Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

Christmas Vacation + Exciting News


To say I had a great Christmas Vacation is a understatement.

I had a fantastic one! I got to show my husband Colorado and all its goodness as well as spend much needed time with my immediate family and my Colorado family!

My husband, Jacob(my brother), and I flew in Friday the 18th. My parents and two other brothers flew in the next day. We split into weird groups due to working schedules and price differences. But we all made it and who knows when the next time all 7 of us can vacation together again. Pretty special and rare!


We got up super early to fly for cheap. I'm talking 1AM, drive 2 hours to be at the airport 2 hours early to catch a 6AM flight early. So excuse the bags and tired eyes. It was a rough trip just because of the lost sleep but it's a million times better than driving 22 hours in a car....a trip my parents, brothers and I have done our whole lives. Jaime got lucky this time. Next time, tickets may not be so cheap. ha! We flew Frontier, nothing bad to say about them. You get what you pay for.


My traveling outfit of the day. I wore my bulky items so I could shove more into my suitcase.


Jaime's outfit of the day. He was working that scarf he got in Afghan. What a stud.


We raced the sunrise as we landed into Denver. It was beautiful and all the snow made me super excited. I already miss it!


Our uncle picked us up at the airport and let us chose where to eat. Not knowing where to go,  I googled: "best breakfast places in Denver". Snooze AM Eatery was the highest rated place and it was so good! A must if you are ever in Denver!


Jaime had never been to Colorado so we had to swing by the Garden of the Gods and Manitou Springs. Thankful that I dressed in layers. It was freezing in Denver but the further south we went, the warmer it got!




The next day, my brother and I went exploring my Pa Pa's church next door. They still have this old wallpaper in the kitchen. It's a fun background!
  

Playing around with Jacob's nice camera.



Sunday, I had the privilege to listen to my Pa Pa preach in his church. 


After Sunday dinner, we played 13 rounds of Dominos. And I can't even count how many times we played it after that. It's one of our favorites to play as a family!


A beautiful double rainbow draped over the field behind my grandparents home. I love that rainbows are a sign from God that He will never flood the Earth again. What a beautiful reminder that He's there during a lazy Sunday afternoon.


We made a lot of Christmas candy before our trip to the cabin. There's no telling how much I gained from this trip but who cares.



Jaime interrupted added himself to my outfit of the day photo shoot I was having. 
But I don't mind, look how handsome he is.


My hair holds curl SOOO much better out in this dry state. It's amazing!


Monday afternoon we set off to the mountains to our cute cabin in the woods. The higher up we went, the more snow there was. The little girl in me LOVED every second of it.




What do you know?! We played Dominos while we waited for everyone else to arrive. 



It's hard to capture just how beautiful and big this cabin was for all 15 of us. My uncle picked it out and he did a awesome job! It was literally perfect.



This was Jaime and I's room. My Nanny insisted that we have one of the King beds.


There was a wood stove burner and it did it's job! We almost heated us out of the house! We also think it sucked a lot of the oxygen out of the house since most of us had trouble breathing that night while we slept. 

The elevation was at 11,000 ft above sea level. It takes a long time to get used to it for us Kentucky folks. Every single time we came up the steps, we had to stop and get our breath back. I'm not even exaggerating. It was tough to get used to. Not to mention the super dry air. I, along with my brothers had some pretty bad nose bleeds. But these two things were the only negatives to this trip.


Soaking in the hot tub in 15 degree weather while it snowed!


Our view the next morning while we sipped coffee and watched it snow.

2015 Christmas Card

Merry Christmas from the Pattersons!

We made it to Colorado yesterday safely. My uncle Tony picked us up in Denver, we ate at a local breakfast nook called Snooze AM Eatery. So good! We then took Jaime to Manitou Springs and The Garden of the Gods National Park. We'll be headed to the mountains Monday and we cannot wait! 

I wanted to show you our cute Christmas card ornaments we ordered from Shutterfly this year. I was so excited to mail them out until I found out because of the card size, you have to add an extra .22 cents on each card. -__- But I still love them and hope you all do too!

 
 The backside of it.

Early Christmas Weekend




So we got to have a two week early Christmas this year! (We're going to Colorado, to visit my mom's family if you missed that announcement.) We first had a Christmas breakfast with the Patterson's side! So much fun! Everyone brought some yummy breakfast foods! I decided to try that crock pot homemade hot chocolate recipe I've seen floating around on Pinterest. It was soo good and guess who forgot to take a picture of it! I'll give you the recipe though! I'll warn you, I think there was so much sugar in it that it made me stay awake until 2 am! Oops, but it was worth it!

recipe and pic

Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
  • (1) 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 6 cups milk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups of chocolate chips (milk chocolate OR semi-sweet)
Let it heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Then set to warm. Enjoy with whip cream and marshmallows!



The girls were not amused in their Santa and Elf outfit. They also didn't last long in it with my brother in laws dog jumping and playing with them. But at least they looked cute when we showed up.


The gang was all there! Minus the dogs! It was our first time getting to have both Jaime's dad and mom there with us for Christmas. What a blessing!



Jaime's brother gave us a devotional before presents. Thankful to be surrounded by a christian family.


Handed out gifts. Yes, I know, I need to get better at taking non blurry pictures with the Go Pro.


Maggie was in cuddle heaven! She stayed just like that for at least 20 minutes.


I've been wanting one of these sweatshirts for ever! So excited! And in green to make my eyes pop!


Yes, this big box was for me! Want to see what was is in it?



Balloons filled with dollar bills for me to pop and find! Such a fun idea!


We're not looking but a cute family photo. :)


Maggie looks ready to pounce!


Justin let out a man squeal like I've never heard when he saw his gift from his parents and wife! Happy gaming!



He was rubbing the underside of her jaw. She loves him.



And then we had Christmas dinner with the Ayres's side! We invited my grandmother and grandaddy since we won't be able to go to their Christmas on Christmas day with the rest of the Ayres side.

Mom made a wonderful and delicious dinner and we even got to eat on her China.
The China dishes were actually my Grandmothers. When she got married, she would fill out a coupon book and turn it in to the grocery store to receive one piece of this set. She filled out and saved enough to get the whole set, a 12 person set! Talk about dedication!



Pretty good family photo thanks to the Go Pro!


I really love all these people.


Dad wanted to take a picture with us and his new sweater we got him. He gets my picture taking habit.


When you're trying to be cute with your husband and he's not paying any attention! ha!



We had a great day! Came home with lots of things to keep me warm and they fueled my love for Kate Spade. So thankful for my family on both sides!

Sunday after church, Jaime and I went to feed the cattle for the family. We had quite the adventure!



My handsome man.





Going just a little fast! Then we had to fly back to the barn before the gas ran out. Then we switched vehicles to check on the fences.



We found some cows that got into this field due to a tree falling on the electrical fence.


Trying to heard them out of the field.




We always have a great time when we go home, no matter what we're up to! 

We fly out Friday and we cannot wait! It's been snowing where my Nanny lives. We've been in NC the last two winters without snow so we are READY to play in some magical fluffy powder. Stay up to date with our adventures in CO by following me on Instagram: faithannpatterson. 
Now to go finish up packing!!