Last Friday marked the beginning of our annual trip to Monarch, CO for three full days of excellent snowboarding at Monarch Mountain and incredible hospitality from Waunita Hot Springs Ranch.

Kicking-off the trip, Friday morning was spent shopping for food and supplies to feed 35 people for the next 3 days. After dropping a bundle of cash at Sam’s Club, I headed home to organize and pack everything up. It took 15 cases of drinks, over 200 sandwiches and countless snacks to ensure we had a well fed group. Departing from Wichita at 4:30 that evening, the bus drove all night, ensuring our arrival at Waunita’s around 4am Saturday morning. After some room assignments and a short nap, the group was set to go.

The next three days (Saturday – Monday) were spent eating, swimming, relaxing and, of course, snowboarding in an incredible amount of powdery goodness. To everyone’s delight, there were no serious injuries, just minor aches and pains. Everyone seemed to have an great time and I know Juli, Mikayla and I are already looking forward to next year.

Above are some photos of the trip. Enjoy!
Want to see more photos, check out the photos from Amy’s Monarch Ski Trip 2010 set on Flickr.

November 1st marked the beginning of the annual Beard Contest at work. Marking its 3rd annual debut, this year brings new hope for many and new ideas for others. Below is my daily beard photo journal. Updates to the photos will be made on a fairly regular basis. Check back in a few days to see how the beard has progressed.

During the past week our family has been apart of some serious Halloween celebrations. The fun started off last weekend with Fun Night and ended last night with trick-or-treating. Enjoy the photos.

It has been a couple weeks since our last update and with good reason: not much is going on.

Mikayla
Mikayla is going strong with soccer (with two goals last week) and will start basketball at the Y in a few weeks. She is currently “this close” to getting straight As on her report card.

Kennedi
Kennedi is having fun in soccer (most of the time) but doesn’t enjoy how the other kids try to take the ball from her. She had me over last week to her preschool for a “Gentlemen and Games” day where we ate snacks and played Candyland (she won, twice).

Julian
Julian is beginning to talk in complete sentences. The most recent example I heard was when I asked him what he wanted for a snack and he said, “I want a granola bar becuase it is good”. Of course it wasn’t quite that clear, but I heard every word of it.

Andi
Andi has been retaliating lately against us for leaving her in the backyard too long. She is digging up grass and putting holes in the yard. On a brighter note, she graduated dog-training school last week (where digging wasn’t covered) and is very good at sit, stay and come (on command).

Juli and Michael
We are hanging in there, busy with schedules and activities. Last weekend we decorated the house for Halloween, took kids to soccer games/practices and managed to get household chores done. Next week is all the same. Most of the time, it’s a blur.

If you’re in the neighborhood sometime, give us a buzz. We’d love to chat!

Each year the Maize Parents As Teachers program invites an assortment of companies out to show off their big trucks, loud sirens and hard core equipment. This year while Juli and Mikayla were at soccer practice, Julian, Kennedi and I ventured out for some fun with big trucks, drippy Rocket Pops and a biker gang. Enjoy the photos.

Jodi and Justin (now referred to as Mr. and Mrs. McAninch) got married last Saturday! Pretty much the entire family was involved in making a beautiful and successful day. Below are some photos of the event. I took the majority of the photos, but some were taken by Kennedi (not bad for a 4 year old). Enjoy!

It’s been a few weeks since our last update on the site, this we know. But what you might not know is during those few weeks I’ve been working on a new design for the site…and here you have it. The new design is meant to be cleaner, simpler, and easier to navigate.

Our site has been a topic for discussion by you guys (our family) since April 15, 2005. That’s more than 4 years of news, information, events, photos and entertainment about us, presented to you. As always, we appreciate you visiting the site.

As you cruise around the new site, you may notice some photos missing or some dates that are thrown off. This is all due to some technical aspects I’m looking into. If you find something I missed, just leave me a comment.

Be sure to leave us a comment and let us know you visited.

Over the July 4th holiday, we took a trip to visit The Felix family in Littleton, Colorado. The trip started off Wednesday night after I got home from work. As I arrived, Juli had the Pilot packed up and ready to roll. We packed up the kids and the dog and off we went. Arriving in Littleton around 2am Thursday morning, we all went in and dropped like flies.

On our first day, we hit the pool and loafed around the house trying to recover from the 9+ hour drive the previous night. That night we ate Chinese food for Jackson’s birthday and topped it off with an ice cream cake from DQ. On this morning we introduced Lucy (Amy’s dog) to Andi (our dog). Initially Lucy dominated the relationship (even though she is a MUCH smaller dog), but after a few hours of socialization, Andi understood that Lucy just wanted to play. From then on, Andi was the alpha-dog and REALLY enjoyed Lucy’s playful manner.

Day two was a bit more adventurous with a trip to the Denver Zoo. After 4 hours of looking at animals and walking around the park, the kids were exhausted (and it showed). We headed back to The Felix house for naps and relaxation. That night was Jackson’s birthday party with the whole family. We had a great time catching up with family and playing games. The night ended with fireworks and fun. View Our Photos

Day three started off with intentions of a hike, but after the women headed to the flea market, we knew there just wouldn’t be enough time. That afternoon ended with a trip to the park, with lunch and then back for naps and relaxation. That night we headed up to Opa’s place for a live band at the Red Rock Country Club and to watch some fireworks. The kids had a blast dancing and watching fireworks in the sky. View Our Photos

The morning of day four we all jumped in our cars and headed up I-70 to St. Mary’s Glacier for a nice hike to the top. Once we reached the top we stopped and ate sandwiches and enjoyed the view. Snow was still ontop of the mountain and we hiked up a bit further to play in the snow a bit before hiking back down. That night we headed over to Melissa and Lance’s place for food and entertainment. View Our Photos

The fifth day we went to the park in the morning to try and wear out the kids before packing up the car and driving back to Wichtia. We left Littleton around 1:30pm, pulling into our driveway in Wichita around midnight. After an exhaustive drive, I passed out in anticipation of returning to work the next day. View Our Photos

A couple weeks ago, Juli and I, The Thomes and The Stuteys headed off to Cancun for a bit of rest and relaxation. After about a year of talking, planning and anticipating, the day finally came (and just in time). The night before, Juli and I took the kids and Andi over to Mom’s and dropped them off. There they would be having the times of their lives, as we were having ours.

We all stayed at an all-inclusive resort called the Dreams Resort Cancun (which we all highly recommend). For 5 days and 4 nights we did nothing…and had the best time doing it. All the food, drinks and entertainment you could ever want, all located right there at the resort. Some highlights of the trip include: Juli swimming with the dolphins; a massage on the beach; a show featuring fire-dancers; and kayaking in the ocean.

The best way to experience our trip is to book one yourself, but if you’re running a little low on cash, you can check out these photos of Cancun.

I finally have gotten around to getting some decent photos of the finished Japanese Phoenix tattoo up on the site (thanks to Mikayla’s incredible photography skills). My last sitting with Ron was sometime mid November and he finished up all the color work, highlights and final touch-up work. It truly came out to be a great piece to be proud of and a great reminder for me. Enjoy the photos.
(Session Time: ~2 hours | Total Time: ~6 hours)

View all the Japanese Phoenix Tattoo photos here also.