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.