Firepit is officially "fired up"

Dad and I carted native Texas stones left over from the building of our home to use for the firepit - inspired by Dan and the Minnesota DiMarcos. We lit the first fire last Saturday and burned a lot of yard debris - we can't wait to light it at night!

Time for fall - October pics!

Check out the scissors!
Our good friend, and pastor, Rocky Ellison recently retired as an American Airlines pilot and we had a retirement party and also celebrated Halloween with costumes. From left, Barney was the nutty professor, John was the ghost of the great depression, Mary and Bob were crossdressers - Bob actually was quite attractive with his makeup!, Rocky was a drunken pilot, Jackie was a phlebotomist, Katie was the injured Cowboy, Jason Whitten, Nancy and Dennis were Sampson and Delilah, Annie was a cat, and Brett was the other injured Cowboy, Tony Romo - we had an awesome time!

The city of Aurora and the Army Corps of Engineers have done an incredible job of controlling the flow of water through Cherry Creek and have created a series of dams, along with hiking and biking trails - it is beautiful.


Cindy and I took several hikes near the Cherry Creek reservoir and it was perfect Colorado October weather.
Barry is so silly - he uses the cat's laser toy with Avari and she chases it and competes with Oscar the cat!
I also spent a couple of days with my sister, Cindy, and her family in Aurora, CO - she made some wonderful meals and here is one of them with Shawney, Erik and Avari, and Tyler.
This is Susie Parker Simmons, sports dietitian to US Skiing and Snowboard and Adam Korzun, sports dietitian for the US Olympic Training Center food service measuring Susie's big guns!
One of the trips I made this fall (Nancy) was to the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs (I was one of 10 invited from across the US - the rest of the participants were Olympic coaches, trainers, and 4 other sports dietitians) and we took a certification course for a new method of body composition analysis using skinfolds, girths, and circumference measurements. I passed the practical exam and now have to complete my certification by measuring 20 people twice...so if I ask you over the Christmas holiday if I can pinch you, just say sure!! This is a picture of two of my buddies - Lisa Dorfman (sports dietitian to US Sailing) getting her bone breadth measured by Suzanne Girard Eberle (sports dietitian in Portland, OR).

You take the good with the bad...

A few weeks ago someone decided to tag up Daniel's bike in the middle of the night right in our driveway. Thank goodness they decided to target the bike only, as our other vehicles were close by. We figure that it was probably some of the punk kids that walk the neighborhood pretty regularly - they're young and .... well, young.

We filed a police report and called our insurance company, and although the bike will be fixed I think it hit poor Daniel harder than I thought it would. :(

The bike isn't rideable because they sprayed the mirrors, too.

The good news is that we'll be moving into our new home in two weeks if everything goes smoothly. We are supposed to close on the 13th and be able to move in on the 14th - cross your fingers! Thank goodness, the neighborhood is much nicer than the one we're currently in. Nevertheless, we are looking to get a security system put into the house as soon as possible (the cost will determine how soon, hehe).

If you have time, be sure to give Dan some love - Poor bike. :(

September activities

Kittens playing on the big "toy"
DR. Jacobson - I was invited back to Iowa State University last weekend, Sept 11-13, for DR J's 90th birthday! Dad and I used to take care of his home and dog, Rusty, when he and his wife traveled during our time in graduate school. Dr. J was asked how he wanted to celebrate 90 years and he wanted a research symposium so myself and 7 other of the students from nutritional physiology were invited back to campus to each give a lecture over a two day symposium. I was so honored to be able to do this. I stayed with Meg and Vaughn Speer, my aunt and uncle!
This is our group - back row from the left, Doug Kenealy, me, Laura Woollett, Mark Erhlander, George Liepa, DR J, Deb Diersen-Schade; front row - ?, Don Beitz (My major prof), Lee Ling, ??, Jerry Young (another of my profs), and a former student from Germany whose name escapes me!
On Friday afternoon, Aunt Meg and Uncle Vaughn and I went to my cousin, Beth's home in Roland, Iowa - about 15 minutes north of Ames. She and her husband Ron have recently completed an addition to their home (they added a house to their house!) and this is it - absolutely gorgeous - mission style with exposed beams, a loft, and solid wood floors!
This is my cousin Beth (right) and her younger daughter Alyssa!
This is my aunt trying not to have her picture taken! and my uncle - this was on Saturday and we were watching the Iowa State - Iowa game! I had a great time being with them!

Late August pics!

A week ago, Annie, Dad and I were sitting on the back porch and the light just before sunset was so pretty - this is our view to the south.
This is looking east where the firepit will be located - for you Minnesotans!
And to the north! It has been a really nice summer by Texas standards - we've been able to sit outside many mornings and evenings and really enjoy our porch!

Annie's kittens

While Annie was babysitting our animals during our trip with the Yosts, she brought her pregnant cat, Missy, to stay at our home with her. The Sunday we were returning from Austin, Missy gave birth, under our bed!!, to 4 sweet kittens, one female and three males. They are 3 tabbies and one black.

Twenty days old! They are Isabel (Izzy for short, my favorite), Bear (the all black one), Pippin, and Colby. He was originally CB for Cry Baby because he is such a momma's boy but Annie decided he needed a more sophisticated name!
5 weeks old - they started eating wet food, pouncing, running - it has really been fun to watch them change nearly every day!
This is Isabel - Izzy!
This is Pippin!
This is Colby!
And BEAR!
Izzy and Colby playing!

Our summer vacation with the Yosts!!!

We started our trip in San Antonio - this was the first night on the River Walk having dinner!
Our hotel was the historic Menger Hotel, right across the street from the Alamo shown in this picture. The hotel was built in 1859, just 23 years after the battle of the Alamo.
The day after we arrived, we took the Grand Tour which included a tour of the Japanese gardens...
A trip on a boat on the river that runs through the canals of San Antonio....
This is what the boats look like.
We also toured Mission San Jose, one of the five missions established by the Spanish. It is the largest and most renowned mission in Texas, has exquisite church carvings and the famous Rose Window.
This one shows the rose window
This is Mission Concepcion, the oldest unrestored church in America, with original frescoes and many impressive rooms.
Here is Donna looking at the frescoes on the wall - some of them had been restored.
More frescoes
This is one of the American cannons from the Alamo!
The Sunday after our tour, we had a relaxed morning sitting around the pool, after the most incredible breakfast I think any of us had ever eaten. We drove to Austin and got our hotel on Lake Travis. Early evening we went to the Congress Street bridge, just south of the capitol in Austin and sat along the river waiting for 1.5 million bats to make their nightly appearance. While we were waiting, a pair of swans swam over to greet us!
This is the bridge from our vantage point.
If you look closely or if you have a zoom option, you can see a faint dotted line above the trees - those are the bats - they stream out in a very orderly fashion and it must have lasted for 45 minutes. It really was one of the most amazing things we'd ever seen!
The next day we visited the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum, one of the nicest museums I think I've ever been to -three stories packed with the history of Texas from the first Indians to the present day.
After visiting the museum, we went to Scholz Garden for lunch - a real German bier garten that has been in Austin since the 1800's!