Merry Christmas!!
I'm writing to you from the rare quiet that has fallen over our house (thank you, nap time) and I (Kelly) want you to know that I have just spent the first hour of my precious time organizing the desk drawer to make sure I had the exact right number of envelopes for the exact number of cards in there. In the land of three kids under age five, I'm learning that the key is controlling what I can and letting the rest go. So today there are piles of clean laundry all over the house waiting patiently to be put away, but at least my desk drawer is organized. And that makes me feel a little bit better.
Besides organizing office supplies, here are a few other things we've been up to this year:
In January, we kicked things off with a Banjo Billy tour of Denver with friends visiting from DC. Then, Kelly went to Georgia on a writer's retreat for 252 Basics where she got to know some of her fellow curriculum writers. A couple weeks later, we saw Eric Church at the Pepsi Center to celebrate our friend Ashley's birthday.
February found us at the Vinsons' again for their annual Super Bowl party and then we headed up to a condo in Frisco later in the month to celebrate Valentine's Day. While we were there, we enjoyed shopping, hiking, and dinner in Breckenridge at the Blue River Bistro-- one of our favorite spots.
March is Mike's birthday month, so we joined forces with two other birthday men for a brew tour around Boulder. Kelly went to see Garth Brooks with Sharon and Lynn and, the following weekend, enjoyed a beautiful baby shower for Addison.
We spent Easter with the family in April and then hosted Olivia's fourth birthday party. She had a Hello Kitty theme and lots of friends running all around the house hopped up on ice cream cake and fueled by a balloon frenzy. Olivia also had a ballet recital later in the month where she enjoyed dancing with her friends and getting a special trophy for all her hard work.
May was by far the best month of the year! We welcomed our third baby girl-- Addison Akemi Nishi on May 7th at 11:43a. She was 6 lbs 4 oz. and born at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, CO. Since then, we have been just over the moon about her. She is such a sweet little baby-- so smiley and happy. Her older sisters adore her too (now that Sophia has gotten past some of her initial jealousy and being moved to the "middle child" spot in the family).
The first weekend in June, we saw Luke Bryan at Sports Authority Field and the next weekend was another huge event in our lives: Beth's wedding!! Beth and Matt Drase were married at the Tapestry House in LaPorte on June 14th. Kelly was matron of honor and Olivia and Sophia were flower girls. We had so much fun with all the wedding festivities, including the bachelorette party at Agave and the rehearsal dinner at Beau Jo's in Fort Collins. It was so great seeing everyone who had come to town for the big day and, of course, we had a great time on the dance floor celebrating these two, whom we love so much! The week after the wedding, we celebrated Sophia's 3rd birthday with a Frozen-themed party in the park near our house. She loved playing and splashing with her friends! For the next two weeks, Mike and Kelly took separate business trips to Georgia and Indianapolis, respectively.
We spent the Fourth of July at parties at the Franklins' and the Wolfs' and then Kelly continued her work travel with a trip back to Indianapolis and one to San Diego. A highlight of the month was definitely our extended visit from the Johnson family. It was great to get our growing families all under the same roof for a few crazy days! We also saw Train and the Fray (with Matt Nathanson) at Fiddler's Green to round out the month.
August is Kelly's birthday month, which started out with a MOPs retreat and then Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean at Mile High Stadium. We celebrated the big 3-3 with a small group of friends at Punch Bowl Social in Denver where Kelly tried to convince people to let her win at games in sympathy for her old age. Later in the month, we took a day trip to Keystone where we boated on the lake and enjoyed a scenic lunch. The following week, we went up to Wyoming for what would be Addison's first trip to Nana and Papa's house.
Travel continued in September with a weekend away in Estes Park with the Zuikers at the YMCA of the Rockies where we did a hay ride and roasted marshmallows for s'mores. Kelly took another work trip--this time to Arizona--and then went on a girls' weekend to Silverthorne.
In October, we continued our 50 states in 50 years tradition with our 7th state-- Connecticut! While we were there, we stayed in an historic inn, took a boat tour, rode a train, went wine tasting, and saw a plethora of beautiful fall leaves. It was definitely a gorgeous state to see! The following weekend found us back in Silverthorne, this time as a family, where we enjoyed a fall festival in Breckenridge, as well as a nice hike through the fall foliage. For Halloween, the girls dressed as kitties and attended a few different parties, as well as scampered up and down the streets giddy at the realization that they could gather candy from every house in the neighborhood. Kelly went as a sugar skull, but joked that she should have dressed as a cat herder, since her job as a mom sometimes seems about as easy as herding cats!
It is said that Paris is best in the spring, but Kelly was given an opportunity to visit in November and would say that Paris is best any time of year! She tagged along for a long weekend with Ashley (who was there to visit Jason, who travels there for work) and got to see all the best sights, including the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, Notre Dame, Versailles, the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, and, of course, the inside of most every macaroon shop in the city. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Mike's family at Bryan and Amanda's house in Aurora and plan to stay close to home for Christmas.
Olivia and Sophia are in preschool now (Olivia MWF and Sophia T/Th), which means we have dropoff and pickup every day, which has been a little crazy at times! The two older girls also just finished up a session of ballet, which they loved, and were so cute in their holiday performance. Olivia is nearly obsessed with kitties and Sophia loves Frozen, so I think it will be fairly easy for Santa to find something they like this year. Addison has just learned to sit up and is eating solid foods. She's growing like a weed and has already hit the 18-lb mark! Mike is still with the Inspector General's office at the Department of Defense and has been doing more woodworking lately-- he's currently working on a dresser for Addison. Kelly is doing contract marketing work mainly for MWH Constructors and 252 Basics curriculum, as well as helping out with MOPs as the special events coordinator.
Overall, it has been a whirlwind of a year--filled with many blessings as well as its share of valleys. We appreciate you keeping us in your prayers, as you are always in ours. We hope you have a Merry Christmas filled with family and fun memories. Please let us know how you are doing and what you have been up to this year!
Now, it's time to get back to organizing those stamps....
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