Welcome Sofia!!

Announcing Sofia Angelina Garioto!!

It has been awhile since my last post, but the most exciting thing happened just yesterday, Michael (my brother) and Carrie welcomed our new niece, Sofia Angelina Garioto (think we're Italian?) into the world!! She was born on 9/20 at 5:30ish and weighed in at 7lbs 15 oz and 20 1/2 inches!! Her middle name of Angelina is after Michael's and my Nonnie (our Dad's mother).  Carrie is doing well recovering from her c-section, and Michael is quite busy caring for his two special girls.  We are so happy for the new family!!  

A link to some photos of us with Sofia --> HERE

Any other news from the past few weeks seems pretty silly compared to Sofia's arrival, but here you go....I took Thursday and Friday off this week, mostly to have ample time to rest up for the Thursday night CU game!! We played West Virgina (ranked 21/22) at home on National TV.  It was a "blackout" game where the team wears black on black jerseys and the fans all wear black.  It was easy to see the WVA fans in bright yellow! The game went into Overtime and CU won 17-14.  It was great fun, but a late night.  We got home at 12:30am.   Chuck went into work Friday morning, but luckily had just 5 or so hours to put in for the week, so he came home for a nap!! We went on a date Friday night to Maggianos (YUM!!). 

Prior to heading up to meet Sofia, we went to a bbq at Kari and Brad's which was fun! Literally everyone on their street is pregnant, so there were cute baby bellies all around.  Kari and Brad's son to be is due in January.  We made a hasty exit to be in time for Sofia's arrival with burgers in hand!

We've been up to visit Sofia two times so far, and are babysitting (or I guess dogsitting) their 2nd born (first is the cat), Trinity.  Trin is a lab mix and has lots of energy, so we took her to the dog park today to run it out of her. :) The cat is doing a bit better than with Timber and ventures out a bit.  The cat is just not a fan of doggies! 

That's all to report from here!! 

Aunt Katie (and Uncle Chuck)

It must be football season...

This week was rather uneventful - we had a good long weekend to recover from the CU/CSU game and a lazy day on Monday. The fall is here - not only in great Colorado weather, but it is football time! We had a great tailgate with the Gariotos, Lackeys, Ellsworths, and Joe! Baby G's arrival date is just a week away, and Carrie (and the Garioto doggie Trinity) joined us for the tailgating fun! We were one of the first to arrive at the parking lot (we pride ourselves in this...).

I've added photos from the game and tailgate --> HERE

The game was fun - CU may give me high blood pressure this year. For the second year in a row, The Big Sky Conference showed that the line between IA and IAA is blurring. CU came back in the second half to win 31-24...my Buffs are young, but are learning!! The crowd was really into it in the second half, which was fun. We had dinner with Michael and Carrie after the game, too! :) Today we went to brunch with Josh and Lara downtown to catch up.

DCB rehearsals start up again tomorrow night, and we have a concert in Golden next weekend. Aunt Marge (great aunt on my Dad's side) is coming in to visit this week, so we are very excited to spend some time with her. And, of course, we are ALL excited to meet our niece, Baby Girl Garioto! We saw her nursery - Michael and Carrie have really made a wonderful room for her!! My favorite thing is the dancing monkey picture on the wall - you can't go wrong with a dancing monkey. :)

Football season!

The DNC came and went - the rest of the week remained uneventful, and I still didn't see any famous folks! Oh well. Friday was a bit of a letdown as downtown was so empty. Many of the local residents left town and rented out their lofts (for a lot of $$!), so it was even more sparse. I am proud of the city for hosting the DNC and showing off this great place we call home - the weather was great and the police et al did a great job. There was several protests (a few large ones), but everything was peaceful.

The long weekend was a great way to finish out the long week - I was up early each day last week to get to the train station before the lot filled up, so I was tired (as was Chuck!). We also dog-sat Timber, our friend's yellow lab, last week, so walks and trips to the dog park were in order. She had a great time, but the cat sequestered himself to the basement for her visit. Zack is definitely an only fur-child! He had us all to himself last night and most of today, so he is slowly forgiving us. This afternoon, we visited a college roommate of mine, Milena, who just most back to Colorado and had homemade flan and Mi got to know Chuck each other. :)

Yesterday was a day of football rivalry in our house as CU and CSU (as in Univ. of Colorado and Colorado State Univ. for you non-CO types) played. In case you don't know, I am CU alumus (twice over), and Chuck is a CSU grad. So, we are a divided house of the in-state rivalry!! We were in charge of securing the tailgating spot this year, so we headed to Invesco (Mile High) a bit after noon. Soon enough, we were joined by Michael, Mom, Dick, Devin, Tracy, and a co-worker of Michael's (with baby-Garioto arriving in 2 short weeks, Carrie stayed home outside of the heat and away from the craziness). We had a great time, and, much to Chuck's dismay, CU got the win with a final score of CU 38 CSU 17. We tailgate again next week up in Boulder.

See the beginning of the tailgating album --> HERE

I can't believe September is here already! With being a football house, this is a great time of year. Fall has always been my favorite season.