Happy 2011

Gotta love boys!  My son got a new camera for Christmas, which I decided to use for our family's New Years Eve Celebration.  He apparently didn't receive the memo to keep those pictures sacred!  I wanted a record of our family time celebrating not only the end of one of my favorite years, 2010 but also a memento of me and Chuck's 18th anniversary.  He must have looked at the pictures and noted how dorky his parents were.  Oh well!  Here's a taste of what the now erased pictures captured: our family went to a beautiful and super yummy cajun dinner (at No No's in Littleton) which was followed by the movie,  Gulliver's Travels in 3d.  (I had a great picture of Payton and I with our 3d glasses on!  Bummer!)   We came home to a mean game of Yahtzee.  I got a Yahtzee on my first roll and can you believe I got another Yahtzee on the very next roll?  For those of you who know Yahtzee - this hardly ever happens.  My Yahtzees bonanza kind of took the wind out of my family's sails after that.  Playing for second isn't all that fun sometimes.  We rang in the New Year with sweet Dick Clark,  a kiss to everyone and a cheers with sparkling cider.  I feel like such a Mom - why did I have a hard time speaking and where did the tears come from?  Seeing my children at 18, 16 and 10 years old, I can appreciate how time just vanishes in a blink of an eye.  It's conceivable to think within 10 years Chuck and I will have "in-law children" and most probably have grandchildren! Maybe that reflection is what brought the flood gates.

Since I have no fun pictorials of my special New Years night, I thought I would take you back to the Mrs. America pageant.  I'll show a few of the "official photos" I received while I was there.

Please enjoy!

First night in Tucson, Orientation Dinner 

..you will have to click on this to see us up close.  

We got up at the crack of dawn to take this picture, we had to get the sun right as it was rising!

This was just a teaser of much more to come!  Going to Mrs. America was a dream come true for me.  It was the culmination of redeeming a dream I had many years ago as a teenager.  I'm so grateful Mrs. Colorado gave a reality to those dreams.  Now, back to looking for the right college for my daughter.  Is it wrong I'm narrowing things down by how short of a drive I'll have?  I want her close!!