Wow, what a whirlwind!

So Thanksgiving happened and then . . . whew. (This is more fun if you read it as fast as you can) I finished teaching my last unit at school, gave finals, graded finals, finalized grades, talked to parents about grades, bought a new car, went skiing, drove 15.5 hours from Denver to Tyler straight through, almost got killed in Dallas by some yahoo driving on the wrong side of the interstate, hung out in Tyler, went to my brother's and played wii with my sister-in-law, had Christmas with the fam, had breakfast with college roommates, lunch with a college friend, and dinner with a college roomie (all in the same day), drove back to Denver with two friends I picked up in Dallas (no life threatening experiences this time), hung out with them in Boulder, then hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, then sledding in Breck, then Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, then took them to the airport, met a Tyler friend and went skiing in Keystone, then . . . I rested for 3 days!!! The majority of this happened in a two week time period with no breaks in between.

So here are some details: I was grateful to end the first semester. It wasn't bad, but exhausting and challenging. I traded in my front wheel drive Highlander, which I liked quite a bit, for an 06 4WD 4-Runner. I really like it too. It does very well in snow. I went skiing with one of my co-workers the Saturday before Christmas. It was definitely the coldest weather I have ever skied in. At one of the lifts, a guy told us it was -5 degrees! On one side of the mountain, the wind chill had to be -15 because the wind went right through the four layers I had on and completely froze my thumb. I could feel the wind pushing against me while going down the mountain at a descent speed.

The Monday before Christmas I drove home. I fought the wind all the way home plus dodged the guy coming straight at me on the divided highway in Dallas. I spent the first day at home, Christmas Eve at my brother's, Christmas Day at my mom's cousin's, and the day after Christmas catching up with college friends. I had fun in Tyler, and wish I could have spent more time there, but on Saturday, it was back to Denver. I left at about 5 am, picked up Jennifer and Robyn in Dallas, and got in to Denver at 10 pm. I think I'm done driving to Texas! We had fun while they were visiting. Hiking in the snow was fun. Jennifer busted it right off the bat. Robyn managed to make it until the last day until she ate it on a patch of ice. I made until I went skiing on New Year's Day and slipped in the parking lot. Sledding was crazy. It was of course mostly little kids and we were all afraid we were going to hit one. I went down clean, then Robyn, then Jennifer, who last time she went sledding had a run in with a tree and her face, managed to take out a small child! The child was okay and so was Jennifer. We decided she needs bumper sledding. Skiing on New Year's Day was fun. My friend took me up to my first bowl. I tumbled all the way down. Then we skied through trees. It was fun, but I was a little out of control the whole time. After that, I was completely pooped. I had just spent 13 days in a row doing some type of activity that took up the entire day. So I spent my final weekend of break, sleeping, cleaning, and getting ready for school on Monday.

So, semester #2 is underway and is going smoothly so far. This is my light semester, so I am only teaching two block classes that both meet in the morning. So around 11 am, I am done teaching and have the rest of the day to work! It's been really nice so far. I am enjoying my kids. It is nice to have a fresh start.

2009 - Bring it on!

















Levi playing the snow


















Frozen Boulder Falls
















Jennifer at Boulder Falls

Frozen Stream RMNP

The Pool RMNP

Sledding at Breck

Garden of the Gods

Happy Thanksgiving and Snow

It's been a great week full of friends and play time. Wednesday I went skiing for the first time this season. It was a bit crowded and only a few runs were open, but it was fun. It took me a while to get my ski legs back and remember how to turn and stop, but I succeeded. Thursday was of course Thanksgiving. It was the first time I was away from my family for the holidays. I missed them, but had a great time getting together with a large group of friends for a big Thanksgiving feast. They are like family to me. Friday I stayed home, cleaned, and put up my Christmas decorations. I should have gone skiing. I decided instead to go skiing on Saturday even though "a little" snow was in the forecast. It started snowing Friday night. Saturday morning was beautiful. I took some pictures from my balcony. I planned to take more, but . . . keep reading. I was hesitant to drive up to the mountains to go skiing, but I thought I would give it a shot. It was no longer snowing in town. I figured if the roads were bad, I would just turn around. Well, the roads got bad. However, I could not turn around. So I drove all the way to the first ski place and decided not to ski. It was snowing pretty hard and the roads were just going to get worse as the day continues. So I headed back. At one point these guys in front of me got stuck and one of them jumped out and started pushing. I thought, that would really suck if I got stuck. Then, right at that time, I got stuck. Right in the middle of I-70 with tons of cars,and oh yes, a news truck! Luckily I got moving again pretty quick and made it home safely. Sooo, no more going to the mountains when it's snowing. And, I've finally made my decision, I'm getting a new car with 4WD.

3 more weeks until Christmas break, the end of Semester #1, and Texas bound for the holidays!

Winter is approaching

I have decided that I am going to have a love hate relationship with winter. This weekend it got pretty cold. I refused to turn my heat on. It got down in the upper 30's but seriously, it's October; no heat! So Friday night I went to bed in a long sleeved t-shirt, sweat shirt, sweat pants, and socks. I actually stayed pretty warm. The next day I curled up in a blanket, turned on my fancy fireplace, and watched some football. It was like 62 degrees in my apartment, but no heat! Then I left to run some errands and came back cold. So around 5 pm I gave in. My heat has been running for 3 days now. So sad; I went w/o AC or heat for like 5 weeks.

I bought all of my ski equipment last weekend. I just heard that one resort opens Wednesday. I'm not sure how that's going to happen due too so little snow, but I guess those fake snow makers are working. I'm pretty psyched about having my own stuff, especially boots that will be molded to my feet and not the gross rentals. (this is the love part of the story)

Here is the hate: I got rid of lots of clothes before I moved up here, and I am realizing that most of the those clothes were winter wear. I have very few warm clothes, and have been cold b/c of it. We had our first freeze last night. This means that I did not want to get out of bed at 5:30 a.m. b/c I was warm, and outside of my bed was not. So surprise, surprise, I was running late this morning. Then I get to my car and it is covered in ice. I quickly realized that my gloves were something else that I had gotten rid of b/c they were getting holey. So I had to scrape ice with no gloves while running late!

So hopefully this weekend I can go shopping for new clothes and maybe a new car, who knows.

Texas bound in 4 weeks!

It's Fall

My parents were here again this weekend. We drove around and took pictures of the gorgeous fall colors. The aspen trees are turning yellow, and they are beautiful. The pictures don't do them justice as to how yellow they really are. I can't believe October is already here. Time is flying by. Soon snow will cover the ground, and I will have to get used to living with that. Apparently it always snows on Halloween. I can't wait to see my friends in Texas in about 5 weeks! Enjoy the pictures!

Isn't Levi cute!?!

Beautiful Weekend

There's nothing like waking up on Saturday morning to a clear blue ski after it had been cloudy and rainy all week. To top it off, the temperature dropped last week and the high country got snow. So, there was also fresh powder on some of the taller mountains. It was a beautiful sight to wake up to. I decided to try out a new trail around Golden. It was pretty secluded with mostly mountain bikers and some horses. I don't think I saw a soul for about an hour in the middle of my hike. It was pretty peaceful. When I stopped to listen, the silence was only broken by the birds in the bushes. It was a pretty sweet sound. It is hard to find times of complete silence during our ever so hectic and noise filled lives. I decided to run the last third of the trail back to my car. Trail running is way more exciting than just running on the streets, especially when you go downhill! On Sunday I went with my friends to Eldora, the closest ski area to Denver and Boulder. It's a small place, but by far the closest. We hiked around the snowshoeing and cross country trails and then up to the top of some of the runs. It got us really excited about ski season. I am planning on buying equipment and season passes soon. The first snow will probably happen within the next 6 weeks. Crazy!

Things

Labor Day weekend is one of the best holidays of the year. After a week and a half of starting school, it's a nice sigh of relief and a much needed break. I went shopping on Saturday, hung out with friends on Sunday, and went hiking on Monday. I totally exausted myself and got a sunburn. It's funny how so many times we need an extra day to recover from our days off. School is slowly getting easier and I am getting used to everything. But I am working harder than I have in a long time. I'm enjoying the cooler weather. It's been in the 50's in the mornings when I leave for work. All in all, things are going well.

Year #4

So I can't believe that I have started my forth year as a teacher. I feel like I graduated college just a year or two ago. Looking back to my first year, I never thought I could make it this far. I'm not sure if I like this idea that life goes faster as you get older. The first week went ok. The first day was incredibly long and I was completely beat by the end. The next two days slowly got better. I had my first walk-through yesterday already! That was a little nerve racking just because I am not comfortable with the curriculum yet. But I think it went well. I've been fairly impressed with my kids so far. They are coming in with a lot of prior knowledge and are well behaved, at least so far (they usually are the first week). I can't help but laugh at some of my little 14 year old boys who are just in that awkward developmental stage. I have some girls who look like their 12 and others who look 17. I am looking forward to getting to know them better as the semester continues.

I'm getting ready to go for another hike. After being stuck inside all week, I'm craving the outdoors. I really enjoyed getting to sleep in this morning after having to be up by 5:30 everyday. For those who know me well, you can imagine the struggle. To all my teacher friends in TX, good luck this week as you start a new year!!!