"World's Greatest Hobby" on tour

We saw an advertisement on TV for this event at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver over the weekend. On a whim, we decided to go and see what it was all about.


There were trains EVERYWHERE!! Models trains of all sizes and gauges, miles of Thomas track for kids to configure and play with and booths with train wares for sale. This expo was for train enthusiasts of ALL ages!


Jamie had so much fun playing the the Thomas trains, see all of the model train sets, controlling a small model trains and soaking in all things "train". He even got to ride on a train.

Girl's Weekend in Denver (AKA Scrapbook Store Marathon)

Talk about shopping 'til you drop...

I spent last weekend in Denver with Carol & Tiffany and I am still exhausted!
We left on Friday morning and stopped at Big Lots in Pueblo. Then we drove on to Colorado Springs and went to the Current Factory Outlet. After lunch, we drove further north to Castle Rock and went to the Outlet Mall. We finally made it to Denver and got to Archiver's at 5:15pm. We had pre-registered for "Crop Night" and were there until after 11:00.

Saturday morning, we hit the pavement at 10:00am and went to every scrapbook/craft store we could find. Tiffany was our guide and she knew where they all were! We went to six different stores on Saturday! We also went to the cemetery where Tiffany's sister is buried where there was also a very nice memorial to the victims of the Columbine High School shooting. We met Tiffany's mom and niece for dinner at Chili's and stopped at Kohl's for non-scrapbooking shopping.

Sunday morning, again, we were out the door by 10:00am and off to Jo-Ann's and Michael's. (The two stores that we knew would be open on Sunday.) We had lunch at Red Robin and made one last stop at Archiver's...just in case we forgot to get something we absolutely needed at any of our previous stops. We didn't leave Denver until 5:00pm on Sunday!

I was sleeping in the back seat until just north of Pueblo when Tiffany hit the brakes and swerved. I opened my eyes in time to see a full sized sofa in the middle of our lane on I-25. That was freaky! Needless to say, we were all awake after that.

It was a fun weekend but I will "pay" for it for several days. I guess it was worth it.

AHS basketball

We've enjoyed following the Alamosa High School sports teams since Bill has been one of the school counselors. Jamie is always a trooper while we drag him along. He always takes his "hook" trains to play with and is completely fascinated by the band. Jamie found a friend to play with at last Tuesday's game...he did a great job of sharing his trains!

After each game, all of the kids in the stands gather on the court and run around and attempt to shoot baskets. On Tuesday, Jamie headed straight for the band platform and started playing the drums. It was so darn cute!

There's nothing as sweet as a sleeping baby...

crashed out on the living room floor

Play date with Spencer

After storytime at the library on Tuesday, the weather was nice enough that we went to the park to play. There was still some leftover snow and someone had worked very hard to build a huge pile in the middle of the park. Jamie & Spencer had so much fun digging in the snow, climbing up and sliding down the snow pile.

Picasso in progress

Jamie seems to love being creative and crafting. He has his own art supply drawer with Julie's scrapbooking stash and he loves to pull out the watercolors. And, as you can tell from these two photos, he is also demonstrating Julie's ambidextrous skills as well.

saying Goodbye to Aunt Claudine

Julie's Aunt Claudine Wood has been quite ill for a few years so it was not unexpected to get the news that she had passed on January 20, 2005. She had lived with Jan (her daughter) in Wisconsin for a while and was, most recently, living in an assisted living home in Amarillo, TX (where other daughter Glenda lives). Everyone returned to Albuquerque for the funeral service and to bury Claudine next to her husband, Julie's Uncle Elmo.

pall bearers were family friend Mike Goodson, grandson Douglass, son-in-law Steve, Ross Cox, nephew Jimmy and son-in-law Joe


Even though Claudine had not lived in Albuquerque for a few years, she still had lots of friends from her church and from the business she owned with Uncle Elmo. Her church provided a nice lunch for friends and family members before the funeral service. The service was held at 2:00pm on Januaury 25th at French's Mortuary with internment at Sunset Memorial Park.


Front row: Jan & Steve Deyoe and Glenda & Joe Hutcherson


Jimmy, Ross & Joyce Cox


Aunt Velma Wood, Joyce Cox & Douglass Toya


Jan Deyoe & Glenda Hutcherson


Jamie & Julie Brooks


Family gathering at Uncle Cliff & Aunt Velma Wood's house.
Front: Crystal Cox
Seated on couch: Jimmy Cox, John & Jean Wood, Cliff Wood
Kneeling behind couch: Joyce Cox, Glenda Hutcherson, Jan Deyoe, Jamie Brooks
Standing: Velma Wood, Jamie Cox (with fiance Brian), Ross Cox, Kathy Cox, Joe Hutcherson, Julie Brooks and Betty Thomas

Crystal, Glenda, Kathy & Joe having fun with Uncle John, seated next to Jimmy

Claudine Wood obituary
Elmo Wood obituary

Let's PLAY!

Jamie & Julie having fun together!


Hide and Seek

Wrestle-mania

Cutie patootie!

Isn't he adorable?

All Aboard!

No doubt about it...Jamie loves trains! He loves to play with his Thomas Wooden Railway trains on the living room floor.



He loves to hook up his Take Along Thomas trains and run them on the kitchen floor, using the stripes in the tile pattern as the "track".



Finally, he loves his Sesame Street Railroad set. It can run on batteries but he much prefers "kid power".

Look what I can do...

Jamie was so excited to show me what he had done...colored his face with a red marker. Good thing little boys can be cleaned!

Happy New Year 2005!!

Bill's best friend, Billy, and his band were playing for the homeless in downtown Albuquerque in a special New Year's Day concert. Bill & Dan (in red), as former members of "New Commandment", were asked to join in and sing old favorites.

Family Photo - 2004

We had this great photo taken last year and then didn't get our Christmas cards mailed.
We're hoping to be more on the ball this year!

Boldly going where I've never been before...

I’m venturing out into new territory and hope that you will take a chance and follow me. I’ve tried doing a web page for family updates and sharing photos but was having trouble with bandwidth limits and other little problems. Enter the web logs (or blogs) that seem to be the “in” thing right now. I’m hoping that this format will be easier for everyone to access as it seems that it will be easier to update, at least once I figure it out. It might not be as fancy as the web page format but I’m hoping that we will be able to share more photos and information with more of our friends and family members. Bookmark this site and check back often!