Thanksgiving in Denver

This is our beautiful turkey Golden. (we named it Golden because it was going to be golden brown when we ate it). I was so excited to get our first turkey together. When we were at the store I secretly wanted to lift it up over my head and do a crazy "yip yip yip." I did manage to contain my excitement at the store, barely.

Here goes Golden into its sauna. Cook Golden, cook!

Golden did cook. And look it turned out golden brown and delicious!

This is our table with all the food on it. You will notice that our center piece is a festive looking pie pan. A certain somebody (whose name rhymes with penny) would not let me get a beautiful harvest bouquet for our center piece. Declaring that we would not have room on the table. (but really this person was just being a holiday scrooge).

While we have been living here in Denver we have not had much room to put up our table, just using a card table that we can set up and take down, today we moved stuff around to make room for our table. And it's a good thing we did, because we had a lot of food. We made turkey, rolls, yams, mashed potatoes, we had a little relish plate, and a pretzel jello salad. (My very first jello making experience. and it was delicious). This is our before shot. (and yes those are turkey's on our plates).

Kenny eating a heaping spoonful of mashed potatoes. When we normally eat dinner it takes us about 10 to 15 minutes to eat. But I was determined that if we were going to spend two days making this meal we were going to eat for at least 30 minutes. So that's why Kenny looks a little full, because we hadn't made it to our time limit. Plus, it is a Thanksgiving tradition to eat so much that you feel like you are going to explode. (And we did make it 30 minutes and it was easier than I thought it was going to be. Though I did do most of the talking and Kenny did most of the eating).


This is our after shot. If you look closely you'll see that the food barely has a dent in it. Looks like we'll be eating Thanksgiving for a week! Though on the plus side clean up was really easy. The containers we put the food in all had lids, so all we had to do was put a lid on them and put them in the fridge. We didn't even mean to do that, it just worked out that way. Which was just awesome.

Several hours later we at our pies. Pumpkin for Kenny and chocolate for Megan. And yes that is our turkey that you see. I thought it would be fun if we just left it out for awhile so we could pick at it. And I'm glad we did, because I really enjoyed picking at it. I probably at more doing that than at the actually dinner. Kenny was still feeling to full to really enjoy it.

Our first Thanksgiving was a success!!

Oops

Since I've been married I've filled up the car two maybe three times. Pretty much because I have an amazing husband that does it for me, or I wait until the next time that he drives the Pontiac (hereafter known as the Beast) so he will take care of it. For two days the car has been beeping at me that it was low on fuel. But I just ignored it and carried on my way.

Yesterday, I made my all the way over to the library with the light on. Only to get to the library to remember that it was Veteran's day. Curse you library! (Imagine my fist shaking in the air).

I knew it was Veteran's day. They had talked about it on TV all morning long. I knew that November 11th was Abbie's birthday/Veteran's day. But still I got in the car and drove all the way the library (stupid library) and drove all the way back with the light blinking at me.

When Kenny got home from school last night I casually mentioned that the car was out of gas. He just turned to me and said, "Did you fill it up?" I just laughed and replied, "No". In which case he just rolled his eyes at me. (he'll tell you he didn't but we both know he did). I was secretly hoping that he would take the Beast to school and fill it up. No such luck. The task fell to me.

So today I had to go back to the library (stupid library) to get my books that were on hold. After putting it off all morning I finally dragged myself outside and climbed into the car. Two minutes later the car beeped at me. "Lame" I thought, because of course I had forgotten the car was out of gas.

There is a gas station close to our apartment, like practically across the street, but to get to it I would have had to turn left, but to get to my destination I wanted to turn right. I didn't want to back track (or make a left turn from the gas station because it's hard to turn left there. Though the more I think about it I don't think I can turn left from that gas station.) so I went right saying to myself "I'll stop at the first gas station I see" Because after turning right I suddenly realized that I had no idea where there was a gas station. On the way to the library (stupid library) it's mostly residential and I didn't remember ever seeing a gas station. So I started thinking to myself "I could probably make it to the library and back without worrying about it."

About a mile away from the apartment the Beast chugged and started slowing down. I was like "Noooo, please don't die on me." I knew I should have just turned left. I started picturing myself stranded in the middle of the road, having to call Kenny and explain to him what had happened. Then waiting for him to come and get me. Right when I thought this was all going to happen, the Beast got a second wind and started going again. I came around the corner and behold a 7/11. It was sketchy looking and normally I probably wouldn't have gone there, but at that point I didn't care. It was a miracle! Hooray for the scary 7/11!

I got back into the car to continue on my quest to the library (stupid library). Thinking to myself "Well that was a fun little adventure." I was cruising along down the road, just listening to the radio smiling to myself enjoying the feeling of getting out of a potentially bad situation. Suddenly, the area did not look familiar. The houses, the road, the trees all looked out of place. I hit a T in the road that I have never seen before and was forced to turn right. Now this is not the first time I've gone to the library (stupid library) since I've been here. I go all the time. And I go the same way. I grabbed my cell phone and called Kenny. (Luckily, I had my phone. The last time I got lost I didn't have it).

As soon as he answered I started screaming "I'm lost I'm lost." (And this is why I have a great husband, he didn't laugh at me), he just calmly asked "what road are you on?" "I don't know, I'm lost , I'm lost. Oh wait I'm coming up on 6th" After that he was able to help me get back to the right road. I had driven right through the road I was suppose to turn on. He stayed on the phone with me until I knew where I was. Luckily, Kenny has a map in his head. But after all that I did manage to make it to the library (stupid library) and made home in one piece. Now that I'm home and safe I won't be leaving for the rest of the day, unless Kenny drives. I'll just sit here on the couch and enjoy the books that I got.

Snow Day!

So, it was a couple of weeks ago and since then we have days in the 80's, but we had a winter snowstorm in the middle of October. The storm lasted 2 days and we ended up with a foot and a half of snow! The storm was bad enough that they sent everybody home at 1:00 on wednesday. The next they called off the whole day as a snow day. Megan and I just spent the whole time inside out of the storm which is why all the pictures are taken from our apartment. It was really hard to get back into the swing of things after a day and a half off from the school. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come!

Wicked

A couple of weeks ago we went and saw Wicked. I was so excited that we got to go. I've been wanting to see it for years. And it didn't disappoint. I would go to it again and again. It was so much fun to go to. Can't wait until I get to see it again. This video is with the original Broadway cast, Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. Enjoy.

Elk Season

Hurray!!!

Another post that has been a long time coming. Megan's family has a tradition of visiting Yellowstone National Park to hear the elk bugle around the start of October. So, since we are off by ourselves we decided to carry on the tradition and visit Rocky Mountain National Park.

There was definitly elk to watch, but there was ton of people as well. I guess we decide to visit during Estes Park's Elk fest. The place was just packed. It was wonderful. We just parked the car in a valley that had a couple of different herds and just watched and relaxed.

There was some bugling but not a lot and the bulls were not as nearly as big as the ones in Yellowstone. However, we almost got to see one fight. Definitely a tradition we will do again next year.

The Rockies Game

Here I am standing in Coor's field home of the Colorado Rockies. We took the train downtown and then had to walk a mile to get to the stadium. So we were pretty excited to finally get there.

Oh look at cute Kenny sitting here in his seat. He looks so happy.

Look at that field.

This picture gives you a good idea of how good our seats were. We were in home run territory, too bad only one ball game close. :(

Aren't we so cute? We left the game at the top of the 9th, the score was 5, 2 Rockies. But by the time we made it to the train the Brewers had made three runs and tied the game, and the game went into extra innings. So ended up leaving as soon as the game was getting exciting. Oops our bad. But it ended up being a win for the Rockies anyway.

Red Rocks

It has been awhile since the last post. We have had a few events since the last time and visiting the Red Rocks Amphitheater. Just west of Denver, the Red rocks is a huge amphitheater that has been cut into the rocks.

We went on a Saturday morning and as you can see there are a ton of people. All of the people are running up and down stairs and seats and just all and all being ambitious and athletic.

Here is our wonderful Megan posing in front of some of the natural features. Maybe we will come back for a concert.

Glee

This is a new show on fox, about a bunch of school misfits singing in glee club. I would say the the show is ok, though it definitely has some good moments. Like this one.

Taste of Colorado

Our journey in Colorado continues. Every Labor Day weekend Denver has the Taste of Colorado. In Downtown Denver, on the steps of the Capital building, restaurants from around Colorado step up booths and showcase their food. They also have music and other typical fair vendors.
Of coarse, we had to chow down on some ribs because they are so delicious. We weren't very adventurous this time around such as trying fried alligator. Maybe next year.

We also have been telling ourselves that we should visit the capital building. So, got two birds with one stone with this trip; however, it was closed for the holiday. So, really we still need to go back and visit it.

This sign that Megan is so attractively posing in front of says "one mile above sea level." That is why it is called the "mile high" city. =)

We spent most of the time walking from one shady spot to another because it was hot out. It also made us go home a little earlier.

Again, another picture from the shade of all the people wondering around.

Here is Kenny on the train. We decided to take this downtown instead of driving and parking ourselves. It was nice and quick except on the way home when we were ready to get home and take a nap.

The Denver Zoo

All summer long I've wanted to go to the zoo, and we finally made it the other day. Yea!We made it to the zoo just in time for the sea lion show. I really enjoyed the show. Having never been to Sea World, I had never seen a sea lion do tricks before. It was a funny little show to watch. This is the backside of a turtle. I was to slow with the camera to get a rather picturesque shot of the whole swimming turtle. Much like the Hoogle zoo the Denver zoo has a rain forest/jungle building full of snakes, fish and other reptiles. They even had piranha I was very surprised to find out that piranha are sparkly fish. I always thought they were boring brown or something like that. They also had an anaconda that was the thickness of 1 1/2 of my legs. It was huge. I took one look at it and ran away to the next exhibit.

In front of the giraffes. They had a bunch of animals that I had never seen at a zoo before. Like a cheetah and hyenas. I am standing in front of an eland. (pretty sure that is what it was called). An animal that not only and I never seen but I had no idea that it existed. Playing on some bongos.

Kenny in front of the gorilla. This is a wildlife show that they had, it was mostly birds, but it was really fun to go to. The birds flew all over the place. When we went in we were told we had to stay seated through the whole performance, and it became quickly apparent. I thought I was going to be scalped by a hawk when it flew over our heads, and that is while we were seating. You can't tell very well, but there is a bird landing on that pole. I don't remember what kind of bird this was though. The bird flying here is a vulture. It was fun to see the different animals, and to see how well trained they all were. This is an African wild dog. Yet another animal that I have never seen in a zoo. They had a huge pack of them. And they also had a pack of wolves there. Remembering all these animals, I realize that we should have taken more pictures, to show to everyone. Next time we go to the zoo I'll take a bunch of pictures. :) All in all it was a wonderful day at the zoo, and I was glad that we finally went.

The Big Move

After months and months of waiting, the time finally came that we had to pack up everything and make the big move to Colorado. Here is Kenny packing up part of the kitchen. And this is our pile of stuff, or at least some of it. We rented a 14ft. truck, and had serious doubts about fitting it all into the truck.

This is the last night in our first home together. We lived here for almost two years, and it was a wonderful little place to start the beginning of our lives together. Our empty apartment. We were suppose to check out at 8 am, but our manager forgot about us. When we finally got a hold of our manager it was almost 9. But on the plus side I think she was a little lenient on the inspection. :)

Kenny behind the wheel of our Uhaul, pulling our little car. We got on the road about 10 and didn't get to our hotel until 830. It was a long drive. There weren't as many antelope this trip as there was when we went in June, so I couldn't even point them all out to keep myself entertained. Me, Nikki and Jeff outside of the truck at one of our pit stops. Jeff and Nikki were nice enough to drive our other car and help us move our stuff in. Unfortunately it wasn't the most exciting trip for them, but we were very grateful that they came out with us.

Unloading the truck.

This is the path that we had to walk to move everything in. The second set of stairs leads to our new apartment.Up these stairs. Here's Kenny at the top, looking handsome and tired. And then up another set of stairs. Luckily, it was only the twos sets of stairs.

Jeff hauling in one of the book shelves.

Nikki at the bottom of the stairs.

And me, lifting this oh so heavy box. I really thought I was going to strain something. It took us about an hour and half to unload the truck. I was so tired, and sweaty and gross, along with everyone else. But we got it all to fit. Now we just need to make it a little more liveable.