A Kansas City Christmas

Renae holding my 2nd cousin Charlotte.

Matthew and Charlotte

The fam. Grandma Fuller, me, Andrew holding Charlotte, Linda, Uncle Kirk, Aunt Debbie, and Matthew.

Andrew reading to Charlotte

After finishing with Exploration Place, Renae and I got on the road and headed to El Dorado and dropped some luggage off at Grandma Fuller's. I had contacted Matthew (cousin) several months ago and asked if we could crash their Christmas day in Kansas City. It has been 4 years or more since I've seen that side of the family and thought it would be fun to surprise Aunt Debbie and Uncle Kirk. We then headed towards Kansas City on the turnpike, we got off at Emporia and headed down I35. It had started snowing pretty good around the east El Dorado exit, but the temps were still above 32. By the time we reached Emporia it was 29 degrees so the roads started getting slick. We saw a really bad accident as we were headed out of Emporia. We decided to stop in Ottawa instead of going all the way into Belton, MO where we had a reservation, but the roads were really to slick to continue safely. We got back on the road around 0830 and got to Belton around 0930 were we stopped and got some more gift cards and checked with the hotel because their phones had not been working due to the storm that had gone through.
We got out to Uncle Kirk's and Aunt Debbie's and Matthew opened the door. Everyone was surprised that we were there. Aunt Debbie started crying and Grandma said "Oh my word". We watched everyone open their presents and we held Matthew and Linda's little one Charlotte. Everyone helped cook lunch which we had around 230pm and we sat around and talked. It was a lot of fun. Good belly laughs. My cousin Andrew is getting married next November, hopefully we will be able to make it.

A Strange Christmas

Aimery playing with a garden in Exploration Place.

Athena cheesing for the picture.

Christi trying to get the ball

The fam. Bud, me, mom, Christi, Jeff holding Aimery, Grandma Corfman, and Athena.

Please don't make me eat the flowers.

Well Renae and I made it into Kansas with only a few adventures. While we were at the airport we got checked in and headed to the gate. Once we got there they said the flight was delayed until 1245 (we were supposed to leave at 1135) so we decided to eat something and look around. We found a place and ordered some food. About 45 min later I was walking across the hall to look at one of the newsstands and on my way back I happened to look at the departure times and holy cow our flight was back on schedule which meant we had 15 min to get back to the gate before they started loading. So we gathered all our stuff and made it on the plane.
We landed in Wichita, got our luggage, car, and headed over to the Vohs to get Christi, Jeff, and the kids. We got there at the same time as Christi getting back from El Dorado. From the Vohs we loaded into their van and headed to Kohl's, Walmart, and Chili's. We let the kids pick out their Christmas presents which was lots of fun. Man they are growing fast. Athena is in the 1st grade and Aimery is in pre-school. We got over to mom's around 730pm and then wrapped all the presents. Boy howdy was I tired after. That day it was 75 degrees so mom's house was pretty warm. We opened the windows when we went to bed but it soon started storming pretty heavily. We got up the next day and headed into Andover to pick up some more gift cards for presents and when we got back the Vohs family was there as well as grandma. We opened presents and smiled for the camera then ate lunch. Yummy goodness. Christi, Jeff, Athena, Aimery, Renae and myself then headed to Exploration Place for lots of hands on fun. Here are the pictures from this 36 hours.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. Renae and I left after work Christmas Eve because of a big storm that was headed in. The National Weather Service indicated it was supposed to dump anywhere from 4-36 inches in Western Colorado. So we made a last minute decision to leave Wednesday night. We both got off a little early and worked together in making sure we got everything packed and ready to go. We pulled out of Junction around 4:20 pm. We arrived in Denver around 8:30pm and got a hotel in Wheatridge at the Comfort Inn. We soaked in the hot tub and fell right to sleep. It is supposed to be 49 degrees in Denver today. We plan on taking Taysha and Brian to the early movies then moving to the other hotel near the airport so we can fly out tomorrow morning around 11 am. 

Have a safe and happy holidays. 

Home for the Holidays

Well we are in the final preparations for the trip back to Kansas. Naturally it is supposed to snow all week here. Last night we got 5 inches of snow in Grand Junction. It was a record dump according to the weather service. Today has been sunny so all the roads are clearing but another storm is supposed to hit tonight and then again on Christmas eve. We are driving over to Denver Christmas Day and then flying to Wichita on the 26th. I will keep everyone posted as the trip progresses. Happy Holidays everyone.

Kristen is home for the 1st time since August 2006

Kristen came home Dec 17th after attending a Air Force Leadership course in San Angelo, TX for two weeks. Kristen wanted to surprise her mother by coming home. I picked her up at the airport here in Grand Junction. Renae was quite surprised. Roby and the kids were already over at the house waiting to see Kristen. After we got all the "how did" and why did" out of the way we went and ate at the Olive Garden. Kristen had been missing the salad, bread stick, soup lunch at Olive Garden. We spent probably an hour and half there because of bad service but it gave us time to catch up with what Kristen had been up to. Renae suggested we all go see Madagascar 2 at the Regal. So we all piled into the cars and headed to the movie palace. Katie crawled around the entire stadium, which we had to ourselves, while the rest of us watched the movie. Then we went back home and played some games with the kids.

Kristen and Roby having fun at the Olive Garden


Kristen, Renae, and Katie playing a game.

Renae and I both took off Thursday and got up around 5am. We cooked a quiche and when Kristen got up we all sat down to eat. Kristen had some shopping to do, so after all of us showering we got into my car and headed to the VA so Renae could put her leave in. Once done there Kristen needed to go to the DMV. This was an interesting little experience as her license was expired but since she is active duty military is just now renewing it. The lady initially told her she would have to take the test and driving test again, I started laughing, Kristen got this what the F... are you talking about look on her face then said again she was active duty military. The lady then said she has three years to renew her license once it expires. After we got done there we went to Sports Authority, Target, and Walmart. Whew what a day. We came back home and Kristen started wrapping presents then we came upstairs and made dipped pretzels, yummy goodness. We decided to get back in the car after making pretzels to see the lights. That was fun. Roby and Kristen then went out to eat and Renae and I conked.


Having fun dipping pretzels.


Kristen there is more white chocolate on your hands than the pretzels.

Friday I had to work so Kristen and Renae brought me to work as Roby still has Renae's car and we ate some of the quiche that we made. I spent some of the morning registering us for the Bataan Death March in March 2009. We all registered for the 15.2 memorial walk. Renae and Kristen were then going to do a little more shopping and pick me up for lunch. We went to Bocaza's for lunch (another really yummy eating place they don't have in Italy), then to Graff Dairy for ice cream. After work Renae and I went to Sams and Kristen took Roby's truck to go get some groceries for this weekend.

The weather has been off and on nasty but we are headed to Denver tomorrow, Saturday, to see Taysha. Kristen flys out on Sunday morning. And boy was it nasty. It had snowed another 3 inches in Grand Junction Friday night and the roads were pretty slick until we got out of Debeque Canyon. Roby was following us. We stopped in Eagle (customary) then Renae drove. The weather and roads started turning nasty again. Roby passed us at some point before Vail and everyone freaked out watching him fish tail all the way up Vail pass. We made a mandatory stop at Frisco Walmart to buy 240lbs of sand for the back of Roby's truck. Then we were off again. We finally got to Denver at 215pm 6 hours after we left Junction. We called Taysha and headed straight to the Elephant Bar. Taysha and Brian and his dad and sister also met us there. Then we headed to the hotel and Taysha's. We opened the presents that Kristen and Clayton got us all at Taysha's, headed to the mall so we could do a bit of shopping, then back to Taysha's and enjoyed watching people play the Wii game. I conked out around 9pm on Taysha's chair. I guess RJ called around 930pm and everyone talked with him. We finally got back to the hotel around 1030 only to turn on the TV and see that a plane had crashed at DIA. So now that everyone was totally freaked out because Kristen was to fly out the next day.

Kaleb opening his Nerf gun from Aunt Kristen.


Kristen and Taysha trying to open Katie's Dora doll.


Roby being cool.

I wasn't feeling well Saturday night so fell asleep pretty quickly. At one point I woke up to go to the bathroom and Kristen was cuddling a stuffed (toy) turkey it was cute. We all got up around 6am so we could be over at Taysha's by 7-715. We tried calling to let them know we were on the way but no one answered their phone. Taysha and Brian agreed to cook us breakfast, since no one answered their phone we thought they were all still sleeping but when we got there, TAYSHA WAS COOKING SAUSAGE. Holy Cow. We ate and then unloaded our car so we could fit all of Kristen's luggage in to take her to the airport. She checked three bags and carried on a back pack, pillow, can of three flavor popcorn, and something else. I think all of Denver happened to be out at the airport when we dropped her off. Renae and Kristen unloaded the car and got into the check in line at United, while I parked the car in short term parking (insane). Once I found them in the check-in line I sat down and waited for them to check the baggage. It was then 10am and Kristen's plane left at 1051 which meant we had 51 minutes to get her through security (there were maybe 50,000 people waiting to get through security) and to her gate. Luckily there was a line that crew members and active duty military could cut to the head of the line to security so it only took Kristen maybe 3 minutes to get through security. We said our final good byes and off we all went in our separate directions. We got back to Taysha's and loaded everyone up for the trip back to Junction. The ride back home was pretty uneventful other than the fact I had to wait for hot chocolate till we got to Dillon. It took us about 4 1/2 hours to get back with about 45 min stop for lunch in Dillon.

It was really good seeing Kristen again. She looks really good pregnant. Next time she will be home will be in March 09 when she PCS's back to the States. She will have a little baby and Clayton with her. Yeah.

Wreaths Across America

This year I participated in the Honor Guard with the 3rd annual Wreaths Across America. This started here on the Western Slope three years ago at the Veterans Cemetery with the help of the Patriot Riders. Each year the Patriot Riders provide wreaths in December to lay on the head stones of deceased veterans. This year there were enough wreaths provided to lay one on each head stone and several along the walls. I believe 864 wreaths were provided. During this ceremony I placed a wreath next to the Army Service flag.
We had to end up holding the wreaths after we placed them because of the wind.



Ensuring the wreaths don't fall over.


After the ceremony we took the wreaths and placed them next to the Service Plaques at the cemetery.

After the ceremony at Veterans Cemetery I met Renae, Kaleb, and Katie at Memorial Gardens Cemetery to place a wreath on Renae's fathers grave.

Renae's fathers grave marker with wreath.

Renae and the kids placing the wreath.

http://www.gjfreepress.com/article/20081215/COMMUNITY_NEWS/812149975/1076&ParentProfile=1059&title=Christmas%20wreaths%20for%20%27family%27%2C%20vets

Link to article in the Grand Junction Free Press featuring Renae Byrd and her daughter Kristen.

First Ski Days in Telluride Dec 08

Above is a video that Renae took of our first ski trip to Telluride for the 08-09 season. I'm practicing my powder skiing.

We got a bargain for stay and ski in Telluride so we headed to Telluride on Saturday around noonish. We stopped off in Delta for some good pie at the Eatery but found that they were closed (I think for good because they were also closed Monday). Then we stopped outside of Montrose at Ray's Jerky shop. WOW.....what awesome jerky, we spent like $75 dollars there and decided we need to take Kristen and Clayton here when they come in March.

We ended up getting into Telluride around 4pm which was check-in time for the hotel. I thought we were at Mountain Village but it ended up being in the town of Telluride Mountside, at the Mountain side Inn. We were actually both pretty sick the couple days prior to going, so we actually collapsed and slept for a while.

Sunday we got up bright and early and made breakfast. We walked the three blocks to the free Gondola and rode up to the base of the mountain, and picked up our tickets. We started our runs around 0900 hrs in the morning on Sunday it was a BEAUTIFUL day. Mid 50's and clear sky's, and freshly groomed runs. We were some of the first skiers on the mountain which was way sweet. We ran three runs and took a break. They only had two lifts going and maybe like 5 or 6 blue and green runs. We had some food at Tracks there in Mountain Village then got back on the slopes for 3 more runs. Renae's last run was a mogul double blue that they just opened up. This was the most runs I've done in a day since like 1994. I forgot my brace but my knee and foot seemed to do fairly well. We rented a locker on the mountain to keep our skiis there for our skiing on Monday.

Renae swishing in the powder on Boomerang Blue run at Telluride

Renae stopping to visit with me

Monday we packed the car and checked out of the hotel and drove up to the mountain and it was overcast/cloudy/fogged in and snowing big huge flakes and about 28 degrees. We got up on the mountain around 1030 hrs and ran three runs. They were blowing snow so at times between the fog and blown snow it was difficult to see. Renae really likes powder runs and by the time we started skiing it had snowed about 2-3 inches of fresh powder and they had probably blown 2-3 more inches since yesterday, so she was really excited. Me, I was trying to hold my anxiety because mostly what I have skied is icy groomed and I lift my back leg in turns which throws me in powder. But by my last run I was getting faster and my turns were better. Renae took a separate run the last run and I thought I actually beat her to the bottom but there she was with her skiis already off and she was calling my name, it was pretty funny. We ate at Tracks again and then got into the car and headed back to Junction.