Date Night

Reid and I decided that it has been a while since we went out for "date night" so tonight we went to dinner at Charcoal Restaurant in Denver. Since the Broncos game had just ended, no one was at the restaurant and it made for a nice quiet, romantic dinner.

Today was a good football day for me. Both the Chiefs and Cowboys games were on TV but when I started watching neither game started off very well. I thought it was going to be another disappointing day but when I checked scores later both teams won!! Add that to our AMAZING Wildcat victory last night and this turned into a good football weekend.

Next weekend Josh is coming to town and we plan to go to Denver's Oktoberfest and hike Pikes Peak. I'm sure we'll have many more things to do but those are the only things on the list thus far.

Oh Snyderman

A little Friday humor for you to enjoy. When we went back to Manahttan a few weeks ago, we stayed with my friend Stephanie who has a cat. For those who know my dog Snyder, he is not so fond of cats and thinks they are great objects to chase. So her cat was down in the basement and we kept Snyder from seeing it so he wouldn't be so focused on trying to get it. Well one morning the cat didn't want to be in the basement anymore and he was quite noisy. Snyder never figured out that cat was down there, but it sure did catch his attention!

If you turn it up you can hear the cat meowing. He is too funny sometimes. Well the weekend is almost here and Reid and I are hoping to make it out for some more hiking on Sunday. But he has been able to do some contact document review work for a law firm and may need to work this weekend. But Josh will be in town next weekend and if the weather holds up we plan to go down to Pikes Peak. And hopefully the first Monday of October Reid will find out if he passed the bar. Fingers Crossed...

Happy Friday!!

Third Times A Charm

Nothing fun or new and exciting to post this time as it was just another weekend in Colorado for us! Saturday we went to our first Denver K-State Alumni watch party for the K-State v North Texas game. The only other time we had been to an Alumni watch party was in Seattle and the one in Dever was packed with people. So awesome to see all the support for the 'Cats.

Sunday we headed out for our third attempt to summit James Peak and it was a success! The weather was perfect and we made it all the way up without getting lost. Only problem we encountered this time was that the parking lot required you to pay so we did have to go out of our way to a grocery store for money but we didn't let minor setback deter our plans.

Reid and I working our way to the summit of James Peak

At the summit of James Peak

St Mary's Lake

St Mary's Glacier

It's getting closer to October 1st which is when Reid finds out if he passed the Colorado bar. We are both getting very anxious and are hoping for great news!

A WILDcat Weekend

Last weekend Reid and I made a trip back to Manhattan for some football! We love living so much closer and hope to be able to go to at least 1 football game a year now. But before we headed to Manhattan we made a stop in KC to visit family and friends. As always this part of the trip was rushed because there is never enough time to see and spend time with everyone you want to.

But the weekend finally arrived and we got to Manhattan Saturday morning with big smiles on our faces. The last time we were here for a football game was when Reid was in college...way to long!! We chose to go to the Miami game because we thought the weather would be perfect and boy was it. Highs around 80 and not a cloud in the sky, we could not have gotten any luckier.

Reid and I at our first K-State game in Manhattan since college

Tailgating with good friends

My best friend's kid Grayson attended his first K-State game decked out in the onsie jersey I had made for him

During our tailgate we watched a bit of College Gameday for the prediction of our game. As always everyone loves Collin Klein but can never give K-State the edge. But as Lee Corso would say: "Not so fast my friend," K-State pulled through with a HUGE victory that no one saw coming. Needless to say I think the Hurricanes hope they never have to go back to Kansas. Good 52-13 victory 'Cats!

Willie leading the way for the Harley riders

The Miami game also happened to be Harley Day which was just a cherry on top of everything else. What a great weekend with good friends, perfect weather and some Wildcat football! Can't wait for the rest of the season...

The Ups and Downs of Labor Day Weekend 2012

Well we survived our first major crisis as a married couple. Here is how the story unfolds...

For Labor Day Weekend we wanted to take advantage of the extra day off and go hiking a little further into Colorado. Our choice was near Salida, CO to attempt to take on four 14ers. Our first stop was Challenger and Kit Carson via Willow Lake. We were going to miss the first K-State game of the season so we decided to show our support at our campsite!

Showing our support for K-State at our campsite

Willow Lake at sunrise

We camped Saturday night and set out for the summit of Challenger and Kit Carson early Sunday morning. This was a beautiful climb and my most challenging yet, but I was at trooper and made it to both summits!! At the top of Kit Carson, we ended up meeting a Gonzaga Law School alumna who nows lives in Colorado. Talk about a small world!!

Tara at the summit of Challenger

Reid at the summit of Kit Carson

After our summits, we headed back down to camp, rested our feet and packed up to head to our next destination: Shavano and Tebageauche. But here is where the crisis begins...the car is packed, we hop in and THE CAR DOESN'T START!! We instantly start freaking out because we are at a trailhead which can only be accessed by a 4x4 vehicle and we are 60 miles from the nearest town with amenities. Our first plan of action was to find someone to give us a jump. We ended up finding someone but as our luck would have it the jump didn't work. So freak out number two begins!! We call a few tow companies and the only one who would have access to get to us charged $250 an hour from the time they left to the time they returned...oh yeah and their shop was an hour away. So we ultimately decide we need to find a way in to town, hopefully rent a car, buy a new battery and take it to our car to replace. Now how do we follow this plan through...enter the Gonzaga alum! Thank goodness for him and his son because they graciously drove Reid and I (oh and Snyder) to the nearest town where we stayed in a motel and hoped that the rest of our plan would pan out the next morning.

We awoke the next morning, refreshed and feeling that luck was on our side. And boy was it ever! 5 businesses down from our hotel was a auto shop that rented Jeeps for the day. We walked down there and got a Jeep, no problem. Even smaller world the owner was born in Olathe and grew up in Kansas!! He even had no problem with us bringing Snyder along for the ride. So long story short, we got our Jeep, went to Wal-Mart and purchased a battery, drove back to our car and PROBLEM SOLVED. She started right up and we were on our way. So my post will send a big shout out to Denver attorney Kozma, Super 8 Motel (Salida, CO) and Anderson Motors (Salida, CO). Now back to our plan of climbing Shavano and Tebageauche. After a quick stop for a milkshake we were off to tackle two more 14ers.

Mount Shavano

We did the hard part and made it to the boulder field at the base of the summit push and made the ultimate decision to turn back due to weather. Sure the picture looks like the weather couldn't be any more perfect, but we were facing some strong winds and looming rain clouds behind us. Don't worry Shavano and Tebageauche, we will be back.

Benson's Tavern in Salida, CO

After our hike we made our stop for burgers and beer at Benson's in Salida. Even though the weekend had its stressful moments, it was one of the best weekends I have had! Needless to say, it will definetly be one for the story books...

”And the Home of the...CHIEFS!!”

This past weekend I went to the Chiefs v Seahawks game in Kansas City where I watched my elementary school friend sing the national anthem. They did awesome!! I also got to spend some time with my two good friends from college at the game. Even though the Chiefs didn't do so great, it was nice to hang out with my friends.

My friend Stephanie (who is also a Broncos fan) drove from Topeka to hang out with me

"Here come your Kansas City Chiefs"

While I was back in Kansas, Reid decided to mark off some more 14ers in his quest to climb all 55. To date he has done 11. Unfortunately he forgot the camera so no pics...

I have 6 1/2 days of work before I'm off to Kansas again for the K-State v Miami game. I love living so much closer :)

Here and There....

Looks like I have a little bit of catching up to do. Last weekend Reid and I went out on another hiking adventure. We attempted the James Peak hike again and made it one step further by making it to the right trailhead but this time took the wrong branch off trail. Good thing with Colorado is there is always a beautiful place to explore.

Our wrong turn landed us at Crater Lakes. We decided to hike above the lakes and found a campspot between to smaller lakes. Afer setting up camp we set out to do a bit more exploring around the area. We ended up at the top of Peak 1260 where we could see James Peak, the place we inteded on going from the get to. This time around I had my Nook on-hand so I wouldn't get too bored before bed time. Between that and the small stream running near our tent, I had a pretty good night's sleep for camping. Good thing because the next day I was leaving for Seattle for a few days.

Looking down at Crater Lakes

Family photo at our campsite

Twice a year myself and the other home-basers for my work head out to Seattle to work in the office. We always love our August because it is such a beautiful time to be in Seattle. On this trip, we explored a new port town and went on a ferry to Bainbridge Island. Even though it was a work trip, itsure is nice to be able to get away to one place I enjoy visiting.

View of downtown Bellevue, WA from my hotel room

Cute part of downtown Edmonds, WA (port city on the Puget Sound)

Our office always has time for a game of Whirly Ball

Seattle skyline on our ferry ride to Bainbridge Island

View of a new ferris wheel in downtown Seattle

This weekend Reid headed out to Aspen to do some technical climbing with a friend. That left Snyder and I am home to hang out. On his way out of town, Reid dropped us off at the dog park. Snyder and I stayed there for a bit then headed across the street to do some hiking on Green Mountain. It ended up being quite a long hike but we enjoyed some great views of Red Rocks and downtown Denver. We finished our hike only to have another 3-4 mile walk home. Let's just say Snyder and I are now enjoying some nice relaxation at home.

View of downtown from Green Mountain

Red Rocks from Green Mountain

Hiking with my pups

 The weather finally feels like fall is coming and this is my most favorite time of the year! Football, pumpkin flavored goodies, spice candles and trees changing colors...very much looking forward to it.