Winter 2011-2012

Our winter started out pretty rough with the whole miscarriage thing- but we were able to have fun and do fun things in spite of the hard times. We went to Utah for Christmas though of course we didn't take very many pictures (shocker I know!). We had a fun Christmas with Steve's family. I got to see them for longer than Steve, because the day after Christmas Brent, Sandra, Laura, Jordan and Lucy took off for Atlanta Georgia. We got to see some old friends and got to go out to lunch with Kiersty and Seth and my Aunt and her family. We also got to hang out with Scott and Rachel and Annie a lot. We also got some good snowboarding days in!

 When we got back we spent a few days with Mike and Erin to celebrate Abbie's birthday. We got to go bowling and the Olive Garden for dinner. Abbie even invited me to go with her to get a feather in her hair for her birthday. She chose a snazzy blue and black stripey feather and loved showing it off!

She pretends like she doesn't like Justin Beiber but we know better :)

 

 I got Steve tickets to see the Nuggets vs. the Kings for Christmas. The main reason we went was to see "The Jimmer" play. He played okay- the best part of the game was when he threw a fit! Haha actually there was a sweet "alley-oop" or however you spell that!

 We went on a winter hike in RMNP. It was CRAZY windy! And freezing cold wind at that. We were super bundled up but were happy to get outside for a while. We hiked up to this little lake that was completely frozen over and also serves as a wind tunnel! Brrrr. 

 On a Sunday afternoon walk around Lake McIntosh

There was a huuuuuge snowstorm here in late January. We headed out to go snowboarding that morning- but so did everyone else in the state of Colorado! The resort we had passes to was full by the time we got half way up the canyon, so we went to the nearest sporting goods store, bought inner tube/sled things and headed to Chatuaqua park for a day of sledding. The sledding hill at this park was suicidal- seriously. People in Boulder, CO apparently have never been sledding before!!! People were standing in the middle of hill and in the tracks people were sledding down. The sleds we bought we crazy fast and one time I started out down the hill, got turned around going super fast- next thing I knew I had slammed into a person! This guy had stood right in the middle and didn't move even though I was SCREAMING the whole way down!

Haha! Who knew it's so difficult to fit two inflatable sleds in the back of a WRX?!

Suicidal sledding hill! But look at all of that snow!!!!

 We had a pretty calm Valentines Day- we always stay home and make a special dinner. We decided to make home made Vrenike. They are these little mashed potato ravioli that you eat with sour cream and caramelized onions! We had some difficulties making them but we finally got some done and they were soooo yummy. Someday when we live in Russia, I will eat vrenike and borscht for every meal :)

Expert vrenike maker

 In February we had a visit from Mom and Dad Hale. We went to Parker to spend the weekend with them. Brent, Sandra and I took Noah and Landon to the park. These two kiddos crack me up constantly! They are so much fun and Landon is constantly saying funny things unintentionally which makes them even funnier. Like I said we have loved living close to these guys!

 We headed up to go snowboarding one Saturday, but the wind was CRAZY and you could only see like ten feet in front of you. So we decided not to waste a pass that day and headed to the Frozen Dead Guy days in the local town. It is this festival celebrating a guy who was cryogenically frozen in his son's garage for years without anyone knowing about it... I can't remember the details but the whole thing was super random. We enjoyed the randomness of the whole thing and took a carousal ride on this old restored carousal. It ended up being a fun day!

 This is just a funny picture... Steve and I are really bad at playing on our phones right before we go to bed- I looked over one night and saw this. Steve asleep with his finger poised to play on his phone more once he woke up! hahaha.

Fall 2011

  We had a really fun filled Fall. We have loved Colorado!!! We have been on lots of hikes and Steve loves that fishing is nearby and he would go everyday if I let him. I have accompanied him a time or two. I just take a lawn chair and a book and set up shop by the river for a few hours. 

We have been able to spend lots of time hanging out with Steve's brother Mike, his wife Erin and their three kiddos. We used to go down almost every weekend and hangout. This typically consisted of swimming, playing hearts and eating good food. We were able to go to a preseason Bronco's game and had a lot of fun watching Tebow. At the time he was third string and only got to play for a few minutes. The fans loved him from the get go- he played really poorly in the game we watched but we still caught Tebow fever :)

 

I know you can't see this picture at all, but it is of my very favorite band, The Weepies! We got to go hear them live in Boulder and I looooooooved every second of it! I was giddy the whole time. It was an awesome concert because it was the two weepies, a back up instrumentalist and a stage hand. That's it. It was all acoustic and so so so awesome. The last concert I went to was a loooong time ago, but I remember thinking they were soooo awesome before I saw them live- and after I saw them live I hated them! I really have never listened to their music again but it was the total opposite with The Weepies- I just fell more in love with their music. Yeah!

. 

 This is the view from our apartment balcony. We have a nice view of the Rocky Mountains and Lake Macintosh. We are live on the western border of our town and love that we can see the mountains and have LOVED having this lake nearby. It makes for awesome sunsets and a great place for a walk, jog or bike ride!

 There are some pretty dramatic skies here in Colorado. These pictures don't really do this cloud justice but it was a huge black storm cloud that met up with a perfectly beautiful blue sky

 Over labor day, we had some Hale family visitors and took them up to Rocky Mountain National Park to see the sights. There are beautiful vistas up there

 And of course, we finished the day with an ice cream cone in Estes Park. Abbie and Landon both chose blue bubblegum :)

 We went on this hike in Rocky Mountain NP one Sunday afternoon. I love the sunset reflected in the water

 At a Colorado Rapids soccer game with Mike, Erin and family.

So Steve and I often try to go on short little trips to get away for a weekend... but something always seems to be a little off about them. So in early October, Steve planned a little weekend getaway to go do some leaf peeping up in the mountains. We took off for a town that was about an hour and half away from us. We headed out straight after work on a Friday night. The town we were going to required that we go over into RMNP and over a road that is closed during the winter. Well after driving for about an hour all the way to Estes Park and into the national park- we found out the road we wanted to take was closed. Steve remembered there was another way to get to the road so we headed off in another direction to see if we could hook into the road- No such luck. All roads going to the town we were going to through RMNP  were closed!!!! After doing a map check, we realized that to get to the town we were going to have to back track almost all the way and take a 4 hour detour to get to our hotel. I think it was about 6 or 6:30 pm by this time... So we bit the bullet and started our 4 hour detour. The next morning we woke up to snow. See our car above. This was thick heavy wet snow! We started on our leaf peeping journey anyways and discovered we were maybe about two weeks too late for leaves but did enjoy seeing some colored aspens among a very white background. It certainly wasn't what we expected but enjoyed it anyway :)

More hiking in Button Rock Canyon...

In late October, my Uncle Robert died. It was so sad and unexpected. He was one of the greatest guys I'll ever know and we miss him already. I was able to get to his funeral and though it was a terrible excuse to get together- I got to see all of my sisters and so many relatives I hadn't seen in years! I also got to see Andrew and Mhari brought his Halloween costume for us to see. The kid had a pretty impressive roar to match his costume :)

 

On Halloween, we went down to Mike and Erin's to go trick or treating with the kids and watch Disney Halloween treat while enjoying some chili that Erin made. We also brought stuff to make home made root beer and the kiddos got a kick out of the smoke that it creates.

 We were able to spend Thanksgiving in Arizona with my family, but I was such a slacker and didn't take a single picture! We were there for 5 days and had a great time hanging out with family and catching up so many relatives! It was a fantastic way to kick off our holiday season :)