Snow!

Last night when I went to bed I saw this dusting on the grass:

And when I woke up this morning we had this!

Crazy!  Especially considering it was over 80 degrees on Monday!  I'm starting to get used to snow in October after living in Colorado for five years.  I remember the second day I lived here (October 17, 2006) it snowed and I couldn't believe it!  I was just as amazed when it melted off in record time.  And just like usual, it's supposed to be back into the 60s in a couple of days.

Thankfully the high country got a lot of snow too...that much closer to ski season!

Go Cats!

This weekend we got to watch a great KSU victory over KU!  It's been so exciting to see the Cats do so well after several recent years of not doing so well.

Cheering must have really worn Ryan and China out.

Peanut and Mojo were content hovering by me while I made pumpkin cupcakes.  They know I'm not the neatest in the kitchen and will likely spill some yummy morsels.

That evening we went to Amy and Dion's for a delicious dinner.  Amy is pretty much Martha Stewart.  Homemade chicken pot pie...mmmmmm.

Later we had a fire because the weather was perfect for it.  I'm not sure Dion made it big enough though...

Ryan and all his friends (Lily was asleep already or she would have been in the picture too):

Me and all mine:

Someone felt sorry for me:

On Sunday I got to meet my good friend Dana for lunch.  We hadn't seen each other for WAY too long and we chatted and had a grand old time for several hours.  When I got home Ryan said he'd never known anyone to take a 5 hour lunch.  :)  I apparently was such a chatty Kathy I didn't even remember to take a picture of us!  Oh well.  That just means we have to get together again soon. 

Roller Derby

Over the weekend Ryan took me to the Roller Derby!  Ever since I'd heard about it I wanted to go and there were two Denver Roller Dolls bouts on Saturday night at the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield.  It was so much fun to watch!  I knew nothing about the rules before we went but it's pretty easy to pick up.  Basically, each team has a "jammer", which is the only person on the team that can score points.  The two jammers start several yards behind the rest of the "pack" (four from each team).  The pack tries to help their jammer through while hindering the other teams jammer.  Once a jammer gets through she earns a point for each opposing team member she passes again on the track.  The first jammer to pass through the pack has the ability to call off the "jam" at any time to keep the opposing team jammer behind her from scoring any points.  It really is a full contact sport and seems very strenuous but also super fun.  I told Ryan I thought it would be fun to do and that he should take me to the roller rink sometime so I can brush up on my skating skills.  He seems less enthused than I am.    

The first bout was Werewolves versus Vampires as you can see on the scoreboard and the second bout was Zombies versus Monsters.  It was so cute how everyone was dressed up!

My best tough roller girl face:

Before the bouts we tried out the German restaurant Golden Europe.  Yummy.  Ryan enjoyed some liver meatball soup, which sounds disgusting but I tried it and it was actually really good.

 We ordered a strawberry dumpling for dessert because we kept hearing how good they were and everyone was right. 

Also over the weekend we got to enjoy an evening out at Tilted Kilt with some of Ryan's out of town colleagues.

Another great weekend for R and R!

Rock 'n Roll

Yesterday, Ryan and I participated in the Denver Rock n' Roll half marathon relay.  The first leg of the relay was 7.8 miles and started in Civic Center Park in downtown Denver and ended in City Park where the 5.3 mile second leg began.  Naturally, when I signed us up for the race I assigned Ryan the first leg.  :)  I signed us up six weeks ago when I found out about the relay from my company, which sponsored any employee (and spouse) that was interested in running.  Ryan and I had previously finished Rock 'n Roll series half marathons and marathons but had never done the relay.  We ended up getting 10th place out of all 219 relay teams, which included men only, women only, and coed teams.  We were pretty excited about our top 10 finish!  And we had so much fun!  It feels great to aim for a goal and then reach it, and it doesn't hurt that the goal gets us outside in our gorgeous surroundings.

Here are some pictures from the Expo at the Convention Center on Saturday, where we picked up our bib numbers, timing chips, t-shirts, and relay baton, which was a drumstick.  There were also a ton of vendors at the expo with freebies and goods for sale.  We snagged some yummy snacks and I got a cute glittery purple Sweaty Band to hold my hair back (it worked great in the race) and Ryan got some new running gear. 

We thought these shirts were funny.

Here we are after the race on Sunday!

And here are all but three of the people that my company sponsored.  The company even gave us cool shirts for the event that Ryan and I slipped on after we were done running.  It was chilly enough that morning it felt great having three long sleeved shirts on!

Also over the weekend we listened to K-State beat Mizzou.  I say listened to because ABC decided to play the Penn State/Iowa game on TV instead of of K-State/Mizzou, which made total sense to us because Iowa and Penn State are farther away from Colorado and neither team is ranked.  (Sarcasm intended).  Apparently we could have watched it on ESPN3.com but we didn't find that out until after the game so this is Ryan listening to the game. 

We also went to a couple parties over the weekend, one to welcome a friend's new baby and one to welcome a friend's daughter home from an 8 month overseas tour in the Navy.  I don't have pictures of either party but I do have a cute picture of China I can share.

Weekend Pictures

In addition to our Lost Lake hike over the weekend, we got to enjoy pho (pronounced "fu" like "fun" without the "n""), my new obsession.  Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup that I recently tried for the first time and I can't get enough of it.  Bless Ryan's heart for humoring me and taking me out frequently and not being embarrassed when restaurant workers know who I am..hey, it's like on Cheers where everybody knows my name!

I also went with a friend to the Denver School of Massage Therapy for half price massages.  Normally they charge $25 but last weekend it was only $12.50 for a one hour massage.  I absolutely love massages and think they can really help you feel better so I jumped at Marlene's invitation.  Below we are sitting inside the school waiting for our massages.

While I was away, Ryan worked out, washed all the windows on the inside and outside of the house, replaced the pump in our fountain, filled the pond with rocks for easier maintenance, and I'm sure did about eight other things that I don't know about.  I don't know how he does a million things in the time it takes me to get one thing done but I imagine it has to do with his high energy level.  I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with my ability to be easily sidetracked.

Here is Peanut watching Ryan wash the windows.  And we wonder why we can't keep flowers alive in those pots.

Here is Peanut thanking Ryan for fixing the fountain by drinking out of it.  Later a squirrel came down and drank out of it but we didn't get a picture of that.

And here's me after my massage.  I was supposed to be folding laundry but clearly Ryan caught me doing otherwise.  And China decided to join me apparently.

Really China is just happy to be sleeping anywhere that is soft and cushy so I don't know why she wanted to sleep right there.  Hmpf.  Here she is sleeping with Ryan.  (Yes, he actually does sleep).

And here she is sleeping on this lumpy pillow with Peanut.  Before anyone asks, no I didn't wash the actual pillow.  I just washed the pillow case and when I shoved the pillow back inside it was all lumpy like that.  Who would actually wash a pillow?  Especially after being ridiculed for the past several years after trying it once?

Lost Lake

Yesterday Ryan and I went on the Lost Lake hike outside of Nederland to see the fall colors.  In Colorado high country, there are about two weeks out of the year where you can see the aspens changing to a bright yellow.  It is so beautiful to see, especially in contrast to the green pines.  The hike did not disappoint.  There were tons of aspens, flowing streams, and of course, the "lost lake" at the top.  We had a wonderful time and both would love to do this hike again.