I'm talking about a little place called Assssspen

Name that movie.

Dumb and Dumber.

So a few weeks ago Derek and I had the opportunity to go to Aspen to see the changing fall leave.  (I love fall).  And, as a little perk (although it wasn't on the drive out), it snowed just a little bit.  Because of that it may have added 2 hours to our trip (really bad car accident.  So glad it wasn't us), but that is okay.

The best of the pictures were taken with our actual camera (I know we actually brought a camera along.  A rarity since the introduction of smart phones into our lives), and our camera is being stupid and not connecting to our computer.  So, you just get my phone pictures.  But I think I still did a pretty good job.

We may or may not have camped at a Rest Stop in Glenwood Springs underneath our truck....you decide

1st stop was the Maroon Bells.  This is the signature shot of Colorado.  No worries we are next to a lake by 200 other people with their super nice cameras on tripods who were there for multiple hours waiting for that perfect shot.  I guess I am too impatient because I just went point and click and was satisfied.

Journey to the 2nd stop.  Luckily for us everyone else A. got stuck in the crowd at the lake and B. didn't want to walk through the 2 inches of snow.  So the next few shots are of the beauty of autumn and winter meeting along the trail to Crater Lake.

 Derek

 Derek's arm got in the way

More views

Derek getting the perfect snow shots at Crater Lake....which I apparently didn't take a picture of.  Ooops. 

This is my 2nd favorite picture.  The snowy pines and the yellow aspens are magnificent

This is my favorite shot.  Gorgeous.

Maroon Bells in more sunlight

On the trail to Cathedral Lake

Proof we took these pictures

On the trail to Cathedral Lake

On the trail to Cathedral Lake.  I apparently didn't take any pictures of Cathedral Lake either.  Google it.

Not pictured because my phone died: views from mountain biking in Aspen, Aspen town, camping (in a camp ground this time) in Glenwood Springs, me eating a vegan grilled cheese sandwich cooked over a fire (my life is forever changed.  I found vegan cheese (made from rice) that actually tastes just like Mozerella.  I didn't know how much I missed cheese and now I don't have to), Hot Springs (free ones up a canyon) in Glenwood Springs, Hanging Lake (amazing.  It is like Hava Supai in the mountains.  Google it), and Vail.

It was an awesome road trip.  Short, sweet, and packed full of adventure and beauty.

Changes in the weather

HEAT WAVE!  Or so we thought....

Last week we had 95 degrees every day.  It was so bad that they had a “heat” day and canceled school.  No joke.  (The schools don’t have A/C and usually pump cool night air into the schools and circulate it.  Only problem, it wasn’t cooling down at night.)  Anyway, I run the health office at a local middle school and I was getting students coming in with heat exhaustion from sitting in class.  It was bad.  As in 88 degrees in my office with fans going and the students thought it felt good in there.   

It was bad.

Then, it started to rain on Monday.

As many of you have seen/heard on the news, it hasn’t stopped raining since.  The Poudre River has overflowed its banks.  It has washed out bridges.  Roads are closed.  School is closed.  YES!  I was at work this morning (I open at the gym so I was there at 4 am) and my phone started ringing.  Who would call me at 5 am?  Oh, the school to say don’t come to school today.  Yay!  I was very happy.  Too bad Derek still has to work.  But, he only has patients for the first half of the day, so we are gonna have a lunch date.  That is new.

Other good news.  Derek got another 4.0 this past semester.  I don’t know if that is 2 or 3 in a row if 2 then he got 1 A-.  Seriously, my man is so smart and hard working.  I am so proud of him.

3rd Place

I don't often win awards, but when I do, I win 3rd place...

Derek and I ran our first trail marathon yesterday.  A fine way to spend Labor Day if you ask me...The American Discovery Trail Marathon was the name of the race.

It was a nice course.  18 miles of trail, then about 5 or 6 miles on paved trails and two more on dirt.  So, nice on the knees.  However, not nice on the legs/feet/rest of our bodies.

We both started out too fast.  That is all I will say about Derek's race.

I secretly had a goal to run a 3:35:00.  The qualifying time for the Boston Marathon.  I would have to shave my PR by about 2:40.  But I thought that there was a glimmer of hope.  I trained hard.  I am faster than I was last year.  And the course is downhill.  Or, so I thought.  The downhill was so slight, you could barely tell.

I henna'ed my leg for the race.  Ready to get on the bus at 5 am.

Anyway, for the first 17 miles I was ahead of the 3:30 pacer.  I kept telling myself I should slow down, I hadn't trained for that kind of speed.  However, I didn't feel like I was going super fast.  I felt great.  So I kept on.

As I got into some rolly hills, I started to slow down, and at mile 17, the 3:30 pacer caught up to me.  I was able to stay with him until mile 19, and then, he just kept on getting farther away.

We will just say that the last 7 miles were more and more painful with every mile.  By the end, I couldn't decide if I would rather pass out, throw up, or both.  All I knew, is I really wanted it to be over.

Eventually, it was over.  I didn't qualify for Boston.  I missed it by 25 seconds.  3:35:25 was my time.  A new PR.  However, I did place 3rd in my age division.  So that was awesome.  I am happy with my performance, but it was overshadowed by how much I wanted to die.  But I learned my lesson.  Don't run faster than you have strength.

 Me pretending that I feel great

 Receiving my "Major Award" 

 Me with the #1 and #2 runner in my age division (#2 passed me with .2 left to go...I was so mad)

I was hoping my major award would be a leg lamp like in A Christmas Story, but at least a beer glass is more useful than a trophy...

Best Friends

As if we haven’t been having a ton of epic adventures, we had another one this last weekend.  

Our friends (not to mention my best friends) came to visit.  It was awesome.  

We started the night out by going to the CSU Gardens with Stucki and Josh and then hit up the New West Fest (gigantic music festival in Fort Collins).

Brenna and Sven got in late.

We drove to RMNP and hiked Mt. Chiquita and Mt. Ypsilon.  It was really fun.  The pictures can do all the talking.

We are ready to hike

Cute boys = upset wives...

Me and my best friends

A wee baby arch near the top of Mt. Chiquita

Me and my best gals (Stucki and Brenna)

Dancing in the mountain tops

Checking out the horizon

The boys (Josh, Derek, and Sven)

Derek, me, Sven, Brenna, Stucki, and Josh

Marmot on patrol

View from the top

Not the best picture because Brenna isn't looking at the camera

Derek and I on top of Ypsilon

Pyramid time

Upon returning home, we had a wicked game of volleyball in our pool and decided to skip the New West Fest that night and watch Star Wars (a much better idea).

Oh yeah, and we chopped Brenna's hair.  I think Stucki and I did a pretty good job.

After church on Sunday, we had a nice long day at City Park.  Frisbee, picnic, koob, and slacklining and then, we went to the New West Fest.  

It was an epic weekend. 

Paxton Adventure Time

We had a good adventure this weekend.

It all started with our drive to Breckenridge to meet my dad and Lisa.  The drive took about 1 hour longer than it should have because they believe in doing road construction EVERYWHERE in Colorado.  

Anyway, we won’t rant about the road and horrible drivers here.  I will save that for another day.

So, we get to Breckenridge and meet my dad and sister for dinner.  Little does Derek know what was about to hit him.  Shortly after sitting down,  a man in a sombrero pulled down over his face walks up to the table.  Derek assumes him to be the waiter...Oh no.  The man looks up and it is none other than James Marshall, Derek’s best friend since age 12.  Derek was so excited.  That was definitely a hard one to keep a secret from Derek.

Why did we all convene is Breckenridge?  I shall tell you.  Because we hiked 3 14ers yesterday.  Yup 3.  (Almost 4.  My dad is claiming 4)

We got up bright and early and hit the trail for Mts. Lincoln, Cameron, and Democrat.  We did the hike backwards because the way down from Lincoln is beastly and we decided we would rather go up than down it.  That trail took us to 100ish feet below the summit of Mt. Bross (a 14er).  However, Mt. Bross’ summit is closed.  (Owned by a mining co, and closed to summiting.  Lame).  But, since we were at over 14,000 feet on the bypass trail, my dad is counting it....

So we first summited Mt. Lincoln (14,268 ft.)  And boy oh boy was it windy.  It was probably about 25 degrees when the wind chill was factored in...I am pretty sure the right side of my nose got frost bitten.  But only the right half because that was the side exposed to the wind.  But it was awesome.  Since we did the hike backwards, there were only 4 or so people on the summit with us.

 Lisa, Dad, and I on top of Mt. Lincoln

Derek's face was frozen....on top of Mt. Lincoln

We ventured back down Lincoln and to Mt. Cameron (14,238 ft.) (not a rated 14er because you don’t descend at least 300 ft and then come back up to the summit between Cameron and Lincoln.  Bogus if you ask me).  And we were alone for that one.  It didn’t really feel like a summit.  But we are counting it.

 James, Derek, and I on top of Mt. Cameron

Lisa, Dad, and I on top of Mt. Cameron.  Yes, my eyes are closed...

Next, was Mt. Democrat (14,148 ft.)  Since we opted to do the hike backwards, we now had to face the huge crowd trying to come down the rocky “trail”.  That was interesting.  But the top was much warmer than Lincoln.  Much less windy.  

Family picture on top of Mt. Democrat.

Derek and I on top of Mt. Democrat.  Ps: this is my new dew.

Very awesome.  3 14ers in 5 hours (including summit time).  Then we drove home via Rocky Mountain National Park (came in through the west entrance.  So we got to see a new side of the park).  Dinner at Beaujos.  Yum.

Check out the rack on that one....

I love him

Can I just say that I love this man?  

Yes, that is a GIANT pickle in his mouth.   And the fact that he was really excited about this GIANT pickle is one of the many reasons I love him.  

He is the best.  Better than all the rest.  And I am incredibly lucky to have him in my life.  GIANT pickle and all.

Family, Elephants, Tumbles, and Chopped

Last weekend Derek's Mom, Dad, and sister, Tegan, came to visit us.  It was a great time.  They got here Thursday night.  Derek and I both still had to work on Friday, but we were able to get off early.

After work, we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Man, Estes Park was packed.  No lie.  I have NEVER seen so many people in that tiny town.  Don't know what was going on, but they all did.

Anyway, we decided to steer clear of the Bear Lake area in RMNP because of the construction delays etc.  So we went into an area we had never been in.  We saw some cool waterfalls, nothing long.  Dave (Derek's dad) is recovering from some intense surgery.  He tore his quadriceps tendon and had to get it stitched back together.  But he is doing really well.

Waterfall in RMNP

Saturday was the whole reason they came out to Colorado.  Tegan is a costume artist and super into costuming and stuff like that.  There is a huge and I mean HUGE Renaissance Festival in Larkspur, CO.  Larkspur you may ask?  Where is that?  It is between Denver and Colorado Springs.  Population = Renaissance Festival staff.  There is nothing there except for this.  And it was awesome.  She brought costumes....

Highlights of the Festival
1.  Derek won $20 for getting to the top of a climbing wall (in full costume)
2.  We rode an elephant.  (Yup you read that correctly.  For $4/person, you could ride an elephant.  Life goal that I didn't know was a life goal until that moment = checked off)

3.  Our awesome costumes

4.  People watching

Tegan, Dave, and Derek with turkey legs and me with my leg....

Sunday we went to the farewell of one our sons from trek this summer.  He will be a great missionary.  I am such a proud mother.  Can't believe we already have a missionary....ha ha.

This week is our rest week between visitors.

Highlights from this weekend
1.  The duck chilling in the Miramont Pool all day (the kids weren't happy because they closed the slide)

2.  Annihilating the 5 and 6 year old campers at laser tag.  Oh yeah.  It was hilarious.  (They did my war paint)

3.  Seeing The Hollar! for free in Old Town.  Awesome local band.  Check them out.
4.  Running Horsetooth Mountain Saturday morning.  (After 7 months here, Derek finally summitted that baby.  (It was my 5th or 6th time...)
5.  My epic tumble on the way down from Horsetooth (ripped of a good chunk form my palm)
6.  I went on a 20 mile bike ride while Derek studied
7.  I chopped off 16 inches of my hair and am donating it

8.  We had a torrential storm with a few tornados out by Windsor.  Yeah, I guess we get tornados here.  Freaky.
9.  End of Summer Work Party.  Derek finally got to meet everyone I work with
10.  Seeing this sign on our Sunday walk around the neighborhoods in Old Town