A Colorado Christmas

We were lucky to have all of Paul's siblings and their families in Colorado for Christmas together. The girls stayed in Colorado while we were off in Australia and were very well taken care of by their Grandparents and some aunts and uncles that arrived early to help.  It was really fun to reunite with the kids in Colorado and enjoy some time here before Christmas.

I took Kate to her very first performance of the Nutcracker and it was a success! She loved the dancing sugar plum fairies and was entertained during the whole performance. It was better than I remember and got us in the mood for Christmas.

Paul went snowmobiling with his siblings and Dad in Winter Park and I stayed and played with the girls. His pictures made me jealous! The mountains are beautiful here. It was his first time on a snowmobile and he loved it.

Kate and her Uncle Grant pose for the camera. The girls love all their aunts and uncles!

The weather in Denver has been strange this year--there is still not any snow on the ground! Usually by Christmas there is a lot of snow in the city.  The girls really wanted to play in the snow and we couldn't spend Christmas in Colorado without making a snow angel, so Christmas Eve we drove up into the foothills of the mountains to make snow angels. It was a beautiful day. Gwen was unsure of the snow at first but got used to it and liked throwing snowballs.

The Tanner family at St. Nick's Christmas store to pick out our yearly Christmas ornaments.

The girls on Christmas morning. Christmas is so much fun with these gals around. It doesn't take much to please them and they oohh and ahh and squeal about everything. They got a lot of attention on Christmas and had fun playing with their gifts all day.

Merry Christmas!

Sydney

 

After the wedding and relaxing in Margaret River we flew over to Sydney to spend a few busy days. Sydney is a beautiful city with a lot of sights to see. Some highlights were walking the harbor bridge and seeking shelter from pouring rain, touring the Opera House (amazing!), wandering through the Royal Botanical Gardens, the most amazing Thai food I've ever had, the view from the Sydney tower, Darling Harbor at night, Chinatown, shopping in The Rocks, taking the ferry to Manly Beach, our $15 hot fudge sundae from the Lindt Cafe--well worth it, walking miles everyday and sleeping in. We loved our trip and had so much fun, but it's equally sweet to be back with our girls and getting ready to celebrate Christmas.  

Manly Beach

 

Rand + Lorraine

Aren't they a stunning couple!? Lorraine was a gorgeous bride and Rand a handsome groom.

They were married in a Catholic church. The ceremony was very nice and it was fun to watch them walk down the aisle. Lorraine was born and raised in Australia, but her parents are from Argentina. They are the sweetest people--full of life and fun to be around.

I always joke that I think my brothers are sometimes more emotional than I am--especially Randy.  He was all teary eyed when his bride walked down the aisle and was so happy to be getting married.

 The bridesmaids dresses were so pretty!

 Their reception was held at a winery overlooking the vineyards. It was a gorgeous night. Everything about it was so nice, the flowers, cake, weather, food and dancing. Lorraine did a great job planning.

We had a lot of fun and it was so  nice to be there to celebrate with them. We love Lorraine and are happy to have her in our family.

Western Australia

Almost five years ago when my brother, Rand, moved to Perth in Western Australia for veterinary school I told Paul that we needed to go to Australia sometime while my brother was living there. What better excuse to travel to the other side of the world? Paul wasn't so sure. Then Rand met an Aussie girl, fell in love and they planned a wedding. That we could not miss! We called in some major favors from Grandparents and Aunts and managed to get the girls taken care of while Paul and I took the trip of a lifetime. The first half of our trip was spent in Western Australia. After 30 hours of travel, and 4 airports later we made it to Perth. We spent 1 night there and just got a peek at it's beauty. So contemporary and modern, the architecture was interesting to look at.  After a night in Perth we drove 4 hours south to the Margaret River wine region, where the wedding was to take place. I'm not sure they could have chosen a farther place in the world for a wedding, but it was spectacular. 

While bushwalking (so the Aussies say) we found this old train depot that reminded us of someone we love.  I later heard that the train owners daughter was named Kate, also. 

At the wedding rehearsal. Five Spongberg siblings minus one. We missed my brother Jay and his wife Jill who couldn't make it.

 At the beach in Dunsborough.

 During our time in Margaret River we visited old underground caves. This particular one was called Lake cave, named for the lake inside of it.

 These Kangaroo signs were all along the road. And speaking of roads, they drive on the left side!  Paul was our chauffeur and an excellent driver for being on the wrong side of the road. Our only mishaps were running into a barracade in front of the rental car agent at the airport 2 minutes after we got into the car (the rental agent kindly remarked "Your first side driving on the left, hey? It's going to take some getting used to, mate"), a blood curling scream let out by Jill (opps) after we took at wrong turn on a dirt road and nearly had a head on collision with a landrover with roobars (they would have won) and getting pulled over for speeding our last night there (with 7 of us in the car) by the nicest policewoman I have ever encountered. She even let us off with a warning after finding out that we were leaving the next day.  But really, he was a great driver :)

Barbecuing and playing cards on the patio in Dunsborough. The house my parents rented there was so chic. And one of the only things that seemed like a good value compared to prices in the USA. Everything else was SO expensive! The house was on the Indian Ocean and the beach there was only ankle deep for a few hundred yards. You could walk forever. That is, until the flies got you.  The "aussie salute" is the motion of waving your hands in front of your face to shoo away the aggressive flies. We heard they only come out for a couple of months out of the year and one of those months was when we were there.

 Our last day in Margaret River we went to a chocolate factory (delicious) and on a little kangaroo tour.  Our Australian cowboy tour guide took us around his property, fed us orange cake (not sure if this is an aussie thing or what?) made billy tea, chased the kangaroos and we got to see his beautiful horses.

 We loved Western Australia. The people were some of the nicest I have ever met. The life seems to be a bit slower paced and it was great to see where Randy had been living these past few years!

Santa

We got the girls warmed up to see Santa by visiting a local Christmas store with plenty of fake Santa's. They were in awe of all the twinkling lights and being the girly-girls that they are, especially loved the pink Christmas tree and asked if next year we could get a pink one.  And yes, Kate dressed herself and at 7:30pm on a Friday I wasn't really feeling up to fighting it.

The next evening at our church Christmas party they got to see a real live Santa. This year the girls switched roles and Kate felt ok about sitting on Santa's lap and Gwen was not a fan. Kate asked Santa for a "strawberry shortcake play-dough set" that she saw a few days before at Marshalls. Hopefully she's forgotten about that by now!

November

Has been really, really busy! Lots of playing, working, serving, preparation, cooking, family, shopping, planning and everything else that goes into this time of year and life in general. We are gearing up for a big month in December, so we got our Christmas decorations out a bit early this year. The girls oh and ah over everything. It makes it a lot of fun.

Kate and I got to go with my parents and a few cousins to see Beauty and the Beast. As expected, she loved it. Although she did mention that the Beast was a little scary. She sings the music constantly.

Her school had a Thanksgiving feast and she sang a few songs. She was quite the festive pilgrim!

The night before Thanksgiving we organized a Turkey Bowl with family. There was some tough competition, and my brother Brad ended up the winner--with antlers as the prize. My mom was a proud loser, and took home a turkey baster as a consolation prize. It was the girls first experience bowling and they had fun.  Gwen wanted to run down the alley and knock the pins down herself, we kept trying to explain to her that she needed a ball!

 Thanksgiving day turned out to be quite relaxing. We decided to do things a bit different this year and my family went out to a restaurant for dinner. The food was delicious and the setting was nice, but still, there is no place like home.  Instead of cooking on Thanksgiving day, we assembled some Christmas baskets, made Reindeer munch, took a bike ride and listened to Christmas music.

 Friday came and we were really missing the leftovers that Thanksgiving always brings, so we decided to cook a smaller feast just for our small family. After some Black Friday shopping, we went out a bought a fresh turkey and put it in the oven for dinner. It turned out delicious and we've been enjoying it all weekend.

 And this last picture was what I saw when I came into the kitchen this morning. Kate was reading to Gwen and it made me smile.  They are sweet sisters and growing soo fast. We have much to be thankful for.