Merry Christmas from Kirk!

Kirk enjoys playing with his Christmas gift, "Dino". Merry Christmas from the world's greatest dog!

Christmas with the Grandchildren

We enjoyed the Denver Zoolights with Kyra on Friday night. We have taken Kyra to Zoolights every year since she was born.

Kyra spent the night (seen here with her new friend, "Penner", purchased at the Denver Zoo gift shop). On Saturday we met up with Kyra's mom and exchanged Christmas gifts.

On Sunday we visited with Trae and his mom and exchanged Christmas gifts. We enjoyed seeing a recording of his preschool's Christmas program. Trae LOVES reindeers!

Earlier in the week we met up with Hannah and her mom at a Starbucks and enjoyed an evening of visiting and gift exchange. Hannah was wearing a beautiful Christmas dress!

Jordan spends the night with Grandma & Granddad!

Jordan and her Mom & Dad and brother Jaden visited yesterday to celebrate Christmas with us. After lunch we decided Jordan could stay the night so she and Grandma could go spend her Christmas gift certificate (see purchases above). Jordan attended two worship services with us this morning. It was a wonderful visit; we parted with tears this afternoon. Jordan will turn 7 on her next birthday, January 3rd.

Take the Geek Quiz!

21% Geek

Steve, Beth and Grace visit for Thanksgiving

Steve, Beth and Grace flew from Albuquerque on Thanksgiving morning and stayed until Saturday morning. We hosted a total of 15 for Thanksgiving dinner (5 of us plus 10 from the Young family, Kyra's other grandparents) and had a wonderful time!

Grace was very interested in playing with Kirk, but Kirk was a little skittish!

"Ga Ga" is Sharon's new Grandma name for Grace. We were thrilled that she was able to accept being held by us.

Grace, Steve and Beth with Grace's new hat (yes, we went shopping while they were here; temp's were in the 20's!)

Mexican Riviera Cruise - 36th Anniversary!

We spent a wonderful week cruising with friends Tom and Carmen Kruschke, November 11-18, from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We were celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary that week and Tom and Carmen celebrated their 2nd! Coming home was a rude awakening - no one made our bed, fixed our meals or greeted us with warm deference any longer, sigh ...

Sunset from the ship at Cabo San Lucas. We only left the ship for a couple of hours in two of the three ports to do a little shopping. The cruise experience is wonderful, but it's not a great way to tour the countryside.

Grace - 10 months old!

Granddaughter Grace and her parents, Steve and Beth, traveled to the Bay Area last week and met Jordan (daughter of Steve's cousin, Dawn), age 2.

Looks like the girls enjoyed themselves!

Sharon's Dad would have loved the World Series!

Going to a World Series baseball game last night was a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience - Dwight and I were able to participate with a little help from my Dad. He was a great baseball fan and would have loved being there! What a blast! Even though the Rockies struggled through the series and lost to an obviously better team (Red Sox), it was so much fun. The energy was wild! Rockies 2008!!

We're Going to the World Series!!!

Yes, we have tickets for Game 4 of the World Series: Rockies vs. the Red Sox! Yahoo!! Watch your TV screens for this sign and you'll know it's us! Go Rockies!! My brother-in-law wants me to remind everyone that we wouldn't be going to the World Series if the Brewers hadn't finished off the Padres at the end of the season, so our thanks go to all you Milwaukee fans for cheering on your team. Sure hope you'll be cheering for us this week!!

Go Rockies!!

Who would have believed it! We were at the final game of the season on September 30th that got the Rockies to the game that got them in the playoffs. Denver has gone absolutely nuts with Rockies fever!! We're in a group with several others that owns one set of season tickets, and as a result -- if there is a game 5 in the National League Championship series, we'll be there! Look closely at the reflection in Dwight's sunglasses and you'll see the baseball diamond at Coors Field.

Grace is 9 months old!

Grace and Beth try out a new backpack that was purchased for planned trips to Hawaii and Alaska next year!

Jordan has a new name!

We enjoyed dinner with the Hensley family and friends yesterday to celebrate Granddaughter Jordan's adoption by Mom Kristi's husband, Will. Jordan's new name is Jordan Rae Hensley. Congratulations!

Busy Busy Busy!

Granddaughter Jordan (6) and Sharon at Snow Mountain Ranch, August 2007, for Genesis Presbyterian Church's annual retreat. This is the 2nd year Jordan and Sharon have attended together.

Granddaughter Kyra (9) enjoys her birthday ice cream at PF Chang's, following a couple of games bowling at Lucky Strike in Lakewood last Saturday with Mom, Grandma and Granddad.

Dwight and Sharon at the Rockies game on Labor Day 2007. We won! Until this game, we were seriously considering asking the Rockies to pay us NOT to attend games, as it seemed they lost every time we went to one!

Dwight and Kirk getting ready to head home from Starbucks, September 15. We took Kirk for his weekly romp to the dog park, followed by a visit to Starbucks - adults and children alike love to stop and meet Kirk.

Ghost Ranch 2007

Dwight, Sharon and granddaughter Kyra traveled to New Mexico last week to visit with family in Belen (Steve, Beth, Grace, plus Dwight's sister Marcia and husband Calvin), followed by a week at Ghost Ranch. Sharon went to a seminar on "Understanding the Israel/Palestine Conflict", Dwight did R&R, and Kyra made a new friend, Jennifer (granddaughter of a friend of ours) from Corvallis, Oregon. It was a wonderful week in a magic place. The pictures above show us relaxing on our porch, standing in the chow line with Steve, Beth and Grace, and Kyra with Jennifer.

Pictures of Grace - 6 months old!

Just wanted to share some new pictures of Grace Elizabeth Blackstock, who turned 6 months old on July 2nd! She's thinking about crawling and when that doesn't work, there's always Mommy!

Visiting Family in Wisconsin - July 2007

Sharon and Dwight were in Wisconsin last weekend and got to see the "fam". Took some flowers to Mom & Dad (Columbarium at Luther Memorial Church, Madison); went to a Rockies game with Kathy & Tom in Milwaukee (oh ya, the Brewers were there, too, and yes, they won, drat!) Got to see niece Catherine for a few minutes and meet her beautiful puppy, Lola (St. Bernard/Collie mix), and have dinner with Richard, Ann, Kathy & Tom. The last picture above is of the three "Gallaghers" - Richard, Kathleen (Joynt) and Sharon (Blackstock).

40th West High Reunion - Madison

Sharon and Dwight attended Sharon's 40th high school reunion in Madison, Wisconsin last weekend. Had so much fun, forgot to take pictures, except this one of Sharon with Ginny Dunn and Bitsy Siebecker. Fun to see "old" friends and re-meet some others.

Kyra meets Pastor from Zimbabwe

Granddaughter Kyra (age 8) worshiped with Sharon yesterday at Genesis Presbyterian Church in Littleton and met Rev. Paul Nashangwe, from Denver Presbytery's sister presbytery in Zimbabwe. Kyra told Rev. Paul that she wanted to help people in Africa now as well as when she grows up and can go to Africa. They exchanged addresses and will be communicating in the future.

Grace is baptized on Mother's Day 2007!

We were in Belen for Grace's baptism on May 13th. She didn't like the idea at first, but settled down in Granddad's arms after a bit and took it all in! Sharon sang "Amazing Grace" and Beth's parents, Bill & Sara Carlisle, participated in the service. A wonderful family event! Thanks, Steve and Beth, for sharing this with us!

Ventura Harbor on a Pontoon Boat!

We were in Southern California last week for the 2007 Western Regional Board of Pensions Consultation, representing Denver Presbytery, and added a couple of days to the trip to visit with friends Tom and Carmen in Oxnard. On Friday we rented a pontoon boat and puttered around Ventura Harbor - it was a beautiful day, beautiful boats and homes, shared with beautiful friends.

Grace Elizabeth Blackstock born January 2nd

Steve and Beth are the joyful parents of a beautiful baby girl, born January 2nd in Albuquerque. Grace gets to meet her Grandma and Granddad Blackstock in a few weeks and we are ready to spoil her!