yeah, yeah yeah! it's a snow day!

I can remember back when I was a little kid and I would wake up on my own on a school day. On those select days I would ask mom and daddy why they didn't wake me up, they would say there is no school today. That excitement I felt as a little kid on a snow day has not changed. I love to get the 5:30 a.m. call from my teammate Syd. She always begins the conversation by saying, "It is the call you dreamed about." I usually respond by saying, "Really?". I get so excited to not go to school even as an adult. I get as excited as a little kid to go play in the snow. Off to the mountain to ski some fluffy stuff.

the one you love

a little boy in my class was to be gone from school for the next month on a trip to china with his family. this tuesday afternoon our secretary saw me in the hallway, pulled me into a dark book room and gave me very sad news. the family had stopped in california to visit friends before going to china and the little boys dad passed away in his sleep. my heart began beating a thousand miles an hour and i almost didn't believe what the secretary was saying. anytime one hears something like that it makes your breath stop for a split second. my heart is so sad for the family, this man's wife, three kids, and especially the little boy. he has had a very hard time adjusting to school, not wanting to leave his parents and now to lose his daddy...i can't even imagine.

i didn't sleep very well that night, lots of thoughts were running through my head. i kept waking up making sure the one i love was still lying there with me. i would be lost without marty. i also thought about how much i love my daddy and how fortunate i am to have had him to raise me into the person i have become.

this holiday season i am so thankful for the health of my family members and friends. i love you all very much!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

To my surprise I woke up this morning with white fluffy snow upon the tree branches and rooftops. It was a beautiful way to wake up. Then to my surprise as I began my day with my Kindergarten class, it snowed from 8-4 non stop. It dumped snow. My kids and I were cozy inside and all I could think of was swooshing down the mountain on my skis. Soon enough...less than a month till ski season, I can't wait!!!!!!

I Can't Believe It Didn't Rain!

Literally every single camping trip Marty and I took this summer and fall it rained, poured rain. It even rained at Country Jam this summer in Grand Junction, which doesn't get much rain as it is. We thought we would try one more time to go camping during our fall break. A bit hesitant, we packed up our gear and bikes and headed west. It ended up being the most perfect weekend. The sun shone the entire two days, it was warm, we put some miles on our mountain bikes, and Marty actually slept through the night. Till next year camping and biking...Bring on the snow, lots and lots of snow!!!

All Dressed Up!

In September our friends Josh and Tisha got married up in Aspen. It was a beautiful place to have a wedding. The dinner was good, the dancing was fun (even though I got my foot stomped on by my friend Jarrid's cowboy boot, my foot is still healing), and we even spent the night at the resort. I kinda like Marty in purple.

School, School, and More School

Wow, where has the past month gone? Oh yeah... school is back in full swing. This year I have a total of 30 students (I have two different part time classes). It was not my first choice to teach the part time classes, however, a huge drop in numbers has changed our Kindergarten classes a bit. I am just super thankful to still have a class, even though my work load is double. My two groups are really great kids and I seem to have some great parents too.
For those of you who may not know, I am also in school. I just started grad school about 3 weeks ago. I am attending Walden University (all online learning) and working towards my master's degree in Reading and Literacy. It has been going well so far, it is lots of work and me being diligent and getting home from work at 4:30 to start my homework.
Week 2 of grad school (last week), I sat in our office at the desk attempting to write my 1st grad paper. I new exactly what I wanted to say, however, before I began writing I needed to set up my document in APA (American Psychological Association) style, which includes numerous things, too many to even explain. But for a few: special margins, headers, page numbers, perfect grammer, citations, etc. I had several books laying around me to assist in this task. A half hour into setting up my title page and headers, I was complaining out loud to myself because I was frustrated and didn't know what I was doing. 1 1/2 hours later Marty came home to me laying on the floor with my head down crying. I haven't been this frustrated since high school when I was asking my daddy advice on homework and we got into little tiffs trying to figure things out. How was this happening again? I took a break to make dinner, apologized to my oh so patient husband, and sat down for attempt number two.
Tears, yelling, what for? My paper took me only 50 minutes to actually write. I submitted it two days early and successfully got an A- on my first grad paper. I feel pretty good. Well for now...paper number two is on the agenda for tomorrow:)

Labor Day Weekend

We packed up the truck, met our friends John and Sarah and their two kids Jack and Maggie and headed over Kebler Pass. It is a 2 hour drive over the pass and then all of a sudden we were in Crested Butte, CO.

Mt. Crested Butte

Me and my little buddy Jack. Jack was in my Kindergarten class last year, and now we are good friends with his family.

Our beautiful view from our campsite. We love, love, love camping in CO!

Roasting marshmallows with Maggie, Jack already inhaling the smore I made him:)

It was a great weekend to be away with our friends. We just hung out around the campsite, ate lots of good food, and bummed around the little mountain town.

What are we going to do next...

What are we going to do next was the question my daddy asked throughout the entire week he was here. My daddy was so excited to be back out in the mountains(maybe that is where I got my love of the mountains from) he wanted to constantly be doing something outside. Let's just put it this way...We went for a 7 mile hike one day and on the way back down the jeep trail to the main road, mind you we were only in the truck for like 5 minutes, my daddy asks, "So what are we doing when we get home, going for a bike ride or something?" I kept teasing him all week that he had me more busy in a few days than I had been all summer. My mom, daddy, and sister Meg came out to visit for a week. It was so much fun to have my parents and sister Meg here for a whole week. I was wishing Ryan(my bro) and my sister in law Sarah were here too. Our week was filled with hiking, lots of jeeping, a little bit of rodeo, sightseeing, cruising around town on the bikes, lots of good food, hundreds of pictures being taken(my daddy's new found hobby is photography, he does a great job!), and most important just hanging out as a family. Oh...thanks daddy for all the great pics for us to post on the blog.

Strolling through Carbondale doing some shopping.

Crusin with my mom.

Getting ready to hike Red Hill(Carbondale, CO).

Top of Red Hill on Mushroom Rock overlooking the town and Mt. Sopris.


Carbondale Wild West Rodeo

Carly and Mom(Lorrie)

Bull Riding

Dave and Lorrie (We all packed into the jeep and went up the Crown Trail).

Frying Pan River (Basalt, CO)

Ruedi Resevoir

Meg enjoying the jeep ride.

Delicious dinner at Phat Thai(Carbondale, CO)

Creek crossing on Capital Creek Trail. The water was freezing!

Thirsty Mom?


Beautiful Colorado wildflowers, with the stunning Capital Peak(Snowmass, CO) as a backdrop.

Good Times With My Best Friend

I have the greatest best friend ever! Sara has come out to Colorado to visit me every year since I moved here 4 years ago (wow, time goes really fast). It was a perfect week filled with lots of girl time, wedding talk (Sara is getting married next Labor Day weekend, yeah!), pool time, a couple mountain bike rides, and even an overnight backpacking trip. I always hate when she has to leave. I can't wait till the next time we get to hang out!


Heading into the Snowmass Wilderness.


There is always some rain in the mountains. It only rained for about 1 hour hiking in. Then it got sunny, well... then the rain came again for most of the night. Our hike out was a perfect sunny day, thank goodness!


Crossing the log jam to get to the trail on the other side of the beaver pond.


Our furry little friend who had us cracking up. He decided to hop up onto the rock and do some posing for his pictures. At one point he even smiled at us showing us his big buck teeth.


A beautiful waterfall just before Snowmass Lake.


Trying to stay warm.


Snowmass Mountain (9.1 miles in from the trail head)


We planned on summitting the 14ner (14,000 ft.), however, we really would have needed 3 days instead of 2, the summit was pretty technical and we just didn't have enough time. Someday...


We biked on a trail that at the end we had a great view of Glenwood Springs, CO.


Best Buds!


Pushing hard uphill on the Forest Hollow Loop.

A Weekend In Denver

Marty, Scott, Nicole and I went to Denver for a weekend. It turned out to be a very eventful weekend. We stayed at our friend Nick's and he showed us a great time around the city. We went to Water World (a huge water park), a Rockie's game, and after all that the boys even let us girls do some shopping on Sunday before we headed back into the mountains (what great husbands Nicole and I have)!


Marty, Scott, & Nick


Nicole & Carly


Look at that cute couple!


Coors Field (Denver, CO)

Toga Time!

Our friends Jarrid and Liz decided to throw a toga party. Marty and I were asked to use our creative minds to help plan the Olympic Games. The 4 of us sat over a dinner and planned out the toga evening. We based most of our event choices off of the original Olympic Game ideas (and...some were completely random).
Some events that filled the evening:
Opening Ceremony-Stump Chugging

Nail Pounding (fastest pounding time)

Bean Bag Shot Put

Walk of Death (partners walking back to back on a balance beam trying to get the fastest time)

Thighs of Fire Wall Sit (I have to brag, my partner and I won this event. For those of you who don't know, you have to lean against a wall or fence in our case, in a sitting position for as long as you can) My thighs were certainly on fire! Oh and if one of the partners couldn't sit anymore they had to then sit on their partners knees (the partner still doing the wall sit).

Egg on a Spoon Race

Chariots of Fire (a.k.a The Wheel Barrel Race)

All in all it was a fun night with friends and games. The toga making part of it the night before was lots of fun too.