Heart Attacked!~

Our family was "heart attacked" last night!

When Jim and I came up from our movie 

last night this is what we saw in our yard!

It's nice to feel loved!

Feelin' The Love~

It's Valentine's Day!

Jim and I had a wonderful day being together.

 We started our day off going to the gym working out.

  Then we came home and had fun sharing our 

Valentine's gifts for one another.

I gave Jim some work out paddles for swimming.

 I definitely made out better with my gift.

Jim was SO sweet and gave me something I had seen 

in Seiffen, Germany when we were there last spring.

I just love it!

 We attended the Denver Temple in the morning.

Then it was off to one of our favorite Mexican Restaurants

for lunch before coming home to watch a romantic comedy.

A great Valentine's Day for sure!

Cool Coasters~

I finally did it.  I finally went and bought Coasters.

It's one of those things that I overlook having

when the moment is here, and once the moment has

 passed I forget I will need them for the next time.

 I am really excited about the ones I purchased!

The cool thing is you can slide photos in the back

of these light green, glass tiles.  It was fun 

choosing some favorite photos we took in Europe.

I have four countries represented:

Belgium, Germany, Greece, and The Czech Republic.

 Here are a couple of photos from Brugge, Belgium.

Anyone's welcome to stop by for a refreshing drink!

This time I'm ready!

Working The Election Process~

Last night Jim and I attended the caucus in our precinct.

We learned quite a bit about this process and have a

lot more learning to do before it makes better sense.

The turn out was amazing!  The Broomfield High

Auditorium was full with many having to stand.

There was also a great number of young people which

was great to see, and not all of them were for Ron Paul. :)

One of the young men was 18 and excited to be a part

of the process.  It's fun knowing Cody will be able to

vote in the election this coming November.

 After the opening general meeting in the local high

school auditorium where all attending cast their straw

votes those choosing to continue on to the precinct

meetings went to assigned classrooms to vote for the

2 delegates we wanted to send on to represent us in 

future meetings and be voted for.

Once our precinct voted then these 2 delegates moved

 to a larger group to be voted for with the delegates from

 the other precincts.  The end result from our votes in this 

second round was to send 11 representing Mitt Romney 

and 1 undeclared.

It is COLD~

While doing the dishes I glanced out my window

and noticed icicles hanging from the trees!

As usual the sun quickly returned after our major 

storm and began to melt away all the inches of snow.  

 There was quite a bit of snow on the pine trees 

in the back of our yard which was also melting.

  

 But our nights turned very, very cold.  

This mornings low was 8 degrees F.

 So whatever melting began yesterday froze in

the night and for today.   Tomorrow will bring

warmer temperatures again.

I wandered out to the trees thinking my boots would

get the job done.  Well, it's deeper than it looks and

I came back in with snow in my boots!

Snow Day-NO SCHOOL!!!~

What a great start to February!

The weather reports started coming in

the day before this storm saying it was

going to be a doozy!

The storm started moving in Thursday night.

 Closures were already being posted on 

the news channels, except Boulder schools,

to Cody's annoyance.  So instead we got the 

phone call at 4:30 am on Friday that school 

was cancelled.  This is what we woke up to

on Friday morning.  Cody's headed out to 

clear off the trampoline.

 But not before he jumps on it!

 Soft landing.

 Our neighbor Jon came over to help dig out our 

driveway that is always "too big" when there's 

this much snow to shovel.

 The snow plows came through our streets but now we

had to do some work to be able to get onto the street....

 Some shoveling on the back deck.

 I'm SO HAPPY we got snow, and a lot of it!!!

 The next day we woke up to about 5 more 

inches on top of yesterday's accumulation.

 The storm broke several snow records around the Denver area.  

Broomfield received 19.8 inches of snow!!

We were going to get up early and head to the 

mountains for a day of skiing, with the Lewis's, but none 

of this snow made it to the resorts we ski at.  

We just have to appreciate it in our yards this time.

I love winter storms!

Polish Pottery Perks~

Since my first visits to Boleslawiec, Poland ten years ago, 

while living in Prague, there have been many more creative ideas

 thought up by the Polish people with their ceramic designs.

 This past year I went to Poland several times and loved

all the new ideas such as this fruit colander and plant pot!

Even though I'm not a Grandma, yet, I was thinking ahead and 

told Jim we HAD to have this darling ceramic painted stool for when 

the grandkids come visit and want to help Grandma in the kitchen.  

Jim just rolled his eyes and indulged me. ;)  

I wish I would have bought at least two more!!!

Good Eats!

I've been enjoying some great food lately!

 One of my new favorite fruits is Pomegranates.

I remember trying them in college when my roomies,

from Nevada, introduced me to them.  Now that I'm

back in the U.S. I am enjoying them once again.  

While chatting with my aunt one day she said I

 needed to go for the whole piece of fruit-I had just 

been cutting them in half and picking out the juicy

fruit seeds one at a time.  She told me she cuts it all

up and eats a big bowl at one time. 

It was delicious!

But watch out for the red juice splattering everywhere!

I have to set the fruit in the sink, as I cut it, while wearing a

jacket so I don't stain my clothes-it's worth the effort!

 I had not made a Yogurt Pie in forever-can't 

really find "Cool Whip" in Germany....

With a couple of our young missionaries joining 

us for dinner I whipped one up and put it in

one of my Polish Pottery Pie Plates.

So yummy AND cute!  :)

Nothing like a comfort meal. 

Besides a tangy salad, and a grilled cheese sandwhich, 

I also made one of my favorite soups-

Homemade Tomato Basil.

As my German dishes say- "Guten Appetit!

Tea Party Puzzler~

So, Chandra and I hosted a tea party with Grandma,

Kendra and Chelsea.  The party was an excuse to use 

my cute, little, pink flowered teacups I collected while 

our family lived in the Czech Republic.

 While the group sipped warm fruit tea and ate cookies

we worked on this challenging tea cup puzzle.

Well, it did not get finished at our party.
Must have been all the talking and eating we did....

 The puzzle was definitely a hard one.
It took a few more days, hours and many hands
to finish putting it together.

I'm ready to do it again! :-)

Settler's with the Kaisers~

The Kaisers wanted to learn how to play their new

"Settler's of Catan" game.  So we had them over

to show them how the Engstrom gang plays.

 There was the slow, adult table....

And the exciting, fast table!

Sweet Treats~

Chandra and Tyler gave us a candied apple lesson.

The results were delicious!