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.)

2012 is off to a good start!

That's right - 2012 is going well so far!  I haven't been the best blogger, but I'll try to catch up with you today.

1. Snowboarding Copper Mountain - Drew and I went up in January and then again in February with a bunch of friends.  Boarding, snow tubing, great food, relaxing, and a little adult beverage consumption.  :)  I made my first run down the mountain without a fall - and even tackled a short blue run!

1. Colorado Mammoth - Again with the same group of friends, we witnessed the indoor spectacle that is professional lacrosse.  :)  Someone equated it to classy NASCAR - loud, raucous, awesome, with a crazy halftime show involving cheerleaders/dancers, bikers, and furry mascots.  Uh huh.
2. Liam's Birthday - Well, I'm a few days early but all the same it's exciting.  One of my best friends, Dawn, and her family are celebrating her son Liam's second birthday - and the anniversary of his surgery to remove a rare tumor.  This little tyke has been through so much in two years, he could tell us a thing or two.  We'll be celebrating around the country with a balloon release, and Colorado will be represented.  Check out the story at http://briananddawnfudge.blogspot.com/.
3. 365 Project - Still going strong!  We're 60 some days in right now, and over the hardest part - winter.  I know, pretty snow and all that jazz - but when you're off to work in the dark and back home in the dark there's not a whole lot of natural light for nice pictures.  We've collected quite a study in macro (up close) shots of household items.  Regardless, here are some of my favorites.

1. Women's Big 10 Gymnastics Championship - We'll be headed back to Iowa City in March to take in the Big 10 gymnastics meet and support our Hawkeyes.  And, we'll be bringing the Killians, Swansons and maybe a few more to the party.  Can't wait to see you all, fellow Hawks!

What has everyone else been up to lately!?

Ever the Student Affairs Professional...

I had to share.  :)  This has been floating around facebook for awhile, and it's worth the laugh.  So true!  Enjoy, all you student affairs professionals out there!

And maybe this one, too?

These are for you, Grandpa!

Last summer my grandpa gifted us his canoe.  And we thought we'd try it out.  What, you thought I had some funny story - are we that predictably uncoordinated?  :)  Let's just say we had our moments, but everyone stayed dry. 

Didn't really touch up the photos at all, but they're still not bad!

2012 Goals

Drew and I started a tradition a few years back on a return trip after Christmas.  Driving nearly 12 hours home to Atlanta was taking it's toll, and I was cranky.  Drew could tell, and yet I wouldn't tell him what was up.  And to be honest, I don't even know that there was anything "up".  I just felt off, or maybe stuck, or something.  Life felt sort of stale.  Long story short, Drew got me talking, and 6 hours later we'd decided to give ourselves a little direction each year and take advantage of long drives home after the holidays.  The new year's list was developed.  And no, it's not a set of resolutions - those are too easy to get rid of the first time you mess up.  These are more like things to work on over the year, and remind ourselves of when we get that "stuck" feeling.  Dorky as we are, it works for us.

So, enter the 2012 goals.  These came on the drive home from Iowa to Colorado - a relatively new trip for us.  From what we wrote down, it seems to be the year of "Colorado strong", expanding our artistic talents, and finding our "home" amongst the mountain-goers out here.  I won't list them all, but never fear - if you ever venture to our house they're proudly displayed in a frame each year (and yeah, I keep the old ones to see where we were and how far we've come).  :)

• Colorado Strong - Living in the mountains means feeling like you could tackle a 14er, or a week long camping trip, a 5K, or a river run, etc.  You just never know what might pop up!  And so, it's not about looking good as much as it is feeling strong.  And we all know one follows the other, right?  Loui, the spoiled retriever, requires an exhausting outing a day - we've settled on giving him 6 runs a week.  He's staring at me right now and I can see it in his eyes...he's waiting not so patiently for today's adventure.

• Friends - Yeah, I said it.  We're homebodies, but this is the year of expanding our network and finding some locals to hang with.  We've got coworkers, former Hawkeyes, even family nearby.  For goodness sake, we're gonna get this one done.  :)  And keep up those old relationships too, since a phone call shouldn't be hard.  Miss you, peeps!

• Artistic Outlets - We each have our things.  For me it's gardening, cooking, painting, photography, and not singing.  You heard me.  For Drew, it's music, recording, and his business ventures.  Breaking out of our own heads is hard to do, so I've committed myself to finding an art show or two locally to show in - and Drew even has aspirations of recording another CD!  I'm even back to implementing the photo-a-day project to see how far I get....(so far we're still on!)

• Community - Aside from making new friends, we want to explore the area around us, maybe venture back in to home-ownership, and in general connect to a community.  From finding a doctor (Mary Janet - we're on it!) to finding a farmer's market to finding ways to give back, we want to make it home out here.  :)

 What is everyone else out there working on this year?  Let us know!

Introducing Goose!

:)  In lieu of a long-winded post, I'll revert to showing you pure cuteness, and mischief, in pictures.  His name is Gus, or Goose...or if you want to get formal (or make him think he's in trouble) it's really Blackwaters Blu-Chip Goosedown.  Awwww.......  Mom and Dad got a new puppy in October and are loving him up - and I think sometimes they're wondering exactly what they got themselves in to.  He's all puppy - a hurricane of feet and teeth, shall we say.

When we went home for Christmas Loui bounded into Mom and Dad's house all gangbusters expecting to find a whole gang of people ready to pet him and give him cookies, and chewies - and all that jazz.  Instead, he skidded right into Gus, who'd apparently not been told that a bigger version of himself in the chocolate variety would be visiting.  After a quick mop of the floor (oops!) and a recovery of their wits the two were fast friends (like siblings, squabbles and all).  And in no time at all Gus was already stealing Loui's things...