Napa

Four our one year anniversary, Chris took me to California wine country! We stayed a a bed and breakfast in St. Helena, and enjoyed Sonoma Valley. Our favorite winery was Clos Du Val - for obvious reasons!

October Blizzard

The October blizzard came and went - leaving us with 2 feet of snow in the Denver area, and more than that in the foothills and mountains. It snowed beautiful big snowflakes for 2 days straight! The sun came out this weekend and all that remains are huge piles of snow along curbs and in parking lots :)


Shoveling off the Alero...

A 12 inch ruler...

20 inches on top of the Alero!

Driving to work on Wednesday.

Chris and our Supper Club friends made a snowman on Wednesday - the snow was still coming down!

View of a snowy downtown from Chris' office.

Jack-O-Launch

Chris and I went to the annual Jack-O-Launch in Aurora this weekend. Launching machines sent pumpkins flying up to 1150 feet across a field, competing against one another. It was crazy!

Here is the line up for the Jack-O-Launch: catapults and air pressure launching machines!

Participants had to entertain the crowd before their launch - most did skits in medieval attire - very humorous!
Our efforts to keep warm.

14 degrees October 10, 2009 - new Denver low temperature record, previous record was 25 degrees in 1905. Perfect day to go sit on metal bleachers and watch the annual Jack-O-Launch!

Denver Race for the Cure

Chris and I volunteered at Denver's Race for the Cure today, which fundraises for breast cancer awareness and education through the Susan G. Koman Foundation. Zeta Tau Alpha is a co-sponsor of the event because our national philanthropy is the Susan G. Koman Foundation. We worked at the back sign tables and helped participants fill out "In Memory of" or "In Celebration of" signs to pin to the backs of their shirts. It was emotional at times because many were participating in memory of moms, sisters, wives, and loved ones. Last year 64,000 participated, numbers for this year have not yet been announced. Seeing so many people come together for such an incredible cause really put life into perspective today. Also, having my husband there by my side helping out was so great. Oh how I love him so much!

We showed up to help at 5:30 am, it was sooo cold!

A sea of beautiful roses for a sea of beautiful women!




Zeta's from Fort Collins Kappa Alpha Chapter with ZTA Alumnae from across the country - represented in this photo Colorado State, Texas A&M and Drury Univeristy!


This was my favorite participant and back sign :)

Fabulous Weekend

We had a great weekend! Megan Blosser and John Hobbs (to be married November 28th) were in town this weekend for the Women of Faith Conference. John works for WOF and got us tickets, it was a great time with a wonderful friend. Chris played golf with Chad and Jeff - in lieu of attending the conference :) On Saturday night we went to our absolute favorite place in the world, the melting pot and celebrated some exciting news - Sarah's recent promotion! Sarah's new title is Marketing and Intake Coordinator and she is officially full time in the marketing department now. This is so exciting and we were so glad to have old friends here to join us to celebrate.

Sunday we went to the Rockies vs. STL Cardinals baseball game, compliments of the Gilstrap family. The fam bought us tickets for Chris' birthday and the seats were great! Thanks again so much for loving on us, we had a great time!

Wonderful Weekends

Last Sunday was a free day at the Museum of Nature and Science. This picture of us on the roof with the skyline in the background. The green space between us and downtown is City Park - beautiful!

This is a better view of City Park. City Park is right downtown Denver, about 10 blocks from my office.

This is Chris in the dinosaur exhibit.

This is a picture of downtown Denver. You can see Chris' really tall building that looks like a cash register. To see my building, look in front of his, and in front of the two identical redish buildings. My building is the short white building that is just barely taller than the trees. Or, you can just see my building here: http://www.eatingrecoverycenter.com

Perks of Wash Park

Wash Park - 5 blocks from our humble abode - is the best park in Denver!

Farmers market on south Pearl Street, not very far from us. We walk there after church on Sundays!

Duffyroll Cafe - the best cinnamon rolls in the world! We make ourselves walk there and back to justify the indulgence.

Lightrail station just 4 blocks from our apartment. Sarah thinks it is beautiful art, Chris thinks it is impractical.

Our church, 2 blocks from the apartment.

CO State Fair

We had a pretty eventful weekend and spent most of Saturday at the Colorado State Fair. It was a lot of fun - even with us passing up on the deep fried twinkies and oreos.

New Apartment!

Chris is in NY, so Sarah has lots of free time...

...resulting in a (very needed) update on the Gilstraps. We've had a fabulous summer full of family and friends visiting us, and we're officially moved into our new apartment. It's cozy and an awesome location - just blocks from a great park, from our church, and from a neat farmers market every Sunday - which is becoming our weekly post-church tradition. Our new Colorado friends joined us for the Denver Arthritis Walk 2009. We drove through Rocky Mountain National Park on a day off, and have spent a lot of fun nights with Denver and Colorado Springs friends. We did Vegas in a weekend. It's been a great few months and we have nothing but wonderful memories to cherish as a result.

Denver Arthritis Walk 2009

Vegas with SIFE Friends from College

Rocky Mountain National Park, Trailridge Road (the highest paved road in the US)

Sorry so long...

It's been a really, really long time since we've posted, and we're sincerely apologetic. Some highlights since our last post...

Sarah started her new job and is loving it!

Chris ran the Colfax 5k...

...and he also ran the Bolder Boulder 10k! (see photo below)

Sarah went back to Springfield for Drury graduation and her best friend Megan got engaged!

The Arthritis Walk was a huge success and Denver raised $70,000 for the Arthritis Foundation! Four friends walked with us and we had friends over after the walk for a BBQ. It was a lot of fun!

We are moving to a new apartment that is just blocks from Wash Park - the most beautiful park in Denver! We move June 30.

We're headed to Vegas for the weekend! Hopefully our next post will be sooner than later :)

Vail and the day they closed Denver.

We spent the weekend in Vail with our besties Chad and Michelle. It was so warm and sunny! We took the long way back to Denver and through the windy beautiful roads. One of our best weekends yet, for sure.


Today, they closed Denver. A blizzard hit and literally, everyone was let out of work at noon and rush hour happened from noon to 2pm. I was picking up Chris around that time so we experienced the mass exodus out of the city first hand. The snow is absolutely beautiful though and we enjoyed an afternoon together working from home!



Snow was mysteriously in the back of the jeep...hmmmm?