Our Home In Denver

Once Ryan broke his leg I pretty much stopped blogging.  I am not exactly sure why, but I just didn't feel like most things we were doing were that interesting. I realize though I never showed you guys our new place.  I gave a sneak preview at the beginning when we moved in, but never got around to taking pictures when it was more put together. So here we go!

Here is our tiny galley style kitchen.  It is separated into two parts: one in the back with the stove and some cooking space and the other main area with the sink, fridge, dishwasher, and entrance to the basement/backyard.

Here is our living room and dining area.  We are not utilizing our dining area as is named right now but will hopefully be getting a dining table in the future! And yes, while Ryan had a broken leg he tried many sports that were one legged... including putting, inside! ;)

Here is our guest suite! We finally have a place for people to come stay in! We had 3 guests in the first month we had moved here! It's become very convenient to have an extra bedroom. In addition, it also doubles as Ryan's closet.  These 1920's closets just aren't big enough for two people.

Here is our bathroom.  What I love about this bathroom is our awesome skylight!

And then there is our bedroom, which I am not going to show because it's always a mess.  So if you're that curious you'll just have to come visit us! Here is the less functional part of our house... the basement.  The stairs are right off the kitchen and they go to the door to the backyard and then turn left to continue to our basement, which is primarily for storage and laundry.

Do you see all those electric cords up there hanging above the sink?  Doubt that's up to code!

Well there it is! Our house! We've had a few issues with it but we love it more and more every month as it starts to become home.  We hope to stay here for awhile. 

Have a great Thursday everyone.  I'll try and get better about posting!

The Start of Our Summer

Okay, so I suck at blogging. I have so much to catch you up on so stay with me!

On the last weekend of June, Ryan's friend from high school, Kevin Davis, and his family drove to Colorado from Michigan for his grandmother's funeral. The reason for their visit was unfortunate but we were glad to see them nonetheless. After a grueling two day drive Kevin and Julie and their 3 kids crashed with us. That was the second time in 2 weeks I have gotten to put the guest bedroom to use! I was so excited! Anyways, after staying the night they finished their trek to Colorado Springs to join their family.  Ryan and I decided to head down to the springs the next day to take advantage of the time they were in town. Kevin's mom volunteered to watch the kids and the four of us, along with Kevin's sister, Chrystal, headed out to a restaurant called The Golden Bee.  At first, walking in you wouldn't have any idea what to think.  It looks very upscale and expensive... but then the singing starts and you understand why every seat in the house is taken. This restaurant is known for their yards (now half yards) of beer, their piano man, and flying bee stickers. When we sat down we were greeted with our waitress flinging bee stickers on our shirts. There was also a song book with the lyrics to hundreds of cheery timeless classics.... such as Oklahoma! ;) With our half yards in hand we all sat around our corner booth singing and screaming the tunes the piano man played. It was a fabulous time and definitely an experience not to be forgotten!

After a week of boring hospital/nursing/computer orientation I was definitely ready for my 4th of July weekend! We really had our hearts set on camping but we both knew that every campsite in Colorado would be absolutely packed. Determined to head to the mountains regardless we packed the car for a day trip. Ryan drove the long scenic, yet beautiful route to Rocky Mountain National Park.

This was our view as we drove out to the park. Just horrible!

When we got to Rocky Mtn National Park we decided to go on a hike. We did a quick hike, nothing too difficult, up to a few water falls. They were gorgeous and it was great to get out of the car and stretch our legs.

After our hike we continued to drive the highway that goes through the park at the highest point. I think the road we were on eventually reached 12,000 something feet in elevation. We were above the tree line for much of the drive and it was unbelievable how much snow was still up there! There were many places to pull off and enjoy the view, play in the snow on the tundra, and take pictures. It was absolutely breathtaking and it was epitome of Colorado beauty.

After the park we headed to Black Hawk, CO which is an old mining town that has turned into a gambling town. There are dozens of casinos, huge hotels, free drinks, cheap food, and lots of money to be lost! We gambled, had a few drinks, ate some pizza, walked around and watched some of the UFC fights and then headed home with not a dollar less in our pockets! Talk about a fun free evening! We had a great 4th of July weekend.. even without getting to go camping!

So I started work this week and near the end of my second day I got text messages from Ryan saying that I needed to pick him up so we could go to the hospital.  Ironic, since I was already at a hospital... but we had to take him to the one downtown since that's what his insurance prefers. I drove to the soccer fields, picked him up, and headed to the ER. There was a 6.5 hour wait! WHATT!!!! What kind of emergencies can wait 6 hours!? Luckily we weren't emergent so we went home and returned at 7:30 am.  There were a total of 3 people there, including us.  We were diverted to Urgent Care (thank goodness) and Ryan was given an x-ray and CT scan. Turns out he fractured the plateau of his tibia. We will return next week when the swelling as gone down for a follow up to see if any of his ligaments are torn. If not (cross your fingers) no surgery! Regardless, he will have to stay off of it for months. Our summer has taken a wicked turn. Although we are both sad that we can no longer hike, play soccer, camp, or enjoy most of our outdoor activities... we are finding creative ways to entertain ourselves at home.

What a crazy few weeks!

the land of sports

Colorado is a busy place and this last week has proven that. There is a wide variety events to attend, sports to play, activities to partake in, restaurants to eat at, cities to visit, mountains to climb, must I go on? So the first thing I did was join a soccer team.  One of Ryan's coworkers mentioned that he played in a coed outdoor league. When Ryan told him I used to play he asked if I would join the team.  We are called the Ninjas and we are horrible! But that's okay. I am just grateful to be back on the field, getting some touches in, sprinting around in the altitude with burning lungs, and re-experiencing a sport I have loved for much of my life. We have a game tonight....I'm hoping we will win one! Keep your fingers crossed!



Last week my Dad flew in town on the way home from a business trip in California.  He thought he would just drop in for the night and fly back home the following morning.  We had an amazing day together. I showed him around my neighborhood, took him to a local eatery/pub called Sully's (which has the Denver Biscuit Co. inside--- if you ever get the chance to eat one of their biscuit sandwiches, DO!), had a few drinks on our awesome front porch, walked around downtown and showed him the 16th street mall, and we ended the night with a baseball game: Rockies vs Tigers. The Rockies won!  The three of us drank beer, ate nachos and hotdogs, and watched Tulowitski make some fantastic defensive plays.  Who thought a Rockies game could be so much fun?  Oh and not to mention, the weather was perfect. High 60's to mid 70's all day I believe. We had a great night!

The following night, as part of my welcome to Colorado gift 'basket', Ryan and I went to watch the Colorado Rapids play the LA Galaxy soccer team. I thought we would see David Beckham and Landon Donovan but neither of them came out to play! Oh well, we had fun without seeing them and it was obvious their team didn't need the help! The stadium they have for these games is very cool.  It comfortably seats almost everyone who wants to come watch but its not too big of a complex.  They have plenty of food and drinks... including cocktails and shots! Crazy! This state and their drinking.... !  The Rapids got killed by the Galaxy, 3-1.  But that's okay because we had a great time regardless and I'm sure we'll be going back.

And to add to our busy weekend we went on a hike this week. I've been kind of down because I have to join the real world and go back to work :( I was really enjoying staying at home in the awesome weather and getting our little house put together. Anyways, Ryan could tell that I needed to get out and do something. So he gave me a list of things to pack and I picked him up after work. We drove to Boulder and went on a hike. We took a 2 hour hike up Saint Sanitas, which ended up being about a 1300 foot climb in elevation.  Not too shabby!

The view from the top was amazing and the workout was pretty damn good as well.  We plan to do at least one hike a week and eventually we want to climb the 14,000+ ft mountains in CO. Looks like it's going to be a long summer! :)

Hello Rocky Mountains!

I finally got internet set up in the new house so I am going to try and squeeze the last week into this update!


After Ryan got into town on Wednesday night we packed up the moving truck on Thursday, visited with our friends and families, and headed out bright and early Friday morning. Needless to say it was a very dull drive.  There was a lot of this view...

 Wayyyy too many of these..... (btw we only averaged 5.6 mpg, awesome.)

And I had a lot of these....

After 13 hours or so we finally arrived! I was so excited to get out of the car, stretch my legs, and sleep! But before I had the chance to even sit down I came into my sister-in-laws house and I found a Colorado welcome "basket" from Ryan sitting on the table. He had decorated a box with Colorado and OU themes. Everything inside was from the state of Colorado.  There were two bottles of wine, Neff sunglasses, a Neff t-shirt, a nalgene bottle, a locking carabiner, cute girly snowboard company stickers, anndddd tickets to watch the Colorado Rapids play the LA galaxy this weekend. Helloooo David Beckham! :) What a sweet husband I have! 

The rest of the weekend was spent unloading/unpacking. I will give you a sneak peak of what our place looks like but I really don't want to post many pictures until we have a few more things settled into place! We're getting close but we're not quite there yet!

The house has a lot of work that needs to be done... but i'll get to that later! ;) I miss all my Oklahoma friends and definitely my family! My Dad is flying in today on the way home from a business trip so I am very excited to see him! Life is good.

Leaving home....

I have lived in Oklahoma my entire life.  I was born at Baptist Medical Center (now Integris) I went to Norman Public Schools, I attended the University of Oklahoma, and I STILL live in Norman.  I moved to Oklahoma City for a few years during nursing school but that was the extent of my experience leaving home. After 23 years... it is time to leave.

Ryan was granted an amazing opportunity to work as an Associate Planner for the County and City of Denver. He took it immediately and moved out there in April.  After spending about 8 years in Oklahoma, Ryan is, and has been, ready to get back to his home state of Colorado. So we're off!!

After Ryan left to start his new career, I stayed home working and packing up the house.  It has been a lonely 6 weeks and I am more than ready to live with my husband again.  The house is in shambles and it is driving me nuts living in a house of boxes.  Although I am ready to get on with our lives... it is a very bittersweet ordeal. I am very close with my family and I am not sure how moving will affect our relationships.  Hopefully it will only make them stronger, but I worry nonetheless. In addition, all my friends are here that I have grown up with since elementary and middle school. My college and high school friends are here as well.... well, most of them.  Picking up and starting all over again in a completely foreign place is quite intimidating.  There are a lot of things here that I will miss! And a few that I will not.

  This is the current chaos that I call home right now.  I will not miss this mess.

  The new garden I planted in the backyard... I will miss this.

 And of course all my rose bushes that I have worked so hard on the last year.... I will miss these!

Although Norman, Oklahoma will always be MY home.. I am excited for Ryan and I to make OUR home in Denver. Follow us as we explore, learn, and celebrate our new lives.....