Christmas

Both Mike and I went back to Minnesota for a quick trip. We flew to the cities on Friday night and stayed with Mike's family until Sunday morning. On Saturday, Mike and I did some last minute shopping with his sister Katie. Saturday night we went to Murray's to have dinner. Both Mike and I have agreed that we had some of the best steak and lobster that we have ever tasted. On Sunday morning we got up early to drive to Cloquet. Mike was suppose to go hunting with my dad and brother but the weather was not cooperating. When all was said and done, Cloquet got 10 inches of snow! Sunday we had my families Christmas. We opened presents, had dinner, and then went to the bar to watch the Vikings game. On Monday, Mike headed back to be with his family and I took off for West Fargo.

From what Mike has shared with me their family had great food, wine, and laughs. This was the last Christmas to be held at his grandma "bananas" house. So they went out in the fresh snow and had a family football game. This was also there 2nd year playing family trivia. Mike's sister puts together a trivia game for their family about random odd facts. Mike always talks about how much he loves playing that game, and also brags at how well he did in answering the questions.

Our families Christmas was busy as ever. As we have all grown up and more people have been added to our family, my grandma's house has become a tighter and tighter fit. It is always fun to see how everyone has changed and how big all my cousins are getting. This Christmas we all shared many laughs and tears. It was our first Christmas without my cousin Josie, and the addition of her little brother Noah. Although our family thinks about her often, Christmas without her was another first, and was very difficult. This is our picture that we take every Christmas with all of the grandchildren. However, this year and ever year after this picture will never be complete, we will always be missing one. We will always remember our little angel Josie and all the other little ones that left this world all too soon. I also realized that I still have my special ability to put my little cousin's to bed. Noah slept most of the day, but I had to trick Averi into counting the lights, we only made it to 87 before she was out for the count. All in all I think I can say both Mike and I had a blessed Christmas with our families.

The Replacement...a BIG surprise!

Mike and I exchanged Christmas gifts and we both made out well. Mike got a new travel bag and the shaving stuff he wanted. It is the brush that lathers up and is all fancy. He also got 2 free shaves out of the deal. I got a new winter hat and a camera! So now I can finally put pictures on my blog, and take them of the kitties. I think Mike was sick of listening to me complain about not being able to upload pictures. The poor guy also needed to put up with me begging him to come look for a new camera. He always had a reasonable excuse and so tonight, I really had no idea I was going to get a camera. I really don't like surprises, I think it stems from inability to control the situation, but this was a great one. I also really enjoyed Mike's handy wrapping skills, which involved duct tape and massive amounts of packing tape.

Weekend Update

Friday was "date night" and Mike and I went to dinner at Elway's steakhouse. I am not the best reviewer of restaurants, but I don't think I will be "craving" their food anytime soon. Also, the atmosphere was very "uppity" and I felt pretty out of place! We were so full after dinner that we just came home and crashed. Plus, the $#*! was really hitting the fan in Mike's book!

Saturday we got up early and headed up to the mountains. I had book club that afternoon so Mike and I turned it into a day. Our friends, Brandy and Matt, live up in the mountains and she was hosting book club. Brandy and I went for a 2 hour snow shoeing hike before the other girls arrived. Mike and Matt went back county snowshoeing and skiing. Our book club read "The Christmas Shoes" and had the dinner theme of fondue. We thought it would be uplifting and it was, but I still spent the better half of the book and drive sobbing while Mike jammed to his music. Following book club and the skiing expedition (both make it back without injuries) Brandy, Matt, Mike and I watched a video on ultra marathons specifically the Badwater 135. Brandy is a professional marathoner and has thought about running this extremely demanding race. These people run 135 miles, in 130 degree heat, and have an elevation gain of covers three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000’ of cumulative vertical ascent and 4,700’ of cumulative descent. All three of us agreed that if she ever was crazy enough to run it we would be on her "crew" helping her run all 135 miles in under 48 hours. That video showed just how crazy/insane/determined these ultra marathoners are. I know Mike or I will never be running one of these races. However, I am sure if you ask Mike he will tell you he could.
Sunday we did things around the house and had a lazy day. We also finally cleaned out the garage, so both of are cars are able to fit in there. This way hopefully we keep our break ins down to just the one.

Welcome to Denver

Tuesday while Mike and I were at work, some of Denver's finest broke into our house. At that time we had been living here for 32 days! They came in and took two things, our living room TV and my old camera. Welcome to the city! Besides the broken front door, nothing else was vandalized or taken. For those of you not familiar with Denver, we live in a nice trendy neighborhood, with not so nice ones surrounding it. So Tuesday night we had the Crime Scene Unit over here dusting our mantle for finger prints. Mike and I decided we needed to turn our luck around so we went to dinner to celebrate our "1st break in." At dinner I said to Mike, I am very comfortable with where our relationship is; I don't need anymore unpleasant things to "bring us closer!" We are very grateful that these people who decided that they need our TV took only these two material things from us and neither of us (or the cats) were badly hurt. I can only believe that karma will get them in the end.

Our House...

We have now been in our house for a month. There are a few things left to do, but the majority of the house is finished. Here is your virtual tour...

The outside of the house


the living room


The dining room


The kitchen and door to the garage and back yard. The stairs to the basement are also right there.

looking from the back



Right side of the kitchen

left side of the kitchen



Upstairs bathroom

The office (upstairs)

We each got our own bookshelves to decorate as we liked. Both Mike and I enjoy reading. I am in a book club with the girls about every six weeks. Mike has been finishing his books much more quickly now that he is traveling so much. He will often tell me when the book is really getting out of control. I know because I will find him all over the house with book in hand.

Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Mike's bar

The basement

Notice the blue curtains in here...I made them :-) I decided while Mike was in Connecticut last week that it was too hard to find curtains for the basement windows that would work so I made them. Took forever but I was proud, Mike called me his "little seamstress."

Guest bedroom and bathroom (downstairs)

Weekend Winter Wonderland

Friday night Mike and I decided we would have a
"date night" together. Our date started by going to the Cherry Cricket for a drink and burgers. Then we went over to the Denver Botanical Gardens to see the Blossoms of Light. It was snowing and pretty chilly so we walked quickly. At the door we were able to buy 3-D glasses to look at the lights. I wore mine and kept commenting on how pretty it looked, my glasses were making the lights look light giant snow flakes. Mike just insisted that the "snowmen" were freaking him out and he didn't want to wear them. We didn't put two and two together for awhile, but then figured out that each one of our glasses was showing us different things, and the snowmen were scary! Friday night we also got to spend some time with my brother, thanks to his company flying him to Denver for their Holiday Party.

Saturday we got all the finishing touches on our house ready for our party that night. We had about 25 friends brave the icy roads and snow to come over for a Holiday/Housewarming party. During the day we had two surprises. First, we received a poinsettia from my parents, and second Mike's Aunt sent us a flower basket. Flowers always seem to put a smile on my face and it was nice to know our families were thinking about us. For our party we ordered the Mayweather vs Hatton fight and had a few too many beers and cocktails. Lately, as Mike and I get more into wine we have started testing out cheeses. We put out a meat and cheese platter with a few of the cheeses we have found so far. We have two favorites one is Ukinass Robusto, it is great with apple slices, and the second is Coldswold. As our signature drink of the evening we served Simpleton's. They were amazing and had rave reviews, I highly recommend these during the holiday season.

Also, after giving all of our guests the tour and showed them my favorite thing in the house, I decided to share that with you all as well. This past summer Mike and I started backpacking and hiking together. We figured out that we were able to take some pretty amazing pictures on our journeys. We picked out our favorites and framed them and they are now displayed in our house. I love that each one of the pictures is something that we have done together and we have made this nice display in our house to share with our friends and family.

Oh what a year!!!

This past weekend Mike and I went up to Breckenridge to celebrate our one year anniversary in the place we met. To celebrate we decided to get a condo on the mountain do some skiing and just spend time together relaxing. We ended up having two great dinners, got hot stone massages, and painted some pottery. There has not been much snow out here yet this winter, so we did not ski. When there are only a few runs open and everyone is trying to ski on them, it gets a little scary.
Mike and I met on December 2, 2006 while skiing for a mutual friend’s housewarming party. The story begins back in September of 2006 when I met my friend Brandy. The Erholtz's had just moved out to CO from MN, and I met Brandy when she and I both walked in late to a training seminar. We began talking and quickly realized that her husband, Matt, and my mom had worked together in Esko, and that we had mutual friends in Colorado. That morning Matt and I went up skiing to meet his buddies. Matt had played baseball with Mike's older brother, Pat, at UND. So we met up and went skiing, then went back to Matt and Brandy's house to have drinks and appetizers. That is when Mike and I began talking. I ended up asking if he and Pat wanted to go out later that night in Denver with my friends. Once we got back to Denver I picked them up and we went and met my friends out and the rest is history :-)
Every time I tell someone that story or think about it myself it is truly amazing to me that Mike and I met when we did. Our lives had basically paralleled one another with both of us being in Minnesota and North Dakota. We even lived for a year in the same apartment complex and attend the same wedding and never met. Some say fate doesn't exist, but I tend to think it does.
The top picture is from our attempt at making a Christmas card to send out. On Saturday night after dinner (while sitting in the hot tub) Mike decided that we MUST take a picture by that light pole in the snow. It was a laugh needless to say and we had the car in the snow bank, blankets propping up the camera, and I was not feeling like trudging through snow for this picture. The bottom picture is our first picture together following the Holiday Storm of 2006.

Moving then all of a sudden....Thanksgiving!

The last couple of weeks have had a lot of things packed into them. In a nut shell our move was a move, it was a pain, but we got it done! As my dad said to me when he moved me out to Colorado, next time you move just send me the new address (his way of saying he is done helping). Our house is coming together and slowly the boxes are all being emptied and things are being put into their rightful place. Itzy and Tucker made the move are adjusting to the new house. Tucker was a bit skittish about her new home and for the first week kept herself nicely hidden. At one point I was in tears because I "just knew she had escaped outside of the house." I later found her wrapped in a blanket sleeping... Itzy is a fearless mover and has explored every inch of this place...she even helped clean out the cobwebs in the crawl spaces.

Mike and I hosted a Thanksgiving feast for a couple of our friends who are also "transplants" to Colorado from Minnesota/Wisconsin. It was nice to have people to our new house and be able to have some great company for dinner. We had all the fixings and Mike made his first turkey. We both have great family and friends that we are very thankful for both near and far. One more special thing to be thankful for is that after 8 very difficult months, my cousins Joe and Nancy have a very special little boy in their arms, Noah Joseph arrived this past Friday. Sometimes life is unpredictable and everyday I am thankful for all the miracles and wonders in life no matter what they are.

On Sunday Mike and I decorated our house for Christmas. We put lights outside and went and got a Christmas tree and decorated it. Last year we did not have a Christmas tree so this is officially our first tree together. I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Moving Day

Moving day has finally arrived. We started to move boxes and unpacked the kitchen yesterday, but today the moving van comes to get the rest of it. Itzy and Tucker (my cats) have enjoyed playing in the boxes and running around in the "crazy packed up apartment." Today is going to be there moving day as well. My friend Renee flew in from Vegas last night, and Mike has a few buddies to help him so we are loading and moving away. We won't have Internet access until mid week so I can hopefully get some pictures up then.

Mike started his new job this past Monday. He thinks he is going to like it and all the new responsibilities that it will entail. He is going to be working from home, when he isn't away on business (which at first until Jan. is every other week). He keeps promising me fun mini vacations with frequent flier miles to offset his being gone....I am still in denial :-) I am still working doing the same thing, speech therapy in people's homes with little ones primarily kiddos from birth to three. So now hopefully both he and I will be in jobs we enjoy :-)
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Packing...ugh!

I hope I never know how it feels to be a complete pack rat. After a year and a half of living out here in Colorado, I am moving from my apartment into a house. Mike's house has sold and we found a nice 3 bedroom 3 bathroom place to rent. We are going to rent for the next 6 months and then we will see if we are ready to buy or not. I honestly forgot how time consuming and overwhelming packing is. So maybe in 6 months we will just be staying put!? After the move in this Friday I will update with some photos.
Mike went hunting in North Dakota from Tuesday to Saturday. Didn't get as many birds as they normally do, but still had fun with his buddies, brother, and dad. I stayed here said goodbye to Troy as he and my dad left to move him to Florida and started to pack. Lauren and I had a girl's night Friday with shopping and dinner at the Melting Pot. It was my first experience with fondue and it as a great one :-) Well I am back to packing :-)