Such a cutie!

This weekend Travis and I had the pleasure of meeting our friends Jamie and Neely's new baby boy, Kai Daggett. He's about five weeks old and doing so well. The new parents also seem to be adapting really well.

(Photo courtesy of the Daggetts' blog)

We had a great time visiting with the Daggett clan (including Moki, of course) and catching up on everything. Can't wait to see the little guy grow and change!

Lone Star 70.3 "Race" Report

The day started out well, and I was so happy to have my family and friends there to support me (and attempt to calm me down before the race, just like old times for my dad).

Clearly I did not want to be eating that banana.

Me, my sister, and my eskimo mom.

Me and Dani.  

Had a fantastic swim - second in my age group!

Annnndddd.....done. A triathlon should not end with a trip to the hospital.

After a fantastic swim, fast transition, and a great start on the bike, I crashed at mile 24 and ended up with a big gash in my head and several rough scrapes and bruises. Since I needed stitches (and probably a CT scan), they advised me against finishing. There was no way - not worth it. I was pretty bummed after training so hard (and giving up my ski season, basically), but that's life. I will redeem myself!

Recent Adventures

Anndddd it's been awhile since I last posted on here! Sorry - life's been quite busy. This past weekend was actually my only weekend at home out of four. There's been a trip to Houston, Vegas, and an upcoming trip to Montreal to fill up the other weekends. While I'm really looking forward to going to Montreal (for a conference), I'm also really looking forward to coming back and settling back in to my normal routine. Traveling is exhausting!

Prior to all of this traveling, Travis and I went back to Houston for our niece's/goddaughter's baptism. We are truly honored to have been selected as godparents for Miss Abigail and will do our best to fulfill that role as well as we possibly can!

During the second week of April, Travis headed to Alabama to meet up with his Air Force buddy Mike for a week of golf and Masters spectating. Although he returned with no pictures, he assured me that he had a wonderful time. He especially enjoyed being at the finals of the Masters Tournament on Sunday. 

My Sunday of that week, however, was not so fantastic. I traveled down to Houston that weekend, along with my friend Dani, to compete in the Lone Star 70.3 (half-Ironman) race in Galveston. It did not end so well. In order to keep this novel-of-a-post from turning into an Encyclopedia, I will post that "race report" separately. I did get to end my weekend like this, though, which is fantastic therapy:

Abigail.

The next weekend, Travis and I headed to Vegas for a semi-combined bachelor and bachelorette party for our friends Zach and Victoria. I'd like to point out, though, that the guys stayed at a suite with a wrap-around balcony in the Cosmopolitan, while the girls stayed at the Flamingo. Yes, we were slumming it comparatively. It was a fantastic weekend and we loved catching up with all of our friends. I'll spare you from some of the other pictures...

Yay, Mr. Stand-On-One-Legs!

For Easter, Travis and I headed up to Dani's mom's house in Loveland after church. We dyed eggs, had an egg hunt (who says you have to grow up?), went on a hike (in the snow), and had a nice dinner. We were happy to have some "family" to celebrate with.

That's finally it - I'll try to keep it shorter next time and post as things happen, rather than two months later. 

In the spirit of heading off to Montreal, a bientot!

A little trip to Steamboat Springs

A couple of weekends ago, Travis and I decided we should head out of town and go ski for a couple of days up in Steamboat Springs. Our season passes have 6 days at Steamboat, so we figured we should use a couple of them! We arrived on Saturday after fighting the I-70 ski traffic and were able to check in to the condo we rented, eat lunch, and get in a few hours on the slopes. It was beautiful.

 The views from the ski lift. Steamboat had some different scenery because of its lower elevation relative to other ski resorts. This just means lots of Aspen trees rather than pine.

On Saturday night we broke out our new pasta machine (thanks Mom and Dad!) and made some pasta with ragout following the recipes we learned in Italy. We also found The Godfather on TV and had it playing in the background. Italian food + The Godfather = one of Travis's ideas of heaven. The food was amazing!

Showing off our lift riding while taking a self portrait skills.

Sunday we skied all day and ended the day with a little apres-ski beer at the bottom of the mountain. One of my favorite parts of being able to stay the weekend in a ski area is that you get to enjoy that apres-ski time! Later that night, after dinner, we made the trek out to Strawberry Park, which is this amazing collection of natural hot springs pools. It's situated right next to the (Yampa, I believe) River so the hot springs water can mix in with the river water. They have pools of varying levels of heat, depending on how much of the nearby river water they allow to flow into the different sections. I went during the summer after the triathlon, but it's a much different experience during the winter. For one, with the snow everywhere, you could see a lot easier, which also means less naked people (thank goodness). Second, the pools that felt the best during the summer are completely different than the best ones during the winter. I suppose this is due to the river being colder. The large one that we hung out in for awhile this summer was just about completely frozen over!

On the way home on Monday, we came to a stop on the highway we were on. At first we weren't quite sure what was going on since this road's in the middle of farm country, but then we saw this:

It was a cattle drive! Crazy, huh? There were lots of cattle, a few cowboys on horses, and even a couple of blue heelers to keep the cattle in check. I don't think I've ever been that close to that many cows. At one point they had the car completely surrounded. That was a pretty cool way to break up the drive and end a great weekend!

Cross-Country Skiing!

This weekend I went with my friend Dani on a cross-country ski trip with her mom and several of her mom's friends. We stayed at Snow Mountain Ranch, which is a YMCA alpine ski area a little north of Winter Park. It was incredible. We had gorgeous weather and relatively warm temperatures. For some reason, when you're up in the mountains skiing (either downhill or cross-country), if it gets up to 30F and the sun is out, it feels extremely warm. Saturday was like that. It was probably somewhere in the mid- to upper 30's and I didn't even wear a coat. Just a down vest. Even on Sunday when we went I think it was in the 20's but I was totally fine with one long-sleeved shirt and the shell to my ski jacket. Anyway, it was gorgeously perfect Colorado weather. All I could think about was how lucky I am to be able to do things like this.

Cross-country skiing certainly is a good workout, especially on the hills we were on. Downhill is scarier on those skis than on alpine skis because the boot isn't rigid, the edges aren't great, and they're skinny. I figured it out, but only after falling four times in the first twenty minutes! In the cabin we all switched off making meals and had some great food to go along with great company. An overall wonderful weekend!

I will always be fascinated by the snow...

We got a big blast of snow here yesterday and last night. I don't think I'll ever get used to how pretty it looks (with the exception of the roads) right after a big snow. I thought I would share some pictures!

Christmas Trip to Texas

Travis and I returned home last night after our annual trip home for Christmas. This year, we started out at my family's house in Cypress before Christmas and then spent a few days in Terrell with Travis's family. The drive home was uneventful with the exception of Wyatt getting into his food and eating a 3-day supply all at once. He's an eater, that guy! Our first stop in Texas was at Lauren and Jim's house to meet our new niece, Abigail!

Wyatt's a fan of babies. Don't worry; he didn't stay that close for too long!

We had a fun few days in Cypress. There was baking, shopping, and general hanging out going on! There might also have been a little bit of wine-drinking.

On the night of the 22nd, when we had our family's "Christmas", I held up a gift to Wyatt, told it that it was for him, and he started going to town! It was absolutely hilarious. The pictures don't quite do it justice, but you get the idea.

Our time in Terrell was mostly spent enjoying each others' company and the usual Christmas traditions. We went to Travis's grandparents' house for brunch on Christmas Eve, saw True Grit, and then went to church that night. Travis, Hal (his father), Wyatt, and I all went for a chilly run on Christmas morning then we all opened presents and had a wonderful day visiting with everyone. Their tree was beautiful, as always! Travis is definitely the better gift-wrapper between us. His mother taught him well!

Beautiful tree with beautiful presents.

The boys all got matching sweaters...

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas, also!