I love where we live!

Not only do we LOVE living in Colorado, I just absolutely love where in Colorado we live. For those of you who haven't visited us (I encourage you to do so), we live in what most Denver-metro people call "the middle of nowhere," in a small community called Roxborough. It's technically part of Littleton, but it is about 10 minutes south. It's sandwiched right between two beautiful state parks-- Roxborough and Chatfield. It's nestled along the Platte River amongst the foothills, quarry, and near red-rock formations locally called Arrowheads. It's basically one of the most beautiful settings I could think to live! While we do have a 10 minute drive to reach all the restaurants and shops of Littleton and Highlands Ranch, we only have to step outside our front door and we have access to 100 of miles of trails. With 300+ days of sunshine each year, we have a great opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. [Wow, I sound like a rep from CO tourism!].
On Thursday evening, we recieved a few inches of snow that on Friday morning luckily had not melted yet. With the beautiful blue skies welcoming in the day, Dave took the camera with him on his way into work and snapped a few photos. The picture above is taken from the road we live off of looking down the Platte River with the foothills in the distance. I'm glad he did that as by early afternoon, the snow was all gone! We've been trying to gather a picture from this spot of each season similar to what we did with the Arrowheads. Below you can see the picture we took of the Platte in the fall. Now we just need to get a nice spring and summer picture.

Trading the Shoes for boots

Dave's entire family to include his mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, our nephew and niece all flew out to Colorado this past week for a ski trip. Dave's mom and dad flew out a few days early to spend time with us in Littleton and while I had to work the whole time, they had the chance to go to the Denver Mint and to play lots of Wii. I think they had a really good time together.

On Thursday, I had to travel down south for work to give a presentation so I missed the arrival of our niece and nephew (Caroline's first airplane ride!) but it sounds as though it was fairly uneventful. It had begun to snow in the front range about the time we packed the bags to head to Breckenridge-- a precursor for what was to come I suppose! Dave's parent's were extremely generous in renting out a ski-in/ski-out lodge between Peaks 8 and 9 off the Snowflake lift. It was a gorgeous 2-story condo! After settling in on Thursday evening, we headed out to Breck's quaint downtown area for dinner at the Empire Burger. Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to put Jack (3) and Caroline (1) down for bed so that Brian, Ania, Dave and I could go out for drinks after dinner. We don't get very many opportunities to see them, so it was really nice to spend some time just catching up.
Friday morning welcomed us with quite a bit fresh new snow. We all took Jack for his full-day of ski school prior to hitting the slopes. I've never seen a kid so excited to learn to ski! Breckenridge's program sounds pretty nice-- for the 3 year olds, they spend 1 hour one-on-one outside on the slopes in the morning followed by lunch, crafts, and games. They end the afternoon with group time on the slopes.

Jack heading to ski school!

From the sounds of it, Jack had an absolute blast skiing. He kept telling me how much he loved the magic carpets (these are the little carpet-like devices that transport children to the top of the little hill). Brian and Ania were even able to capture video of him skiing. Since he's too young to have the muscle to do the pizza-wedge, it'll be a bit longer before they teach him to do turns and stops. I'm so glad he enjoyed it though! The rest of us had a great morning skiing Peak 9 before eating lunch back at our lodge (it sure was nice to avoid the $40 on-mountain lunch price!). In the afternoon, Dave and I headed over to Peaks 7 and 8.

While we waited for a seat at Erics Downstairs for dinner, we enjoyed a few shops and a few games of pinball with Jack. We capped the evening off with dessert at a local ice cream shop (yumm!).

Jack and I playing pinball

Snow again welcomed us the following morning (I'm now reading they totaled 25 inches this past weekend and I believe it!) and we couldn't wait to show Brian and Ania Peak 7. I think they really enjoyed this peak the best. The conditions were great and it was one of the best times I've had skiing in a very long time!

Brian and Ania at Peak 7

By early afternoon we had to head back in to check out of our lodge and hit the road. It couldn't have been better timing as I had begun to feel really weak and queasy. The long catwalk back to the lodge was too much exertion for me and Dave ended up having to pull me. Shortly after making it back to the lodge, what I assume was altitude sickness commenced as I spent the next few hours over a toilet. Interestingly enough at almost the exact same time, Bob called saying Diane had gotten sick shopping downtown. We realized we needed to expedite the process of getting off the mountain and back down to a mile-high. Needless to say, it was not an enjoyable car ride as Diane and I had to utilize our throw-up buckets numerous times in the car. Of course, being that it was a Saturday, we hit lots of (nearly 3 hrs) traffic getting home. Turns out, Dave (the driver of the non-sickies car) also began getting sick before reaching Georgetown. I'm not sure what caused all 3 of us to suddenly get sick at about the exact same time, but I suspect it was the altitude. (Coincidentally enough, Bob plotted data from NOAA and pointed out that a very low pressure system bottomed out to 29.6 pbar at the nearly exact time Diane and I started to get sick). It's too bad that the 3 of us spent the entire evening and following day in bed. I felt like such horrible hosts! We're all doing better now, but it's definitely a trip we'll remember in many (completely opposite) ways.
It seems like Jack and Caroline do so much growing up between the times we get to see them and we miss them lots. We're so glad everyone could come out and we hope they will return soon!

I also want to thank our friends Daniel and Charity who kindly watched our dogs over the weekend so we could enjoy the time with family. Here's a picture of our girls that their "sitters" took (aren't they cute!):

Violette Kumm (Grandma)

Violette Muriel Kumm

Violette Muriel Kumm, 77, of 3592 County Road Q, town of Seneca, died Wednesday afternoon surrounded by her family, Feb. 17, 2010.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21, at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Wisconsin Rapids. The Rev. Timothy Wenger will officiate. Burial will be in Restlawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Violette was born Jan. 11, 1933, in Junction City, to Harold and Corrine Roselia Koch. She married Allen H. Kumm on Sept. 1, 1952, at Bethany Lutheran in Sigel.

Violette worked in data processing and invoicing at Nekoosa Edwards Paper Company and later Georgia Pacific.

Violette enjoyed square dancing, round dancing, casinos, traveling and loved to cook. She enjoyed taking care of the family and always put them above all other things. Violette was a faithful member of St. Luke's Lutheran Church.

Violette is survived by her husband, Allen; two sons, Randall (Deb) of Wisconsin Rapids, and Gary (Sue) of Neenah; two daughters, Mary (Daniel) Nimtz of Rochester, Minn., and Sandra (Larry) Truchinski of Wisconsin Rapids; six grandchildren, Jeremiah Kumm, Lucas (Jessica) Kumm, Jennifer Kumm, Amy (Davis) Ciotola, Elizabeth (David) Shoemaker, and Michael Nimtz; one stepgrandchild, Cherity (David) Ysquierdo; one great-grandchild, Colton Kumm; three great-stepgrandchildren, Cienna Young, Quiana Young, and Izabella Ysquierdo; three brothers, Norman (Rebecca) Koch of Vermont, John (Sharon) Koch of Wisconsin Rapids, and James (Judy) Koch of Washington; and one sister, Helen (Harvey) Overturf of Eagle River. She is preceded in death by her parents; one son, David; and two brothers, Allen and Glenn Koch.

Friends may call from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Taylor, Vollert and Jennings Funeral Home in Wisconsin Rapids and from 1 p.m. until time of services Sunday at the church.

The family would like to extend a thank you to the dialysis center for the care they gave her.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Neither Dave nor I are very huge on Valentine's Day but we thought we'd use today as a good excuse to spoil the dogs (as if they weren't already extremely spoiled!). Both Dave and I had the idea to make eachother breakfast (in bed), so we decided instead to make pancakes together. We even added butterscotch chips to them (who would've thought that'd be a good combo?). We saved one pancake that we split in half for the girls. Yes, I know, we're horrible, but we couldn't resist! And really, it's a pretty benign set of ingredients. We should've video-taped it because it was hilarious how Belle scarfed hers down and Sequoia treated it like it was a hot potato. Sequoia is always hesitant with new foods.
Today was a pretty lazy day spent cleaning the house and watching the Olympics. Dave's boss turned 40 today and his wife threw him a surprise party. The highlight was watching all the children smother blue frosting over their faces, arms, and clothes. It's always funny when it's not your kid I guess!

Happy (belated) Birthday Charity!

We got to celebrate Charity's birthday (a few days late) with her and Daniel at Red Robin. We always love having dinner with them. It's even more fun when someone gets embarrassed (ie, sung to).

My Grandma

My grandma is caring.
My grandma is a wonderful mother.
My grandma is always there.
My grandma is an excellent listener.
My grandma has a great memory.
My grandma loves purple.
My grandma is generous.
My grandma is my friend.
My grandma loves Jesus!

And while it may only be a few days before she sees Jesus face to face, I know that He is excited to have her home. I know that He will take care of her and I know that she will finally be happy, healthy, and comfortable.

Today I had a chance to talk with grandma about Heaven. She is so excited to see Jesus! She only wishes that she could somehow give us a message of how perfect it is once she's there. I know that she is ready to leave this Earth behind and to be with her son. It's going to be hard on the rest of us as we lose someone so special and so dear to us, but isn't it a comforting fact knowing that she is going somewhere so much better than here?!

May God give all of us strength in these final days as we prepare to say goodbye. I love my Grandma!

The Simple Things

Sometime it truly is the simple things that makes us the happiest. For Sequoia, her favorite toy is the ball. Combine that with the snow and you've got her on Cloud 9. Whenever we get snow, we like to put her outdoor-proof red ball out on the deck. She'll entertain herself for a very long time pouncing on the ball and throwing it over the deck. She'll go down the deck and fetch it, bring it back upstairs and repeat the pouncing and throwing over the deck bit. She'll do this dozens of times not tiring of it. It really cracks me up. I think I might be more entertained by it than her! After she had done this numerous times tonight, I decided to pull the camera out and record it. I just love how she looks at me when she's finished like "I did good, Mom!" Just precious--enjoy!

Underdog

I always enjoy cheering for the underdog. There's something about watching the dreams realized for the team who wasn't favored to win. I didn't have a dog in the fight for this year's Super Bowl, so why not root for the underdog? The Saints played really well and managed to pull out a solid win over the favored Colts. Dave and I enjoyed snacking on chips and ice cream-- I always love an excuse to avoid making a real meal and to pig out on junk food!
Speaking of underdogs, Dave woke up early today to run his first race of the 2010 season. Highlands Ranch hosted the Super Bowl 5K this snowy morning. While the course had a thin layer of slick snow on it (and most of the runners chose to stay off the trail and instead run on the grass!), Dave managed to come in 3rd place in his age group with a time of 20:05. As he's just getting back in the swing of things after taking several months off for his Achilles, this was a pretty solid run! I look forward to the rest of the season as he progresses towards his first triathlon this summer!
I'll leave you with some underdog-appropriate lyrics from Audio Adrenaline:

I'm in this race to win a prize
The odds against me
The world has plans for my demise
What they don't see Is that a winner is not judged by his small size
But by the substitute he picks to run the race...
And Mine's already won!

Taking the day off at Breck!

How nice it was to have the weekend off! We spent all of Saturday up in the mountains skiing at Breck. We remembered why we have always had a self-imposed rule of NOT going up on Saturdays as we spent hours in traffic. We were able to meet up with Kristin, one of Dave's co-op friends from Florida, and some of her friends. It was great to see her again and to finally get to meet her on the mountain! It snowed moderately all day and got a bit windy towards the end of the day, but we had a great time. Because of work, we've only gotten up there 5 times this year, but at $92 a lift ticket, we still have more than paid for our $400 season pass. We'll get up there one more time with Dave's family and that might be it depending on how work goes these next couple months.

TGIF!

It's been a very long time since a Friday felt so good. We wrapped up our week-long big review at work (a very successful one I might add) and were directed to take the entire weekend off. That's right-- 2 days off! We'll hit it hard beginning Monday but for now, we will enjoy a well deserved break. What was first on my list? A nap! I cleaned up the house a bit and then slept for a solid hour. It felt so great. Dave's busy cooking together a wonderful meal of spaghetti and I'm excited to sit down and enjoy a meal with him. It's been awhile!
We are going to head up to Breck tomorrow to ski-- we've got friends in town from Florida who will be up there and we've got a bunch of coworkers who are at the GN&Ski conference there. So it should be a fun day of skiing with friends. Sunday of course is the Super Bowl and while we don't have a real preference on who wins, we hope it's a good game. And no matter what, we'll enjoy relaxing on the couch together with a bunch of munchies.
And for an update on Grandma: she had a GREAT day yesterday. Mom says she had a blast with her cousin at a local Casino and just felt relaxed. Her dialysis is today (those are her hard days) so I hope to get a chance to talk with her tomorrow. I keep praying that God will give her strength.

Turn out the lights

.... the party is over. Obama made it official today-- the entire Constellation program has been canceled:

"So this budget cancels the Constellation Program, including the Ares I and V rockets and the Orion crew exploration vehicle. NASA intends to work with the Congress to make this transition smooth and effective, working responsibly on behalf of the Taxpayers." - NASA Administrator Bolden.

For those less familiar, Orion is the Apollo-looking capsule that was to take humans to the ISS after Shuttle is retired and further, on to the moon and even mars in decades to come. It was to launch aboard the Ares vehicles. Rumors began last week as to much of the Constellation program being restructured and most had come to believe that Ares I/V would be killed (which honestly, would've been a smart decision in and of itself), but I'm not really sure anyone saw EVERYTHING being canceled, namely Orion. NASA has been in need of a overhaul for some time now, but it's unfortunate it comes with the ending of David's program. Time will show if this holds up in Congress and what role LM will play (if any) in a private/commercial route to the ISS.
The future of space exploration is uncertain with this new budget, but what is certain is that this is the start of a rough time for Dave and his team.