Monday, January 18, 2010

Breckenridge 2010


Every year we have started a tradition of driving up to Breckenridge, Colorado for Martin Luther King Jr Weekend. We are so completely spoiled by this condo/location at Ski Watch Condiminiums. My best friend since I was a wee little 7th grader (Angie) has been taking me along since we first met to this incredible location. Lucky me!

The above picture is looking from the mountain, Peak 8, to our condo. The below picture is looking from the condo, the hot tubs to be exact, down to the base of Peak 8. In order to get to the lifts, you actually have to walk 108 steps (thanks Josh for being anal) down to the locker, get your skiis/board out, walk past the hot tubs, put your skiis on, ski down to Peak 8 base lifts and ride them up! AWESOME!
This year, we had quite a group. It was Angie and Bryan, Josh and I, Blake and Lindsay, Randy, Debbie and Mike (Angie's parents), Mitch and Julie (Ashley's friends), and Joe and Jess (Ashley's friends). Unfortunately, Angie's little sister, Ashley and her boyfriend were unable to make it at the last minute.
We skiied/boarded our hearts out! My calfs (is it calves or calfs when talking about the body part???) are killing me! No, really. Absolute pain! But it is always worth it! Thanks again Angie!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

New Years Resolution

So I am not big on New Years Resolutions for lots of reasons. 1) I RARELY stick to them for more than a week or so, and 2) I am not motivated during the year and quite frankly, January 1st doesn't help.

However, my resolution for this year is simple. Find a church.

This may sound trivial to some of you, but I have been spoiled in the past with what I deem a perfect church. I have fairly simple requirements but have a hard time finding them all in one facility. We had thought we had found it in a church here in Olathe once before. Unfortunately, the church cores and beliefs seemed to change right before our eyes. The focus had changed and therefore, the reason we started going in the beginning changed. I hated leaving. I hated not having that sense of "family" in an unfamiliar place. But it was not a choice that I made lightly. We had given it approximately 6 months to change/reconnect with us. It did not happen. So we left.

I have decided to list my criteria in case anyone has suggestions...
1. Non-Catholic Christian based
2. Close to home (within 15 minutes)
3. 1 1/2 hour MAXIMUM service time
4. Awesome worship with contemporary music
5. Wide range of ages within the congregation (children, teens, young adults, middle age, elders)
6. Bible based sermons with life applicable lessons
7. PERSONALIZED baptisms
8. Not start earlier than 10:00 am

Any ideas? :) I tried one today that is definitely a contender. Keep your fingers crossed!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

New Years Weekend

Warning: This is a long and pointless blog with no pictures. Sorry... :)

Well New Year's Eve is probably one of my most favorite holidays (sorry Jamie) but for a very different reason from the rest of you. I love it because it is basically a free day off. Yep, I love it for the vacay! We don't go out. At least, I don't...and because Josh didn't know he married a home-body until it was too late, he doesn't either. :) We opted for yummy sushi at the Sushi house. I wore my new purple sweater from my in-laws. I was actually pretty excited to be dressed up! (VERY RARE!) We followed dinner up with a game night at the Keeley's. I am thinking that we may have accidentally invited ourselves over. I did not mean to...really. But I am glad that we did. Jana's parents were in town and they had two other couples over (yep, definitely invited myself!) to play Balderdash and Wii. I learned two things that evening: 1) Josh and I are terrible at Balderdash and 2) this must be Dick Clark's last year, he looks bad!

New Year's Day Josh and I slept in until 10:30 am. AWESOME! Perfect beginning to the day! We had some non-homemade cinnamon rolls and watched football ALL day! Randy came over and had pizza that night and watched the Rose Bowl and then the Florida-Cincinnati game. Did not change out of jammies all day=perfect!

Saturday and Sunday were very similar. We were anxiously awaiting Angie and Bryan to return from their trip so we could drool over stories and pictures, which means we did nothing in the meantime. We did make it to Nebraska Furniture Mart in an attempt to buy a couch and living room tables. It was not fun. We couldn't find anything that we really liked AND that would fit in our extremely tiny living room. Boo! We followed up our unsuccessful trip to NFM to a fabulous trip to Cabella's! I LOVE Cabella's. Why? You may ask? I am not a hunter, fisher, or lover of camo...but I do really like the vastness of the store. It is really awesome! And, I go to buy some boots! Woot woot! I have been looking for some boots that are semi-high, waterproof, and not horribly ugly. This has been a feat for my feet! HA! I did finally manage to hunt some down and low and behold they are in the "Bargain Barn"! Even better! Soggy baseball season here I come! That evening I tried a new recipe. I will not post pictures or the recipe as it was TERRIBLE. I cannot believe either one of us ate it. I made it exactly like the recipe called for and it sucked. Really. Really. Bad. It was Steak Tips and Noodles. Blah!

And as a new tradition in our household - Dr. Mario on the Wii until 3 am! Just me and Josh. No one else. It was great. I love playing games and I love Dr. Mario. Nevertheless, we are basically a waste today! I did however, get to pick up my skiis from having my bindings mounted! Super pumped! Bring on the snow Breck cause we are on our way!