Time is FLYING

So, like I said, I live in Colorado and the times have been fun! I live about an hour away from the Merrill's, ten minutes from the temple, and work just outside of Denver (pretty awesome location). I have some pictures I will share and a few stories to go along with it. Time has passed so much that I can't go back and blog about everything so I'll highlight some recent fun that I've had.

TRAVELING LIFE GLUTEN FREE
I got to travel for work a couple months ago. We had a hiring event in Sunnyvale, so I enjoyed eating some really yummy food. I recently determined I needed to avoid gluten to see if it would help alleviate some of the chronic symptoms I face...the jury is still out if it really helps. I am now 4 months completely free and my goal is to do at least 6 to really get it out of the system. Because of this diet, eating out becomes difficult. Luckily, when on the company dime you can get really yummy meat and enjoy eating out like you never normally would. I enjoyed getting to know the California team and I was grateful I took the time to go out.

Giant smoothie and nasty gluten free muffin...

Chicken Cabob

Mexican breakfast at the airport

Smok'in Fajitas - YUMMY!

The Bay

SPONTANEOUS ACTIVITIES
Right before my trip to Texas, I got a text at work asking if I wanted to go to the David Archuletta concert that night in downtown Denver. OF COURSE I WANTED TO GO. The tickets were free, and I enjoyed the evening starting with riding public transit into the city. It was fairly easy, but I was grateful I had friends who knew what we were doing. It was a high school dream come true to see him live. I was singing to most of his songs as they played. It made for only three hours of sleep before heading to the airport for my 6 AM flight to Texas, but it was worth it!

The man himself

My crew

I also went to the Denver Art Museum for the first time. My coworker had two free tickets, so Tabby and I went. What an amazing museum! I was impressed with the artwork and loved the Native American section, it reminded me of my Mama Fawn who loved their culture. See the pictures below from our extravaganza. We spent about 3.5 hours there and saw less than a third of the museum.

I went to my first hockey game! It was the Arizona Cardinals vs. Colorado Avalanche. Pretty awesome first one to go to. Colorado won, and it was a fun FHE activity with the ward.

There were these people walking around the stadium, it was loud! 

I threw together a sledding party one Saturday after a major snow storm It was one of the most epic sledding trips I have ever been on. I loved it! The hill took at least five minutes to climb back up, but it was totally worth it. I went off a jump, caught probably three feet of air, landed smoothly while screaming the rest of the way down the hill. I was the only one in the group who actually hit the jump.

Me and Tabby

GAINING EXPERIENCE AS AUNT KITT
I have never had the opportunity to live close to my insanely cute nieces and nephews until I moved to Colorado. Let me tell you, being known as Aunt Kitt is probably my most favorite title I've ever gone by. There is so much love and fun accompanied with it. You get to play, love, laugh, tickle, and see the light and joy children bring into life...especially into your sibling's lives.

Two very happy boys. ..see the JOY.

Kylee and Tia are a lot of fun. I have gotten to celebrate both of their birthday's this year, the big 2 and 4. Tia is a ball of energy and excitement, who doesn't talk. Because she only speaks a few words, she has gotten really good expressing emotions with facial features and body language. For example, she gets really excited and she stomps back and forth between her feet staring at you while giving her head a little shake. Kylee uses big words and loves to tell stories. Her imagination is huge and she often comes up with games for us to play that I usually don't know how to appropriately play...which leads to her trying to explain to me in more detail. She is so loving and tries often to communicate for her sister.

Sometimes Aunt Kitt isn't really that funny....obviously

 

We had a lot of fun at the temple. 

We pulled taffy! Tia was terrified of it...and just licked the butter off her hands. 

One of her new bday dresses.

On one occasion, I volunteered to watch the kids while the parents went on a date. We had an adventurous evening. It started out with me cooking dinner, looking back and seeing them eat the fishes out of Katey's backpack that both of us had asked them multiple times not to eat. I snatched them and there was still room in the little tummies for some mac and cheese. We played Don't Eat Pete and Hungry Hippos and a farm game. Tia couldn't really play the farm game, so she spent most of her time stomping on the board so we lost where the pieces were or which cards hadn't been picked yet. As I was focusing on my turn, I hear the sound of water behind me from Tia. I turn around and she's peeing on the floor! I quickly tell her to stop, and run her to the bathroom. We finish potty there, and I give her a rag to go "clean" it up. She does and then goes upstairs to find panties...which she comes down with pants...we got it all figured out. As I was sending them to bed, Kylee starts putting on new panties and socks. I tell her she can change her panties in the morning, but with this the tears start. Because I am not her mother, I quickly tell her that's fine and to continue with the process. Later, I found out from the parents that this is a recent trend she has decided so it makes getting ready in the morning a lot quicker. While singing the good night songs, Kylee had to correct me on a few verses I sang incorrectly...it's been a while since primary I guess. All in all, we had fun and I would do it again.

Sometimes you bring out the candy when the kids have already gone to bed. 

FIRST TRIP TO FORT WORTH
Recently, I went to Texas to visit. Betty and Allen were a lot of fun, and it was great to visit Jack and Lindsay in their new home. Allen has the best laugh, and one of his new phrases is "I did it baby!" repeated multiple times. When he speaks, he's usually grunting, so if I didn't have Jack or Lindsay there I may not have been able to interpret the first time he said it. I got some good cuddle time with him and put him to sleep one night.

I taught Betty how to play Simon Says and Charades, which was quite humorous. She did a good job guessing and acting out! We also played a game called Kitty and Mommy...which consisted of me chasing her around their race track, catching her, throwing her into the love sack, and not letting her escape the dungeon. I am pretty sure this was her favorite. She is quite delightful, good at coloring, and loved little "houses" or pyramids I made out of the playdough.

Thursday night, we went out to eat at this yummy Mexican food place. I got a yummy dish, enjoying it with my corn tortillas. I don't think we watched a movie that night, as I was exhausted and fell asleep when Jack and Lindsay took the kids to bed. The next night we did watch Interstellar. It was an intense movie, but very good. We also went to the museum. I enjoyed watching Betty play with the doll and drive the emergency vehicle. The museum was packed, so we didn't stay that long. Too many children for three mostly introverts.

Longhorn, what Texas is known for. 

Watch out!

Taking care of the baby. 

We started early enough that we went to bed at a decent time. On Friday, Jack cooked a brisket in his air fryer. It was SO yummy! He did a great job with the flavors and we enjoyed some sweet potato fries with it. The brisket served many meals throughout the rest of the weekend. Lindsay and I went to the gym on Saturday morning and did a Body Pump work out. Holy moly! It was tough! We had this little bar, weights you could add and take off throughout the workout, free weights, and a step stool. We did squats, lunges, curls, and anything you can imagine while holding weights in your hands. I was impressed with the people who added a lot of weight to their bars...I was good with my 5 pounders on each side. Later that day, Jack gave me a tour of the mile long facility. Impressive! I got to see the whole assembly line, I am grateful for the smart people who can handle all the details of that machine. I also got to see where Jack works so now I can picture him there while I am IM'ing him at work. I enjoyed hearing about the work from Jack's perspective. He's very intelligent, and knows a lot about the company. I can tell he is passionate about it, so now he just needs to find the work he enjoys too! We also watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the new one. I actually kind of liked it, I'd only seen parts of it before. Sunday was a wonderful day. I enjoyed the church meetings, and the sun was shining almost for the first time since I'd arrived. The kids played outside, while I watched from the porch and chatted with Jack and Lindsay. While Lindsay laid down, Betty, Jack, Allen, and I went for a walk. I got to see the neighborhood and enjoy the "Virginia, ID summer like" weather. When we got home, I helped get dinner ready. We had rigatoni and a DELICIOUS gluten free cheesecake. The crust was gluten free chocolate chip cookie dough, and then we put mini chips throughout the cheesecake mix. Amazing, if I could have eaten the whole thing I would have tried.

the cheesecake

Betty wanted to take pics of everyone

Daddy couldn't look because he was driving.

My flight Monday morning was at 6 AM Texas time, really 5 AM Colorado time...prior to daylight savings time. So really, the flight was at 4:00 AM internal clock time, which means I woke up at 1:30 internal clock time to get to the airport in time. Luckily we did get there when we did, as the security line was backed up with people who hadn't flown before and didn't know the procedure so they broke all the laws and had to be searched...thus delaying the line dramatically. I did make it back, went straight into work, worked as long as I could and have been recovering ever since. I think I may be back to normal and finally fighting off the rest of the sickness that accompanied my lack of sleep.

CRAZY TRAINING
I am in training for a big race in mid-May, so a group of us work out on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. We usually do Insanity workout videos, sometimes P90X...both extremely hard. I haven't worked out consistently for a couple years due to physical limitations. When we first signed up for this race, I determined working out may be a good solution to some of my problems...mainly lack of social motivation and stress. Working out would help relieve stress and help me get to know people better in my ward. I believe both goals have been met, although the goal of being in shape for the 12 mile obstacle course is pretty slim....but, we're working on it! I have also picked up a little bit of running, which hasn't happened in even longer. I still hate it, but at least I feel pretty good afterwards. I am more flexible and I do feel healthier than I have in a while. I am also training to do Tri-Tri with Katey in mid-June. This is a very mini-triathlon...I've always wanted to do one, and it's way better to start with a mini and do it with your sister. This one I will for sure do, the obstacle race I am not sure I will do...it depends on what I can do by Mid-May.

VALENTINE'S DAY
We got heart attacked, what a wonderful surprise! And, I got this cool bracelet from Oma and Papa.

WORK
Oh yeah, I did move to Colorado for work and everyone probably wonders how it's going. It's roaring along. It's not as busy this semester as it was in the Fall, but I am ready for my personal spring break. If I could, I would take my total 50 floating hours off in the next two weeks before I lose them. I am transferring divisions, due to re-org changes, so I will lose the floating and gain the week between Christmas and New Years off. It's an okay trade. I do enjoy the work I am doing, as I am still learning things each day. It's been a great growing experience, exactly what I need for manager and client interaction. I didn't really know what I was getting into, but I believe it will be a good stepping stone. My current manager and grand-manager (my manager's manager) will be good advocates for my career. Although I won't be reporting to them in a couple weeks, I think I can still look towards them for mentorship which will be necessary for me to move forward. My hours are usually about 50+ a week, and will continue to be so until end of April...at least I hope that's as long as they go. I am trying harder to make sure I unplug and leave work when I leave. This is difficult for me, but I am getting a little better.

That's about all I have right now, other than the beautiful sunsets and pretty weather Colorado provides. You can see some snapshots of things I have found beautiful over the past few months. Colorado winters are gorgeous and I am grateful for the sun that shines almost daily, even when it is cold. Also I always work from home if it snows, which has been a great blessing!

Thanks for reading, sorry it's not chronological but I hope it was worth the time. I will try to write more frequently as it helps me find the hidden treasures in my life.

Peace out.

-the tall girl

The Unknown Final Countdown

Mid July I had an interview with The Company. I really didn't even want to apply for the job, but Big Brother told me that I should. Then, when I got the call two days later to interview, I really didn't want to go because I didn't want to do recruiting again...I had done it and didn't like it...additionally, I didn't want to have to ask for another day of work off. But, again Big Brother told me I had nothing to lose and a free trip to DC. I agreed, solidified travel plans, and flew out a week later right before the family reunion. Needless to say, after getting my library card for the Library of Congress I moved to Colorado. The adventures have started and flown by, now it's time to repent and get back to blogging!