A Very Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas this year. We stayed home and on Christmas Eve we made our first prime rib dinner (it was just like my Dad's...perfect!) and the kids each opened their one gift before going to bed. The next morning I woke up at 6:15 and couldn't go back to sleep, but I kept thinking that any minute the kids would come running in wanting to go downstairs to see what Santa had brought. Well after 45 minutes I finally went into the kids' room and woke Dominique and told her to go wake her dad, and I tried to wake Cooper. I softly shook him and said "Cooper, Cooper, don't you want to come and open presents and see what Santa left you?" And he sat up, looked at me, shook his head no, and laid back down. I did not give up, and I did finally convince him that he really would be happier if he would just get out of bed. Needless to say they were very excited to both give and receive their gifts, and we had a great Christmas morning. I especially liked the yummy breakfast made on my new waffle iron! Cooper got some cars and dinosaurs, Dominique got some dolls and a new digital camera (pictures by her will be posted shortly) and Mark and I got many things like a new dresser and desk, and tickets for the Rapids (soccer) home opener and second home game. Overall, once again, Christmas was a success! We hope that all of you and yours had a great holiday week as well!

Adventures in Potty Training

We have started the lovely process of potty training our son this week. All our daughter needed was to see that she would get to wear My Little Pony panties, and then she went in the potty. Not so much with Cooper. He is very excited to go to Chuck E Cheese with Xander (his buddy), and is always saying "When I poop in the potty I go to Chuck E Cheese with Xander!", but getting him to even think about the potty when he needs to has been rather unsuccessful. His Dad took him the the bathroom on Sunday, and he told Cooper to just "Push the poop out", and Cooper's response was, "Where's the button, Dad?". So, please, wish us luck as we learn yet another lesson in why boys are harder than girls. (So far, anyway)

Blake is HOME!

My youngest brother Blake got home from his mission on Nov. 19th. He was in the Mexico City East mission, and he "came home" to my mom's house in Hanna City IL. I say "came home" because he had never been there before, as my mom remarried and moved to IL while he was gone! But most of his family made the trip out and we think he felt "home" enough. He looked great and sounded very Mexican. One of the first things he said to me was "Wow, you kids are so pale!" It was very funny to listen to him, as he didn't just learn Spanish, I think he forgot English! He did not have any English speaking companions, and litterally only spoke Spanish the whole time. It was fun to hear all of his stories...even if he did speak a little slowly as he translated in his head. During his homecoming talk he was saying who he was and forgot my mom's new last name for a moment and that was pretty funny! But the whole trip was a success, and it was great to see him back in the US!

The First

Welcome to the first posting from the Denver Garrs. We love living in the Denver, Co area. Mark works downtown for TIAA-CREF (a mutual fund company) and Kara is a stay at home mom. Dominique is 6 and in first grade. She loves school, and takes tap dance class once a week. Cooper is 2 and is trying to potty train. He takes a "parent-tot" gymnastics class and has a great time running, jumping, and swinging for an hour a week. Thanks for checking in on us, and we hope you will check back soon!