Thanksgiving in New Mexico

Since it's almost Christmas, we decided we needed to post a few of our Thanksgiving pictures! We spent the weekend in Belen, New Mexico, with son Steve, Beth and their girls, Grace and Ava. We did a day trip to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge and enjoyed a visit with grandson Kaelan and his mom, Genevieve. The highlight of the weekend (besides the turkey!) was Granddad and Grace making sopapillas!

Dwight, Grace, Ava and Beth bird watching at Bosque del Apache.

Ava, Steve, Sharon at Bosque del Apache.

Genevieve (Kaelan's mom), enjoying a break from her studies (she'll graduate in May as a Nurse Practitioner)

Granddad and Kaelan - Kaelan and his mom came down from Albuquerque for a visit.

Granddad and Grace make sopapillas! The recipe is one that Dwight collected from his friend, Mrs. Lopez, in the 1960's in Truchas, New Mexico.

Visited sisters in California, cruised Baja with friends!

In November we celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary with a trip to Southern California to visit Donna and Annie in their new home, and spend a couple of days with Marcia, who was in town for a conference. Following the weekend visit, we cruised for 4 days to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico with friends Tom and Carmen, who were celebrating their 4th anniversary. The weather was so-so, but that didn't stop us from having a relaxing and wonderful time! The following pictures show visits to the Blackstock and Kruschke parental gravesites, Tom's miracle packing job that got us all to the port, and our first full day of the cruise - Catalina Island.

Race for the Cure, Dog Park at Chatfield State Park

Angela and Kyra and one of Angela's co-workers joined Sharon in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure on Sunday, October 4th. It was pretty chilly until the sun came out, but we were very comfortable after completing the 5K walk. Denver has one of the largest events like this in the nation - over 60,000 participants!

Angela thought she was hiding but didn't realize that Sharon had sneaked up on her and taken the earlier picture (see above)!

Dwight and Kirk at Chatfield State Park a couple of weeks ago. The dog park there is HUGE and Kirk loves it!

Summer's End

Sharon and granddaughter Jordan attended the Genesis Presbyterian Church annual retreat, "The Summit", in late August at the beautiful YMCA of the Rockies. The subject matter was presented very creatively and with lots of laughter. We all attended "Zombie University", identified those parts of our lives that get in the way of our relationships with God and family and called them zombies, even naming them and trying to stone them out of our lives! Here Sharon poses with the Zombie University mascot.

All who attended Zombie University received a diploma and commemorative pen from Pastor Don and C.E. Director Rob. Here is Jordan receiving her diploma.

Jordan shows off her diploma!

Dwight flew down to Albuquerque to attend a funeral on Friday and got to spend an overnight with Steve and family. Here he is with granddaughters Grace (above) and Ava (below).



Granddaughter Kyra spent part of the Labor Day weekend with us and joined Sharon and Kirk at the church picnic. Kirk really liked the singing!

Kyra and Granddad finally got to go fishing on Sunday! Didn't catch anything but it was quite an adventure.

Kyra thinks fishing is fun!

Ghost Ranch 2009

This year's visit to Ghost Ranch was very special. It was Kyra's 5th trip to the ranch with us and she had a wonderful week (and threatened to tie herself to a tree so she could stay longer!) She's already planning to apply to become part of the Ghost Ranch college staff (in 10-12 years!) Sharon participated in a very interesting course on "NEW EYES FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE FROM THE WORLD CHURCH", led by Clifton Kirkpatrick. Dwight enjoyed a week of rest and relaxation, and was the only one of us who could stand the 74 degree temperature in the pool (the heater was broken) because he brought along his wet suit! Steve, Beth, Grace and Ava came up to the ranch for an overnight on Friday. Enjoy our pictures!

We spent a weekend with Steve's family in Los Lunas before heading up to the ranch. Here are Grace, Kyra, Ava and Beth.

We worshiped at First Presbyterian Church, Belen. This is Steve giving the children's sermon.

Kyra and Grace had lots of fun playing together.

Ghost Ranch - picture taken at dusk by Dwight. A place of peace.

Kyra and Dwight ham it up after breakfast. We're so happy to be here!

Kyra got to go horseback-riding twice this year - including cantering across the ranch to the cabin used in the movie "City Slickers".

"Lady", a 40-year-old horse (88 in human years), roamed the ranch and greeted people, but spent most of her time in the alfalfa field.

Steve and Beth and the girls enjoyed the air conditioned family center at the ranch - designed specifically for very young children and families.

Beth caught this picture of Steve with the mesas behind him. He celebrated his 33rd birthday the week we were there.

Sharon and Beth froze in the pool with Grace and Ava and it was fun (but short-lived!)

Dwight, on the other hand, was able to spend more time in the pool!

Sharon and Ava (picture sent by Beth after Sharon complained that since she took most of the pictures, there were very few of GaGa with the grandchildren!)

Sure wish you could have seen the scene just before this picture was snapped - Grace saw Kyra walking up toward the dining hall and took off running, crying in delight, "Kyra"!!"

Couldn't resist adding this fun video of breakfast with Grace, Kyra and Ava.

Kyra won an award for earning top points in a scavenger hunt during the week's youth program. Awards were given out during the Saturday celebration at the end of the week.

Time to say farewell and see you next year. This is Kitchen Mesa (so named because the dining hall/kitchen sits below it). Photo by Dwight.

Home at last. Kyra greets Kirk when we picked him up after 10 days at Rover Retreat (where he made good friends with a yellow lab).

Brief visit with Kaelan

While we were visiting Steve and family in late July, we drove up to Albuquerque for the afternoon and spent a couple of hours with Kaelan and his mom. Kaelan loves his trucks and trains!!

Kirk gets a new sandbox; Jordan & family spend the day with us; Dwight has a wet suit (and he's a real hit at the pool)!

We contracted with a neighbor to build a giant sandbox for Kirk this weekend, and are working on training him to understand that this is the place he's allowed to dig. We're hoping to stop Kirk from digging up the lawn, eating the trees and bushes, etc. So far, our neighbor has poured 30 50-lb bags of play sand into the box and another 40 bags will be added tomorrow. See pictures below of Kirk getting used to his special place.

Granddaughter Jordan and her brother Jaden and their parents came up Saturday for a fun day at the pool, including a picnic lunch, an afternoon of hangin' out and dinner together. Jordan and Jaden collected all of Kirk's toys from around the yard, put them in the sand box and buried some of the toys to help Kirk understand this is where he's allowed to dig. Kristi and Will took Sharon over to Home Depot to pick up an additional 40 bags of play sand for the sand box (and they unloaded it for us ... THANK YOU!) See picture below of Kristi, Jaden and Jordan.

Dwight bought a wet suit so he could swim outdoors this summer (cold water is debilitating for him so he can't use most pools, but this wet suit has done the trick!) He's been using the pool for physical therapy almost every day for the last couple of weeks. See picture below of Dwight in his new swimgear.

July 4th Weekend with Friends

We enjoyed a couple of restful days with friends Tom and Ruth Powers in Edwards (near Vail) over the weekend, including watching the Avon fireworks from above(!) on July 3rd. Here are a few pictures from our weekend:

Everything is so green in the mountains because Colorado has had so much rain. Truly beautiful!

Eagle River from an overlook on the Presbyterian Church site in Avon.

Dwight and Sharon enjoying a restful moment at that overlook.

Dwight, Tom & Ruth, outside their home in Edwards. We were on our way to see the fireworks.

Kirk was very glad to see us when we came to pick him up on the 4th. He did not like the fireworks and we spent several minutes on the floor trying to calm him that night even though we were in the house and the fireworks were a couple of miles away!