Vincent's Latest works...

Winter in April

It's been snowing all day long. And we've accumulated about a foot here in Castle Rock. The trucks are out plowing and they keep having to come back and do it over again. It's been a good day indoors. :)

Pre-Easter Fun

It's been a while since my last post and quite a bit has happened since then. I have been looking into going back to nursing school, I was laid off from my job and am searching for a new one. Even with all of that going on, we are keeping our head up and are having fun. :) The day before Easter, we had our wonderful family over - Dominic, Shannon, Landin, Cooper and PJ and Josh, Kiersten, Talya and Chaz. The kids decorated eggs and we ate hamburgers; and had a wonderful time. Enjoy the pictures!!

Ice Fishing 2009

We have now been invited to be part of a wonderful tradition - annual ice fishing! Vincent's mom and Keith live in Kremmling, CO and have had this tradition for 4 years now. Vincent and I, my mom and dad, Dominic, Shannon and the boys and the Toplenickis all headed up on Friday 2/20. We had such a good time. The fish didn't really care to be active on Saturday, but we still had fun hiking, sledding and drinking some good 'ol beer.

Genius cuisine

A pre-valentine's day dinner was on the plate tonight. Vincent was so excited to create a beautifully created chinese dish. He was so excited to spend his first Valentine's day with his wife (me) that he made this great meal. We took some pictures to commemorate (sp?) the meal. Hot and spicy shrimp, mongolian beef and broccoli stir fry and some yummy rice. Enjoy!

Works in progress...

It's been awhile since I've posted something. So it seems very fitting that what I post is one of the most important thing in the world to my husband, Vincent; his artwork. He is a genius at what he does and I'm so proud to watch him paint and sometimes I get to participate. Here are some of his recent masterpieces!

A great recipe from Sara...

I saw this great recipe on Fischer Flash and had to post it too! Thanks for sharing Sara!

A GREAT RECIPE...

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God about what is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement,
My purpose is to __________ today. I am thankful for______________'

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli , almonds & walnuts.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control.
Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You are not so important that you have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

17. Forgive everyone for everything.

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. GOD heals everything - but you have to ask Him.

20. However good o r bad a situation is, it will change.

21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch!

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:
I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings. you'll be smiling before you know it.

Sleeping after sledding...

After sledding, Cooper was a little tired and mad because no Guitar Hero was allowed. Vincent was in trouble, because he told him he could play it, but Dominic wanted to watch football. Bad uncle!! So Cooper fell asleep and Vincent caught it on camera.

The Salerno-Morris Wedding

We have great neighbors that have become our friends. They got married on Jan. 2. We had such a great time! We dance like crazy! Shannon did Nicole's hair (it turned out beautiful). So Shannon and Dominic were able to come and enjoy the night with us! Nicole looked beautiful and Andrew very handsome. They had a beautiful wedding!

Sledding!!

We are lucky enough to live in a townhome community where our front yard is the 14th green of a golf course. The nice thing about this, is that when it snows, it is a great sledding hill! Even though it snowed like crazy last night, we didn't get much in Castle Rock. But it was still enough snow to sled down! So Vincent, Dominic, Landin and Cooper made it work! I went down once and froze my butt off! It was fun, but I decided that I should just be the photographer and leave the sledding to the boys! 

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Nicholas decided he would share his humor with us... it was pretty funny.

Dominic's Birthday Party

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we went downtown with Dominic, Shannon, Landin, Cooper, Barbara, Keith, Abby and PJ. We went to dinner at the Spaghetti Factory and watched the parade of lights. We stayed at the Marriott downtown and had a ton of fun.... we even made Dominic wear a balloon hat... he wasn't too thrilled about it.

Christmas

This year, Vincent and I opted to be the hosts for Christmas. We had so much fun! On Christmas Eve, my parents, my brother, Barbara (Vincent's mom) and Keith came over. We had a blast! Drank good wine and ate a wonderful beef brisket (that I cooked, amazingly). On Christmas day, it was my parents, my brother, Abby and PJ at our house. We had an awesome prime rib that Vincent cooked! It was a great first Christmas; first Christmas at our first house on our first year of marriage. Things are great so far!

One of the cutest nephew's ever!

Abby had a birthday party for P.J.'s 1st birthday. I love kids, especially my nephews and I thought I'd share these ADORABLE pictures of him eating his first birthday cake. So cute!

Thanksgiving

Vincent and I went to my parents house in Grand Junction for Thanksgiving. We had a great time. We all cooked together on Thursday (Vincent cooked an amazing turkey). His mom and her husband Kieth joined us too! We had a great time relaxing and cooking. We even made turkey-shaped sugar cookies... the frosting didn't come out too well, though!

We left on Saturday morning, thinking that we'd make it home around 6pm or so. We were caught in an awful snow storm. A semi rolled over in Glenwood Canyon and we were stuck there for a few hours, then it was accident after accident! Thank God, we finally got home at 10pm! Lucky for us, our awesome neighbors had sushi and sake waiting for us when we got home!

Vincent's 33 B-Day Party

Vincent turned 33 on November 21 and I had to get all our friends and family together to celebrate! We had so much fun! We had monster burritos (which got spilled all over the floor!), tomatillo stew (which Vincent insisted on making for his birthday) and lot's of friends and family to share it with. It was a great time! Here are some pics, hope you enjoy!

My favorite wedding picture

Honeymoon

We went to Cabo San Lucas on our honeymoon. It was heaven, besides all of the people trying to get you to go see a timeshare! Our hotel was great and we had beautiful weather. I would definitely recommend going there. Here are some pictures.

Our Wedding

We got married on September 12, 2008 in Castle Rock, CO. We had such a blast. It rained all day, but as soon as the wedding started, the rain stopped. We got married at St. Francis of Assisi Church and had our reception at The Grange. I will say that it was the greatest day every! We had such a blast with all our family and friends. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!