Pumpkins Galore!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Oh, wait... it's almost Thanksgiving. Ooops. By the way, could you believe it's going to be Thanksgiving in a little over a week? I can't.

Well, going back a few weeks on 10/30, we had our first pumpkin carving get together with a few of our friends. It was great because last year was my first time carving a pumpkin ever and a majority of our friends this year hadn't carved a pumpkin. So, we got to introduce them to a fun activity. Plus, we got to eat all of the pumpkin seeds from all 6 pumpkins. Chris seasons and roasts them just right. Below is what came out of that night - 6 great lookin' pumpkins! Chris' was the scary tree and mine was the cute monster - both are in the middle area.

On Halloween night, we saw all these flashing lights and people lingering out in our front yard. Lo and behold, the neighbors were taking pictures of their kids in front of our snow pumpkin. Taking advantage of the unusually large October snow storm, Chris quickly and artistically (as always) rolled up a huge ball and formed it into a pumpkin. He even bought a red light to shine on it that night. He received so many compliments on it. We had a lot of fun passing out candy to the little kidos - and the big kido (aka Chris) got to have lots of leftover Reese's peanut butter cups to enjoy at work afterwards. He's so funny because he was intentionally not giving the Reese's out to the kids with the hopes of keeping them for himself. It's not like we can't buy our own candy later - Ha!

Snowflakes

Ah - Winter is peaking his head a little too early! It's been lightly snowing on and off since September, but we received a nasty storm today. The crazy thing is that I don't even think it's THAT cold outside. It's uncomfortable and you have to walk much much slower, but it's definitely not bone chilling. Is this a sign that I'm getting used to the cold weather in CO after almost 3 years of living here, or is it that my ski jacket works really well? Ha!

All the more reason to sip on a nice cup of hot chocolate, put on a snuggly sweater (notice, I didn't say a Snuggie), and write a blog entry.

Our front yard:

Our winter wonderland (aka backyard):
Our sidewalk - look at the depth of the snow!

Summertime has come and gone...

It's raining...it's snowing...

Ah, yes. It's that time of the year again. In reality, it started snowing in Denver in September. We barely had any sort of transition this year. Actually, the Summer felt more like Fall, but I'm not complaining. Last year, Chris and I had a full week of no sleep because it was so hot inside our air conditioner voided home. This year, we barely had to use Chris' homemade swamp cooler.

Perhaps now that the cold weather is approaching, I'll start to blog more. Maybe.

Well, what in the world did we do this Summer? It was a bit different than other Summers as we did a lot of house work trying to get ready for family to visit us in late August. Either way, here are the top 10 things I'd like to remember about this Summer.

10. We completely had a landscaping overhaul in our front yard. It looks beautiful - we'll have pictures next Spring when the tulips, iris's and lily's are in full bloom.

9. Whitewater rafting - our yearly tradition.

8. Camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. Pictured are two beautiful male elk.

7. Chris climbed a 14er with Chancho (see previous blog to read all about it).

6. Chris built the lower half of our desk completely from scratch. It looks beautiful. Chris insists we don't post it until the upper half is designed and built. Sorry!

5. Family Reunion in Manzanillo and Guadalajara, Mexico (this is a picture of mom's side of the family).

4. We had family visit in August/September - we love visitors. They got to try out our new guest room accommodations.

3. We receieved wonderful news that my brother and sister-in-law are pregnant. Soooo exciting! We can't wait to meet our neice or nephew.

2. We added a new member to our immediate family... Lola the spunky puppy.

1. Chris and I celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary in the San Francisco area - Napa, Muir Forest, Big Sur and San Fran. Future blog to come once we've developed all the pictures.

Garden Update: It will no longer grow anything after today, but we did get a nice mix of fruit this year. We had just enough concord grapes to make a full jar of jelly, a few zucchinis to make wonderful zucchini bread and stir fry, a good amount of tomatoes, few apples (enough to make a little apple butter). We didn't get any bell peppers this year... a bit of a bummer, but we kept the plant in a pot inside and will replant it next year. This is a picture of our beautiful tomatoes.

We're ready for our Fall adventures... pumpkin patches, corn mazes, more college football, Thanksgiving...

Instincts

It's quite humorous how our instincts kick in when we least expect them to. I guess that's why they're called instincsts - because you're born with that sort of behavior.

Take Chancho. Lola and Chancho play all the time. She really likes to play rough and he gets into the action, but in gentle sort of way. If she is pulling really hard for something, he lets go as if to say, "here you go, you can play with it, little puppy." He almost knows how rough he could play with her and that if he gets too crazy, he could hurt her. He knows how gentle she still is. He almost treats her like his little child. When I correct her when she's digging holes in our backyard, he comes up to me as if to say, "It's okay, mom, she didn't mean to." Ha!

I also learned that my motherly instincts kick in with a puppy. I used to be a super duper deep sleeper. I could get in bed and be completely out within 2 minutes. It was impressive! I could still fall asleep super fast, but now, I wake up when Lola makes noises. My deep sleep has left me. I wake up to hear that she's okay and that she doens't need to go potty outside. Who would have thought that I would have these instincts with a puppy! Woooow! I hope I get my deep sleep back before having kidos though. I'd like to enjoy my sleep for a little while longer. I also can't wait for the day that I get to sleep in again. It's been getting up at 5ish or 6ish on weekends to let her out... and let them back in so they could cuddle in Chancho's crate... and then be let out again in about an hour for water and more outside time.

Needless to say, I've been exhausted with my little pup. I'm enjoying her though either way. I could tell Chancho couldn't live without her. They're best buddies! Here are more picture of our munchkin:

... And then there were Two

Happy August!

It's been a happy August indeed! What a surprise we received this week when Chris got a call from the Colorado Vizsla Rescue. They had a puppy Vizsla they wanted to give us since we requested to get another little one earlier this year. Never in a million years were we expecting this type of call. After talking about all the pros and cons, we decided to visit her on Friday.

We were expecting a bigger pup, but when we saw her itsy bitsy body, we melted. She was so sweet and very much a puppy. A 4 month old puppy at that. We proudly introduce you to our newest addition to our growing family... Lola.

We decided to take little Lola the same day we met her. We just were given some of her food, some treats and we were on our way home. Chris and I were a little worried about how Chancho would receive her as he's not so great with new faces - as some of you know. They met in the backyard and they became instant buddies.

Those two played and played the whole evening. Now, Chancho is getting adjusted to his new life with his new little sister. She's quite energetic. yet he's mellowed out (even though he's only 2 years old), so he's had to bring out that zeal. She loves to follow and watch him all the time. I'm surprised I got her eyes off of her brother for this picture.

Ahhhh... so nice to see our two stinkers enjoying a nice Sunday nap together.

The mothers reading this blog may snicker at this comment - I feel that with this puppy and the 2-year old, that we have a preview of what's to come during parenthood. Phew. It's very tiring. Chris and I got to spend some time outside of the house yesterday and it felt almost as if we were on a date - just the two of us. Ha! Having to watch the puppy to make sure she doesn't get into trouble, to make sure she's not playing too rough with her brother or avoid an accident in the house - it's a job in and of itself. It's so nice when I have to get something done and she's playing with a toy. I don't even have to check on Chancho - he's such a good boy.

It's time to go to bed - so nice - on to the next day!

Mount Massive

Colorado is home to many 14ers...a term used for mountains soaring past the 14,000 feet mark. One of our Colorado adventures to do has been to summit one of these beasts. Unfortunately, Mariana decided not to take this one on, so this is the story from Chancho and my (Chris) perspectives.

A group from Church invited us to hike Mt Massive. Oh, and it is massive. This mountain is the 2nd tallest in Colorado, and the 3rd tallest in the lower 48 (14,430 by our altimeter reading). The above picture is us at the tree line. Past this elevation trees cannot grow. Any place where conditions are too extreme for trees should be a sign that humans (and dogs) should not be there as well.

Everyone in the group agreed that the toughest part of this trek was the length of the trail, nearly 14 miles round trip, and as you got closer to the top, the trail got exponiently harder. Oxygen was in short supply when you needed it the most (40% less oxygen than at sea level). At just under half the height of Everest, I had to stop about every ten steps to keep from passing out. Chancho kept looking back at me as if to say, "Come on, you can do it!" I now have a taste for just how insane Everest must be.

Chancho had his own doggie backpack and shoes, which he wore out by the time we reached the summit. He took on most boulders on his own like a billy goat. Personally, I don't think he cared for the windy, steep summit, as he was thrilled when we began heading back.

The experience was more challenging than I could have imagined. You left this place with a sense of accomplishment and respect for the mountain.

A tribute to Camo

Here here to Camo our chameleon. May he rest in peace.

Chris bought Camo when he was a little baby. He was Chris' second chameleon... the first one being Ooga - Camo's girlfriend. Camo lived a life full of change and adventure. Chameleons are mostly quite shy and don't like much attention, but Camo seemed to be a bit different. He was sort of a monkey in that he was always climbing all over his cage, was very energetic and was a bit feisty. He was guilty of "licking" my dad's nose a few times. He loved a challenge... so much so that when his food was too easy to get to he would refuse to eat. He wanted to hunt for his food. He loved being by the sun and would watch the world go by. He also loved it when he was allowed to wander outside of his cage... I remember when his cage was in our bedroom in Dallas, we would wake up and he would almost ask us if he could be let out to go see his girlfriend Ooga. Oh, Camo... little stinker. We're going to miss you!

He had quite the romantic life too. He wasn't quite the gentleman, but he did end up having two chicas...Ooga and Mona. Pictured below is Mona when she was just a baby.

Below are a few other pictures of camo...he was quite the photogenic fellow.

Camo

Approx. 2004 - 2009