Colorado Dos (2, II, Two)

So here are some more pictures from my lovely little getaway!!




After tattoos, drinks at the Rio!! Just love these 2 ladies, it was so great to finally meet Lila. Kate has been telling me how much I would love her for quite some time. I hope Lila is in my world for a long time.








I think it was Kate's junior year at Westmont when she told me about Amish friendship bread. It made absolutely no sense and I had no desire to eat this ancient dough passed down through Ziploc baggies...
BUT THEN...
Kate was babysitting friendship bread for Jess while she was in Hawaii (yes this bread needs a babysitter if left for even one day), and so I was fortunate enough to spend 5 of the 10 days of the bread making process with Kate. After it finished baking, the entire house smelled amazing, scents of cinnamon wafted through the entire house. Maybe one of the coolest things about this bread is that during the mixing process, before adding final ingredients, you make starters for your friends. Jess was gracious enough to let me have her starters, so I flew home with ziplocks of gooey dough in my suitcase (I am looking into becoming a spokesperson for GLAD now). I baked mine just the other day, and it turned out marvelous. Can't wait to make another batch!!





The weather in Fort Collins was interesting during my stay, most of the days were windy, cloudy, and rainy until about 5pm; and then the sun would come out, the air would warm up just in time for the sun to go back down providing a warm evening and perfect for a sunset hike.




We battled a billion 'no-see-ums' during our entire hike, making it difficult to stop and pose for a picture of the three of us. Kate and Sarge look great in this one but my hair could use some grooming!




I had a really lovely time in Colorado, I always do. Can't wait for my next visit!! Thanks again Kate!!











.

My Colorado Holiday PRT 1

Kate, the Great, flew me out to Fort Collins for a long weekend and we had a blast!! First and foremost I want to say "Thanks Kate!!" for making my stay so wonderful.
I arrived Friday afternoon in Denver and took a shuttle to Fort Collins to meet Kate. We took it easy that evening, Kate was preparing for a half marathon the following weekend so she needed to be up early to run a 10 mile practice run. Whew, Kate, you are nuts. After Kate's run on Saturday morning (I opted to stay home with Sargentino) we headed to Old Town, one of my favorite parts of Fort Collins.


We had lunch at Spoons...


...a great little soup place. The young woman behind the counter was adorable, Kate kinda shoved her card in the girl's face on accident, and then quickly apologized, "Oh sorry, I like shoved that in your face." She replied, "That's not the worst thing I've had shoved in my face today. Wait um...that didn't sound right."

We passed up the cookies...


...too bad they don't know how to spell Marri ;)

We did some shopping...


...how freaking cute is this purse?! It is an owl and it is green!!! Perfect for me right? Too bad it is $72. I try to keep it under $20 for a purse.


Then off to meet Kate's friend, Lila, for some tattooing. We went to Covenant Tattoos, the same shop Jess, Kate and I went to for our "A"s.



Lila had one of her tattoos touched up and also had some new ink inscribed. Here she is talking to her daughter assuring her is doesn't feel like "getting eaten by a lawnmower"


...well maybe a little bit.


Kate was inked with her 3rd tattoo, oh what have I done to this child?! She now sports the word growth in ancient Greek. Now we both have Greek words that begin with the letter A on our right leg. Pretty cool.




She was quite a champ, I know it hurt at times but she powered through it. I'm sure she will post better pictures of it once she has made it through the healing process.

Ok, stay tuned for part 2!! Friendship bread and hikes!

"Let me get away on a holiday...

...we could call everyone we know, go to Colorado"--(The Followill boys; My Third House off Because of the Times)

So I am heading to Colorado today to see the Katesters. Beautiful day to fly; in KC right now it is rainy and windy. Oddly, I am kinda freaking out. Flying never bothers me...

Until today. Why am I telling you this? Because to calm my nerves I am going to blog. What am I going to blog? The people I love, Brian and Sarah's baby shower. Brian and Sarah had much better weather on the day of their party, it was just awesome outside that day, allowing for everyone to mingle in and out of the house.



This is Amanda and Sarah, the 2 pregos!! These gals have virtually the same due date but I bet you can tell who is having twins!





Lots of presents and friends. Two of them shown here, Aron in the blue (nice face Ronis) and TJ in orange; TJ and his wife Jill hosted the party for the happy couple. I have no pictures of Jill because she was running around crazy trying to make everything perfect for Sarah and Bri. (And she did an amazing job!)





Love this pic of Brian and Madeline, Maddie is going to be quite the little helper when her new baby brother and sister arrive.





About halfway through present opening, Brian stated "There better be something Royals in here somewhere!" He got his wish, two matching baby Kansas City Royals hats.





These say Good Things Come in Twos. I love this picture of Sarah.



Brian looks as though he is having a serious moment here. I can't believe my best bud is having twins.





Kyle giving Sarah a run for her money with his beer belly.





Congratulations Sarah and Brian!! So happy for you both and I can't wait to meet your twins!

Growing Garlic

I know this isn't what your garlic is supposed to look like, but I just can't pitch it in the garbage. I mean, it's growing! Who am I to throw it away just because its growing? I know what you are thinking, "Does this lady let mold grow in her house too?". No, of course not. Garlic is different, it's not posing any threat, and not taking up too much room so it really doesn't make sense to trash it. Good news, Murph says we can plant it. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Murphy's 36th!!

Our friend George was over the other day and it came up that Murphy's bday was the following week. George says this, "Right on man, so what are you gonna be, 28, 29?" He was completely genuine and sincere in is query. Also, during an early March weekend, our friend Alex was over with her brother and we were all hanging out in the kitchen when Alex glanced at the calender and interrupted herself to shout at my husband, "Damn Murph, you're going to be 36!!" It must be nice to surprise everyone that you aren't as young as you look.

Murphy celebrated his birthday by working and managing to make it through the entire day without any of his co-workers discovering it was his birthday, he views this as a success. We are so different in this area, on my birthday, I tell EVERYONE! I mean all whom I come in contact with. I think Murph received a record number of birthday cards in the mail this year. Thanks for all of the shout outs via text, phone, and the USMail, ya'll made my man feel very special.





After working all day, we went out for an early dinner at Baja 600 (no pictures as per request of the birthday boy). Then home to enjoy Murphy's favorite dessert, cherry pie. Mama Jan proved she was the best by surprising her one and only with fresh baked cherry pies from McLain's Bakery, a gem of a bakery right here in Waldo.




He spent the rest of the evening trying out his new video games, Resident Evil 5, and Killzone 2. Love ya babe, hope you had a great birthday, here's to another year!

I could not for the life of me get my hubs to pose for a picture but I managed to snag Mama J for one.



I just love this woman!!