Christmas in Colorado

It's about time for the H Family to chime in. Well, it looks like it will be another white Christmas here in Colorado. Not that it will be snowing tomorrow, but we still have snow on the ground and it looks pretty. We will be enjoying the holidays with both the H family and the W family, spliting the day between the two. For Christmas Eve, it is the H's turn to host all the family (it is so nice to have in-laws that actually like each other!).
Sam is doing great and is keeping us very busy. She loves to run, talk, sing, and play; all the usuals for a 2 year old. She reacently had an appointment with the Cardiologists and they say her heart is growing with her (still has stinosis) but they do not need to see she for another year!!!!!!
Jeff is still enjoying his job and really gets along well with co-workers (as you can imagine, he is the joker of the group). He is always coming home with funny stories of his crazy anticks at work. Work is great for me. I really like working there and enjoy the new reponsibilities I have. It is nice to work in an environment where they appreciate their employees!!!
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday! Think of us out here in Colorado because we will be thinking of all of you!!!

All our love,
The H Family

woo hoo!!!!!

I have officially finished another semester of college...although i still have a lot to go it still gets me excited...another thing that i am excited about is that before too long i will be with my g-ma in the NE and i cant wait to see everybody!! but above all i have to say i cant wait to eat some good cookin because we all know that is never in short supply! i love the bday list i think that is awesome! and it just goes to show there is a ton of us! haha love yall.
XOXO la

Happy Friday

Happy Birthday

So, thanks to the support of the BEST mother-in-law EVER, I've received everyone's birthdays. Every year my new year's resolution is to send everyone a card....we'll you've guessed it! Its a HUGE weakness. So, this is my new tactic. I hope to send you guys Birthday wishes soon, and this is where I'll start!

If you see that yours needs correcting, please do so. We have a lot of Ws, Zs and Js.

Oh, and by the way, please add to the "favorites" list. I wasn't intending it to just be J's Favorites :-)

Our Griswold Tree

So our Griswold family Christmas tree came down without a hitch! We had a great time cutting down and trimming our 18 foot tree! Its officially here! One month from today!

Thanksgiving in West Texas

Had a little snow Thanksgiving Day and then, this morning, we had THIS!!

Mountains and Tractors

Last weekend we went to our favorite fall place - Guadalupe Mountain National Park.

The colors weren't as spectacular as last year, but worth the trip.

Off in the distance, you can see our destination.

Twenty-three years ago, Linda thought Midland was the end of the world - not anymore. It took an hour and a half to go 7.3 miles over rough, 4-wheel drive only roads, at which time, we finally arrived at the Williams cabin.

Explanation of how this cabin got to the base of Guadalupe Mountain.

Guadalupe Mountains in the rear view mirror.

We went to Wichita to pick up a tractor for a friend. Left Friday, spent the night with P&D, on the road EARLY Saturday, loaded and back on the road by 3:30p.m., home yesterday afternoon.

Fog on the desert this morning.

Ladybugs, Ducks and Candy...oh my.

We met our goals for the marathon candy drive this year. Looked to be close but the last minute door to door efforts put us over the top. MJ is her father's daughter with her love for the sweet stuff - good thing that first batch of teeth will fall out, just might happen a little quicker than the medical journals indicate. Fall is in full bloom in georgia, still no rain so our next collection might be for the family to start shipping bottled water. We're giving the girls their baths in the creek for now, trying to conserve wherever possible. Love you all, hope to hear from you soon.

KLMLJ

We're Back!

Wow! What a blessing! I love hearing from all of you...but there are a few still missing...you know who you are. You can run, but you can't hide. We all know where you live:-)

We had a great time at Disney World and wanted to share a few pics with you guys. However, we were glad to be back home, as we came home to 7 inches of fresh snow!! The bad news is that it melted over the next two days... Alli literally cried.

Love,

The High Country Crew

Oh my, look at all this blogging!

Oh my, look at all this blogging!

The Bz's had a great summer. Lucy is 15 months now. She started walking last week on her own. She was able to walk 3 months ago but would not let go of our fingers. The baby phase is over, kind of sad. But toddler time is here!!!! And a PW 50 is the next purchase in our house. I'm silly and not smart so my time has been spent on the motocross track again. About 10 years away from MX and I should have stayed away but I can't....... I bought a CRF 450 and love it. Its fun to be out riding with old and new pals gettin dirty.

Jordyn is 100% pre-teen. The phone is her life and so is the theater. She got a part in Madeline's Christmas at our local community play house. She has been in theater classes and JR. plays before but this is the big time on the main stage. Good job Jordyn!

Elisa is getting her second education. First comes college then learning on the job. She is working at Bryan Hospital in the cardiac ICU. Its pretty intense for a new grad but she is doing very well. We took a husband and wife vacation to Vegas in September. The food at Emeril's Delmonico was YUMMY and the Harley Fat Boy expedition made my cheeks sore. It was windy.

Well, have a good day.

watch out RUNZA!!!

just to let you all know, i am taking advantage of the fact that i practically got on my knees to beg for time off for christmas (which i got!!!!!) and i am going to see the G-MA!!! i cannot wait to see everybody! it has already been too long and it has been forever since i got to see everybody at christmas time!!! so let the oysters and chili flow because i am comin to nebraska ready to eat!! hehe of course what our family does best! o yah and as for RUNZA they just better stock up now!!
ok i guess i should go work now :(
talk to yall later...

LaLa

Another Big T Heard From

So, we're going to try this. We don't have cute pictures, we'll leave that to the cute kids. We are back together again at home. R did not like being gone for a month. Got back Saturday afternoon, late. Fortunately, L and I were able to meet a couple of times during that month which helped. R had 4 days of school in Wichita, 2 days in NE, then to Dallas for 6 days, back up to OKC where he got to visit the Memorial for the Murrah Federal Building Victims and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum. Also had to do a quick trip over to Neosho, MO to get some parts off of our engines to put on the rental engines while we wait for ours to get fixed.



This picture is from our visit to the American Indian Museum in Wichita


We are hoping to go out to the Guadalupe National Park in a week or so to view the colors. Seems we now qualify for the National Park Seniors Pass - What's that about????

L finished her several months of preparation for the Giant Garage Sale benefitting Meals on Wheels. Don't know how much we made this year, but last year we made over $88,OOO.


We too are planning Christmas in NE. Can't get there until Christmas Eve, but hope to stay the week after.

R&L

Howdy Ya'll

Alrighty then, my girls and sister are showing me up. We got a Texas style cool front come in yesterday it got all the way down to 48 this morning and only 70 this afternoon. I know you people up north don't think that's cold but ya gotta see the way people dressed today was a hoot, big winter coats, boots, even gloves.....cheese and crackers
Things are enjoyable but busy here at work. All the animals are doing well, what more could you ask for?
Yes my girls are doing great and to top it off they are wonderful people, go figure. I enjoy being able to escape to Austin to see E and it's even better when I get to take L. Except no one took the Mom to Austin last weekend, maybe I'll forget them when it's time to leave for NE at Christmas time...not a chance, we are working out the details but it's looking really good....

Ta Ta for now - Love, Hugs and kisses all around....J

hello again

Hi everybody! i got to see my sister this weekend and it was so much fun! although she did make me ride a bike in Austin and i have forgiven her but i dont think my legs have! Also i think that i am going to be able to get off for christmas so i hope to see as many of you fantabulous family members as possible because i am ready for it ...(i think)...
talk to everybody soon!
love
lala

Baby Boomers Get a Word in Too!

Thanks Jo for getting this all going! Just what the J Factor needs to keep in touch with each other. This is a challenge to my bro and sisters to get into this new adventure.I had such a great time reading through the previous posts and catching up with everyone.

Sounds like E & L are having a great time in school and with their guys. What special times - makes lots of memories and have fun. But of course, not too much!

Things are great here in The Fort. We're busy as usual with work but have found lots of time for R&R. Between joint rides and two rides that R did with friends and with D this summer we logged 10,000 miles on the Gold Wing since April. Saw some amazing parts of our beautiful country, visited with friends and best of all family. We started our quest to follow the Mississipi River south from it's headwaters in Itasca, Minnesota. We made it south along the "Big Muddy" to Keokuk, Iowa (R loves saying Koekuk!) with friends Bob and Janet from back home. We had a great time and are ready to resume the trip and head south toward more adventures.

The kids are great - D&M are busy too - D is still working full time and M is in her senior year here in The Fort. Their dog Daisy is a riot. When everyone is here for dinner S just loves to follow Daisy around and see what they can both get into.

J&N are enjoying their adventures with Little S - she's a special little girl (as all these little people are) and is such fun to watch grow and explore this great world. Looking at it all as Grandparents is sure a lot different than when we were the parents. Such a special time for all of us. N is keeping very busy at the office - sure is great having here there. J is enjoying his job and sure does like being out of the retail scene.

R is headed for Vegas Sunday for a conference and classes for work and then I'm joining him on Thursday next week for a long weekend. Should be fun to get away for a few days.

Thought you all might enjoy a beautiful CO sunrise taken from my office - makes going to work early worth it!

Can't believe we're fast approaching the holidays. Hope the time doesn't go too quickly so we all have time to take it all in and enjoy the season.

Love to all!

hey yall!!

Hi everybody!

I am so excited about this blog! Just a couple of months ago when my unky juan was in town we were talking about how our family needed this!..As most of yall know i am still going to community college, i am in my second semester! i have one more semester here and i plan on trasferring to a 4 year university, im not telling which one because i think i may be diowned :) I also have a really good job now as a receptionist, and the people i work for are awesome and i love, but i still want to go to school to teach! Anyways i am living in Waller, right around the from my momma (i cant go to far from the good cookin) i live with two girls in a big new house ( i will put some pictures up soon )...lately when i am not in class,studying for class,thinking about what i have to do for class, or working, i have been riding horses and loving it! i will put some pictures of that too! Marc and I are still dating, he is in Arkansas playing football on scholarship for Henderson State (the Reddies)...it is hard to be apart but we make it work! I hope to be coming to Crete for Christmas, although i may be looking for a new job afterwards, because that is the only bad thing about my company is that they do not like to give vacation...I love all of the pictures of the little ones, and i will put some pictures up soon too! It is so nice to have this to keep in touch...All this thinkin about my family has made me crave Blue Bell...i think im going to have to get some!!!

LOVE YALL!!

::lala::

Howdy from A-town

This is so cool. I too want to keep in touch and see how everyone is doing. So I am in Austin of course. Things are going really well. Life always has it's ups and downs, which I have embraced, hoping to strain the wisdom out of every experience. School is cool, I ain't no fool. I do have ants in my pants though. I honestly cant wait to be done. May 09' I will gradumuate with double major in Creative Writing and Philosophy. Obviously I am not in it for the big bucks. I am working on a children's book though. I hope to experiment on the minds of our little ones if ya'll don't mind. I start a new job tomorrow. I will be a mentor/tutor at a local High School. The school is struggling to stay open so they have asked some UT students to work in the classrooms one on one with students to help improve their performance. I have been playing the banjo now for about 9 months. I don't know anything technical but I have written and recorded about five songs. Hopefully I will have a website up soon with my music. I am still painting and writing poetry too. Also, I somehow snagged this fabulous boyfriend, his name is Ben, we all call him Benny though. He is amazing. I am so lucky live close to school with my roommate Allison, she is awesome too. When I am not at school, work or creating I am at the greenbelt. I spent most of the summer there. The greenbelt a meandering stream that runs all over the west side of Austin and eventually makes its way to the lake. There are so many places to hike and swim. There are several waterfalls and it is just amazing. I can ride my bike to certain parts in under an hour. One of the reasons I love this city so much is because I can bike everywhere. I am going to visit Oregon in a week. Ben is going to work on a farm his friend runs for a month, so I am visiting them for a week. I cant wait I always dreamed about living somewhere there is are mountains and the ocean. Well, I am really good at rambling so I could continue, but that about covers the basics. I think I will be coming to the big Crete at Christmas, so I hope to see ya'll there. Much love mi familia.

A Quick Note

Just a quick note before I send to all! We plan to minimize our personal information to limit some coo-coo from getting to know our family too well (i.e. names, locations, church). Do what you feel most comfortable with, but this J Factor is keeping it on the low down :-)

Love you,
Jo

I'll Go First

I'm almost speechless. Imagining if I had every one's full undivided attention, what would I say. The only thing that comes to mind is that our house is TOTALLY quiet...and its 2:30 in the afternoon. This is a rare occasion, but unfortunately my three kiddos have been battling the croup all week. A seems to be over it, so she went back to daddy's office for the afternoon. A very anticipated outing! J and B are sound asleep. Therefore, I have peace. I have faith that they will be fine for the weekend. JE may go to Fruita (near Grand Junction) to mountain bike and I may lie low around here. We leave in one week for our trip to Walt Disney World....so if you know me, I'll finish the packing that I started a month ago. (I'm a little excited!) My aunt has told me that we're crazy for taking such little ones. However, I think that/know that we are going to have a blast. I haven't been in 20 years and know that so much has changed. On their website, they actually have a place to click on just for "tots." I'm sure we'll have lots to do and characters to meet.

B just woke up, so until next time...
Jo

In the Beginning

OK, gang! No doubt the Jose's need a blog spot! As our family continues to grow with new husbands, wives, children, jobs, houses, pets, and love, we (I) need to keep better track of each other. My hope for this blog is that we come along side each other sharing our great joys and accomplishments in life as well as encouraging words of wisdom and understanding!

The baton has been passed. The ball is now in your court. Contributing to the blog is easier than you think. It takes so little time, and yet it has such a bold impact as we stay in touch. Bottom line is that I miss you guys! I love you and so want to know how you are doing...how beautiful your children and grandchildren are growing up...how your business is doing....how your last vacation was....how you manage your piles of dirty laundry and have leftovers two nights in a row, just as I do :-)

I can't wait to hear from you!

Jo