Bragging Rights

Okay so I know that I am partial, but I quite possibly have the cutest nephew in the world. My lovely sister and Craig make one good looking kiddo! Jamie sends me about a picture a day of Jax and I have been known to show anyone who will take a moment nearly every single picture I have of the little man. Here a few of my favorites that I have received in the last few weeks.

Love you, baby J!

Baby's first Halloween!

Proud big sister and Jax.Have you ever seen a happier baby?!

 Really cannot tell that Jax is their first grandchild, huh?!

Such a good momma!



Raking Leaves

Today was a lazy day around the house. We were going to head up to the mountains to see Dan's family, but decided to hang back due to the weather. It gave us an opportunity to do a few things around the house that we were lagging on like raking up the leaves. Which I don't think I have had to do in quite a long time!

Jane and Tom's Wedding

On Sunday, we went to the most elegant and beautiful wedding. Our friends Jane and Tom got married at the Greenbriar Inn in Boulder. The weather was perfect. Jane had told me that they had based their vows based upon writing love letters to one another and had not shared their writings until the ceremony. I feel so privledged to have been a part of their special day. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn! Oh and they had a magician at their wedding - how cool is that?! Even more awesome, the magician was Lamot from Shorty's!

Rock Creek Farms

Our friends Alex and Courtney took us to Rock Creek Farms to pick out pumpkins. We decided to take Jack because we wanted him to meet their black lab, Moose. The interaction between the two doggies was hilarious to watch. Moose is a very laid back, well behaved dog, and very large. And then here is Jack, small, full of energy, and maybe not so well behaved.

Here are a few pictures of Jack.

And Puppy Makes 3

Dan and I have been wanting to get a dog for a long time. I really wanted one last year when we lived in Boulder, but Dan wanted to wait until we could have a yard. No matter what I said, he wouldn't budge. So instead, we bought a house with a yard! In June we bought the house and we moved in the later half of July. Our first week in the house we doggy-sat for Lucy and Charlotte (Jonathan and Kathy's dogs). They were so much fun that we decided it was time to start looking for one of our own. Originally, we had wanted a chocolate lab. I am not sure why or how we knew that was the breed we wanted, but we did. We also knew what we would name our dog - Jack. Yes, this is the name of Jamie and Craig's son, but we have witness' that we selected this name first :)

Anyway, we began casually looking for dogs at the humane society and asking around about breeds. Dan's parents have a blue heeler and we have been so impressed with her behavior and personality. I mentioned to Wayne that I wanted a dog who was as disciplined as Trudy. He then said back to me, the behavior is in the breed, not the dog. And there became our quest to find an Australian Cattle Dog - Blue Heeler/Red Heeler.

We had gone on a hike with our friends Alex and Courtney who have a black lab mix who they got from a shelter who brought the dogs to PetCo. On our way home from the hike we had run some errands and passed by the 'Puppy Adoptions Today' sign at PetCo. Dan asked me if I wanted to go check it out. As we parked Dan asked me, 'you know the rules, right?' In which I replied, 'we are gonna get one!'

And less than an hour later, we brought Jack home :)

Grand Lake

My parents invited us for a day of boating up at Grand Lake today. It was such a beautiful day. Clear skies, warm weather, and lots of changing fall colors. We drove through Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park over Trail Ridge Road. When we arrived, the water was stunning. We had lunch on the boat and Dad and Dan took turns seeing how much water they could splash mom and I. It was a lot of fun and we are looking forward to next year when we can go again.

Auntie Jess Visits Texas

I decided to join mom and dad on a long weekend trip to Texas to visit Jamie and Craig. It was so much fun! Riley and Connor were there and we always have fun with those two.

Thursday we got in late, but Jamie took us to dinner at On the Border - one of our family favorites. Jax even woke up for the occasion.

Friday we had a low key morning and then went to a ladies lunch and shoe shopping. Jax came along too. He is just too cute not to drop everything and focus on him. I couldn't believe it, but shopping doesn't even compare when I can just hold him and talk to him.

Jamie thinks it is really funny to take a picture before cleaning up Jax or the person who he chooses to throw up on. Which on this trip was usually me. What a cutie!

Friday night,  I had a tent/movie date with Riley and Connor. Although I thought we would build our fort with blankets, they would have nothing of it. We used premade tents and watched Oliver and Company.

Saturday it was all about the kiddos. We all went to Riley's Groovy Girls soccer game. Boy was it hot. Luckily the games are kept pretty short because of the heat. Then we headed over to Connor's first football game of the season.  Texas  doesn't kid around with football even when the kids are in second grade. Full pads, names on their jerseys, cheerleaders, music, cameras, and a scoreboard!  Connor did really well and because it was later in the evening, it had even cooled down a bit...maybe like 85.

 Look at her go! I think she scored 6 goals...in the first quarter!

 Intermission photo shoot in the air conditioning before Connor's game.

 Number 14, just like his Dad.

 Happy baby ready to go home and try rice cereal for the first time!

We think he liked it.

The rest of the weekend went too fast and Monday morning came too soon. Jamie took us the airport and we came home already missing everyone. Looking forward to their visit in a few months!

GABF 2010

Last year we started going to the Great American Beer Festival with some friends. We continued the tradition this year. We met Matt and Hillary at Matt's house and headed to get in line. Luckily, Brie and Scott were already in line- we we angered a lot of people and snuck in line with them. With our pretzel necklaces in tow (made courtesy of Jess and Dan), we were welcomed with bag pipes into the Convention center.

Matt, Jon, Scott and Dan

Jess, Hillary, and Bri

Group shot...still early enough in the night

Low on the pretzel count...

Once again, it was a great night! I tried some interesting beers, jalapeno blonde and key lime pie. We finished the night with a sing a long cab ride and a series of YouTube videos and rock band sing alongs. The next morning we ate a great hangover breakfast at Hot Cakes. Mmmm...I had crispy french toast. What a great way to start the weekend!

Happy Apple Farms

Over Labor Day weekend, Dan and I were iching to do something different. We had heard about an orchard in Penrose, CO near Colorado Springs. We looked it up and decided to give it a try. With Starbucks in hand and Denver Post (I read to Dan while we drives) we set south.

Although it was a hot day, we had a really nice time picking blackberries, raspberries and apples.

The raspberries were slim pickings, but we found some!

I beat Dan...by a lot.

Brainard Lake

For a few months now, we have been trying to plan a camping trip with Jonathan and Kathy. We had plans to go to Moab in April, but the weather deterred us. Then we had another one planned in August and that got pushed back to Labor Day weekend. After going back and forth where to camp, we decided late Friday night before to just make a day trip up to Brainard Lake. Dan and I had snowshoed up there in March but it was so much different in the summer. It was beautiful. Some leaves were changing colors and the weather was perfect. We had a picnic by the lake and Jonathan had a yoga competition.

We then headed a little hike around Long Lake. It was a very easy, flat hike but not crowed and great views. We talked about cooking, life and somehow the subject of Zombie Apocalypse came up in conversation between Jonathan and Dan. Strange boys. We finished the night off by eating at Daphines (Kathy's favorite) and going to the pet store for their new cat, Oliver the Orphan :-)

Adventure Golf

Since we moved, we now have a great mini golfing place just down the street. On Tuesday after dinner, I talked Dan into a friendly competition. Although I did get a hole in one, I still lost by one stroke. We ended the night with a trip to Cold Stone. I had raspberry sherbert with coconut, almonds and chocolate slivers..mmmm!



Jax and Jamie Visit Colorado

Jamie decided to bring Jax on his first plane ride to Colorado! Needless to say we were so excited to have them all to ourselves.

Jax looks so grown up!

On Thursday, Dad picked them up from the airport and they took mom to lunch. On their way to the house they came to my work and I got to see them for just a few minutes. Boy, he has changed a lot in just a few weeks. Such a precious, happy baby.

On Friday, we were all so excited to get together. Everyone came over to mom and dads, including Jonathan and Kathy. We fought over who got to hold Jax and had a battle of iPhone vs. Android. It was so wonderful to be all together.



Jax looking so happy to be with his aunt and uncle.

Our intense YouTube, iPhone and Android session.

On Saturday morning, everyone came over to our house for breakfast because this was the first time Jamie had seen it. Everyone was late arriving, but made it up to me with extra time with Jax.



We spent the rest of the day in Estes Park. Seven adults, one baby and a stroller. It was so much fun. Walk ten feet, check on the baby.Walk 20 feet, someone picks up the baby. Stop for 15 minutes so Jax can eat, stuff ourselves with carmel corn and a picnic lunch packed by mom. It was a really nice day and not too hot for the baby.

Take that Uncle Jonny!

Look at that face. So sad to be hanging with Grandpa and GG.

After a long day, we came back to the house for Santiago's (Jamie's favorite) and the Broncos game. And of course we had to play dress up with Jax.

Sunday Jamie and I woke up with Jax and took him to the golf course for Grandpa's HEF golf tournament. It was great to show him off to everyone. Aunt Tina even got to hold him! My arms were hurting after carrying him...READ - not ready for mommyhood.

Then Jax had some quality Auntie Jess and GG time while mom packed. And then it was to the airport :-( Untill next time...we were so lucky to have a visit with Jamie and Jax and can't wait til we see them again!

12, 14, 24...Our first backpacking trip of the summer!

This past weekend we ventured out for our first backpacking trip...12 miles, 2 14ers, all in 24 hours. Our good friends Jon and Erin came too. On Saturday we headed just outside of Keystone to Chihuahua Gulch. Dan planned the whole thing and it went great!

We hiked about 2.5 miles from the trailhead to this awesome camp site where we were all alone. Bearing some technical gear issues (our water filter and stove were on the fritz), we made dinner and scoped out the Perseid meteor show.

The next morning we left camp early on the trail towards Grays Peak. The trail was great because we didn't see anyone else, but it was definitely the road less traveled. Although long and difficult, it was completely worth the trek up to the top!

We made it! Summit of Gray's Peak

After a quick snack and a short rest, it was off to Torrey's Peak. Second summit of the day!

Even though the weather was fantastic, we decided that it was time to turn around and pack up camp. The route down was another trail not commonly traveled, but we made it! Twelve miles, two 14ers,  and back at the car in 24 hours...just in time for qdoba burritos.