Happy Birthday, Bev!

Today was Bev's birthday, so the three of us went to Breckenridge to see the International Snow Sculpture Contest. Really fun...perfect weather...and beautiful and amazing artwork. We had a great time. First time visiting Breckenridge for both Bev and me. Here are a few pictures...

Annual Leavitt Ritual

It's that time of year again...we receive many Christmas greetings and letters from friends and family...but at the Leavitt home...we send out New Years letters. I have been sending out some sort of holiday family newsletter for about as long as I can remember. At first, it was a one page Christmas newsletter, without any pictures, typed and printed off at the copy store. A couple of years later, I got more festive and copied it on either red or green paper. Then I got all fancy, and copied it on pretty festive stationery. One year, I decided that Christmas was too busy, and so I started sending out New Years newsletters instead, and it has remained that way ever since. Our newsletter has evolved from one page with no pictures to two pages, designed with Microsoft Publisher format and many many pictures. Also gone from sending out all of the newsletters by snail mail to sending out the majority of newsletters via email. Three reasons for this... 1) it is less expensive 2) it is much more efficient than folding and licking envelopes and 3) the pictures are much nicer sent on-line. It takes a good while for me to produce this project each year, but I enjoy it and feel it is something I can do each year to stay in touch with those we don't get to see or talk to very often. If you are following our blog and have not had a chance to view our newsletter yet, leave me you email address in the comment section and I'll send you a copy. So I was excited today to get a New Years card from Brent and Rachel and family. Maybe the New Years greeting will continue with the family. Happy New Year to all of you! May this year bring the best of all your dream and wishes, and good health, and gratitude for all of our blessings! 

Christmas in Connecticut

Have you ever heard someone mention that "it was perfect timing"? Well, our trip to CT for Christmas was all that and more. As our plane touched ground at New York, LaGuardia Airport (by the way, probably one of the yuckiest airports ever), I checked my phone messages, and I had two from Tom and one from his friend Sterling. We were told that Amanda and Tom were now at the hospital getting ready to deliver grandbaby #9 and that his friend, Sterling would be picking us up from the airport. Amanda delivered Lydia Ann right on schedule on Christmas morning, after a lengthly labor, and Tom, Amanda, and little Lydia came home from the hospital right before the big blizzard hit 2 days after Christmas. We had some wonderful "one on one" or "two on one" time with big sister Lucy, and we all celebrated Christmas a couple of days late...with the best Christmas gift ever...a new grandbaby. Lydia Ann weighed in at 7 lb. 2 oz. and was 19 inches long. Mom, dad, and baby are all doing fine, and Lucy loves her big sister. We were able to spend an entire week with the new baby, and saw the subtle changes that take place even at that young age. We were so glad to be able to be there when she was born.

So here are pictures of Bruce and me waiting at the airport in CO Springs for our plane to leave...ho, ho, ho...

We were definitely in the Christmas spirit! So while we were there, a big snow storm came and dumped about 20 inches of snow on Danbury.

Unlike Colorado Springs, the city and the HOA are very good about clearing the roads, and we were able to get around fine. Tom loaned us his car and GPS and off we went to Target so we could shop for the new baby. We also visited Trader Joes, (one of my favorite places that I miss since we left AZ), and then headed back home. I enjoyed helping with the cooking and cleaning while we were there so that Amanda could get some rest. Tom also had paternity leave the entire week that we were there, so we were able to spend more time visiting with him also...also good timing. So while we were there, Tom said he would take some photos of us with his new camera. He took both inside and outside shots...outside ones turned out the best...took two different hairdos with me...and I like the outside look better. Bruce's new teeth and my new hair...wow! Anyway, we went out to a beautiful little park about 20 minutes away from Tom and Amanda's and went tromping through the snow with my tennies, but the pictures turned out great...thanks bunches, Tom!

We were scheduled to return home on New Year's Day. Amanda's mom decided to come out on New Year's Eve, instead of later in the month as originally planned. So her flight got in at 7 pm on New Year's Eve, our flight was leaving at 6 am on New Year's Day. Instead of having Tom make two trips to LaGuardia Airport, we decided to split the time and have both of us wait a few hours, so we celebrated the New Year sitting in LaGuardia (again, a dumpy airport) with a bunch of others doing the same thing as us. The major parts of the airport were shut down until 4 am, but there was still plenty of places for us to sit with our luggage, and watch people (we love to "people watch"). Bruce and I gave each other a kiss at the stroke of midnight and I snapped a couple of quick pictures, and then we just took turns walking around, eating a lunch we had packed and snoozing a bit until we could check in at 4. We returned home via Minneapolis. This place has to be the coldest spot on earth. (LaDelle, I can see why you don't visit Josh in the winter.) Anyway, we arrived back home about 11 am on New Year's Day, unpacked, and spent the rest of day by the cozy fire. Nice to visit family, but always nice to get back home too. Happy New Year to all of our friends and family!