Thanksgiving with Mom and Sub Zero Temperatures!!

Hey guys! I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Ours was pretty great =) My mom was in town for a whole week! We took her to Rocky Mountain Arsenal on Wednesday and Breckenridge on Friday! Woke up Thursday to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade, followed by lots of football =) After we enjoyed a Thanksgiving dinner, mostly prepared by JC, we decorated our tree. This post has some pictures from when my mom was here, as well as pictures of our apartment decorated for Christmas. 

Beautiful photo taken by JC of a Bison with the mountains and Denver in the background...

Slushy river on a sunny day...

JC's wonderfully delicious turkey and rolls along with my pumpkin pie made with my Grandma's recipe =)  

 Mom made her signature Broccoli and Cheese Cassarole... some of you have had it and know its a staple for holidays in our family =) 

Mom in standing in front of the lake in Georgetown, the first frozen lake she's ever seen!! 

Dillon Reservoir outside of Frisco on the way to Breckenridge!

We were in Breck for the whole day... went shopping and rode the gondola up to the peaks! 

This week has been unbelievably cold! Yesterday was a high of 10 and a low of -8! When I looked at the weather around midnight it said that it was -8, but felt like -25!! We keep our apartment pretty warm and we have a humidifier, so our windows collect a lot of condensation and because it was so cold out it actually froze to the inside of all the windows! These are pictures of our sliding glass door all frosted up! 

And now for the Christmas decorations...

I recently received this nativity set from my Aunt, which originally belonged to my Grandparents. My Grandpa actually built the manger himself! It's pretty old and looks kinda funky, especially the old wise men (two of them are the same), but is very sentimental to me =) 

Stained glass village we got from JC's parents... we joked that this village perfectly represents Christmas since it contains a church and a toy store ;)

Gizmo loves to lay on his heated blanket next to the tree! We got this tree at a cute little place called Tree Town Wonderland that is usually a mini golf course, but they had lights all over it and the trees were scattered around and you just walked around until you found one that you like! They have a Groupon for a $40 tree for $20 and they had some gorgeous trees! 

My mom bought the black bear for our Christmas present this year. We decided to name him Breck after his hometown =) 

I love these skates! My aunt gave them to me once after I told her that I wished I had a pair of ice skates that I could hang on my wall... I will probably hang  them during Christmas forever =) 

Two people stockings and two dog stockings are hung in our house =) 

So far we have survived our coldest couple of days out here... it snowed all night Tuesday and most of Wednesday, but it's pretty sunny today, although it's still freezing! It's supposed to get below zero again tonight, but we're learning how to stay warm! I even practiced driving in the snow today and I think I did pretty good =) Been lucky to have yesterday and today off from work because people actually have to go to work here when it snows! 

Will probably have another post before Christmas, but just in case you don't see it I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! 

Love,

The Hemphill Family 

Fall Hiking in South Valley Park

Hey Guys! This post is from two separate hiking trips: Halloween with JC and yesterday with Dagny, Kate, and James. 

JC and I went to South Valley Park on Halloween looking for a nice and easy hike that was near Denver. South Valley Park is right outside of Littleton, which is on the southwest side of Denver. It only took about 30 minutes to get there from our house! Great little hike to enjoy a nice day, and the dogs loved it! 

Right after we went there one of my friends from church came up to me and said she wanted to go hiking too! I told her about this place and thought it would be great to try with her little ones. We went yesterday and had a blast!! 

Let the dogs off the leash and they instantly started running for the road... not sure why since there was an open field right next to us! 

Beautiful resevoir by the trail =) 

 At first glance we thought these were hornets nests, but they are actually bird's nests! 

Two happy dogs! Do they remind you of Timon and Pumba??

King of the Hill!!

Natural window made by years of wind breaking down the rock =) 

Beautiful fall colors that made up a perfect Halloween!

Feel free to save this to use as a desktop background.... it was the purpose of taking this picture =) 

A couple examples of JC's great photography skills...

And this is "Nobody" our cyclops pumpkin!! 

And now for the second hike at South Valley Park...

Kate led the way! 

 Dagny packed some yummy snacks that the kids ate on top of this rock!

We hear yelling and we look over and James said he fell and couldn't get up, so what do we do? Whip out the camera and take a picture, of course! 

Dagny is Super Mom! We hiked about 2 miles and she did the whole thing with James on her shoulders!! And people wonder why I'm not ready to have kids ;)

Awesome two days of hiking thanks to South Valley Park! It was pretty cold on Halloween, but, as you saw, I wore a T-shirt most of yesterday! One great thing I've learned about CO is that it's almost always sunny, and if you're in the sun, it's usually warm =) 

Have I told you guys how happy we are here? I had a revelation while sitting in the drive thru line at Wendy's a couple weeks ago: I am the happiest I've ever been in my life. I miss all of my family and friends from back home, but I want to thank each of you for supporting us in our decision to move here! I know it was hard for some of you to say goodbye, but I really appreciate you letting this free bird fly!! 

'Til next time!! 

Kelsey & Josh Come to Colorado!!

A couple of months ago one of my best friends (Kelsey) called and informed me that she'd be visiting Durango, CO on October! I was so excited to see her =) Her and her boyfriend, Josh, were coming to town to participate in a horse training show, so I went down on Monday after the show was over to spend a few days with them. During my long trek down to Durango, which totaled about 6.5 hours, I saw this:

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is an Elk head sticking out of a Hummer!! Just driving along and stopping at a gas station on the highway....

While I waited for them to get back into town, I went to this park and took some pictures. This is the Animas River...

Kelsey and I standing at the top of Ft. Lewis College.... I loved going to UF, but I think I maybe should've gone here ;)

Old fashioned phone booths at Diamond Belle Saloon =) 

 

 Where do you see phone books anymore?

I met an awesome lady named Kim who lives with this view =)

And for Josh, I have a picture of a Prairie Dog... please don't shoot your screen ;)

Kim took us riding in New Mexico!! This is the horse that I rode, Taco =) 

He is about 18 and spent most of his life as a trail horse in the mountains. He was a pleasure to ride =) 

Kelsey on Harley...

This is Kim on the left. She was a great tour guide =) 

This is Farmington Lake in Farmington, New Mexico...

Taco liked to take in the sights, so we spent a lot of time in the back =)

Beautiful Cottonwoods down by the lake =)

I took more time on the way back to take pictures of the leaves...

Among other things =)  

The Spanish Peaks on the way home =)

I had so much fun on my trip to Durango and am so happy that Kelsey and Josh were able to come to visit!! I hope they will be in Denver in the spring ;)

We went hiking yesterday at Jefferson County Open Space, so I will post about it next week!