A Beautiful Day for Skiing

Well, it's been a couple of months since we last went up to do some skiing, and we're running out of time before the season is over! We're trying to fit in a couple more ski days before all the snow is gone, so last weekend, we got my Spring Break off to a good start by heading up to Loveland.

Matt and I are both improving, though Matt at a much quicker pace than me. I'm still spending most of my time on the bunny slopes while Matt is off exploring much more difficult runs. But I'm not falling anymore, which is really the important thing.

It was a gorgeous Spring day, with crisp air and blue skies. It was one of those days that really makes me love living in Colorado.

Some runs that are way (WAY) too difficult for me.

Lots of skiers (and snowboarders).

Me, in action.

Playing in the snow is fun!

By the end of the day, Matt was able to go on a blue run a couple of times. That made me really angry, but also kind of happy. It was a fun day, and I'll be sad when the season is over. But there's still time for a little more ski fun!

Weekends are awesome - Spring Break is better

I am 3 days and counting away from Spring Break, folks! 3 DAYS AND COUNTING! I can't wait. In case you didn't know, kids act crazy during the week before Spring Break. But that's ok, because I only have 3 MORE DAYS!

Anyway, since Spring Break has not arrived, every moment that I have not been working has been especially precious. Therefore, last weekend was pretty cool.

The weekend began with an evening in an Irish pub with my folks listening to Irish music. I have no pictures of this fun evening, but some of you may know that I really wish I was Irish, so this is still worth noting. At times, I imagined that it was a real Irish pub in Ireland. Now, I'm completely looking forward to St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. My teacher is bringing green mashed potatoes!

Saturday was a huge day for one of my oldest and best friends, Melissa. She was moving into her new apartment! Matt and I went to help her move with champagne in tow!

Struggling with the bottle.

The mess.

Friends toasting!

Mel's beautiful living room furniture.

Matt's birthday was last week (I made him enchiladas and brownies) and Melissa's birthday was Sunday, so a party was certainly in order! My family came over for a bar-b-que and evening of fun!

Birthday cookie-cakes!

Blowing out the candles!

After the typical birthday activities (dinner, presents, cake), it was time for Apples to Apples!

Playing the game. I lost.

Of course, a weekend would not be complete without snowshoeing (at least not since last month)! Sunday morning, we headed out for a short hike up by Idaho Springs.

Our new shoes! Now that I know they don't suck, I can show you how pretty they are.

A pretty, wooded trail.

A clearing.

Matt.

Me.

Trees.

Us.

On our hike, we came across a campground that is usually hopping in the summer. It was kind of cool to see it covered in snow and completely abandoned.

It was a nice weekend. And soon, I will have a week-long "nice weekend"!!!!!!!!!! Yay!

A Squirrel... and Other Cool Things

Yes, I know. I've failed at the blogging thing for the last few weeks. [insert lame excuse here] Moving on...

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of the beautiful weather to do some more snowshoeing. We headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park with new (and much better) snowshoes.

Look, a squirrel!

The sun was shining, and the weather was not too cold. In fact, we actually got pretty hot at times and we had to do some layer shuffling.

Walking by a snow cupcake.

Not only was the weather gorgeous, but the scenery and the terrain was pretty cool, too.

Twisted tree. Cool.

Hiking.

We climbed up to a couple of different lakes in the area.

The first lake, Mills Lake.

Dave, doing his photography thing.

Walking across the lake. This is why snowshoeing is cool; you can't be in this spot in the summer... at least not if you want to stay dry.

To head up to the next lake, we had a pretty steep climb ahead of us. It was a workout, but our new snowshoes certainly did their job.

Steep climb.

The second lake, Loch Vale.

Matt fell over. I don't know why.

The following pictures were obviously not taken by me. Again, these awesome pictures are Dave's handiwork.

Mills Lake.

"Ooh, look!"

Mills Lake.

Loch Vale.

After our hike, the guys had beer waiting. The beer they'd worked so hard on had been fermenting for a couple of weeks, and it was time to bottle. I, as usual, had tons of homework, so I hid in the back and worked. I seem to do that a lot.

Beer.

In a couple of weeks the beer will finally be ready for drinking. And that's my favorite part.

Snowshoe Fail

Matt and I were very excited about our brand new snowshoes we bought last weekend, so we were ready to get out on the trail to try them out. Saturday morning, we headed up to the Brainard Lake area with a couple of friends, Rachel and Dave (and Keva, Rachel's dog). We strapped on our fancy, new toys and set out. Sadly, the snowshoes left us feeling less than impressed. They're designed to spring up to keep from dragging. Unfortunately, when they spring up, they kick lots of snow up into the air and all over the person wearing them (which was me).

Covered in snow. There's Keva in the background. She was excited.

Not expecting the shoes to shower me with snow, I wore bad pants that were not exactly waterproof. Admittedly, that was a mistake on my part. But Matt was wearing his ski pants, and even he was annoyed with the flying snow. So today, we returned our pretty shoes. We are now snowshoeless once more.

But aside from my freezing wet toosh, it was a nice little hike.

Me and Rachel.

Since I was a little miserable, I gave up and turned around about halfway. I was embarrassed and disappointed, but once I plopped down on the awesome seat-warmers in the car, I felt much better.

Matt and Dave finished the trail, with Keva in tow. They made it to our intended destination, Left Hand Reservoir, which pretty much looks like a giant field when covered in snow.

Left Hand Reservoir. And lots of snow.

Keva didn't even notice that her mom had left her behind and gone back to the car with me. She was having too much fun barking at the snow.

It was very, very cold, but also kind of fun. Now we're back on the hunt for the perfect (and not insanely expensive) snowshoes. Someday we'll find them.

After the hike, we had a nice lunch/dinner at one of my favorite local places up in Longmont:

Yum. Eat here. It's good.

And on the car ride home, I got to sit in back with Keva. We bonded.

Ruff.

It was pretty awesome.

Scavenger Hunts Aren't Just for Kids

If there's one thing I'm pretty proud of, it's that I've managed to turn my husband into a Colorado Avalanche fan. I've followed the team since I was 12, so I'm thrilled that Matt now shares that love with me. But I never suspected that he would actually surpass me in the level of obsession for the team. He's now reading tons of articles about the games, and following multiple Avalanche bloggers. But hey, at least he's enjoying himself.

Anyway, one of the bloggers for the Denver Post was having a little Avs-themed scavenger hunt the other day. When Matt saw online that a group of items (a book, a Patrick Roy rookie card, and a ticket from the very first Colorado Avalanche game) was hidden somewhere in our neck of the woods, we headed out to find it.

In the dark, looking for Avs stuff.

I suppose it wasn't a true scavenger hunt, because we were only given one pretty specific clue and we were only looking for one item (or group of items). But regardless, it was fun. Melissa is not a huge fan of the Avalanche, but she is a fan of adventures and fun stuff, so she came along, too.

Melissa.

The initial clue made us think the location was right down the street from us, at some water towers just a few blocks away. So we went climbing hills and walking through snow until we realized there was no way to get past the fence with barbed wire, designed to keep punks like us out. Matt was checking the website on his phone, and a second mini-clue was given: the name of a bar not too far away. So we were off to a second location.

We found another pair of water towers behind the bar, and there sat a giant pile of rocks. We were sure this was the right location, so we started digging.

Sadly, we didn't find anything in the rocks. After looking around, and still not finding a thing, Matt saw online that we were too late and the Patrick Roy rookie card was long gone. While we were traipsing around the wrong water towers, someone had beaten us to our prize.

Oh, well. We had fun climbing hills and digging through rocks. And I've decided that this should become a monthly event. Who doesn't love a good scavenger hunt?

We didn't win, but we had fun.

On another note, yesterday was Valentine's Day. Matt and I took it pretty easy. We watched the Olympics and made a nice dinner at home:

Matt even put a candle on the table. See how romantic we are?

And we bought snowshoes:

Yay, snowshoes!

So next time we have to go climbing hills looking for Avalanche memorabilia, we can wear our snowshoes.