Happy Holidays!

It has been a wonderful, wonderful holiday weekend. First, we were able to stuff ourselves with a DELICIOUS Thanksgiving meal surrounded by friends and family. We definitely missed my parents who are enjoying the warmth of Florida, but we were blessed to spend the holiday at the Marble's home. Nick, Brittney and Connor were able to be there, as well as my sister Becka and my brother Paul and his girlfriend Jaya. The Ensmingers joined us, as well as Craig and Jennifer, from Mark and Christie's small group. I had worked the night before and was working Thanksgiving night as well which required me to sleep for part of the day, but the lack of sleep to spend time with our family was WELL worth it. Here are a few pictures from the day...

The moment Thanksgiving was over we were ready to decorate for Christmas. The desire probably came for our beautifully decorated town which is more beautiful than ever with the light posts and trees decorated with garland and lights. So, after I worked Friday night and slept for a few hours on Saturday, we headed out for our Christmas tree and decorations. We love being home even more now with our new Christmas decorations which include tree, stockings and now a new macbook! I think Jesse's fingers are glued to the keys, but I somehow manage to detach him every once in awhile :) Here's a pic of what a typical afternoon now looks like now in our living room.

Our dinner tonight, perfect for a snowy day


Lastly, a video of some musicians who took the time to play a few Christmas tunes through town.

Cards for Troops

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We hope you are able to spend it with friends, family, or other loved ones. We'll be enjoying our Turkey day at the Marbles house in Castle Rock with Nick, Brittney, Connor, Becka, Jaya, Paul, and I think several other friends.

In honor of those brave men and women overseas that aren't able to be home with their family, Xerox is doing a great thing by sending cards to our troops. Regardless of your thoughts on the war, please take a quick minute and send a card to a soldier. It's free and will bless them greatly.

www.LetsSayThanks.com

The spider again

Yes, I'm writing about the spider drawing again. Someone auctioned off the spider drawing on eBay. Click here.

And if you're confused, check out yesterday's post.

The spider drawing

This post has nothing to do with anything important/relevant/etc. but should serve to brighten your day a bit.

A clever Aussie attempts to pay an overdue utility bill. Click here.

This day will live in infamy

Well not really. However, it is a day/night of firsts for both Kate and I. Professional firsts, that is.

Tonight is Kate's first night shift. 7pm-7am. The first of three night shifts in a row. Rough.

Pray for nurses. I can't imagine pulling a night shift like that and be expected to accurately/appropriately deal with medical patients. (I've always wondered how medical malpractice suits relate to the time-of-day of the incident in question...) The one time I even came close to something like that was trying to stay up all night to complete a project that was required for a job interview this past April. I drank several energy drinks (probably called silly names like "BLAST!" or "THE SLAMMER!" or "MIND ZAPPER JUICE!") and by 6am my eyeballs were in serious pain. Didn't get the job, by the way.

Good job, Kate, for working hard to serve the military families that sacrifice so much to serve us. A great way to say "Happy Veterans Day."

And me: I'm off to my first business trip bright and early tomorrow morning. To the (read with sarcasm) wily and cosmopolitan Salt Lake City. So maybe it won't be the most exciting trip, but is, I'm sure, the first of many engagements for which I'll be scurrying about our nation. As the newly minted "Product Marketing Specialist" for my company, CodeBaby, I'm the go-to-dude for our company's relationship with our new marketing agency, Sprout Marketing. So off to Salt Lake I go with our CEO and VP of Sales to the Sprout offices.

Happy Veterans Day to all who have served our nation with courage and honor. We also pray that our deployed troops overseas return home safely. Preferably sooner rather than later.

Kate, good job. Don't worry if you fall asleep a little tonight. I'm sure they'll give you some slack since it's your first time. I love you. And I'll see you on Friday morning before you go to bed for the day :)
-JMM

A Pair of Pirates and a little Petey

To start this blog, here's a picture of the Halloween crowd in Manitou this year. The shops were open until 5:30 giving candy away to all of the kids. It was so much fun seeing all of the creative and cute costumes.

One of our oldest friends (friend for a long time, not oldest in age), Noah Cremisino, had a surprise party last night at Paul's apartment in Denver. It was a costume party in honor of the holiday, and so we got all dolled up as pirates. My birdie friend was named Petey. He was a kind companion. Here's a few pics of the party.