July is almost gone!

With the end of my birthday month, I finally have gotten around to uploading some photos. :)

Photos from working on the Fireworks shows on July 4th and 5th in Mammoth --> HERE

Photos from the rest of our trip to CA --> HERE

I have started a new venture of biking home from downtown to the park-n-ride/Cherry Creek Lake Dam...about 16 miles or so. If Denver hasn't had record breaking heat (19 days over 90 and counting), I would do it more...just 2 days so far, but I love it! I drive to the train from home, take my bike on the train with me (helmet hair isn't so appropriate at the Bank), and then ride home. This is mostly practice for riding home all week during the DNC which is here in just a few weeks.

What else? I had another concert last Saturday, and again was sight reading quite a bit. So far, no major bang, crash, or woodblock blatantly in the wrong place, so that's good! I do get lost (counting is hard apparently) on occasion, but it works out. We have a 3 concert mountain "tour" the 2nd weekend of August.

I had a great birthday last Sunday! I was awoken by breakfast in bed (awwwww!) and card that alluded to my gift...ROCK BAND! Woo hoo!! I am so very spoiled! Rock Band is a lot like Guitar Hero, but you can have 4 bandmates at once - signer, bass, guitar, and drums! A band geek's (like me) dream! We had a few people over for a birthday BBQ (and some Rock Band) and had a great time! Here we are rocking out!!

Happy August to everyone!!

More work on the house!

Chuck is waking up sore from a long day of rebuilding the front steps (I helped in the morning a bit, but he gets all the credit). We are getting the house painted a a few weeks (yeah!), so this project was on the list before the painting. We still need to stain, but it looks great!

We had a good week - it was hard going back to work after vacation of course, but we made it! One of my college roommates, Steph, was in town, so we went to the Rio for margs with her and her hubby on Thursday (they celebrate there 10th anniversary this week - how did we get so old??? Congrats Steph and Matt!).

Last night was my first concert with the Denver Concert Band! I was on bass drum for the whole set and my boom booms were in the right place most of the time! Woo hoo! The weather held out (no rain and it cooled off from the high 90s of the day). We have another concert next week at a church in Aurora.

Tonight Tarah (Chuck's mom) is coming over for dinner so I'm off to do chores! :)

Back home....

What a trip!! :) We clocked nearly 1,100 miles on the rental car (note: most expensive gas...$5.07/gal in Mammoth)!! We had a great time.

A quick recap....3.5 days in Mammoth (all but 1 working hard on fireworks stuff!), 1 day in Yosemite (with a side trip to my childhood summer vacation spot, Bass Lake), 3 days in the Bay Area visiting friends and family, and 2 days in Tahoe (we event rafted/floated down the Truckee). Needless to say we hare pretty tired and are dreading going back to work tomorrow!! Boo!!

I will post some photos and maybe more details soon! :) Why is it that vacation away means lots of chores when you get home...?

The end of June!

It was nice to have a weekend with "nothing" to do! :) This past weekend I got together with Kari, Kathy, Cherie, and Natanee for lunch. We toasted to babies on the way for Kari and Natanee and to our friendship! I am so lucky to have such strong and wonderful women as friends!!

This week was very busy for me at work with trying to tie things up before leaving this Thursday for our CA trip. Chuck ended up working both days this weekend for the same reason - yuck!

We are excited to see friends and family while out on the West coast. There is a lot of driving on the schedule - Reno to Mammoth, Mammoth through Yosemite, Oakhurst to the Bay Area, lots of driving in the Bay Area (is there any other way??), and back up to Tahoe! Whew!! I used $4.50 for our gas budget...that may be wishful thinking!! This will be my first time to Mammoth Lakes - we'll be working for Uncle Kirby as part of the crew for two fireworks shows...I am but nervous but really excited, too! Look for photos and a post telling of all of our fun when we get back!

Back to laundry for the trip I go...

Last night at band....

Nope, not band camp, but (with a bit of gentle encouragement from my husband) I took a chance and practiced with the Denver Concert Band last night. The band is in need of associate members (semi-permanent fill in types) for the Summer Concert Series in the percussion section, and I was recruited by our friend, Tricia. I had a great time and even managed to read some rhythms accurately! Reading music for mallets will take more time to dig that skill out of my head (I haven't read music since my freshman year of college...some 13 years ago...and rhythms since my junior year). I also have no chops, but hopefully it will come. The best part is that they welcomed me back and it appears I am "in" for the summer concerts in late July and August! Thank you to Chuck to pushing me - I don't think I realized how much I would enjoy playing (albeit not too well yet) again. More to come on this newest adventure! :)

Happy Father's Day!

We had a good week. The suite at the Rockies game was awesome (minus the working part) and the Blake Street Bombers even won! This weekend was busy with Carrie's baby shower (that Baby girl Garioto is going to be spoiled, but she's worth it) and having Dad/Suanne and Natanee stay the night on Saturday. The cat wasn't as thrilled about the house guests, but he'll get over it! We ate too much and our fridge is so full I am wondering if anyone actually ate anything! We spent the afternoon at the Parker Country Festival - it was a beautiful (but really hot!) day in Colorado.

On another note - I find the passing of Tim Russert just very sad. I am not one to love the media, but he seemed a true journalist...well studied, well spoken, and he asked the hard questions with class and dignity. An unfortunate reminder to cherish each day.

Hugs and kisses to all the Dads!!

Colorado livin'

We spent the weekend up in Eagle with Natanee and Matt and had a great time!! We made the hike up (1,000 feet up in 1.2 miles to be exact) to Hanging Lake - you can't tell the richness of the colors in our photo, so we recommend you make the trip! This hike is well worth getting up early to beat the crowds and also worth the hard work of the climb up and down! The high level of run off made for amazing waterfalls! It is amazing that beauty like this is just a few hours from home!!

We also introduced the Spencers to the Wii and Guitar Hero. Here is a video of them rocking out....check out the under-bites. I think Natanee was trying to rock Baby Spencer to sleep with her wicked head bob move!

The rest of the photos from the weekend are posted HERE.

This week is busy! I have several work events and one includes a box at the Rockies game vs. the Giants, so I am looking forward to getting out from behind my computer and having some fun with clients! This week also marks a few happy birthdays - happy day Kandi and Jacob! (and a late happy birthday to Laura). Cheers!