Walk in The Garden

The fam damily, or all of us that were feeling up to it, had a nice stroll around Garden of the Gods together today. The weather was pretty nice and has been unseasonably warm to this point this year. Sometimes the cold holds off until the start of the next year around these parts.

The park was pretty busy, but not too bad if you were on foot rather than in a car. Huey did a great job and was the center of attention for most people.

Christmas 2025

We had a really good Christmas this year. It was busy, and involved multiple celebrations and families, but it ended up being one of the better years in recent memory.

It started on Christmas Eve. I went for a quick ride in my ugly sweater while Julia went over to Miles house and opened some presents from their family. Then all of us, our family, Miles' family, and Grandpa and Grandma went to church and sat together. Technically speaking we sat in three different rows because we also met up and sat with Caleb's family.

Then we came over to our house and had fondue together, watched a movie and then got to bed at a decent hour. Christmas morning we opened up our presents as usual, but then Miles' stopped by in his matching pajamas to open and give out some presents. Stacey made some really delicious cinnamon rolls for everyone. They were so good I had two.

Then we headed over to my parent's house for adult Christmas, which is the usual time each year that the adults get to open their presents. It was a fun and memorable year.

Julia's 18th Birthday (Family Edition)

Julia's 18th Birthday Party (Continued)

The party was a huge success even though Bailey tried to steal the show. Bailey even joined in on the slumber party and slept between Julia and Livi on the inflatable mattress...

Julia's 18th Birthday Party

Julia's big 18th Birthday was quite an impressive production. She decided to have a sleepover party at our house and pretty much planned out the entire event and decorations for it.

Jonathan and I went over to my parent's house to stay out of the way that day/night, but the planning and work started way before the party. We have a bunch of pictures from the event, so I had to break it up into two posts. The first one shows some pictures of the decorations and the house, and the second post will be pictures from the party with other people.

Where to begin? Stacey and Julia pretty much redecorated the entire main level. The the was "Fancy Nancy". They got some fancy plates and other things from Grandma, ordered many supplies online, ordered some cakes and bought the food all themselves. There was a piñata that made an appearance as well.

There were definitely crafts involved. Lots of streamers and loops were made. They decorated the cake themselves, and a whole host of others things. I think Stacey had fun but it also took her a few days to recover afterwards from the effort involved. You can see from the pictures that there were a lot of nice little details Julia planned out, including making party hats for some of her stuffed animals and fancy place settings with name cards for all the guests.

Kids on Bikes 12 Hour Challenge

Back after a long break! 2019 was the last time this fundraiser was held in the velodrome. The location change to SRAM this time and we fielded a few teams and a few solo riders.

All of the riders helped this local non-profit meet (and slightly exceed) its $10,000 goal. It was really convenient for me as well, since it's near my parent's house and Jonathan and I were already staying there overnight. Most of us took two hour shifts, which was closer to an hour and forty-five minutes by the time we readjusted and reinstalled pedals for each rider. Some of the solo riders were there all day for the entire 12 hours. 

A Great Family Photo

With a photo bomb from Bailey in the bottom left corner...

UNC Campus and Nursing School Tours

Today was Stacey's Birthday, so we celebrated by getting up early in the morning and driving up to Greeley for our first official college tour at UNC.

On paper UNC has looked like the best overall option for Julia and her pursuit of a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, so we were excited to see it in person. Overall we have been very impressed with the communication and organization at UNC, but you can't get the overall vibe and details of a place without seeing it in person.

We arrived a little bit early even though we had to take the toll road around Denver to get there in time. There was a presentation given, then a campus tour of the dorms, classrooms, and dining facilities. We saw a lot and learned a lot, all of which were pleasant surprises on the living and dining situations.

The campus isn't huge, so we then took a short walk over to the Nursing School building for our specialty tour and Q&A of that building. Again, we were really impressed and learned a lot about their program, how it works, and being able to see the actual classrooms, labs, and simulation rooms they had on site for Nursing. We ended the trip with a quick drive by my grandparents old house, seeing a little bit of the town, and then a stop at a cute coffee shop. 

We all had the same impression and got the same vibe that UNC seems like it would be a great fit for Julia. We really liked a lot about it...the size, the community, the cost and Julia's small academic scholarship and the overall vibe of the place. Not to mention the Nursing School itself and how qualified the staff seems to be and the good facilities. UNC is also far enough away to be "at college" but only 2 hours drive from home for when we want to make the trip back and forth. The other limited options in Colorado have some pretty big drawbacks one way or another, and we really didn't see any major negatives at UNC. It just sort of felt like the right place for Julia, so we'll see where we go from here!