Summer/Fall/Winter Update

Well I have fallen way behind keeping this thing updated, which is of course nothing new. But I thought I would take a minute and recap what has been going on with us the past few months.  Thankfully, I am better at taking pictures than updating the blog.

July......Sam and I took a spontaneous spur-of-the-moment trip to California and spent a 3 day weekend at Disneyland and the beach!

August......We took a trip to Lake Powell with the Nielsen's!  

This is what Kyle likes to do at Lake Powell!

This is what I like to do at Lake Powell!

This is what we like to do together at Lake Powell!

 September.....Headed to Vegas for a three day weekend and saw Wicked!

 

October....Halloween!! With Super-man, the one eyed monster, and the angry bird!

 November......Cirque Du Soleil date night!

 And oh yea.....in case we forgot to mention......  :)

I Thought the Rockies Would be a Little Rockier Than This

What is the first thing that you think of when you think of Denver? If you were like me before I had ever stepped foot in the city, you would probably say the Rocky Mountains! And that makes perfect sense. Just look at the logos of three of the city's professional sports teams.

Any logical person who knew anything about the city's sports teams, which was really all I knew about Denver until I moved here, would assume that the mountains are a big prominent part of the city. I mean there are three professional sports teams who's logos center around these mountains!
Well, let me tell you something.....

It's all lies.

There are mountains in Denver, that part is not a lie. But if you think you are going to come to Denver and have your breath taken away by the biggest most beautiful mountains you've ever seen....oh my are you going to be sorely disappointed. Because I will tell you something that the rest of the world won't. Denver....is flat! Now it is possible that my standards for mountains are a little high. I grew up in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a valley surrounded by mountains. Every day out of every window this is what I saw...

Kyle grew up in Southern California, and every day out of every window this is what he saw.....

And then we moved to Provo, and every day out of every apartment and classroom window this is what we saw......

So I will admit that maybe my standards were a little high. And clearly my expectations were WAY too high.  While making the long drive to Denver from Louisville I knew that I would see nothing but flatness between the two cities, but I had it in my head that once we reached Denver I would be overcome with these big beautiful snow capped mountains bigger and more beautiful than any mountains I had ever seen.  And then we got to Denver, unpacked our moving truck, spent our first night here, got up the next morning and went..."where are the Rockies?"  As it turns out, no one tells you that you can only see the Rockies if you are looking west, and that even if you are looking west, you have to squint really really hard and maybe you will see the shadow of the mountains way off in the distance. The Rockies are several hours further west than Denver! We are nowhere near them!!

I read somewhere before we moved here that the Rockies are much much larger than the mountains in Utah, and I am sure that that is probably true and I would be able to tell you if it was if Denver were actually anywhere near the Rockies and I could see them without binoculars.

I do love Denver as a place to live. It is a great city, and we love all the sports teams! But boy are you deceived if you think Colorado is a mountainous place. Denver is completely completely flat. No other way to put it. Beautiful....but flat.

As a side note, I have yet to make the 2 to 3 hour drive to Rocky Mountain National Park, and when I do so, let's hope that I can post about how beautiful and amazing these mountains really are. I hope they surprise me because so far the Rockies have very much underwhelmed me.

Hello Denver!

We have been in Colorado for about a month now and I finally have a day off where I don't have to unpack anything! Our first month has been a bit of a whirlwind between starting two new jobs, moving into a new apartment, and learning how to commute in Denver traffic. It is finally starting to slow down and I finally have a minute to think about all the fun and exciting things this past month has brought to us. We were so sad to leave our friends in Kentucky but I think that we will soon feel just as at home here in Colorado. We are lucky to have some family close by and what we think is a great new ward. Here are some pictures of what we have been doing this past month. 

Just arrived from Louisville! Seriously long drive!

First DU Lacrosse game at Mile High Stadium!

Celebrating Sam's graduation from BYU

Celebrating Eden's 2nd Birthday!

Hil's new office!

Kyle's New Office

Official DU Photo

Farewell Louisville

I have some major catching up to do on this thing and I am going to do my best to cover all of the major events in our life over the past few months. First of all, the biggest news is that we are no longer residents of Louisville. In April we up and moved to Denver! I would be lying if I said it was easy and all went smoothly and stress free, but overall there were no major hiccups and we are so grateful to be here safe and sound. We finally are unpacked and moved in and adjusting to a completely new life. Kyle is working at the University of Denver and I am working for Bank of Oklahoma. We are both getting adjusted to new jobs and Kyle is getting adjusted to working life vs. school life (working life is much much harder for the record), and overall we are finally starting to feel settled here. Here are a few pictures of some of my favorite memories in Louisville in our last month or so there. We miss you all!

Kyle's Graduation!

Louisville Baseball Game with Ashley and Ryan!

Celebrating Kyle's Birthday!

Louisville vs. Kentucky Final Four Match-up Madness!

Celebrating 2012!

Ice Skating with Friends!

Hilary's Birthday Dinner!

Last Trip to the Louisville Temple!

Goodbye to Blankenbaker Crossings!

Saying Goodbye to Louisville on our way to Colorado!

Thanksgiving Break 2011

I know it is February and I have fallen off the blog wagon for a couple of months but this is my attempt to get back on, starting with Thanksgiving!! We spent our first Thanksgiving in Louisville and it was great! We were able to spend this great day with our friends the Snyders and the Bakers. The food was fantastic! Everyone really nailed their part of the meal, especially the pies. I think we had enough pies for everyone to have their own! It was really a great day and if I had to spend a Thanksgiving away from my family I couldn't have asked for better people to spend it with. We had a great time with our friends enjoying the holiday. I also got my first real taste of black friday shopping this year and I think I may have a new addiction!

Vacation Destination #3: Marco Island, FL

I'm a little behind getting to this post but this trip was so great that it can't be forgotten.  At the end of August Kyle and I took off for a week of relaxation to Marco Island, Florida. This was our honeymoon spot so we were really excited to go back. Our daily schedule was pretty simple and consisted of the following:

1. Wake up
2. Walk to the beach
3. Lay on the beach
4. Repeat the next day

It was a pretty simple trip but we had a blast riding wave runners through the ocean, playing at the pool, falling asleep in the sun, trying new places for dinner, and just enjoying Kyle's last week of summer vacation. A special thanks for Allegiant Airlines who's $39 plane tickets made this trip possible. We hope to see you again Marco Island.

Vacation Destination #2: Nashville

The weekend after our trip to Indianapolis we took off to Nashville to see a Keith Urban concert. This was the first time either one of us had ever been to Nashville, and being the huge fan of country music that I am, I was pretty excited to see what it had to offer! We pulled into town and headed straight downtown to do some sightseeing before the concert. Our first stop was the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was cool, to be honest, it didn't blow me away. Maybe if I was 40 years older it would have, but for the most part most of the people inside were way before our time. My favorite display was at the very end where they had a Brad Paisley suit and a Carrie Underwood dress on display from the 2010 CMA awards. There was a lot of Elvis stuff, they actually had one of his old cars he used to ride around in inside. I think that was one of Kyle's favorite displays. We plan to hit up the Hall of Fame again in 40 years when all of the country stars we know are in and I am sure we will feel much more clued in as to who everyone is.  After the Hall of Fame we were starving and needed to find some food before the concert. There is literally a bar with a live country band playing on EVERY corner. These are probably fun if you have had a lot to drink, but we just wanted to get out of the heat and get some food so we decided to pass on checking out any of the bands. Instead we found a Hard Rock Cafe and enjoyed a nice dinner there.  From there is was over to the concert where I had a GREAT time. I don't know how anyone could not love Keith Urban. I was nervous about how much Kyle would enjoy himself but he seemed to really have a good time too. It was a great show! 

The next morning we decided we needed to check out the Grand Ole Opry before we left town. I'm sure it would have been much more exciting had we been there to see a show, but for the most part it's a very nice auditorium where all the country music greats have played. It's nothing too thrilling when you are there just to look at it, but I plan to return to see a concert there someday. Our next stop was Vanderbilt University. This sounds random but Kyle has a fascination with college campuses and really wanted to check it out. He mostly just likes to check out their football stadiums to be honest but we cruised around the whole campus just for fun. Pretty cool, doesn't compare to BYU but not bad. After that we hit the road and headed home.