Ancient History: Summer 2012 Recap

So remember when we used to blog? We almost forgot, too! It was a busy summer that went right into the beginning of a busy semester, so we'll try to cover all the big stuff...

Jon's first year at CSU finished up very well, and now he's off to the races with a new school year and studying for his qualifying exams (Q.E.'s) that will happen in January.

Carrie finished up her temporary appointment with the Dept. of Communication Studies at CSU and is now working full time for the Dept. of Music, Theatre & Dance doing marketing/publicity and working with alumni and donors there - loving the chance to stay connected with the arts and be in the CSU environment. Using her employee study privilege, she's also started taking a class this semester to think about in what area she might like to pursue a Master's degree.

But as we look back on our first full summer here in Colorado, there is much to tell!

High Park Fire smoke from near our house

Carrie's brother, Joe, and his fiance, Shelby, got married at the end of June down in Colorado Springs. As a small side-track, earlier in the summer, we learned just how volatile the climate out here can be. It turned out to be one of the worst summers for wild fires in Colorado. The High Park Fire was one of the largest in the state's history - located only about 15 miles west of us here in Fort Collins and burning about 90,000 acres and several homes.

With several other fires all over the state, the Tuesday before Joe and Shelby's Saturday wedding, a fire just west of Colorado Springs burned down the Flying W Ranch (their wedding location). In a mad scramble by Joe, Shelby, and the families - some friends offered their church in Colorado Springs where the wedding was held and turned out just beautifully! It was a wonderful time, and the two of them could not have been happier that they were just able to get married - even through trial by fire! We were blessed to spend some time with Scott and Lisa Brady (Scott is the pastor that married us). They flew out here, and having them be part of our family for a couple weeks was a wonderful time.

We are SO incredibly happy for Joe and Shelby, and enjoyed a chance to have dear family and friends visit us out here. Joe and Shelby are now living in Laredo, TX, while Joe is finishing up a construction job - hoping that they come back to Colorado soon!

Houtz and Smith families at the wedding!

Feasting in Estes after a day in Rocky Mountain National Park

Grandma Smith enjoying her dinner

On the train up Pike's Peak with  Pearse

Moving into July, Jon's parents came for their second visit to Colorado. We picked them up at the airport in Denver, whisked them into the car, and immediately left for a long drive up to Wyoming that day for a few days spent in Yellowstone & Grand Tetons National Parks. What an amazing vacation! Scenery and wildlife - some of the most beautiful parts of creation we've ever seen! A couple of the highlights were seeing the bison RIGHT next to our car, the amazing hot springs, hiking in the Grand Tetons, hidden waterfalls, and our wonderful lodge with the hot tub cabin!

As always, it's hard to say goodbye to family, but we live for times we get to spend together! Now that  we're getting to end of October, starting to think about the holidays, we are looking forward to being home in PA with everyone, and promise to better about updates!

Grand Teton National Park

Artist's Point in Yellowstone

In the town of Jackson

Chapel of Transfiguration in Grand Teton National Park

Mountain Adventures

So it's been a while - we've been hard at work and play out here in the mountains! Carrie has moved up to working full-time at CSU and Jon has been working hard in his second semester of grad school.

We also recently had some time over CSU's spring break to head up to Rocky Mountain National Park again and try out some snowshoeing! It's definitely a good workout and fun to tour around the park with all the snow and pretty views. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

A hike to Bierstadt Lake

Alberta Falls--or at least where they are when they're not frozen and covered with snow

Resting up before the trek back

The killer squirrel that almost crawled up Jon's arm! He was a brave little bugger!

Ready to get back on the trail

Almost there!

Pretty view just hiking through the park

Brand New Year

So it's been a little while since we last wrote, but so much has been happening this past month that it's been hard to keep up with things.

Carrie's new job has really taken off and she's happy to be "back in the saddle" doing what she loves. Jon's semester finished up well with good grades and all--now onto the REALLY tough semesters ahead!

 After Thanksgiving we celebrated our 2nd Anniversary by staying at a cabin up near Estes Park for a night. It was a beautiful place, complete with a hot tub just for us. Sitting out there in the snow was a pretty cool experience--we will definitely be going back there sometime! It was a wonderful way to celebrate our 2 years of wedded bliss and how far we've come (quite literally!). We are so blessed to have each other to spend our lives with.

The holidays were a little different this year. Carrie's grandmother (dad's mom) passed away a little over a week before Christmas (rather suddenly), so that made the distance from family at this time of year even more difficult. She was 90 years old and had literally dozens of grandchildren and even great-grandchildren - a remarkable woman. We mourn her loss, but are happy to think of her now with Pap (who passed away in 1996) and with her Savior. He must have needed her there in Heaven.

We also missed some family activities that we normally do the weeks leading up to Christmas, so we are feeling that void pretty keenly this first year that we are not within driving distance. But God is good - Jon's parents flew us home for the holidays, so we were able to be with family for about a week. It was a much needed rest and reunion - we were sad to leave.

2011 was a big year for us - lots of changes, some happy, some sad - but that's life, right? We are looking forward to this new year and seeing what 2012 holds for us! Best wishes to you for a wonderful new year, as well!

Turkey Day!

We feel we've finally "made it" as adults... we hosted our first major holiday this Thanksgiving at our home in Fort Collins. Carrie's mom flew out from PA on the morning of Thanksgiving and stayed until the following Tuesday. Carrie's brother Joe also came up from Denver for the feast.

After some careful menu and shopping planning... here was our Thanksgiving feast:

Finally finished cooking and ready to EAT!

Appetizers:
Crab bisque
Veggies & homemade hummus
Shrimp cocktail


Dinner:
Herb butter whole turkey (16lbs)
Smoked turkey legs
Gravy

Stuffing: butternut squash, sourdough bread & salami
Sweet potato casserole
Pineapple stuffing
Cranberry sauce
Garlic green beans


Dessert:
Pumpkin pie
Cranberry apple crisp


The challenge, as we found, is choreographing the sequence--especially with only one oven. But with the aid of a couple crock pots and a little advice from Carrie's mom, we did pretty well. So we counted it as a success! :)

Mommy

everybody's helping out!

Jonny ready to carve up that turkey

A Happy Halloween Indeed...

So along with all the fall fun we've had out here, the days around Halloween actually brought some great news along with fun. Carrie found out that she got two part-time jobs at CSU--which is a definite blessing, especially right now! She has been working contacts since we got out here and things finally worked out thanks to a contact from her previous job at Opera New Jersey.

She'll be working in Marketing/PR for CSU's University Center for the Arts promoting activities for Music, Theatre, and Dance--right up her alley. Also, she'll be planning a 50th Anniversary event for the Communication Studies Dept. (taking place next school year). So now we're both employed and back to work out here int he Centennial State! Carrie will continue to teach voice lessons in Loveland and Fort Collins for now, hoping she'll have enough time to continue since she really enjoys teaching. She's enjoyed the chance to get us "settled" out here, but is happy to be back to work doing what she loves.

Halloween activities also included something new for us--the Fort Collins Zombie Crawl! The night included a $15 ticket for each person, which got you an item at 5 different stops (of the dozens of choices) on "the crawl"--so either a drink, a sandwich, candy, ice cream, etc. as long as you were dressed like a ZOMBIE! We were even joined by our Zobmie friends, Jill & Eric, from Laramie, WY. We went as zombie funeral mourners. Being new to the whole "Zombie thing," we did our best--you be the judge!

A Beautiful Colorado Fall

We have enjoyed a beautiful fall here in Colorado. Those golden Aspens against the clear blue sky are simply amazing! Back in September, we attended a seminar about the best fall hikes in our area around Roosevelt National Forest (just north of Rocky Mountain National Park). Our first hike was through Hewlett Gulch, not to far from our house. The colors had just started to turn, and since there was only about a 500' of elevation gain we were able to go about 6 miles (round trip)--we're working up to bigger ones.

We also recently had a chance to try out our marksmanship, not at a formal shooting range, but out in the Pawnee Grasslands just a little ways east of Fort Collins. Carrie's brother Joe came up for a visit and we set out with our arsenal on another beautiful fall day.

We also had a great visit from Jon's parents; recently making their first trip to Colorado to see us. It was so good to see familiar faces from home and get to spend some quality time with them. Even though Jon was pretty busy with school work and classes, we managed to squeeze in a bunch of fun activities in the week they were here. We took a trip down to Colorado Springs (about 2 hours south of us) and went up the famous Pike's Peak on the cog train (because we sure weren't driving up there--14,000 feet above sea level and no guard rails), drove through Garden of the Gods, and enjoyed the beautiful mountain range scenery. We also drove up to Estes Park for "Elk Fest" (all things ELK--including bugling contests, elk sausage, and more) and then took a drive up Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park (one of the most gorgeous drives we've seen out here to date)--seeing mountain wildlife, spotting cool mountain lakes, amazing views of the peaks, and even some snow, not to mention the gorgeous views of the fall colors!

And now for a pictorial version of our fall activities: