Fun Pics From The Weekend!

Kristen and I hanging out at Uptown Tavern while she and our friend Jonathan (Penni) were in town. It was a blast having them here!


Our first Denver Broncos game! They played the San Fransisco 49ers. It was a fantastic night and the Broncos won too!


Is this real life or a cartoon? I was fully expecting an anvil to drop on us or this tunnel to be nothing but a painting on the side of the mountain! :) (We made it through for those of you who were guessing how it all ended up.)


The Rockies versus the Cubs! Chris and Penni managed to catch the historic team in action on Friday afternoon. The Rockies ended up winning the series 2-1, despite their not-so-hot record.


Who's the # 1 fan? Take a guess!


Layla definitely had her fill of hiking and playing this weekend.

Hiking in the Rockies!

Chris here - Wow, what a view! While Kristen and Penni were in town this weekend, we decided their trip to Denver wouldn't be complete without a venture to the mountains. The four of us (and Layla) and our friends Matt, Stacey, and their dog Jake took to the mountains and hiked Guenella's Pass, a trail out west by Mt. Evans. We had to drive through a quaint little mountain town to get to our starting point at an elevation of 12,160 ft above sea level! The actual climb was only 600 ft over a few miles in length, but it was breath taking in more ways than one. We all had to stop every few hundred feet to take in the new view and a few gasps of air. We took the trail to a lake who's name escapes me and were in awe of the creation of it all. The stream in the picture was a small little stream filling up the entire lake. There were actually large pieces of ice on the sides of the stream. If you look closely at the picture of the lake, you can see Meg in her red hat and our two other friends at the far end. It really puts the lake's size into perspective, especially from looking down on it from higher up on the mountain. Later the weather began to turn, and it was time to start getting ready for the Broncos vs. 49'ers game, so we began our descent back to the cars. After the hiking was complete, we knew climbing the stairs at Invesco Field at Mile High would an easy task.

P.S. Thanks, Mom for the cherry bars. They were enjoyed to the fullest and all seemed to have disappeared. A little touch of home! Mmmmmm......

Rollin' in Red Rocks

Greetings from the Mile High City on yet, the end to another wonderful weekend. :)

With the summer quickly coming to an end, one of my teammates opened an invitation to attend a concert with her on Friday night with a group of her girlfriends. The concert was held at Red Rocks, an outdoor natural amphitheater with one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen in my life. Picture this: to the East, the city lights of Denver twinkling in the distance; to the West the sun setting behind the majestic Rockies. (Yeah, I thought it was pretty amazing too.) The headlining group was a band that I have really liked for a while called The Killers so I was really exicted to have been asked to go with Carrie and her crew. The show ended up being so much fun and the music was phenomenal! Even more so, it was so much fun have a "girls night out" and meet some new friends (all of whom were teachers). I know I have said this before, but I truly feel fortunate to have met so many genuine people out here since our move.

Saturday and Sunday brought errands, cleaning the house and relaxation! :) My prinipal opened the school for us workaholic teachers on staff (read: ALL of us!) this weekend, so Chris and I headed for Aurora (city where school is), shopped at teacher store, lamenated posters, cut lamenated posters, hung cut and lamenated posters, organized, cleaned classroom, and finally took a big breath as I shut the lights off because my room was finally finished! Yay! I will get some pictures this week of the school and my room and post them so you all can see it.

On a side note, I have to laugh at Chris and I. What do you get when you marry an engineer with a science teacher? Answer: A couple who sits on the couch together at night each with their laptops in front of them clicking away. Yes, we are oobernerds! :)

Have a fabulous start to the week! Kristen and Jonathan (Penni) are coming on Thursday and I see students for the first time on Friday! Big week!! Off to get some rest....Layla is providing an excellent model of how to do it. :)

The latest

Hello friends!

My brain is very tired and my fingers are moving slow. Our teacher trainings have gotten under full swing this week and I am simply...pooped. The sick thing about it is that I LOVE every second of it! Something seriously must be wrong with me! Because the school is opening for the first time, we have to learn everything from staff development stuff (normal for each year) to how to work the phones, copy machine, and check out books! It is kind of funny - everyone is a first year teacher at Sky Vista! A week and a half more to go of trainings and then the kids come! Yikes! Chris came to school tonight after he was done working and we set up my FIRST EVER science classroom!!! Soooooo fun! Did you ever have a giant DNA strand going up the entire wall of your science classroom????? :) It was so sweet of Chris to come and help - I never would have been able to get it all done without him.

In other news, Layla the puppy continues to do well in her little puppy world. We are currently working on sitting on the street corners before we cross the street. She is usually pretty good about it, but it always seems to be the occasions that there are tons of people sitting or standing outside when she doesn't want to sit. I'm sure you can imagine the scene as Chris or I continue to say, "Layla, sit." over and over and OVER again. It's almost as if she wants us to look as incompetant as possible at being her owner in front of an audience. It is actually quite comical!

I am really looking forward to having some visitors this fall. Next week, my sister and Chris's best friend are coming to visit! We have a lot of fun things planned so I am really excited! The Cubs will be in town, so we are going to TWO games and will also be attending our first Broncos game in between!!! Definitely a weekend catered around the boys, but the company is all that matters. My dad and youngest brother (3 years old) will be visiting in the middle of September for a week and Walker has already started to tell people how he is going to go visit his big sister in "Cololado"! ( and no, that is not a typo - Walker can't pronounce the r's yet.) Wrapping up September will be my mom for a long weekend. Woo hoo! I am REALLY excited to see so many of our friends and family!!

Alright, tomorrow is just a short few hours away and my eyes are getting very heavy. More soon...

Holy Huge Zucchini!

Yes, this is real. This has not been digitally enhanced or grown with any of baseball's steroids. I picked this out of the community garden in our building's courtyard. They are also growing a variety of peppers, eggplant, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and strawberries, to name a few. It looks like you have to be quick on the ripe strawberries or the garden critters will get them. I am going to look for a good "zuc on the grill" recipe for this sucker. It is way too big to be diced down and sauteed, and it would also be way to much work! I am going to keep a sharp eye on the couple of eggplants coming in. If they are even close to this size, I will invite you all over for some eggplant parmesan.

Meg's week of AP training went well, despite the elitest attitude that most of the men had in the class (she was 1 of 4 women). She rocked and held her own though. Monday she starts at school with all her meetings, staff training sessions and setting up her classroom. She and I will be helping to register students on Wednesday night and should be lots of fun. I am really excited for her year to begin!

Miss you all and take care.

100 mph

So I officially begin my first teaching job on Monday. I have never had so many emotions running through me in my entire life!

At our first staff meeting the other day we were asked to create a metaphor for ourselves. I likened myself to a 2005 Mitsubishi Spider Eclipse - driving 100 miles per hour, top down, wind through my hair and having no control over how fast I am driving. So what do I do? Smile, let the bugs hit my teeth and just keep on going!!! The thing is, I DO feel exactly like that. I have (as well as the rest of the staff) so much going on to get ready for the school year that I feel like I am on the wildest ride of my life. It is an incredible feeling.

This weekend, Chris and I are having an arts and crafts weekend. ( Yes, you did read that correctly!) I don't have very much of anything to decorate and fill my room with, so we're going to make stuff! Chris is so sweet and gets excited to help me with this kind of stuff. On the list of crafts:
1 - 3-D atom to hang from the ceiling for the chemistry unit
2 - various signs depicting the stages of the scientific process
3 - fun quotes that I found to inspire comfort, safety and learning in my classroom
4 - apparatus to hang my MSU flag (of course!)

Just some ideas...if you know of any good sales at any nationwide stores that sell artsy supplies, let me know!

I can't believe that my dream is coming true. When did I become a grown-up?

New Ride

Hello Everyone. I hope all is well in the world for you. I am excited to announce that I have purchased my first new vehicle. After reviewing the maintenance costs adding up on the 96 Dodge Dakota, Meg and I decided it was time to do some looking into a new truck. I test drove Toyotas, Chevey's, Jeep Wranglers, and looked in to many others and decided on a '05 Nissan Frontier SE Crew Cab 4x4 truck! She is a V-6, 6 speed manual, sprayed-in bed liner, and the power option. It has four doors which will nicely fit a child safety seat (assuming I still have this car in 10+ years, Ouch, Meg gave me a nice shot in kidney for that one.) One dealer was offering less than half of what Donna Dakota was worth for a trade in, so I decided to sell it outright. This means she will get her last really good cleaning with the "Daniel Touch". Young Grasshopper has learned well from his master and she is sure to shine like the sun when I am done detailing her inside and out. Well enjoy the pictures while I enjoy the head turning looks while I pass the jaw-droppers on the left hand side. Love you all and take care.
Chris

A Walk on the Wild Side

What a weekend! I seriously think that Chris and I packed just about as much as possible into a 3-night/2-day timespan. I guess we wouldn't be Daniels if we didn't! :)

By going to help out at Sky Vista so much of the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to get to know several of the staff members pretty well. So, Friday night, Chris and I hit the town with one of the 7th grade English teachers and her husband. They were a blast. They live out in the burbs and wanted to have a night on the town...hmmm...not hard AT ALL to say "no" to walking around this glorious city at night! The four of us strolled down the 16th Street Mall and settled at the Rock Bottom Brewery for dinner and microbrews. I had THE BEST pizza of my life - BBQ Chipotle Pizza - and dreamt about it for days (literally). After dinner, we walked some more down the mall and stopped at a place called Marlowe's to have a nightcap on the patio outside. The company and conversation were great! It was also so much fun becoming better acquainted with another couple!

On Saturday, Chris and I praised the thickness of our new curtains we purchased for our anniversary as we were able to sleep in for the first time in a while. It was fantastic! The sun was out and it was, for like the 1000th day in a row, HOT HOT HOT! A bunch of our friends were at the pool, so we gathered up the gear, lathered up and made our way to the pool deck. Half of the Post residents had the same idea as it was PACKED with people, floaties, and rafts. It was a great afternoon! We wrapped up the day by going out to a Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood called Las Margaritas. We went with our friend Matt (we call him our expensive friend because he likes to eat out all the time since his wife is gone studying at Georgetown for a month). All I have to say is, "Biggest burrito I have ever seen!" mmmmmmm After dinner, we rolled ourselves down to the movie theater and took in the new movie "The Wedding Crashers". I can't even begin to tell you all how funny it was. We laughed about it all the way home.

Sunday, we checked out a new church a few blocks away from our place. It is one of the most beautiful churches either of us have ever seen and all the people were genuinely nice...we need to give it a few more services to make sure it is the one for us though. Summertime is always such a difficult time to start attending a new place, as there are lots of guest speakers and "different" types of services. It is hard to get a real image of what the church is like during these times. We are definitely going to keep giving it a shot though! :) After church, we made our tri-weekly trip to Super Target and STOCKED UP! I love a full fridge!!!!

And to end the weekend...

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"! Two movies in one weekend! Hard on the wallet, but tons of fun. This too, is a new release that I would highly recommend. Johny Depp was fantastic and the boy who played Charlie was simply adorable and perfect for the part. It brought back so many childhood memories and was fun to sit through the new adaptation of the fabulous Rhol Dahl book.

Well, it's time to sign off. Many blessings to you all!

P.S. We seemed to recieve an unusual amount of responses due to the fact that we tasted eel. Before we moved here, I will be the first to admit that I was not a very good risk-taker. But, I have learned since then that in life we need adventure and the opportunity to try new things every once in a while! I'm not saying that either one of us is going to jump off the top of a mountain, but just take a second to imagine what this world would be like if we all took a little walk on the adventurous side every once in a while.

Back In Cyberspace...

Hi there!

Glad to be back in cyberspace once again now that my computer cord has been replaced. I didn't realize just how addicted I was to my little Mac until I couldn't use it whenever I wanted anymore!!! I think that my pulse hass returned to normal now that I can play on my trusty computer again. :)

Things have been going well since our last post. Layla (cutest dog EVER) has been winning our hearts over every day as we get to know one another even better. We are now going for 2 accident-free days in a row in the Adventures of Housebreaking! Woo hoo! Puppies are definitely a ton of work, but so worth every minute. She is the little socialite of the neighborhood - all the dogs and people love her. It is hilarious. In fact, more people know Layla's name that mine or Chris's! Denverites have some serious issues.

I have been going to Sky Vista just about every day to help move things in. Just today, the staff was given word that we could begin moving in our personal items and setting up our classrooms! I am incredibely excited, as I have begun (with the help of awesome friends and family) to collect some great items to put in my room - an Albert Einstein action figure for starters! It has been a ton of fun going to school (despite the dirty hands and sore body parts) as it has provided for several opportunities to bond with individual staff members. I definitely feel as if I will go into the school year with much more confidence with my surroundings. August 1st marks the official start date! Whoa.

Chris has been working SO hard with his job lately. Due to the incredibly high temps lately (around the 100's!), the site superintendent has adjusted their hours to try and beat the heat a bit - 6 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. That means that the alarm goes off at 4:45 a.m. Yikes! Even the dog moans when the tunes start playing that early!! Chris is a champ about it all though and even enjoys being able to get home a bit earlier as a result. Hmm, I think this means that he will be playing around in the kitchen more frequently. Score one for Meg! :)

Denver has a great variety of restaurants. In fact, you could probably eat at a different one each day for a year and not eat at the same place twice! Tonight, Chris, our friend Matt, and I went out to try a sushi restaurant we heard about that is downtown. It is called Sonada's. Neither Chris nor I had ever been to an actual sushi restaurant, so we were really looking forward to it. Matt was a great help in encouraging us to be daring in our choices. We got so daring that we even tried freshwater eel! - and it was actually good! Needless to say, the company, the atmostphere, and the food was fantastic! We are really excited to keep exploring all the delicious bites that Denver has to offer.

Well, it's getting late and...you guessed it...Fluid Coffee Bar bright and early tomorrow morning. Until next time!

...it won't be so long, I promise!

Meet Layla the Puppy

Hello there everyone! Sorry this Blog took so long. Meg's power-cord to her computer took a dive after too many nibbles from Jack-the-Cat. We are now the proud owner of a new puppy! She is a 5-1/2 month old Australian Cattle Dog/Australian Sheppard Mix. It is absolutely amazing how well Layla and Jack get along. I think it helps that they are the same size! It is great having a pet that is excited to see you for more than two minutes and then begging for an ice cube, sorry Jack. We got her from the local pound last Friday and took her to Lake McCounghy in Nebraska with a few friends, friends of their's, and two other dogs. We are working on house breaking her and it is going very well. A few nights of interupted sleep haven't been so bad yet, and it is good practice for those unmentionable things down the road. Of course the first toy I bought her was a plush football toy. I am sure Meg and I will have many more stories and blogs filled with cute mishaps and cute pictures. Here are some of those pictures to make you fall in love too...