The Latest

Well, it was a weekend filled with lots of happenings. We spent yet another Saturday house hunting with our realtor. We found out that someone placed a bid Thursday on the house (pic in previous blog) that we really loved last week. Bummed out, we decided to really hit the hunt hard. This time, however, we didn't see anything that jumped out at us like last week. Houses out here are so expensive and much of what we are looking for is just out of our price range. Thus, we have decided to expand our search to townhomes to help with our problem with having to stay in the city. Just tonight, we found out about a great townhome in Park Hill, a neighborhood just north of the captial, that seems worth checking out. Keep your fingers crossed and we'll keep you posted! :)

In other news, Chris and I have ordered the Billy Blanks Tae Bo Bootcamp series to work ourselves back into shape for the summer! If Billy can't do it, then I don't know who can! All I can say is, watch out for my round about kick and Chris's flying fists!

Have a great start to the week!

Oh, The Things Kids Say!

After jumping around my room and raising my voice in excitement as I talked about the nervous system today with my students, an interesting thing happened. When I asked, "Are there any questions?" one student rose his hand and said, "Are you going to have children some day?"
"Well, yeah, someday."
"Um, Mrs. Daniel. I feel really sorry for you."
I proceeded to ask, "Why?"
"Well, you always have a lot of energy and from what you have told us, so does your husband."
"Okay?..." I said not understanding where he was going.
"You see, it's just that, well, I feel bad for you because if your children are anything like you, you are DEFINITELY going to have your work cut out for you!"

Ahh, the things kids will say....

The question is, is this student right?

Leading the House Hunt

With the house hunt officially on, Chris and I spent the ENTIRE day yesterday with our realtor, Doug. Doug is the father of my teammate, Lee-Ann and so wonderful to work with. We visited several neighborhoods and were delighted to find that all but one of the homes we looked at were vacant. That means our short time frame to move shouldn't be a problem at all. After spending the morning in a neighborhood just north of City Park (think Central Park but smaller and in Denver) we found what is now in the #1 running for our first home! It is great! It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, hardwood floors, has been remodeled a little bit but still has things that we can do to it, and is a turn of the century home. It is quite cute. :) I have put the house picture and real estate listing below. The picture was taken before any of the remodeling was done and there is no longer that nasty fence in the front yard. Anyway, we will keep you all posted on what happens with the search and where we will soon be living!




Description:
BURGLAR ALARM, BUYERS WARRANTY, CABLE INSTALLED, NO COVENANTS, COVERED PATIO, FENCE(D), GARDEN AREA, GARAGE DOOR OPENER, NEWER PAINT, PARKING ADDITIONAL OFF STREET, PET FREE, PATIO, QUICK POSSESSION, REFRIGERATOR, REMODELED, SMOKE ALARM, SUN ROOM, UPDATED, WINDOW COVERINGS
Public Remarks:
GORGEOUS & STRONG TURN OF CENTURY BUNGALOW LARGE LOT + TWO CAR GARAGE HOME! WITH NEW ROOF AND EXTRA FULL BATH 1 NON CONFORMING BED IN LARGE BASEMENT HARDWOODS,COUNTRY KITCH CABINETS,GR8T BLOCK COME SEE WHAT VALUE IS HIDDEN IN CITY PARK!

Half Pipe Here I Come!

Gotta love being a teacher and the long weekends that come along with it...

Chris and I have had the greatest weekend! At the lovely gesture of some of our friends, we were able to stay up in the mountains for the weekend and get 2 solid days on the slopes in. Day 1 was at Keystone and Day 2 was at Vail. Due to a cold snap in the city, most of the city slickers stayed bundled up in their homes and left the slopes WIDE open! It was amazing! Chris was so patient with me as I worked on my snowboarding techniques. I still can't keep up with him all the time, but soon enough...soon enough...:)

On a funny note, I have elected to NOT wear a hat anymore when I snowboard. Why? You ask? Let's just say when I heard a father tell his daugher, "Just let this 'sir' pass you" referring to MOI, that I decided that maybe I needed to let my ponytail show.

In other news, we got quite the kick in the pants this past week when we recieved a letter reminding us that our lease will be up on the 30th of April. It's hard to believe we have already been here nearly a year. That means the house hunt has officially been kicked into high gear! Keep your fingers crossed that we find our first home with ease and good spirits.

"High-light" of my ski season

You guys, I did something today that I am amazed and pretty proud of. I skied the highest ski lift in all of North America! It's peak is located at 12,840 ft above sea level. This Heaven scratching lift is called the Imperial Express SuperChair and is atop Peak 8 at Breckenridge. It was at a minimum -20 degrees at the top of this slope today, as the wind was in high gear. My ski buddy Matt and I skied all over the black-diamonds on this lift and ski lift #6. It was really cold but the sun was shining and the sky was crystal clear. Check out this web-link below for a map of Breckenridge and the location of the Imperial Express SuperChair. You may have to copy and paste this link until my blog editor fixes the link or I can add the picture. Love you all and please leave comments. Meg and I love it and really appreciate it. Love you all! Chris

http://www.onthesnow.com/ski/trailmap_photos/77.jpg

Survivin'

Geez. Where does the time go?

Just a quick note to let you know we are still alive and kickin'. It's the middle of the night...yet another night of sleeplessness and filling the time by grading papers. Cue sarcasm: I am thrilled by how well my students copied and pasted the answers to their essays from the Internet. Did I REALLY have to write in the directions NOT to do that after I had already had a HUGE discussion about plagiarism? Have they not heard of GOOGLE and my ability to type sentences in?!?!???!?!??! Argh. At least I know what I need to fix for next time.

We have been back in the mountains utilizing our passes again. Two weeks ago we hit up Breckenridge...literally the COLDEST day of our life! We had a great time though and both overcame some serious slopes! :) Last weekend we headed back to Keystone where I tried out my new snowboard...yes, you read that right! Thanks to a mid-season sale and a pretty great husband, I got set up with a great new snowboard and all the gear. I love it! My students think I am so cool.

Last weekend, we also went to Comedy Works, a local, yet very popular, comedy club here in Denver. Chris and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. The three men who performed were phenomenal!! One of the comics talked particularly about the misconception that the rest of the country has about Colorado: It's cold, we live in igloos, ski to the store and use our muklucks to get around when we don't have skis. Fit any of your stereotypes? The crowd was hysterical...the average temp this winter has been in the high 50's! Snow is only in the mountain, folks! We went to the show with a group of my work buddies and then hit up Mongolian BBQ for some serious grilling afterwards. It was a great day!

Chris has been doing fabulously. The positive compliments have started to roll in at work for him as of late. It has been so great to see him come home so pumped up and feeling good about the job he is doing. He is such a hard worker!!

This weekend I am throwing a bachelorette party for my friend Lee-Ann. This is the first time that a lot of my "Denver friends" have been over to our place. I haven't been a hostess in a long time! Yikes! Chris and I cleaned up this past weekend and got most everything ready...no, he won't be in attendance, but was kind enough to help me prep. :) I am really looking forward to having a girls night out. Should be fun!!

Alright...back to grading...

pics to come

Caffeine's A-Pumpin'

I'm just going to come right out with it. This week stinks. I haven't felt this overwhelmed in a long while. Argh. Just to give you an idea of what I've got on my plate for the next few days give or take a week...

1) Analyze bacterial samples from school with enrichment class (Wed/Thurs).

2) Run salivary amylase and starch digestion lab with 8th graders (Thurs/Fri).

3) Finish final proposal for literacy and inquiry-based science instruction grant. (Wed)

4) Update gradebook (YESTERDAY!)

5) Call any parents whose children are not above a C. (Wed)

6) Finalize grades for end of semester (Friday BY 3:15).

7) Prep for new enrichment class on "The Science of Sleep" starting Monday.

8) Have room and equipment ready for district technology coordinator to come and observe my classroom (Friday).

9) Read articles on race relations for equity training (Friday).

10) Prep for Parallel Curriculum guru and orginiator who will observe my classroom and train (ALL NEXT WEEK!!!)

11) Shower - hmmmm

12) Sleep - After my 20th year of teaching!

13) Eat - I needed to diet anyway.

14) Be a wife and friend to my amazing husband! - Always!


Is it almost time for spring break??? Please keep me in your prayers this week. More soon...

AFC Divisional Champs

The Almighty Broncos have made it to the AFC Championship Game. And thanks to the Pittsburgh Steelers for defeating the Indianapolis Colts, which brings the AFC Championship Game here to the great city of Denver. The game vs the New England Patriots was awesome. Last minute, Meg, one of my co-workers, Max, and I scored free tickets and were hosted by one of our subcontractors. We sat in some great seats! The crowd was deafening all through the game while we were on defense. It was so fun to a part of the "12th man" on the field with all of the other 75,000 people (+/- a few), mostly wearing orange and blue. Orange and blue never seem to look as glorious as when symbolizing the greatest football franchise ever. Denver capitalized on 5, count them 5, Patriot turn-overs and in the end were victorious over the two-time Superbowl Champions.

Champ Bailey had the play of the game when he intercepted a pass in the New England end zone and almost ran it back over 100 yards for a touchdown. We now look ahead to host the Steelers next Sunday, to see who will go to Superbowl XL (40). Denver must get a lot more from the offense this next game to beat this tough team. See you all in Detroit! GO BRONCOS!

It's official! I'm addicted!

...To the mountains that is!!!! After last week's jaunt to Keystone, I fiend all week long to get back to view, the smell, and the height of those purple majesties. Our ski pass for the season offers us admittance to 5 area mountains: Keystone, Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek, and Heavenly. This week we chose Vail.

AMAZING! (I'm sure you could tell, as amazing needed it's own line!)

Again, the drive was scenic and this time sun poured down on just about every angle of the mountainside. Our friends, Matt and Stacey, drove due to a ski rack and cross bars debacle we had on our Saturn the night before. (It always seems to take 3 hours longer than what the average installation says on the box. ) It was going to be a beautiful day and in the 50's too!

I decided that skiing in the mountains wouldn't be enough to satisfy my need for speed. So, on Friday, I stopped by one of our local ski/snowboard shops and rented myself a snowboard! Yes, preppy, nerdy, me! Where this absolute need for adventure has arisen from, I have no idea. I have never boarded before in my life and had no idea what I was doing. Thus, enters the $110 all-day group lesson. While I had to swallow a big gulp on that fee, I wanted to play it safe up on the slopes and learn the proper way to handle a board fully aware of my ultimate klutz capabilities. A quite unusual thing happened however. Our "group" had a rather odd number to it on Saturday: 2! For the price of a group lesson, I basically received an all-day PRIVATE lesson at VAIL! It was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. My instructor was amazing and made the learning process so much fun! Needless to say, I just might be a convert! I loved it!

While I was off taking my lesson, Chris, Matt and Stacey headed off to explore the rest of the mountain. All was well for the first part of the day - Chris even put his talents to a Black Diamond (most difficult) run and did remarkably well! After lunch, things didn't work out so well for Stacey though. During a spill on the mountain, she broke her knee! We all loaded up a bit early and headed back to Denver to get her to the doctor. Fortunately, there are lots of things that can be done to help her heal and get back on her feet.

That's about it for the weekend! Aside from Jack deciding that he is now a dog (see pic below), not much else is new. Have a great week!

Curious or Confused? You decide.

We're Baaaaack!

Hello there!

It has been far too long since our last post! I'm sure that you can all understand due to the holidays and all. Chris and I had a wonderful visit to Michigan. We were so fortunate to see so many of our friends and family. It truly made the holidays complete! While it was my second time back, it was Chris's first. Needless to say, we went all over the place! This year marked Chris's golden birthday...he turned 25 on the 25th...and since we were back with family and friends, it was one of his best birthdays ever! I welcomed him with open arms into the new age brackets that are on all the forms we fill out so often - no more 18-24! We're in the mid-20's now! He seemed to make the shift pretty gracefully and with the help of a few beers at The B.O.B. with friends, the shift was made that much easier. :) A good time was had by all!

Between visits here, there, and everywhere, we were plenty pooped when we returned back to Denver. Chris had to return to his job at MYC the morning after we got back. I stayed in bed and then moved to the couch. Tough job, but someone had to do it! We eased back into things here and were so excited to be able to play with our pets again! Our friends graciously took care of Jack and Layla and managed to make sure that our apartment stayed in tact too. I think that Jack even gained a few pounds in our absence!

New Year's Eve day was a blast! Chris and I, along with our friends Matt and Stacey went skiing at Keystone. It was the first time for Chris and I this year, so we WERE EXCITED!!!! We left our apartment at 6:30 a.m. and were off down I-70 for the hour and a half drive through the foothills, the Eisenhower Tunnel and then up Highway 6. I could hardly stand the anticipation of what it was going to be like to ski in the mountains for the first time in my life!

It was everything I had ever hoped it to be! We spent some time on some of the green trails and then even moved our way onto some blues (intermediate level). The craziest thing was how long it took to go down the trails! We skied all day and only covered 7 runs!! The day was filled with lots of smiles, laughs and of course, bloopers. There were a couple of really hilarious falls on all of our parts - a ski day wouldn't be complete without them! Up next: Vail this Saturday! I'm so glad we got those ski passes!!

Chris's job in Longmont has been quickly wrapping up. He has worked so hard and put in many weekend hours before our trip to Michigan to get things all tied up. With that job coming to a close, he gets a little bit a of a break from the long drive up north and will be doing estimating work at the Denver office - a mere 3 miles away! Yay for saving gas money!!! He especially likes working in the Denver office because the extra time in the morning leaves room for working out and sleeping in a little bit later.

School started back up for me on Monday. We were one of two, yes two, districts in the ENTIRE STATE that had school. Hey, at least the drive was easy Monday morning! :) The kids have been pretty quiet as it slowly sinks in that they are back and have to begin doing that thing called learning again. Go figure, learn? At school? Naaa! :) Gotta love the 8th grade! Needless to say, I am a bit groggy myself getting up at 5 a.m. I think I hit the snooz 4 times this morning alone. We are working pretty hard now on human anatomy and the kids still seem to be interested. Let's hope I can still keep them hooked!

The Rose Bowl is now deep into the first half. Isn't it funny that a bunch of roses can mean so much? Men are funny creatures.

Enjoy the pics from our ski trip below! More soon!


Skiing at Keystone! (Elevation 12,200 ft above sea level)

The views were incredible! (If you click on the pictures, they will enlarge on your screen for a better view!)






Stacey and I were actually sliding down the hill in this picture! It just happened to turn out like we were posing!!


My honey and I. :)


I guess that is what lack of oxygen can do! What a goof!


Swish! I was often mistaken for a pro up on the slopes.


After skiing for 6 hours, I was pooped and ready to go home.