It's About Time...

I figured since it's been over a year since my last post, I should probably update this thing! I think I get lazy since I put all my updates on Facebook, but here's an update for those of you still following!
This past weekend cousin Michelle, our friend April and I went camping up near Basalt, CO. We were in the White River National Forest on Chapman Dam and it was incredible!We went hiking, fishing and just relaxed around the lake. We originally had a pretty crappy campsite with no trees and no place to put a tent, but the camp host let us move and our view of the lake was so worth it!
Of course we made Tonka pies for supper - and even found a great new dessert combination: raspberry pie filling and dark chocolate! I think Dad would like that one!

Sunday we went hiking on the Henderson Trail toward Josephine Lake, but I wasn't feeling very well so Michelle and I only did about a quarter of it. I've had this nasty cold for the past week and hiking up at elevation was not helping it!

Monday morning I stayed back at camp and fished while the others went for another hike. I caught 4 lake trout after a very nice man gave me some advice on what bait to use. It worked! April and Michelle didn't believe me when I told them what I caught until I showed them. Those were some good looking fish! Hmmm, I think I'll grill them for dinner tonight...yummm..

The weekend before was the Susan G. Koman 3-Day for the Cure in downtown Denver. A bunch of girls from work and I were on the medical team and cheered on the 530 walkers who walked 60 miles in 3 days and raised over a million dollars for breast cancer research. Woo-hoo!

The pink tent city at dusk. A very cool experience to see 400 pink tents all lined up like that.

Ami, our fearless leader (and the girl I ride motorcycles with!) We had a blast!

The rest of the girls from work: Janice, me, Robin and Cheri.

Well, I think that's a pretty good update! Hopefully I won't wait another year to post on this thing...

Vacation!

What an amazing vacation! Amy, Karen and I had the best time - we needed the break from work and enjoyed every minute of our time off! We started out in Ft. Lauderdale the night before the cruise, and had an awesome view from our balcony on the 15th floor.

Karen is a wine aficionado and kept us drinking the good stuff all week! We went to a wine tasting near the hotel, and had a great supper of good cheese and great wine. Oh, and sushi!

Saturday morning we cast off on the cruise and spent all day at open sea. We stopped at Cayo Levantado in the Dominican Republic, St. Maarten, Antigua and Bahamas. My favorite was Antigua - the beach was gorgeous and the water looked almost green. It was so great just to sit on the beach and play in the water. We did some shopping in Antigua and took a taxi tour of St. Maarten, which was fun.

After we landed in Nassau, Bahamas, Karen and I got off the ship and flew to Freeport. We stayed right on the beach for an extra 3 days! It was so nice to wind down after all the parties and dancing on the ship!

Here are a few highlights from the trip!


Cayo Levantado, DR - see the ship in the background? It's huge!


The beach on Antigua.


Formal night on the cruise.


The pool deck on the ship.


Muster drill! Imagine 3,000 people all in life jackets! Hilarious.


Amy and I catching some rays.
At the resort in Freeport, Bahamas.

And now it's back to work. I picked up a few extra shifts since it's been so busy with the flu and everything. But today I was able to do a bunch of yardwork that I've been meaning to do for a while.
I planted some new flowers in the tree bed in the front yard - French Lavender and 'Tiger Eye' Rudbeckia.

And it was time for a little color in the backyard! I put new red mulch in the raspberries and hung 2 pots of pansies and geraniums. It looks so much better! Now if only the grass would spruce up...


And my favorite - a confederate jasmine! I put a trellis up and hopefully it will start climbing! I also found a few solar sun dial lights at Costco that look pretty cool, too.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to! Up next: building a dog run on the side of the house so the two pups stop digging up the yard! :)

Birthday!

I have the best friends! They took me out for dinner for my birthday tonight, and we had a great time! We went out for sushi - yum. I don't think I've laughed so much in a long time.

Suz enjoying her pina colada.

Me, Sasha and Amber - I love these girls!

Bob and Amy (he's so cute!).

A birthday toast with Suz.


And the best part is, Bob was so great today! He bought me flowers - orange roses, my favorite! - and chocolate and a new sweater. He's such a great brother! There's a reason birthdays only come once a year - if it was more often they wouldn't be as special! What a great day.

Mea Culpa

Has it really been 3 months since I last posted? How ridiculous! And what have I been doing with all my time, you ask? Well, it's been a nice balance of work and play, and here are a few pictures to prove the play part.

In January I switched from nights to a mid-shift (10a-10p) which is suiting me much better. I'm sleeping like a regular gal, eating better and even getting to the gym on a more regular basis. Kinda makes life more enjoyable, too!

Jessica, Justin, the boys and I went to Steamboat for a few days of rest and snow. We got about 3 feet in 4 days - lots of good powder to play in! I got to be the nanny while J and J went out for their anniversary. Philip turned 6 months while we were there, and is oh-so-cuddly. I love when he squishes his cheek against your face and just holds it there. Quite cute.


So we took some pictures of him to mark the 1/2 year occasion.


He really is quite a sweetie!

And I love those big blue eyes. I'm a little jealous of those wicked-long eyelashes, however...

Benjamin being his typical "cheesy" self. He's pretty good, too.

We took a few walks in the snow - it was so beautiful! Philip stayed warm wrapped up next to me, and even fell asleep. The picture below is one of my favorites. Love the snowflakes on his eyelashes.



Jessica bought this cool little sled for Benjamin, but he wasn't sure about it in the beginning. Ok, so he cried for the first half hour, but then liked it so much he didn't want to get out! Typical 2 year old!
A week after that trip, I flew down to Anniston, Alabama for FEMA training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness. Another nurse from the ER went with me, and even though we learned A LOT we had a great time, too! We met a lot of people who do the same jobs that we do, and were shown just how much work we have to do for the hospital!

In the suites for decon training - it was cool enough that we didn't get all sweaty and overheated. And I felt very loved when members of my team put popcorn in my boots and hair gel in my gloves. Ewww!
The facility had the coolest patient simulators - anything that you can do to a real person you can do to the dummies. They even have syringes with barcodes on them, and when you "give" them to the patient, the computer reacts accordingly. It's pretty amazing! I learned quickly that it's a lot harder to intubate and start IV's when you're in a rubber suit with 3 layers of gloves and a ventilation mask! I guess that's why we practice...

And last, but not least, we have adopted yet another pet! Jack is my friend Joy's Border Collie, and for now we're long-term babysitting him because Joy's husband is not a dog person. Inu and Jack have become siblings already - being that they're both herders they chase each other around the yard all day! It's nice to have Jack around so Inu has someone to keep her company during the day, and they're both really sweet dogs!


So that's the latest from this neck of the woods! Sorry to have taken so long; hope you liked the update!

Party!

Last week I hosted a wedding shower for my friends Joy and Dave. I'm going to their wedding in a week and a half, but we thought it would be nice to celebrate with people who couldn't make it to Wisconsin for the wedding. The funny thing is that of the 8 people who showed up, only 1 of them isn't going to be at the wedding. Oh, well!

Dave and Joy

There was lots of food, drinks and laughing - and even a little dancing! Plus it gave me a good excuse to really clean the house! We had a great time, and I can't wait to go to the wedding!

Here you go, Mom

I got a hint from Mom yesterday that I need to update the Blog. So this one's for you, Mom!


I got my hair chopped off a couple months ago, but haven't had any recent pictures to post. Until now! It's so easy to take care of and I think it's kinda cute. Although the ability to pull it back into a ponytail does have it's drawbacks! We'll see how long it goes before I grow it out...

The other new-worthy item is that I went to the doctor on Monday and was diagnosed with primary hypothyroidism. I'm relieved because it's nothing too serious, it's completely treatable and it explains a rather frustrating recent weight gain. Here's to living life better through pharmacology!

Well, that's it for the update - still working, doing the schedule for the ER and riding my bike. The next big event I'm looking forward to is my good friends Joy and Dave's wedding in Wisconsin in November. Yeah for taking a week off!

Long time...no blog...

I know, I know...it's been a while. I have no good excuses, only the lame one of being busy.

But here's a little update.

The girls and I went to a Rockies game when Michelle was in town.

Kelly and Lindy

A lot of fun, even if they're no where near as good as they were last season!

Me and April

And the latest big news, I finally got a motorcycle! I took a riding class the end of July and have been looking around since then. I put some money down on a Suzuki, but they strung me along for 4 weeks because the title wasn't cleared. And they had some pretty lousy customer service.

Then yesterday, on advice from Dad, I checked out the Harley-Davidson dealer here in Aurora. They were awesome! They sell some non-Harley motorcycles that they get on trade-ins. The sales staff was great and a couple hours later I walked out with a 2007 Yamaha V-Star 1100! Jessica dropped me off a little later and I had fun driving it home.

We went out to celebrate at Red Robin and then bought diapers at Costco - errands with Jessica is my typical Tuesday routine!

But when I get to hang out with this cutie, it makes me wish every day was Tuesday!