRICELESS.

ReRun: Now I'm Two

Originally posted on Sunday, April 5, 2009

Sadly, our original blog got deleted. But we were able to save some of our posts. Here is one of those posts.

Rilynn is so affectionate these days. She likes to give hugs and kisses thanks to the Barney song I Love You, You Love Me. Can you make out the words?

It's hard to beleive that she knows her ABCs already! But she gets distracted easily. So loves to dance, sing and look in the mirror. And she loves to run around in just her diaper. But we're working on potty-training so hopefully she won't need those anymore.

This is a daily activity: jumping on the bed and doing tricks. She loves to be asked what she can do. And she counts so well!

We kicked off the summer with a Colorado Rockies game and that inspired these videos. We heard this song for at least a month straight. Rilynn is now ready to sing us all into the 7th Inning Stretch!

Now for a quiet version...

More Summer fun photos posted at the top of the page, the tab marked "Summer Fun Photos."

We're back!

One of my favorite things to buy is a brand new journal. The lure of plain white, clean, untouched pages just waiting to be filled. I have a lot to say, sometimes rambles, joys, celebrations, sometimes pain. But through it all, the pages begin to fill with life. Experiences shared with the sweetness of family. New beginnings. Day to day boring things too. But my favorite part about a journal is going back to read everything that has happened. I like to look for grace and truth where I felt fear. We don't always know which road to take or what choices to make but hindsight is usually 20/20. It's when we look back to see where we've been that we can turn around to see where we're going.

I'll mention this only because maybe it will be healing to voice in arial font, but this is now our new blog. I can't trust it completely to remain our entire lives just because it's online. And I may have to loose some things to realize where I was putting my trust. But Google deleted our last family blog. It's like it was in a fire or something. An internet fire. :) Could there be such a thing? It was all tied together and I deleted an extra gmail account that I had. Sure enough, the old blog was mysteriously tied to that email and hence, gone. SO we are starting fresh! Starting anew! It's a clean slate to fill our lives on. Something I enjoy to do (I'm a photographer! I document life!).

So please enjoy the ramblings, the photos, the videos and the updates in The Brockman Family Adventures.