Easter

So .... I am a long ways behind on updating this blog. I'll have to start with Easter. I got to go to Washington - rather unexpectedly - for the long Easter weekend. It worked out great since almost everyone was home for the holiday - everyone except my brother Leland's family. Below are some pictures from the weekend:

Me & My Sisters

One of my nieces dying eggs

Many many dozens of eggs

Just a few of my nieces and nephews

Priceless

Bowling afterwards (my brother Rob launching the bowling ball)

My sister Demi and my nephew Ryan

At the Jesus Christ Exhibit the day before Easter

My nephews got into it...

My sister's family as angels at the Exhibit ....

Nice halo Russell : )

That sure was a quick weekend - but I am grateful I was able to go home and spend the holiday with my family. It was too bad that Will had to work.

Spring Blizzard

I have had a lovely LONG weekend.  My work sent everyone home early Thursday at noon because of the blizzard - and then it was cancelled Friday too!  Will even got sent home from work Thursday as well - and he already had Friday off.  So all in all - great long weekend!  I only live two miles from my work - and it took over an hour to get home with all the traffic.  I was going to take the bus - but I didn't plan ahead with my shoes and I couldn't walk the 6 blocks in that snow with my shoes.  My feet were freezing!  Luckily someone from work drove me home!

This picture is of me.... standing under cover.

My lack of shoes:

Everyone rushing to get home at 1230.

Our apartment building when I finally arrived home Thursday. 

I had to make my way through that snow up the steps to the door.

It was painful for my cold feet!

Friday morning we had to drive to Aurora to get Will's car fixed - and I had to follow him in my little car.  I am always surprised at how well my  car does in the snow!  I took this photo ... yes while driving.  Apparently Colorado is done plowing for the season.

Crazy weather ... for just a day of course. 

Oh and my success for the weekend was making breakfast burritos.  They turned out really well.  I got the recipe out of the newest Taste of Home magazine.  I tweaked it a bit - here it is:

Bear's Breakfast Burritos:

(makes 6-7 burritos)

1 pkg. (24 oz) frozen shredded hash browns

8 eggs

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1 Tbsp. garlic salt

1/2 Tbsp. ground cumin

1 lb. uncooked bulk pork sausage 

1 (4 oz.) can of diced jalapeno peppers

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped

1/2 large onion, chopped

1-2 cups salsa

flour tortillas

shredded Monterey Jack cheese

cook hash browns according to package directions then set aside.  Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk the eggs, chili powder, garlic and cumin - then set aside.  In a large skillet, cook the pork, jalapenos, peppers and onions over medium head until meat is cooked - drain.  Add reserved egg mixture; cook and stir over medium heat until eggs are set.  Stir in salsa.  Spoon 1/2 cup or so of hash browns and 1/2 cup eggs mixture off center on each tortilla.  Sprinkle with cheese (however much is wanted).  Fold sides and ends over filling and roll up.  Wrap each burrito in wax paper and foil.  Serve warm or cool remaining burritos then freeze up to one month.

To use frozen burritos: remove foil and wax paper. place burritos on an ungreased baking sheet and bake uncovered for 50 min or until heated through.

These burritos were bomb according to Will.  I made these yesterday - put them in the freezer and we baked a couple after church today.  Very convenient and yummy!  Sorry I didn't get any photos of the burritos but we still have several in the freezer.  Maybe next time. : )

T.G.I.F

Today was a good day.  The plumbers finally showed back up to fix our plumbing.  They hadn't been back since Monday!  After fighting with our management company - and after an "extremely harsh email" (the direct words from the management company owner) from me, things are square again. Apparently the issue was this:

This is a pipe found in our kitchen.  The original plan when they came out a couple weeks ago was to just replace the tile wall in our shower - believed to be the problem of the soaking wet carpet in the coat closet.  Apparently it was more than that - and they had to be sure the owner of the condo was okay with paying for all this damage since it was over their "limit" as the management company.  Apparently running water after time becomes like acid to pipes (as displayed in the picture!).

Thankfully it is all getting fixed now - and we finally have kitchen water (the first time since Monday!) which is good because we ran out of clean dishes.

After work, Will and I both had eye doctor appointments with the doctor recommended to me by my eye doctor back home.  Apparently they are good friends who went to school together. It was this awesome little boutique optometry shop in Larimer Square in LoDo called The Bent Lense.  Such a neat guy and an awesome shop!  I found out today that my pupils are abnormally large - and I should never need them dilated because they're already big enough to see everything!  Neat.  I guess that's why I wear glasses this big:
After going to see the eye doctor Will and I went to Chili's on the 16th Street Mall.  It was fun to spend time downtown after work.  I never spend time downtown after working hours.  It was such a nice day!  It does NOT seem like March at all.  Short sleeves and sun everyday.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a comfortable 73 degrees.  I really have to pinch myself some days and remind myself it's not officially Spring (or even Summer) yet .... well until tomorrow that is.  Spring officially arrives tomorrow!

I am ready for the weekend!  Thank Goodness (tomorrow) Is Friday!! TGIF. Enough said.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Will and I both ended up staying home from work today.  Will woke up pretty sick - and since the plumber was supposed to come out today to work on the bathroom again, I figured I should stay home with him.  I have plenty of sick days that I won't actually use - so it was good to use one not actually being sick myself.

It was pretty much a lazy day.  Watched some of the HBO series "Dead Like Me" on DVD and Will played lots of Call of Duty on the XBox.  It was another 71 degree day outside, so we spent some time on our roof-top deck.

I was kinda bummed that I wouldn't get to wear my green to work ... but we both still wore green.  Will had on the green button-up that my mom got him for the "St. Patty's" holiday for a little bit this morning - but since he was sick, he didn't feel like wearing a button-up.  Sorry mom.  I like my shirt though!

Will not feeling so good...

But I still wanted a St. Patty's photo of us.

Somewhat view of downtown from the deck.

I'm sure it'll be prettier when the trees blossom.

Snow-capped mountains.

Enjoying the Sun.

And this is how we truly celebrate St. Patty's Day....

I was going to make cinnamon rolls with green frosting for today - but didn't get to it.  Maybe next year : )

...And now I'm off to a Relief Society Presidency meeting.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Apartment Renovations

This morning Will and I left for work with a finished bathroom and carpet in our coat closet.  When we came home, we no longer had carpet in the closet nor did we have shower walls.  For the past couple months apparently the shower has been leaking into the closet, but we didn't notice until it started to smell - and the cat litter and our little amount of food storage was all soaked.  We have hardwood floors everywhere else, so we didn't notice.  It isn't like we step on the coat closet carpet very often - so we didn't know it was soaked.  

Until tomorrow (hopefully) we don't have a kitchen sink or a dishwasher.  Apparently that's where the biggest leak is from.  But at least we have a fully functional bathroom! : )

Notice the standing water .... and lack of carpet.

Our lovely shower for the next couple days.

Plastic wrapped tub.

Ya know, I was wondering what our plumbing looked like.....

Now I know.

The plumber's tools in our bedroom.  Yay.

And now this is the reason we rent, and will rent for as long as possible.  Someone else gets to pay for this mess, while we just get to endure it.  Four days .... only four days.  And at least our cat has a buddy during the day ... lucky plumber.   : )

Red Rocks and Bison

This weekend has been awesome weather!  Will had the day off Friday - and I got off at 11AM so after running just a couple errands we hit I-70 West to where ever we felt like going - we didn't have an objective when we left.  Unfortunately I was not much fun.  I ended up sleeping in the car, ha!  I was so tired.  But when I did wake up we were at Red Rocks.  Neither of us had been before ... granted I have lived here only a year and a half - but Will has no excuse for not going before now - but either way it was neat - even if I was exhausted!  It was smaller than I expected, the actual amphitheater that is, but the view was amazing!  And they're not lying when they say RED rock.

It was a rather smoggy day - but in the far left view you can (kinda) see downtown Denver.

Will was snapping photos when I didn't know. 

I was busy taking my own photos.

The amphitheater with a view of the never-ending plains behind it.

Along I-70 is a herd of Bison.  I was shocked!

But really the view behind them was cool (minus the highway) 

you can barely see the snow capped mountains on the right side.

Much better in person.

Overall though it was a great week.  I went and saw an oral surgeon last Monday and he gave me some antibiotics and told me to swish hydrogen peroxide - and my gums are sooo much better! Almost healed I would say!  That was a horrible experience - but I am much more grateful for my healthy teeth now - and I promise to always take good care of them.  I had a bad experience and never want that again!

Wednesday we had the missionaries over for dinner: fiesta chicken.  It was a good time.  They had to try to fill their quota of 20 lessons a week so they gave us the first discussion of the Restoration of the Gospel.  I have never personally heard a missionary discussion before, so that was neat.

Saturday I got some unexpected over-time at work.  It was crummy that I had to be to work at 7AM on a Saturday ... but I am happy for the 6 hours of over-time!  Our trip to San Diego seems to be getting sweeter and sweeter.  : )

I also finished my application to University of Colorado Denver today.  I just realized the financial aid deadline is April 1st!  That is so soon - so I had to get my application in asap.  One less thing to worry about - now I just have to wait to hear back - yikes.

Will is doing well at work.  If I haven't said before - he was promoted to Kitchen Designer at Home Depot right before we got married.  He has been doing so well.  He has basically become the "go-to" guy for most departments ... mostly the ones he doesn't work in!  He has also been developing his photography skills.  He has signed up for a photography workshop next month - and has also joined a photography association to help him learn more skills and network. Our goal is to open a portrait studio someday - and all these classes/workshops help him learn the business.  He has also been spending a lot of time perfecting his website.  We're very excited for what our future holds for us!  

We hope you have a great week!  

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY EVERYONE!!!!

Don't forget to wear green on Tuesday!!

Washington Park Sunday

I don't know what happened between yesterday and today - but the weather is gorgeous today! We went for a walk in Washington Park after church.  We love to go there and drool over other people's dogs - particularly labs and german shepherds.  We also enjoy laughing and those people who try to run with teacup sized dogs - hilarious to watch, we know we shouldn't laugh ... but we do.

If only the grass were green - and the trees had leaves, it would've been perfect.  Everything is so dead still ... but Spring is officially only 12 days away!  With the time change last night- I am looking forward to the longer days!

The bike cart rentals at Wash Park remind me of Seaside.

Check out that blue sky!

A snapshot of ourselves at the park.

The trees are huge!

I told Will while walking that even though the weather is awesome - I don't think I'd like this everyday. I miss rain!  I haven't seen rain since I was home in December - and even then it snowed most of the time.  It hasn't rained in Denver for SOOO long - and sadly, it hasn't snowed either.

This is going to be one tough Summer.  We are in need of some serious moisture.  We are already experiencing some wildfires in the North.  The water levels at the park are so low for this time of year - and it's only going to get worse.  For example:

Nice pond, eh?

Low water levels already.

I am sure hoping for some good ol' rain this Spring.  I'm done with the snow - but give us some rain!!