Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Keri's Trip of Firsts

Matt's cousin Keri who is 17 came from Illinois to spend the last week with us. After asking her a few times, "Have you ever..." and her answering no we dubbed this trip, "Keri's trip of firsts". Some of her first's included:

-Keri's first time setting up a tent (in a hurry with rain on the way!)
-Eating curry, cream cheese wontons, and salmon (not at the same time)
-Enjoying date night during babysitting swap with Matt and I! (minigolf and custard)
-Helping babysit 7 kids during bible study!
-Riding a chairlift (overlooking beautiful Steamboat Springs)
-Racing down an alpine slide (where she schooled me)
-Seeing the mountains (Rocky Mountain National Park, Steamboat Springs, and Boulder!)
-Flying alone
-Tubing down a river (and seeing a snake in the water!)
-Taking care of a baby (she was VERY helpful with Jackson)
-Sharing a bedroom with a baby! (sorry Keri!)
-Seeing elk
-Drinking Fresca (can you believe that? It's my favorite pop!)

Although we had a hard time prying her away from her cell phone and ipod we had a great time experiencing many of Keri's first's with her!

(if you are curious about the picture of Matt carrying the tent frame it is due to the screen tent being mutilated in the wind and then being finished off by Matt with a rubber mallet out of frustration... let's just say the screen tent didn't come home with us!)











Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A FULL house!

On Friday I got a phone call from a few of our good friends from college, saying that on their trip across America their truck broke down and they would be trapped in Denver for a few days. So... we opened up our house and had 4 extra houseguests! It was our friends Nate, Adam, Alex, and Paulie! Between the guestbed, couch, and floor they made due and we had a great time catching up with them. To top it off before they left on Sunday I cooked a big breakfast and then we had to leave for church. When I came home from church they had left me a spotless kitchen!

Today Matt's cousin Keri flys into town to stay with us for a week, and then we are going to have lunch with an old friend Brian who is in town!

It sure is nice being in such a great city that everyone seems to stop through!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

A Perfect "Weekend"

Sometimes Matt and I get tired of not having weekends off of work, but this week we had Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off, making for an unconventional "weekend". We packed up the Explorer and hit the road and had a PERFECT weekend.

First we drove to the "Ruedi Resevoir" 30 miles south of Glenwood Springs where we had a BEAUTIFUL campsite. It was nestled in the mountains, had a beautiful view of the lake, and had numerous open sites to choose from.
Our first night was a cold one, but the three of us snuggled up tight to keep warm, Jack loved getting to share a bed with us!



















Next, we went to Glenwood Springs for the day. We started off with great breakfast at a wonderful cafe.

Then we got shuttled 16 miles out of town for a beautiful bike ride back. We were told it would be "all downhill" and although that wasn't exactly true it was a great ride. Our entire ride was only feet away from the river, nestled in the canyon. Jack took at as an opportunity to catch a 16 mile snooze!














After our long bike ride we went for a soak in the Glenwood Hot Springs which is the largest pool we have ever been in. I got to enjoy the "soaking pool" which was a 105 degree natural hot spring pool! As always, Jackson loved the splashing.














We ended the night with Chinese food from a hole in the wall restaurant that turned out to be outstanding.

Then today after another night of close snuggling with Jack we headed for Aspen. After touring the town we hiked up to the "Maroon Bells" which was beautiful.






















Then we ended the day with a drive over the "Independence Pass" and some Chipotle. Hopefully we can enjoy camping on more of these unconventional weekends that are not overcrowded by tourists or traffic!