Wordless Wednesday: Here we come! + our fav. game

Train of Pianos

This past weekend was a BIG one! A large group of young people came representing: Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Oregon, and California! Fred Leman's fiance was among the visitors and it was great to spend some time with Jodi! She and Fred's little sister stayed with Dan and I.

A picture of the happy couple...so in love :)
To be wed: November 7

Friday, after chilling at Tif's house, we went downtown for supper and just absorbed some of the city for a while.

These drummers were amazing!

So, about those pianos. All over downtown on the 16th Street Mall there are lots of beautifully painted pianos! One of my favorite parts of the day was wandering around from piano to piano with my sweet husband. Dan's verdict on those pieces of art: They're just that...pieces of art and don't rate so high in instrument quality. I think the weather has done a lot to them...but they were still beautiful and Dan can make even a clunker sing.

Dan was playing this (the best sounding of all) when a bridal party and their photographer came up and asked if they could have it for pictures...just when he found a decent one! Oh well.

After the downtown experience, everyone came over to our apartment. I guess I better tell you that there were two groups that came...and the other group came on Saturday so we didn't have EVERYONE smooshed into our little place!

Yup, I finally learned how to play Settlers of Catan!

It was a lovely weekend but a very tiring one as well. Monday morning Dan and I both had to work early and let me tell you, we both suffered from a case of the Monday blues! The lady I work for now knows that I like coffee and the mornings I work early she makes extra and leaves me half a pot! So appreciated!!

Today is Tuesday, That means that in one week and 2 days we'll be headed to Indiana! I don't think I could rightly write my excitement! :) :) :)

See Mama? It Worked!

I grew up on delicious homemade 100% whole-wheat bread. I'll admit, growing up, I hated when it was my time to make the bread...and probably did my best to get out of it! I finally got my mom's recipe and decided to make my own. Since I don't have a Bostch (the powerful mixer) Mom and I were worried it wouldn't turn out right. Well, ta-da! It did! It's probably not as fluffy as my mom's but it still raised well and tastes delish! I'm glad I halved the recipe...there is no way I would have liked to kneed any more by hand!

But thanks again Mom! (She's probably laughing right now...thinking of all those times she told me one day I'd want to make my own whole-wheat bread and I said, "No way!" Guess we all grow up sometime!)

All raised up and ready to bake

All done!

A little butter rub on top for a nice crispy crust

Couples Camping: Arapahoe Nat'l Forest

This weekend we were blessed to get out of the city and go camping near Grandby. Friday: Dan and I left and arrived in time to set up our tent before it started sprinkling. We spent some of the evening in our tent playing games until the rain stopped...then we enjoyed some campfire time! Dan brought his mandolin and made the ambiance even better!

As Dan finished setting up camp I cooked supper. Since it was sprinkling we didn't get a fire going so we used his Primus stove.

Camp setter-upper extrodinare! :)

The next morning we enjoyed pancakes and bacon for breakfast...and of course some good ol' black coffee.

Saturday: Dan and I drove to Hot Sulfer Springs and to Grandby lake. We also followed the off-road road our campsite is on and did some four-wheeling! That afternoon our friends, newly-weds Matthew and Kristy Moore, arrived!

Going to meet Matthew and Kristy...Dan having some fun.

That's right, be intimidated!

Thankfully it didn't rain and we got to enjoy a campfire! We had brats and (greasy) hashbrowns for supper...I learned my lesson...not so much oil!
After supper we made doughnuts!

Turns out, Matthew knew a awesome match lighting trick...Dan demonstrating.

Sunday: Three weeks during the summer Denver church holds off-site services due to all the visitors we get. (So, one service in Denver and one elsewhere on the same day) This Sunday services were held in Winter Park so we were able to attend church! Our orginal plan was to go home after church but since Dan and Matthew both didn't have to work Monday we decided to stay an extra night. The place where they held church had a couple showers so we went early and cleansed ourselves of smoke and bugspray!

After church we played Ultimate Frizbee with some other YG and young couples who were at church. It was drizzling all during our game and afterwards the rain really started coming down. Figuring it was pointless to try to build a fire for supper Matthew, Kristy and us decided to just go out out to eat.

Back at the campsite the rain kept on coming so we played games in their tent...it's so much bigger than ours!

Breakfast the next moring was provided by Matthew and Kristy...Delicious bacon and eggs and grapes!

Chef Kristy :)

We had such a nice time! It was really nice to spend time with Matthew and Kristy and get to know them even better! Even though it rained a lot we still enjoyed our time and our tents even stayed pretty dry! Hopefully camping will be in our near future again before Dan starts school!

As for other exciting things: Dan and I have hosted a total of 8 people overnight since getting married and we've always had to borrow his parents air mattress. Well, no longer! We now have a futon! Garage sale buy...for $15. It's in great shape and Dan did a great job of cleaning it up and it fits well into our spare room! It's pretty comfortable too!

Trust you are all enjoying what's left of summer!

Until next time....ciao.