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.

DNC Week begins!

The DNC is halfway over...for those of you that don't know, my office is just 3 blocks away from the Pepsi Center and the Convention Center. So, we are in the thick of things. Most of us are using alternative transportation to get around with the road closures.

That said, to answer your question of "how is it?," I say - GREAT! Denver is so alive and busy! Walking down 16th Street (the pedestrian mall that runs the length of downtown) feels like a bustling city. The police are plentiful...it seems every city in the state has lent officers to downtown. There have been some protests that have gotten a bit our of hand, but fortunately for me, those have been on the other end of the city. Overall it is a feeling of community and excitement. Of course, I may be a bit biased...

We are always aware and are keeping our eyes open when walking around, but I just couldn't stay inside and not experience history in Denver.

I haven't seen any famous faces (political or otherwise), but coworker "sightings" include Joe Biden, Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron, and Spike Lee.

I have put of my first set of photos --> HERE

Photo updates...

I found a new uploader to our photo site, so I have caught up with our August photos - enjoy! :)

Natanee's Shower--> Here
Mini-golfing with the Nellises --> Here
More house painting photos --> Here
Denver Concert Band Trip --> Here

Busy weekend!

We had a wonderful (but busy!) weekend!! :) Friday night, Natanee, Matt, and super-dog Sydney came down for their weekend stay. Syd stayed home getting to know Zack (who was hiding in the closet) and we finally got the Spencer's to dinner at our favorite Italian place - Armando's. It lived up to the hype, landing in Matt's famous Top 5 (this time, top 5 Italian meals).

Saturday was a busy day with Natanee's baby shower! Fortunately for me, Kandi and Mom came down early to help assemble tea sandwiches and the onesie "station" - we got done just in time! Whew!! In typical Katie and Kan fashion, there was way too much food....we wouldn't want anyone to starve. We celebrated Baby Boy Spencer to be with laughs and some cleverness - instead of games, we crafted custom onesies with iron-ons (Kan showed us all up by using a needle and thread!). Kari once again showed off her baking skills with a yummy checkerboard cake (blue and white, of course!) to top off the meal! Thank you to Kandi, Mom, and Kari for helping with the shower!! :) I so couldn't have done it without you.

Chuck and some of the husbands couldn't get away fast enough to the golf course during the shower. It rained ALL day (so rare for Colorado, especially in August!!), but they were able to hit the links at an executive course just North of us (they got a big soggy!). The boys came back after the girlie fun for a BBQ.

Just to top of living meal to meal (as Natanee's mom noted!). we went to breakfast this morning and said goodbyes to go to our next event - celebrating my birthday and getting together with Chuck's mom and siblings. We cashed in on the rain checks from last year's attempt at miniature golfing and played a round! Maddie had her own ball (purple) and club to keep her entertained, but I think the adults were more into it with our ever so classic "Hole in 2" Dance. We had yet another meal (no need for dinner tonight) at Red Robin and had a great time!! Thank you to Mom, Darby, Jeremiah, Alex, and Maddie for a fun day!!

I'll get photos of the shower and golfing posted soon. :)

So, we are a bit tired and definitely full from a fun weekend. The cat is happy to have his house back! Little does he know we are babysitting Timber (Stacey's yellow lab) next week and Trinity (Michael/Carrie's doggie) when Baby Garioto comes in September! Poor kitty......

Seeing green!

The weather cooperated (gotta love 300+ days of sunshine in Colorado), and our house has been painted!

Our gray/white house....
And the new and improved green/ivory house (new light fixtures and house numbers, too!):
:)

Concert tour in the mountains!

We had a nice weekend up in Buena Vista and Leadville. The DCB had two concerts (a third in Fairplay was canceled). I will hopefully put up a few photos soon. Chuck was once again the "roadie" for the percussion section. He also doubles as a band photographer. :) We did vary the play list slightly each night, so at least he didn't have to sit through two identical concerts. BV is about 8,000 ft and Leadville is 10,152 ft. Good thing I don't play a wind instrument...not much oxygen up there!

Despite competing with the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, we had a good turnout at the BV concert! We played in the Orpheum Theater - our concert is held annually to raise funds to renovate the theater.

The Leadville 100 (as in 100 miles and it starts at 10,500 feet and climbs to more than 14,000 feet) was on Saturday, so we had a glimpse of Lance Armstrong (he finished 2nd....the two leaders finished all 100 in about 6 h 45 min!!!). It was exciting to be at the finish line. I missed a picture as I'll never seem to master the timing with digital cameras. :( The concert was also held in another historical venue, the Tabor Opera House, which will begin exterior renovations soon. The venue has a great history including John Phillip Sousa and even Houdini! Of course, the most important is the annual Denver Concert Band concert. :)

BV is about 2.5 hours from us, so it was nice to get away. You can see several 14ers from BV/Leadville....Mt. Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Massive, and Elbert and more (10 in all in the BV area). The drive up had a 30 minute detour on a dirt road (see, my SUV does get "off road" sometimes!) due to an accident, so it was more adventuresome then expected. The drive home was less exciting, but we had lots of fun carpooling with Tricia and Lyndsey. :) Finding decent coffee and breakfast food in BV at 7am on Sunday morning was a challenge (7Eleven was the BEST choice!) for sure.

Next weekend is a shower at our house for Natanee (baby boy on the way) and a belated bday celebration for me with Chuck's family. We haven't seen Chuck's siblings after international travels (Jeremiah, Alex and Maddie to Europe and Darby to the Bahamas), so it will be fun to catch up!

The house is getting painted this week (let's hope the weather cooperates!) - look for before/after photos later this week!