My Family Comes to Visit - Part 1 (Thanksgiving)

My family drove out to spend Thanksgiving with us and we're so glad they did!  They got here late Tuesday night and left Sunday afternoon.   (It was just my mom, dad and brothers because Jessica and Brad are in Peru for the semester doing a study abroad.  We really missed them, but I'm sure they are having a great time down there!)  I'm going to document our week in 2 different parts . . . it makes more sense that way . . . you'll see.

Wednesday

I had to get a cavity filled in the morning (boo), while everyone else went on a short hike.   Then, we had lunch, went shopping at the outlets (most stores already had their Black Friday sales going on, so that was nice!), went to the grocery store to get all the necessary items for our Thanksgiving Dinner, made pizza for dinner, went downtown to get a soda at Rocket Fizz. {The lights were turned on in downtown Fort Collins and it was so pretty!}

We ended the night with card games.

Oh yeah, aaaaand an ugly face contest.  Who do you vote as the winner? (That girl in the green shirt, hands down, right?)

We also watched some hilarious YouTube videos called Bad Lip Reading (it's clips of movies that have had different words put to their lip movement.  Especially funny is the Presidential Debate, Twilight and Hunger Games). I was laughing to hard I was crying!

Thursday
On the morning of Thanksgiving, we went for a walk around City Park and took some silly pictures.  It was a beautiful day!

My brothers posing for an awkward picture as love birds

Brody wanted to join in the awkwardness, but it was too much for Jake to handle

There were these mirrors in the middle of the park that made everyone look short and fat.

Ever since moving north of town, this park has been our most favorite of all the parks in Fort Collins.  There is so much to do and it's even pretty in November!  Unlike the rest of the city.

My two baby brothers are getting so big!!  Jake (left) is 19 and Cam (right) is 16 and they are both 6'2"!!  I feel like a shrimp around them and I'm a pretty tall person myself at 5'9"!  I think I'm officially the shortest person in my family (although me and my sister Jessica are about exactly the same)

After our walk, we headed home and began preparations for our big Thanksgiving dinner.  My mom and I slaved away in the kitchen . . . .

. . . . while the boys hung out watching football and playing on their phones.  (Ok, they did help a little bit with the food)

We had quite the spread and everything was de-li-cious!

The table all set and ready to go.

We had some great conversation while we ate and we even got to Skype with Brad and Jessica!!  We missed having them there with us, but it was great to get to see/talk to them for a little bit on the computer.

After we cleaned everything up, we went to the movie 'Lincoln' which we all really liked, then around 10 pm me, mom and the boys went Black Friday shopping.  Wal-Mart had some pretty good deals (28 piece tupperware set for $7, outdoor fire pit for $22, and 700 thread count sheets for $20.  The sheets were sold out by the time we got there {since the store opened at 8 pm} but I got the other 2 items).

Me and my mom "fighting" over an item on Black Friday. We didn't see any fighting in real life, but there were a LOT of people there.  Some people's carts were overflowing with stuff!  I do like Black Friday, but I find it very interesting that the most greedy day of the year comes right after the most grateful day of the year.  Seems a little odd.

Stay tuned for details about Friday and Saturday.  We left the state of CO for a new, exciting, interesting adventure!

Our Daily Life

Every so often, I like to do a post just about life in general, with no pictures (although I might add some later, we'll see).  This may not be the most exciting post for many of you, but it's something I like to have for my own personal records.  So here's a detailed snapshot (does that even make sense?) of what our life looks like right now.
{And if you do choose to continue reading, brace yourself... it's pretty lengthy.}


Me:  As I've mentioned before, I absolutely love my job.  I work out in a small town called Timnath as a secretary at Timnath Elementary School.  My commute is roughly 25 minutes each way and I work from 8:00 - 4:15 (which I feel is perfect).  My main job duties are to process attendance and call home if kids are absent, write tardy passes for the kids who come in late, write bus passes at the end of the day, help kids who come into the nurses office (when our health tech isn't there), deliver messages to classrooms, answer the phone and greet people as they come through the door.  I also spend 2 hours in the middle of my day monitoring 2nd and 3rd graders during lunch and recess.  I have LOVED doing this.  It has given me a chance to get to know some of the kids much better than I would have just sitting in the office and it also mixes up my day and makes the time go by really fast.  I love all the people I work with and all the students I've met so far.

The school itself is very charming.  It's over 100 years old, and has been added on to and remodeled, but still has that historic charm.  The old one room school house which was built in 1900 is a separate building and is used as the art building.  The main building was used as a high school for many years and we have pictures of all the senior class photos (ranging from years 1925 - 1970) lining our hallway in the basement.  We have many traditions involving the whole community throughout the year, which I think makes our school pretty unique.  For Halloween, they shut down main street and the kids parade through the town to get candy from all the businesses and just yesterday we had our annual Thanksgiving Luncheon where we invite anyone and everyone (parents of the students, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, people who used to attend Timnath, and anyone else in the community) to come to the school for a delightful meal (well as good as a school lunch can be).  It was a lot of fun (but a lot of work for us in the office... I'm kind of glad that's over)

OK, I guess I can't do a post without adding SOME pictures...

The main entrance

The old one-room school house / now known as the art building

Aside from work, I just live life and love it.  Here's a breakdown of what my average 24 hour day (weekday) looks like for me:

- Sleeping (33% - 8 hours)
- Working (33% - 8 hours)
- Getting to and from work (4% - 1 hour)
- Getting ready for the day in the morning and for bed at night (4% - 1 hour)
- Spending time with Brody - eating dinner together, playing games, watching shows/movies while cuddling on the couch and just being our silly, goofy selves (12% - 2.5 hours)
- Taking care of things around the house - cleaning, cooking, finances, etc (6% - 1.5 hours)
- Personal time - playing the piano, doing random projects, working out, being on the computer, etc. (8% - 2 hours)

Once a month, I go to my recipe club get-together.  My friend Nicole and I started a recipe club earlier this year and so far it's been a lot of fun.  Each month a different person hosts the get-together and we do a different theme each time (soups, appetizers, cookies, veggies etc).  Each person makes an item to bring, along with 8-10 copies of their recipe.  Everyone gets to try everyone else's dish, that way you can tell if you'll like the recipe or not.  It's a great excuse to try new things, meet new people, spend time with friends, eat food and get new (and great) recipes!


Brody:  While I'm at work, Brody spends that time doing 1 of 3 things: School stuff, working, and volunteering.  I'll start with school stuff:  he only has 2 classes right now (Microeconomics and Macroeconomics), both on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but he also spends a lot of time doing homework for those classes and studying for the QE's which are coming up quickly (beginning of January)!  He only has 2 chances to pass the QE's and if he doesn't, he can't continue on with his PhD program, so it's a pretty big deal.  He's been studying hard for them and I know he'll do great!  There are a lot of great people in his program and we get together with them occasionally (although not nearly as much as we hung out with people in his program at Thunderbird)

Working:  Brody works about 10 hours a week doing research for a department on campus.  They are conducting a study to see if "green" schools produce smarter, more well-behaved students, so Brody is in charge of gathering and analyzing all the data.  The building he works at is also on campus, which is good since he only has his bike to get around and he's on campus for school anyway.  If you want to read more about what he does there, click here.

Volunteering:  A few months ago, Brody started volunteering about 5 hours a week at the Bike Co-Op, which is a non-profit organization based 100% on volunteer workers.  They spend most of their time building or fixing up bikes to donate to homeless people or low-income families.  People can also bring in bikes they already have to get help with a tune-up or any other bike related problem.  Brody really likes working on bikes and also enjoys giving back to the community.  Plus he is able to use the tools for our own bikes as well and has the opportunity to buy parts at cost.  Here's a link to their website, if you're interested.

And now, a breakdown of Brody's average 24 hour weekday:

- Sleeping (25% - 6 hours)
- School related stuff - class, homework, studying etc (33% - 8 hours)
- Work (8% - 2 hours)
- Volunteering at the Co-op (4% - 1 hour)
- Riding his bike to and from campus/work (2% - 1/2 hour)
- Spending time with me (12% - 2.5 hours)
- Helping around the house/with Sal (4% - 1 hour)
- Personal time - on the computer, xbox, climbing, reading (12% - 3 hours)

Brody and I just got a 4 month membership to a gym with a climbing wall, so we've been spending 3 nights a week there (mostly rock climbing, but I've also been going to a few classes - my favorite right now is kick boxing).  So that should get us through the next few cold, winter months.

Salomon (our dog) is doing great.  He just turned 5 last week!  Sadly though, we totally forgot until a few days later... oops, sorry puppy!  He is loving having a yard and has enjoyed the few days of snow we've gotten so far.

And just for fun, a breakdown of Salomon's average day:

- Exercise - going for a walk, running around at the field, chasing the laser, playing fetch etc. (4% - 1 hour)
- Getting love and attention from us (8% - 2 hours)
- Laying around, sleeping, relaxing and doing nothing but looking cute (88% - 21 hours)  What a life!

Well, that's about it!  Life is good for us right now and I'm excited for the upcoming holiday season!  (My family will be here in just 3 days to celebrate Thanksgiving with us!)

Weekend in Steamboat Springs

Last weekend (Oct 26-28), we spent the weekend with our friends in a cute little mountain town called Steamboat Springs (about 3 hours away).  Since it's the off season, we got a great deal for a house/cabin/condo type thing that sleeps 10-12 people, so we thought that would be a fun little get-away!  It had just snowed a few days before we went, so the scenery was gorgeous.  We enjoyed seeing the town, going on a nature walk to a waterfall, going out to eat, just hanging out at the house and going to a natural hot springs (which is what Steamboat is known for --  it's not just a heated concrete swimming pool, it's an all natural pool with rocks and gravel etc.  Some of the people there were all natural too... yikes!  Good thing it was dark outside w/ no lights).

One of the ski resorts at Steamboat

Our little neighborhood/house.  The place we stayed at was way nicer than what any of us are used to, but since it was the off season, it was cheaper than a hotel!  (We got the deal on Groupon)

 Trying on winter hats at a sports store

Played some "Just Dance"

This is Coy & Suzie's little boy Remington (or Remy for short).  He's all cozy and bundled up for the nature walk.  What a cutie.

Nature walk

Cool partially frozen waterfall

Group shot

I also took everyone's picture as a couple...

... and the Brody and Casey decided they wanted a couples picture as well.  Silly goofs.

Here's to living the high life for a weekend!  (Root beer in wine glasses)

Halloween 2012

We had a fun Halloween this year.  The weather was perfect (high 60's), so that was nice!

I like decorating for Halloween and I typically buy stuff after the season when it's on clearance, so I usually forget about it by the time the holiday comes around again, which makes it even more fun!  Here's what I had for this year:

Kitchen shelf

Windowsill Witch

Jar of glittery skulls

Ghost, bats and my favorite (in the picture frame): a bunch of skulls from the bone church we went to in the Czech Republic 2 years ago. 

Front door entry

Front porch

The fun started (for me) at my school where the kids did a parade at the end of the day to show off their costumes and get candy.  The Kindergartner's started it off and then they walked by each class going from 1st to 5th grade and added each class to the line.  They even walked outside and up and down the street going to each of the businesses nearby.  This is the kind of fun you can have when you work at a school in a really small town.  It was so cute to see all the kids in their costume and get so excited about the parade.

All the spectators

After work, I went home and got our costumes ready (well, I wore mine to work, but I got Brody's ready).  We dressed up as a Lady-bug and a Gentle-bug

Here's a close-up, mostly so you can see that Brody's bowtie is red w/ black dots -- a perfect fit!  I found it at Goodwill... what are the odds??

That evening, we went to our friend's house for dinner (soup and breadsticks), treats and Halloween activities.  I made these fun things (many thanks to pinterest):

Spooky Teeth (apples and slivered almonds)

Veggie-Skeleton (he didn't quite fit on my tray like I had hoped, but you get the idea)

Witches fingers (Peanut Butter, Sugar & Butter w/ an almond slice for the fingernail)  They look really gross but they're actually really yummy.

We decorated Haunted Houses -- which is similar to decorating a Gingerbread House, but you use Chocolate Graham Crackers, orange frosting (we just had white), and Halloween related candy.

Everyone's house

Me and Brod's final product

Here's the whole group

Left to right: Jane, Tarzan and their monkey,  Lady-bug and Gentle-bug,  PeeWee Herman and his Sheep, Bob from What About Bob  (his shirt says "don't hassle with me, I'm local" and he had a fish in a jar hanging from his neck - ha ha!), a "ceiling fan" (her shirt says "go ceiling"), Katniss and Peeta, In-'N-Out worker and athlete

Oh and here's a close up of the adorable Remy the Monkey

It was a great night!