**Happy New Year!!**

Ok, I have to admit, my main reason for posting this email is due to my anal nature. I really wanted to get an even 60 posts for the year. It just sounds nice--sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour--sixty posts in a year. Starting and maintaining a blog was one of my New Year's Resolutions last year, and I think it was one of my most successful. I had at least one post every month and just under 300 profile views in 2008. Thanks to everyone who reads most of the ridiculous stuff I put on this page! I hope you feel very enlightened.

Happy New Year!! I'll catch you again in 2009!

Please be safe if you are going out to celebrate tonight!

Tree Hunters

Josh took Stanley and Riley up to the annual Christmas tree cutting event with his parents this year. I didn't get to go because I was getting my hair cut, but our friend Rachel sent me the pictures today. How cute are these!?!!

This is Josh's version of a Baby Bjorn for Riley

A Few of My Favorite Things

I sat down for a little while to reflect on the past year. A lot has happened, but many things have stayed the same. Instead of writing a holiday letter to update everyone on what has been going on this past year (isn't that what a blog is for anyway??) , I opted to jot down a list of my "tops" for 2008.

Music

1. Best Concert: Does It Offend You, Yeah?
(We saw these guys during the Monolith Music Festival at Red Rocks. They played in the Heart of the Rock Theater--the same place Josh and I got married--and they killed it!)

2. Favorite C.D.: The National: Boxer
(This CD actually came out in 2007. I got it for Christmas and kept it in my CD player all year long.)

3. Song: What We Had by the Handsome Furs, or possibly I'll Believe in Anything by Wolf Parade

4. New(er) Band: Tokyo Police Club
(We saw these guys live and they sounded just as good as their CD's.)









Movies/TV

5. Favorite Movie Overall: Dark Knight
(I saw it on the IMAX screen and it was sweet.)

6. Favorite Comedy: Tie between Pineapple Express and Juno
(I loved Pineapple Express. It was ridiculous and fun to watch.)

7. Favorite TV Show: Three Sheets
(Three Sheets was on MOJO, but the station recently went off the air. Hopefully someone picks it up!! The close runners up were: Biggest Loser, Project Runway, LOST, and Weeds)

Food

8. Most Frequented Restaurant: Parisi
(I can't get enough of this place. It is close to my house and the food is always good!)

9. Favorite Restaurant: Sea Saw in Scottsdale, AZ
(The best meal I have ever eaten came from this restaurant. If you are ever in Scottsdale you should definitely eat here!!)

10. Favorite New Restaurant: Brasserie Felix
(Josh and I only ate here once, but it was spectacular!)

11. Favorite Food: the Pesto Fusilli at Stella Trattoria, closely followed by the rolls with cinnamon butter at the Texas Road House.

12. Favorite Dessert: the strawberry and Nutella crepe at Crepes & Crepes in Cherry Creek
(To Die For!!)

13. Most Frequented Bar: Billy's Bar
(Formerly know as Billy's Inn Bar Inn Bar Bar Bar. At least that's what I called it before it was remodeled. Now it is pretty darn good. . . . and close to home.)

14. Favorite Lunch: Fat Burger w/ cheese and onion rings on the side
(I wish this place wasn't so close to my office. . . . .)

15. Favorite Drink: If its a beer, its Miller Lite. If its wine, its almost always red, and I seemed to like Malbecs a lot this year. If its a mixed drink, give me a mojito, gin and tonic, or a Clementine Izze mixed w/ orange vodka (delicious).

General

16. Favorite Article of Clothing: my black North Face Apex jacket

17. Accomplishment of the Year: I ran a 10K. . . and finished!









18. Favorite New Activities: Pilates, I also got a bike for the first time in 4 years

19. Favorite Purchase: I-Phone

20. Favorite Store: Crate and Barrel
(I dropped a lot of cash there this year.)

21. Trip: Mexico








22. Biggest Changes
a. Nicole & Erick moved back to Colorado

b. Our puppy Riley joined the family









c. The giant TV in our living room finally blew up and was replaced

d. The leopard chair "left the building"

e. Anna graduated from college

f. I drove around in a new car all year

g. Lots of weddings (Sara & Daniel, Polly & Jeremy, JJ & Emily) and even a few babies (Miles Stevens, Macey Estevez, Chole Clark, and Baby Schell any day now!!)
I can't wait for some of the weddings and babies coming next year. Our friends Tim & Jen got engaged a few weeks ago and the following folks are expecting thier first babies in May and June: Jenna & Lou, Matt & Sender, and Chris & Lauren!!

Happy Holidays!!

2007 Ugly Sweater Party

You're a Master of Karate and Friendship

This past weekend Josh and I drove down to Albuquerque, NM with our friends Dom and Pete for the New Mexico Bowl. We lucked out with the weather, so the drive wasn't too bad--lots of wind, but no snow. Since we had to drop our dogs off in Pueblo on the way down, the drive took about seven hours. That gave us plenty of time to explore most of the XM stations and try on all of the sunglasses in my car.


We also had to take a few breaks. At one point Pete got cranky so we pulled over in what looked like the middle of nowhere. At least that's what we thought. There was actually a restaurant; unfortunately, it was closed.


Once we got to New Mexico we were starving so we sought out a restaurant recommended by a few former inhabitants: the Frontier. It is across from the university and looks like a giant barn. The set-up was a little strange, but the food was pretty darn good. Good green chile. GREAT tortillas, freshly made. Even though the ambiance was a little depressing, I would probably go back for the food. After dinner, we went to go stock up on alcohol for the weekend. We had only brought down one bottle of half full vodka, excuse me--orange vodka, and it was gone before dinner. The guy at Frontier directed us to buy liquor at Smith's down the street. It turned out that Smiths was a grocery store. It did sell beer, wine and liquor, but it was all behind locked cages. In order to buy something, a guy had to come by, unlock the cage, remove the bottle(s) of liquor, and carry them to the check-out for you. You can't actually touch the bottles until you pay for them. It was weird.


Friday night was fairly uneventful. We drank, watched the Nuggets game, sang "Dayman" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (see bottom of page for amazing video(unfortunately the video was removed, you should search for it:))), and then walked to a bar. The first bar we walked to was closed (at 10:00). The second bar was similar to a high school dance hosted by women in referee costumes and a wanna-be DJ wearing his dad's wrinkled old zoot suit and an awkwardly too big fadora. Josh and I had a few beers and walked back to the hotel. On the way back some creepy lady tried to lure us over to her car--I'm fairly sure to mug us--by saying she was lost, needed gas, and was robbed by someone at the gas station. Mugger or Victim, we didn't care, and ran to the hotel. . . .while singing "Dayman."


We lucked out and had fantastic weather for the game. We got to the tailgate at 9:00 am and it was pretty darn empty, so we walked around like creeps with our beers. When more people finally arrived we made an appearance at the alumni tailgate and stayed long enought to eat breakfast, spill hot chocolate everywhere, drink our alotted 3 beers each, and look awkwardly at each other while the CSU cheerleaders surrounded us and cheered for about fifteen minutes. The rest of the tailgate consisted of us: eating pasole with a stranger, buying not 1 but 2 calendars featuring an unfortunate looking dance team, losing a pom-pom in a porta-potty, and meeting up with Boyle for more drinks. Oh yeah, and singing "Dayman."






The game was sweet and we actually won!! It is the first CSU bowl game victory I have experienced. Josh, Dom and I went down on the the field to celebrate. I took a picture with Cam the Ram. After the game we went back to the hotel, drank more, and took a cab out to dinner. We went to a place called Tucanos. It was a brazillian stick-boy restaurant. Overall it was pretty good, until I ate a chicken heart and almost threw-up everywhere. Luckily I chewed it back and was able to swallow, however, I had to go home after that.



The drive home on Sunday seemed to take forever, but it was with friends, so it was fun. We stopped in Santa Fe at Flying Tortillas for breakfast. I ordered what had to be the smallest french toast breakfast ever. It was pretty much one and a half pieces, one of which was the heel. The HEEL!! Who does that??! Everyone else's meal looked pretty good and I was entertained by some old pictures on the wall. I tried to take a photo of an old newspaper article describing a four-year-olds birthday party, but it didn't come out. I will try to paraphrase my favorite line:


"After feasting on a variety of man-type foods, the boy enjoyed a gaily decorated birthday cake."

It doesn't get better than that.

Terrible and Awesome at the Same Time

Last night was Josh's holiday party for work. They went to the Buffalo Rose in Golden. Inside the restaurant they found this:

Yes. It is exactly what it looks like: an actual lobster claw machine. For $2.00 you can try to pull a lobster out of the tank with a mechanical claw directed by a joy stick. If you actually get one, they will cook it up for you to eat. Even though I feel really bad for the lobsters, I have to admit it looks kind of fun.

Rocky. The mascot. The Hero.

Last night I went to the Nuggets vs. Bulls basketball game with my parents and sisters. The game was awesome, not only because the Nuggets won (and my family got to come to the game with me), but because several sweet/funny things occurred. Strangely, most of these occurrences centered around the Nuggets mascot, Rocky. I never realized what a big part of the game he was???

Josh and I at the game. You can see the little boys discussed below in the background.

The entire game we had to sit in front of three boys who appeared to be 7 or 8 years old. Needless to say, it was super annoying. However, they did spout out a couple of hilarious comments throughout the game. Some of these comments included:

1. “A minute thirty-five until nachos! Nachos! Nachos! One thirty five ‘til nachos. . . ”

2. About 2 minutes straight of them each talking about their balls.

3. Basic game commentary. They repeated that Nene would be guarding Noah probably 20 times. They also yelled “good pick” every few minutes regardless of whether a pick actually occurred.

4. They also provided score predictions throughout the last quarter. My favorite was a score prediction with 45 seconds left. . . and it was wrong.

5. This one is my favorite. When Rocky came out on the court to do his half-court, backwards shot, one of they boys, with awe in his voice, said, "He has so much confidence."

The confidence statement was priceless. It was true too. On his last attempt of the night, Rocky made the half court shot. It might have been the first time I've actually seen him do it. I was also in awe.

Anna with Rocky last year. I bet you didn't know my sister and Rocky had a thing??

The last funny thing I saw was this guys jacket.

Come on! That has to be one of the most hideous hoodies I have ever seen!! The best part is the zipper on the hood. You can actually zip up the hood to cover your face. The mummy eyes are cut-outs so you can see through the front of the zipped up hood. Tell me that isn't creepy. . . and super dorky.

After Ten Long Years. . . . .

On Saturday we attended our friend JJ's wedding. He and his now wife, Emily, got married ten years to-the-day after their first date. The wedding was great and uniquely their own. Josh and I had a great time. It was really fun to get so many of Josh's high school and college friends together. Below you will find a photo re-cap of the event.

J.J. and his dad Joe right before the ceremony started. The ceremony was at the Mercury Cafe downtown. J.J. and Emily used to go dancing there when they first started dating. The place was all decked out with twinkle lights, greenery, and bamboo shoots.

Emily and her dad walking down the aisle.

Josh was in a kissy mood. Note the photo below as well.

Mooowah!

Dom, Keith, Josh, Dave, Chris, & Pete. Half high school, half college friends.

The reception was at the Space Gallery on Santa Fe. It was a great venue with lots of neat art. The photo above features Keith being a role model. That kid's mom has no idea what she is in for.

At this point in the night, I was trying to take a picture of Josh with his arm around Keith. I didn't realize I was spilling an entire glass of wine down the front of my dress at the same time. The photo snapped just as Josh turned around because he heard the splashing. The moment was sad and hillarious at the same time.

Chris & Jolon's daughter Chloe. I think the picture says it all.

"Footloose! Footloose! Kick off those sunday shoes!" A great way to end a Saturday night! Also note that my dress doesn't appear to be stained with red wine. It was truly a wedding miracle. I don't know how that happened. Typically red wine and silk don't mix. I guess I just danced it out.

Hey, there's my mustache!

Halloween happens to be one of my favorite times of year. I love dressing up, drinking, giving out candy, the pumpkins, everything. Therefore, I was totally pumped this year to get to celebrate it on both Friday and Saturday night. Friday night we spent some time hanging out at my friend Karen's house, and then went downtown to Beta to rock out. Saturday we went to my aunt and uncle's house in Canon City for thier annual Halloween Party. It was pretty sweet. Here is a link to the pictures from both nights: Sweet Halloween Pictures. The photo above features Abby as a Boston fan, Josh as Hot Rod, Anna as a rock star, and me as a flapper. Classy, huh?

Highlights of the evenings (you can see pics of most of this stuff if you click the link above):

1. Josh trying to do Hot Rod stunts on our friends scooter

2. The guy at Beta dressed up like Teen Wolf--great costume

3. Seeing the cross-dresser pole dancer at Beta. That dude was workin' it!

4. Blowing up fake blood in Nicole's microwave

5. Seeing Anna bust out rock moves on the dance floor

6. When Josh thought he found his fake mustache on the floor and rejoiced

7. When Josh realized it was NOT his fake mustache

8. Ashley trying to sleep on my aunt's floor

9. Everyone asking if Erick was a mormon (he was dressed up as a bicycle commuter)

10. This picture

Two Year Anniversary!

As of today, October 28, 2008, Josh and I have been married for two years. Crazy, right?? It is so weird to think we have known each other for nearly 6 years! Here is a brief photo record of our relationship.

We met in January 2003. This was obviously taken on Halloween. It is probably good Josh waited a few months before breaking out the cat costume.

This pic was taken in the spring of 2004 during Engineering Days. Yeah, I know, dorky.

This is Easter 2005, I think?? Maybe it was still 2004. Yup, we still lived in Fort Collins, but we already had Stanley. It was 2004, and yes, we are sitting on a skateboard eating mashed potatoes.

This was Valentines Day 2005, for sure. We got engaged about 7 months later.

Eating legit cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, 2006.

Halloween in Maui during our honeymoon, 2006 (We gotta get these mother f*$#in' snakes off this mother f!$%in' plane!!)

Our first anniversary last October, or should I say Rocktober. We tried to get tickets to the World Series, but failed miserably. We went downtown on our anniversary anyway. It was still a lot of fun to be near the stadium.

These last few are from this year.

January 2008. It was fickin' cold this year!! The hats were necessary.

Opening Day 2008

Zip Line in Mexico, June 2008

Rockin' out @ the Hi Dive, Summer 2008

At the Monolith Music Festival, Fall 2008