Monarch, CO Weekend Getaway

Hello all!  I hope everything is having a great Monday!  It's supposed to get really really cold here today through part of this week.  I couldn't see the mountains this morning, so the low clouds definitely mean some snow!  They said our high tomorrow is below zero and it was 70 degrees this past Saturday.  Gotta love the constant changing weather (at least there aren't tornado warnings here..ha!).

We went to Monarch, CO this weekend and we had a great time!  It's a smaller ski resort, but the ski runs aren't as long, and it was perfect for Mason.  The weather was great...not too cold at all which makes it even more fun.  We went up on Saturday afternoon and stayed in one of the lodges down there, and they had an indoor pool and some hot tubs outside, and Mason enjoyed the game room!  We got up and went skiing yesterday, and we were there right at 9am and skied until almost 3pm, so we got a good day of skiing in!  We had a buy 1 get 1 lift ticket coupon and Mason get to ski for free, so it was a inexpensive trip! 

On the way down there (Monarch is south of Colorado Springs), we got to go to the Royal Gorge and see the rapids on the Arkansas River.  Hard to believe that the Arkansas River is over here...lol!  Anyway, we wil definitely be going white water rafting this summer on the Arkansas River!

Royal Gorge Bridge

Can you see the Arkansas River way down there?

Here are some pics of Monarch and I also posted a video of Mason while he was skiing!  He is getting really good at skiing, but he still keeps asking about snow boarding lessons....I keep telling him next year!

Paul and Mason on the ski lift...(who knows what they are talking about :))

Monarch sits pretty much on the Continental Divide....isn't this an awesome view??!!

After one of his falls (that he didnt' count for the day :))

Hope you all enjoy the pics and have a good week!  I'll keep you posted on the lovely weather that is coming our way!

Love yall!

Busy Busy Busy!

Hey everyone!  I hope everyone is doing well!  I think since we have moved, now you all are getting all the snow!  ha ha!  We haven't gotten much lately, and it's supposed to be up in the high 40's this weekend..which is nice!  It's so funny looking at everyone's posts on Facebook talking about how they don't know how to get out of their neighborhood with the hills..only advice I have is to get an AWD or 4X4 car!  Ha ha!

Anyway, we had some visitors last week and part of this week.  Chris and Lindsay, and our friend Jake came in last Wednesday and stayed until this past Tuesday!  We had a great time!  Just ask them...the weather out here isn't bad at all ;)!  We took them to see the normal Colorado Springs stuff, like the Air Force Academy, Garden of the Gods, breweries (there are plenty of them around here), and also just hung out at the house playing some air hockey and darts.  We also drove up to Winter Park and went tubing!  If you haven't ever been..you have to go!  It's a blast!  When we were leaving the AFA, we saw around 8 deer in the parking lot..it was really cool!

Definitely one of the sights to see around here is the Garden of the Gods.  It is absolutely amazing and just crazy how the rock formations are just right smack in the middle of town.  Here is a pic of Chris and Lindsay there:


You can see the rock formations in the background.

One of the other places to go is the Broadmoor Hotel, which has a bar called The Golden Bee.  At this bar, they can serve you a "yard" of beer.  Yes folks..you saw that right...a yard of beer.  It has it's own holder and it sits on the floor.  

I think he's ready to drink it ;)

Like I said, we had a really good time and we hated to see them go.  I'm sure it will be a while before someone else comes out!! 

Mason was inducted into the Black Belt Club at Taekwondo the other night and I have pictures of him receiving his new uniform from Master J Lee and also his bag full of all the neat things he will use when learning the next part of Taekwondo.  He was so excited!

Not everyone gets invited into the Black Belt Club, so we were really proud of him!  I think that's about it around here.  We have just been staying busy with all our company!  Wish more of yall would come out here...and you can't use snow as the excuse because you all are getting more than we are!!  AND..things don't close around here because of it...ha!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Love and miss everyone!



Our Taekwondo Yellow Belt!

Wow!  Mason had his testing for his yellow belt tonight at Taekwondo, and he did awesome!!  He hates to show us stuff (not sure where he gets that from ;)), so we were completely impressed when we saw him tonight! The Master would call out kicks or blocks and they all had to do them, along with breaking a board.  He also received a medal for receiving a lot of blue stripes AND he got asked to join the Black Belt Club!!

Here is a video of him doing some of his kicks and block!

Mason receiving his yellow belt from Master J Lee

Mason with his yellow belt on and his rose he got for being invited into the Black Belt Club!

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!  We went to Memphis and Paris and soaked up as much family and friends as we could!  Believe me, I wish we had more time to visit and see everyone!

Mason and Walker - they were excited to see each other!

For New Year's we had Ann, Terry and Travis McLeese (Paul's cousins) come and stay for about 5 days.  We just basically hung out around here, played some cards, watched football (and I mean a LOT of football!), and we went snowmobiling in Winter Park.  I am not sure if there was a moment when a football game wasn't on the tv..it's crazy how many bowl games there are!

Anyway, we had friends over for a New Year's Eve party, and on Sunday went snowmobiling!  It was awesome!! Cold...but awesome!  We got to ride to the Continental Divide!  Can you say A-MAZING!  It was like being on top of the world.  The view was gorgeous!

Mason and Paul getting ready to ride!

View of Winter Park from the Continental Divide

Here's the Continental Divide!!! 

We started back to school today and Mason gets to go test for his yellow belt at Taekwondo tonight!  I will post pics when he gets it!

Hope everyone is doing great!  Can't wait for our next guests to arrive...Chris and Lindsay..and Jake!