If Home Is Where Your Heart Is. . . .

Tiki learned how to swim! And for all of you out there wondering, he LOVES the water and the ocean. . .the "hot tubbbe" is his favorite by far! Today he spent the day in the waves boogie boarding! It is SO amazing to me that just five weeks ago he was scared of his bath and now he is a little fish!!! We're having a great time as a family! There is no place else I would rather be right now!!!

Well, Tiki is in Kindergarten. I let go of all of my "mom" issues and went with the professionals. It really is what is best for Tiki at this time and once I was totally honest with myself and took Dax out of the picture, I knew it was the right thing to do. So, he is in Kindergarten. Last night was the most fun night I have had with Tiki!!! He was being SO hysterical! He was using SO MUCH English and he was showing SO MUCH personality! He was mocking the way I talk on the phone and do other things and I was laughing so hard! Andy's parents are on their way. . .they get here tomorrow and we have a fun weekend planned. I'm very excited! Then we head to Cabo in less than four day! I cannot wait!!!!! I cannot wait to chill by the pool and watch Tiki play in the waves (maybe?)! Hays and Andy are going scuba diving with my dad--with sea lions! It was my first ever scuba trip when I was Hays's age! He will LOVE it!!!

Stephen Curtis did a great interview on Good Morning America this morning about his new album. . .his album where he explores his mourning over losing sweet Maria about 18 months ago. If this link doesn't take you to it, then you can search "Steven Curtis Chapman on the Good Morning America webpage. (There are about 4 videos from this morning's interview. . .he is being interviewed and he is also preforming.) http://abcnews.go.com/search?searchtext=steven%20curtis%20chapman

Today. . .we are under another winter storm warning until Monday and we are expecting another foot of snow! Hays and Maggie went to the mountain with Andy today. They are snowboarding just like the little locals they now are! The are so excited about their new snowboards and boots and helmets! THANK YOU, GRAN'MA!!!! Hopefully Tiki and Dax and I will get on the mountain soon! I was thinking about going tomorrow, but not under a winter storm warning. I am much more of a fair (beautiful) weather boarder!!!

1 day until we have our first day on the mountain (snowboarding)! 7 days until BeBe & PaPa get here! 9 days until we ride the Polar Express! 10 days until we are IN CABO!!!! 14 days until Christmas! FELIZ NAVIDAD!!! 20 days until my Birthday! 24 days until Andy and the 5 kids go home and I get to stay in Cabo with my girlfriends! (Rachelle will be there, too, but not pictured!) This truly is the MOST WONDERFUL time of the year!!!

"You can't change the whole world, but you can change the world for one." -Charles Mugish Buregeya

Issued by The National Weather Service Grand Junction, CO 7:34 am MST, Tue., Dec. 8, 2009 ... BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM MST THIS EVENING... ... WINTER STORM WARNING IS CANCELLED... Here are more pics of us loving the BLIZZARD WARNING!!!

We had snow today (and it isn't supposed to stop until Wednesday)!!! It is so beautiful and it is coming down like crazy!!! We are supposed to get up to 2 feet and I believe it will happen!!!! Enjoy the pics!!!

So, my friend, Jan, surprised me at the airport when Hays and Tiki and I came home from Africa. She is a photographer here in Durango and she took some great pics of the first Braner family meeting! Enjoy!!! Apparently Gabby was in time out before our plane landed. The second we walked through security! Tiki meeting Andy! Happiness trumps jet lag!!! Tiki & Gabby Thank you, Jan! These photos are treasures!

Issued by The National Weather Service Grand Junction, CO 5:40 am MST, Fri., Dec. 4, 2009 ... A PAIR OF STORMS WILL IMPACT THE REGION BEGINNING THIS WEEKEND... TWO STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA THIS WEEKEND AND EARLY IN THE COMING WEEK. THE FIRST STORM WILL ARRIVE SATURDAY NIGHT WITH SNOWFALL BECOMING LIKELY NORTH OF THE INTERSTATE 70 CORRIDOR. SNOW IS EXPECTED TO SPREAD INTO SOUTHERN COLORADO ON MONDAY DURING THE MOST ACTIVE PHASE OF THE STORM. THIS STORM COULD BRING FROM 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW TO THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL MOUNTAINS WITH LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS OVER THE NORTHERN PLATEAU AND HIGH CENTRAL VALLEYS. MEANWHILE... A COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO KEEP TEMPERATURES WELL BELOW NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. AFTER A PERIOD OF DECREASED SNOW SUNDAY NIGHT... THE SECOND... STRONGER STORM WILL BEGIN TO IMPACT THE REGION MONDAY. A SURGE OF PACIFIC MOISTURE AHEAD OF THIS STORM WILL LIKELY FUEL WIDESPREAD SNOWFALL ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH TUESDAY. IF TH

The meeting. . . .unfortunately, I wasn't overreacting and they have given up on him (almost completely it seems like). After four days they want to put him back a grade and it is very frustrating. I'm not even going to really blog about it right now because there is so much I need to process and pray through. Andy needs to come home and he and I need to sit down and discuss it. . .our options, our feelings, our opinions and everything. There are many different paths we can take and we just need to make sure that we choose the right path and make that decision based on facts and not emotions! It will take some time. MOUNTAIN LIONS: welcome to living in Colorado! We got a letter sent home from school with Dax telling us that there was a mountain lion spotted on the playground during school the other day and that they are taking all precautions necessary! As crazy as it sounds, it was such a great letter to get because it made me laugh and made me think of something besid