Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Summer Summary

My oh my, has this Summer flown by. Obviously the wedding went well, and some of you know that already. Before the wedding, I had a great time rock climbing with Brett, Tony, and Joe, and Andrew joined us later as we watched Warren Miller flicks, ate pizza, and drank beer. After the wedding, we made our way to Kauai Island in Hawaii, which was an excellent time. I did manage to get sunburned really bad, but that's bound to happen. We had all sorts of fun eating Lappert's ice cream everyday and doing things like deep sea fishing, riding in a helicopter, hiking, snorkeling, eating fresh pineapple and apple bananas, taking a sunset cruise down the Na'Pali coast, and dining out at some really nice restaurants. It truly was a wonderful trip, and a great relief from the stress from all the wedding planning.

After Hawaii, it was back to reality. Allison started her Summer semester, which involved anatomy, which meant that she spent more time at school than home, but I knew I was marrying a hard worker. School just finished, and she's still waiting on her anatomy grade and fearing the worse, but I'm sure she did fine. She was able to come out with us a few times this Summer, which was pretty cool. So far, we've hiked La Plata Peak and Missouri Mountain, both of which are 14ers. We also did a backpacking trip through the Lost Creek Wilderness with our friend Peter. We just hiked in, setup camp, camped out, and hiked out. It was a good time. Brett and I tried climbing later that weekend, but got a little wet, and luckily didn't make it onto the rocks, or we would have been climbing in a storm, so we went bouldering in Boulder instead.

Al and I also added a kayak to the family this Summer, so we now have two. This means that I have someone to paddle with me! Yes! We went to Dillon Reservoir once, which was really cool, and I also got to go with Brett a couple weeks ago, which I'll discuss soon in further detail.

It's also been a very eventful Summer in terms of weddings and family visits. The son of my dad's good friend Gary got married in July, and my parents came out for that, which was really fun. Luckily, Allison had a slow weekend that allowed her to spend some time with us. Not long after that, a friend of mine from Miami University got married in Keystone. Brett found a 2 bedroom condo for us all in Frisco, so he and I headed up Friday night. We got to join them at the rehearsal BBQ and it was a great time. Lots of meat. Allison couldn't make it up until Saturday night though because she had finals the following week, so Brett and I got to hang out. We had a great time, and then we went kayaking the next day. It was a lot of fun although, we had to paddle into some intense wind at one point. The wedding was really cool, and we had to ride 2 ski gondolas to get to it. It was a beautiful place, and the reception was super fun.

So as I write this, Allison's mom, sister, and grandmother are still here in town, although they're leaving today. They came in for the weekend, and we all had a great time together. Her grandma got to see where we got married and had the reception, and she really seemed to enjoy getting away from lights of suburban Chicago. Jenna had fun playing Wii Bowling with me, and Allison's mom seemed happy to see Allison and her sister, Kathy, who lives out here. It seemed like there was an abundance of good meals this weekend, which makes me very happy:)

Anyhow that's pretty much our summer in a nutshell. It's felt super busy, and it has been, but it's also been nice to be done with wedding planning. Now that Allison is done with her anatomy labs and courses, it might get easier to see each other, but I'm not sure. Either way, it's nice when we're together, and that's all that matters. OK, well I gots to go. Take care all, and I hope you're doing well!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

2 weeks left!

In two weeks, Allison and I are going to be married! How exciting! I can't believe it's finally here!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Colorado Wildlife

This photo was taken near Carter Lake, about 20 miles north of Boulder. One of KBCO's sound engineers has a neighbor who put up a trail cam near the carcass of a half buried deer. This is what came back to finish it off. Check near the top of the picture on you can see a deer looking on.



Photo courtesy of DJ Keefer at KBCO.com.

Almost half of Americans want to live somewhere else...

Guess what the most popular place is.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/census/2009-01-29-where-we-live_N.htm

Aaaaah Denver, CO... How I love thee!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

We saw a moose!

You know you're living in the coolest place on Earth when there's a risk of hitting a moose on your drive home. Allison and I saw a moose near Ward, Colorado after having dinner in Estes Park on Saturday night. We saw a big black spot moving on a hill adjacent to the highway, and I thought it was a bear. That's when I saw it had antlers. It's the first bull moose I've seen ever, the first American moose I've seen, and it was Al's first moose all together. I thought that was pretty sweet.

Ryan

Friday, January 16, 2009

4 months to go!

So, 4 months from today, I'll be married. It's kinda crazy to think about. I don't mean crazy like "What the heck am I doing?", but more like "Wow, where did the last 5 months go?". Anyhow, I couldn't be happier with Allison. She continues to amaze me. For Christmas, she made me the coolest collage of pictures of me fly fishing. It was THE perfect gift. What better to get the narcissist than a framed collage of pictures of himself! The best part was that she totally surprised me with it. She also made me an awesome dinner, which is the first time she really cooked something. It was also amazing. Don't get me wrong, she's baked cookies and made us pizza before, but this was straight up housewifing. It was awesome! Anyhow, it was a great holiday, and my family had a great time with her, since she flew in to see us on Christmas day. My niece and nephews loved her as well. Long story short, I couldn't be happier. We've been spending some time up in the mountains now skiing, and it's been good. I think I've been about 6 times thus far, which is pretty good. Allison is getting pretty good at riding, while I've been focusing on skiing up until now. That's going to change real soon though. For Christmas, I got a snowboard, bindings, and boots. The boots just arrived, so I can now begin my lessons. Having unlimited lessons at Breckenridge helps a lot! It's supposed to be warm this weekend, but hopefully I can still get some good riding in. I'm still having a blast here in Colorado, and that partly explains the lack of postings. Sorry about that:) Last but not least, the new townhome is sweet. I love the floorplan, the area, and the decore. It's just a great place. To go along with my new house, I bought a Subaru Outback. It's not new, but it's close enough. Once I get some all terrain tires, I think I'll be an official Coloradan. Hope you're all doing well!

Ryan