Catching up!

Christmas this year was awesome. We have pics that I will post soon, but since I am sitting in a hotel in Nebraska right now, I can't post them right this minute. Noah is at the perfect age for Christmas. He was so excited when he came down Christmas morning and saw that Santa ate all the cookies and drank all the milk we left out for him.

As soon as we did our Christmas in Colorado, we left for Kansas City. Noah was so excited to see his G.G. (my mom), Aunt Amanda, and Uncle Eric, Aunt Suzanne, Kenny and Luke. He just ADORES Kenny now! He can't quit talking about him.

After Kansas City, we went to Iowa to see Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mikey, Sara, Aunt Christie, Uncle Jim, and Brayden (his cousin). He had a ball, and didn't stop talking about Uncle Mikley and Sara until we were past the Nebraska border.

Thanks everyone for the great Christmas! We feel truly blessed to have such an amazing family (on both sides). Noah is more spoiled than he knows!!!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all the joy of the season and a great new year. Happy holidays and happy trails!

Who is that?

So I saw this picture on the Today show this morning just briefly and I was thinking, "That guy is hot...who is that?"

"OMG, it's freakin' Barack Obama."

I had no idea.

Short! Haircut

Here's Noah's new look...

The Many Faces of Noah

Everyone is always telling me how expressive Noah is...I got some pics of that at his Christmas party...

Noah's Christmas Performance

On Friday, Noah's class had a winter party and a little performance of some of the songs they have been learning. Here is a video of part of it. Just for the record, Noah knows the song and actions perfectly well and did them all for us after he got home! It was hilarious!

Ken Salazar, Interior Secretary

I am so happy with Obama's pick for interior secretary!

Bye bye Dirk Kempthorne, and good riddance to your environment destroying ways! And don't even get me started on Gale Norton, who Bush picked before Kempthorne and served as interior secretary until 2006.

Salazar is a good pick because he is an advocate for the environment, but he is also a realist and sort of a centrist. For example, he is an advocate for offshore drilling (obviously, I don't love that, but I do realize that energy is a problem). But he wants to balance energy development with environmental protections.

He is a US senator from Colorado, so I have been watching his career for a couple of years. I think he will do an outstanding job as interior secretary. He will be a great addition to an administration that is reasonable, intelligent, and progressive.

Shakin' It Up

So I have been getting a little bored with running.

And by "a little bored," I mean really freakin' sick of it.

On Saturday, I tried to combat this with a nice long trail run. It was around 50 and sunny. And it was a totally different route for me. And I had forgotten how much tougher trail running is than pavement running. And it worked. The run was actually enjoyable and I came out of it totally back into running.

Then this morning, the temperature was -18. I was NOT running outside, so I went to the rec center that is about 10 minutes from our house and ran on the treadmill. I forgot my iPod, so I thought I'd be back to the running burnout by the end of the 4 miles I had planned. But it was great and fast and felt good. I'm going back tomorrow morning because it is supposed to be butt cold again. I won't forget my iPod this time.

Rudolph

We have been trying to get Noah to say, "I need something," instead of whining or crying when he wants something. So, last night right after I put him to bed I hear him yell, "Mommy, I need something."

I was really excited that he didn't just cry or scream, so I ran right in.

Me: "What do you need, sweetie?"

Noah: "I just saw Rudolph's nose flash!"

Me: "Oooh, cool!"

Noah: "He's hungry."

Me: "OK, well I'll put a carrot out for him."

Noah: "OK, good night, Mommy."

Me: "Good night, Noah."

Noah: "You're going to give Rudolph a carrot?"

Me: "Yes."

Noah: "He's out front!"

Santa!

We took Noah to see Santa last night. This picture was taken with Dan's cell phone, but the pro photographer who was there got a great one with Noah smiling even! Far cry from last year when he screamed the whole time. He even told Santa he wants a car for Christmas, which is great since Santa is bringing this.