A Family Affair

This week’s basketball game have been a family affair which is so nice. Claudia was able to watch the game on Monday a

And was texting with Marshall all game. Nana and Pop have been able to watch all the games this week and this Friday night game was watched by the entire Karlen clan. We waved at the camera (people waved back), we texted on blown plays (and good plays) and it just felt to have the family “there” cheering the Coyotes on. 

It was a tough loss - our nephew had to stop watching at the end, T-man had his hands over his face, T-man said I was mad (and he didn’t like it) and Marshall constantly standing up at the end. While the outcome was not what we had hoped, it was nice to have a Friday night family activity. 

We ❤️ #40

 3 fans this time! 

Down in front! (Marshall standing up in frustration) 

20 Years

I supposed that when one gets married, you expect the marriage to last forever. And yet, for many, it does not. Marshall and I are some of the lucky people that are still together - still laughing, loving, living together. 

There wasn’t anything particular special about today and yet, today is just an example of what I always hoped to have after 20 years of marriage - a happy home and a loving family. We celebrated the little things - pizza delivery for lunch (thanks to a Grubhub credit from Snapdocs for the sales kickoff meeting), a basketball victory, takeout sushi for dinner and ping pong. Here’s to 20 more years and more memories. 

Pizza lunch! 

Basketball victory 

Ping ping battles 

Flowers! 

Us 

Watching basketball replays 

Cuz this is how I roll this year. A good laugh to wrap up our evening 

BB in Person

Enjoyed being able to attend another basketball game in person. Not a victory, but the team fought hard to come back and tie it up at the end. And a benefit to masks - the refs can’t hear you yelling at them! 

No pics at the gym so this will have to do 

Eureka!

T-man received a Kiwi Crate for Christmas. A crate arrives every month and he gets to build with something new to build. This month, it was a ping pong ball shooter and we had great fun with it on Sunday evening. 

Sunday Drive

A couple days ago, D-man and I decided we would road trip to Runza this weekend. Now that there is one only 30 minutes away, it is much easier to just “run up to Runza.” 

We also had some returns to make so we wrapped that into our Longmont trip as well. T-man decided to join us too which was great. We also got Dutch Bros drinks and decided to go to St. Vrain State Park as the sun was shining and we had nowhere to be. To the boys’ delight, the lake was frozen and we were able to just spend some time ice skating and exploring the hole that had been drilled for fishing. We then walked around the lake and we were able to see a bald eagle perched above the lake. It was such an unexpected treat. As my friend posted on Facebook, “Got to enjoy the little things, for they are the big things.” Something Covid has definitely been a good reminder of. 

Big league chew 

Runza! 

Exploring the ice - they were so excited! 

An awesome Sunday drive 

The bald eagle against the blue sky - such a treat 

Ice walking 

Love the shadow here 

Ice fishing hole exploration 

Date Night

Both boys were hanging with friends so Marshall and I had a “date night” at home. We cooked a delicious pasta dish with anchovy and pepper pasta. We had made it one time before, but it was much tastier this time. We then played Ticket to Ride Europe after some nice dinner time conversation. 

It’s a little surreal having the house to ourselves after so much time together this past year. 

Our Saturday night date was preceded by cheering on Friday night basketball from our couch (a victory) and Greek take out and another game of Trains. 

A quiet, but productive weekend. 

Delicious meal 

Pandemic Pow-der

Skiing this Presidents’s Day weekend was pretty amazing. We took an extra day and worked from the condo while the boys skied. There was 11 inches of snow on Friday night and no crowds all weekend. D-man drove down to Louisville for a basketball game on Friday night. We hung out, played games, had great food and enjoyed our time away with great friends. While it sucks we’re in a pandemic, it allowed us to have a pretty epic ski weekend. 

My work space 

Friday happy hour 

Powder 

Monarch boys skiing together 

Adult ski time! 

Apres ski 

Ski Valentine 

Valentines

The boys presented me with my Valentines before we headed out for the ski weekend. We cooked a dinner of steak, asparagus, Mac and cheese and potatoes. Marshall and I exchanged cards in Winter Park - they were very similar in nature. Guess that means we are meant to be together. 

Thankful for all the love in my life. 

Live Fans!

It’s a good thing Marshall reads his email during the day or we would not have gotten to watch D-man’s game in person. The outcome was not in Monarch’s favor, but it was still wonderful to be there IN PERSON!  Each home player could have two family members attend and we had assigned seats socially distanced from other fans. 

Ready for the game! 

Sporting our Monarch gear! 

De-fense 

Me bombing the camera 

Not the outcome we wanted but great to be there. 

Par-tay

Well, it is as close to a party as we are getting these days. It was fun to have something to plan for and get ready for. Marshall cooked all day and we had delicious wings and chili. T-man and I got the basement in order, cleaned and decorated. I found football plates, napkins and decorations in storage and we enjoyed hosting in the basement. 

While the game wasn’t super interesting, we kept it entertaining with bingo cards and money squares. 

Most of us were cheering for KC, but you can’t really knock results for Tom Brady - pretty impressive. 

We were ready to feed a small army 

Decorations! 

Squares! 

The game 

JV Basketball

My heart was so full watching D-man’s first JV basketball game. He got the start and played well, the game was tight through the first quarter, but then the Coyotes ran away with it. 

Even though we couldn’t be there in person, we were cheering loudly from home and enjoying g the game. Marshall is texting dad’s about the game; I was ok. Mom’s text string. We were all just happy that they are able to have this experience. Sko Yotes! 

Ready to start! 

Waiting for the parent-teacher conference to start (messed up the links and missed our slot) 

#40 

 


#winning 

Presents!

Extending the celebration into February!