Mr. June

I'll start with a little background...  Every year the Nestle Purina plant in Denver sponsors a pet calendar.  Small time stuff, but still fun to browse.  They start gathering pictures of employee pets early in the fall and then select and produce the calendar in time for the holiday season. 

In 2011, we were new to Denver and Drew was new to the plant.  He wanted to be involved, and so he put Loui's picture in to see if it would get selected.  Photogenic guy that he is, Loui won his own page (he was Mr. January) while most other pets earned a share of a page. 

This year, we completely forgot about the calendar.  Drew hadn't paid any attention to the deadlines and we missed the cut.  Until HR actually sought Drew out to get another Loui picture.  Awwww!  They seem to really love him around there.  So we submitted.  And he got his own page again!

Introducing Mr. June.  Round of applause.  Though I hope this doesn't go to his head, all the fame and fortune.  We've already taken to calling his beloved treats "expectations" since he very nearly demands them after his nightly run - what would he expect next?

Two posts in one month! :)

I told you we had a little catching up to do.  Drew is outside washing the truck in this seasonably warm November weather, and I've had my fill of reading/catnapping on the front porch in the sun.  Time to share a little bit of what I left out last week in my monster post.

Back in late September we decided to take a last minute weekend camping trip up into the mountains and catch the prime colors in the aspen trees.  We chose a good weekend (not that it was balmy, especially at night and in the morning, but nice and clear and crisp) and the weekend after it snowed!  Talk about good timing.

We camped near Leadville at Turquoise Lake and then day hopped over to Twin Lakes.  Dad says Twin Lakes is where Jason and I ate fish cheeks (eww) but I can't remember much about the lake or the campsite.  The fish cheeks?  Yes, I remember those.  :)

Check out our adventure!  (And two videos of Loui being a weird dog - apparently he doesn't like sandy dummies...)

 (Our very own beach - after canoeing across the smaller Twin Lake.)

(I love how Loui looks when his fur is wet...and those very intense eyes!)

(Almost caught one with some mighty pull!)

(How Loui suffers through the canoe ride - his favorite part of any boat ride is the end.)

Better late than never...

Let's just say 2012 has not been the year for blogging.  I don't know if it's just the pace at work, or getting involved in more things, but Drew and I (who am I kidding, it's all "I") have not made more than a peep on here since we broke the news that Jenn and Jason were engaged - back in JUNE.  Wow.  Sorry, folks.  Perhaps I should try a "Five for Friday" as I've seen others do, or maybe a calendar reminder on my phone.  Blogging just hasn't been what it used to be for me - an outlet.  Then again I haven't been painting, either.  Time to get back on the horse.

It's been a whirlwind since June - not like there's nothing to talk about.  We've been everywhere from Iowa to Montana to Connecticut to Tennessee.  And we've had visitors, too!  The Killian family headed to Glacier National Park (who am I kidding, that needs it's own post), Swanson's headed back to Iowa for a memorial and a wedding, and then we celebrated family in Tennessee.  Connecticut was for work - that doesn't count.  I'm not high on work travel, let's just say that.  :)

I can't do it justice in one post, but how about a "picture says a thousand words and makes up for lackluster posting by this girl" attempt?  Let's try it.

A Father's Day Short Story - Playing golf with Drew on Father's Day weekend I lost three balls in a row.  Reached into my bag and pulled out a sleeve of balls without even looking - they were in a box that Grandma had given to Drew last time we visited.  The sleeve still had a Christmas tag on it from likely 1986 or so, since it was in Mom's handwriting that it said "To Grandpa, From Brandy".  The balls were marked "Special Grandfather".  I showed Drew - he said, "You really want to play with those?  What if you lose one?"  I said, "If I do, then Grandpa's got a great view."  But I didn't lose another ball that round...

There was Glacier National Park - land of glaciers (duh), mountain goats and sheep, moose and bear, and engagement pictures for Jenn and Jason.  

There was Iowa - land of all things Swanson, a memorial for Grandma (Mary Frances) Murphy, and a wedding in Ames (is it acceptable that I actually enjoyed myself in Cyclone territory?).

 Followed up by Tom and Mary Janet coming to Denver to see us kids and enjoy some relaxing.

A 5K thrown in the mix (anniversary tradition for Drew and me).  We both won our age group - which tells you how little the race was.  :)

And a trip to Tennessee for Grandma Killian's 90th birthday - spunky woman that she is she planned a fantastic weekend complete with food, lots of champagne and a trip or two out on the martini boat.  :)  And would you believe it, I saw cousins and second cousins I haven't seen in over 20 years!

 And there's more, but I'm afraid that if I type one more word this post might implode on me.  Better save some for next week.  That's right, I said it.  :)  Loui videos, fishing adventures, canoeing and camping on Turquoise and Twin Lakes.

It's a good thing our anniversary hot air balloon ride has to wait until next year or you'd never get to the end of this post...

Congrats are in order!

Well, it's been a pretty phenomenal year, but it just got that much better.  :) 

Random calls from family members late at night (okay, I'm aging myself - since it was really just 10:30 PM) tend to get me freaked out.  We're not a huge phone call family, which I've vowed to get better at, so when I got a ""call me" text from Jason late on a Friday night I went right to, "What could Jen have broken that would merit a call?"  Okay, just kidding - but you get the idea.

So that text...right.  I called Jason back and heard all about Jen sportin' some new sapphire jewelry, and the story behind.  Engagement!  Yes!!!  So excited.  :)  And Drew, ever sarcastic, asked me after the call, "So, what was that all about?"  As if he couldn't hear my excited exclamations from a mere three feet away. 

Congrats, Jen and Jason!  Can't wait to celebrate with you this summer in Glacier!

Turning 30 is kinda awesome... :)

A year ago I would have said I'd never had a surprise party, or that I'd even been a part of one.  Which is kinda of...sad.  For closing out the end of my twenties, I mean.  Right?  Never being part of a surprise party?  Everyone should be able to say they've experienced that rush of adrenaline, or that "I can't stop giggling and there's no way anyone will be surprised 'cause they'll hear me a mile away" feeling.  Oh.  Maybe that's just MY surprise face...not yours.  But you know what I mean.

And then I turned 30 last month.  In style.  Or rather, in my pajamas - for all the world to see, if Jason ever shares that damn video. Drew pulled a good one over me - he suggested a surprise trip to Denver for my brother Jason and his girlfriend Jenn to coincide with my birthday.  My big 3-0 happened to fall on a Saturday, and in serendipitous fashion, I scored a half day of work on Friday.  So Thursday night I was getting pumped for a weekend of fun - though I didn't actually have any plans and Drew said we'd just see how it went (and that I might want to play with my presents, whatever that meant).  So pumped, apparently, that when Drew got a call from work and had to head in, I decided it was a perfect time to go to bed.  No sense waiting up for the packing line at Nestle Purina to work itself out.

Drew came home an hour or two later and asked me to come out to the front porch since someone had left a present, and I might as well see for myself.  And you know where this is headed...I step outside and no package.  I take a few steps down the walk and no package.  I peek around the corner of the garage and find Jason (filming) and Jenn (giggling and clapping).  I spin on Drew, give him a quick punch on the arm (reflex, apparently) and call him a bad name...and then hug everyone, a few times over.  The rest of the weekend is a little bit of a blur, but there was in no apparent order: drinks, hiking, alpine lakes, SUN, cake, euchre, hammocking, SUN, and grilling.  I can't thank all three enough - for pulling of such a great surprise, for sacrificing time towards defending a thesis, and for making my big 3-0 particularly awesome.  Love you, guys.

And wouldn't you know it - a month and a half later I got to be on the other end to surprise Brent, a college buddy, for his big birthday!  It's not easy to plan  a trip FOR a birthday boy when he's the one who has to fly, but the ever-awesome Kelsey managed with flying colors.  We all converged in San Diego to surprise Brent and enjoy a week or so on the beautiful coast for what has come to be a yearly tradition.  : ) (Pictures to come on that one!)

Nice work all around, everyone.  Now how do we top it all next year?

 (Oh, here's a random birthday moment.  Remember that half day I had on Friday?  How about "Why do you have a stone named Kidney?"  Let's just say my boss thought I needed a constant reminder of the day I almost keeled over at work.  You put the rest together.  Thank you, Daryl.)