Christmas in Colorado 2009

We had a great Christmas week with Brett's family in Colorado this year. We filled up our days with some of Brett's favorite Denver activities! From attending my first NHL game (Colorado Avalanche) to Rico's Italian food to a movie in 3D. The week was full of fun!

One of the first things we did was drive up into the mountains. We wanted to do a little hiking, but there was a bit too much snow. We spent some time in the ski town of Breckenridge, where we went shopping and had the most delicious French pastries, which was a great start to a proper Christmas week full of yummy food.





Here we are at the Hockey Game with Brett's cousin John, and Amy.



Here is the famous El Chapultepec, great jazz!



For one of the Thompson family traditions, we saw a Christmas comedy at the Music Hall at Heritage Square, "The Haunted Man," a Christmas story by Charles Dickens. It was so fun!

(Cindy, Brett, Mom, Jim, Teri)


Merry Christmas at the Kavinskys!

(Teri, Brett, Mom)


Merry Christmas Chris, "Rock'em Sock'em Robots" kept us entertained.

(Chris and Jim)


We were also entertained by Kadie as she sang to us using her new gift, Play Station "Sing It."

(Kadie and Eliza)


We celebrated our nieces birthday at Red Robin. Yummy! Happy Birthday Kelly!

(Sisters... Kadie and Kelly)


Finally, we arrived at the Peoria airport to discover a wonderful "welcome back to the Mid West" snow. Good thing I got a beautiful new, warm coat for Christmas!





We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Evita

Cindy's first official show here in Illinois was the musical Evita at the Peoria Players Theater. The show ran from November 13th - November 22nd. We had a great time and met some wonderful people! Here are a few photos...

Eva and Susie (our Music Director) ready for the show to start.


Where does all that hair go?

"Goodbye and Thank you Magaldi."

Eva and Peron come to power.

Don't Cry for Me Argentina - the beginning of Act II.

Sick Eva... "I've decided, I should decline..."

Gone Eva. How cool is the slide of the real Eva in the background!

The whole cast of Evita 2009!

Brett made his way into the hearts of the cast and crew. He came to every show. What an amazing husband!

Visit from Shoni

My cousin Shoni came out here to visit us! Here we are having a little lunch at the One World Cafe in Peoria.


Then off to a night of Middle School musical magic! I helped direct the Washington Middle School production of Oklahoma. The kids did a great job!




What's a visit to the Midwest without going to an apple orchard? Even though we didn't actually pick any apples this time around. We went with some squash instead, but we did have some apple cider and apple dumplings. Delicious!!







Our little Peoria forest. Perfect for walks and posing for pictures.



We made sure to take Shoni out to Nauvoo. She had spent some time there a few years ago doing the Nauvoo Pageant. There really aren't many things more beautiful than Nauvoo in the Fall.

Starved Rock

We went to Starved Rock again this year. It was a little bit different this time...

Last year, the leaves were so colorful!

This year... we were a bit too early.


Last year, it was a beautiful, warm November day... sporting the short sleeves.

This year we went in October. Brrr!

Discovering the Midwest

We've had a lot of fun learning about this part of the country. Here are a few snapshots of some of our adventures in the past few months!

WISCONSIN
We took a day and drove up to Milwaukee, WI. We found some great things, including the Milwaukee Public Market and the Spice House, where they prepare all their own spices. Wisconsin is known for the cheese and visiting the Mars Cheese Castle gave us the opportunity to sample a little bit of everything. We also stopped at The Apple Holler, an apple orchard/petting zoo - rabbits, chickens, cats, and goats!





IOWA
We visited this cute little town right on the Mississippi River in Iowa called Dubuque. One of the main attractions is the Fenlon Elevator, which is an invention built in 1882, that offers a fast way to get up this steep hill. We paid our dollar and rode up. It gave us a beautiful view of the city.



NEBRASKA
We were able to spend a weekend in Crete, Nebraska, which is just outside of Lincoln. Brett's mom, sister and family drove out to Crete too! Chris, our nephew plays goalie for Doane College. Go Tigers!



ILLINOIS (home sweet home)
We've spent some time fishing and finding other Midwestern animals. We found this little turtle out in the middle of the road just before a crazy thunderstorm hit.


Illinois is the home of many Presidents. The Abraham Lincoln museum is in Springfield, IL. It is an amazing place to visit! Ronald Reagan went to college right here in Illinois. This summer we visited the one-room Ronald Reagan Museum at Eureka College.



We celebrated out FIRST Anniversary in August. We went to Galena, IL and stayed at a cute Bed and Breakfast. Fun Beautiful town! It's kind of like a mini-Park City and home of Ulysses S. Grant.



Nauvoo is one of our favorite places, of course! Two things we love... the Temple and Annie's Custard.


We have found lots of yummy treats in the Midwest, one being Oberweis Dairy (thanks Brian).


The Morton Pumpkin Festival is the time to celebrate pumpkins! If you've ever bought a can of Libby's canned pumpkin, it comes from Morton, IL! We went to the pumpkin pancakes and sausage breakfast. There are also pumpkin donuts, fudge, cookies, ice cream, pumpkin butter... you name it... it's pumpkin!



Starved Rock One of the only places to "hike" (or go on a walk on a trail) in Illinois. Lots of trees. Beautiful colors. Cold weather.

Trip to Utah

We recently took a trip to Utah to attend the wedding of our dear friend Sabrina Brown, who is now Sabrina Taylor. Congratulations Bryce and Sabrina!

We packed in a lot of fun in a short amount of time. We were able to visit with friends and family, eat some Cafe Rio and Bombay House, see "The Pajama Game" (starring Tina and Chad), and we went through the Oqurrih Mountain Temple Open House, which was amazing! We were able to enjoy beautiful sun and beautiful mountains, except for the crazy rainstorm that forced Sabrina's reception indoors, but it was still wonderful. It was a great trip!






Shoni, Chad, Tina, Mom, Cindy, Brett, Kami