Merry Christmas!

I hope that everyone who stops by to check my blog has had a wonderful Christmas! It was been a good celebration in our house! We all got a little something of what we wanted and we got to spend it together! Tomorrow we will celebrate on the slopes! Here is a few of the handmade cards that I sent out to a few of my crafting friends! Enjoy!

It was a "Pow-Pow" Day!

We had an awesome weekend playing in the “pow-pow” at both Beaver Creek on Saturday and Breckenridge on Sunday! We spent all morning yesterday on Peak 7 floating through the soft stuff! So far, we’ve been fortunate enough this year to have 3 out of 8 days in powder! Sunday was by far the best and as you can see, Dan really enjoyed “bathing” in the pretty white stuff!

I missed the fall, but Melanie said it was fantastic and he was laughing when I got there! The snow was just about up to his hips, so you know they’ve been blessed with a lot! He had a fun time trying to get his skis back on after he had to take them off just to get up!

The snow is suppose to keep falling through Wednesday and they’re expecting up to 3 additional feet! It was really hard not to rent another room for the night and play one more day in the powder! I’m sure we’ll get back up there soon!

Dan has some video of me skiing at Beaver Creek on Saturday that he plans to post on Facebook, so check that out too!

Marlene's Gift

Every year I rack my brain to come up with a gift for my childhood buddy, Marlene that is better than the last! I think I did a great job this year when I came up with the "countdown" boxes!

I used the Karen Foster advent calendar box, and decorated in some colorful paper from Cosmo Cricket. Then I filled each little drawer with a small scrapping gift (and yes, they're small) that would give her some inspiration to create! I even bought some of the trinkets whenI was in Chicago in August, shopping with her standing next to me! Ha, she didn't even know!

And since I know Marlene, she LOVED IT! On her actual birthday, which was Tuesday, she receive ed a coordinating card, with a gift card to buy more stuff! Hey, we all "need" more stuff - don't we?? Big (((HUGS))) and lots of great scrapping days ahead Marles!

As promised

From my 101 Things list...


#88 - Send 101 handmade cards to the troops each year



And so the first year of the wish is done; I've sent 101 (actually 102) cards to Operation Write Home so that they can distribute them to our hero's around the world. They included 20+ valentine cards I whipped out in the past week. A simple design I've used before and it worked really well, especially because it used lots of scraps and items I've had laying around!



Next project...

Ski Season has begun!

Just got back from skiing over the Thanksgiving holiday and boy was it great! This was the best early season snow we've ever seen in the 9 years we've been going up there! It was a wee bit cold, but not enough to stop us from skiing hard! This picture is from the restaurant at Vail where we stopped for an afternoon breather! In the morning it was -5 (yes negative) up at Horseshoe Bowl! Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all warmer! Unfortunately no new snow fell while we were there though. A few inches last night after we left... go figure! I'm hoping we can sneak away next weekend for a few more turns up in God's Country!

Our Thanksgiving dinner with the family was celebrated the weekend before whenI cooked the big feast! It was really good and there are still a few meals of turkey now frozen to enjoy later! On the actual turkey day, we feasted on a frozen pizza! OK, not what we had hoped for, but the fresh ones were all gone and no one in Chicago sent us a pizza. Hint, hint!!

The great news we got from Chicago was that my niece Sarah got a new job! We're so proud of her! Dan helped her with the resume and she thinks it really helped! We wish her luck - and don't spend all that extra money at once!

I'm finishing up the final cards for Operation Write Home. I challenged myself to make 100 cards to send and I'm almost there! I have 12 more to make and I'm working on some Valentine's cards for them! Yes,that is the next holiday they're collecting for! I think it's a really great way to give away the cards I'm not using, plus a way to use up supplies and give someone who is really appreciative a homemade card to send back home! If you haven't checked out their blog, go for it! Maybe you'll be inspired!

And did I mention I haven't started on any projects for Christmas yet? It's not December yet! I don't have too many in mind... well I do only have 3 weeks left! A few really simple cards and gifts and I'll be happy!

Off to keep shopping... it is cyber Monday!

Aruba

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Aruba Recap

We had our first snow on Tuesday... a far cry from the beautiful weather we had in Aruba! Boy, I do wish I was back there! (I love the snow for skiing, but they can keep it up in the mountains!)

Our overall impression of Aruba was fantastic and we would recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a Caribbean getaway! The natives were very friendly and they were not at all pushy like we experienced in Mexico. Only one person approached us to visit their timeshare and they simply took no for an answer and moved on! The hotel and the food were nothing to remember, but when you got the awesome deal we did, you can't really complain! The room was clean, the showers were hot and the food was edible! We weren't there for that stuff anyway!

On our first afternoon in Aruba, we jumped into our swimsuits, strapped on our snorkel gear and walked into the the water for our first swim with the fish! The water was warm and there were lots of little fish right there! Because of the boat traffic close by, it wasn't the best place to snorkel but we made the best of it that day and several more!

On Monday we took a full day tour to De Palm Island, a private island that is set up for water adventure! We arrived to a decent buffet breakfast and then took a dive into the waters where we found a great reef and lots of bigger and prettier fish! I had a blast following a puffer fish around for what seemed like hours! It was so pretty! I wish I could have taken it home! They also had a water park equipped with slides and water spurting everywhere! It was fun to act like a kid! We also road a "banana" boat, which was a big tube pulled by a speed boat! You straddle it while kneeling and they cruise around trying hard to dump you off the side! I fell off twice! It was really fun, although hard on the knees! The kids played volleyball and I relaxed with fancy drinks from the bar! It was a really great day and we were thrilled the island wasn't very crowded.

On Tuesday we decided to take a ride into town and see what treasures we could find! We each came home with something we wanted that represented Aruba. I got a sweatshirt, which seemed very inappropriate since it was 90+ degrees and humid! And of course, we found a great little ornament to remember our trip! It was really the only day we ate out and the food was good.

On Wednesday we decided to take an afternoon jeep tour of the island. What we weren't informed was that we'd have to do the driving. Well, make that Dan, along with some of the other passengers. Since he has such great experience at it, it wasn't difficult, but I'm sure he would have rather let someone else do it for what we paid for the trip! It was my favorite adventure of the week because we got to see a lot of the island many people don't go to. It was a shame they hurried us through there though. The last reward of the trip was a dip in the pools where we got to snorkel around and Dan spotted an eel! They beat the vehicles to death as we 4-wheeled up some pretty tough terrain! Thankfully everyone made it out without too many bumps!

On our final day there we decided to snorkel off the beach to a shipwreck. There are a few different wrecks, but we opted for the one that was closest to shore. The wreck has been there for about 18 years and it was great to see all the schools of fish living around it! And some very cool starfish! The waters were choppy that day as a storm approached, so our fun ended sooner than we wanted. It was good we choose the closer in one though!

The rest of our time throughout the week was spent poolside or beach side - whatever floated our boat! We drank lots of fancy drinks and tried our hardest just to relax! The weather was very cooperative despite the unwelcome humidity!

When it was time to go home, we were relaxed and ready. Thankfully we still had 2 additional days at home before we had to go back to work! Was it the trip of a lifetime - no, however it was exactly what we wanted, expected and enjoyed at this point! There are plenty of more days to come when we can take the trip of a lifetime!! Like China in May??????