A Caldwell Thanksgiving - Colorado Style!

Last Wednesday Taylor and I started our Thanksgiving preparation. Why didn't anyone tell us last year to start a day earlier?!

We stayed up late making cinnamon rolls, side dishes, and eventually got our turkey in the brine. The next morning we ate the cinnamon rolls, made more side dishes, and put the turkey in the oven!

We had a couple good friends come over for the feast and had a ton of fun stuffing our faces. Good food, great company!

Notice the AMAZING rolls!

On Friday we made our way to Boulder to catch some UTAH football. Utah beat Colorado 34-27.

Go Utes!

The rest of the weekend we RELAXED and enjoyed the 70 degree weather on Saturday. That night our wonderful neighbors invited us over for some Hot Toddies, a campfire, and board game fun.

We hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving and we are excited to head to Arizona and Utah in less than a month! 

Keepin' busy!

How is it already the middle of November?! 

With Taylor playing Army for the last month in California, I have been trying to keep myself busy...

A few weeks ago I flew to Florida and spent time with my dad, family, and grandparents. The weather was perfect! I was able to wear flip-flops, shorts, and sweat the entire time. 

The five days went by way to quickly but not before we got some beach time, football time, world series time, ocean time, eating fish time, boat time, laughing time, hugging time, picture time, and some lovin' all packed into the week.

Last weekend I took a mini-vacation to Boulder and saw Utah play! It ended in a 1-1 draw but the weather was beautiful and it was so much fun to see (though I don't know many people on the team anymore) everyone play.

Last week I voted.

And of course I have been hard at work.

It has been the longest and fastest month. Taylor gets home tomorrow and then it's already Thanksgiving. We wish we were spending it with friends and family but we are thinking about everyone and will see you all over Christmas (unless you are Canadian these days)!

Happy Anniversary, Happy Denver Broncos!

For our anniversary I got Taylor Denver Broncos tickets. Thanks to our friend and former Ute, our seats were so close I may be Wife-of-the-Year.

We drove down to Denver early Sunday morning, beating all traffic and checked into our hotel. We started wandering around downtown with all the other Broncos fans (and Raiders) eating some lunch and a drinking a few beers. Taylor and I reached game mode and headed to the stadium on a shuttle provided by our hotel.

The atmosphere at the game kept us smiling and laughing the entire time with the crazy (committed) fans, the view from ours seats, Taylor's yodeling competition with the guy behind us, and of course a Broncos win!

After the game we walked downtown and enjoyed the win at a few local joints.

Happy one year to us and I can't wait for all the years to come!

Birthday, Zoo, & Fondue

As most of you know, the best day of the year has already passed. I try to make the month of September last as long as I can but I suppose at some point after the 19th I need to stop celebrating my birthday.

On the day of my birth, I took a nice, short, 3 hour work day (isn't there a law saying you aren't allowed to work on your birthday?!). I then met my friend Emma downtown at Jose Maldoon's for a mexican lunch.

Beer and birthday cake.

That evening, Taylor took me to the Melting Pot. We enjoyed the four course meal including cheese fondue, salad, meats, and of course the chocolate fondue. It was perfect, and delicious!

Before the Melting Pot.

Chocolate Fondue!

Birthday flowers.

Sunday we decided to take a trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The weather has been perfect so we wanted to get in one last zoo visit before it gets too cold.

My birthday month has been amazing but it's not over yet! Tomorrow is our one year anniversary so the celebrating will continue! 

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Non-birthday-zoo-or fondue related I wanted to add that Taylor and his Army crew hiked Pike's Peak 2 weeks ago (all 14,000 ft of it). It took about 8 hours to get to the top with the last 2 miles being in snow. Besides getting extremely sunburnt and developing funny tan lines, he survived! 

The Peak the day after Taylor hiked it.

Also, after one year I finally have a Colorado license!

Labor Day Fun

Labor Day weekend quickly came and quickly left but not without some fun!

On August 30th the University of Utah soccer team came to Colorado Springs to play Colorado College. Taylor and I went to the game with our neighbor Frank. I couldn't believe how much I missed it and that this is my third Ute-less season! It seems like just yesterday I was doing cone shuttles, gasping for air, while my legs turned to jello.

The game ended in a 2-2 tie. 

On Friday and Saturday I was at the Church coordinating a wedding. This isn't in my normal "administrative job duties" but something I am slowly taking over. Taylor, Channing, and the pups relaxed and enjoyed the weekend.

Duke Wizowski.

Since we both had Monday off, we decided to do a day trip with our neighbors, Emma and Frank, and go to Cripple Creek. The boys went out shooting while Emma and I did the gambling. 

I sat down at the Davinci Penny Slot machine thinking, "Here you go, take all my money" like I do every time we go up to Cripple Creek. However, this time was a little different. As my machine starting dinging and the money kept rising, I just stared at my game as it put me close to $200 dollars. The luck continued throughout the day and I was not disappointed as we headed home that evening.

Luck!

9494 ft high up in Cripple Creek

Tomato, Tamahto

Over the last 2 months I have been watering this little guy like crazy. He has grown to be good lookin' and I hope even more delicious.

Taylor and I are still doing our 5K runs on Tuesday's. Last week was number 13 in the rain!

We have also joined a volleyball team (yes, I can reach the net). We play every Friday with a team and absolutely love it. Pictures to come!

That Salty City.

Two weeks ago, Taylor started his 2 week block leave (vacation). I also took some time off and we decided to go to Utah for a week for some much needed time with our friends.

We stopped in Glenwood Springs, about 4 hours from Colorado Springs to rest for the night and why wouldn't we stay at a hotel that was also connected to a brewery? After some sleep, we woke up early to hike up to Doc Holliday's grave site. 

Some Pringles, Coke, and five hours later, we arrived in Utah!

There was definitely a never dull moment in our week. Thank you to all of our amazing friends that took care of us and gave us an incredible time. We look forward to our next visit!