Hiking in the snow!

Sunday morning Jon and I drove up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was "good weather" - but when we got out of the car, I was freezing! While we were driving through the park, we came across several cars pulled off to the side of the road. We quickly realized the reason - there were about 300-400 elk grazing right by the road! We stopped to take pictures with everyone else. Suddenly, something startled the elk and they decided to run across the road. The whole herd slowly made it across the road - in groups and singly, walking and sprinting, and one elk even turned backwards and recrossed the road! We took lots of pictures, and even a few short videos. We pressed on and ended up at the Bear Lake trailhead. We ate a quick lunch of turkey and cranberry sauce sandwiches in the car. The trails were covered with snow and ice, and the lake was completely iced over. Lots of people were out - many with snoeshoes. We hiked about 2-3 miles, until the ice became too much for me and my running shoes. Next time I'm renting snowshoes! We drove into Estes Park, looked around at the shops, and bought yummy treats from one of the chocolate shops. It was a great trip!

Our own Saturday Thanksgiving dinner

Since we had to leave Dallas right after Thanksgiving dinner, we didn't get to keep any yummy leftovers. So while I was at work Saturday afternoon, Jon baked a turkey (about 12#). When I got home, we made stuffing (Stove Top of course!), Grandma's gravy, brussels sprouts, roasted potatoes and onions, cranberry sauce, and salad. It was super-yummy, and we got our leftovers!

A Texas Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving - we certainly did! I was able to take a couple of days off of work, so we flew down to Dallas Sunday morning. Jon's parents picked us up and we went to his grandparents' house for an early dinner. It ended up being a big family gathering - Jon's uncle Mark was there from Ohio, and his aunt Lynn came over for dinner. Uncle Mark made "Cinncinatti chili" - chili on top of spaghetti with raw onions on top. I had mine sans onion, but it was still quite yummy. We spent Monday morning with Jon's parents, and they took us to eat lunch at La Hacienda Ranch. It was great to have real Tex-Mex food again (Denver doesn't do Mexican well).

We headed up to my parents' house Monday evening. We ate dinner at 3 Forks for a late birthday dinner for Dad - super-yummy steaks! Tuesday and Wednesday were spent getting ready for Thanksgiving. Jon and I made 7 desserts (lemon chess pie, regular pumpkin pie, Splenda pumpkin pie, pecan pie, cranapple pie, chocolate cheesecake, and chocolate-peanut butter Buckeyes). I love the prep work for the dinner!


Thursday morning Jon, Daddy, and I left the house at 7am and drove to downtown Dallas to meet up with family friends for the Turkey Trot. We did the 3 mile walk/run. It's always a fun time - especially seeing all the dogs in the walk! Thanksgiving dinner was great - we got together with the family friends who we usually spend the holiday with - great food and great friends can't be beat! Unfortunately, Jon and I had to leave early to catch our flight back to Denver. We did have time for a game of Mexican Train dominoes before we left though! =)

Short!

So I finally got my hair cut - it's been over a year! Since moving to Colorado, I haven't known where to go, so I just kept putting it off. Today at lunch I finally made an appointment for after work at a salon right by our apartment. I had a few inches cut off, and I love it! Don't you just love the feeling of your hair feeling so much lighter right after a haircut? And I love the whole salon process - having your hair washed and massaged while you lean back in the chair, the yummy smelling products, and having it blow-dried and styled while you relax. Fun! I really think guys miss out on the whole experience!
We're spending the rest of the evening packing and setting the cats up with extra food, water, and an extra litter box. Because we're heading back to Dallas tomorrow! I'm taking Tuesday and Wednesday off from work, so we'll be in Dallas from Sunday to Thursday afternoon for Thanksgiving. We're both excited to see friends and family!

Holiday Craft Fair & The Halloween Tree

This week has been pretty routine for us. Friday I spent my morning/early afternoon at the Denver Dumb Friends League (animal shelter) doing spays. On my way home I met Jon at our storage unit and we spent about an hour or so pulling out boxes of stuff we wanted (extra kitchen tools and the Christmas tree and decorations). It was nice weather, so we figured we should get the Christmas stuff out before it snowed again!

Saturday Jon watched the A&M game until I got home from work, then we ordered pizza and watched more college football. I worked an extra day on Monday (my usual schedule is Tuesday-Saturday), so by Saturday night I was definitely ready for a break!
Sunday I met a couple of girls from work and we went to a big holiday craft fair in the Denver Convention Center. About 1/3 of the booths were selling food, and they had lots of free samples - we tried chili, dips, Mexican rice, jellies, a cherry energy drink, and even champagne-flavored chocolate! In the center of the hall there was a huge Christmas tree with an enormous train set running around it - it reminded me of going to a big holiday train display in Dallas when I was a kid. We had a great time - we even saw Santa there! And it was snowing when we left - very Christmas-y feeling. =) When I got back, Jon and I did our weekly grocery shopping (Grocery Game - woohoo!), then came home to eat chicken tortilla soup and watch The Halloween Tree. Yes, I realize it's about a week and a half late, but it was checked out at the library until now. If you've never seen it, it's a cute Halloween cartoon movie about 4 friends who travel through Halloweens past to learn about the history of witches, monsters, mummies, and skeletons. In the process they also end up saving their friend - very cute. We ate pumpkin pie that Jon baked while watching the movie - yum!

PS: Ernie loves fresh, clean towels. We did laundry this morning and placed some towels on the table while exchanging loads of laundry. Ernie found this nice soft warm spot to take a nap.

T-bone, bacon-wrapped asparagus, and salad

Tonight was probably my favorite meal in a long time. I decided to grill a t-bone steak (that I got from our friendly Albertson's butcher on sale). Also, I wanted to do something with the large bundle of asparagus. I know my pictures are nowhere near as professional as those cooking websites, but hey, I'm having fun with it. So, here's what I made:

T-Bone
Select a nice, thick t-bone. Get grill nice and hot. Put steak on grill (high heat) for 3 minutes with lid closed. Turn steak over, and cook another 3 minutes. Turn down the heat on one burner to medium, and the other burner to low (almost off). Arrange the steak so that the filet portion is over the lower heat (it is more tender meat and I dont like it over cooked). Cook for 7-8 minutes, or until steak temperature is 130. Remove, and let sit for a few minutes.



Asparagus
Ingredients: Asparagus, bacon, salt, pepper, oive oil
Remove the bottoms of the asparagus (its too tough, anyways). Drizzle asparagus in olive oil. Sprinkle on salt and pepper. Then take a small bundle of asparagus (see picture) and wrap a strip of bacon around it. Grill on Medium heat for 10 minutes, turning every now and then. Its done when the bacon is crispy and the asparagus is tender.

an uninteresting monday

Today, Jen worked near downtown Denver (she went up there to visit another clinic). She had a good time. It was a lot busier there than her usual clinic, but she really liked it.

When she got home, I had prepared the laziest, but healthiest of all meals: boiled shrimp, onion and asparagus, and a salad. I threw it all together within 15 minutes. We had bought some large shrimp at Albertsons (along with 3 HUGE t-bones and a chuck roast, since they had a great meat sale), and some asparagus at King Soopers (grocery game... get with it). Jen called me and said she would be home in a few minutes. I ran into the kitchen, and this is what I cooked:

Shrimp
Ingredients: Water, Shrimp
Boil water. Put shrimp in. Cook for 6 minutes (for large shrimp)

Asparagus and Onions
Ingredients: Asparagus, Onions, Fake Butter, Any Spices that sound good (I used salt, pepper, basil, garlic powder, paprika, and a couple others that sounded good at the time)
Put onions in pan for 4 minutes with butter and spices. Cook until they look tasty. Then toss in asparagus. Cook until asparagus is tender (if you toss it with the spatula, it bends easily).

Salad
Fresh Express salad. Bagged spinach.
Grab handful of salad. Grab handful of spinach. Put in bowl. Add Taylors special salad dressing (maybe someday Jen will post the recipe for Taylors dressing)

Serve

Cat's perspective: The shrimp smelled tasty, so we jumped up on the table and were batted away. However, we held strong, and "daddy" offered us some boiled shrimp. We sniffed it and decided we'd be better off licking our backsides.

PS: Our cats enjoy hanging out on top of our cabinets (which really aren't that high since we live in a handicapped apartment).

Boo!

Jen and I carved some pumkins for Halloween. I bet you can guess which one is the vet's! :)

Jen had to work until 7pm that night, and both of our trick-or-treaters showed up before then. We had a tiny batman (actually, I met the parents while I was throwing some trash out and told them to come by) and a tiny indian princess.

All in all, we had a good night. The cats enjoyed watching out the windows and looking at the people walking by.