We Have Arrived!

Derek and I arrived in Denver on Sunday night and really like it here so far even though we are still in limbo. It was warm Monday and Tuesday, but it turned chilly for Halloween. We spent the past two days looking at a bunch of apartments. We narrowed it down to a neighborhood (Capital Hill) and found an super amazing apartment near Cheesman Park. It is in a really nice and quiet neighborhood in a renovated old mansion. It is rather close to downtown and on the route to school. We really like it and will post pictures of the inside soon. We went for a follow-up peak this afternoon and made arrangements to sign the lease and pay tomorrow morning, but then tonight the property manager called to say there was a potential delay: the current residents were planning on moving out Friday morning so we could begin moving in that night as the cleaners cleaned. They are moving out because they bought a home, but they just found out there might be a delay with their closing. The manager was suppose to call us back with an update if needed tonight and we are hoping the fact that he didn't is a good sign since he knows we will need to make arrangements since we are staying in a hotel right now. We really hope it works out because we really like it.

Besides that we have been doing a lot of exploring and really like the area. We are really excited to be here and think we will be very happy.

Oh, and yes, Gandalf made the trip just fine. He got a little restless the end of the first day, but besides that he found a nice little nook up on the boxes in the back and stayed there most of the time. He would come down every couple of hours and check things out - look out the windows and make sure we were doing OK. He set paw in Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas and even saw a real cowboy herding cows!!! This is a picture of him in his nook!

This is the front of the place we really, really like. If it doesn't work out with this one we have found back up which is very nice too!

Special Friends

Meghan, Kim and Me! I will miss them!

Thursdays at the Eli's

Every Thursday night (or at least almost every Thursday) this past year we had dinner at Derek's parents house with the whole family. This last week we took a family picture since we were all together (usually one of the Jasons was missing). They also surprised us with going away presents.

I am not sure why I am leaning forward so much - maybe I was trying to compensate for the fact that my feet weren't touching the ground?

The Last Hurrah....

I have been working at Big River Brewery since I first moved to Nashville and have made some really great friends and had some really wonderful times there even though I did my fair share of complaining. In fact, one of the things I will miss most from Nashville is playing restaurant with Kimmy, Meghan, Beth and Peggy on Wednesday and Friday nights.

On Sunday we went out to play and unfortunately I don't have any good pictures, but will try to get some more from Beth soon. It appears that we drank our wine a bit too swiftly and forgot all about the camera! My loving husband was kind and sweet enough to drive us around from Westend back to downtown and then, after we were nice and riled up, back to Meghan's. I am sure we were a big handful and I am sure he would love to tell you about it!

These are the rest of the pictures (I love the one with our heads missing - we asked some guy on the street to take it - he might have been drinking his wine too fast too):

That Was a Big Bang!

For our last Friday night before were left for Denver we went to the Big Bang on Broadway. We had a bunch of fun and yes that is Derek shaking his bootie! There are many more pictures of him getting down and dirty that I can email to you if you want (I know you want them), but I wanted to give you a sampling. I will show them to our kids one day to show them that their dad really did bust out sometimes and I will also mention that their Grandma took a lemon drop shot! Yep - you heard me!

Oktoberfest Bier Run and then to Clarksville

Last Saturday morning Brooke and I ran the Oktoberfest Bier run 5K to benefit the local schools and churches in historic Germantown. This was the first time Brooke had run that far (at least in her adult life), and she ran the whole way - no stopping! Afterwards we walked around the festival, drank our victory beers and watched Eli and Anna Rose get their faces painted. We also made - yes MADE, Derek buy the shirt he is wearing in the pictures at his grandparents house along with some prints of Nashville landmarks that we have been looking at buying for over a year now. We see this vendor at almost all the festivals and events we go to and really like their stuff and Derek always says he wants to buy something, but that he needs to think about it more and will get them later. That is what he said again last weekend. Remember, we have been living here for well over a year and are now leaving in, then, two weeks! I mean what later is he waiting for? You would think he was deciding what Kandinsky to buy not some $12 prints and a $10 shirt! God love him! I sure do.

The next day after Sunday school we went out to Clarksville to see Derek's grandparents one last time before we head out to Denver. We had a really nice time, but I was so tired from working late on Friday and then playing late on Saturday and getting up early every day that I wandered into the spare bedroom and fell asleep. I am sure all the food didn't help the situation either. I am not joking - every time we have dinner at their house I feel like it is Thanksgiving with so much good food. Actually, a Sunday dinner put on by Derek's grandma might even have more food then our Thanksgivings ever did growing up. That is probably an exaggeration, but I really wonder how the Eli's stay so thin - I need to remind myself that I do not have the same DNA as them!!!!!

Derek and Uncle Ricky

From Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

“What keeps you going isn’t some fine destination but just the road you’re on, and the fact that you know how to drive. You keep your eyes open, you see this damned-to-hell world you got born into, and ask yourself, ‘What life can I live that will let me breathe in and out and love somebody or something and not run off screaming into the woods?’ I didn’t look down from some high rock and choose this life. This life chose me.”

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After a minute he said, "No, it's not like that. It's not making a deal, bad things can still happen, but you want to try not to cause them to happen. It has to do with keeping things in balance."

"In balance."

"Really, it's like the spirits have made a deal with us."

"And what is the deal?" I asked.

"We're on our own. The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities, and we're saying: We know how nice you're being. We appreciate the rain, we appreciate the sun, we appreciate the deer we took. Sorry if we messed up anything. You've gone to a lot of trouble, and we'll try to be good guests."

"Like a note you'd send somebody after you stayed in their house?"

"Exactly like that. 'Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch. I took some beer out of the refrigerator, and I broke a coffee cup. Sorry, I hope it wasn't your favorite one.' "

I laughed because I understood "in balance." I would have called it "keeping the peace," or maybe "remembering your place," but I liked it. "It's a good idea," I said. '"Especially since we're still here sleeping on God's couch. We're permanent houseguests."

"Yep, we are. Better remember how to put everything back how we found it."

It was a new angle on religion, for me. I felt a little embarrassed for my blunt interrogation. And the more I thought about it, even more embarrassed for my bluntly utilitarian culture. "The way they tell it to us Anglos, God put the earth here for us to use, west-ward-ho. Like a special little playground."

Lloyd said, "Well, that explains a lot."

"It explained a hell of a lot," I said quietly, because the dancers' bells were quieting down, "But where do you go when you've pissed in every corner of your playground?" I looked down at Koshari, who had ditched his cowboy hat and gun and seemed to be negotiating with Jack.

I remembered Lloyd one time saying he'd die for the land. And I'd thought he meant patriotism. I'd had no idea. I wondered what he saw when he looked at the Black Mountain mine: the pile of dead tailings, a mountain cannibalizing its own guts and soon to destroy the living trees and home lives of the area. It was such an American story, it was hardly even interesting. After showing me his secret hot springs, Lloyd had told me the Jemez Mountains were being mined savagely for pumice, the odd Styrofoam-like gravel I'd thrown into the air in handfuls. Pumice was required for the manufacture of so-called distressed denim jeans.

To people who think of themselves as God's houseguests, American enterprise must seem arrogant beyond belief. Or stupid. A nation of amnesiacs, proceeding as if there were no other day but today. Assuming the land could also forget what had been done to it.

Jenna and Trey and the Green Machine

So I get random text messages and voice messages from my sister all the time, but a couple weeks ago I got one that said: "We just bought a lime green VW bus!" I finally got them to send pictures and yep, it is lime green! They so belong in California - just look at them. I miss the stinker butts and are glad to be closer to them when we move to Denver. Jenna emailed me yesterday and said Spur (their dog) had puppies and maybe I was tired or maybe it was something else, but I was really confused - Spur is a boy!!!! Then while watching Family Guy last night, the one where the dog (forget his name) thinks he is having puppies with another dog, did I realize that Spur's girlfriend had puppies! Congrats Spur.

This is my last week at Snappy - so sad, so so sad! We are getting really excited about Denver and have found some really neat apartments out in there so far, but can't make a decision until we see them. On Saturday, after the Oktoberfest 5K Derek and I had to rush to mail our applications to DU. It's like we are already college students again - procrastinating until the assignment is due! Anyways - everything has been mailed in so now we just have to hope they accept us. Also - the Rockies are going to the world series!

Bad Kitty Gandalf

He has gotten so bad that he now has to stay locked in the bathroom while we are sleeping (no more cuddling before sleep) and at work or out. Bad as he is he is still a lover kitty and so cute. Look at how much he loves Derek - Gandalf will just sit and stare at him, willing Derek to look at him. Derek is his chosen person even though I feed him, cuddle him and clean his litter box!!!! What can you do?

I Want to Check You For Ticks

On the way home from church on Sunday I went hiking at Radnor Lake I saw a woodpecker (my first time ever so it WAS a big deal) and a deer. Please note that I say that "I" went hiking because it was only "I" who went - my loving hubby was being lazy so he sent his little wife off into the wilderness alone. Too bad for him because look how close I was to this deer.

I wanted to try to get closer but just before I came upon her there was one of those "get-to-know-the-wilderness-informational-signs" about local ticks so I was scared. Right now as I write this Brad Paisley's song I Want to Check You For Ticks is playing so I wonder if that is God's way of telling me there is a tick hidden somewhere on me. You never know where one might be!!!!!

Afterwards we (by we I do mean Derek and me) went to his Aunt and Uncle's home for a birthday celebration. There were a bunch of kids there this weekend so it was a bunch of fun. Hasn't Anna Rose gotten big? The other little girls are Derek's cousins, Shannon and Brittany's babies: Jaycee, Ally, Brianna (actually she isn't in any pictures here) Aubrey and Kaylie. Also Derek's cousin Cameron is on the trampoline.

Stick It To the Man Cookie Fan

Have you heard the story about this recipe? I just got it in my in-box for the second time. Apparently a lady bought two cookies at a Neiman-Marcus cafe and loved them so much she asked for the recipe. They told her she could buy it for two fifty - thinking that was a reasonable price she did. Then saw on her statement that she was charged $250. They refused to refund her so she wants to make sure everyone who loves cookies has access to it for free. Stick it to the man - I guess!

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES

2 cups butter
24 oz. chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the
butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with
flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda. Add chocolate chips,

Hershey Bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart
on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

My Talented Husband

They have eyes now!

This is one of our friends from YWAM. I don't know how to rotate these last two pictures!