Up the moutain and back

E and I are out of shape. We go to the gym, we work out, but not enough. Well last night we decided to do some 'training' for a Grand Teton backpacking trip we hope to do in about a month. Well after three hours of hiking at a fairly quick pace we realized that we are still horribly out of shape.

The views were pretty though:

Carpet of ferns and dead logs


Columbine


Sun getting lower in the sky as E and I get higher on the mountain


As we were hiking we saw a tiny little bird fly out of the underbrush, this usually means that she is ground nester with a nest, and possibly babies! We carefully looked through some branches, and sure enough, we saw a tiny nest on the ground with four teeny tiny babies in it. Each were only about the size of a quarter.


We enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we walked back down the trail


As the sun got lower in the sky the sunset turned deep red. It almost looked like the forest was on fire, it was beautiful. You can see our trail in the foreground.


Oh, and one more note: on the trail down I was craving s'mores for some reason. We still had all the stuff at home from the weekend at the cabin. Once I got home I placed the cracker, chocolate and marshmallow in the microwave. When my back was turned E started laughing and pointing. Mabel (one of our three kitties) decided that the marshmallows looked good. I guess she stuck her head in the bag, grabbed one, and took off before I even knew what happened. It is a good think E saw her, I don't want a cat with cavities. We were laughing about how bad she is all night.

Farmhouse Getaway

E and I went down to the farmhouse last weekend for a wonderful relaxing getaway. E's Mom and sister joined us, and we had a great time taking long naps, driving to the nearby towns, reading Harry Potter, and playing dolls. E and I even went to the drive in. The Basin Drive In is a treat, one of the oldest drive in movie theaters in the US, it was actually moved from the Uinta Basin to Mount Pleasant Utah. We try to go to the drive in at least once a summer, but are not willing to watch a bad movie just to enjoy the drive in experience, well we were in luck. Ocean's 13 was playing last weekend, a movie that has received good reviews, and something E and I wanted to see. Well the movie didn't disappoint, and the warm summer breeze and the smell of hamburgers coming into the open car windows was the essence of summer.

Violet is home! It is true!

It is true, Violet Ann Trump is finally home after 9.5 months on the road and in the air. She really went all over the country and the world. Here is what she did:

1. Visited Virgina and even went to Williamsburg and had a Halloween party;
2. Visited Maryland and took a day trip to Washington DC;
3. Visited Illinois for Thanksgiving;
4. Visited New Hampshire for Christmas;
5. Visited Michigan and had a grand time with her girls;
6. Visited Missouri and had a photo shoot;
7. Visted Michigan and went to a Unicorn Club party (think Sweet Valley Twins) and the gym;
8. Visted North Carolina and met Traveling Lily (another travel doll);
9. Visited New York where she met new girls;
10. Visited Inky in Wisconsin where she accompanied her on a trip to the Ukraine! (Inky even has a blog that can be seen here: The Inkiad)

So, she is finally home! These next few days will be quite exciting, she has a new sister to meet (shhh, don't tell her, she doesn't know!), we are going to the Farmhouse, and she gets to find out a big surprise! (The Queen Mary 2 and England!)

Love, Violet's Mama who is a very happy camper today!

Sleepy Dew

Last night I was a sleepy dew. A sleepy dew (a loving term made up by E) is somebody that is very sleepy. Last night after dinner I was exhausted. It was 6:45. Well instead of cleaning up after dinner and going to the gym (which was my plan) I went to the bedroom for a 'little rest'. Well I fell sound asleep and slept until 7:30 this morning without interruption other than at midnight when E told me to get into my jammies and brush my teeth.

So this morning I'm feeling fat and lazy (because I didn't go to the gym and didn't clean up the kitchen). At least I'm well rested.

Rainbow Garden

For Father's Day E and I had special plans for dinner, spend it with my Grandma. We had E's family over for a BBQ on Friday, and we went to brunch with my dad on Sunday morning. My Grandma invited us over for dinner for Father's Day, which was wonderful. She was alone for the day, my mom was out of town as was my aunt. I am sure it was a hard day for her, the first Father's Day without my Grandpa. We always had a family party in years past to celebrate our dad and our grandpa.

The three of us had a lovely time, and enjoyed my Grandma's incredible garden. Here are a few close ups to show you the wide variety of flowers and colors:

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

BluePurple

Pink

Summer in the moutains

Yesterday E and I went up to my cabin for the afternoon. The cabin is in the most beautiful aspen forests in all the world, and only about a 50 minute drive from my front door. The mountain air felt good, it was a hot day in the city, and the cooler mountain air was a wonderful escape. We didn't do much at the cabin, we read, and walked around, and cooked hot dogs over a fire. All in all it was a good time, and I got a chance to take some photos. Here are a few of my favorites:

The sun is setting and makes the entire forest look like a fairy land.

My cabin is small, with no electricity or running water, but that's why I love it so,

Before dinner E and I played Blokus, I lost the game, which is very rare (I'm quite good!)

Our dinner spot, we had hot dogs, watermelon, chips, som'mores and toped it all off with red wine!

It is so beautiful up there.

Cooking the wieners!

Lichen on a rock near the cabin

I miss Violet so much it hurts

Violet in front of a Lenin statue in Kharkov Ukraine.

Who is Violet you ask? She is my travel doll. She has traveled the country and the world for the last 8.5 months. I send her to other doll lovers across the nation and they show her around their home state. One member even offered to take Violet with her to the Ukraine! This delayed her returning home by about a month or so.

Well she is due home any day. I know many many people would think it silly to miss a piece of plastic so much, but I do. I miss her like crazy. It honestly makes my stomach hurt. I've asked E a million times today if he's seen her. Nope.

I sure hope she is here tomorrow, however I'd doubtful. Damn.

Fun with my new camera

I mentioned earlier today that my camera has a ten times optical zoom. What does this mean? Well all of the photos below I was standing in the same location, the first photo is zoomed out, and the second is zoomed in. None of these photos are cropped.

Be prepared to be amazed... (yes, that is my Circus talk, hee hee!)

First, the baseball game (un-zoomed):


And after (zoomed):


School behind our condo:


Zoomed:


Flower pot in my yard:


And zoomed:


Can you see why I'm a happy camper?

My new camera

Yep, It's true, I bit the bullet and bought a new camera. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, and I felt like 5 mega pixels were more than enough, however, you can't get new cameras with less than 7 mega pixels, and they are unfortunately not cheep.

So, I went to Costco and was set on buying another Canon. They are reliable, wonderful, clear, and great little cameras. Well I was swooned by another, a Panasonic. This little camera was black, with a metal case, and a 10x zoom! That is a HUGE zoom for a little point an shoot. So I bought it, and I am so happy! The camera is wonderful, now I realize how much I needed to upgrade.

So, future photos you see here will be from my new camera, and here is one of the practice photos I took last night of my cute hubby and a close-up of a beautiful rose:

A busy weekend

It seems like E and I have done more in this weekend than we've done in the last two years. Here is a list of some of things we've done:

Celebrated Chuck's birthday on Friday night (my Mom's boyfriend)
Cooked steaks for Chuck
Enjoyed an overnight trip to Park City
Played in the hot tub in Park City on Friday, then at our condo hot tub on Saturday
Walked up and down Main Street in Park City and enjoyed a great lunch
Took a long nap
Cooked dinner for Ben and drank too many of E's special margaritas
Slept in
Cleaned up the entire storage room in our house, and hung some shelves on the walls
Visted IKEA (again)
Visited Costco, and I got myself a brand new camera! (photos to come), and ate too many tasty samples
Visted my Grandma for cocktail hour
Hung out with E's family while a family friend is in town

Even writing this list makes me tired!

On another note, my good friend Ashley has started a blog. She even devoted the first entry to me (thanks Ash!), so please check it out.

Goodbye, I'm off to the hot tub with friends for the third time this weekend...

Oh IKEA...

Have you heard of Ikea? If not you have probably been living under a rock. Ikea is the Swedish furniture store that is taking the world by storm. Why you ask? Because the furniture is cheap, really cheap. And beautiful. And oh so fun.

Well about two years ago Utahans found out an Ikea was coming here. This is huge news, Ikea is a fantastic store, but they choose their markets very very carefully. Denver doesn't even have an Ikea. Well they started to build the store, and thousands of jobs opened up, and my mom got one. She is in the graphic design department and loves it. Every day she tells me about the fantastic designs that Ikea has, and all the really interesting furniture and accessories.

Well last night I finally made my first voyage out to the brand new Utah Ikea (I've been to one in New York before). My mom joined me, and she showed me all the wonderful snazzy inventions and design ideas that those smart Swedes have come up with. Well I have to say I was blown away! I was so impressed! Each and every room looked fantastic, and each and every set-up was better than the last.

The prices blew my mind too. Upon entering the store I saw a wooden kitchen chair for the price of $119, pretty standard I thought. My mom informed me that that price was for four wooden kitchen chairs, and the table! Holy cow! That is amazing.

So we walked around for three hours and I saw had a chance to see her office. I decided on some furniture I've really been wanting, a set of bedside tables. In other places I've shopped the bedside tables would run me about $299 each, but at Ikea I got each for $49.

Well after spending too much time and too much money my Mom drove me home with my purchases. I was so excited to show E and start setting up the new furniture. He agreed that the furniture was an awesome deal, and agreed to help me set up one before bed. Well two hours and a whole lot of swearing later, we finally got one of the two tables set up and in the bedroom. It looks great, but now I'm starting to understand why they can sell for so cheap, the customer gets all the heartache of actually making it go together.

Wine and pasta

The cooking class E and I took last week was so fun! We went to a class called Pasta, Pasta, Pasta at Tony Caputo's, hosted by Tony himself. We showed up a few minutes before the class started and got prime seats right up front. Tony was already being silly, and talking about Italy. We watched Tony cook six dishes as we learned about pasta, Italian sausage, wines, fresh seafood, and everything else. He chatted about Italy, and funny stories.

I didn't learn a lot, per se, but I gathered a few new recipes, and found out why the specialty pasta does truly taste better (it is all in the bronze cut). We also got a chance to eat all that was cooked, so I have a few new favorites. Each recipe tasted truly Italian (none of those American sauces).

E really went out of his way to get me something so special for Valentines, even though it took us 18 months to use the gift. We really had a fun time, and are now thinking about what other classes we can attend in the near future.

Also, on another note, my sister-in-law Chelsea has a blog now! I'm going to add a link to the right.