Birthdays and Baby Steps

From Mike: Has it really been over a year since I contributed to this blog? Man, I obviously suck at pulling my weight around here. Anyway, here’s what 2012 has brought to the Nishi household so far… We returned to Winter Park in January for our annual ski trip. We were fortunate to stay in the same house that we rented two years ago, which to our surprise and delight was newly equipped with ping-pong and air hockey tables! We enjoyed a fun and relaxing weekend of laughing, lounging, and sledding with friends, and got to soak up the beauty of God’s wintery creation, which we all so often take for granted. As most of you know, with the pending arrival of Baby Nishi #2, Kelly and I decided to put our townhouse on the market last August. Well, after our first two offers fell through, we were beginning to believe that God didn’t want us to move after all. However, after 6 months of praying and waiting on God to deliver, we finally got a third (cash) offer, which we eagerly accepted. Although the whole experience was an emotional roller coaster of real estate woes, and a true test of our faith and patience, in the end God was faithful. He also gave us the new house we had been eyeing, a quick and painless loan approval, and the best mortgage rate our lender had seen in over two decades! What do you know? Jesus wasn’t kidding when He said that if we believe, we will receive whatever we ask for in prayer! We closed on both properties on February 10th and began moving into our new digs that same day. After a myriad of address changes, utility transfers, furniture-arranging, picture-hanging, wall-painting, and weed-pulling, we’re finally starting to settle down, and are enjoying the process of transforming the house into our home. March was a month of celebrations that began with our 4-year anniversary! Fortunately, our anniversary always falls during Denver Restaurant Week, so we get an opportunity to eat at a restaurant that’s typically out of our price range. This year, it was the Vesta Dipping Grill in downtown Denver. The March celebrations also included two other anniversaries and five birthdays, including mine. Since I was turning 30 this year, Kelly figured that I should experience as many adventures as possible beforehand; lest I have any regrets as I ring in a new decade, and mourn the loss of my youth. As a result, she planned five surprise “adventures” for me to enjoy each weekend until I officially turned “old.” (Apparently, partaking in most of these activities when you’re six months pregnant is frowned upon, so poor Kelly was forced to sit out) The first weekend, Beth and I went indoor skydiving! After a short tutorial on proper skydiving position, we suited up, and stepped into the wind tunnel and were blasted upwards by winds up to 200 mph! It was quite an experience floating around the clear glass tube, and trying not to do a face-plant into the mesh of wire that made up the floor. Overall, it was a great time, and I can’t wait to go back! The next adventure was a trip to an indoor bouldering gym called The Spot. Daniel and I went to the gym in North Boulder and pretended to know what we were doing as we climbed around on the rocks and tried not to make fools of ourselves. After a taxing few hours of straining muscles we haven’t used in years, we admitted defeat, and headed home exhausted and sore, but motivated to return. The third adventure took us down to Morrison to a go-kart track; only these weren’t ordinary go-karts. These particular karts can go up to 55 mph! Joined by Matt, Carter, and Beth, I geared up, (with jumpsuit, full helmet, gloves, and even an anti-whiplash neck brace) and were escorted to our karts. Racing around the track in those karts made 10 laps fly by, but it was insanely exciting, and the experience is one I hope to repeat soon. Adventure #4 was a day of snowboarding at Winter Park. Jacob and I headed up early one Friday morning, ready for a full day of gnar-shredding. Unfortunately, we were greeted by a mountain covered with sub-par snowfall, consisting of mostly icy packed-powder. As the sunny day went on, the ice turned into slush, and made for even less desirable conditions. After lunch, we decided to call it a day and head home. Despite the uncooperative terrain, it was great to get outside, get some exercise, and enjoy the scenery. The fifth and final adventure, and my personal favorite, was a round of golf at Arrowhead Golf Club in south Littleton. I met up with Alex, and thoroughly enjoyed the amazing scenery, the amenities offered by the all-inclusive course, and actually managed to play a decent game. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present! I was also fortunate to spend the day with Alex because later that day Kelly and I attended his going away party. Earlier in the month, Alex was offered a job as the site pastor for a church in Asheville, North Carolina. The bittersweet news brought mixed emotions of happiness and excitement for Alex’s opportunity to further pursue his calling, but also deep sadness because it meant the inevitable dissolution of our tight-knit church here in Denver. While we will sorely miss Alex, Katey and Josiah, and cherish the times we got to spend together, we are now plagued by the arduous task of finding a new church. We rounded out our March by attending Amy and Zack’s wedding in Estes Park, which also gave us an opportunity to spend a night at the historic Stanley Hotel! In other news, Olivia turned 1 on April 4th! It’s hard to believe a year has passed since that unforgettable day in the hospital. Kelly and I fall in love with our sweet little girl more and more everyday as she continues to grow, learn, babble, and develop a personality of her own. It’s amazing how becoming a parent changes you. I think Kelly and I are better people for it, now that there’s a little person in the world that we are solely responsible for. Neither of us are the center of attention any longer, and perhaps that’s a good thing! Around that same 1-year milestone, Olivia took her first steps! It’s amazing, and also pretty funny, to watch her waddle around trying to keep her balance. It’s a good thing she’s got that puffy diaper to break her fall! Now if only she’d grow some teeth! Kelly is now officially in her third trimester of pregnancy with baby Nishi #2. (Just to clarify, that’s #2 in chronological order, not preferential order…) Despite the unrelenting discomfort, Kelly has managed to maintain a positive attitude, and is looking great! The baby is measuring normal, has a strong heartbeat, and according to Kelly, is constantly moving. We can’t wait to meet her in June! Well, that’s a wrap. Until next time!

2011 Wrap-up

How many changes can one year bring? Well, we gained a family member, had a baby, bought a house and then started growing a second baby. Still with me? I will elaborate.

In January, we went on a ski trip to Frisco where we enjoyed the slopes and the company of good friends, as well as our last chance for a childless getaway. We followed the ski trip with an outstanding baby shower hosted by our best friend, Beth, and attended by all our loved ones. My mom married her college sweetheart, Lynn Wright, on March 11th in a small ceremony in Lafayette and a third legit grandfather was in place for the impending arrival of…

Olivia Rosalyn Nishi! Born on Monday, April 4th at 7:51pm, she was 7 pounds and 19.5 inches long. Labor only lasted about eight hours and went very smoothly. We were happy to deliver at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette where we stayed two days before bringing home the new center of our world.

After Olivia was born, our life was a whirlwind of loving visitors bringing us meals, doing our laundry (thanks, Heather!) and taking care of the baby while we slept. We felt so incredibly blessed to have so many helpers at a time when we felt like we were completely clueless.

By June, we were finally starting to get the hang of things well enough to get out of the house, so we attended Deborah and Charles’ wedding in Boulder. Once I returned to work, I was off to Houston and DC on business trips and learned how incredibly hard it is to leave my little girl. When I got back, we went on vacation with Mike’s family to Glenwood Springs for Floyd and Suzanne’s 60th birthdays. One highlight of the trip was a segway tour we took to an overlook up the mountain. Olivia’s highlight was her first dip in the water when we took her to the Glenwood Hot Springs. Upon returning to Denver, we took Olivia to a Rockies game with Mike’s work and participated in a music class, which she loved.

In July, Olivia took her first trip out of the state—to see her grandparents in Wyoming. While Mike and I spent most of the trip fading into the background while the grandparents doted over Olivia, we also went fishing and enjoyed the fresh air. August had us back up to the mountains for a church retreat in Vail where Olivia tried her first solid food and enjoyed fun a trip to the pool. The pool trip was so successful, in fact, that we have since signed her up for a swim class, where she’s having fun splashing and learning to float.

September was Olivia’s first time on an airplane—to Arizona. We visited Phoenix, Sedona and Flagstaff, where we spent time poolside (again), visited a cave with its own underground hotel room and saw the Grand Canyon!

When we got back from our trip, I joined a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group where I’ve met lots of other moms. I took a quick business trip to LA, Mike took one to DC and then the fall got even better when two dear friends had babies of their own. Lindsey and Anand were blessed with Sophia Viveka and then Hannah and Simon welcomed Keturah Leigh.

The fall rounded out with one last business trip to DC for Mike and then one for me too. We celebrated Thanksgiving by heading back up to Wyoming—enjoying Crystal’s cooking and watching lots of football.

In December, we are looking forward to Justin and Lauren’s nuptials in Denver and then Vince and Saranga tying the knot in New Jersey. We plan to spend Olivia’s first Christmas at home in our new house! This summer/fall we sold our house and bought a new one in Suzanne and Floyd’s neighborhood, which is near where we are now. It’s got a yard, a basement, a bigger garage and more rooms, which is good because… we’re expecting another baby!!

To our complete surprise and joy, we found out recently that Baby Nishi #2 is due June 14th. We are excited to be growing our family and can’t wait to find out the baby’s gender this January.

The year always seems so busy when I pack it all into one letter! I promise we also spent countless hours lazing on the couch watching Grey’s Anatomy and staring insatiably at our perfect, beautiful daughter. Mike is still working as an auditor for the Department of Defense and I’m working part time as a marketing consultant at MWH (a construction company), as well as for 252 Basics (an elementary-age Sunday school curriculum). We’re attending Eikon, a small church in Denver, and really enjoying the close relationships it has brought us.

We wish you all the best and hope that you are seeing God work in wonderful ways all around you. Have a happy and blessed holiday season and please give us a call or drop us an email. We are so happy to have you as a part of our lives and as a part of our kids’ lives. Mike and I truly hope you know how much you mean to our family.

At Least I Got a Blog Done Today

I am totally baffled by how people do all the things we are supposed to get done.

For example, there are the obvious things, like every day we have to eat and sleep. And we are supposed to brush our teeth and shower and do our makeup (I guess now "we" mostly means girls). But, you really should also workout and read and do your "quiet time" and water the plants and apply sunscreen and pick up all the junk off the floor. And that's daily.

Then there's the stuff you're supposed to do once a week-- laundry, cleaning, bill paying, grocery shopping... And the bonus stuff-- deep conditioning, nails, meal planning... and that's not even counting all this other random stuff like changing the furnace filter and recycling and cleaning the humidifier and remembering to get an oil change and scraping the orange goo off the bottom of the fridge.

Plus if you have a pet you have to feed them, clean up after them, brush them, give them medicine when the need it, and make sure they have enough water.

And kids? Oh. my. goodness. Millions of tasks seem to be involved with keeping a child fed, dry and happy.

Are you overwhelmed yet? I'm so overwhelmed! And I feel like every day I read or hear about something else I'm supposed to be doing that I never knew I was supposed to do. Like pluck my eyebrows! I had no idea one was supposed to pluck their eyebrows until a few years ago! So now I'm periodically spending precious seconds I will never get back worrying about how my EYEBROWS look!

And simple tasks seem to be getting more and more complicated. Now instead of just brushing my teeth, I'm supposed to brush, floss, rinse and then apply floride-- TWICE a day!

Not to mention not all of these tasks come easily. So then I spend 30 minutes on the computer trying to figure out how I am supposed to get chocolate stains out of my sofa only to realize now I'm out of both time and energy to actually get chocolate stains out of my sofa...

Seriously I have no idea how people get everything done. Especially considering that in the midst of all this I have to work and sleep and drive places and stand in lines. And I really WANT to spend time with friends and my daughter and my husband. But it all takes time and there's only so much time.

I just keep telling myself that there is no way everyone does everything they are "supposed" to do because I definitely do not. In fact, I usually just give up and sit on the couch with a popsicle, telling myself I'll finish the laundry tomorrow. Which is probably why my clothes always smell like mildew.





So, any ideas for getting things done? How do you keep track of everything you "need" to do?

Olivia's World

We had our baby girl--Olivia Rosalyn Nishi--on Monday, April 4th at 7:51pm! She was exactly 7 pounds and was 19.5 inches long. It was crazy because when I was thinking before she was born about how big I'd make her if I could choose, I was hoping for 7 pounds, 20 inches. With her hair standing up straight, she was right on target! She looks a lot like Mike in my opinion, except she has a pouty little girl mouth and my ears. I already get sad thinking about some boy wanting to kiss her lips because they are so adorable. I told Mike that I don't want to give her away to some stupid boy when she gets bigger! But he reassured me that we have plenty of time to worry about that...

The day she was born was my first day of maternity leave. I woke up early that morning, but decided to go back to sleep. I figured just in case I went into labor, I'd be glad for a few more hours (and I was). I got out of bed around 10:30 and went to take a shower. I felt completely fine and normal until around 11:00 when I got out of the shower and started feeling contractions. The contractions quickly got extremely intense and I texted Mike to come home. I still wasn't sure I was in labor, but I was in enough pain to at least need help moving around. I called the doctor and she told me to come to the office for a labor check at 1:30. Mike got home around 12:30. We finished packing our bags and I picked up the house between contractions because I didn't want her to come home to a messy house (evidently pain makes you crazy). The contractions had evened out by this point and actually were farther apart than they had been, so I started to worry this was a false alarm. We went to the doctor anyway and it was a good thing we did because she gasped when she checked me-- I was already 7 centimeters (out of 10). She told me to go to the hospital immediately-- do not pass go, do not stop!

When we got to the hospital, there were nurses waiting in the hallway for us, welcoming us by name. It was great! I must have looked pretty pathetic because three people tried to give me a wheelchair on the way to the OB wing, but I insisted on walking. When I got settled in I was at 8 centimeters and told them I was ready for an epidural. They got my IV in and the epidural was next. It wasn't as painful as expected (maybe just compared to the contractions) and once it was in, I was in heaven--other than being itchy from the narcotics. I still hadn't eaten since dinner the night before, but you can't eat in labor, so they gave me a Popsicle and I was an extremely happy camper. By now it was about 3pm and we decided to start calling/texting people. Everything was looking good so the nurses basically let us be and we hung out with Beth, Heather, Daniel, my mom and her husband. I didn't want the TV or anything, so we all just chatted and I made everyone listen to stories about when I was born.

Around 5pm, they came to check me again and said I was at 10 centimeters! They said I could start pushing or I could wait for the doctor. My water still hadn't broken and I figured it would make pushing quicker to give the baby more time to drop lower, so I decided to wait. At 7pm the doctor came in and broke my water and then we started pushing about 30 minutes later. Luckily this easy baby wanted out ASAP. I only pushed five times, for about 20 minutes, and she was born! Labor had lasted about eight hours. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of thick meconium (baby poo) in the amniotic fluid, so they had to take her to the warmer right away and pump it all out of her. I have a phobia of choking and I couldn't believe she was already choking the minute she was born! Everything turned out okay, though. They got her suctioned and then brought her to me. I was so scared I couldn't stop shaking. I felt like she was going to break! Soon, family and friends came in for a "meet and greet." There were lots of pictures and everyone passed her around for about 15 minutes before we said goodbye so we could start feeding. Feeding went well, we transferred to our new room and got settled in for the next two nights.

The nurses at the hospital were amazing and I would definitely recommend Exempla Good Samaritan. There was so much support and they were all like friends. Two nurses told us to have another kid right away so they could see us again and a third nurse came in to see me at the end of her shift because she wanted to give me a goodbye hug. Everyone was also gaga over Olivia. Our nurse brought in another nurse from the department so she could see the adorable baby her coworkers had been talking about and another couldn't believe she wasn't a c-section baby because of her perfect little head. Turns out you can subsist on a diet of mexican food and pizza for your entire pregnancy and still have a kid that turns out okay. Who knew! Speaking of food, the hospital had great food and sent us home with a full lasagna meal when we left. Ahh... I miss the hospital...

Since then, things have been going pretty well, though. We got home on Wednesday night and tried to get settled in with a new set up. We've had some trouble with feedings and a lot of things about the whole process have been very very painful, so I'm trying to work through that. Today I'm feeling better, though, and am trying to feel human again by getting up and around the house a bit. I've probably only slept about six hours since Sunday night, mostly because Olivia's been "cluster feeding," which means she wants to eat about every hour. Since eating takes about 30-45 minutes from start to finish, that doesn't leave much time for anything else.

Anyway, that's Olivia's story so far! Overall, the pain and difficulty has been completely worth it to have such a beautiful, adorable, healthy girl. We feel incredibly blessed by God!

Busy, Busy, Busy…

From Mike:

As usual, Kelly and I closed out 2010 and began 2011 with a myriad of fun social activities. Here’s a recap of events that occurred after my brother’s wedding last month:

Keeping with our Christmas tradition, we attended the Milburn’s annual Christmas Movie Marathon the weekend before Christmas. Although it’s been sad to see the attendance at the marathon slowly decline over the years, I never get tired of watching those holiday classics…with the exception of flops like Jingle All the Way. Sorry Ah-nold fans, he and Sinbad just don’t get it done in that one.

Of course, no Christmas season would be complete without our annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party! Several out-of-town friends were home for the holidays, so the house was packed, but that didn’t stop the hideousness from enduring late into the night. Beth managed to take 1st prize in the “found” sweater category with a tasteful, yet busy little number that looked like it came straight out of a catalog of grandma’s creations. She was also sporting an oversized-Flava-Flav-esque-clock-ornament-medallion…thing. Emily took home 1st prize in the “created” sweater category by sticking what seemed like hundreds of holiday-related stickers to her outfit. Well done, ladies! Although I will forever believe that my sweater was, by far, the ugliest one at the party.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Murphys by getting brunch at Mimi’s Café, followed by a movie. We saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which was actually quite good! After attending our church’s Christmas Eve service, we returned home for a quiet evening. Christmas day was spent at my parent’s house. The whole family was there to eat breakfast, open gifts, and enjoy each other’s company. Overall, it was a wonderful, relaxing day.

On New Years Eve, we drove to the Highlands in Denver for dinner at the Coral Room with a few close friends, took a quick, icy walk to Three Dog’s Tavern down the street, where we spent the remainder of the evening. The Tavern turned out to be a perfect place to celebrate with drinks, pool, shuffleboard, a little Buck Hunter arcade action, and a midnight champagne toast!

New Years Day was spent in our usual fashion at my Cousin Deb’s house in Berthoud. We stuffed ourselves, played games, watched football, and relaxed for a few hours before calling it quits and heading home for a long, and much-needed, winter’s nap.

The following weekend, a bunch of us headed up to Frisco for a ski trip. We rented a huge 5-bedroom house for the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed every minute we were there; whether it was playing pool, ping-pong, watching movies, or soaking in the hot tub, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. On Saturday, people scattered all over Summit County to spend the day at their favorite ski resort. A few people stayed behind and went shopping and relaxed at the house. We all headed home on Sunday morning, but not before stopping in Idaho Springs for some delicious Beau Jo’s Pizza!

The following weekend we began attending a new church in Denver called Eikon. Our close friends, Alex and Katey started the church and asked Kelly and me to be part of their core group, intended to help get it off the ground. We gladly accepted the invitation and have enjoyed being a part of such an amazing group of people! We’re excited about what Eikon is doing, and invite all of you to visit the website and see what it’s all about: http://denver.eikoncommunity.org. We’d love for each and every one of you to join us!

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to take a beginner’s photography class in Boulder. We met at Chatauqua Park, and the instructor taught us the basics of how to utilize our camera’s shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and several other features to help us take our DSLR cameras off the “Auto” setting and onto the “Manual” setting. It was very informative and I’m excited to begin taking pictures and actually know what I’m doing, and how to utilize the often unused features of this expensive piece of equipment we own. :)

On Tuesday, we met up with Amy, Beth, Todd, and Carter at Civic Center Park for the Denver Big Air event. The event brought professional skiers from around the world to compete in a ski-jump contest in the middle of downtown Denver. It was incredible! They built a huge multi-story ski jump right in front of the City and County building in Denver and brought in snow makers to cover the jump and landing area. Switchfoot played during the event and at the end of the night, it started snowing. Even though I couldn’t feel my toes at the end, it was awesome!

So that’s what’s been happening at the Nishi household. I ask the Lord’s blessing on each of you and pray that your 2011 is off to a great start! Until next time, keep us in your prayers, as we will keep each of you in ours.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We hope 2010 has been a great year for you. For us, it has been full of good memories and pleasant surprises. We celebrated the engagement and then wedding of Mike’s brother Bryan to Amanda Thompson, took a cruise to Alaska and, after many hard months of trying, we were ecstatic to find out that we are expecting a baby girl!

In March, we attended (and I was a bridesmaid in) Hannah and Simon’s wedding. The wedding was in Boulder, but there was no lack of Brits in attendance, which made it all the more fun! The following month, I had a business trip to Dallas, so Mike tagged along and we got to take a detour to see my mom’s hometown and visit my uncle Lynn. May was Brenda and Joe Sanchez’ wedding at the gorgeous Arrowhead Golf Course.
June brought us a visit from Colin and Mariko for James and Jamila Cox’s wedding ceremony and then we followed them back to Oregon for the reception. We had a ton of fun in Oregon, trying wines and fancy donuts and hanging out with the Blessings and the newlyweds. We spent July 4th with Mike Piel and Emma at Mike’s family’s place near Buffalo, WY. They have land up there with cabins and a clubhouse and plenty of hiking, fishing and open space—gorgeous! Later in the month, we took another trip to Wyoming to visit dad and Crystal in Saratoga. While we were in Saratoga, we went on a hike and did some fishing along the way. Another highlight of the summer was a rafting trip we took in the Royal Gorge. We also took a four-wheeling trip with the Cox’s later that month and Mike was introduced to his first true off-road experience.

We found out in July that we are expecting a baby! Mike was instantly really excited to get the news, but I think I am still in shock! I’m six months along now, due April 7th, and so far so good. I’ve been feeling fine, except for some back pain, and am thankful to have dodged many of the negative symptoms I heard so much about when I was first pregnant (so far).

In August, we attended my 10-year high school reunion (and Mike’s in November). It was crazy for both of us that it’s already been 10 years since we graduated! It was fun to see everyone and remember the old days of high school.

In September, we continued our tradition of visiting a new state every year by taking a cruise to Alaska. The trip was amazing! We saw whales up close, a bear, sea lions, dolphins and all kinds of other wildlife. We also enjoyed all the wonderful food, including a chocolate buffet one night. The shows onboard were another highlight and we saw a comedy show, dancers, trapeze artists, etc.

In the fall, I took a business trip to San Diego, which was great because I got to see Susan, who I hadn’t seen in far too long! When I got back, we took a weekend trip to Breckenridge with Carter and Ashleigh and another couple. The house we stayed in was lovely and we really enjoyed relaxing time with them. Shortly after we returned from Breckenridge, I took a business trip to Vegas and brought Anna, Beth and Carolyn with me, which made it all the more entertaining. In November, we took a trip to Washington, DC to surprise Nathan for his 30th birthday! The trip was great and he was definitely surprised. When we saw him for the first time, Nathan looked at me like I was crazy and he could quite figure out what the heck I was doing there. We finished off the year with two very important weddings—first, Lindsey and Anand got married at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, which was gorgeous! I was a bridesmaid and enjoyed learning all about the Indian traditions (and Indian dances) that were involved in the wedding. A few days later, Bryan and Amanda were married in Thornton. Mike was a groomsman and had a wonderful time seeing his younger brother get married and participating in the festivities (even though he says it’s a bit strange to see a ring on Bryan’s finger)!

Anyway, that’s what’s been going on around here! I hope you’ve had a wonderful year and that you’ll let us know what you’ve been up to.

What Boo-tiful Fall Weather We’re Having!

From Mike:

So here we are in October. Can you believe the holiday season is just around the corner? Where has the year gone?? Anyway, here’s what’s been happening at the Nishi household:

Big News Alert (for some of you, anyway): We’re Pregnant!!! That’s right, campers, we’re gonna be parents! Scary, huh? You’re telling me! Although we’re new to this whole pregnancy thing, we’re both really excited about the prospect of starting our family, and ask for your prayers to keep both Kelly and the baby healthy, happy and comfortable. We’re due on April 7th and should know the baby’s gender on November 16th, so we’ll keep you posted!

Now that you’re officially informed of the big news, let me take you back to August. Remember August? I sure don’t, but I’ll do my best to recall what we were up to. Where to start? Ah, yes…Alaska!

As many of you know, we visited the second state in our “Alphabetical Tour of the U.S.” by cruising to Alaska aboard the Norwegian Pearl. We sailed out of Seattle for seven days and visited Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria B.C., and sailed through the Inside Passage, and Glacier Bay. What a beautiful state! When we were ashore, we went whale watching (which was definitely a highlight!), rode a train into the mountains, took a double-decker bus tour, shopped, watched a lumberjack show, sampled the local fare and saw a myriad of wildlife including a hungry black bear, a few bald eagles and even a porcupine! In Glacier Bay, we got to see several spectacular glaciers, and watched and listened to them melt and break apart sending huge chunks of ice crashing into the ocean…it was incredible! The sound that glaciers make when they break apart, or “calve,” is awesome! It literally sounds like thunder! The ship itself was also quite a sight. When we weren’t ashore, we spent our time eating, watching live performers, playing bingo, bowling or simply relaxing in the lounge with a good book. Overall, the trip was fun and relaxing, and we both highly recommend a visit to Alaska.

In September, we attended yet another Milburn wedding…this time it was Joseph’s turn! The entire wedding took place in the backyard of a huge house that backed to a large pond and a golf course…it was very scenic and made an ideal setting for the occasion. We had a great time celebrating, eating, dancing and enjoying the company of close friends. Congratulations to Joe and Shelby!

The following Saturday, Kelly and a few girlfriends went on Banjo Billy’s Bus tour of Denver. I stayed home, because I am lame, and thought the tour would be equally as lame…boy, was I wrong. Kelly came back with amazing stories of Denver that would surprise any long-time Colorado resident! She also gave me the biggest guilt trip of my life. Admittedly, I missed out on a great time, and as a result, I have no awesome stories to tell. Sorry, you’ll just have to ask Kelly.

On September 25th, Kelly and I drove up to Estes Park for our annual Fall Colors Hike. This year, we decided to hike up Lily Mountain. Although, in her present state, Kelly decided not to attempt to reach the very top (mainly because it required monkey-like rock climbing skills), I managed to reach the top and snap a few photos of the incredible 360-degree views. It was stunning! However, fall must’ve come late this year, because there weren’t many “fall colors” to see…oh well, there’s always next year!

The following week I started working four 10-hour days; allowing me to take every Friday off. It’s been wonderful! I can’t imagine going back to a five-day work week now. The best part is that Kelly also has Fridays off, so we get to spend our three-day weekend together! :)

Kelly went to San Diego for a few days in early October for a conference, so I was home alone. While she was there she got to catch up with a friend, Susan, who is also pregnant. The second weekend in October we were fortunate enough to be invited to Breckenridge for a mountain getaway with Carter, his girlfriend Ashleigh, and Ashleigh’s friend Rhys and her boyfriend, Sam. Rhys’ dad’s firm owns a huge house up there, and was kind enough to let us use it for a few days! We spent the weekend cooking, eating, drinking, hiking, playing games, hot tubbing and watching football. It was unbelievably relaxing!

For a few months now, our friend Alex and I have been planning a Men’s Retreat. Now, when I say Alex and I, I really mean just Alex. :) Anyway, the retreat was last weekend up at Snow Mountain Ranch outside of Winter Park. We partnered with New Denver Church and got about 20 guys to join us in learning more about the things that men crave: money, sex and power. Alex, along with Norton, the pastor of New Denver, discussed biblical ways to satisfy your God-given cravings. It was a ridiculously good time of bonding, learning more about ourselves as Christian men, growing in faith and generally doing manly things. We hope this won’t be the last retreat we plan, so I’ll try to do a better job of advertising the next one.

While I was on my way home from the mountains, Kelly was on her way to Las Vegas for yet another conference…and a girl’s weekend. Anna, Beth and Carolyn met up with her to celebrate Anna’s birthday until Tuesday, when they returned to reality. Kelly still had the conference to wrap up, so she didn’t get home until last Wednesday. I still don’t really know the details of what happened there, but I’m sure everyone behaved. ;)

This past weekend we hosted a Broncos party and got to watch the Raiders utterly destroy any remaining dignity our beloved football team had before Sunday. We did, however, get to watch history in the making, as the Raiders set a franchise record for the most points scored in a single game: 59. Well done, Raiders. I still hate you. I will speak no more of it.

So, that’s it in a nutshell. Sorry for its tardiness! Hopefully the next one will be a bit timelier, and not as lengthy! Until next time, God bless and Happy Halloween!