Spring, 2011

It's been a while since I last posted. I guess I find it harder to post when most people see everything on Facebook now days. However, I'm hoping to get back to at least once a month posting, if not more, even it's just for myself.

Anyways, we've had a busy three months. Charlie has been growing, growing, growing. He's still super cute but slowly turning into an adult dog, rather than a puppy. He can play fetch FOREVER it seems. We're hoping to get him around as many dogs as possible and do as much training as we can on our own this spring and summer. He's been absolutely fabulous with all the children he's been around, is always well behaved with other adults, and is pretty great with other dogs (besides the excessive puppy energy, that is).

We just returned from our spring break road trip. Charlie, living up to his name-sake, was absolutely wonderful in the car. It was about 30 hours of driving from home to Fort Morgan, AL, but it was totally worth it! 5 full days on the beach, in the sun, with sand between our toes :) Plus, we spent the entire time with my family! It was the best vacation I've had in a LONG time. On the way back we stopped in TX to see Jer's family and a friend, and now we're in the Denver area visiting with his cousin, grandparents, and friends before heading home tomorrow. It was a great two weeks, but we can't wait to be home!

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the last few months. Enjoy!

Charlie attempting to enjoy our lunch on one of many stops while driving to the Gulf Coast.

The beautiful beach house we rented... right on the beach!


Even Charlie loved it!

Simmons family with Grandma and Grandpa.

The girls.


The Voytkos with Grandma and Grandpa.

Evening walk.

Playing in the sand!

Watching the waves.

Aunt Tawnya & Riley exploring the National Naval Aviation Museum.

"Look at all these buttons, Mom!"

Voytko family picture.

Jer and Rebecca enjoying their "Beer-itas" on the San Antonio River Walk.

Jer and Nora in front of The Alamo.

Jer and Charlie playing fetch in TX.

Sunday Afternoon Walk

Charlie is growing faster than I ever imagined! Everyday he amazes me with the things he can do. This afternoon Jeremy and I decided to take him on his first long walk. Usually we just walk around town for 20ish minutes, but today we decided to hit the Uncompaghre River Trail in Ridgway. He did a great job during the hour long walk, walking on a loose leash without pulling or dragging behind 90% of the time, and he even got to meet several dogs with only one minor freak out... plus we got some great pics!

Winter Update

Hi All! It has been a long while since my last update here on blogger, but it was a busy fall. We're now settling in for a huge winter storm that is forecasted to dump up to 2 feet of white fluffy stuff on us by Friday! Anyways, we had a great fall break, spending a quiet Thanksgiving here at home. We just returned from St. Louis after having spent a few days there with family and friends for Christmas. It was great to see everyone, but especially Riley! We haven't seen her in person (only via Skype) since last Christmas! Here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip back to St. Louis:






The most exciting news of all, however, is the newest addition to our family! He's a F1b Labradoodle with a cream colored fleece coat and is the cutest thing ever! We just picked him up from a great breeder in Golden, CO a few days ago, and he is settling in so quickly! Charlie (named for Jeremy's favorite book: "Travels with Charlie" by John Steinbeck) lived up to his name sake with a smooth 6 hour drive home. He has been comfortable enough with us to chow down on some puppy chow, romp around in the snow, and he even slept the whole night through on the first night home! Here are some of my favorite pics!

Fall, 2010

This fall we've been trying to enjoy as much of the fall colors as we can, especially on the beautiful fall days. There as also been a quite a bit of rain, but I'm perfectly willing to put up with those days when amazingly vibrant rainbows accompany them! Here are a few of my favorites from the past couple of weeks...

The latest trip to Mesa Verde, the weather was psychotic with ominous clouds and some rain, but there were also brief periods of beautiful sunshine! We took a hike we've never been on before to see some cool petroglyphs!

Spruce House in Mesa Verde from a new angle! As we wrapped up our hike to the petrolglyphs, it brought us out on the opposite side of the mesa top than where we usually snap pictures from.

The previously mentioned ominous clouds...

The vivid colors of changing leaves...

Alpine glow at Alta Lakes, CO...

Ouray, CO...

And, last but not least, a shot from a few weeks ago as we headed home from school...

Oscar Meyer (1995-2010)

Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really. ~Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Film Fest

This weekend was the Telluride Film Festival, and Jer and I saw two movies. Both of them were fabulous!

One was Never Let Me Go, which was a beautifully done British film, but it was extremely deep and dark. Although it was great movie, I don't foresee it becoming a widely seen film by the general public. I also wouldn't want to necessarily see it again, as just the one viewing will most likely stay with me for a long while (very similar to the feeling I had after The Road with Viggo Mortenson last year). Seeing it with the two main actors/actresses, the director and producer sitting in the same auditorium was surreal as usual.

Never Let Me Go was about a group of orphans who were raised for the sole purpose of being organ donors. Although this may bring to mind a sci-fi thriller, it was nothing of the sort. Instead, it was set in the beautiful English countryside and done in a more artistic style.

For me, it was so overwhelming and hard to deal with for two reasons:
1. It was set in the 19050s-1990s, not in the future as many movies dealing with difficult issues of cloning and human rights are. This made it impossible to dismiss it as a possible future occurrence.
2. The characters just accept their fate and never fight back. I get the feeling this was done to make people angry and fight back against submission... In many other fictional movies about people who's human rights are taken away, there is someone who comes in to save the day. That makes for a good Hollywood ending, but often shuts down the thinking that was provoked to begin with.

The second film we saw was The King's Speech, which was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Of course, Jer and I are both history nerds and have been into this period of history lately (I'm talking podcasts, documentaries, and more), but I believe anyone would fall in love with the film and rejoice at the triumph of the human spirit in the end. And seeing the movie immediately after Laura Linney presented Colin Firth with the Silver Medallion award on the stage right in front of us, as well as a tribute reel of Firth's most notable roles and a Q & A session with Firth, just made the whole experience amazing.

The King's Speech is a film showcasing the relationship between Queen Elizabeth II's father King George VI (played by Firth of course) and his speech therapist (played by the Geoffrey Rush). Bertie had a severe stammering problem and was never supposed to be king until his older brother abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry a woman not acceptable to the British government (according to other accounts Jer and I have been listening to, the older brother also had some ties with Hitler which was of course unacceptable on the eve of WWII).

This put Bertie in the unfortunate position of becoming king, which was the last thing he wanted. With the radio and newsreels being widely used for the first time, the king could no longer hide in the palace. He had to make speeches to his subjects via radio transmissions and provide a strong monarch the country could be united behind... and a man with a speech impediment was not necessarily the best man for the job. Enter Geoffry Rush as the unconventional speech therapist. I absolutely LOVED the combination of Collin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in these roles! Even though this was a very serious issue, the two also made the audience laugh. And in the end I was crying with joy.

Quite a fabulous weekend! I'm sure there were many, many other great films this weekend as well, but we are happy with two we chose. Definitely be on the look out for the releases of Never Let Me Go and The King's Speech!

Back to reality (and school) tomorrow. I probably won't be running into the likes of famous actors and directors until next Labor Day, but considering the fact that we live at 8000 feet, my head will still be in the clouds :). Hope you've had a wonderful Labor Day!

Here We Go Again!

After week one of my seventh year of teaching, I am feeling exhausted! It's amazing how tiring the first week can be, even though it was a great week. My kids are so cute and little, but some of them have very boisterous personalities. There were a few instances that foretell of an interesting year to come!

This weekend we're relaxing and resting up, but last weekend we were booked to the max! Saturday we took a jeeping trip over Cinamon Pass to Lake City with our neighbors. It was beautiful! Lots of pics included below!

And then on Sunday we had a bunch of friends over for an end of summer party. So much good food and fun! Of course when Jer's in charge of cooking you can always expect enough food to feed an army. Sunday's meal included elk steak, homemade mac 'n cheese, potato and leek casserole, and a giant salad! It was a great way to end the summer, even if I didn't get in as much school time as I would have liked. It was obviously fine, as I made it through the first week of school without any planning/prep disasters :)