Back Room Make Over

The "Before" photo of our back bedroom. Yes, the room had become a bit of a dumping ground for any and all things not currently used...

We measured and leveled...

And cut and trimmed...

We painted and sealed

Until we had built in shelves inside the closet.

The room did not have a ceiling fan so we picked one up at Home Depot but didn't like any of the color pallets so we sanded down the blades and painted the fan blades to match the wall base color and ceiling.

Dan used Dad's table saw to miter the chair rail trim that we mounted around the perimeter of the room.

One thing we learned about taping was to stick with the blue painter's tape (hahaha! I'm feeling a little punny right now I guess). The green 'bull frog' tape was super sticky and actually pulled paint off the wall. In this photo you can see the "Ho Hum" color on the top part of the wall. "Ho Hum" is a Winnie the Pooh paint color available through the Walt Disney line of paint colors with Behr paint. Go figure...ME choosing a Winnie the Pooh color...!

We taped and taped and taped....

Then we taped some more!

But we are super pleased with the end result! You can't see it in the photo but the trim that Dan cut with the miter saw have an ivy vine that trails along the trim in the green that matches the stripes. Another painting technique that we learned about stripes is that you should paint the base color over the tape to seal off the little nooks and crannies BEFORE painting the accent color. We learned that by the 3rd and 4th walls...!

Can't wait to start the other guest bedroom!

Vivian's Birthday Dinner.

I forgot to get these photos posted...Jed was still cookin' in the oven so not in the photos unless you count the bump hiding behind the ginormous soda cup.


Eli and the girls got some 'tats' at the restaurant. Later Eli and I would go back and get a balloon animal. Eli picked out a fishing pole and a balloon fish. I bet he was thinking about the fun he had up in Estes at the fishing pond.

Vivian's Shamu face paint.

Emma Grace selected a fabulous Unicorn for her paint.

I just love these little family events.

Thanksgiving Fun at Perkins' Place

Eli and Uncle Dan at the end of an enjoyable evening.

Vivian was tickled to get to hold lil'Jed.

AJ curled up with 'Gramma' on the ottoman. We are a comfy bunch :)

Reese LOVED having Princess, Orvis and Boone to play with him and AJ for the night. They played with toys that have sat untouched for months...!

As you can see, the boys were quite tired after their company left for the evening. We had a wonderful time having family over. Holidays are fantastic but are much more fun with family to enjoy them with.

The triumph of the night was in capturing this family photo. The rest of the dogs were sent out of the house because the first photo was mostly hound hiney...

Tour de Gruene

So, I participated in my first organized cycling event. Dan and I drove down to New Braunfelds on Friday night so we could get a good night of sleep before getting up early and going to Gruene for the annual Tour de Gruene.

We've gone to Wurstfest for three years in a row now. We just love all of that fun Oompah music and great German food but this year I suggested that we participate in the Saturday morning cycling tour of Gruene. I think it surprised Dan that I would make such an insane suggestion. The tour distances were 15, 30, and 40 miles. Considering I had only gone 3 miles at a time previously I was nervous about signing up for the 15 mile tour! Dan was awesome, he stayed with me even though that meant he only got to go 10 miles an hour (on average) for the next two hours!

Within the first ten minutes on the bike we saw the aftermath of what I would describe as a gory wreck. The lady cyclist was laying on the ground, her bike bent several yards away in the grass, bleeding from her head, moaning and struggling to stay conscious. Talk about nervous. At that point I was ready to hop off the bike and walk back up to the starting line. But I kept going, with my personal cycling trainer by my side, and had a fantastic day.

It took me about 1hr 45minutes to pedal 15 miles and I know that must sound tediously slow to everyone out there but I was so pleased with my ride for the day. I did have to walk up two hills, not necessarily because I couldn't pedal up but because so many people in front of my stopped to walk and I couldn't get around them safely. Honestly I think it saved my legs for later.

I don't have any of the tour photos to share but I do have some of the photos I took of Dan's individual time trial from later that day. Lance Armstrong participated in the annual event and I got some photos of him as well. Dan won his age group and Lance won overall with a time difference of 6minutes 50seconds. Pretty sweet huh?

Dan just coming out of the chute.

Dan coming up on the finish line (just out of the photo frame to the right).

Lance getting ready to change after his warm-up loop.

Lance starting his competitive loop of the time trial course.

I had to include this photo because you can see Dan's name at the bottom of the photo with his time and then Lance's name at the top of the shot. I just thought it was neat to capture their names together (in the same place) for an event.

The flowers were only props for the winner's photos! Not that we need dried flowers with feather accents around our house (although Abby and Silas would love that...) but I found it funny that the top placers for each division took photos with the same flowers.

Student Teaching

Just a short post to update those curious about my Student Teaching experience. I just completed my 3rd week in the classroom and I am enjoying getting familiar with my new surroundings. Forest North is a smaller elementary school than I where I worked before so I'm having an easier time learning the campus and the faculty/staff which is nice for me. On Friday my professor visited the classroom to observe. I'm pleased to report that she was very positive and even passed along a compliment from my administrator which apparently is high praise from her.

Next week I will co-teach the Reading lessons and the week after that I'll be solely in charge of the Reading lessons. Each week I'll co-teach and then take over a new subject until I am teaching all of the lessons. My cooperating teacher will still be in the classroom for those lessons, however, there will come a time near the middle/end of my student teaching experience when I am totally solo in the classroom.

I'm a little nervous about writing lesson plans and then actually using them. I've written lesson plans for my coursework but I never used them so this is new for me.

Y-Camp Nature Hike

Dan, Caroline and I signed up for the Emerald Mountain hike but 20 minutes away from the camp my boots fell apart! Literally the treads fell off the bottom because of dry rot. I purchased the boots years ago from REI but I guess I made a bad choice by storing them in the garage with my camping gear. I'll remember that when I eventually replace them. Caroline was able to continue the hike but Dan and I went back down to camp with my treads flopping out in front of my boots.

So, we signed up for a nature hike for the following day. I wore my tennis shoes and was just fine. The name of the group was "Nature Walk" and for the most part it was, indeed, a nice stroll through the woods, however the terrain proved to be challenging toward the end. It really was more of a HIKE than a WALK.

Dan & Caroline toward the end of the hike.

Earlier in the day we crossed a bridge and watched the stream flow beneath us. I liked the remnants of a previous bridge that remain.

Time for my botanical shots. You know how I love taking photos of flower blooms.

The light green banana pepper looking appendages at the top of this pine tree are immature pine cones. I don't know that I've ever seen immature pine cones before so I just had to snap.

Play Day

Eli and John sped around the race track on our play day. Alex was too young for the go-karts and was a little sad by it as you can tell from the next photo. Or maybe he just wanted my camera.


Never fear, he found something fun to do!

Later that day we went to a playground area with a pond. The cousins had a great time running. In the distance of the photo you can see a backhoe...which explains the excited, running boys!
Will was back at the cabin with Steve. He wasn't feeling well.


I LOVE this photo of Eli running back from the fence. It reminds me of the Friends episode where Phoebe runs crazy and Rachel is embarrassed by it but realizes how fun it is to run crazy.

Happy Anniversary!

For our one year anniversary we stayed the night at Black Canyon Inn. This is the view from our front porch! The room was beautiful, the view was beautiful and our evening was beautiful. On the property of the Black Canyon Inn there is a restaurant called the Twin Owl. Some history about the Twin Owl...they used to have beautiful pink napkins ;)

We balanced our camera on rocks to get this shot. I think it looks very 'Stepford Wife' but a photo nonetheless.

Dan's anniversary present to me was the necklace & earring set made of Boulder Opal. Don't be confused by the name as the opal does not originate in Boulder, Co!

For Dan I made a photo book of our first year together. I really enjoyed putting it together. I had it delivered to the Y Camp in Estes Park and picking up my package proved to be more difficult than I anticipated.

Another view from the room. We ate our wedding cake topper with fresh fruit piled on top. It was actually really good for one year old cake!