Thanksgiving with Friends

Tay and I decided to spend Thanksgiving in Colorado with some friends. We rented a little cabin in Evergreen. Carmen and Kelly came down from SLC and Nick and Carrie came from Denver.

It was fun to spend Thanksgiving with friends old and new. I've always seen friends as individuals in my life who I choose to have as family. What I love about my family of friends is you have to treat your friends with a certain level of respect and love to be invited into the family, it's a relationship based on trust, giving and positive regard.

Tay cooked most of the Thanksgiving dinner and he was defiantly the organizer of the event. Nick made 3 pies and Tay (with some help from me) made 1 pie. Later that night we played games, we love Uno Attack!

The dinner was great, but I can't say my nose liked the aftermath. Everything smelled like pie and gravy and it made me sick. Sadly, my sickness came back this weekend. We went to a restaurant in the morning and I had to leave because the smells were making me nauseous.

I was grateful my friends were just as lazy as I was and didn't want to go shopping, jogging, hiking or do anything that took effort. We enjoyed throwing rocks into the frozen river and lake and watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The only thing I couldn't do was sit in the hot tub with them, but I did dump a bucket of ice cold water on Taylors head in the hot tub (like a true Leasure).

Saturday, we came home from the cabin and we all took a nap to recover from our lazy Thanksgiving! HA! Later that night we saw the movie "slumdog millionaire" which was a great movie! I recommend it for anyone. Tay, Kelly and Carmen went to a show that night, while I went to bed.

Today I will be doing more homework and decorating for christmas! I can't wait for school to be over in 2 weeks!

Fall Harvest

It's my favorite time of the year, Fall! We just took a trip into the mountains last weekend when Mike came to visit. We went to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. The Aspens are a beautiful golden yellow and they look amazing against the dark green pines. I have a great maple tree in the backyard that is a sunset red color! The dogs and cats have been loving the weather and I just decorated the house all Halloweenish!
Enjoy the Pictures!

September happenings

Hi everyone- I've been so busy with school, work and home that I have not been able to post this month.

First off, I guess I should update everyone on my school. Naropa is a totally different school experience compared to the traditional colleges I've gone to. We don't take test, but we read a crazy amount, do experientials and then write about it. For me, this is the best way to learn. If I don't understand how to apply what I've just learned... I typically forget about it. We are also required to learn the practice of meditation. This is a new class for me and I think it has been really helpful to be more present when I'm with people. I feel I'm less annoyed at work with others. Well, I wouldn't say I'm less annoyed, but I'm more aware of where the annoyance comes from. I recognize I'm feeling that way and I'm able to not let the feeling consume my thoughts and actions. I've also been practicing my listening techniques of mirroring/reflecting and minimal encouragers. This has helped me when I talk to frustrated clients at work. It has made the resident feel heard and valued. I've even had a few of the clients say this to me!

September has been a crazy month as far as personal life goes. We had a visitor stay with us for 2 weeks while she worked volunteering for the Obama campaign. She is an acquaintance from Utah and she rented out the spare room for the 2 weeks. Also during the 2 weeks Kelly, Carmen, Jason, and Robert came to goto the Monolith concert. Red Rocks is by far the coolest place to see bands. The atmosphere is great and the music is too (if the sound person doesn't mess it up).

Yesterday, Taylor had his first show. His new band, Black Sleep of Kali played at the Old Curtis St. Pub. They were really good and you could tell the audience was really into it. It's nice to see that Tay was able to find some musicians to play with in Denver. Tonight, Tay and I are going to Sigur Ros at Red Rocks. This is an Icelandic band and I love their music. I'll post pics soon of Red Rocks and Tay's show.

Great Weekend

This weekend was great, just what Tay and I needed. Friday we went out with John (white Tiger) and Amanda. We had some desert at Watercourse. Saturday we hung out at the pool with Randy and Sarah. We ate watermelon and jumped in the pool when we were too hot. If you are wondering did I get burt.. of course! But not really bad, just missed some spots with the sunscreen. Who knew relaxing in the sun would take so much out of you! Tay and I were beat for the rest of the night but not enough to not go get icecream with Morgan and Crysta! HA! Sunday we went with Morgan and Crysta to the Denver Swap Meet! WOW.. now that some good people watching! It reminded me of the ourdoor market in Thialand and the weather was about the same too! SOOO HOT!
Just a good weekend fun in the sun and good company to match!