Memorial Day

Happy belated Memorial Day everyone, hope you all had a great long weekend!  While I realize that the actual holiday was Monday and today is Wednesday, we felt like we had an extra long weekend since I don't start work for the week until tonight.  We celebrated the holiday like most Americans do: beer, bbq, and friends.  Here in Old Colorado City there's an event called Territory Days that takes place every Memorial Day weekend.  For those of you in the Kirkwood area, it's basically like the Greentree Festival, but instead of being spread throughout a park it's crammed into three blocks of the main road which just happens to be a block from our house.  It's essentially a festival with live music and lots of vendors in tents selling food, jewelry, clothing, etc.  While it sounds all fine and dandy, it means that our neighborhood is overrun with people parking and walking to the festival.  Plenty of those people don't know how to park but they do make for good people watching.  Most people either hunker down for the weekend or get out of town.  We stuck it out. :)

Since we didn't plan to leave our house, we had a couple friends over some bbq at our place on Sunday.  Matt is quite the grill-master and made delicious burgers.  It was a great little get together with the couple of friends we have left in town.  Monday we joined our neighbors for the annual Memorial Day bbq/countdown to the end of Territory Days.  There was an abundance of great food and it was a nice chance to meet some more of the neighbors.  Matt was living here this time last year, but it was a first for me.  We really have been incredibly lucky to have spent our first year of marriage in such an awesome place.  This lovely home basically fell into our laps and it's just been wonderful.  I have to say, I'm going to be sad to move away from here and the great community we've become a part of.  I've lived in a number of different places and never had friendly neighbors but that certainly wasn't the case here.  Hopefully we'll have just as great an experience at the next place.  Speaking of which...

We have a new home to move into!  We spent the day yesterday apartment hunting in the area between Northern Denver and Boulder and after looking at a number of different complexes, we found one that we think will be great for us and we've got ourselves an apartment.  Moving to another house would have been ideal for us and the dog, but the cost of living up there is so much greater than it is here that a house really wasn't feasible.  Luckily, this complex is very dog friendly and near both a dog park and open spaces so Cooper will still get plenty of exercise.  It's great to have that big thing checked off the list.  Now, I just need to find a job! :)

Me and my girl Mallory.

Funnel Cake...the only reason I wanted to
venture into the crowd.

Matt manning the grill.

Hope all is well with everyone, we'll be seeing those of you in St. Louis in just under five weeks!! Xoxo! 

Long Time, No Talk...

Apologies for the lack of posting in the last month--our normally slow schedule seemed to be jam packed these last few weeks and we've been unusually busy.  So, get comfy because this is going to be a rather long post. :)

First off, I cannot believe we are approaching the end of May!!  In roughly five weeks we'll be packed up and moved out of our home here and heading back to St. Louis for some much needed time with family and friends before moving up to the Boulder area.  It truly seems like just yesterday we were moving Cooper and I into this house and now the time has come to pack up and move on to the next chapter.  That means apartment hunting up north in the Denver/Boulder area and the fun process of applying for a new job for me.  I've currently applied for four different jobs at three different hospitals so cross your fingers and send some good mojo my way!!

Now, on to what we've been up to for the last month.  My mom came out to visit the first weekend of May and we had a blast.  It was great to have her out here for a few days and catch up.  We did a lot of hiking and walking around, drove up Pikes Peak, did some shopping in Old Colorado City, and spent our nights enjoying the great weather on our front porch.  Here's a few pictures from her trip:

A gorgeous reservoir on the drive up Pikes Peak.

People actually ski down those chutes in the mountain!!

At the Summit...where it was rather cold!

We found Big Foot.

Hiking Garden of the Gods...Cooper still thinks
he's too good for the camera.

The following weekend, I had my first concert experience at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison.  Sadly, it was a cold and rainy night which didn't make for the most pleasant evening but we sucked it up, got a bit wet, and enjoyed some good music.  We're attending another concert there next month when some friends come in town and I am certain Mother Nature will be more cooperative then.  I didn't take any pictures because 1) it was raining and I didn't want to get my camera wet and 2) my hands were too cold to remove from my pockets.

Last week, our dear friend Gina came for a whirlwind visit.  Matt met Gina shortly after moving out here years ago and she and I instantly hit it off when we met.  Gina started dating Matt's roommate Johnny about the same time that Matt and I started dating.  She was one of my bridesmaids and Matt and I are both part of the bridal party for her wedding to Johnny this August.  So, Gina was in town for three days with lots of wedding planning to do (they're getting married here in the Springs but both are active duty and stationed in Hawaii).  It was wonderful to be able to help Gina with her wedding plans as it brought back great memories of planning our wedding last year but without any stress. :)  Our days were full of wedding planning but we did manage to squeeze in a round of golf before Gina left...neither Matt nor myself are golfers so we were the chauffeurs. :)

It was an unusually cold day...we had to bundle up on the golf cart.

We were hoping not to get hit by this lovely weather...thankfully
it passed over us.

I attempted to play a hole while Matt purchased beer.

Typical.

Matt getting in on the action.

This past weekend, Matt and our friend Andrew took another crack at Pikes Peak...and this time they were successful!!  Thankfully the weather was much  better and so they were able to hike up to the top and caught the Cog Railway back down.  Pretty awesome that Matt can now say he's climbed a 14'er.

Hot chocolate and delicious donuts that they have in the shop
at the Summit...sounds like a great way to cap off a hike up a mountain. :)

So, if you've made it this far, that's a rough recap of our last month.  Hope all is well with everyone back home and we're looking forward to seeing y'all soon!! Xoxo!