It's Been Awhile!

So sorry that's it's been so long since I've posted here!  I can't believe that February is just days away...it seems like New Year's was only a few days ago.  We've been pretty busy here lately.  It's funny, Matt and I used to talk about how life would slow down after the wedding and the move; we figured once October rolled around things would be slower.  Of course, we were wrong and things are still moving full speed ahead, full of excitement and adventure! :)

This week is Matt's last week at work where he is actually still working.  His terminal leave starts on February 17th but next week he will be taking the necessary steps to exit the Army and will not actually be working.  It's crazy that this day is almost here as it's something that we've been talking about and planning for so long.  We're entering into another chapter of our life and while we're nervous about the uncertainty, we're also incredibly excited to see what this new chapter holds for us.

I've been getting more and more comfortable at work these last few months on my own.  Unfortunately, lately it's been horribly busy and I've been exhausted after every shift.  I am still learning a great deal and it's providing me with some much needed experience.  However, I can't lie, it's a bit frustrating to feel so stressed and exhausted every time I go to work.  We've hired a few more night nurses though so I'm hoping things will get better.  I've also been sick for the last couple weeks (perks of working in a hospital) which didn't really help the situation.  There seems to be some sort of bug going around the city as a number of my colleagues had the same thing and so have some of our friends.

Here's a quick recap of a couple of our trips this month:

I went skiing for the first time out here at Winter Park.  I've skied before but it was years and years ago and certainly not on an actual mountain!  Matt signed me up for a full-day lesson which was incredibly helpful and really eased my nerves.  I actually got moved out of the beginner class shortly after we started and joined a more advanced class.  I also managed to stay on my feet all day and never fell, I'm pretty proud of that one.  Matt's a big skier and I'm certainly no where near his level (he's going skiing a number of times already this season), I'll definitely hit up the mountain again!

Ready to hit the slopes!

Getting some tips.

In action!

We also took a trip up to Estes Park a few weekends ago for their Winter Festival.  We were joined by some of our friends and we rented a cabin to stay the night.  It was a chili, wine, and beer tasting festival that had some great live music too.  We took Cooper with us and our friends brought their dogs as well so he had quite a fun time playing with the other dogs--it absolutely wore him out for the the next day!  We'd never been to Estes Park before and I have to say, it's absolutely gorgeous!!  We would love to head back up there and rent a cabin for a weekend this summer.

Beer, cupcakes, and great scenery.

All the boys.

The girls.

Matt is talking about going skiing again this weekend so I'll be sure to update with some more pictures if we end up heading to the mountain!

Happy New Year!!

2011 was absolutely an incredible year and it's hard to believe that it has already come and gone!  It was a year full of  joy, love, happiness, adventure, and new beginnings; I know that 2012 will be just as incredible.

I took a vacation to Hawaii in January to visit our
good friend Gina (my birthday gift from Matt)...

Matt returned home from Iraq in early March...

Great new friends were made...

In May, I graduated Summa Cum Laude from
Saint Louis University School of Nursing...

We were married on June 11th, a perfect day...

We traveled to Antigua for our honeymoon...

I moved out to Colorado in late June and finally found
a job as a nurse in August...

We traveled back to St. Louis in July and September to celebrate
the marriages of some of our dear friends...

We went on a number of Colorado adventures...

And, we celebrated our first Christmas together as
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph. :)

The new year is full of excitement, anticipation, change, promise, and even more adventure.  We truly appreciate all the love and support from our families and friends over the last year.  Happy New Year everyone!! 

A Colorado Christmas

A very merry belated Christmas to everyone!!  We had a lovely first Christmas as a married couple here in Colorado and hope that everyone else had a great holiday too.  I can't lie, it was certainly different spending the holiday out here just the two of us as I'm used big family get togethers.  However, it was nice to start developing some of our own holiday traditions for our new family.

I was fortunate to have both Christmas Eve and Day off work and Matt has two weeks leave for Christmas so we were truly able to enjoy all of the holiday together.  A number of our friends out here traveled home but our good friends Nick and Sarah have all their family here in the Springs and they were kind enough to welcome us into their family.  They have an adorable little girl who turned one on Christmas Eve and Friday the 23rd we went to her family birthday party.  It was lots of fun to watch her with the cake and presents--I swear all kids that age are more interested in the wrappings and boxes than the gifts.  Christmas Eve night we had a lovely dinner with Nick and Sarah's families again and attended church with them as well.  It really was so nice of their entire family to welcome and include us, and we greatly appreciated it.

Christmas Day I was up bright and early, ready to open gifts!  Matt on the other hand, had to be encouraged to get out of bed. :)  We took our time opening presents and had my aunt's skiers french toast for brunch.  There were a number of fantastic gifts: I surprised Matt with a record player and he got me photography classes.  We spent the day relaxing and just enjoying the fact that it was Christmas.  It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone, it's always a little bittersweet once it's over.  Time to start looking forward to the next Christmas! :)

Lots of presents under the tree!!

Cooper enjoying one of his gifts.

I think he likes it :)

The aftermath.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!

I cannot believe that we're just days away from Christmas...time has been flying by!!  Of course, it probably doesn't help that we've been so busy lately--I feel like that makes time seem to pass even faster.  Last week we saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert for the second time.  Three years ago, Matt surprised me with a trip to Kansas City to see them play right before Christmas.  Last year he was in Iraq or I'm sure we would have gone to see them then too.  They put on an amazing show that is so much more than just music: there's lasers and lights, videos and fire, moving stage parts and musicians running around the venue.  My favorite part though might be that they really look like an 80s rock hair band...I just LOVE it!!  It's so fun to watch them whip their hair around while rocking out on the guitar in tuxedos.  If you ever get the chance to see them, we highly recommend it!  Here's a few pictures from the night...I didn't get many good ones since we were on the floor and there were big heads in front of me. :)

Waiting for the show to start!

Rocking out!

Part of the stage came down from the ceiling and the
musicians performed on it while it moved back up!

Matt also had his interview for grad school in Boulder last week...we made an overnight trip out of it this time.  He did very well in his interview (no surprise there!) and said he felt great about how it went.  Now, we're just waiting to hear if he's been accepted.  I believe we should know in early January, so keep your fingers crossed and of course we'll let everyone know when we find out.  We really liked Boulder, it's a great town with a nice feel to it.  We ate an early dinner and then walked around to a few different bars and just tried to get a better idea of the town since it was a whirlwind trip the first time.  Here's a couple pictures from the trip:

Not sure the building, but it sure looks festive!

Happy Holidays indeed!

Enjoying the town and celebrating a great interview!

This past week, we've been making cookies and wrapping presents, essentially just getting all ready for Christmas.  We've also been enjoying all the snow that we've gotten the last couple days!!  It snowed Sunday night and then again all night Wednesday night and most of the day Thursday.  We had to get out and enjoy the snow and a trip to Garden of the Gods was a perfect way to do just that.  Cooper loves the snow (must be the Husky in him) and he gets crazy excited whenever it snows.  Garden of the Gods is a beautiful place on a regular day, but with a fresh coat of snow it's transformed into a whole different magical place.  There's just something so wonderful about walking through such beautiful nature and watching the snow fall.  These pictures don't do it justice, but do give an idea of why we love Colorado so much:

And, since this post has gotten so long, I will simply wish you all a very Merry Christmas and leave you with what may be my favorite picture of Cooper. :)

Snow dog :)

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree...

We successfully cut down and put up our Christmas tree this past weekend!  I grew up with the tradition of going to a tree farm, searching for that perfect tree (even if it took hours) and then cutting it down yourself (or rather watching my dad cut it down).  My family did it for years and years and then when I moved back home to my dad's after college, we started it up again!  Matt and I thought it'd be a great tradition to start in our own little family.  We found a tree farm about an hour south of the Springs in Pueblo and headed to check it out.  We brought Cooper along too...and he had an absolute blast.

This tree farm was a bit different from what I'm used to: it was owned by a family and was on their property, there seemed to be only one type of tree, and it didn't appear that they'd done much pruning of the trees as they grew.  However, the owners were incredibly kind, the prices were great, and you really can't beat cutting down your own tree.  There were even a few dogs there for Cooper to run around and play with!

Matt is ready to cut down a tree!

Cooper bounding down the aisles

It really didn't take us long at all to find a tree that we liked.  In fact, we found a couple different trees that were contenders pretty quickly and then had to narrow it down from there.

The winner!  

Matt was determined to cut it down himself...

And he did!

While we were busy tending to the tree, Cooper was busy trying to play with an adorable lab puppy...though the pup wasn't too sure about Coop. :)

The puppy is hiding between my legs from Cooper!

Later Saturday night we trimmed the tree and decked the halls!  It was so great to be able to decorate together since it was the first time we'd been able to do so.  We threw on some old school Christmas movies like the Grinch and then Rudolph, made some hot toddys, and embraced the Christmas spirit!  Here's some pictures of all the action:

Putting on the lights!

Just being silly

Time for ornaments!

The finishing touch, the star!

We don't have a fireplace mantle so we had
to find some other way to hang our stockings.

Whew, decorating takes it out of ya!

The finished product, in all its glory

We finally got the garland on the porch lit up too.

I'm so excited that our home is finally looking like Christmas!  :)

(PS-If you actually click on the pictures you'll be able to see them in a larger size.)