Our little one

No.  Not a pregnancy announcment.

We call our parakeet, Sierra, little one, little girl, our child, etc.  My mom calls her the grand-bird. 

When we got home from Breckenridge, we tried switching her food over to pellets because they're healthier.  We were mixing the new food half-and-half with her old food.  It seemed like she was eating the pellets, so we completely switched her over.  The night we did that was a bad night.

Neal got home that night and when he walked in Sierra tried to jump from the bottom of her cage to her perch, and failed.  Miserably.  She also kept fluffing up like she was super cold and was being SUPER clingy (which, if you've met our bird, you know is weird).  She couldn't fly very well, and her grip was super weak.

Neal called me telling me all of this and I started Googling.  Then I freaked.  I was convinced she was going to die, and I needed to go home right away (having a sick kid is going to be interesting when we have an actual child).  We talked to Neal's cousin Melissa who told us it might be the food, so Neal put some of her old food in her dish and she INHALED it.  The next few days she started getting better and better.

I felt so bad.  We were literally starving her to death, and not even realizing it.  We've been cuddling her and loving her SO much lately because we feel SO bad!  I think she is enjoying it though.  She's been so much easier to handle lately, and she's been super cute!

Sierra being well behaved and sitting on the computer

Apparently the nativity is comfy, and the tree lights are pretty :)

Breckenridge

Neal and I went to Breckenridge for a little RNR the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Between the intense training that I was doing at work, and Neal building a new show, we didn't get to see each other much.  It was so nice to be able to go up there and stay at a beautiful lodge (The Breckenridge Lodge and Spa) and just be together.

We drove up to Breck Sunday night after having a wonderful dinner with the family of one of the kids in our Sunbeam class.  They made us a wonderful pasta dinner, and we sat around the table and laughed with them.  It was wonderful.  We headed up to Breck about 7 pm.  When we got up there it was FREEZING, so we hurried to check in and get to our room.  Our room was an awesome "rustic" mountain suite, complete with flannel chairs and cow hide bar stools.  We also had a fireplace and an AMAZING view out our window (which we didn't see until the following morning).

Our gorgeous view

Monday, we got up late, went to breakfast at the Blue Moose, and wandered around Breck for the day.  We did a lot of shopping, Neal showed me the River Walk Center where he works sometimes, and then we ate dinner at a super cute little restaurant.  We decided to split a calzone, and we were so glad we made that decision when our food came because they were HUGE!!!!  Then we headed back to the hotel, sat in the hottub, and then went back to our room and watched Bones and the new Spiderman :)

Cute little Italian restaurant

This was HALF a calzone!!

The next day we went SNOWBOARDING at Loveland!  It was fun, but it was still early season, so it was crowded and the snow was meh.  My day ended on my fourth run because I ran into a guy accidentally and messed up my knees (I STILL have bruises...a week and a half later).  Neal kept at it though while I hung out in the lodge and took a nap in the car.  We then headed back for dinner and a movie.  We had dinner at an awesome BBQ joint named Moe's BBQ (highly recommend it) and watched Snow White and the Huntsman.  I actually enjoyed the movie, which I wasn't expecting.

On the lift!  The reflection in my goggles is pretty sweet!

Wedensday we headed home.  We stopped in Silverthorne to do some Christmas shopping and to get lunch at Quiznos.  I also made my very first pies that night for Thanksgiving the next day!  They actually turned out really, really well :)

PS.  Did I mention we spent more money at Rocky Mtn Chocolate Factory than anywhere else?  Hahaha