House updates...a work in progress

This is the entry way to our home. I took the photographs in Estes Park, Colorado last October with my mom and had them framed and matted. The candles and vase are a gift from Heather for my 30th B-Day and the clock is an antique from Ted's family.

The new curtains, curtain rods, couch, lamps, pillows, and coffee table. The chair is an antique from my family that needs to be fixed up.

The curtains closed

The "family" wall. It is a work in progress, still filling in the empty photo frames. Please disregard the mess in the den.

Hiking with Rick and Lisa

Well, I am WAY behind in posting so I will try to "catch up" the best I can. So it will be short and sweet and I will let the captions do the "talking". :)

Talking on the trail before we head up

My Brother in law, Rick, King of the mountain

A really cool arch

View from the top

All the hikers: Lisa's mom, Lisa, Rick, me

The Amazing and Talented Coley

SURPRISE!!!

For my 30th Birthday my friend Jenni planned a fun filled day of surprises. Here is a "picture story" of the events. A HUGE "THANK YOU" to everyone that made this day so memorable. 

The events started 2 weeks earlier (at least the part I was aware of). Jenni wrote a poem about our "western" day giving me hints as to what we would be doing. With the cowgirl hat and bandana, the only thing I knew was that it would be a day filled with surprises, one being some type of horseback riding in the morn' and a full supper in the evening. 

Here is a shot of me and mom getting ready to go horseback riding.

Mom and I decked out in our western wear.

The organizer, Jenni, and the Birthday girl.

We thought this sign was so funny...remember we are teachers and know about "time-outs".

The three of us, can you see the rain coming?

Me on Smokey and mom on Undertaker. Yes, the horse mom rode was named undertaker because it used to pull a hearse.

Riding through the Garden of the Gods. How cool is that!! Thanks Jenni!!

My mom, a true cowgirl from Oklahoma.

On the way home from riding, I got a phone call from my friend Heather in California. She was supposed to come out at the end of the month to visit me. She called to wish me Happy Birthday and I walked into Jenni's house still on the phone with Heather asking her when she would be coming and THERE SHE WAS!!! She was in Colorado!!! The BEST and BIGGEST surprise of the day!! Jenni and Heather had never met and worked this out months in advance!!! As you can see in the next photos, I was truly SHOCKED and VERY happy to see Heather! I am so blessed to have such great friends!

You can see the phone in her hand...

After the hugging and shock wore off (some), we headed to Garden of the Gods to show Heather the cool rocks near our house. 

That evening we headed to The Flying W Ranch to eat "some grub". They have a full dinner and wester show. Heather is ready in her cute cowgirl shirt. It was so sweet of her to fly out and see me especially 5 months pregnant! Isn't she adorable? 

Friends from my church group came to share in this special day. This is Brenda in her western wear. 

The whole gang! (Jenn, Rob, Gillette, Mom, Me, Heather, Cecil, Brenda, Kevin, and Jenni)

We all took turns taking pictures in front of the wagon.

Me and Heather

Me and Mom

Brenda and Cecil are so funny

Me and Rob and Jenn

Me and Kevin and Jenni

Me and Gillette

Happy 30th Birthday! Gillette brought me a cake with candles, napkins, hats, and a tablecloth all with the western theme!!

Kevin and Jenni

New Stove and Barstools

Showing how the barstool matches the chair.

The smaller oven on top

The stove and fridge

The whole set up

Okay, so I don't have a cute child to show off, so I am totally into my "new" home and updating it. Ted and I got a stove today and I LOVE it! It is a flattop with (drumroll, please...) my favorite feature --a double oven! The smaller oven heats up in minutes and can cook just about anything. The lower oven can be used for the bigger items. I am super excited because I bake Christmas cookies and have friends come over to bake too and this way we have two ovens. Also, it will save on electricity by just using the smaller oven for most recipes. (You may have noticed the vent does not match. That was a whole fiasco. We ordered an over the counter microwave to match the stove and the store did not tell us we might need an outlet installed in the cabinet above the stove. An electrician came out and said it would cost around 800 dollars to create another circuit to get an appropriate "up to code" outlet up there! We said, 'No thank you, not right now.' So we will either get a vent hood that matches for around 150 or get a microwave installed up there later.)

We also got a really good deal on a table and chair set (all hardwood) and just got the matching barstools in! Here are some pictures. 

I just finished my last graduate class until September and have made straight A's so far! 25 graduate hours in Educational Leadership from UCCS in the last 9 months! Whew! I am tired! Our last professor went around our class and asked each of us why we were pursuing a Type D license (Administrator's License). My answer got a laugh out of everyone. I was completely honest when I said, "I am doing this to keep busy while my husband is in Iraq. I thought it would be fun." I have to say, it has kept me busy.  I am still one of the Co-Principal's for Summer School. We are half way through. Only 10 more days! :)

Coley working on her tan

Coley loves to go in her new backyard, or park as I think she thinks of it. Last weekend we had a lot of sunshine one day and Coley decided to go out and lay down on the patio. I had her sit up for a picture and she was enjoying the sun so much she slid right back down. I wish I had it on video, but you can sort of see it in the pictures. Lately it has been rainy constantly and I just wanted to reflect on a very sunny day. 

Moved in

Poor sleepy dog...she followed me around everywhere and by about two she laid down on the bed for the rest of the day.
A view of the family room from the catwalk upstairs
Obviously, our new bedroom furniture. I took these at 10pm on Saturday before I had a chance to get the tags off. Please excuse the mess...Coley got in the picture wondering, "Mom, when are we going to go to bed?"

The dining room
The Kitchen with the new Kitchen Table.

Well, on Saturday from 8am to 7pm, we had movers come pack up and move our stuff, 3 furniture deliveries, cable installation and 7 friends unpack our stuff (and a partridge in a pear tree, just kidding about that part). WHAT a day!! Coley and I are still recovering! What amazing friends we have. I could not have done it without them. They got all of the kitchen stuff and bedroom stuff out of boxes.  Since pictures speak louder than words, here are some pics of our wonderful house. By the way, I didn't know this, but it is possible to obtain live animals when you close on a house. We now have koi fish in the pond out back. Hopefully, they will be finding a new home this week. They are beautiful fish, but Ted and I are just not fish people. 

New Furniture for the House

I am SOOO excited about moving into the house!! This week I have been shopping like crazy!! There is a furniture store in Colorado called Woodley's Fine Furniture and I found the neatest kitchen table there! I thought I would share it with you. It is solid birch wood, 42" round (with a 18" leaf), pedestal table. It comes with four chairs. It was 1/2 off of the original price in the clearance section. THEN another 1/2 off of that for a promotional they had!!! I got the table for a steal. It has a honey stain to the top of the table and seat of the chairs and a red/brown stain to the legs of the table and back and legs of the chairs. I got two matching swivel barstools to go with it! I think it will look great in our kitchen!!

Also, Coley is healing really well. She got her bandages off this week (finally!). I won't post the pictures of her paws. The incission is pretty long and the hair has not grown back. The pictures are sad to look at. But, she is a good girl and is not messing with them at all. She is ready to play again! The vet said she is ready to go play and take a bath, so I will take her tomorrow ( I wanted to give it a couple more days to be on the safe side).