SnoFest 2008

This weekend was SnoFest--where all of the military bases get off on Friday and Keystone hosts fun festivities during the weekend. The Allens (Ron works with Paul) and us stayed at the condo this weekend and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL weather. It's always hard to get motivated to ski, but once we get out there it is such a blast! Paul is my lifetime moguls teacher and it is starting to pay off. He is very patient:) I did talk him into hiking up to the outback bowls and we found some fresh powder, which I love. One of the festivities included cardboard races. Families/friends make cardboard bobsleds and race down a snow track. We just watched but my favorite box was a cardboard pirate ship.

The Allens have a little one-year-old, so being that they are incredibly in shape, they cross country skiied with Jarren on their back. I was impressed. Though we all come back a little bit sore, a good time was had by all.

Enjoying time with Paul's Parents

Paul's parents visited us this week on their way back to Minnesota from Arizona. We went up to the mountains for 2 days and really enjoyed putting our feet up and talking around the fire. Paul and I skiied a few hours and decided to take the "back way" to our condo via the service road from the outback area in Keystone. The ski patrol warned us of 5 miles of cross country skiing (and we only had our downhill skis), but it turned out to be a fun adventure. Yes, we definitely got our exercise, but we didn't have to ride all of the lifts then the bus back to our condo.

On our way back to Denver we decided to check out a scenic byway from Evergreen to Morrison. OH my is it ever curvy and mysterious at night. The small towns were quaint. There is so much Colorado we have not explored.

On Wednesday we went back to our favorite Brass Armadillo, the biggest antique store I have ever seen. We ate at a cool new restaurant on Colfax that shows movies while we eat. Another fun holiday was had by all during Mom and Dad Houges visit! We even got to hear Paul say everyday, "I am on vacation!"

5 Years of Happiness

We celebrated our 5 year anniversary last Friday. As always we have a blast with each other, but we were pretty pitiful last Friday. Paul had been working like a mad man on his inspection and he completed it last Friday. When we got home we fell asleep, then woke up in time to go out eating at Little India (yummy tikka missala). Then went to a Chinese Theatre where there was beautiful Chinese dancers. At intermission we had nodded off so many times we decided to go home. We cracked up at our pitiful tired selves. But we enjoyed hanging out and loved talking about our last 5 years...I fall more in love with him every year:)

Way to Go Paul!!

Paul has been preparing for his clinic inspection for over a year now and has been working like crazy. 12-14 hour days have been the norm lately. He was so concerned about it all and the rating he would get because the inspection is type A on steroids....but Paul's clinic got an excellent! Thank you Jesus!!! I am so proud of you, Paul.

Anniversary Week

Can you believe it has already been 5 years since that wonderful day at Glen Eyrie where we said our vows and had a blast with family and friends? Yes, Friday we will celebrate our 5 year anniversary! Did I mention how blessed I am to have Paul as my hubby?! Anyways, we are celebrating Anniversary week by reliving some of our honeymoon memories. Tonight I made fondue because of our Switzerland experience at the Derby Fondue Restaurant. We drank tea tonight and read our journal from our honeymoon. We laughed at the many memories we forgot already...for example...we were staying in a snow town in Switzerland where they actually bring in snow so the streets stay snowy. Paul dropped me off at a tiny little church (built in 1492) and tried to find a parking space with his little Euro car. Well, this little car couldn't make it up the hill so Paul ended up taking the car down a tobogan hill...wheeee! Thank goodness no one was tobaganing and thank goodness for fun memories!

Tea Parties

For Christmas from my Aunt Deloris, I received a book called Tea with Patsy Clairmont. It's such a fun book to read because this humorous lady who is probably in her 70s talks about her tea times with her friends. She talks about how special & feminine it is to have tea with a friend...you can cry and laugh and share your heart during this time. I am totally on the same page with Patsy. I LOVE having tea with my dear friends and friends that I am getting to know. On Saturday, my close friend and former roommate, Jackie and I met at "The Old Stone Church" in Castle Rock. It is an extremely old little church that is made into a restaurant. Even the old confessional area is a "romantic table for two". Though we didn't have tea cups, we still enjoyed laughing and laughing, making up a story that we were in Italy after a long hike. At the same time we were in tears talking about the neat things and sad situations in our lives. I felt like I was in Patsy Clairmont's book on Saturday. There is just something about sharing those special moments with dear friends.

New Years in Texas

Saturday we headed down to the wonderfully warm state of Texas to visit Brian, Leann & Landon and meet with a doc at Lackland Air Force Base. Considering it was freezing with a foot of snow in Denver, we acclimated well to the 70 degree weather. Our favorite activity of the weekend was the "African Safari" we went on. I have seen nothing like it! Not too far from New Braunfels, there is a Wilderness area that we drove through that has African wildlife like African antelope, zebras, ostriches, cape buffalo, a rhino, etc. and of course a Texas longhorn. ( I took some pics for Sam, Joni) The zebras were hilarious! One came up to Brian's window and tried to stick his mouth in and then before we knew it another one was trying to stick his mouth in on our side of the van. As we tried to roll up the window, his horselike mouth almost got stuck. Who knew zebras were so friendly?

We also enjoyed the town of Gruene, the oldest dance hall in Texas, home of George Strait (correct me Leann if I'm wrong) and a really cute town.

Though we started on a medical note with Landon being sick and Leann cutting herself pretty bad on a food processor blade, we had a blast. Brian and Leann were so gracious and spoiled us with breakfast and dinner everyday (except for visiting their Thai friends and having them make us dinner:)) Now real life starts...no more family visits for a while and no more 70 degree weather.