The view from 5400

Brewing Cider

2008-11-30T13:04:00.007-07:00

Can you pick which yeast is hard at work and which yeast is looking a bit sluggish?

Carboy on left contains 5 gallons of Apple Cider, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and White labs "WLP720 Sweet Mead/Wine Yeast".

Carboy on right contains 5 gallons of Apple Cider, yeast nutrient, pectic enzyme and White labs "WLP715 Champagne Yeast".

Both carboys were put together at the same time. Both show signs of yeast action in the air lock, but one seems a bit more active than the other.

Brew Ha Ha

2008-11-02T20:16:00.002-07:00

Dan's brewing beer again! Yee Haw!

First Swim Meet of the Season

2008-11-02T19:52:00.005-07:00

I had my first swim meet of the season on Saturday, the Kevin Nash Memorial meet. The meet was sponsored by my team, the BeeGee's, because Kevin was our coach until his passing in the summer of 2007. It was an afternoon meet and I was incredibly pooped from the week before and that morning of Pilates and errands. I was just looking forward to seeing where I was and I was much better than expected. Dan came to cheer all of us on. Hopefully he will be racing at the next meet. Here I am in the lovely BeeGee team polka dot suit I swore I would never wear (holy smokes I look tired! thank goodness we "fell back" an hour today.). I ended up wearing that black suit underneath. Dan is pretty positive he will never wear the team suit. They aren't that flattering but you can spot a BeeGee a mile away.

Future NHLer???

2008-11-02T19:44:00.005-07:00

The Denver Women's Hockey League, the league Debbie is part of, played at the Pepsi Center last Thursday after the Av's played. This is the same Pepsi center where the NHL team the Colorado Av's play and the NBA team Denver Nuggets play. It was very cool. Debbie said it was super hot under all those lights, they couldn't see people past the first section and they couldn't hear anyone. There were about 50 people in the seats and we were cheering. I was disappointed the Av's didn't stick around to watch because we all watched them play a horrible, pathetic game before we watched the women. If you score or get a penalty they announce your name over the loud speaker. So with one minute left and without scoring, Debbie tripped a player and was sent to the penalty box. Her name was announced. It was very cool!

Deb getting ready to play.

If you squint, you can see Deb in the penalty box and her jersey number on the scoreboard.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T19:40:00.006-07:00

Here are our pumpkins this year. Once again we took the easy route and didn't carve them. The decorations can be used again next year so no waste!

Corn Maze

2008-11-02T19:35:00.003-07:00

It is, or was, that time again. Corn maze time. It was very disappointing this year, just like last year. It only took us 18 minutes! I think we need to go earlier in the month and not wait until the last weekend. Or go find another maze, there are many to choose from out here. The corn was dead and it looked like people trampled through the corn to make their own path. They did however, have a few new things like these funny picture cutouts.

Welcome to the family!

2008-11-02T19:33:00.002-07:00

Debbie got a dog, Max! He is a 90-pound, 2-year old Golden Retriever. And a total love. Ahhhh!

Funny Sign

2008-11-02T19:30:00.003-07:00

On our way home from Eagle, we stopped in Avon. This is funny!!!

Fall Foliage & Hockey

2008-11-02T18:54:00.009-07:00

Wow! I didn't realize it has been over a month since my last post. Life has been busy. We drove up to Eagle, CO a few weeks back and the Aspens were beautiful. Debbie played a hockey game there, they lost, but the 2 hour drive was worth it. We had never been to them there parts before and now we can say "been there, done that." Here is some of that awesome foliage, Eagle and Debbie kicking some hockey butt (she's in the white jersey).

Eagle, CO is a very pretty town. This is it.

Debbie!!!

A long, long time ago, in a place far, far away...

2008-09-15T19:40:00.003-06:00

Dan and I got married. It was 7 years ago to be exact, in beautiful Malibu.

Brrrr!!!

2008-09-08T20:19:00.005-06:00

It's cold outside today. I love it!!! Made a fire for the first time in our house. Well actually just turned it on. It still was nice and cozy.

Hangin' with the cool crowd!

2008-09-03T13:34:00.003-06:00

I had the pleasure of sipping some cafe' alongside two champions. Amy D. (on the left) is the national cross bike champion for the under 23 age group. She also placed 25th at the worlds amongst all age groups. Pretty cool! And Beth was State champ for the crits (is that right?) last year.

It's Football Season!!!

2008-09-03T13:01:00.003-06:00

We are addicted to the Broncos. We had such a blast last year going to those games that we decided to buy a few tickets this year. And when I say a few, I mean 4 tickets to two games - one preseason game and one regular season game. Here is a view from our seats. Dan is pointing to the players in case you can't see them. Broncos played the Cowboys and we won.

We are the Champions, my friend!

2008-09-03T12:23:00.008-06:00

Debbie's ice hockey team are world champions! Well maybe not world, but champions of the women's Denver hockey league. Out of the three teams in their league they won the playoff game. Even though she didn't score, this was by far Debbie's best game that I saw. The whole team played so well and as a cohesive unit. This is definitely not a sport for those who tire quickly or don't like to get hurt.

Debbie taking a shot (she missed but it was still very exciting!).

Debbie getting her first place medal. Yeah Debbie!

Baby Sam!

2008-08-21T22:18:00.013-06:00

Finally I got my bum over to see Bethie and her adorable new baby, Sam. He is so tiny and cute. Just a little cuddle muffin. He turns one month new tomorrow. I could have hung out with him all day. It was nice to catch up with Bethie too. ;) You would never have guessed she just had a baby one month ago. She looks fab-U-lous!

Snow in August?

2008-08-21T21:09:00.005-06:00

You betcha! This photo was taken from my car as I was driving. Yeah, I know, super smart. It was really cool to see Longs Peak covered in snow, especially since it was in the 90's and100's the previous week. Wonder what kind of winter we are going to have. Our first year here, it snowed in September and we had a crazy blizzard winter. Maybe we will have another crazy winter! Fun!!!

BSS #6 & #7

2008-08-21T19:59:00.005-06:00

Sadly the Boulder Stroke and Stride has come to an end for the season. It was such a fun race, and fit perfectly into my schedule.

BSS #6 was not that great. Once again the swim was longer, 796 meters, and it was my worst time to date. I didn't wear my wetsuit and just didn't feel great. I think I placed 5th, maybe 6th. My run was decent, third fastest split to date, still not under the 30 minute mark. But was happy with it after that lousy swim. The weather was crazy hot. Who would have thought that at 6:30 in the evening it would still be in the high 80's. Gross.

BSS #7... I really didn't want to race. Not because I am lazy but because for two days prior I was a juror on an assault case and that had taken so much out of me - emotionally, mentally and physically. The weather the day of the race was super overcast, gloomy and cold. So cold that I got cold waiting for the race to start so I decided to put on my wetsuit. Such a drastic change from the week before. I told myself to just get through the swim and decide on the run once I got back to the transition area. The start of the swim was good. I put everything I had into it. I raced hard to the finish, I didn't want to leave anything on the table (or in the pool). Once out of the water, I walked slowly back to my stuff and started to take my wetsuit off. I thought I should at least run, I did pay for it. Plus I figured it would be good for me to get all this craziness I felt from jury duty out of me. Unfortunately my transition to the run took longer than it should have as my wetsuit gave me a workout to get off. Once on the run I felt great. I actually caught up to some people, granted these people were an 8 year old boy and 10 year old girl, but it still counts in my book. Well I couldn't shake the 10 year old girl so we ran the whole thing together. I got a little ahead of her and then her mom passed by and told her to keep with me. I turned around and she was smiling, so I told her she was doing great and to keep with me. Then on the final stretch she passed me, then I caught her (wow it was exciting and the fans were cheering, for her of course) and I told her to sprint and not let this old lady beat her and at the very end she edged me out. I told her great race and thanks for pacing me. She just looked at me, smiled and said ok. Oh to be 10. So how were my times? AWESOME! I actually I had my fastest time in the swim, under 12 minutes, second out of the water and the course was too long again, 813 meters. I seem to swim my best times (except for BSS #6) when the course is longer. Hmmm, interesting. In regards to the run, I finally did it. I finally broke 30 minutes - 29:14. I was thrilled and so glad I did the whole race. What a way to end the series. It definitely lifted my spirits. :)

Phelps' Incredible 100 Fly Finish

2008-08-18T08:23:00.004-06:00

Check out his finish frame-by-frame.

Before & After

2008-07-27T17:17:00.016-06:00

Dan and I remodeled our fireplace/tv area. We are so in love with the outcome. It is amazing what a difference it has made to the feel of our home. It is so warm and cozy now. Next, new paint color for the walls! Thanks to Vaughn and Beth for helping turn our house into a home.

She Shoots! She Scores!

2008-07-27T17:08:00.006-06:00

Been going to watch Debbie play some ice hockey over the past few weeks. She recently joined an all-women's hockey team and they play about 20 minutes from my house. She kicks ass. It is actually so much fun to watch, quite different than the NHL. She plays on the novice squad so the skating is slower and stopping sometimes means running into the boards but these ladies have spirit and guts! What is so cool to watch is that they never give up, even when they are super exhausted by the third period. Unlike the NHL they don't have a full roster. Often only 4-6 women will show up so that means a lot of play time for these ladies. At her game two weeks ago, Debbie scored! It was awesome. I screamed in excitement and jumped up and down. Then I turned around to the gentleman behind me and told him that was my sister who scored. I was so proud. There were about 10 of us in the stands that night, it was a large crowd. Here are some pics of my sister in action, she's #11...

BSS #3, #4 & #5

2008-07-23T14:13:00.009-06:00

Did three more Boulder Stroke and Stride events. I'm just going to pass through #3. My swim time was good considering I had stomach issues all day and then some ashhole/poor sport decided to do one wallop of a kick in my stomach and then tried to swim me out of the reservoir. My run was slow but glad I finished it. Wish my swim was as gentle as this swim.

BSS #4 was awesome! Bragging moment - I was first out of the water, men and women, for the 1/2 mile swim. My 5k time was the fastest to date. My swim time was only a few seconds slower than my best time and then I come to find out that the swim was 839 meters instead of 750 meters. It was an awesome race and I felt great.

BSS #5 was good. I decided not to wear a wetsuit and I could tell a difference in my stroke/swim. I finished fourth out of the water and my time was a bit slower. If I can make excuses, which I can because it is my blog, I blame it on not wearing a wetsuit and the fact that the swim was 815 meters instead of 750. My 5k time was slow, just couldn't find the power. I emailed the race director asking him if the swim is long again this week if we could shorten the run to make up for it. He didn't go for it. :)

Tomorrow is BSS #6. I'm really hoping to break 30 minutes in my 5k. Yes, I am a slow runner. Guess it would help if I ran more than this one time a week, plus I'm still trying to be gentle on my back. The following week is the last BSS of the season (I missed the first three). I think I'm going to try the 1-mile swim and 5k as a power finish to the series. Ohhh, Ahhhh, yells the crowd.

The series has been so much fun and will probably be my only triathlon type race I do this year. I totally recommend it to anyone who is out here. Yeah!

Early Look-alike Meter

2008-07-13T08:42:00.002-06:00

On Beth's blog, she has links to her friends blogs. I clicked on one to see what and how they blogged. I stumbled across this little gem. Thank goodness I equally look like my mom and dad. All those Kmart Bluelight Special rumors can now be squashed!

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

BSS #1 & #2

2008-06-30T08:45:00.005-06:00

No, BSS does not mean bullshizzle stupid, it's the Boulder Stroke and Stride. I finally did one and then one the next week. The BSS is either a 750 or 1500 meter swim and a 5k run. You also have the option of only doing one of the swim distances or only the run or a relay. For the first one I chose to do the swim distance only and of course the shortest distance, 750 meters. It's been a while since I did an "open water" swim (it cracks me up that lake swimming is referred to as open water swimming, I'm used to the ocean as open water swimming). It was a blast. I swallowed a bunch of icky Boulder Rez water, had to tread water several times to clear my goggles, pissed people off around me as I swam breakstroke to look for the buoys and still managed to come out of the water third. I felt like such a wimp not running so I knew I had to suck it up for the next one.... BSS #2.

I was third out of the water again for BSS #2 (and my time was the same as last weeks!) and good thing because I am the worst runner. To be honest, I'm just happy I can run again. Walking and not being crooked is pretty darn fabulous too. I'm a run/walker because I'm just not there yet in my fitness or back strength to go all out running. Or so I thought during this BSS. The person who came out of the water second was not very nice in the water as she totally slammed me against the buoys on one of the turns. Really, is that necessary when it was just the two of us next to each other. Sheesh! I saw her on the run and noticed she walking too. I thought she is definitely swimmer based like me and can't run, like me. So I thought I had a chance to catch her. I finally did in the last 1/2-mile. But only because I chose not to do my run/walk and I ran almost the entire 5k except for 3 minutes of it. Did I pay for it afterwards, a little, but I could still walk and that is all that mattered.

Next Thursday is BSS #3. I hope to be consistent in my swim time and maybe just a smidge faster in my run. It's hard to walk when you are getting passed by a ton of people running. It is frustrating. They probably would pass me anyhow if I was at my best running pace, I just hate to walk. It feels so great to be racing again, even if it is super short distances.

Sports Bra = SOS

2008-06-23T22:56:00.003-06:00

Yet another use for your bra ladies....

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/23/colorado-hiker-uses-sports-bra-send-sos-alps/

OMG!

2008-06-22T12:22:00.002-06:00

Jordan Summits Denali!

2008-06-22T12:17:00.003-06:00

Congratulations to Jordan Romero, age 11, on his successful summit of Denali (aka Mt. McKinley). He is attempting to become the youngest person to successfully summit the eight highest mountains in the world (I thought there were only seven, but apparently there is some controversy about this so he is covering his bases and climbing them all). Five down, three to go. Props to Karen and Paul on summitting with Jordan as well.

Two years ago...

2008-06-15T21:30:00.002-06:00

yesterday, Dan and I arrived at my sister's house, who lives south of Denver. I can't believe it has been two years since we moved out here. The minute we got here it felt like home and that we had lived here for years. That is always a good sign. I still get excited when I see the Rockies on my way to work as well as all the farms and horses. It is just so pleasant and beautiful and peaceful. I hope I never lose that lovin' feeling.

Becky!

2008-05-26T22:45:00.006-06:00

I met up with my dear friend Becky yesterday! We swam together in Arizona many moons ago. We just reconnected on Facebook a few weeks ago and I found out she was going to be in town because her husband is from Boulder. How cool! She suggested we meet in Boulder at a Master Swim practice. I was game. We swam meters. Apparently she still swims meters and it showed as she lead our lane. I haven't swam meters since high school. It is a long ways down the pool, especially swimming backstroke. It was fun and so wonderful to catch up with her. The visit was too short but hopefully her next trip to CO we can visit a bit longer. It has been 16 years since we last saw each other, so there is still lots to chat about.

Here we are after practice. I wore my Pepperdine swim sweatshirt in case she didn't recognize me when we met at the pool. :)

Don't cry wolf!

2008-05-24T22:16:00.003-06:00

Beth was nice enough to lead us on a mountain bike ride this morning. She turned around after 30 minutes because the trail became technical and at 8 months pregnant, riding those types of trails is totally inadvisable. The sad thing is that she totally kicked our butts at 8 months pregnant!!! As we started up the technical hill, a wolf came up from the side and crossed in front of me. I wasn't nervous, just taken aback. At first I thought it was a coyote because you normally see them out here. But I kept thinking that is the biggest coyote I have seen. And I have never seen a grayish, white one before. I told my dad the story and he set me straight telling me it was probably a wolf, and he was right. Hee Hee. I crack myself up. How can you mistake a wolf for a coyote??? Unfortunately Dan didn't see the wolf. I always enjoy seeing the wildlife, however, I'm ok if I never see a mountain lion expect say, at the zoo.

It's a miracle! No, it's Pilates!

2008-05-19T08:14:00.007-06:00

I ran/walked a 5k last Sunday with some friends form the swim team. My goal was to keep my back pain free. Ad good Lord, I did it. I didn't have any pain on Sunday after the race, after I cleaned the garage, all day Monday, Tuesday after running/walking again and all the way through today, Saturday. Pilates Rules!!! Here we are after the race. Ian, at the end, didn't run. We would have given him a hard time about not running since it was only a 5k, but he just got back from the Masters Nationals swim meet where he broke a few state records. He desrves a break.

No More Paper Shades!

2008-05-14T21:07:00.004-06:00

Our shutters were installed today, yeah!!! These shutters totally made our house feel more like a home rather than your first place after college. :)

Before

After

Only in Alaska!

2008-05-13T21:32:00.000-06:00

http://anchorage.craigslist.org/zip/673017049.html

Poop

2008-05-04T21:14:00.001-06:00

Missed this little gem in the news. Luckily Jenn B. shared it with all of us. Apparently I'm in the wrong industry.

I'd rather be Jogging!

2008-05-04T20:03:00.004-06:00

Beth and I hiked Hogback last Wednesday. We were supposed to hike on Thursday, but Beth said the weather was supposed to be bad on Thursday so we moved it to Wednesday. Thank goodness we did because it snowed on Thursday! It was a beautiful, sunny 85 degrees on Wednesday. Unbelievably Beth had never done Hogback before so the climb up was a little bit of a surprise to her. She is 7 months pregnant now and held an awesome pace. The highlight of the hike, besides her company of course, was her fabulous t-shirt. We received many giggles from people who passed us. In case you can't read her t-shirt, it says "I'd rather be jogging." Hee Hee Hee!!!

Mountain Mamas

2008-04-30T21:23:00.008-06:00

Dan and I went to the first annual Mountain Mammas charity auction dinner last Sunday. It was at the Gold Lakes Resort in Ward. Ward is in the mountains, pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, but it was beautiful! Pam, who is one of the owners of Mountain Mammas, is also one of my fellow Pilates trainees. It was great to go to the event and see what she does outside of the studio. It was a heartfelt evening where they had a slide show of the kids that go to their camp and they had one at the dinner who gave a very moving speech. It was a wonderful evening that was definitely out of my norm. Lots of horse people at the dinner and a few that were not, like us. Although Pam said she would take us riding this summer. Not sure how I feel about that since the few times I've been on a horse (including those plastic bouncy things), I cried like a little girl (granted I was a little girl). I'm older now so we will see. Pam promised me a gentle horse.

The Mountain Mammas also provides a primitive skills program. I'm guessing this gal was part of that program as she started the fire the old fashioned way (versus the way my dad has done in the past with some gasoline and a match!).

Here I am with Susie, an instructor at the Pilates studio where we train and I work, and Pam (in the middle). No, I'm no that tall nor are they that short. I was wearing 4 inch heels that night! Yee Haw!

3-1/2 Hour Lunch

2008-04-26T18:29:00.003-06:00

Debbie and I had lunch today with an old Carmel Swim Club (CSC) friend, Kim Holmes. None of us had seen each other in about 25 years. Wow! We gabbed for 3.5 hours; we could have stayed at the restaurant for dinner. It was so wonderful catching up with her. She has worked in the swimming world for many years now and currently works at USA Swimming, so she was totally in the know about a lot of other former CSC swimmers. It was great to hear about them. I definitely wish I had stayed in contact with them. She even knew a few swimmers from my Arizona swimming days. What a small world. We are definitely going to keep in touch and see each other again soon. I hope this is a start of reuniting with other CSC swimmers. :)

2008-04-24T08:12:00.002-06:00

Bethie and I went for a nice little hike yesterday. I didn't bring my camera on the hike itself but took this cute portrait at the end. She is now 7 months pregnant and looking great. I like hiking with "pregnant Beth" because I can keep up with her and she needs to stop to rest every so often. :)

The Eagle Has Landed

2008-04-16T23:22:00.003-06:00

Yeah, Dan's plane has landed! Now he gets to drive home in crappy, snowy weather. Time for me to go to bed!

2008-04-16T22:17:00.004-06:00

I'm tracking Dan's flight from CA to CO. I should be folding laundry, writing up meeting notes, sleeping, but instead I'm watching a tiny plane not move unless I refresh the page. Lucky Dan, look what he gets to fly into...

BeeGees take 2nd at State!

2008-03-30T19:24:00.009-06:00

We came in second overall at the state meet this past weekend! Our best finish ever. I had a really good meet. Set best times in all my events. They are not lifetime best times, but Master Swimming best times. :)

Before I bore you with the details of my races, I have to say this weekend was totally inspiring and motivating because Masters swimming isn't just about breaking records (like 46-year old John Smith who broke the National Master record in the 100 free) or winning almost every event you swim (like Susan van der Lippe) but it was about the 85 year old man who still dove off the blocks and competed against the other two 80-something year old men - who by the way completed every single event they entered. And it is about our own BeeGee, Ruth, who at 75 years old completed the 200 fly (along with several other events) without breaking a stroke or getting DQ'd (she also does open water swims!!!). To know that I have the opportunity to still compete for the next 50 years is either totally psycho (great she said sarcastically, I have to do this for the next 50 years) or totally cool (yeah she said I get to do this for the next 50 years!). I chose the latter for sure!

Two days before I swam it was shave down time. Oh yeah, I went old school and grow out the hair on my legs. It wasn't as much fun as it was in the past. Imagine that. Dan begged me to wait two weeks before the meet instead of the two months that I did. Sorry Dan! I'll spare you the pictures. :)

Saturday was a long day. My sister Debbie came to cheer us on, Dan was home sick the whole weekend. :( I swam 5 individual events and 2 relays. First relay of the day was the women's 200 Medley Relay, I swam fly. It was nice the first race of the day was a relay, gently ease into the meet. Next up, the 100 IM. I was so nervous I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest. I was in lane 10 (I have never swam in a meet where we use 10 lanes) and couldn't hear the starter. I actually saw the gal next to me leave the blocks and that's when I left. Late start but I knocked 3 seconds off my time. I was thrilled! Nice pike in the dive, not sure where that came from, but you can totally see how late I was off the blocks.

50 breast was next. Again, the nerves set in. I had the pre-race bathroom jitters pretty much before each race. How long have I been doing this??? 50 breast was great. I knocked 1.5 seconds off my time. I was on a roll. Then came the 100 fly. I really psyched myself out with this one. I was super nervous my shoulders would not make 4 laps of fly. They did but my time was kind of sad (I hadn't swam this event in over 13 years, so technically I got a Master best time). At that point I looked at it as having a time to beat for next year and I earned some team points! I made up for the fly with my 50 free. It was a near perfect race. First one off the blocks (I was in lane 2 right by the starter), I actually kicked the whole time (I'm not a freestyler and my kick isn't always happening) and I didn't breathe that much, it was just great. I knocked 1.5 seconds off my time and hoped to get first in my heat but was out touched by one-tenth of a second. Oh well. I was totally excited and pumped for my next race the 100 back. I just went for it. What did I have to lose? Just like the 100 fly, I hadn't swam this event in over 13 years so my time was great. I had a goal time in mind and reached it. Finally the day ended with a mixed (2 men/2 women) free relay. By the time I got home, I was starving and exhausted. My muscles felt like they were vibrating. I tried to take a nap but was too tired and restless. I ordered a pizza, watched some TV and eventually made it to bed by 8:30. I couldn't believe I had to do it all over again the next day.

I woke up Sunday morning to snow on the ground (it was 70 on Saturday!). Thank goodness we swam inside! I know Sunday would be a bit easier than Saturday as I only had 6 events - 4 individual and 2 relays. But as I stretched that morning, every muscle ached. Gotta love lactic acid! I started the day with the 200 mixed medley relay. I swam the breaststroke and didn't feel great. Next was the 50 back. Yeah for 50's! I knocked a second off my time and felt great. 100 free next and I did fine but I was getting tired. Barely made my goal time. 3 down only 3 more events left I thought. So next was the 50 fly. I wasn't in the fastest heat so I thought I had a good chance to win my heat. I went all out but got out touched by a tenth of a second. Oh well, dropped my time by 1.5 seconds. Nice! Two more races. 100 breast was next and well, I got totally into my head with this one. This was "my race" as a youngster and haven't been able to get it together for quite some time. I thought I was going to pass out on the blocks I was so nervous. My seed time was way too fast, I was swimming right next to Susan van de Lippe, the 1988 Olympic medalist in this event and will be going to the Olympic trails this June. I'm just glad I have another year to work on it. Finally the last relay, 200 free relay.

Sidenote... just like Mike, I too got fourth, in 4 of my individual events! Yes they gave out ribbons and yes I made sure I got all of mine. Hey, I need proof!

Ahhh, the meet is over and it is tailgate time! We grilled burgers and dogs, drank some celebratory beer and chatted about a great weekend for everyone.

Next up for some people, Nationals in Austin. For me...that's TBD!

Good Luck BeeGees!!!

2008-03-28T07:51:00.003-06:00

Today is the first day of the Colorado masters state swim meet. I'm swimming Saturday and Sunday. Go BeeGees!!!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T11:45:00.001-06:00

We hope everyone has a beautiful day! The Easter Bunny brought us snow. What did he bring you?

Holy Moley!

2008-03-17T17:20:00.003-06:00

Go Nuggets!!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2008-03-17T17:15:00.003-06:00

Crazy Colorado Weather

2008-03-16T18:56:00.005-06:00

Guess this is what they mean by crazy Colorado weather. This weekend it was warm and sunny, well warm for us, in the 50's.

Tonight we are under a...

HEAVY SNOW WARNING NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM MDT MONDAY.A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW WILL CHANGE TO ALL SNOW THIS EVENING.THE SNOW WILL THEN INCREASE IN INTENSITY DURING THE LATE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 9 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED BEFORE THE SNOW DECREASES MONDAY AFTERNOON. A HEAVY SNOW WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP AN EXTRAFLASHLIGHT...FOOD...AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.

I love it here!!!

2008-03-11T21:37:00.002-06:00

My Pilates Teacher Training started today (yeah!!!) and ends December 23. Most people are so surprised to find out it is a 10 month training program, but that is normal. You want a Pilates teacher that has practical experience not someone who just read a book and memorized the sequence of exercises. I'm super excited to start this new chapter in my life but it is a bit overwhelming with the additional studio hours we have to put in and learning the anatomy. So, if you are looking for a Certified Pilates teacher in 10 months, give me a call. Or you can always stop by the studio and receive a discounted rate on a private session if you have one of us trainees teach you when we begin our apprentice teaching.

My Least Favorite Holiday

2008-03-08T21:05:00.003-07:00

Tonight Daylight Saving Time begins. We lose one hour of sleep. For someone like me who thinks a power nap is at least two hours, this stinks. Oh well, on a bright note, the days are longer and more opportunity to get out and enjoy it!

Happy Birthday Debbie!!!

2008-03-02T23:08:00.001-07:00

Annual Girls Weekend!

2008-02-18T07:52:00.017-07:00

Oops, I forgot to post this. Wish I was more like Beth and posted something almost everyday. She is a very good blogger.

It was that time of the year again where my two girlfriends, Nicole and Angie, and I meet somewhere for a rowdy weekend of watching TV, shopping and going to the spa. This year we met in the OC. So I decided to make a mini vacation out of it before I met the girls to see family and friends.

I went on a lot of walks with my mom and Henry.

Went to my favorite coffee place, "The Bean." Sadly, though, I spilled my vanilla iced blended all over my parents carpet so I didn't get to enjoy it.

My mom and I got our nails done - lookin' purtty!

Bates Girls! The visit wouldn't be complete without a night out with my Bates Girls. Some of the best gals in advertising.

I got to visit with my dear friend Dawn. She just had her second baby boy, Logan. He is incredibly precious and so good! For only five days old, he was already very focused.

Here he is, with mom Dawn, a little hungover after lunch.

Finally, the girls trip!!! Me, Ang and Nic.

We were sent some edible fruit and champagne. Here's our valet, preparing the yummies for us. We were there for maybe 10 minutes and Nic and Ang were already texting the family back home.

Lookin' good and off to dinner. Then back to the room to watch TV. We are so exciting!

Went to the beach....

Saw some dolphins (the black dots in the pictures).

Last night before we leave and head back to different states. Yes, we purposely bought matching t-shirts. And just so there isn't any confusion, Nic was a cheerleader and Ang was a pom pom or was in pom. And there is a difference. I was neither so I couldn't tell you.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T19:51:00.003-07:00

Here we are at our traditional Valentine's dinner hotpost - IHOP!

~xoxo~

Happy Birthday, Dan!!!

2008-01-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Dinner

2008-01-03T21:02:00.001-07:00

Our house came with a double oven in the kitchen (where else would it be???). Fabulous right? Well, personally I would have preferred a double MICROWAVE oven. How can you cook a quick meal with only one microwave? With one microwave, it takes a good 15 minutes to make Dan's dinner. If I ever have money to remodel my kitchen... one can dream can't she?

Congratulations Jordan!!!

2008-01-03T18:26:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jordan Romero, age 11, on his successful summit of Mt. Aconcagua. He is attempting to become the youngest person to successfully summit the eight highest mountains in the world (I thought there were only seven, but apparently there is some controversy about this so he is covering his bases and climbing them all). Four down, four to go. Props to Karen and Paul (his stepmom and dad respectively) on summitting all four with Jordan as well.

Titanic

2008-01-03T18:09:00.000-07:00

We (Deb, Dan and I) went to the DMNS on January 1 to see the Titanic Exhibit. I highly recommend this to everyone if it comes your way. I learned so much about the ship, the happenings prior to the voyage and the passengers and why they were traveling on the Titanic. The artifacts they recovered were amazing and some were still in very good condition. It was an incredible history lesson. We all received a "boarding pass" of one of the passengers at the beginning of the tour. At the end of the tour we would find out if "we" lived or died. This boarding pass actually told a lot about the passenger - their age, class, cabin #, reason for traveling and other passenger facts. My lady, Helene Baxter, survived along with her daughter and son's fiance. Unfortunately her son died. I actually was very sad to learn of his fate. I really became engrossed with this ship and its history. Later that night, I went here to learn more about Helene, the Titanic and the stories of the other passengers. Deb's lady, her husband and brother-in-law all survived; and Dan's guy, his wife and their son survived. Go see this exhibit, or check out this site to learn more! (gee, I sound like a commercial.)

On a sidenote, Dan noticed this very funny sign at the musuem.

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, a little late, sorry. We hope everyone has a healthy, happy and adventurous new year!

Broncos and Socks

2008-01-03T17:29:00.001-07:00

Deb and I went to the final Broncos game of the season last Sunday. We had our usual treeline seats.

Our QB played pathetically at the beginning - no surprise. Ugh! He drives me nuts. Run forward with the ball, Jay. Don't try to throw the ball if no one is open. You can run with it. Ugh! It was a cold and super windy day. Thank goodness the stadium blocked the wind from us. But then the temperature dropped and brilliant me, I wore thin socks with my sneakers. I don't have warm fuzzy boots yet. Don't ask why. So my tootsies were getting very cold, in fact two were frozen. With only 6 minutes left in the game and ahead of the Vikings by 16 points, I told Deb we had to leave. My toes were done. We ended up going to the Broncos store on the bottom level because I had to see if they had warm, thick socks. And yes, they did! Of course I grabbed the imperfect pair and I didn't realize it until I got home. The word Broncos is in the wrong color on one side of the socks. Awesome. I insisted on putting on the socks before we left the stadium. As I was doing that Deb was watching the game on one of the TV's and noticed that the score was now 11-19. Huh??? There was still 4 minutes left. We are not a cheating/come from behind/stay in the lead team like these guys, so we knew we could still lose. I said lets just walk into section 100 (field level) to watch the rest of the game. Then we casually walked over to some empty seats, end zone view, and sat there to watch the Broncos beat the Vikings in OT. Woohoo!

From all this excitement of attending the Broncos games, we decided to put our names in for season tickets. There are only 24,000 people in front of us, an approximate 12-14 year waiting list. Cool. Does anyone have connections???

Because I know you all are so interested, here is a picture of my imperfect sock. The picture on the left is what it is supposed to look like (and that doesn't even look that great) and the picture on the right is what it actually looks like.

I Couldn't Resist!

2008-01-03T17:18:00.001-07:00

http://www.tmz.com/tmz_main_video?titleid=1364230859

Christmas Day was Great!!!

2007-12-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

We went to Debbie's house for Christmas. Here we are trying to get out of our neighborhood. It was worse at Debbie's, but that is because she lives on the EASTSIDE of the I-25.

We ate...

unwrapped presents, ate, went sledding...

ate, watched a movie, made dinner, ate, watched another movie and then ate this wonderful dessert! It was an eggnog creme pie with rum! YUM!

This was definitely the highlight of the day. Sorry that you have to turn your head to watch it. After all the eating and a few eggnog's, it was very funny. I swear!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

2007-12-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I received the best present ever, a white Christmas.

Where is Santa?

2007-12-24T21:32:00.001-07:00

Has Santa stopped by your house yet? Find out: http://www.noradsanta.org/

Merry Christmas Eve!

2007-12-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

Yikes! Sorry for the delay in blogging! Guess not much has been happening. I did slip down the stairs and fell right on my bum on the hardwood floors. That was fairly exciting.

Any who, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE! My sister came over today and we watched the Broncos get killed by the Chargers. It is so painful to watch a bad football game. Get rid of Cutler!!!! My gosh, look at that haircut! Can he even see anything??? Bring back Jake!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

2007-12-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

It's snowing and it's beautiful!

Here's Dan shoveling our driveway for the first time. So many firsts this year - first house, first cyclocross race, first shoveling!

Just like the Pilgrims

2007-11-25T18:09:00.000-07:00

Actually not really. We hosted our first Thanksgiving in our first house. It was very exciting. Family and friends joined us and pitched in with food and entertainment.

Dan was the man and made the turkey and a few sides. I handled the table setting and drinks. After stuffing ourselves, we played games, watched football and danced. Yes, we had dancing, hence the entertainment part. By the time the last friend left, we were pooped. We were in bed and fast asleep by 9:00 pm.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T09:16:00.001-07:00

We hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday!

Walk Tall And Carry A Big Stick

2007-11-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

Dan's dad, Fred, came out for a visit. Unfortunately I was in Philly for most of his visit but I was able to go on a few hikes with him and Dan. The really cool thing about Fred's visit was all the hiking he did thanks to the knee surgery he had on both of his knees this past summer. He was a hiking machine.

Here we are in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was windy and cold and I was so not dressed properly. But it was great to be out in the fresh air and hang with the family.

Many of the lakes we walked around were partly frozen.

Here's Dan standing on a frozen section. Despite the fact he was a half-inch from the shore and it was all of about a foot deep, it still made me nervous that he might crash through. Like I said, it was cold out and hiking in wet, cold shoes is one step away from pneumonia.

On our way out of the park we saw a long line of cars parked on the side of the road. This normally means there is wildlife in the area. So I yelled at Dan to pull the car over to check it out. This is what we saw.

Lots of elk. There were many more on either side of the frame. It was amazing! They just looked at all of us gawking at them wondering what was the big deal. Here are some close-ups.

I was craving some cookies one night so Fred suggested I make them. I thought great idea, how fun! So here I am making the cookies. If you look real closely, you will see really what I am making. It rhymes with egg nog and Jack Daniels.

Crop Circles????

2007-11-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

View from the plane on my way to Philly.

Beckys in the City

2007-11-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting..... I went to Philly, over a week ago, to visit my friend Becky. We hadn't seen each other in over 5 years and it had been 11 years since I lived in Philly. We spent two days whooping it up in NYC - shopping in SoHo and on the infamous streets of Madison and 5th Avenue (this is one of my new favorite places to shop), and eating in the meat packing district (that doesn't sound too good, but it was great!). Here I am in front of two of my favorite stores.

FAO Schwarz was pretty spectacular. I could have spent all day there and we don't even have kids! The FAO Schwarz man who greets everyone. Becky in front of a life-size pony stuffed animal.

View from our hotel - UN building on one side and the Empire State building on the other.

Some spectacular high rises and apartments.

The rest of the time was spent visiting with Becky's family and reliving our "wild days" on the Main Line.

Chicago O'Hare airport had this really cool touch-screen web TV screen. I checked out the weather in Denver.

My Favorite Holiday

2007-11-04T07:01:00.000-07:00

Today Daylight Savings ended. Yeah! We get to fall back one hour which means an extra hour of sleep. Double yeah! Unfortunately not eveyone gets to celebrate this holiday. Sorry.

Weak!

2007-10-31T18:15:00.000-06:00

So my sister killed it with the pumpkin carving this year. We totally went the other way. We bought blinking eyes and taped them to the pumpkins. WEAK!!!! Next year, we are really going to do it right.

Happy Halloween!!!!

2007-10-31T08:27:00.000-06:00

BOO!

pumpkin carved, photo taken and submitted by deborah e.

Too Bad, So Sad

2007-10-29T20:33:00.000-06:00

The Rockies lost in four. We got swept. It would have been nice to at least win one game. Guess they lost their momentum. Hope it doesn't take 80 years for them to make another World Series appearance. Maybe the Broncos can do better tonight.

Corn & Pumpkins

2007-10-28T08:39:00.000-06:00

My sister Debbie and I went to the Chatfield Corn Maze Saturday afternoon.

We went last year and it took us close to two hours to get through it. This year - 19 minutes! Last year the corn was alive and tall and we went at dusk. This year the corn was dead and short and we went when it was light out. But still, only 19 minutes????

It was fun nonetheless.

Debbie got hungry during our trek. Thank goodness we were in a corn maze!

Afterwards we went to the pumpkin patch. The pumpkins were actually grown there, not shipped in. It's the real deal out here.

We were supposed to carve the pumpkins later that night but we got distracted on the way home and went furniture shopping instead. And then we watched the Rockies lose - again!

Not the Golden Arches

2007-10-27T09:34:00.000-06:00

Went on another hike with Bethie on Thursday. We went to Royal Arch in Chautauqua Park. Chautauqua Park is my favorite spot in Boulder, so if you ever come out to visit us, be prepared to hike here. I couldn't believe Beth had never hiked Royal Arch, she's lived here forever. I've hiked this trail four times now in 1.5 years. Just an interesting fact. Hike was good, nothing interesting until we stumbled upon this.

Beth said it was from a bear. I thought cool, my first bear-like sighting! Luckily Beth brought Pepper Power. But then I found it was expired. What was that going to do, tickle the bear???? Beth seems to like her expired products because she also ate a year old Luna bar that gave her problems. Poor Bethie. The hike was fun and we went up at a pretty good speed, for me at least. One thing I did notice was the number of people on the trial in the middle of the afternoon. I asked Beth if people worked around here (because she lives in Boulder) and she said,"No, this is Boulder." Hmmm. Cool. And yes, I work, but just part-time which is why I was able to hike in the middle of the afternoon. Here are some lovely pictures from our hike.

Beth nervously standing on top of a rock in front of the arch. I think I made Beth nervous climbing on the rocks with my big Nalgene bottle getting in the way. I need to find a cool water bottle holder/pack like she has.

The Royal Arch.

Fire Update

2007-10-27T09:09:00.000-06:00

All is well on all family home fronts. Yeah!!! Fred's house survived, Jenny finally was able to shower yesterday (double yeah), cousin Scott's property was safe (in 2003 he lost 80% of it to the Julian fires) and my parents never had to evacuate. As far as we know all of our friends in the OC are safe as well. And finally, Pepperdine made it through another fire. Whew, what a week.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who lost their homes. These pics were part of a mass email.

Ramona, CA Fire Picture

2007-10-23T18:57:00.000-06:00

This picture is looking out from the supermarket in Ramona towards Escondido. That is the back of someones house right before it went up. Photo taken and submitted by Jennifer B. Thanks Jenn!

OC Fire Pictures

2007-10-23T16:16:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from my parents place in Trabuco Canyon/Portola Hills, Orange County.

1. Map of Portola Hills & Palermo

2. Smoke from front door

3. Beginning Smoke from Palermo Fence

4. Heavy Smoke Behind Ridge

5. Less Smoke

6. Fire Gone

7. Small Fire

8. Palermo With Henry

9. Palermo Smoke in Far Background

Fires in SoCal

2007-10-22T10:03:00.000-06:00

I can't stop watching and reading about the fires in SoCal because our families and friends are all being affected by it. On Sunday I was worried about Pepperdine, my Alma mater and where we got married.

I remember the fires in 1993 (Beth has some pics and a link) and it was crazy scary. I went to Santa Monica to hang out. No hanging out now.

Here are some pictures from my parents place in Trabuco Canyon, right next to Foothill Ranch (Orange County). They haven't evacuated yet, but I wish they would. The last picture is the most recent one.

Dan's family lives in the San Diego area. So far they haven't evacuated but his sister and nephews are in Ramona, very close to the fires. His Dad's house is in Ramona as well but we don't know the status of it because he's vacationing in Mexico right now. And his mom is sitting tight in San Marcos.

Here is a great link (thanks DS and GS) to a map of all the fires. Under the picture, in red, click on "Interactive Google Map."

It's hard to sit out here in CO seeing all this happening to our family. We also have many friends who are in the line of all these fires. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Broncos Country

2007-10-22T09:57:00.000-06:00

The Broncos finally won and finally played a good game against a good team. Broncos 31 - Steelers 28! Big Ben is about to get sacked, AGAIN! Sorry Geoff.

Maybe it was the two week layoff or the momentum of the Rockies. Whatever it was, it worked. Since my first experience at a Broncos game was pathetic, they were pathetic, I had no idea what the reaction would be when they won. The cheering never stopped, even as we made our way out of the stadium. It was exhilarating. It was Broncos Country! It was also very cold, in the 20's.

My first swim meet in 12.5 years!

2007-10-22T09:35:00.000-06:00

I did my first swim meet in 12.5 years yesterday morning. I'm part of the Broomfield Masters swim team. Our team is the Bee Gees and our suits are yellow with black polka dots. Lovely, uh? I choose to wear all black, it's much more slimming. Luckily my body wasn't hurting too bad after Saturday's "psychocross" event but I still decided to ease my way back into the sport with all 50's - 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast and 50 free. I even got to do 2 relays, they were coed. That was new. I felt like I was 8 years old at my first swim meet. When they blew the whistle at the start of your heat, does that mean you can get on the blocks? I just looked around to see what everyone was doing. And apparently I wasn't the only one with questions because the starter pretty much always had to say, get on the blocks. But yes, when the whistle blows, you are to get on the blocks. I placed well in all my events and my times were fine. I figured after a 12.5 year layoff all previous times are null and void and I can start all over. The best race was the 50 breast. I got to swim against a former Olympian, Susan Rapp. She kicked my butt but it was still cool. At age 40 she qualified for the 2008 Olympic Trials in the 100 breaststroke. Guess it's never to late to try.

Yesterday it was 81 degrees...

2007-10-21T14:55:00.000-06:00

guess what it was today.

Saturday Night

2007-10-20T22:28:00.001-06:00

After a long day at the races, we went to a Halloween party. Guess what we were.

Former big wheeler takes on cyclocross and...

2007-10-20T21:39:00.000-06:00

crashes. I did my first cyclocross race today. And yes, I did crash, pretty hard. Ankle is swollen and I have bruises and knots on my shins, legs and elbow. Overall I had a great time. What did I learn? Better get on my bike and practice! I knew I wasn't in the greatest shape but didn't realize how much until the start of the race. All the girls took off, I just started peddling. I felt like I should have had a bell on my bike and just wave to people or something because at my speed it would have been more appropriate. Not sure if everyone will get that. Let's just say Becky needs to work on her speed and endurance and bike handling skills. One of the best parts of the race, if not the best, was the cheering section from my team, Blue Sky Velo. They were out in full force with cow bells and water bottles for support. The race would have been a lot harder without them. Props to my Dan as well who was there for me all day and rode my bike back to the car because I had nothing left in me the minute I crossed the finish line.

Beth and me. I think Beth had at least a top 10 finish if not top 5. She's really, really fast!

She's so fast, her picture is blurry!

More race pics.

Jenna, a teammate, crossing the creek. Then we got to climb up a muddy hill. This is one of the best shots of the day. The creek was at my shins when I crossed it.

Brrrrr!

2007-10-16T15:14:00.000-06:00

It was a little cold this morning, had to break out the ice scraper.

This is major motivation to get our garage cleaned out so we can park our cars in there. Maybe I should invite bfisk1 over so we can organize and label stuff together.

BTW, this afternoon was shorts and t-shirt weather. I love Colorado!

Happy Boss Day!

2007-10-16T15:12:00.001-06:00

Happy Boss Day, Lara!

World Series Bound!!!

2007-10-16T15:02:00.000-06:00

The Rockies won in 4 straight against Arizona. Now if only the Broncos could get their act together.

GO ROCKIES!!!!

2007-10-14T14:44:00.000-06:00

Our baseball team made the playoffs and are now leading the final series before the World Series!!! They play again tonight at 8:37 pm ET. Interesting little fact about two of the players, they used to be backup quarterbacks in college to the Manning brothers.

Owie!!!

2007-10-11T19:42:00.000-06:00

I went on a hike today with an old college swimming friend, bfisk1. We decided to tackle Mt. Sanitas, a tame hike according to Beth but a moderately strenuous hike according to these people. Here we are at the summit. Notice my face is red and Beth's isn't. She cycles for a living, so she is in incredible shape. And btw, she also ran 18 blocks to the trailhead to meet me.

The real fun or should I say adventure began on the trail on the way down. That is if you want to call it a trail. Do you see an actual trail in this picture?

Yeah, neither did we but we went down this stuff anyways. We did hook up with a trail that was a bit slippery. (My right arm looks abnormally long.)

The funny part is that I was pretending to fall. I really fell about three steps after this. Thank goodness there was a cactus plant to my right that I grabbed to break my fall. (The brown stuff are the thorns, and some dirt.)

After trying to pick out all one hundred thorns (yes, I counted), we started down again. Then I heard a rock slide. I thought it might be a bear because they have been sited in these here parts over the last week. I picked up my pace and Beth had no idea why as she supposedly didn't hear the rock slide. Well, we finally made it down through the canyon to the main trail. It was a fun adventure and we plan to do a different hike next week. Can't wait to see what happens then! And in case you are wondering, I still have a few thorns embeded in my hand. Owie!!!

Happy Birthday, Larry!

2007-10-08T20:38:00.000-06:00

Love,
Bert

Pee Wee Football

2007-10-08T13:21:00.000-06:00

My sister Debbie and I went to the Broncos/Chargers game yesterday. This was my very first NFL game - yeah! Yes, it was very exciting to finally go to a game, but the game itself was awful. I think the Broncos Pee Wee league showed up to play because the Chargers destroyed the Broncos. Jay Cutler, our QB, is apparently color blind because he kept throwing the ball to the guys in the white jerseys instead of the blue ones; and our receivers legs weren't working because if the ball wasn't thrown to exactly where they were standing, they were not going after it. It was a total embarrassment. The worst home game since 1996.

On a few happier notes, the rain and wind came down at the start of the 3rd quarter - perfect football weather. 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter and after Cutler threw his millionth interception, the fans decided to leave. Once they left, I saw that the seats at one end of the stadium were colored to make up an image of a bronco - very cool!

We got to sit near the three amigos. Yes, they are in full gear with pads and all. I think the gal who is wrapped in the blanket is their designated driver, well we hoped she was.

And our seats were great - at the tree line level. In other words, if it was snowing on us, it would have been raining on the field. Here's a view of the field from our seats.

All in all, it was an awesome time and hopefully Debbie will take me again!

First Chilly Ride of the Year

2007-10-07T11:15:00.001-06:00

Brrrr! We went for a quick ride at Teller Lakes this morning and it was cold. It was a brisk 43 degrees with some gusty winds. We are back home now, turned on the heat and drank some hot chocolate. I think we still have some thin Cali blood in us.

Warm Sun, Cool Breeze

2007-09-30T15:08:00.001-06:00

Perfect weather for riding today. I jumped on my mountain bike and knew it was going to be a good ride. The sun was warm but the breeze helped cool things down. I love Fall! We live next to open space trails with really nice mountain views. This is the view I see when I ride (and run). And apparently the mountains received some snow yesterday.

Our neighborhood is on the right.

Happy Birthday Allison!!!!

2007-09-30T09:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Allison! We hope you have a great day!

Saturday

2007-09-30T09:11:00.000-06:00

After a long day of helping out at the Boulder CycloCross race

and cheering on our teammates "Go Blue Sky!!!",

we went to our neighbors to break in their newly landscaped backyard and drink some of Dan's homebrew. It was a little windy - check out the flames in the fire pit.

Winter Park Hike

2007-09-27T17:03:00.000-06:00

Mike, his daughter Morgan, his fiancee Ali and Ali's family were in Winter Park last weekend to celebrate Morgan's birthday and Ali's father's birthday. We went up on Saturday to meet everyone. We went on a nice hike around a lake in the mountains. The Aspens were on fire (not literally) just super golden and beautiful!

New Engaged Happy Couple Mike & Ali

Old Married Happy Couple Becky & Dan

Our first post

2007-09-23T13:15:00.000-06:00

After talking about it for-ever, our blog is finally up. Is this exciting or what?!?!?!?