Rainy Day Fun

We have had quite a few rainy days this past week and it can get pretty difficult to entertain a rambunctious one-year-old all day long in our tiny little loft. So, Ollie and I paid a visit to the Denver Children's Museum. It was awesome, they have a whole room dedicated to toddlers and Oliver had a great time climbing and sliding and exploring. Of course, as it was rainy, a lot of other mom's had the same idea so the place was pretty crowded. I think we may try it again on a sunny day just for fun.

Sam and Oliver like to create their own kind of fun, who needs a roller coaster when you've got a dad and a cake pan!

I pledge allegiance to...

This week the talking heads are saying that Colorado is a key state in the upcoming election. Seeing as we live in the liberal hot-spot of Colorado's most populated county, Sam's school got a surprise visit from Barack Obama this week. He is a pretty nice guy, we even invited him over for milk and cookies, but when he saw that we drove a Hyundai with no "Save the Earth" bumper stickers he figured we must be conservatives and politely declined. So, maybe we didn't actually meet him, but his visit did inspire us to register to vote!!

Colorado: Observations of an Outsider

I have officially lived in the state of Colorado for over three weeks and now feel qualified to make rash and biased generalizations about the people who live here. Before I begin I must say that I have found the people of Colorado to be extremely kind and outgoing. That said, I must admit that they are a bit funny.

BMW who?

If you want to make a statement in Colorado you don't drive a Mercedes or a BMW. Oh no. It is all about the Subaru wagon. And what exactly does the Subaru wagon say about a person? Simply said, it means that you are the epitome of outdoorsy. It isn't just a car, it is an all encompassing statement about who you are; the type of person who buys all their clothes at REI and wears temperature controlled clothing inside the mall just in case the temperature differs from store to store. You recycle everything and have a large collection of reusable grocery bags. You are a climber, a hiker, a kayaker, a skier and an avid participant in whatever other sport that Thule makes a car rack for. If you drive a Subaru wagon you don't just love the outdoors, you are the outdoors.

What a cute puppy??

Folks in Colorado are ga-ga for their dogs. I'm not saying that it is a bad thing, I just have never been in such a dog crazy place before. Several times at the park I have been carrying on a typical young-mother "How old is your baby?" "What is he learning to do" conversation with someone, only to discover that while I was referring to my toddler, they were talking about their dog. On top of that, the local target has only one small isle for baby food and four for dog food. Thats right, you can find organic dog food, meaty dog food, vegetarian dog food, and dog food that guarantees to help your dog grow smarter.


Do they come with neon flashing lights?

During those few moments that our faithful Coloradans abandon thier Subarus, they do have another identifying feature. Footware. I'm not quite sure what they are just yet, they appear to be a cross between a hiking shoe and a sandal. The best part about them is that they only come in hiteously bright colors so that they can be spotted from long distances, leaving no doubt as to the message their wearer is trying to send.

Home Sweet Barn

In case you didn't already know, we live in a barn. No worries though, the cows are sweet and the sheep let us lay down on their straw anytime we want. Actually for a barn, our accommodations are pretty nice. Our landlord has a workshop down below us and just finished constructing this loft over the summer. Our barn is snuggled in between North and South Table Mountain so we feel like we are kicking it out in the woods (our yard is full of deer and rabbits every morning). Best of all, the rent is just the right price (cheap for this area) and includes a nice big washer and dryer, a must for anyone who has a toddler. Now that we are all moved in we are ready to welcome anyone who wants to get better acquainted with Denver to come for a visit.


I think that I already mentioned Oliver's obsession with "unpacking", well, he also enjoys emptying things. Normally he likes to empty his toybox and climb in, but yesterday Sam and I left the kitchen and came back to this.



Some babies don't like grass, but Oliver revels in it. Sometimes he just lays down and rolls around in it and smiles. This time he had a handful of sticks.

Lookout Mountain Here We Come

This week we took a drive up Lookout Mountain, it is just a few minutes from our home and they have a big park and lookout area from which you can see all of Golden and most of Denver. Oliver of course was thrilled by the number of sticks and rocks, Sam and I enjoyed the cool weather and pretty scenery.

Things started to slow down for us this week. Ollie and I have tried to find some new things to do but pretty much ended up at our same old parks. We have made some new friends in the ward, Sam is the only "student", but there are a few other couples our age and so we are excited about that. Sam has also made some new friends in his program. Both of them are army officers and they invited him on their Saturday morning workout with them. Sam said he only threw up four times, way to go Sammy!!

Oliver's Antics

Our little baby isn't just walking he is taking leaps and bound towards becoming a little person. He has quite the personality. He loves to wave to everyone and makes a bee-line towards any animal he sees. Anytime we are outside he has to collect all of the sticks that he sees and of course any good sized rock must be stuffed into his mouth. I used to run and remove the rocks but I have come now to the conclusion that it is probably better to just leave the first rock there, rather than keep removing them and have him suck the dirt of thirty or forty more.

He also has a bit of a fetish for toothbrushes. We got him one and taught him how to use it and he now insists on carrying one all around the house with him. His other favorite pastime is to "unpack". After watching me unpack everything for a week he started following suit. He now picks up anything and finds a new place for it. Last week I lost my cell phone and found it in a pot in the back of the cupboard. I pull his toys out of all my silverware and tupperware drawers and have yet to find my comb after he "unpacked" it for me. Ollie is getting pretty smart too, he understands a lot of words and will go find his blanket, binky or shoes if you ask him to.

Summer Showcase

So, to keep myself busy I found a number of projects over the summer. Now that they are all unpacked I figured I would show them to you.

When we learned how much apartments cost here in Denver we figured we would probably have to downsize and decided to ditch our large, corner desk. Over the summer I found this lovely gem for $5.00 at a garage sale. After a lot of sanding and some stain I think it turned out pretty nice. My super-handy dad helped us convert the top drawer into a keyboard tray and it fits just perfectly into our little loft.

My father-in-law made us this beautiful blanket box for Christmas. He gave it to us unfinished and I procrastinated doing anything about it until I had some space to work in. My parents garage turned out to be the perfect spot and after a lot of sanding I think it turned out gorgeous. It is now one of my favorite pieces of furniture, thanks John. (I am planning to make a cushion to turn it into a seat, I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.)

For me, graduate school meant two more years with my garage sale couches. So, in an effort to spruce them up a bit I decided to sew some new pillows for them. Ta-da!!

Our first week in Golden

Our first impression after living in Golden for one week is, "Wow, we're not in Utah anymore." We went to the school for a welcome barbecue for Sam's graduate program and the secretary and dean were handing out beer to everyone. It was on campus in the middle of the week at 11:00 a.m., I was somewhat surprised and for just a second I was ready to put on my ruby slippers and wish my way back home. I don't know if it is because we live across the street from the largest brewery in the world or because there is a bar on every corner, but the place just smells like beer. Once you get past that somewhat unpleasant aroma however, there really is a lot to do here and the people are so nice. Because Sam had a light week at school we were able to spend a lot of time exploring. There are several parks within a couple miles of our home and Ollie and I averaged about three different parks a day during the past week. (Ollie has a lot of energy and it is much easier and cleaner if he can get it out at a park instead of in our tiny apartment). We also visited the Denver Zoo and spent some time wandering around a mall that would put anything Salt Lake has to shame.

On Friday we went to a family music and movie night that Golden puts on in one of the downtown parks. It was great for Ollie because he misses his grandparents dogs and everyone here has a dog so he just wandered throughout the crowd greeting all of the dogs. Like I said, everyone is super friendly and after Oliver tried to steal their little girl's popsicle we scooted our blanket over near some new friends and they filled us in on all kinds of things to do here.

Oliver caught on to the zoo thing really fast and as soon as we came to each new pen he would start looking around to see what kind of animal lived there. As soon as he spotted it he would point and then make either his dog or sheep sound (the two animal sounds that he knows) after that he would just start laughing. It was pretty darn cute.


After Oliver chased down a little girl with a popcicle we decided that we had better get him one of his own.



Here we are at Lion's Park, it is one of Oliver's favorites because of the big pond that is great for throwing rocks in and because of the very friendly squirrels.

First day at church

So, today was our first day of our new ward. Naturally we were a bit nervous, but once we got there it just felt awesome . It was a tiny ward and everyone was so kind. Sam found several people who had graduated from his same program so he got lots of tips on what professors to take and who to avoid. And of course everyone loved Ollie. Then, as we were walking out feeling elated the second counselor pulled us into the clerks office and showed us that we are across the street from the ward boundary and actually belong to a different ward in a different stake and a different town. So it looks like we will be doing the whole "first Sunday" thing again. The saddest part is that the chapel we were at today is around the corner and our new one is several miles from home.

Old game - New rules

I just had to add this because it makes me laugh so much. Oliver loves to play peek-a-boo. He has however modified the game to better suit him; rather than place his hands over his eyes and pulling them off to "peek" he covers his ears instead. I guess he just doesn't want to miss a second of what is going on around him.