Elk Bugling

We took Judy to Estes Park while she was here helping us move to see/hear the Elk bugle.  We hadn't heard them before either, so it was fun.  Pretty busy, but saw and heard plenty of bull's do their thing.  Pics too.

All things New

So the last 45 days have revolved around Karla and I buying a new home.  We started the process in July, and were expecting to not find a place for a few months.  After looking at 10 houses or so, we came across one that fit all of our needs & wants.  Its in Lakewood, an area that we weren't overly familiar with, but we weren't too familiar with the neighborhood when we bought in Chicago, and now its (biasly) my favorite neighborhood.

The whole process from offer to closing was a blur, to be honest.  Financing was pretty easy, inspection overall went fine, and we were able to break our lease for no cost at our downtown apartment.  Unfortunately the only time we could close coincided with Grandpap's 95th birthday party, so we weren't able to go to Pennsylvania the weekend we moved.

Its been a week and a half or so since we've moved in, and more or less we are unpacked.  Still have decorating and pictures to do, but really not too many boxes lying around.  Karla has her own nice office to work in, complete with a new ball/chair thing that helps her core instead of a chair, and she's surrounded by books that smell like rich mahogony(ok not quite).

We ended up doing a little appliance udating in the kitchen.  We swapped out the old black non-gas range for a new stainless steel range, and if you're going to do that, why not just get the fridge, dishwasher & microwave too?  So we have a swanky new kitchen, and its fun to cook in!

Also new is Riggs, our brand new Ford Escape.  Riggs is the partner in crime to Murtagh, our older Ford Focus, who is "getting too old for this shit".  Watch Lethal Weapon if you're unsure of the reference.

New sofa & furniture are on the way, but for the most part its feeling like home.  We have some open space to our back, and we've seen deer back there a few times, which hammers home that we're not downtown anymore!  Its also much quieter, and we can see stars at night, a new pheonomenon we haven't been used to.  We've enjoyed the area, gone on a bike ride, and we have a lake/pond nearby that we can jog around that has a great sunset view of the mountains/foothills.

Plenty of more 'new' things coming as well, but that's good for now.

Weekend in Breckenridge with Ken & Nancy

We headed off to Breckenridge Friday after work to meet Matt's parents there, as they rented a condo for the weekend.  Apparently it had rained for 3 days straight, but we brought the sunshine!

Karla had a really long week at work so decided to sleep in Saturday while Matt & Ken went to hike Mt. Democrat (and possibly others).  They made it up Democrat no problem, but ran out of time and legs a little fatigued to climb Cameron & Lincoln, but still probably did 3000 feet of climb overall!  It was a gorgeous day, and it wasn't complete without a quick stop for a beer at the bar on the way back.

Karla & Nancy had a relaxing morning, walking through Breckenridge.  By the time the guys got back it was chill/naptime for a bit.  After a refreshing shower we all headed into town to shop and meet our friends for drinks.  Some tacos and margaritas concluded dinner, and we headed back to the condo to play multiple games of carbles.

Sunday we decided to go to Montgomery Reservoir nearby to do some fishing.  Overall a huge success..  Karla caught her first ever fish!!  and then her second!!  we will not discuss the lost lures/caught fish ratio, as it was higher than it should be...we headed back into traffic and enjoyed the worlds largest pizza for dinner in Denver at Fat Sully's...seriously large.  A nice weekend for sure!




Oh and we got a contract on a new house!
 More on that later.

His & Her Weekends

For the first time that I can remember, both Karla and I had weekends out of town but not together.  Karla went to Iowa with all her sisters to play in a charity golf tournament.  Seeing as how I can't swing a golf club quite yet, I didn't go.  Instead I went to Chicago to see some friends and catch a Liverpool Soccer game.




had alot of fun with all her golfing family members, and even though she hadn't played in a bit hit them very well!  She also got to experience her hometown fair, including the ever popular RV race.  Lowell is going to try to enter next year (j/k).



I got to Chicago late Friday and got a nice run in Saturday morning before heading to the farmers market for some fresh cheese curds!  Then I met up with Patrick & Gil and started the day of bowtie festivities.  We were going to go to the Cubs game, but tickets were very expensive to watch a really bad baseball team.  So instead we picked up lunch at Xoco(of course) and went up to our friend Jason's new house in lakeview.  Holy hell that's a nice house.  We chilled on his rooftop day drinking until dinner.  We donned the bowties and headed to Chicago Firehouse for a nice steak dinner.  The rest of the night was a blur, but I remember not being served at the Trump, usually a sign its time to go home.

Sunday we were moving pretty slow, but the goal was to go see Liverpool vs Olympiakos at Soldier field.  As I'm a Liverpool fan, it was a real treat, and I had to get suited up appropriately.  Liverpool won 1-0 so it was a good day!

Headed back monday afternoon and concluded a nice weekend for both of us!

World Cup watchings June 13-July 13

Please don't think that we weren't busy these last 30 days, but there really were more important things going on.  Specifically that magical event that happens every 4 years and causes Matt to lose most any productivity at work.  That's right sports fans, its the WORLD CUP!  (soccer, not quiddich, that's what happens when I type this while watching Harry Potter).

The buildup to the cup this year has been incredible, with the US getting stuck in the "Group of Death" - Germany(who eventually win the whole thing), Portugal(with the best player in the world), and Ghana(the team that knocked out the US the last 2 world cups).  Needless to say it was not expected that the US would do well.

We watched many games, and some great goals happened, but we really enjoyed rooting for the USA as they played some great games.  I think it captured the attention of many more people than expected, as it was great to see the national pride come out.  A great victory over Ghana that we watched at a bar(I had a very important "meeting" that made me have to leave work early), a gut wrenching tie to Portugal that I was able to watch at a bar in Estes Park while Karla stayed with Kathy & family at RMNP, and a loss to Germany that still allowed the US to advance to the knockout stage.

I have to say the buildup to the Belgium game was great, as it was a team we actually had a chance of beating(that said hindsight playing Brazil might have been the easy win).  While the US didn't win and truthfully didn't play well, the play of Tim Howard(Karla's favorite player) helped them stay in it until the end.

Today was the finals, and having watched Germany pull off the victory in extra time was a great way to cap off an exciting month of watching "football".  

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Camping at Guanella Pass

This weekend we were rather outdoorsy.  After trying out as new restaurant on Friday night, we got up early and ran the stairs at Red Rocks, something we've been doing a lot lately.  After a great workout we met Jamie & Doug and the kids at Lair o the Bear park outside of Morrison.  It was fun to walk with the kids along the river and have them play and throw rocks in the creek.  After a lunch stop in Morrison at Willy's Wings, Karla and I headed up to camp at Guanella Pass, our go to spot.

We were able to set up the tent without a problem, but it wasn't too long before some rain came in.  We were able to grill some burgers but it wasn't to be for the campfire.  Due to rain we called it an early night.  But between a stomach ache for Karla and a headache for Matt it was a rough night.  The best sleep was between 5-7am, and then the morning was great with the sound of the birds and the creek in the background.

We packed up our very wet tent and headed down the hill.  Fortunately we were able to air out the gear at Naomi & Ryan's while we watched the world cup final.  All in all it was a nice weekend, but the lack of a campfire might mean we go back out next weekend and try again!

4th of July in Iowa

Karla's cousin Dane was getting married on the 5th of July in Iowa, so our plan was to spend the 4th of July there. The airlines had other ideas. Our flight on the 3rd was cancelled and the earliest we could get into Omaha was at 4:45pm on the 4th (via Minneapolis). We ended up missing a color run the morning of the 4th and riding in the Mapleton parade behind Kristin's John Deere 3020. We were so bummed! We did make it in time to see fireworks in Mapleton though - yay!

Dane's wedding was beautiful and the reception was quite fun! Matt made friends by being able to stream the World Cup on his phone during the start of the reception. Karla was kept busy because she and her sisters were in charge of cakes and punch. They surprised Dane by making and wearing St. Louis Rams aprons - the only time any of them will wear Rams gear!

On Sunday, we had a late lunch at Kathy's since she was having people over for a grad school graduation party (which included some delicious lemon raspberry cake). Then we headed back to Denver. A shorter weekend since our flight was cancelled, but it was fun to see everyone at the wedding!