Thanksgiving and a Trip Home

Well, my journey around the world (well, to Missouri at least) has come to an end. I had a great trip and the pictures below will detail the fun that was had!

First things first, the Saturday before I left, we bought a new car. My Toyota Matrix didn't cut it in the Colorado winter weather. We traded it in for a 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon. It's an all-wheel drive car and fast as all get-out. It's a manual so I have to learn how to drive it (Leah and I never got to that part of the driving manual...or parallel parking, which would explain the parking ticket I got downtown for parking too far from the curb a couple weeks ago). Anyhoo, it's a neat car and we're satisfied with our purchase.

After this purchase, Steve drove me to the airport and I flew into St. Louis around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, we took it easy, went shopping and I met up with Lucy, Caroline, Cayce, Katie, Aili and families, which was great. I met assorted babies (Allison, Cayce's baby, and Mara and Joe, Aili's kiddos). It's always great to come home and see friends.

Monday night it was up to Quincy to meet Mr. Charlie and see Sally and Jason's new house. The house is beautiful and amongst amazing houses. They are just phenomenal! We gushed over Charlie, played a lot and ate lunch at a Chinese buffet (you know it's a classy buffet when the dessert bar is comprised of sliced up ding-dongs and ho-hos). That night, I had dinner with Lucy, Leah, Caroline and Ronna--another good time!!

Tuesday, we bought artificial flowers for the wedding bouquets and did some fun shopping! Wednesday, we made pies, worked on wedding flower arrangements and Leah, Sally, Jason and Charlie all came home.

Thanksgiving day was great---wonderful food prepared by Dad and family togetherness. Uncle Doug came to join in the festivities. I tried a sweet potato (good) and squash (not my style) and played more and more with Charlie.

Friday, we woke up in the wee hours of the morning to go shopping on Black Friday. Lots of gifts were bought, fun was had and then it was off to the airport for the flight home.

All the while, Steve was at home keeping down the fort, driving the new car and tending to the cat, who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from my absence.

I'm glad we didn't drive as I-70 has been closed for the last two days because of blizzard conditions and strong winds. I'm grateful we didn't have to suffer through that!

We're putting up Christmas decorations and getting in the holiday cheer! I sprained and strained a ligament and joint in my lower back, so am in a lot of pain right now. Hopefully some meds, rest and physical therapy will get me back into my peak physical condition (hah!).

Enjoy the pictures...I have about 80 more pictures of Charlie! :)

Hope everyone is well!

Love, Hannah

More Thanksgiving Pictures!!!

Three sisters eating lunch on the day after Thanksgiving shopping trip!

My favorite picture, Charlie sleeping on my chest. How sweet!
















The whole fam gathering for Thanksgiving dinner--Sally, Jason, Uncle Doug, Dad, Leah, Charlie and mom (picture taker)!


















He has the wingspan of a condor!


















What a sweet face!
























The gourmet working hard in the kitchen making pies and a Thanksgiving feast!


















Grandma Carolyn and Mr. Charlie!

Thanksgiving Pictures!!!!!

Four generations together! Sally, Mr. Charlie, Mom and Grandma!


















Three sisters and a baby! I love this picture!


















Mommy Sally and a giggling baby! (He goes wild when you take a fly swatter and hit the curtains.)























The gang is back! Lucy, Hannah and Katie with Allison, Cayce and Scott's baby!


Our new car! A 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon. It's got All-Wheel Drive, which is a must here in Colorado! It's super cool and super fast!





Mister Doc the Daschund. He's going on 14 years old, but is as cute as ever!

Engagement Annoucement!

Here's a copy of our engagement annoucement, as it appeared in the on-line version of the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Awww...ain't it sweet?!?!?

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Another weekend has come and gone…sigh.

The winter months are bearing down upon us as we can expect a snowfall tonight. We should only get 1-2 inches, but the mountains will have about 30 inches of new snow by the time the storm is done. This is naturally putting me into a premature Christmas mode and I’m chomping at the bit to put up Christmas decorations when I return from Thanksgiving vacation.

We had a quiet, happy weekend. On Friday night, we ate at Del Taco in our new shopping center and then braved the rain to go shopping. We browsed through several stores and bought some wedding stuff and goodies for family members. At Pier 1, we found a tray to hold our wedding rings. Thanks to the gift certificate from Shalyn for my birthday, it was free to us! We don’t want to use a ring pillow, so this tray is a nice alternative.

Saturday we got up and went to WW, where I lost 1.4 and Steve lost .8. We both ate really well this week and it showed. We just need to keep it up! Ironically, we then went to a bakery to test cakes for the wedding. Nothing like weighing in and then eating cake (of course, I guess that beats the alternate sequence of eating and then weighing). I only sampled one bit of cake but Steve was the taste-tester extraordinaire! He sampled about 8 different flavors and decided that the best was the Texas Pecan Cake with a Pecan filling. We are going to try one more baker, but if we go with these folks, we’ll have a layer of Texas Pecan, a layer of Chocolate cake with vanilla icing and a layer of Vanilla cake with chocolate icing. Hopefully that will please the masses!

Sunday was a ‘taking care of business’ sorta day. We went for a walk around the construction in our subdivision. They have huge earth movers clearing land and digging holes. Then, Steve did laundry, I cleaned house and went grocery shopping. I made chili and cornbread for dinner, which was pretty darn good.

This Saturday night, I head to St. Louis to spend a week with my family and friends there. I am extremely excited!!!! Steve will stay here in Denver and have Thanksgiving by himself. He’s already planning his pie consumption for the holiday. He might try to cook a turkey, but also might end up eating a Weight Watchers Turkey and Mashed Potato meal, followed by a couple pies. A good balance.

Life here is good—quiet, peaceful and good. A person can’t ask for much more than that.

10-4, over and out.

Love, Hannah

Get Along Little Buddy...

Here's a picture of the cutest darn cowboy in the world! This is Blaine, the son of Doug and April. Doug is one of Steve's best friends--a life-long buddy from El Dorado Springs, Mo.

He's just so cute!!!

whoa!!!

I do not support the comments of Hannah in regards to the building of a supposed "Cat Tower". I'm not for sure her sources, but they are unfounded and this Steve will not support such acts of Cat niceties.

Happy Anni-Birthday!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!
Today marks the 2 year anniversary of our first date. We met for drinks on Sunday, November 2, 2003 at the Fox & Hound in Kansas City and the rest is history. It's been two wonderful years and I look forward to a lifetime more. It's less than 9 months now until we're married--a bona-fide legal couple. I can hardly wait. Thanks, Steve, for two of the best years of my life.

As an anniversary present, Steve surprised me over dinner last night with a couples massage this weekend and at day spa. This will be his first massage and only my second and I'm looking very, or as my dad would say damn, forward to it!

And, some HAPPY BIRTHDAYS are in order today---
Happy Birthday to Craig!!!! In addition to celebrating his retirement, Steve's dad celebrates his birthday today! Yay!

Happy Birthday to Saiko and Baby Lynn!!!!! This mother and daughter dynamic duo celebrated birthdays yesterday and today. Baby Lynn is now officially 1 year old!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congrats!

Steve surprised me with one more 'gift' yesterday. We screwed up on our travel plans for Thanksgiving and didn't book our frequent flyer mile trip soon enough. We couldn't get a free flight to St. Louis on Wednesday (Steve's still in debt on leave time due to the week of deck building and can't take any time off), and couldn't afford the $1,000 to buy tickets. So, the plan was to leave Wednesday afternoon and make the 14-hour drive home, stopping in Clinton for the night on the way. We would have arrived in St.L. on Thursday afternoon and then had to leave either late Saturday night or early Sunday. It was going to be a hectic trip and neither of us were looking forward to the drive. Last year, on the way back to Denver, we got stuck in a white-out in eastern Colorado. It took 3 hours to make a 1 hour trip and was very slick and very scary.

Anyhoo, last night Steve told me he wanted me to go to St. Louis on my own for Turkey Day so I could leave early (I have plenty of time off) and spend quality time with family, friends and my nephew Charlie, whom I have not yet met and plan on spending massive amounts of time playing with (until he poops and pees himself--then he goes back to his mommy). While I'll miss spending the holiday with Steve, I'm so glad to have more time with the folks back home. I booked my flight for Saturday the 19th and will come back Friday the 25th. Steve plans on hanging out with friends here in Denver and is already cooking up plans, such as building a cat tower for Dulcie from scraps of wood and carpet. I'm sure Steve and Dulcie will have a wonderful Thanksgiving together. :)

Well, that's what's shaking in these parts. I hope everyone is ducky!

Much Love,
Hannah

Congrats to the Retiree!

Steve's dad, Craig, worked his last day on Friday and became offically retired! On his last day, he wore a suitcoat, hawaiian shirt and shorts. hahaha.

Congrats on a well-deserved life of fun and leisure!!!!!!!

Love, Hannah and Steve