Date Night!

Rowen and I planned to have a date night on Friday. For a while, it looked like the weather was going to keep us from it. Thankfully, though it snowed all day long, the roads only stayed wet, but entirely passable. So we went to Denver to the White Fence Farm. It is a beautiful place, full of interesting things to look at and enjoy. It is almost like a museum in parts of it. We could've taken a lot more pictures, but here are a few.

I thought these tractor seats were pretty cute made into chairs!

There were horses on the lights fixtures in many places.

The General Store display.

The grain elevator had a buffalo head on it. Click on the picture to enlarge.
We ate some very yummy food in the restaurant part of the place. Then we listened for 45 minutes to the Mountain Holler Bluegrass Band that our friend Greg Blake plays in. They are a very talented group and we enjoyed listening to them.

The stage was made like a front porch. It was neat. See the brown round thing on the right side of the stage. It was the end of a "Pig Shute" slide for children that started up on the second floor. It was only open for "business" when the band took the 15 minute break between shows.

While we listened, the snow kept coming down and so the roads going home were a tad bit scarier than they had been earlier. But thank the Lord, we had a safe trip home. We enjoyed our time to be alone together! We are glad to have such responsible and grown up children who can prepare a meal and get along together without us for an evening!

More of Emily's birthday

We usually let birthday people choose who they want to have over for the birthday meal, and what they want to have for food for the meal. Emily chose to have the family of her favorite friend, Amy M. So we had Paul and Renee, Daniel, and Amy over for supper on Emily's birthday.


The very fortunate thing is that Daniel is great friends with Jason and Jeffrey! They live in Cheyenne, so we don't see them as often as anyone would like. However, Amy and Emily do keep the phone lines busy almost every day!
Emily chose to have potato soup and salad, with Dirt Cake for dessert. So that is what we ate.

After supper, the kids played Capture the Flag in our yard. Jeffrey had to work until 7 pm so he didn't get to play as long as the others. In this picture, it appears that all the girls are "in jail" in the front yard.

Amy tried to escape. Even though Jason and Daniel had only two on their team, they have very long legs, so catching the girls was easy for them.

At least they were getting exercise. In this picture, Amy is standing guard in the back by our garden and the rock waterfall that is not started yet this year.

Emily had a fun birthday with these friends to play with, and Rowen and I enjoyed visiting with Paul and Renee.

Emily's 12th birthday!

Happy Birthday to Emily who is twelve years old today!

I can't resist putting on a few more pictures of Emily as a baby. See last year's post for more:
http://johnstownalbertsons.blogspot.com/2009/03/emilys-11th-birthday.html
Taken on May 10, 1998

Janet and her girls taken in fall 1998

Emily in her rocking chair June 27, 1999

Emily chillin' out on the piano bench October 1, 1999

We took a few pictures last night as she opened her gifts and will be taking more today. Emily is growing up more and more and becoming a sweet young lady. She is within an inch of her mother's height and daily checking to see if she is the tallest!
Her favorite candy is Skittles, which Beth obligingly bought for her!

Emily looking mischievous--a common sight...

Emily's hair is very long, and usually braided, but it was loose for going to bed.

Stay tuned! There will be more about Emily's birthday within a day or two!

Happy Birthday to Aunt Joyce!

I would like to take this opportunity to say "Happy Birthday" to my Aunt Joyce Conley!
She is a faithful reader of our blog, though a shy one, as she has never commented! :)
I pray she has a happy day and knows that I love her!

Field Trips March 11

This past Thursday our home school group went to our neighboring town, Milliken, to tour the new fire station and police station. We had a great turnout for the event and had to be divided up into groups so we could fit in the tours. So we didn't get to see all of our friends, but I am sure everybody learned a lot.
Emily trying on the fireman's coat. It was heavy!

A mural in the firehouse painted by some high school students for the new fire station.

The fireman suited up for the kids, to teach them to trust the fireman even if he looks scary and sounds funny.

A painting of the former police station in Milliken.

Our police tour guide, Technician Salazar, telling the kids about evidence security tape.

Visit with "old" friends!

The last post was about a new friend; this one is about old friends. But they are younger than us, and not friends from "too" long ago. Becky and Fred Weiser lived in Johnstown from 2001-2006 and we were close friends almost all of that time. They moved back to Pennsylvania where they had lived before and we have only seen them a few times since then. They were out to ski in Colorado this past week, so we were glad to have the opportunity to spend an evening together with them last night.

After supper, Rowen, Becky, Beth, Emily, and I walked to the Parish House museum for Becky to look around. She was a vital member of the Historical Society during her time in Johnstown. We miss her expertise in antiques so much. It was a delightful evening for a walk. We warmed up a bit with some tea after our walk. Tea was something Becky and I did pretty frequently while she was living here.

Rowen and Fred

Emily, Jeffrey, and Jason played Stratego and Risk with Conrad and Bryson.

It was so fun to visit and catch up. We were so glad they came to Colorado and we got to see them. Though we'd love to go to Pennsylvania and see them, it might not ever happen. Randy and Joy got to stay with them when they were in PA a couple of years ago and Becky was a wonderful hostess to them as she always was in Colorado. Becky and Fred are very special to us.

Fun Visit with a New Friend

On February 26, we finally got to meet our daughter-in-law's cousin, Dorie Johnston. We have been wanting to get together with her and were so pleased that it worked out. We had a fun time together and feel like she is "part of the family"! We ate together and then played Dutch Blitz, Pit, and Things.