Rodeo!

We went to the National Western Stock Show and rodeo on Saturday with granddaughter Kyra (age 11). We've been taking her since she was 4 or 5 so we think it's the 7th or 8th year she's gone with us and we hope she never tires of it! Now that Kyra has her own mobile phone, with camera, she's taking pictures all the time. The rodeo was exciting and fun. Afterwards, we visited the barns and met some of the animals.

Road Trip!

A few days after Christmas, son Steve, Beth and their girls arrived our house from New Mexico with a 26' van packed to the gills, on their way moving to Michigan City, Indiana. They stayed with us in Littleton for a couple of days, we celebrated Grace's third birthday, and a friend flew in from Wisconsin to help with the drive east. On January 2nd, we took Beth and the girls to the Denver airport, they flew to Chicago where Beth's parents picked them up, and the other four adults (Steve and friend Jim, Sharon and Dwight) started the drive east in two vehicles. Sharon and Dwight drove Steve and Beth's family van (accompanied by Mello, a gentle and sweet Chocolate Lab, who kept asking where we were taking her!) Steve and Jim drove the truck hauling Steve's other car on a trailer. Steve and family now live near Beth's parents while Steve completes a master's degree in social work at Indiana University NW. They will probably be there 2-3 years.

The following are pictures of Grace (3) and Ava (1) with Dwight and Sharon, also one of Grace with granddaughter Kyra (age 11) who came down from Boulder with her mom, Angela, for Grace's birthday party. Our first night on the road was spent in Kearney, Nebraska, so we got to have dinner with grandson Caleb (age 7) and his mom, Dawn. On our second day, we stopped for lunch in Omaha so Steve could visit with friend Howard. We spent our second night in Iowa City and it was so cold that the rental truck wouldn't start the next morning so we spent half of day 3 waiting for mechanics to get it going. By the time we arrived Chicago, it was rush hour, but fortunately we were skirting the southern edge of the metro area and had no problem.

We arrived Michigan City, Indiana in the early evening of day 3 and the unpacking and moving in process started the following morning with help from Beth's sister, Mary, their father, and some friends that work for Beth's parents. Dwight and I flew home on January 6th. It was nice to discover that after 38 years of marriage we could still enjoy 3 days in a car with each other!

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).