Catching Up

Okay obviously I have been slacking in my blogging and I'm going to do a quick update to get me back on track and to stop procrastinating.  

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Brady with Mark's parents.  On Tuesday before Thanksgiving we flew into Dallas, drove to Stephenville and had a quick lunch with Henley and Katherine Day (who has moved there) before heading out to Brady with Henley in tow. Henley's boyfriend Blaine met us in Brady and spent the holiday with us as well. (We opted to fly in early because we didn't want to have to deal with the Wednesday crush of humanity at the airport)  We had a very nice, relaxing trip and we were glad that we were able to spend the holiday with his parents.  His sister Kelly, her hubby Reggie and their daughter Hannah joined us on Friday evening so we were able to spend a little time with them before we left on Saturday.  

On Saturday, we drove back to Dallas to fly back to Denver and were able to meet up with Joyce and Paul who were visiting Megan in Ft Worth.  We were dying for some good Mexican food so we all met up in Fort Worth at Joe T. Garcia's and ate till we almost popped.  Katherine was able to join us again which was a nice surprise for Joyce and Paul since they hadn't seen her since she moved to Stephenville.  It was too short of a visit but sure beats not seeing them at all.  

At Joe T Garcia's 

 So after we got back to Denver we decided to do the touristy stuff that everyone needs to do the first year that you live in a new area.  So we went downtown to look at the Christmas lights and saw the Christmas parade.  

 Henley came home from college the 10th of December for Christmas break.  My friend Polly came for a weeks visit right after Thanksgiving and we did a bunch of going-going-going while she was here.  We did Golden, Vail, 16th Street mall, Colorado Springs and did a bunch of shopping too.  

Delaney came to Denver on the 19th and spent until the 28th with us.  Mark had taken some vacation time around the holidays so we 4 did several trips to see the sights while they were here.  One of the places we went was Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  

We spent the day hiking the trails and soaking up the sun.  It was a balmy 55 degrees the day we were there and we couldn't have asked for better weather.

One of the other days we went to Red Rocks Amphitheater and went ice skating on Evergreen Lake.

Red Rocks Amphitheater

 Evergreen Lake Lodge

Evergreen Lake

Mom, Dad, Rob, Zoe, August and Zach (Delaney's boyfriend) all arrived on the 23rd so we had a full house Christmas and through the weekend.  Rob and the kids had to leave on Saturday.  

While Mom, Dad, Zach and Delaney were still here, we were able to do some fun touristy things.  We went to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and saw the facilities as well as the famous chapel.  It really is quite impressive.  There was a wedding scheduled that afternoon so we only were able to see it for just a short time but we were glad we were able to see it. 

One of the neatest things we did while they were here was we went to see the Cartier exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.  The jewels, jewelry, accessories, watches, etc. were beyond description and we were so happy we took the time to go see it. 

Delaney and Zach had to leave on the 28th to get back to work.  Mom and Dad ended up leaving on the 28th as well because we were expecting heavy snow and bad weather for the upcoming week and they wanted to get back to The Ranch before it all hit.  So by noon Sunday, things were pretty quiet around our house again. 


The rodeo came to Denver the first week of January and every year they have a parade to kick off the festivities.  Mark told me to come downtown to see it and believe it or not, they herded about 75 head of longhorn cattle down the streets just like they have since the rodeo started.  It was an odd sight to say the least. 

My friend Joyce came to visit me last week!  I was so happy that she was able to come see me and do some sightseeing while she was here.  Unfortunately, we had some bad weather but she has promised to come back and see some more things the next time around. 


And we have a new family member!  Meet Peanut.  Henley adopted him right after Christmas break.  He is a german shepherd/blue heeler mix and he is quite adorable if I do say so myself. 

Chihuly at the Denver Botanic Gardens

The company that Mark works for gives all of their employees one Friday afternoon off per month so that they can schedule doctor's appointments, repairmen, etc.  Since Mark has been here in Denver he hasn't done much with his afternoon off but now that I'm around things are a-changin'!  

This past Friday we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather we have been having and we decided to go to the Denver Botanic Gardens to see the Chihuly exhibit before it left.  It's only scheduled to be here through the end of November and we wanted to go before it got too cold. 

I really didn't know much about this artist before we saw his work, other than he was a "glass blower". Well, he is a glass blower but on a really HUGE scale.  Both Mark and I were very impressed by the size and scale of his works.  And placing his art in amongst the gardens really made for a beautiful display.  

  There are glass balls that float in the water, delicate translucent flowers and neon glass towers that are over 50 feet tall 

It's really hard to take pictures that show just how big these pieces are and how detailed they are. For instance, the red spears were at least 6-7 feet tall.  The blue ones were 4-5 feet tall.  The white flowers were about 3 feet across.  Although they look fragile, they have withstood several baseball sized hailstorms this summer and they didn't break.  There were several pieces that looked like they came off the pages of a Dr. Seuss book. 

Some of the pieces are HUGE!  This one was probably 12 feet tall. 

This one was even bigger.

 These balls were 42" 

The grounds themselves were so beautiful.  They had formal English gardens, Oriental gardens, desert-scapes, a Monet inspired pool, and much much more.  

We walked past this gentleman when we first got to the park and he was still sitting there an hour later.  He was snoring both times we passed him!  I guess he wasn't as interested in the Gardens as most. 

We both agreed that we need to come back in the spring and summer to see the gardens in their full splendor.  

Busy Weeks

I'm pretty sure I'm behind in all sorts of areas in my life…including keeping up this blog on our lives. 

Last Monday our furniture was delivered. And I thought that I was going to be so happy to get our home settled.  But I have decided that the moving company wanted to play a cruel joke on me.  It almost seems that the movers took one thing from each room in the house and put in into one box, sealed it and then repeated the process.  I will open a box that has stuff that all originated in one room in the Odessa house and I will find odds and ends from a half dozen other places in the home.  Its made it a little challenging setting up our Denver home but it's getting there.

The weekend of October 26th, Mark and I flew to Texas to spend Parent's Weekend with Henley.  Delaney drove in from Austin and both of their boyfriends came in as well so we had the whole bunch of us there to enjoy the weekend! Friday night we all hung out until everyone arrived and then we ate at Fuzzy's Tacos. Saturday morning Delaney and I joined Henley at her sorority breakfast and we got to meet her Big and several of her other sorority sisters.  The other gals were all very sweet and I can see why Henley chose to join this sorority.

The guys were on their own and ended up eating "The Best Chicken Fried Steak in Texas" at Jake and Dorothy's Cafe. The best story about Jake and Dorothy's is that a few weeks ago a huge raccoon fell down from the dropped ceiling into a roomful of diners.  Seems that the raccoon had been living there for a while based on the size of him!

Jake and Dorothy's Cafe

Since Mark had not seen Tarleton in years, Henley gave us the grand tour of campus and we all went to the football game on Saturday night, followed by a great meal at Montana's. We had to leave fairly early on Sunday so after a good breakfast we said our goodbyes and headed home. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the girls and their guys. 

The whole gang: Blaine, Henley, Sandie, Mark, Delaney and Zach

Henley and Delaney

Our Tarleton Texan Henley and Blaine

Delaney and Zach

This past Saturday Mark and I emptied his apartment and watched our Horn's play ball.  We were hoping that we could catch a glimpse of Delaney since she was at the game.  But we didn't.  We spent the rest of the day unloading boxes and putting stuff away.  I don't think we even put a dent in the pile…

So Sunday we both decided that we were going to play hooky from unpacking and we headed up to Rocky Mountains National Park.  And were we ever glad we did.  The leaves had peaked about a week ago so we didn't get to see the oranges and the reds that we had hoped to see but the mountains had 2 days of snow last week and the landscape was absolutely stunning. It's interesting that the mountain range was originally named "Never Summer Mountains" by the Indian tribes that lived in the mountains and we could see why.

Granby Lake

Never Summer Mountains

Almost at the top

At the Top

We started at the bottom of the park and drove north along the valley floor before climbing to over 12,000 ft at the top.  Midway through the drive we stopped at Milner Pass where the Continental Divide is located. The wind was blowing and it was pretty darned cold but nothing compared to when we got to the top of the Pass.  Whoo dogie was it windy and cold.  

We ended up back in Estes Park and they were having their annual Elk Festival.   So we stayed for lunch and enjoyed the bands that were playing at the park and walked around the shops to stretch our legs after riding in the truck all morning.  

On the way out of Rocky Mountain National Park we ran into a TON of elk that were right off of the road so of course we had to take pictures of them.  It is the start of the rut so the bulls were bugling at the other bulls while trying to herd their harems away from the other bulls.  It was funny because we saw a couple of cows run from one harem to another while the stupid bulls were bugling at one another. 

Life in Colorado is feeling more normal every day.