Denver decorates for Christmas

The State Capitol

City and County Building

The Denver city and county building is straight across from the State Capitol, so we went down to check them out one (very cold) night. They go all out for Christmas and even play Christmas Carols on the bells.

White Christmas

Had a big surprise Christmas morning when I left work. There was snow blowing in my face when I walked out the door and EVERYTHING was white. I had to come straight home and wake William up. I slept all day, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he sat in the chair all day and looked out at the snow!

More snow pictures.

Proof that Grandmother actually did sled.
Christmas in Breckinridge and the lighting of the tree.

The way you're actually supposed to sled.

Snow, snow and more snow

Joe trying to clean FEET of snow off the car!

Mom & Grandmother in their sledding attire.
Will & I trying to come down the hill together.
Not the correct way to sled.

William stayed in Frisco with Joe and Sandra for four full weeks this year. I ran out there everytime I got a day or two off. My parents and Grandmother also visited the first week of December. We had lots of fun skiing and sledding. It's been a tough jump back to reality this past week and a half. I had to work 4 days straight at Christmas, but we get a few days off this week to go skiing and I have New Years off too!

I know it's been a while since I updated, but we haven't really done much here in Denver to take pictures of. We took a tour of the Denver Mint, but cameras were prohibited, so no photo souvenirs! We have been spending the last 2 weeks out in Dillon, CO with Joe & Sandra. Joe, Jackie, and Mae are here this week too. We've had lots of snow in the mountains and we're starting to get some here in town too. Hopefully I'll have more pictures in the next week or two. Hope you are all well!

Snow!!!

The courtyard of our apartment building.

Well, yesterday it was like 75 degrees outside and we were walking around in shorts and t-shirts, but look what we woke up to this morning. They expect 1-3 inches today, but I think we've gotten that much already. It's noon here now and it's still snowing pretty hard with HUGE snowflakes. It's still melting pretty quickly on the pavement though because it was so warm yesterday. The Broncos are playing in town about 6 pm today and they say it's going to quit by then. Yes, they play outdoors, not in a dome!

Colorado - The first week

We must be getting better at this travel thing because we're starting to settle in much faster. I had a full week of classes this week, but was off Friday so we decided to head up to A-basin and try out our new ski passes. We ended up backing out, though because there was only one lift and one run open, so the lift line was about an hour long, not fun!!! We did enjoy the drive up through the mountains though, with the familiar scenery. We stopped in a little town called Idaho Springs and ate Buffalo burgers for lunch.

Hoover Dam

Lake Mead

The power generators in the dam

The Colorado River below the dam.

Vegas!!!

In front of the Monte Carlo. We saw Lance Burton's show here.

The Bellagio at night.

We spent the week in Vegas between our 2 assignments. Had lots of fun and celebrated my mom's birthday. We also saw the new Cirque du Soleil called Love. It is all of the Beatles songs.

Pacific Grove

Not something you see every day!

Black Sheep of the Family

Basically, Pacific Grove is just a suburb of Monterey. It's really close to the pebble beach golf courses. We got a kick out of the seagulls here. They eat watermelon!

Big Sur

We took a drive down Highway 1 to see what they say is the most beautiful part of California's coastline.

Capitola

Just a few more pictures of the beach here in Capitola.

The Mystery Spot

This place is in Santa Cruz. It's not really just an optical illusion, it's actually a place where compasses don't work and the normal rules of gravity do not apply. No one really knows why but it's really cool.

Update

Since we finally got the California pics on here, I guess I should tell where we're off to next. Our next assignment is in Denver, Colorado. It will be at a hospital in the downtown area and we should be living downtown as well. I can't wait! I love this California assignment, but it is so rural. I miss my big city! Not to mention that Denver is only 70 miles from the ski slopes. Can't wait!

Roaring Camp Railroad

While my family was here, we took a ride on a steam train through the Redwood trees near Capitola in Scott's Valley.

Did you know that these trees will continue to grow even if they fall over at an angle? As long as like 25% of their roots are still in the ground, that will grow, even sideways.

Fisherman's Wharf

The Family