Happy Early Birthday Nana

Today we drove to Fort Collins to take Nana to a yarn store she is reading about in novel called "Knit One Kill Two," by Maggie Sefton. While she didn't get to meet the author, she was able to meet the owner who is one of the characters in the book!

Of course we had to stop at our favorite burrito joint to grab a bite to eat...yummy!

Happy early Birthday Nana!


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Living Debt Free

Ever since we had our first child, Craig and I have had this vision of being debt free. No credit card debt, no car debt, no piddly little loans. On our journey through marriage we have learned many things. One of the biggies for us is finances. It is not comfortable to feel the stresses of just barely making it. Our vision is to retire comfortably. We don't need to be extremely wealthy. We just want to not have to worry about money. The problem is that life keeps happening. Things like raising kids, emergency surgeries, broken appliances, traveling to see family, buying groceries and clothing, etc. While we are so glad we chose to live our lives, we also kept having that nagging feeling of "pay off your debt...pay off your debt!" "Stop spending foolishly." Unfortunately, we had to learn the hard way. We, like, so many other typical American families tried several years back to do this by refinancing our home. Only this was to no avail, as we proceeded to rack up the debt again. It was a very frustrating experience but just in the heat of me staying home to be with our kids we realized the value of not having debt, so we managed to pay off our credit cards and not have a car payment. Then the opportunity for me to go back part time came up which allowed us to have that stable income once again. Unfortunately it got the best of us and we proceeded get a new car along with the payment to go with it! While we knew at the time we didn't want the loan payment, we justified it by my having a job. Well it wasn't long before that nagging feeling of "pay off your debt" came creeping back in.

Well, today, we managed to pay off that $18 K note, and we felt compelled to shout it from the blog! We're debt free! It took us a little over two years, but with a little persistence and a lot of prayer we are now debt free again! Of course we still have our house payment, but our goal is to pay that off at least 10 years early maybe even sooner if we stay focused. We are hopeful we can fulfill this goal and enter our happy golden years with no debt. We are also hopeful that for those of you reading this post you will want the same for yourselves, and that you will make it happen. Money is a crazy thing that had control of our life for so long, but for the first time we are relishing in the peace of not having to worry about it any longer. It is such a great feeling knowing we don't have to give our money to credit card companies, banks, or any other loan institution each month. Our money is ours and we get to choose how we want to spend it. We get to choose how we want to save it. We get to choose how we want to invest it. Wow! How cool is that?!

Presenting Harriet Tubman

Today, Emaleigh gave her presentation on Harriet Tubman for her Famous African American speech. This is the third speech she has given this year. She is becoming very proficient at using props. In fact the last two speeches have entailed creating power point presentations to help her audience stay engaged. It is amazing how comfortable she is using the various technologies available.

Up Next:
Science Fair in February
US State presentations in March
The annual Mock Trial at our city courthouse in April

Fortunately she seems very relaxed and we look forward to her future presentations!

Happy 39th Craig

On Tuesday Craig celebrated his 39th birthday! Is was a quiet evening with his new favorite for dessert...frozen homemade cupcakes with slightly melted ice cream. The kids really enjoyed it too!


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Back to School

The kids are back at school today. It's hard to believe that we had been off since December 19th. Eighteen days of pure relaxation. No commitments. No appointments. No schedules. Freedom. Stayed in in our jammies until--well--whenever we felt like getting dressed. Watched a lot of great movies. Read some really wonderful stories. Traveled to a few great places. Enjoyed each others company immensely.

Surprisingly, there were only a couple of disagreements that didn't last much longer than--well--a load of laundry to finish! I am so blessed to have such great kids that really like each other.

I wonder if this is what life is like when you get to heaven?!

The First Ski Day of the Season

Many of you know that we have become avid skiers over the past few years. It is great way to pass the winter season in Colorado, and the kids have really taken to it, as well. This year Emaleigh skis free at over twenty different ski areas as a part of a Colorado program to entice 5th graders and their families to learn how to ski. For those of us who already ski, it's a pretty good deal! For our first ski day we decided to try Loveland again. Last spring we ended our ski season here. It was a little windy, we lost Caleb in the trees, and the drive home was not so enjoyable. Long waits on the interstate. Since it is the closest to our house and we thought it would be the least crowded with it being the holiday season, we decided to give it another chance. We don't enjoy big crowds as it usually means you have to wait in line to get on the lifts. The morning was pretty crowded, but it was worth it. The past two days dumped 8 fresh inches of snow which made for a great ride down the slopes! By the afternoon most of the people had left because the temperatures were pretty bitter. Even Ema and I had to take a brief interlude in the lodge to warm up a bit. The boys were a little more diligent and decided to tough out the cold temperatures. They got in two extra runs, but I say having warm fingers and toes was worth the loss of those runs! We still had a blast and look forward to many more trips. By the way...the drive home was worse this time. It took us a little over three hours to drive what should normally take just under two hours.

Nana Takes Up Skating

On New Year's Day we headed up to Green Mountain Falls to do some ice skating. Nana decided to join us this year as she got her hands on a pair of skates. She was once an avid skater, but after the surgery she had, and the balance issues she now suffers from, she was a little apprehensive about getting on the ice. She fell a few times, but she remained diligent and got right back up. Emaleigh let her borrow one of the hockey sticks we brought along, so she could have something to lean on. By the end of the morning she was doing so much better! In fact, she even gave up the stick!