General Conference

James and I went to Utah for Conference Weekend. We went for my mission reunion and to see Laura and Jeff, who are living in Provo. Above is a picture of James and I with my first mission president, President Banks and his wife. One of the highlights of the reunion was playing chair football with old mission friends and seeing two of my companions, Sister Smith and Sister Anderson (Panchuk). That meant I got to see 100% of my American companions, which I think is pretty lucky.

Most of the time we were in Utah we hung out with Laura and Jeff and met their new kitten Olivia, who is so cute, and very adventurous. She loves to play, and she loves to sleep on Jeff. Conference was really good. I was inspired by so many of the talks and I only fell a sleep a couple times. While I was awake (and listening) I had time to take incriminating pictures.

We're Getting a Puppy!

Last Sunday James and I went up to Cheyenne, Wyoming to meet a daschund breeder. We weren't planning on getting a puppy until later, after we are in a place that we own, but the puppies were so cute and good-natured. We picked out a male piebald (that means he's spotted) and we're going to name him Cooper. We will pick him up next Sunday on our way back from Utah. Here he is with his brother at 7 weeks. He is a miniature daschund, also known as a doxen or a wiener dog. Yea!!!

Valentine's Day 2009

James and I had a good and relaxing Valentine's Day. On Friday he sent me flowers and made me dinner. I made him chocolate peanut clusters because the line at See's was 45 minutes long! Then on Saturday we went to the Brian Regan concert in Colorado Springs with my parents. It was really good. He is hilarious! This is a picture of us at the concert. We weren't allowed to take a picture of Brian Regan...or my parents.

National Western Stock Show

James and I went to the National Western Stock Show on January 19, 2009. It was Martin Luther King Day. The Stock Show was kind of a big deal, it was here for two weeks and everyone went at some point or another. And some people got e'coli from it. (Eeek!) We went to the rodeo first of all. We were sitting there, James enjoying his barbequed turkey leg and me eating my pulled pork sandwich, and a rider comes out with an Obama flag. Which could be expected, he was being sworn in the next day as President. Then a rider comes in with the African American national flag and a lady starts singing the Black National Anthem. James looks at me and says, "I think we're at the Black Rodeo." And it was. It was good. Kind of weird that they still segregate rodeos, huh? They don't, but that's a little what it felt like. We also walked around the booths and saw lots of farm equipment, carhardts and belt buckles. James looks real excited, huh?

The Beautiful Colorado Sky

Lately the sky is really pretty in Denver, especially around 5pm. I have kind of been obsessed with taking pictures of it. The top and bottom-right were taken while I was waiting to get on the highway and there was a long line of cars in front of me. I am really growing to love Denver, especially since I started substituting and I'm seeing a lot more of the city and meeting all kinds of people. We live close to downtown, but still about 10-15 minutes away which I think is perfect. This first picture is the exit closest to our apartment. The bottom-left is taken in Parker, near where my parents live.

Friends from the Ward

Our friend Doug is going to Marine Corp training so we had a little going-away party for him. Tasia and Doug are on the couch and Joey and Richard are in the chair. Uh, I think you know who we are...and James is not actually asleep.

Wedding Photos

Okay, it's been six months since we got married. I confess I haven't even thought about scrapbooking it yet. Today I was looking through photos to put in some frames around the house and found lots of pictures that I love (but forgot about) from our wedding day. Enjoy!