2007

New Years is not our favorite holiday as it always seems anti-climatic. However this year we spent some time reflecting this past year as it has been both significant and full. RECAP: We traveled to New York, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Michigan & California. Jess graduated graduate school from UCLA and became a certified pediatric nurse practitioner. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We said goodbye to the last decade of our lives in California and moved to Denver, CO. We both started new jobs. We have both made new friends and are truly happy in the life we are creating in Denver. Everyday we recognize the good things in our lives and do not take any of them for granted. 2007 was also a year of incredible heartache and stress. We attended the funerals of both of Jess's grandparents, Matt's grandpa had a stroke, Matt had his own health scare this summer, Jess experienced more stress than she had ever known finishing up grad school and driving over 500 miles a week, & we learned marriage is hard. However the experiences of this past year taught us the resilience of the human sole and the fragility of everyday. We enter 2008 with a stronger bond and a greater love than we had a year ago. Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Its hard to believe its Christmas eve. December was a busy and full month for us in Colorado that truly flew by. We flew to Michigan last week for Christmas with the Jehle's and are having a good time. Dinner parties, seeing old friends, sporting events ect..

We want to wish each one of you a very happy holiday: where ever you are and however you celebrate. One of my favorite things about this season is holiday cards. Thank you all for thinking of us and giving us a glimpse into you lives. We live far away from many of you now and we miss you. May your holiday season and all of 2008 be filled with joy and love.
All our best, Matt & Jess

Steamboat Springs

Merry Christmas!

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Christmas in Colorado

The tree is trimmed and the stockings are hung....I should probably start my Christmas shopping!!:) Check out the pictures on the right "Christmas in Colorado"

Breckenridge

Matt and I enjoyed our friday off up in the mountains. We woke up at 645am and were on the slopes by 9am. It was a great day of skiing and just hanging out together. Check out the pics on the right!

Thanksgiving in Cali

Our trip to California for Thanksgiving was a whirlwind. We braved the busiest travel night of the year and flew out Wed night. Our original flight was cancelled but luckily we were put on an earlier flight. We drove straight to Matt's grandparents house in Lancaster (an hour north of Los Angeles). The entire Meyers side of the family was present for thanksgiving (35 people). The house was filled with kids, legos, food, football, a new big screen HD TV (group Christmas present to Grandma Shirley & Grandpa Roy). Matt's cousin Kellie is pregnant with her third child so all the ladies gathered in the afternoon and threw her a baby shower. We played the game, "guess the candy bar in the diaper".... good times!


We drove to Modesto (6 hours north) thanksgiving evening with Matt's brother and his wife. We spent all day Friday with the Meyers clan and enjoyed more good food. We all woke up Saturday morning bright and early for family photos with the siblings. Our nephew James was such a good sport!


Matt and I headed back to Los Angeles Saturday mid-morning and slowly made our way down the grapevine. We were greeted with typical terrible LA traffic that reminded us yet again how happy we are that we no longer live there! We stopped by our dear friends (the Griffin family) house on our way into LA. Even though the visit was brief, it was so good to see them all again, we miss that family so much. We then went out with our good friends Anna & Greg for pizza and stayed the night at their beautiful house. Sun morning Matt dropped me off at Juliet's house (my old roommates) and we got coffee and caught up before she took me to LAX. Where I sat for the majority of the day as my plane got delayed hour after hour.... oh the joys of holiday travel. :)

Matt spent a few extra days in LA and was able to visit with his good friend James in Manhattan Beach,

and his old roommate Francis in Pasadena.

He also got to go back to the Griffins house for a famous "Missy Griffin home cooked meal". He loved playing with the girls who are growing up so fast!!

Denver has quickly become home to us however, it was good to reconnect with Matt's family and some of those in LA who were home to us while we lived there!

Ski Season has Arrived!

Arapahoe Basin - Elevation 12,400 ft.



Last Friday I went to Arapahoe Basin to take advantage of early snow. It was a beautiful drive through the rocky mountains to the base of the ski resort at 10,000 ft. The picture above is from the parking lot "Early Risers", and yes we were there when the lifts opened. Below, I am standing at the top of A-Basin overlooking the Montezuma Bowl with Breckenridge in the background.

Ski Jacket

I scored at the Colorado Ski expo yesterday!

(The sleeves are ORANGE - not hot pink:)!!)

WASHINGTON PARK

As we have mentioned in our other postings, we live 2 blocks away from the greatest park in Denver. Wahington Park, Its a mini-central park in the middle of a big city. It is truly my favorite place to escape to. I often go running around it. Today Matt spent the afternoon playing ultimate frisbee with some of our new friends..Its Nov and its about 70 degrees outside....However, Its supposed to snow tomorrow...therefore Matt, I, and all of Denver enjoyed the beautiful day outside!

Hiking in Boulder

Finally life settled enough to allow me to GET OUTSIDE and enjoy this beautiful place I get to call home.

My new friend Suzanne and I ventered out early Saturday morning. After a 20 minute drive we arrived in Boulder and hikes 6.8 miles to ascend this beautiful "Granger Mountain" peak. My calves are still sore!

GO Avalanche!!

Now that baseball season is over we have moved onto the AVES!

November is turning out to be a good month so far. We are settling into our new jobs and enjoying the new friends we are making. We are also so greatful for Katelyn and Brett, old friends who live 30 minutes away!! Also, one of my best friends from college, Lynn, was in Colorado Springs visiting her parents this weekend and we were able to drive down and spend the afternoon with her and her family. It was refreshing!! Matt spent the weekend organizing our (his) garage and building shelves for additional storage space. He did such a great job and we are now officially ALL MOVED IN!

Rocktober is almost over!

After an amazing run the Rockies made it to the world series only to choke!:) But it has been so fun to jump on the bandwagon and be a part of the excitement. As baseball season ends and November quickly approaches, Matt and I look at each other and wonder where the time has gone. We have been here in Denver for two months and already it feels like home. We are settled into the little duplex we are renting and enjoy our jobs more and more everyday. We were sitting on the couch watching football last Sunday and our neighbor knocked on the door with a carrot cake to welcome us to the neighborhood. I did not believe people still did that!:) We miss all of you but look forward to the holidays and all our travels.

It's Snowing

This morning we woke up to a beautiful white blanket of snow. The morning has been so peaceful. We can't wait to get up to the mountains to kick off ski season. We love Colorado. Go Rockies!

2007 Chicago Marathon...NOT Chicago Fun Run

If you haven't already heard, the Chicago Marathon was a scorcher this year. It was 88 degrees by 10:00 AM with 86% humidity. The race was diverted at 12:00pm due to a lack of emergency personnel and many people fainting. Anyways, Jessie was a champ and was past the point of the cutoff so she ran 26.2 miles to complete the 30th annual Chicago Marathon. Below, Jessie is sporting her new running outfit.




















I am so proud of you babe!

The Rockies are in the Playoffs!

The Rockies Won!



















and we were there!

Morrison Road

We discovered a great little street/town just a few miles away where we ate, hiked, and enjoyed getting out of the city for a few hours this afternoon...check out the pictures on the right.

Also...

The Padres LOST
&
The Rockies WON

"The Padres, fresh -- or, more likely, foul -- from two straight losses in Milwaukee, finished in a tie with Colorado for the National League's wild-card playoff berth, and will play the Rockies in Denver on Monday night in only the seventh one-game tiebreaker playoff in major league history!"
....
So, we (along with everyone else in Denver) rushed home and spent an hour to the internet trying to get tickets to the game tomorrow, after I gave up and returned to studying, Matt switched computers to a faster internet connection and scored us two tickets to what could become history in the making!

ROCKIES

"The Rockies dumped the NL West champion Diamondbacks 11-1 to keep their postseason hopes alive!"

.....And we were there. (Yes, we are now oficially Rockies fans)

Now all they have to do is win tomorrow (and the Padres have to lose) and there may still be a shot for the wildcard!

Manager Clint Hurdle said he welcomes fans jumping on the bandwagon, even this late in the season. ``That's why they got 'em, so you can jump on them from time to time,'' Hurdle said. ...

First Month

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG! We have no idea how this whole thing works. However, now that our friends and family span the globe we figured we would give it a try as a means to stay connected and post our pictures. So, 1 week after our 1 year anniversary, we (rather the movers that Matt's new company paid for) packed up our little duplex in Duarte, California and moved us to Denver , Colorado. Pictures from the move and of our temporay housing in downtown Denver are posted in link of the sidebar entitled "move".
As most of you know it has been our dream for a long time to live and settle down in Colorado. So far we really do feel like its a dream come true. Colorado is BEAUTIFUL and those of you who know me well know that I truly appreciate beauty. I often feel like I am driving around in a postcard.:) We bought our ski passes for the winter and are trying desperatly to become Denver Bronco fans. Matt started his job at Lockheed Martin, he is working on the next generation human spacecraft. I still have no idea what my husband, the rocketscientist, does. The good news is that he likes it so far and is working with a great team of guys. I start working in a few days as a pediatric nurse practitioner at the Rocky Mountain Pediatric Surgery Center. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. I have loved having a few weeks off, a novelty I have not experienced in years and truly a blessing as we settle into a new place. I have spent my days finding us a place to live, getting terribly lost all over Denver, running (on a whim 10 months ago, I signed up to run in the chicago marathon (10/7/07), studying for my certification exam, ect...
While living downtown has been great fun. We have walked all over the city, eaten at many good resturants, and gone to Rockies baseball games, where, we learned the beer is more expensive than the tickets:)

We are however, ready to leave the hustle and bustle of downtown and live in a neighborhood with free parking ect..We found a great place to rent for the next year starting October 1. Its a Duplex in the Washington Park area of Denver (about 4 miles from downtown 4 blocks from the biggest park in the city). It was originally built in 1930 and was recently completly renovated.



The hardest part about being in a new place is not knowing anyone. We are lucky in that my cousin and her husband live about 15 minutes away and some of our very best friends just moved about 30 minutes away. We definatly miss everyone we love and left in California. We are commited to staying in touch. Please look us up anytime you are in Colorado and check back here frequently as we will be updating often. WE are daily earning United Arlines Miles on our credit cards so that we can frequently visit!