Holiday Blizzard

WOW! As of this morning, Thursday, it has snowed thirty inches and we are snowed in! What a crazy couple of days. It started snowing during the night and Wednesday morning it became blizzard weather. It hasn't stopped snowing since! They canceled Jeffco (where I work) yesterday and today, so my Christmas break started early!
Here are some pictures of Joe Baxter and I in the snow, and our yard and house.

Crazy Life

Yesterday started the CRAZIEST two weeks that Joe and I will have probably this semester. Just wanted to share a little so that you get a small glimpse into our world. We have two Christmas/Holiday concerts coming up. (That we are in charge of.)
Sunday (yesterday): Church and 2 hour rehearsal for KCBC Christmas concert on the 17th.
Today: Normal schedule (night class, etc) Finishing preparation for my school program on the 12th.
Tuesday: Holiday program for Sheridan Green Handbells and Choir. Along with an extra after-school rehearsal and set-up of the stage, etc.
Wednesday: Choir rehearsal for KCBC program
Thursday: Night class
Friday: Set-up for dress rehearsal and concert
Saturday: Dress-rehearsal and last-minute craziness
Sunday: Church at normal hours. Concert at 6 p.m. Yea! The choir will be awesome-Joe has done a great job with them!
Monday: Final presentation due for Foundations of Music Education. Take-home final/novel due for Developing Children's Choir
Tuesday: Holiday Party for my handbell and choir kids-will be really fun!
Wednesday: Final presentation on my research for Intro to Music Bibliography and Research. KCBC Choir and Worship Team Christmas Party! FINALLY DONE!

Wow...maybe I shouldn't have typed that out, because it is a little freaky to see! But we will get it all done and then have an amazing Christmas with our families. So, I guess I wrote all of that so that you guys can pray for us as we go through this week. It will be great, just hectic. So keep us in your prayers!
We love you and can't wait to see family in a couple of weeks!

Here you go!

So, for those who have been anxiously awaiting the family pictures....(or not) here they are!

Joe, Elijah and Noah
Zoe in her pink apron

The kids being silly.
Noah and Sara

Sara and Annie
Mom and Nanny

Clint, John and Joe
Horan siblings

Cousins on the Horan Side
Corley cousins

Joe and Annie
Corley cousins and family

As you can tell, we had a fabulous time with Joe's family and really enjoyed the day we got to spend with the Melanson side of the family!

P.S. It has snowed about 10 inches this week and been EXTREMELY cold! At one point it got down to ZERO! Lots of fun.

Stay tuned...

Joe and I just got back from Thanksgiving with Joe's family (and a little bit of my family). So just wanted to put up a quick note to tell everyone to stay tuned because pictures are coming of adorable nieces and nephews and big family pics. To tease you a little, here are a couple of just me and Joe. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Yes, It's Sad......But.....

This past weekend, Sara and I had a great time decorating our apartment for Christmas! Yes, I know its not even Thanksgiving yet, and NO we're not trying to be sacriligious or anything. We had a great time, putting up the tree and watching "Elf", which is fastly becoming one of the great Christmas movies of all time. Here are some photos of our early season foray into Holiday decolatage.

















And of course no family time is complete without a picture of me and Baxter!

God Bless America

Whew...I am so glad elections are over. I mean, I voted and performed my civic duty, but I am just glad that there are no more mud-slinging commercials, and no more mailers in my mailbox. I hope all of you voted, because it DOES make a difference. If you don't believe it just look at the Senate races.

So speaking of Patriotism...Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all our servicemen and women who have trained and volunteered to fight and protect us. That is another reason to vote, so that guys who have fought for freedom know that we appreciate it and embrace it. I love America! I know right now that is not a popular opinion, but it is just the way I feel. I am so glad we have the right to express our opinions even if we don't agree with everything we hear.

Anyway, that is my soapbox for today...thank you veterans! We can never thank you enough for your sacrifice.

It's been awhile

So, last week was our last post because our life has been insane the past week. Our dog, Baxter, has been so sick these past 2 weeks. He has been in the animal hospital a total of 4 days and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. So after almost a week and half of vomiting and dehydration and our vet basically not caring, we switched vets today and the new one (who gave personal attention) figured out what was wrong with our dog in one day. They say he has all the signs of a gastric ulcer from eating something like wood that scraped his stomach and then got infected. It's pretty crazy that after all that, it is something so simple.
It just makes me INSANE that if the old vet would have spent a little more time with Baxter he would already be better and we could have saved so much money. Once again the whole issue of personal service vs. making money comes into play. But its pretty scary that someone is that way with our puppy's health. But we absolutely LOVE our new vet. When we picked up Baxter today, they said "we'll call tomorrow to see how he is doing." PERSONAL SERVICE-YEAH! So if you are in Littleton and you need a vet go to the Chatfield Veterinary Hospital, they ROCK!
I think that is all that has been happening lately. Oh! It did snow again, A LOT. (that's what Joe wrote about.)We got about 6 inches. It was pretty sweet, but I had to drive on a little two lane road through the worst of the snowing. It was very scary. But beautiful once the sky cleared up and the roads were clear.
Only 3 more weeks till we go home for Thanksgiving. Can't wait!
Sara

It's Amazing What You Can Wake Up To...

Last night, it was just barely under 50 degrees when we went to bed, but this morning when we woke up, 9 inches of snow was falling. I love Colorado because tomorrow its going to almost 60 with a full day of sunshine. Where else do you get weather like this. Here are a couple of great snow storm shots.

Thoughts

Okay, so it is really late at night (almost 1 a.m.) and I can't sleep at all, so I thought I would post some thoughts. I love where we live. I mean, 5 years ago when Joe and I started dating, who would have ever thought I would be living this incredible life in Colorado? I always thought I was a true Southerner and couldn't leave the South and everything that was there, but with the exception of my family and friends, it hasn't been that bad. Sometimes I wish that ALL of you could move here with us! Especially some of my BCM and NSU friends.
Do you ever wonder why you get to a certain spot in your life? God has totally led me here, but I sometimes wonder how did it happen? Its definitely a lot crazier than I ever thought it would be.
Anyway, that's enough preaching/commenting for one night.
Have a great week!
Sara

Happenings

So, it is now warm again (well a lot warmer than 20 degrees on Wednesday morning.) Thanks to everyone who left comments! We hope you will keep checking on what's going on with us. For those of you who don't know, Joe and I live in Littleton, CO. It is a suburb of Denver and we live right along the foothills. We moved here in January and we LOVE it! You cannot beat the weather here, and our church family is AMAZING! We are really blessed to be here. Joe is the worship pastor at our church (Ken Caryl Baptist Church) and I am going to graduate school at the University of Colorado, and teaching music part-time at an elementary school. We are so busy! I just wanted to give a little update for those of you who don't keep in touch like you are supposed to! Haha!
We do have a little baby, our dog, Baxter. Here he is in all of his cuteness. (Yes, Joe and I have become psycho pet owners!)
Anyway, I hope you are all having a great day. I have to go do some homework, which has become my life!

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

It's snowing! The one thing about being Southerners is that we get as excited about snow as the kids at my school. All of today my first through third graders have been said, "It's snowing! Mrs. Horan, did you know its snowing?" They never get over it. Its the wonderment of being a child, I guess.This is obviously me on our deck of our apartment. Right after Joe took this picture of me, I took Baxter (our dog) walking while it was still snowing. He acts like a lunatic in the snow, eating it, rolling around in it and burying his nose in it.We had a great time, even though it was cold. There is nothing more beautiful than newly fallen snow! I LOVE SNOW! Have a great day!
Sara

We Live in A Great Place!!

Last weekend, Sara and I went up to Keystone, CO to spend some quality time alone together. It was AMAZING. Colorado is absolutely one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, and to think that we live only an hour from places like Summit County, and Keystone is incredible. If you haven't planned your trip out here yet, YOU NEED TO! We can't wait to see you, and for you to enjoy all that Colorado has to offer. Hope you enjoy some of our photos below.

This is the first bit of snow I've seen this fall. Obviously I'm pretty excited.

Here are shots of Sara and I at the Continental Divide on top of Loveland Pass.

Here is a picture of my beautiful bride by the largest outdoor ice rink in Colorado! 5 full acres!

Here are a couple of other pictures we took while enjoying our time in the high country.

Our Visit With Annie

A couple of weeks ago, my brother Clint and sister-in-law, Tanya, came to visit with our one year old neice, Annie. We had a fantastic time, and throughly enjoyed following Annie around our house. Here are some of the pictures from that visit:

This is the cutie herself. As you can see, I lucked out as an uncle!

Here are Sara and I with Annie. I think I'm the favorite, but only cause I'm funny looking.

Welcome Family and Friends

Hey! We thought starting a blog might be a great way to keep everyone abreast of what is happening in our lives as well as easier than emailing tons of pictures all the time. We hope you guys enjoy.