The Stanley Hotel - Estes Park

Last weekend, we drove to about 2 hours outside of Denver to Estes Park to enjoy the autumn mountain air!

There were elk everywhere, including the golf course!

 We ate at one of the mom and pop shops for lunch then walked around the main-street shops.  There were the usual touristy things to buy, but we invested in better things like fresh salt-water taffy and homemade fudge. :)  After overindulging, we made our way to the famous Stanley Hotel for our ghost tour!

This hotel is where Stephen King stayed in  room 217 (which is said to be haunted by Ms. Wilson, the chamber-maid) and was inspired to write the "Shining".

Jim Carey spent an entire 3 hours in this room while filming Dumb and Dumber, then he checked out of the hotel and refuses to discuss what happened...dun...dun...dun!

                                "Race you to the top Harry!"

If you ever have the chance to go to Estes Park, go! It's amazing! And you might even hear the ghost of Mrs. Stanley playing her piano at the Stanley hotel!

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We're Alive!!

I know, I know. It's been a long time since I updated the blog. I would love to say it's because we have been extremely busy doing fun and amazing things like traveling to exotic places, freeing Tibet and saving the whales. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Almost five months have passed and rather than rack my brain trying to remember anything post worthy, I'll just make a better effort in the future about posting in a timely fashion! :)

SURPRISE!

That's right, last Monday I became part of the thirty and flirty club! Nathan (with a little help from a good friend) threw me a surprise party at Maggiano's! So much fun, food and good company!

 SURPRISE! (thanks Steve for being the best surprise party light turner-on-er!)

 Left to Right standing: Quin holding baby Emerson, Jordan, Melissa, Nicole, Jason, Lisa, Tony, Alli, Jon, Steve, Brigitte, Maegen
Left to Right sitting: Lowry, Britt, me, Nathan, Will

 Ginormous cupcakes which we all concluded should be renamed mini-cakes.

 Delicious! I didn't/couldn't finish all that chocolaty goodness. By this point I was slipping into a food coma. I think the look on Nathan's face makes the picture!

30 and mature...right...

Thanks Nathan for making my 30th a great one!

The E-Lemon-ator

3-0 That's right. He's undefeated.

Disney World

We recently went to Disney World with some good friends and had a great time. Lisa's parents had rented a house for the week and were nice enough to invite us to tag along. (Warning: Lots of pictures and a long post,  if you don't really want to read it - we had a good time. The End.) How could you not have a good time at the happiest place in the world??

This shirt said, This is what Grumpy looks like. 

We arrived in style -- after our flight we crammed (and I mean crammed) four adults, 1 kid in a car seat and 4-6 pieces of luggage into a car. We could have given the Clampetts a run for their money!
We spent the evening at Downtown Disney checking out all the shops.

No, we did not rent this kid for the week. She's the daughter of our friends.

That cute little dragon behind us, made entirely of Lego's. So awesome! 

The next day, we arrived early to Magic Kingdom to eat breakfast in Cinderella's castle with some of the Disney princesses.  (Monte's and Nathan's favorite was Jasmine -- go figure. Half naked girl is always the favorite.)

Walt and Mickey

What's the hustle for Tony?

 

Always looking for trouble.

We spent the rest of the day on the rides, including all the ones you have to do, not because they're that fun, but you can't go to Disney World without riding things like Dumbo and It's a Small World. 

 

The girls and our cute matching shirts.

I had the pleasure of going on H's first roller coaster ride with her and she loved it!

 

 First time on Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster.

The next day we spent the morning at Magic Kingdom and the afternoon at Epcot. 

Then back to Epcot the following day. We spent the e-n-t-i-r-e day walking around the World showcase. We loved walking through all the little shops. We had a small lunch in China, but that's so I could have something from the pastry shop in France and gelato from Italy :)  

 

                              Germany                                                                      France

There was the funniest mime while we were walking around Italy! I wish I would have taken a picture, but I couldn't risk drawing attention to myself and becoming part of his act!

In Japan, I picked out an oyster and got a beautiful pearl that's now a necklace.

We stayed late that night to watch the fireworks. No pictures of that. You'll just have to imagine it.

We spent the next couple of days at Hollywood studios. Loved it there! So many fun things to see and do!

 Tower of Terror :)

That would be the Tower of Terror. It takes you up thirteen stories and then drops, then shoots you back to the top and drops again. I think Lisa's exact words afterwords were "You're lucky I didn't loose my bagel!" :)

We saw a stunt show. Very cool, but it kind of ruins movies when you see the tricks they use.

We did have a little rain one day, which means we are the proud owners of two souvenir Disney World ponchos. This is me sporting my new outfit with a Barrel of Monkeys.

 We loved the Toy Story area - they even have people dressed as the green army guys running around!

 These weren't real people, but there were some running around.

 

How cute are the flowers and shrubs?

By then end of the day, I was exhausted. I had to be resourceful and use what I could find.

 Me taking a break in the stroller. Good thing I'm small.

We stayed that night to watch the Fantasmic show - again no pictures. I think we all were to tired to even take any. Use your imagination - Mickey Mouse, fireworks, other Disney characters and so on.

The next day we went to Animal Kingdom. I was one of the few who went of Mt. Everest. There even was a Yeti that wasn't Nathan. ;)

Our last day was spent at Magic Kingdom doing everything we hadn't had a chance to do. Lisa and I had to get on as many times as we could on Thunder Mountain! So fun!

There's so much I know that I'm leaving out! Like how we ate ice cream at least once every day. And how I saw a bird attack some ladies churro (possibly the funniest thing all week!). I could go on for quite some time about our trip. If you made it through the post this far, I'll spare you from having to read more.

We had a great time. We came home tired and ready for a vacation from our vacation.

 "See you real soon!"

To Whom it May Concern.

Dear Winter,
Please leave.  You have worn out your welcome. It's time for you to move on.

Sincerely,
Me

Like Winning the Lottery

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I know we sure did! What I love just as much as Christmas morning, are some of the fantastic sales after. I really believe in using coupons and shopping for the best price on something. Nothing like a sale with an additional discount to make your day :) It bothers me that stores can sell something at one price and the next day it can be sold at a different price. Wrong, just wrong I tell ya.
So let me tell you about my latest winning against corporate America. I heard that Bath and Body Works was in the process of changing their packaging which means they have to get rid of what they have now. I went to their website and indeed-y-do, there's a sale. $3 soap, lotions and other things!!! On top of that I found a $10 coupon off of a purchase of $40 (or more). I dragged Nathan into the store, found yummy lotions, a great deal on soaps and even managed to get coconut lotion up the nose in the process. (I had to pick the one bottle that hadn't been opened yet and must of been pressurized during shipping to Denver. Ahh!) All in all it was like taking candy from a baby. I purchased $126 worth of stuff and only paid $35! I felt like jumping up and down and shouting boo-yah to the cashier.

I-ronical! (thanks Grizz)

I don't think that one could fully understand/appreciate the previous post and how much we love these pumpkin pie shakes. Tonight, we went to get our last one until next year. We were asked if we would like to donate a $1 to help fight Juvenile Diabetes - at the fast food drive through!? We had a good laugh at the irony. (And, yes we did donate our $1)

Autumn deliciousness!

PUMPKIN PIE FROZEN CUSTARD! If you live by a Good Times I suggest you go get yourself a scoop right now! Right this very minute! (It's so good we had some last weekend and had to go back again last night.) Oh, and it's super yummy if you make it into a spoon bender with cheesecake pieces added in. (drool...)

  

Happy Halloween!

Here's what we did for Halloween - a spooky dinner!

Spooky eyeball tacos

Nathan's impersonation of a spooky eyeball taco

Bat chips and dip

Candycorn cupcakes

All by romantic candlelight of haunted houses.

The "E-Lemon-ator"

Props to Nathan for winning his fight on Friday by TKO! He's still undefeated and has acquired the new nickname the E-Lemon-ator from my family. (Honey, I'm very proud of you. However, I will not be carrying a "belt" above my head while walking behind you.)

Monday? Already?

How many times can I hit the snooze button?

Las Vegas

This is where we were for the last couple of days. It was rough sitting by the pool enjoying the sun, drinking strawberry daiquiris (virgin of course) and thinking how nice it was not to be at home...with the snow.

Barker Day's

We took Duncan to doggy day at the pool. He loved it as you can see by the pictures.

How's that for retriving?

Diamonds ARE a girls best friend...(thanks to a good husband)

This is my wedding ring (minus the solitaire stone - I'll explain in a minute). I love it and could not imagine parting with it because of it's significance. :(
Back in April, I was putting on my 7 year itch ring that Nathan had given me (Apparently you're suppose to itch or get a rash or something around year 7!?) and I noticed one of the stones was wobbling. Ahh! So we made a point to head downtown to the jeweler's to have it fixed. We use only this jeweler because 1. His quality of jewelry is amazing! 2. He doesn't mass produce everything assuring that you won't find someone else with the exact same ring or necklace. 3. He was Nathan's seminary teacher so he's gotta be somewhat trustworthy. ;0) Anywho, while we were there I got to browsing and found a ring that I fell in love with. When we went in a few weeks later to pick up my other ring, I was asked if I wanted "visitation" with the other ring. Heck ya I do! So, I tried it on again. At this point Nathan was asking, "What's a good gift for a 10 year anniversary?" Their response, "Diamonds!" (Gotta love that place!) So, they suggested taking my center stone out of the wedding band and adding it to the new ring. So, voile! I still have my original ring that I love and a new fancy shmancy one!

These pictures do not do justice to their sparkley -ness.

Happy 10 years and 1 month Nathan! :)

Mt. Massive

Last weekend, Duncan and I went up to the mountains with about 15 of my coworkers to climb Mt. Massive. It is one of 60 or so 14ers here in Colorado that I never even considered trying to summit, even though I have grown up here.

The hike was great and very tiring for both dog and human. We didn't quite make it all the way to the top, but it was still a great experience with some great scenic views.

Here is a quick blerb on Mt. Summit, then three pictures for the public viewing pleasure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt_massive

Lemon Choo

Jimmy ain't got nothin' on my shoe fashion!


Sassy and stylish no?
I get to wear this little number for at least 6 weeks. About a month ago I "bruised" my foot while kickboxing with my trainer. Of course I ignored the pain and have be keeping up with my normal workouts including meeting with the trainer. Today, I finally gave in and saw the Podiatrist - the bruise was indeed a stress fracture. She is optimistic that it will heal in about 6 weeks. Me too, this thing seriously weighs almost as much as me. Good news out of all of this? It makes my other calf look super small!

Lifesavers

This weekend we went hiking at Castlewood Canyon with the dog. Before we left, Nathan had to stop at a convenience store to grab something to drink. Running inside he asked if I would like anything and I said, "Sure, I would like some Lifesavers." Not a complicated request, but one that was not fulfilled. He came back with a roll of (gasp) Certs!!! This is the conversation that followed:

N: They didn't have any Lifesavers.
D: What? Not even in a big bag?
N: Oh, I didn't think look.
D: Really? You've been in this family for how long and you didn't find any Lifesavers?

Let me explain myself Lucy. My family has a serious love for Wint-o-green Lifesavers. There are a few places that they are expected to be located: candy dish in the kitchen at my parents, a large bag in the storage room and a generous handful in my dad's coat pocket at church. After the sacrament, we are given our "adult cheerios". (same shape and they keep us quite)

So, not getting my Lifesavers was disappointing to say the least. But, it did help me come up with this doozy - I think I could repackage Lifesavers and sell them to church goin' folk. They will be called.....SacraMINTS!

The Netflix Theory

So I have this theory, that somehow, someday, I am going to make a ton of money doing what everyone else is doing which is taking something someone else already built/created/is selling and make it better. I don't think you have to reinvent the wheel, just make the wheel better. Here are a few examples of how this common business practice is already in place:

They took what Blockbuster was doing and made it easier for all of us to be lazier. Instead of having of going to a store to rent an overpriced movie, you can have three overpriced movies at a subscription price which is more than you ever paid Blockbuster in a month.

See their entire store...the re-sell everyone else's product.

They make it easier for everyone to write down random thoughts and share them with people over the web instead of having to sit through dinner or a date to hear the same random thoughts.

These guys took the most annoying feature of Facebook (which took a page from MySpace) and made a whole new website out of it. Now you can only update one simple question, "What are you doing now"....and that is it...and they make money somehow. I must admit, it is addicting to write 140 characters of random crap every few hours, even though you know nobody is reading it or cares.

To get the brainstorming session going, I will volunteer the first idea. If you choose to re-invent my idea, just know that I am an undefeated boxer...so top that.

A New Modern Toilet Bowl

Think about it. There are a lot of smart engineering people in the world...there has to be a way to build a toilet bowl that doesn't leave streaks or that doesn't create splash back. I mean, this is a problem in every home, office and public restroom. The first person to solve this challenge will be rich I tell you...spiritually rich that is!

Now you must comment with your ideas or be blocked from our blog forever.