Jeeping

Chris and our good friend Chad took the jeep up into the mountains to get it dirty, and indeed they did.

Spring is in the air...

Springtime is off to a great start - we're finally moved into our new house and moved out of boxes! Sarah's parents were in town this weekend and helped with a few projects so that we could move the final boxes out of the kitchen. Aubri came to visit as well, and thoroughly enjoyed Denver - complete with a trip to the new American Girl store and an egg hunt in the park.

Project #1 - Dishwasher for Sarah

Before:

(You'll notice Flat Aubri made it into this photo - she came to us all the way from Missouri in an envelope! My niece Aubri sent her to us for vacation, so we had Flat Aubri help Chris install the dishwasher and sent Aubri the photos...)

First Snow in our New Home

Our humble abode.


This was Chris at about 6:30 am :)

Moving In - Let the Adventures of Home Ownership Begin...

Our new mattress was rolled up like a swiss cake roll, or well a 200 pound swiss cake roll. Chad and Michelle came up from Colorado Springs for moral support - and we put them to work. Thanks guys!


Jon and Kim were generous enough to let us borrow their truck, and we put them to work too, we love you guys!

Love this photo - thanks Jon for your help!

This is the photo of the boys realizing our washer and dryer don't fit in the nook for a washer and dryer. We ended up having to sell this very gently used, only 1-year old set on Craigs List, and purchase a new stacking, front-loader set. Let the adventures of home ownership begin!

House (Before) Photos

Great news - we found a house! It is in really great shape, and just needs some TLC ... and a large addition built onto the front :) Here are two photos from when the house was staged by the realtor, and before we moved in.

Bedroom (before) with brown painted trim:

Living Room (before) with brown painted trim:

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.