Colorado was grand.  Sorry for my delay in posting, we didn’t get back until the beginning of last week.  It’s been very…colorful trying to get back on schedule. For the holidays we stayed with Peter’s sister and her husband and four children.  Oh and horses, chickens, dogs, cats, bees plus plenty of deer that roam around.  The kids were so happy there, it was nearly impossible to get them to come back home with us, ha ha.

The trip was cozy and fun.  The best snow globe living can offer.  Our views from their home were like this.

The kids from our two families.  One was missing at the time of this shot.  It’s not easy herding nine peeps for a picture.

Walter came back just in time for the guy shot…that’s him in the middle.  Blake is nearly as tall as his cousins!  At the rate he’s growing, he’ll be six feet by next Christmas.  Pierce has a ways to go.

Sledding was a daily ritual.

During our stay, someone turned 10.  She rode horses in the snow and went sledding.  She also received two feet of snow on her special day ; )

Aunt Mary Ann baked her a homemade (gluten free) cake.  It was tasty.

Games were popular.

This little person took to sledding and later snowboarding in the mountains.  I expect he’ll be quite the snowboarder after a few more seasons.

Here is one of our cousins, Anna Frances.  She’s the youngest of her brood, which is the same age as our oldest.  She makes powerful snowballs.

Garrison and our birthday girl.  Garrison and our beautiful niece, Caroline, are newly weds : )

Caroline is quite a talented pianist and organist and travels to play as a guest in churches around the Southeast.   I love to hear her play.  She spent many hours working with our little one.  I see piano lessons in our future.

Peter was assigned snowman duty.

I learned that it’s good cardio racing a little sledder down the hill.  He won.

Peter managed to play a little too.

This is our niece, Rebecca with her beautiful Appendix mare, Claire. You could say Claire is Savez’s Colorado cousin ; )

Lots of riding.  Seeing our horse girls ride about three miles a day made my heart happy.

This handsome devil is Skye.  He took good care of our little filly on all the rides.

I managed to squeeze in some girl time. Meet Joanne, one of my besties.  We grew up together in Atlanta.  After we graduated from college, she moved to Denver…and never returned ; )

Morning coffee views.

Sunsets.

Peter’s sister and husband are amazing cooks, so we ate in most nights.  I added my part…with a little help of their bountiful Mason jar collection and some freshly clipped evergreens from outside.

We also went snow skiing and snowboarding as a big group, which was a blast. I was bad and didn’t take my camera on that trip – probably because I just wanted to soak up the moment. Aside from all of the beautiful nature, it was so nice to be able to relax with family and friends.  We enjoyed every second.  It was hard to come back to reality and all of the necessities that go with daily life (laundry, bills, schedules, deadlines, alarm clocks).  But I feel grateful for our sweet escape…and can’t wait for next time.