Very Merry

The first two weekends of December have been filled with much holiday cheer! Here are some fun photos from our holly jolly adventures...

 Well, at least 4 out of 5 Leahys enjoyed our visit

with Santa & Mrs. Claus at Monument's

Small Town Christmas!

Look who found the reindeer! 

 Grant is not so sure what an alpaca has to do

with Christmas ... or if he should be so close to it.

 We went to the Denver Festival of Lights Parade

for the first time! We met our friends Joe & Mary Fran

 and their 2 boys and Joe's sister Debbie 

and grabbed dinner at Mici's Pizza downtown.

 We snapped a quick pic, but the boys on our backs

were more interested in keeping their eyes on the parade!

Joe was a trooper and let Luke

sit on his shoulders so he could see 

better over the crowd. Thanks, Joe!

 The dads with their littlest fellas.

Someone was very excited

to spot her favorite animal in the parade! 

Rudolph Balloon!

 

Fa-la-la Fancy for the RT Logic Holiday Party

 Every year Junior League helps host an event

called Fantasy Flight where underprivileged children 

have the chance to ride a plane that lands at the 

"North Pole" (a winter-wonderland-decorated 

airport terminal) and enjoy some holiday fun, 

a visit with Santa & more.
Check out this video of the event!

 The Junior League hosted a Hot Cocoa

Stand to share info about the 

Pikes Peak Children's Museum.

Luke volunteered at the stand

and passed out cocoa to the kids!

Olympic athletes hung out with all 

the kids (a perk of having the

United States Olympic Center

nearby!) This is the Triathlon Team,

and some are hopefuls for Rio 2016!

Luke with our local Minor League

baseball mascot Sox the Fox.

Our Junior League volunteers with Santa & Mrs. Claus.

Batman

Sometimes when doing yard work, you have to call in the big guys to help ... like Batman ... because we all need some extra superpowers to handle those leaves!

The Colors of Christmas

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is to hit the Dutch Heritage Gardens Greenhouse out in the country in the rolling hillsides of Larkspur for their annual Holiday Open House. The weekend after Thanksgiving, they have an Open House where the public can come in and buy poinsettias and plants at discounted rates. After that, the plants are destined for the local grocery stores of Colorado. In addition to stocking up on fa-la-la foliage, this is also a wonderful photo opp with the "colors of Christmas." Enjoy these photos of our little elves...

Can you spot the Leahy elves?

Mr. Luke (with a slight cocoa mustache!)

"Can you two hug and 

look like you like one another?"

Funny Reid

Grantman

"Luke, could you take a picture of us by the pretty flowers?"

This is what we got, but it's kind of hip in an

industrial-greenhouse-irrigation-system kind of way!

Walking into the greenhouse, Papa spotted this truck.

Grant motored around in this truck the ENTIRE time.

If you look closely, you can see he's hauling 

hot cocoa in the back! Precious cargo!

Our crazy crew!

Special Delivery - Several poinsettias & a little boy!

Boys will be boys!

Grant suddenly realized his truck was being

swarmed by older brothers and was

slightly displeased by that.

"That's it. We're done. LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!"

Vogel Visit

Also over Thanksgiving Break, our good friend Byron Vogel and his boys Kyle & Adam stopped by for a visit. It was so much fun to catch up. The boys became fast friends and even worked in a wiffleball game!

Thanksgiving Menu

Oh, how we love planning Thanksgiving Dinner! We usually travel to see family on Thanksgiving, but this year we stayed at home & hosted family. We took our inspiration for the big meal from some friends over at the Food Network. Here's a peek at our menu...

Alton Brown’s Good Eats Roast Turkey Recipe

Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten’s Sausage & Herb Stuffing

Giada de Laurentiis’ Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs

Tyler Florence’s Green Beans with Caramelized Onions & Almonds

Bobby Flay’s Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranate & Hazelnuts

Desserts by Kathy & Jami (we aren’t on the Food Network yet, but perhaps some day!)

Oh, the meal was DELISH! The turkey sat in a brine for 12 hours before cooking. We thought the brine would enhance the flavor a little more (not necessarily the case) but it certainly amped up the moisture. Very good! The stuffing had bits of sausage, dried cranberries, apple & celery mixed with sourdough bread. A perfect combination of sweet and savory in the stuffing. I wanted to find a potato that was different, but not too different. We found a winner with these Giada potatoes as the parmesan and mozzarella cheese added a little different zip. Green beans are pretty standard, but add some caramelized onions ... WOW! And finally, the surprise dish of the day that I thought people would either love or hate were the brussels sprouts. Loved them! There were second helpings of these on more than one plate! They had a drizzle of molasses mixed with the pomegranate seeds and nuts, which made for quite a festive & fancy spin.

Thanksgiving Holiday with the Dittos

This Thanksgiving, our hearts were filled with much gratitude ... for health, happiness, time with family, rest & relaxation, and beautiful weather. What a fun-filled week with Jami's Aunt Marcia and cousin Matt visiting! We loved having them here (and that they were up for any and every adventure with our crew!) Here are some Thanksgiving week pics of our good times and great memories!

 Sunshine, shorts & sun ... a beautiful day

on the Gleneagle Golf Course!

The guys enjoyed some time golfing

while Marcia and I hit the Y for TRX/Kettlebell class.

Reason #57 why it's cool to have Matt visit ...

he lets you drive the golf cart!

 These two are quite the pair...

always looking for their next adventure!

Time for a Thanksgiving morning hike.

Wobble before you gobble!

A lovely family hike through Fox Run Park.

 You can never have too many cooks in the kitchen.

The more, the merrier!

 Papa was as our fabulous wine connoisseur

for Thanksgiving dinner. Delicious wines
from Cameron Hughes & chocolates, too!

Kathy & Grant (who looks like

 he's up to some trouble!)

Our first year of having a kids' table!

Kathy made the most 

beautiful pumpkin pies!

Our table set for the feast.

Reid added the piece of bread

(perhaps he thought the "placecard

pears" needed a buddy?!)

Not the original plan, but it

added some rustic charm and 

showcased Reid's culinary creativity!

Time to carve the turkey!

Oh, how Mama loves the kitchen!

It was truly a pleasure to plan and prepare

Thanksgiving dinner with our menu

inspired by the Food Network.

Post-Turkey Trampoline Time!

Fun for everyone!

The weather was so nice we enjoyed

dessert on our patio. Oh, and some people

enjoyed some tree-climbing!

Leading up to the Dittos visit, the boys talked

non-stop about going to play laser tag with them.

So we headed off to Brunswick Zone XL for

some fun Friday morning!  

Time for our annual Swedish meal!

Scott made the Nelson family recipe for

Potatis Korv (AKA Swedish Potato Sausage).

Our Crew from Thanksgiving 2012

Thanks to all for a fabulous week!

Batman LIVE!

For Birthday #6, we gave Reid tickets to see the performance of Batman LIVE! on stage at World Arena. Big bro Luke joined Reid and Mom for this night out to the theater. What an amazing performance with trapeze artists, stunts, superheroes suspended from cables, acrobats ... just WOW! The boys talked about their favorite parts of the musical the whole ride home.

 Our first seats were pretty high up!

Because there were so many open seats,

we got to move forward!

Our Favorite Bat Fans