Just A Warning: This Will Not Be Funny

I have been very intimidated about writing on this blog because of my husbands wit and charm in our first post. It is hard to live up to so much excitement and suspense from our near death experience. In comparison, life has been pretty normal since then, except for having our wonderful Simmons Family come visit and a birthday trip to Beaver Creek.  I am still looking for a teaching or subbing job and Ryan has started back to school.  Feel free to send up a prayer that something comes along soon.  I'm dying to be doing something. 

Having the Simmons come and visit was so much fun! It is always entertaining to have all 8 of us together. We packed the visit full of events, shopping, and site-seeing. They arrived on Thursday night, August 19^th, and I had spent all afternoon making treats for everyone to snack on. I made my first onion soufflé and blackberry cobbler along with homemade chocolate chip cookies, spinach and artichoke dip, and homemade salsa. I was pretty proud of the spread.

On Friday we drove to Vail (all 8 of us in the same rental car of course – it’s what we do).  We rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain and ate lunch.  This is what happened when Teresa realized we were hiking….

Saturday was mostly spent shopping and eating delicious food of course, followed by ice cream at mine and Ryan’s favorite ice cream shop, Bonnie Brae. Ryan says I hype it up to much, but they make all of their ice cream everyday and their waffle cones are the most delicious I’ve ever had. I’m sensing our love for Bonnie Brae might be similar to James and Elizabeth's love for Muddy's Bake Shop….but it’s hard to say.

On Sunday, our dear Brookie and Towel had to leave us to get ready for school to start on Monday. We ate at a delicious local breakfast place called Snooze. I get the feeling that it might end up as one of those places we take people when they visit. You should visit so we can take you there. 

Monday morning, we made delicious waffles at the apartment with my fancy waffle maker that I got from some lovely shower hostesses. Ry had to go to class so Dal and David stayed around the apartment while Teresa visited a local Gigi’s (she helped train the people that just opened it – she’s kind of a big deal) and shopped. Landi and I snuck away to finally see Eclipse. We have been talking about seeing this together for months now and we were lucky enough that it was still playing in a nearby theater. We only paid $5.00 to see it. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

The Braves/Rockies game was the last big event on this visit.  It didn’t turn out quite like we would have liked, but it was still a good time.  I put both pictures of Dad David and Mother Teresa on her so you can see Dave's typical picture-taking tendencies. Loves it.

    

On Tuesday morning we reluctantly sent our lovely visitors back to Nashville.  

Sunday, August 29^th was my 25^th birthday (old, I know), so Ryan organized for us to go spend a couple nights in Beaver Creek.  Other than the beautiful weather and scenery, my favorite part of the trip was the S'mores Happy Hour. The Park Hyatt at Beaver Creek has a S'mores Happy Hour from 7-8  with all you can eat s'mores around a fire pit. They had everything prepared for you in big silver bowls with not only milk chocolate, but also dark chocolate. It was so delicious. Ryan and I enjoyed the company of all of the children who also took advantage of the spread.

At the end of our hike, I dove to get out of the way of a biker closing in on our trail, thus resulting in me skinning my leg up on some sharp rocks. Ok, lets's be honest, if you know me, you know that I really just lost my balance and fell in a ditch while I was turning around to see how far away the biker really was. Embarrassing. Good thing I have a sympathetic husband who felt bad enough about my bleeding leg to take me to get gelato. 

More adventures to come!