Lasura Lovin'

First, a disclaimer... I tried to post this last week, but the pictures wouldn't upload. Now as I am hopped-up on cold medicine- I hope that it makes sense. Now to begin:

On New Year's Eve Day we flew into Denver International where my beloved cousin Joe was waiting for us to drive us to his home in Cheyenne, WY. We hadn't seen him in 2 years! During the drive we got caught up, laughed and told stories as though we had been hanging out everyday of our lives. And we enjoyed lovely scenery. Look at those Rocky Mountains. Oh, how I miss the mountains. We also got reacquainted with driving speeds in the 70s. Not that you're not allowed to drive that fast in Chicago, there is just too much traffic to allow you to.

Moving on. From Wed. to Mon. we had fun, fun, fun. I tried to include pictures to illustrate said fun, but sometimes you are having such a good time that there is no time for taking pictures.
We played lots of games together. Rockband, where Joe wails on the drums, River sings like a pro (well at least to the 2 songs he knows), and I attempt to stand like a real bassist hoping it will help me play better. And me and the boys playing Pop-omatic Trouble. Since it has been 2 years since I have seen them, I had to remind myself that although I may not have advanced in any skill or knowledge, they sure had. River, a boy after my own heart who loves music, talking and potato chips as much as I do, was now 5 and could do all kinds of things he couldn't do before. And Ezra, now a mature and baptized 8 year old, could read proficiently and used all kinds of words I didn't even know he knew. We also had fun with Apples to Apples, and Cranium where Ezra knocked it out of the park with a dead-on Rachel Ray impression.

And the food, let's not forget about the food. Again, too busy cooking and eating to get too many pictures, but there were all the snacks that Joan put together to keep us up for the midnight festivities, the good luck black-eyed peas on New Year's Day, the tacos on Fast Sunday... the list goes on. But what we did capture on film were the sweets! A possible new tradition of homemade donuts on New Year's Day, they turned out pretty good for our first try! And you can see River, banana split master getting ready to build a deliciously sweet creation.

Wyoming is known for its "out-doors-iness", so we thought we would include pictures of that too. These are antelope, and they are just outside the window of the Lasura house. Let's talk about the house. It is huge!! and beautiful. I actually got lost a couple of times. I am so glad that after all the base housing they have lived in, they scored such an awesome house.
The other picture is when Joe took us out to watch the morning take off of the Hueys. It was really amazing to hear about what he does and to watch the pilots get ready and then eventually take off.

The rest of the pictures are of FAMILY, since after all that was the most important part of our trip. Now I know there are an abundance of Cora pictures but cut me some slack, this was my first time meeting her and the next time I see her she is going to be so big and so different!

Me and Joan, by the good graces of our husbands, got a day to ourselves and went shopping at Hobby Lobby (now known as the black hole- for its ability to suck you in and never let you leave). We also got to work together in her craft room on some projects she had. So much fun.

We had such a wonderful time, and we are so grateful to the Lasura's for their generosity in hosting us, cooking for us, driving us to and fro, and for keeping us so well entertained. It better not be another 2 years before we see them again. We love you guys, Thank you.