Duke~N~Morghan

Newborn Vs. 3 month

2011-08-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a little comparison of the girlies from when they were 2 weeks old and from when they were 3 months old... It completely amazes me how small they were and how much they have grown. They are little cutie patooties!

Zoie

Poppy

Here are their 4 month weight and height stats:

Poppy: 10 lbs, 23.5 inches

Zoie: 10 lbs, 23.5 inches

3 Month Pics

2011-06-17T15:33:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's been a while :) We had the girls' 3 month pics taken last month, here are the results :)

Thank-you Jani Photography (www.janiphotography.com) for the wonderful pictures!

This one is my FAVE! (Zoie on left, Poppy or right)

(Zoie on left, Poppy on right)

(Zoie in front, Poppy in back)

(Zoie on bottom, Poppy on top)

(Zoie on left, Poppy on Right)

Zoie

Poppy

Zoie

Poppy

Zoie and Poppy Cheney

2011-03-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

After a long time waiting... we are pleased to announce the arrival of Zoie Bella Cheney and Poppy Lola Cheney. They were born on February 14th, 2011 at 10:21am. Zoie weighed in at 4 lbs 3 oz and Poppy weighed in at 4 lbs 4 oz. We have been extremely blessed in ways I could not have imagined. Although they were under 4 pounds when it was time to leave the hospital, they were still able to come home with us :) . They are strong and healthy, (and need I say beautiful, adorable, sweet, precious... etc) and we love them so much! Here's a quick video of some pics of their first week of life... sometime in between feedings I will post more pics :)

Prego Pics

2011-02-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

Me at 25 weeks:

This is how I really feel :)

Me at 33 weeks:

I'm currently at 34 weeks this week, at my last ultrasound, the girls weighed 3 lbs 15 oz and 4 lbs 3 oz. The entire pregnancy they have been within a few ounces of each other, which is great. They are both following right along the middle line of the statistics for a single baby and my doctor said they are behaving quite well for twins! At this stage of my pregnancy, my doctor said I feel like someone carrying one baby at 40 weeks... I told him it felt GREAT... !! ugh :)

The girls currently love to hang out in my ribs... it's beginning to be a love/hate relationship! I guess I can't blame them, they probably don't have many other places to hang out, but it is sure uncomfortable.

I now have the lovely swollen ankles and it is getting more and more difficult to bend over... my doctor said if the girls will continue to grow for a couple more weeks that they will fit into newborn clothes without them sagging!! So, that's what we are aiming for, however, I sure don't want them to overstay their welcome :) We just wonder every day how close we are getting to the "big day", and we are super excited to meet these girls!

Pumpkin Carving and Thanksgiving turkeys

2011-02-04T21:20:00.000-08:00

We carved pumpkins at the Zollingers - Duke's was a fun SF logo to represent the Giants, but I can't find the picture of it... AND, I didn't even get pictures of the final products! oh well, at least we have evidence we carved pumpkins :)

Thanksgiving turkeys that took SOOOOO much longer to make than I had imagined they would!

A very enjoyable Thanksgiving was spent at the Fallows house with tons of yummy food and fun!

World Series fun in San Francisco

2011-02-04T20:39:00.001-08:00

When the Giants made it to the World Series, it was just too crazy for us to think we were so close to the games without going to the city to try to participate in the fun! I was just starting to get over being sick all of the time, and hadn't spent an entire day away from home at this point, so I was a little nervous about the outing, but it ended up being a day full of Awesomeness :)

Some times there are days that everything just goes your way, and this was one of them for us! From avoiding a large piece of metal on the interstate (that caused 8 or so other cars to have flat tires), to making the it to the train just in the nick of time to make it to the city, and the best part - we were able to snag tickets to view 3 innings of the game from the right field of the stadium... for free!

Here are a few pics to document the fun!

The train ride:

We grabbed some lunch then took a walk around the stadium:

If I had it my way, this is the amount of cotton candy I would have eaten :) I absolutely love that stuff!

After our walk around the stadium, we decided to attempt to stand in a line to get the free tickets to watch the game from ground level of right field. Based on looks, we doubted there would be enough tickets for us. They handed out bracelets in group 3 groups - each group was able to watch 3 innings of the game. We ended up getting the last 3 innings which were the BEST innings of the game to watch where all of the action occurred! It was so exciting!

While we waited for the first few innings to pass, this is where we listened to the game. There were so many fans with radios... and being in the city, it also brought other things (I wondered if the twins were going to start getting the "munchies" because it was so bad! I constantly had my nose in my shirt to try to filter it!)

View of the stadium from where we listened to the first few innings:

This is where the fun happened as we watched the last few innings of the game from right field!!

I only ended up buying one bag of cotton candy despite my desires to do otherwise :)

To end the night wonderfully, we were able to escape the madness quickly and make the train to go back home with a few seconds to spare :) We had the best day and were so glad we made the venture to the city to enjoy the celebration and fun!

Go Giants!

Halloween Costume Party

2010-10-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

We went to a costume party yesterday, we had a great time and it was fun to dress up! Here's a few of the pics:

First things first :) The Halloween 7 layer bean dip we made to take to the party! I love making Halloween treats!

Now for the costumes!

Marge and Homer Simpson (AKA: me and Duke!)

Here's a few pics of the other couples at the party... just in case you need a quick idea for a costume you haven't prepared for yet :)

Justin Beiber and "Beiber Fever"

Kim Kardashian

Kim and Run DMC

Bumble bee and Pest Control

Jack Sparrow and his Pirate

Paula and Michael Deen

Vampires

Prego Pics

2010-10-21T18:44:00.001-07:00

Me at 16 weeks:

19 Weeks:

And the close up :)

I know, not too exciting yet... Duke said I should stuff my shirt with a pillow so it looks more impressive! I'm really starting to feel the girls move around a lot now, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Duke will be able to feel them move too!

Foods the girls like to eat (aka, that don't make me puke!):

Apples, apples and apples - this has been a big go-to

Pizza... poor Duke, I've requested pizza a lot lately!

Canned Peaches

Canned Pears

Apple Juice

Costco's swirled frozen yogurt

Cashews

Applesauce

Cheese crackers

Strange combination of foods, yes, but we'll take what we can get to stay down!!

Although I still don't look like I've grown too much yet, I'm starting to notice my little belly get in the way more and more :)

Twin GIRLS it is!!

2010-10-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

This week was a fun week, we were able to find out that we are having two baby girls... (I knew I was inclined to look at all those cute girlie outfits for a reason! Actually, my guess was two boys, so Duke won the bet with his guess of two girls) Duke on the other hand, will be out numbered in our household soon, and I think will be going out to purchase a "manly" dog to help make up the difference :). We are both super excited and I can't wait to start loading our apartment with all things baby GIRL!

The joys of being pregnant...

2010-09-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

As we've done a lot of traveling over the past couple of months (see previous post), I've had the pleasure of being pregnant and sick while on the road... these are the places that I've "left my mark" either on the side of the road or at someone's house... (I know, you don't really want to know this stuff, but it does kind of get humorous the number of times we had to pull over!) And, every time it wasn't at a house or restaurant, yes, it was on the side of the road...

- Bountiful Utah on-ramp to I-15

- Interstate I-15 (on the way to Vegas)

- Mexican Restaurant in Vegas

- the Zollinger's house 1st visit (a few times)

- parking lot of Costco Gas station in Reno

- Vasco Road off ramp (where I had the pleasure of the California State police pulling up behind us, walking up to my side of the car and asks "is everything okay?" as he sees me puking... to which he responds, "do I need to call an ambulance?" LOL - NO! I'm just pregnant and sick!

- the Fallow's house 1st visit

- I-680 on the way to the airport. Mind you, Duke had to cross 4 lanes of traffic during rush hour, pull over, to where we had the pleasure AGAIN of having the California State police pull over to check on us... I think I'm setting a record here!

- the Crockett's house (my parents) in Arkansas

- the Little Rock airport

- Vasco road again, in CA

- Lone Tree road in Brentwood - twice

- the Fallow's house 2nd visit

- the Zollinger's house 2nd visit

- the Harmans

- Visalia, CA side of the road (a few times)

Seriously?! Duke has gotten very good at pulling over very quickly so we don't have a mess in the car! I finally got some medication to help keep this under control... I'm not sure why I waited so long!!

(Thanks for humoring this post, I just needed to get it down for journaling :) )

No Longer Nomads!!

2010-09-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

After leaving Reno, we had a few spare weeks on our hands (all of August and most of September) before we would head to Visalia, CA, so we spent this time hanging out with family and friends! Here's a few things that we did during this time:

- Found out we were expecting twins :

- Made a trip to Gooding, Idaho (where I started to feel pregnant)

- Stayed the night with Justin and Tricia (Duke's brother's family)

- Drove to Las Vegas to see Garth Brooks (where I experienced my first side of the interstate puking!) This one will have it's own post with pics to come soon (not the puking but of the concert!)

- We were supposed to drive to San Diego, but opted to drive straight up to stay with the Zollingers (Duke's sister's family). This because in addition to having a nasty cough, I felt like horrible! On the HWY 1 drive up the coast (absolutely beautiful), we stopped at a few sights to enjoy some sight-seeing:

Hearst Castle (we didn't take the tour, but stopped at the museum to find out what it was all about)

It was "molting" season for Elephant Seals on one of the beaches. They were pretty amazing - they were sooo huge and there were so many of them!

- Next we made it to the Zollingers where I spent a lot of time not feeling well and sitting on the couch trying to contain my cough to keep it from spreading to everyone. We did manage to make it to make it to Point Lobos state park in Monterey. That was some fun sight seeing!

We climbed on rocks:

Skipped rocks:

Snapped some photos:

- We then made a trip back to Reno to go to a doctor's appointment. We had dinner with our good friends the Wohlfords while there (Suzanne is also pregnant with twins!)

- We drove up to the Fallows (Duke's sister's family) and stayed with them for a few days. We managed to take in a Giants game, of course!

- We flew to Arkansas to visit my family. We had a great visit and announced that we were pregnant through this video found on YouTube:

- We flew back to Oakland and stayed with Jodie for a few days before driving back to Reno for one last doctor appointment.

- We stayed a few nights with our good friends the Harmans

- We drove back to the Zollingers for another week's stay

- We drove back to the Fallows for another week's stay

- We then made our way to our future home of Visalia, CA :)

Whew! That was a lot of traveling (for a sickly pregnant lady) but we have really enjoyed the time we have spent with each other and with family and friends. Thanks to everyone who hosted us!

Celebrity Golf Tournament in Lake Tahoe

2010-07-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Duke and I decided to go up to Tahoe to the Celebrity Golf Tournament. We were there for about an hour and then they went into a weather delay, because of some CRAZY close lightening on the course. After about 45 minutes, they started up again and the fun continued! We had a great time, it was so funny to see all of these famous people up close and in person!

Here are some of the pics:

Ray Ramono was the first we saw, and I ended up getting an autograph from him:

Bode Miller was golfing with Ray:

Next we saw Charles Barkley... we followed him for a couple of holes because he was so funny to watch! He swung one handed on all of his shots... after one of them, he said a few choice words, and then this huge lightening bolt and thunder struck, it was so funny and perfect timing!

I also ended up getting Barkley's autograph... and he looked at me straight in the eyes and said "Hey Baby" - three times we ran into him and he said that... it was so funny. Duke and I were laughing so hard!

We saw Stephen Curry and Shane Battier (Duke watching in the one pic) I got Shane Battier's autograph too:

Jerry Rice:

Ozzie Smith (I got his autograph too):

John Smoltz and Greg Maddux... I got Greg Maddux's autograph and scored a picture with both of them! It was the funniest thing ever! We were on the green of hole 16, they finished up and I ran over to them (no one else really did!) and I said, "can I get a picture with you two?!, you can just keep walking, just look at that camera (and I pointed to Duke)." Then, they stopped so I was like Sweet! So, I stood in the middle of them, put my arms around them and smiled! So awesome!

John Elway - he was nice enough to stop for a picture with me... although, he wasn't so willing to put his arm around me as smoltz and maddux!

Troy Aikman (he may not know it, but we're walking together!):

Marcus Allen:

Marshall Faulk:

Jerome Bettis:

After Jerome hit the above shot, he picked up his ball and walked right over to where we were standing:

Tony Romo, Michael Jordan and Ray Allen (Ray Allen hit a guy in the head with a golf ball - the guy that he hit was standing like 10 feet from us!):

I was actually standing right next to Jordan on this one(you just can't see me because of the blue hat lady!):

Here I am watching Jordan come to the next hole:

I love how in these next two pics I'm walking like I know him, walking right next to him!

What a fun day! All of the autographs I got include:

Ozzie Smith

Greg Maddux

Matt Ryan

Shane Battier

Charles Barkley

Ray Ramono

Stone Phillips

4th of July

2010-07-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

This year, we were able to travel to Utah and Idaho over the 4th of July weekend. Duke had an interview in SLC, so we headed there first, then we headed up to Rigby, Idaho to see my Sister's family. I haven't seen them in about a year and a half, so it was great fun to be with them!

We started the 4th celebrations with the Idaho Falls parade. We thought that we would be a part of the parade, but we lucked out to just be able to watch it ;). Aaron's landscaping business has a float in the parade and their landscapers dance to music... it's quite funny, and the crowd loves them!

We made it home for a nap, and then headed to Timmie's in-laws for some yummy barbeque. Of course, we got to do some more of this:

Celebrating my birthday... I love extended birthdays :). It also helps to have nephews help blow out the hundreds of candles (oh wait, 28) AND have ice cream cake from Cold Stone :).

We then headed back to Idaho Falls for the BEST fireworks show ever!

These are pics while we were waiting for them to start:

ahhhh, how cute :)

Idaho has awesome sunsets:

To finish off a fun weekend, we ended up in Yellowstone at Timmie's in-law's cabin. It was great up there... besides the bugs, which I really am not a fan of :) We went up the mountains and had a fire... of course, what is the only way to put it out? This was before the action...

Then, we headed home on Tuesday... the long, not so scenic drive home to Reno. The only thing missing from this trip was we originally had planned to make it to Gooding to see Duke's parents and we weren't able to make it there... I guess we'll have to make that trip soon :)

California Fun

2010-07-07T20:47:00.000-07:00

What's California fun without a baseball game? :) We were able to go to an A's baseball game, here's evidence of the fun:

I was lucky enough to spend a day with the Harmans :) We had a great lunch, laid by the pool (thanks Ed for watching the kids!), got Pedis/Manis, visited the farmer's market for some scrumptious dinner and ended the day with yummy yogurt! It was a fun-filled day!

At the end of our trip we drove down to Visalia, California for Duke's job interview. We were there a day before the interview to check out the town and took a drive up to the Sequoia National forrest. The trees were absolutely amazing!

This is General Sherman, the biggest tree in the forrest:

That's the forrest! It was pretty cool... and the interview went well the next day. Duke was offered the job, we're just waiting on another potential offer so we can make a decision!

Tim McGraw concert

2010-07-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

Ed, Lindsey and EVEN Duke went with me to the Tim McGraw concert a few weeks ago. We had a great time... Duke wasn't so happy that he was able to go, but I'm pretty sure I caught him singing a few of the songs :)

Here's a pic of me and Lindsey at dinner before the concert:

Last snowboarding trip of the season

2010-04-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

We made it up to Kirkwood ski resort for one last snowboarding trip! We expected spring snowboarding conditions, but ended up making our own tracks in 2 feet of powder! It was awesome :) After we snowboarded we drove around Lake Tahoe. It is beautiful up there, here's a few pics.

And of course, I manage to be talked into dropping in and out of trees. Here's a few funny videos. I love how Duke just laughs :)

I'm not sure why I agree to these things :)

Lake Tahoe has some good snow, but it is way heavy. I was way tired after going through all of that heavy powder!

I finally figured it out!

2010-02-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

What have I figured out you ask?! How to use the toilet seat covers at the airport and public places!

I've been having to use these quite a lot lately as I've been doing some traveling for work and they are also available to use in the public restrooms at my office in Reno. This is seriously a BIG thing to discover as it is quite frustrating when you have to use these every time you use the restroom and those things just don't cooperate 99.9% of the time! (you put them on, they fall off into the water, they never lay flat, most times I wonder if it's worth the effort and frustration!)

Then, a couple weeks ago at work I was once again getting frustrated because the person that installed them in the holder must have pushed too many in it because they were not coming out in one piece from being packed in so tight. THEN, it hit me! If you remove the tongue of those things, they lay flat and stay put! VOILA!

If they only had instructions on those things for how to use them, then it wouldn't take so long for people like me to figure them out :)

Snowboarding in Tahoe

2010-01-23T20:25:00.000-08:00

The Sierras recently got an amazing amount of snow (70+ inches) due to three storms that came through in a week. So, we managed to take part in the powdery fun on Friday. We didn't get any pics on top of the mountain, but here are a few after a fun filled day of snowboarding:

Pics of the drive:

Before going back to the car:

Right next to the car was this bank of snow:

Duke thought it would be funny for me to climb up in it and make a snow angel. So, of course he lifted me up to where I made my snow angel.

Then, he thought it would be funny for me to see how far I could get stuck in the snow, to which I complied with his request... Here I am trying to push my weight into the snow:

Then, I guess it looked pretty funny how I was pushing my weight into the snow, so Duke started filming it (me not knowing at first) and when I realized he was recording, I added a little dance. For your entertainment, I'm not sure why I'm posting this, other than we laugh at it after every time we watch it... so, hopefully it makes you laugh too :)

Christmas fun

2010-01-23T19:45:00.001-08:00

Somehow, I didn't manage to get many pictures of Christmas! We woke up at a bright and early, I think 4 or 5am? It must have been too early to remember! Not because Duke was too excited to see what Santa brought him, but because we were able to Ichat with the Jake and Belle Cheney family (on the East coast) while they opened the gifts that we sent them. Thanks, Jake and Belle for letting us be a part of your Christmas morning fun!

After we did East coast Ichat, we slept for a couple of hours until my sister and her family woke up and we did Ichat with them as well as they experienced the fun of Santa visiting them through the night!

This was the life size stocking that I was hoping to have filled by Santa... I must not have been a good girl, because it didn't happen :)

Christmas day, Duke worked, so we exchanged gifts before he went to work, I dropped him off and came home to make some goodies to take in to his work. After he got off work, around 6pm, we packed the car and drove to Gooding, ID to spend a couple of days with the Cheney families. We had a great time, and it was great to be with family!

I did manage to get these two pics of the Cheney family fun (bus ride to Twin to the movies!):

We returned home to Reno, and then my parents and sister, Kendl, made the trip out to Reno. Here's just the few pics that we did manage to take:

First, if you know anything about Reno, you know there aren't many exciting things to visit and take pictures of. One thing, however, is the below sign:

Should you manage to make it to the "strip" in downtown Reno (which is nothing like the strip in Vegas) the above sign is on the strip.

We decided it would be fun to go to one of the free circus shows at Circus Circus... I was quite excited about this since we hadn't made it to one of the shows yet. We made it to the casino, to the 2nd floor where all the games are and found a place around the platform where the show would take place (which was way crowded and rude people shimmied their way in front of me blocking my view... urgh) to find that the free show that night was a mighty lame dog show! After the show, it took some convincing, that there wasn't going to be another show, for me to leave... I was just sure there would be something better! Here we are as we excitedly wait for another show to start (that actually never happened):

We decided to play one of the games before we left (one where all six of us could play at the same time to increase our odds of winning a prize!) It took us two rounds, but we managed to win this:

Kendl is now the proud owner of a $12.00 stuffed animal with valentine candy on it (the amount of money we spent to play the game)

The entire Circus Circus experience was quite humorous since we all were really tired and I basically had to drag the family out of the apartment to go... then the show ended up being a lame dog show! Good thing downtown Reno is only a few minutes away from the apartment :) And I'm sure Kendl will forever treasure that stuffed animal :)

Las Vegas trip

2010-01-23T19:03:00.001-08:00

The annual pharmacy conference happens in December and this year it happened to be in Vegas. Since Duke's travels were paid for, it was more than easy for me to decide that I should come too :) . In spite of all the filth in Vegas, we managed to have fun hanging out with our good friends Brandon and Alison. A few pics documenting our fun:

What is a Vegas trip without the fantastic display at the Bellagio?

Duke and Brandon giving their 'Oceans Eleven' pose

Me and Alison

Me and Duke with the Eiffel Tower in the background (the hotel we stayed at)

We had decided that we would go see a show while in Vegas and we decided to go see Le Reve. I very highly recommend this show if you get the opportunity to see it. It was absolutely amazing! Acrobatic, diving from crazy heights into the water, entertaining... just amazing! Here's a few pics with the set in the background:

At the new Civic Center mall in Vegas, the architecture was absolutely amazing. Not to mention they had crazy stores that had ridiculously priced clothing. I'm pretty sure Alison and I touched some shirts, dresses and pillows (yes pillows) that cost thousands of dollars (i'm pretty sure I remember $10,000 being on a price tag). And yes, the thought crossed my mind that it would be fun to try something on that cost that much, but I just decided it would be best to look and touch since they probably cost more than anything I currently own :)

Here's a few pics of some of the stairs... I think they are rocks or shells with lights in the background? Whatever they are, they were pretty cool:

Alison and I visited the mall while the guys were busy at the conference and then I decided to take Duke back to show him how cool it was:

There was a cool display in the Bellagio? I think? Every part of the display was made with flowers - pretty cool:

There were also reindeer in the display, but somehow they didn't get a picture made.

We had a great time with Brandon and Alison, it was great to see you guys! I'm pretty sure we don't need another Vegas trip anytime soon, unless it's for me to see Garth Brooks in concert... which fingers crossed I will come across tickets somehow in the next 5 years that he performs there :)

Thanksgiving fun

2010-01-03T19:36:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving, my younger brother and sister, Winston and Kendl, made the trek from Idaho/Utah to Reno - and then we all drove out to California to eat delicious food and share the holiday with great company! We didn't get any pictures of Thanksgiving dinner, but it was delicious... Thanks to Jodie for hosting!

Thanksgiving night we drove to Kadie's in Gilroy so we could do some after Thanksgiving shopping at the Outlets. We decided to get out the door at 3:00am to go try to get a TV at Target... at which our efforts failed because not very many people in front of us got the last TV tickets. It made for a tiring day, getting up that early, and I do have to say I probably wouldn't do that again unless there was something I absolutely needed and couldn't do without - then I would just stay up all night and leave a little earlier. Oh well, now we can say we did it, right Kadie?!

The boys decided sleep sounded better and went golfing later that day. Winston showed his skill at playing the Wii and I think impressed Kadie's boys... now I think I might need to increase my nintendo skills so they will like me just as much :) They had fun playing with Winston and I think he now has an open invitation to travel to California with me anytime we go!

We decided to give Kendl and Winston a tour of California since neither of them had been before. We made it to 17 mile drive where we took these pictures:

It was pretty windy, so the waves were awesome that day!

Of course, we had to make a stop at the 18th hole at Pebble Beach:

Here is Duke looking on at two golfers approaching the green... one day you can be playing Duke while on-lookers watch your approach :)

Me and Kendl at Pebble Beach

After 17 mile drive, we gave them a VERY abbreviated tour of San Francisco before the sun completely set:

Including a stop to look at the Golden Gate

After making the rounds we stopped at this place:

And ate these:

Need I say more? Except, I could use another one of these tacos soon - good thing we don't live close to this place!

To end the great day, we went to the Oakland Temple to see the Christmas lights:

It was beautiful! We had a great Thanksgiving - Thanks Winston and Kendl for coming to see us!

Little City of Rocks - Gooding, ID

2010-01-02T18:39:00.001-08:00

One of our trips home to Gooding, Idaho (in October) were to surprise Duke's mom for her birthday. We had a great time during our quick visit and it included making a trip to the Little City of Rocks. Here's a few pics of the fun:

Thanks, Sue for having a Birthday :)

A restaurant that you should not visit in Reno!

2010-01-02T17:32:00.001-08:00

The Pirate Ship

We were invited to a birthday dinner where we ate at The Pirate Ship. If you know me well enough, you know that I'm not all about visiting 'hole in the wall' restaurants... unless they have been visited by someone else we know first and recommended. And, even after a recommendation, I'm still hesitant.

No one in our group had been to this restaurant before...

The first sign that it might not be great was that our group was the only group there, on a Friday night at 7pm... primetime dinner hours. But, nonetheless, I stayed and toughed it out. (when we left the owners said... "we usually have a big crowd, I'm not sure where everyone is!"

There was rain literally leaking through the roof.

The silverware was cheap and I felt gross eating off of it (not that silverware needs to be expensive - but when it gets to a point that it's clean (supposedly) and it still looks dirty, it's time for new silverware)

In case you didn't already guess by the name, it is a pirate themed restaurant, so everything on the menu was 'piraty' - and, the server who happened to be the owner, spoke "pirate language" as you ordered.

The food was seriously bad and it was way over priced (I'm guessing to make up from the lack of visitors).

To end the night, they had us complete a survey about what we liked/disliked about the restaurant and food... I made Duke complete it because I wouldn't have had anything good to say about it!

BUT, we managed to have a good time with good conversation. And, we came out with a couple fun pictures:

Roomies visit Reno!

2010-01-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

My roomies from college all came in to town (yes, this is from October... I'm slow to post) - the first time we've all been together since we left good old Rexburg! We had a great time - here's a few of the pics.

The girls talked Duke and Jon into watching Janine's kids while we went to dinner at one of our favorites from Idaho Falls - Johny Carinos :)

Me and Janine

Tiff and Julie

All the girls!

Thanks Jon and Duke for letting us escape!

We made a visit to Lake Tahoe - we were lucky and had beautiful sunny weather!

The girls!

We had fun!

These are Janine's cute kids:

The water was cold - but they still played in it for a little while. We packed a picnic and enjoyed the sunshine. Here are the girls enjoying a great conversation with Duke... Jordan talks? :)

Jon (Janine's husband) was there too, he just managed to be behind the camera, so no pics of him!

Thanks girls for making the trip to Reno - we need to do that again soon!

Sister comes to visit me in Reno!

2009-11-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

This weekend my sister flew into Reno with her little one, Devon, and we had a GREAT time! She was here from Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning. We managed to shop for probably 90% of the time she was here, but does that really surprise anyone?!

We shopped at outlets, managed to make appointments at MAC to get our makeup done (thanks Duke for keeping the baby while we did that!), shopped for shoes, made a trip back to the outlets to purchase a few things we couldn't stand to leave behind :) and even managed to get our wedding rings cleaned... AND, got them rhodium plated for FREE (usually a $40.00 charge per ring)! It was a great shopping trip, a great visit and I sure wish we lived closer so we could be together more often! I miss Timmie already!

We didn't get many pictures, but here's a couple of us after we got our makeup done... that was a fantastic weekend!

Per request, the Halloween costumes :)

2009-11-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

We didn't have a costume Halloween party on Friday night, but since Duke worked a swing shift (from Noon to 11:00pm), I decided to dress up and go to the trunk or treat at church. But, at our Halloween party, I found out that Rachel's husband would also be working, so we dressed up and went together. We carved pumpkins before and then had dinner afterwards. Thanks, Rachel for the good time!

I know, my costume isn't as original as Rachel's, but, a witch will have to do this year!

How about them lashes?

And, our pumpkins

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T15:48:00.001-07:00

Duke and I invited a few people over for some Halloween treats and games! We played "Pirate Dice" and ate these treats!

Chocolate covered strawberries!

Tombstones (Chocolate covered rice krispie treats!)

Ahhh, someone's hand is in the vegetable dip :)

Bug Juice!

I Love Halloween!

Who looks cute modeling shoes? A tribute to Ellinor

2009-10-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

When we had family in town, we made a trip to Lake Tahoe and I had the pleasure of riding in the car next to my niece, Ell. On the way there, I showed Ell that my phone could take pictures, so she started posing for me, with her shoes, not on her feet, but by her head... BUT, could anyone look as cute as she does modeling shoes? :) She is adorable :)

And, last but not least, proof that I was there too :)

Fun times with Rebers, grown men on Wheelies

2009-10-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

The Rebers received a Halloween package from us, this is the result :)

Scary vampire teeth!

When we were at the Rebers in July Brad showed Duke how to play on Wheelies... apparently there is an art to it!

Here's Duke giving it a try:

This is a small clip of Brad - and Harley didn't like it very much (the barking!)

We miss you Rebers!

I have a Dilemma

2009-10-03T18:31:00.001-07:00

My dilemma is not a VERY serious one, but it is still a dilemma. I love Halloween. I love the Candy, I love the decorations, I love the costumes, I love the parties, I love the trick-or-treating, I just love it! My dilemma is, I have the urge to dress up for halloween, watch trick-or-treaters, and have a halloween party, yet we don't know many people yet here in Reno, and it is causing a problem! I guess it would help if we were in town a little more often so we could meet people.... hmph..... I guess I have a lot of work to do so I can meet people before the end of the month so I can host a party! I told Duke about my dilemma and he said I should just find a party to go to. I think he said that because he knows if we host a party, I would find him a costume too :)

Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma.... Anyone want to come to my Halloween party :)

San Francisco trip

2009-10-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Duke and I made it to San Francisco last weekend. We made it to a Giants game, and I only got one picture, apparently - maybe Lindsey can send me some of her pics?!

This is a picture of Duke with Ed and Lindsey's cute little girl, Sarah - She really likes Duke!

Me in front of the stadium:

However, on the way to the Giants game, we were able to stop by this ever so yummy Cactus Taqueria... here is Duke enjoying the yumminess of the food:

Oh, I can't wait to dig in, do you have to take a picture?!

I'm pretty sure all of the running I did that week was to work off what we would eat at this place, but it sure was good!

Here's me and Lindsey:

I really miss living close to Lindsey, however, 4 hours is much closer than Denver :)

Duke ended up being on the computer a lot of the weekend for work, but on our way home we drove through San Francisco so I could stop by the GHIRADELLI square!

Proof that Duke was there too:

Oh, and it was definitely worth it :) If you know me well enough, you know my love for Chocolate, I was in heaven! I think I even made it into the store Twice so I could get another free sample :) (and thank goodness the sample wasn't mint chocolate!) We found it a need to have one of these:

Well, at least I found it a need! Waffle cone, dipped in Ghiradelli chocolate, caramel and chocolate fudge in the bottom, bananas, ice cream, whipped cream and cherries and nuts! I think I need to go back for another one very soon! yummmmy

We didn't have much time to stop and enjoy the sunset and golden gate bridge, will have to save that for another trip, but this picture didn't turn out too bad, especially since it was from the car!

This picture is funny - it's from the car, through the bars on the bridge, but you can still see Alcatraz Island from it!

It was nice to get away for the weekend... and thanks to Chris and Jodie and family for the nights stay and great play that we got to see! We brought the girls some Halloween goodies... here is their frightful picture :)

Me being crafty

2009-10-03T17:32:00.001-07:00

This is the finished project that Sue and Roger helped me with:

I also made this cute turkey - the feathers and head poke into a pumpkin and they make a turkey, too cute, huh? :)

I'm usually not too crafty of a person, but these didn't turn out too bad!

Hot Air Balloons and Golfing

2009-10-02T16:54:00.000-07:00

Reno hosts a hot air balloon festival every year so we made it to the "big event". So, I read on the website that the "can't miss" event would start at 5:45a.m. YES, I said AM... where the balloons would lift off and 100 of them would be in the sky. SO, Duke and I rolled out of bed to not miss this big event and this is what we saw at 6:15am:

They only had 4 balloons lift off at 6:15am... had we known it would have only been 4 balloons, and had we known, they would only light up the balloons a total of 3 times, we would have stayed in bed and waited until 8:00a.m. when we saw this:

It was fun to see all the balloons, there were supposed to be 100 balloons, but we only counted like 75... at least we can say we did it and we don't have to do it again :)

After the hot air balloons, we decided to go to Lake Tahoe. The weather ended up being windy and a little rainy, unexpected as I was hoping to soak in some rays! So, you'll have to ignore my non "made-up" self in these pictures, but we had a great time playing on the beach at Tahoe and the weather cleared up enough for us to golf afterwards!

And, the finally for the day was a sunset over Tahoe... it was a great day!

Labor Day weekend of fun!

2009-09-23T16:29:00.000-07:00

Over labor day weekend, we had visitors including: Clint, Kadie, Brevin, JT, Zack, Chris, Jodie, Marin, Ell, Jack, Roger, Sue and Grandma Minick! WHEW! And, all but three stayed at our 2 bed, 2 bath apartment... now that I think of it, I'm quite sad that I didn't get more pictures of our tight, but fun living conditions :) I did manage to get only a few pictures of the fun, but this is what they include:

Roger and Sue came into town on Thursday night. They so graciously excepted my plea to bring a saw and electric sander so I could work on a project that I would be doing for an activity day for the women at church. Due to tight timing of everyone coming into town, Sue and I solicited Roger's help in painting the blocks as follows:

Thanks for being a helpful, good sport, Roger! :) Without Sue, I wouldn't have been able to finish my project!

Of course, Roger, Sue, Duke and I managed to golf on Friday after Duke got off work. Then, I sent Roger, Sue and Duke to the Rib festival to get us some dinner while I worked on my project. That was the TASTIEST pulled pork sandwich I have had in a while.... yum!

On Saturday we made it to Lake Tahoe, it was really windy, but still had a good time. Ell managed to talk me into going out in the water waste deep with her. But, she decided that the best idea included me holding her so only her toes got wet (while I am waste deep in cold water!)

We had cake to celebrate Grandpa Roger's birthday, here's a little proof!

We had a great dinner on Sunday and the Fallows and Roger and Sue took off Sunday night. We were able to play with the Zollingers on Monday for a few hours before they also left.

We had a great time and it was fun to be together with most of the family (we missed the Justin and Jake Cheneys!)

Officially Nevadans

2009-09-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

So, Duke and I tried EVERYTHING to be able to not become Nevadans. For some reason, it felt like we were Finally leaving Colorado behind since we had to get our car licensed in Nevada. And, both of our Drivers Licenses expire this year so we had to get those here too. We tried to get Colorado to mail us another registration, which they said they would, except Nevada is one of the 7 states that if you're working in the state you have to get your car registered there. UGH.

So, we bit the bullet, and now, our Camry looks like every other Camry in Nevada with this plate:

And, now, everyone is going to think that we are "one of those" HORRIBLE drivers that you will find in Reno. A few pet peeves of the Reno drivers:

Even though there are 3 lanes of traffic, they all sit in the lane furthest to the right, which makes it very difficult to exit with the on-off ramps that they have here

No one EVER goes the speed limit. If the speed limit is 65, they go 55

For those that don't sit in the far right lane, the ones that go 55 sit in the far left lane with stragglers in the middle lane so you can't pass anyone

NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO MERGE!!!!!

Okay, I'll stop now. But, we are Nevadans and are not quite sure how we feel about that!

Catch - up post number 11, Reno Aces and Eric Byrnes

2009-08-31T20:41:00.000-07:00

Eric Byrnes from the Arizona Diamondbacks is rehabbing with the Reno Aces (Arizona's AAA team). We went to watch the Aces play and got to watch Byrnes strut his stuff. Here's a few pictures of him...

This little baseball head pops up over the speakers at the stadium and sings the ENTIRE 7th inning stretch "take me out to the ball game" with you! It was quite funny - the mouth moves and everything! The things you get to experience in AAA baseball!

This was surprisingly an entertaining game to watch! Too bad their not the farm-team for the Giants or the Rockies!!

Catch - up post number 10, almost done catching up!

2009-08-31T20:26:00.001-07:00

Was I done traveling yet? Of course not! After my week in Idaho, the following weekend after I got home, Duke and I made the trip home to Gooding, Idaho to see Duke's parents. We arrived in Gooding to find Duke's dad awaiting our arrival (around midnight!). We were surprised to see him still awake, but we couldn't stay up long because we had an early tee-time! We golfed 18 holes on a windy Gooding golf course. Of course that wasn't enough, so Duke and his dad golfed at the Buhl golf course later that afternoon while Sue and I went to see a movie. We didn't manage to get any pictures, but it was sure good to go home!

So, I know you have just been waiting and waiting for this next picture...

Don't worry, the city has had this under construction so they could change the lights out to be more "green". Reno is definitely a strange city. It's like country people living in the 'big city'... a strange combination if you can only imagine!

Catch - up post number 9, Week in Idaho

2009-08-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

After the wedding in Denver, I headed to Rigby, ID to spend a week with my sister and her sweet family. This wasn't necessarily a week of "vacation" as it involved a lot of work! But, we managed to have a lot of fun while I was there!

Every year Rexburg hosts an International Music and Dance festival. This involves a parade of the countries that participated in the festival. Here's a few pictures of the parade:

China

Japan:

Mexico:

Three of the four nephews with one of the guys from the Mexico group:

We made a trip to the famous Rigby, Lake. Here's a few pics of the fun we had!

Notice the whoppers - I think Brendon ate most of that container of whoppers! That's what aunts are good for, right? (letting you eat what you want?!)

We buried the boys in the sand. This is Carson:

This is Aidan. Notice the floaties... I thought that was pretty funny, just in case he downs in the sand :)

Of course, Uncle Winston had to be buried too!

Playing in the water:

Carson and Aidan played in their last soccer game while we were there. Carson did great - he played forward (the best position, right?!) to start the game and then finished in the goal and had some great saves!

Here's some pics of Carson in action:

Aidan was another story... The below pictures are a little misleading as I think they were the most action he had in the game! He was busy laying on the ground, twirling in circles and hugging the other team players! It was pretty funny to watch :) But, I have hope for him as I'm pretty sure I turned some cartwheels on the soccer field when I was his age!

Here's Aidan:

Here's precious baby Devon - the 4th John boy!

On Thursday night we made it to the sand dunes where we went to a "hidden lake". On the way to the lake, we of course had to stop to let Aaron and Winston do a little bridge jumping!

Here's a video of their 10.0 dives :)

While at the sand dunes, we managed to loose the key to their van (the only key to their van!) so it made for an adventurous night!

We were able to use this guy's phone at the sand dunes... (since all of our phones and purses were locked in the van)...

This is Thomas Taylor, apparently he is a world famous "pro-paintballer" ?? Yeah, well when we used his phone he offered my 2 year old nephew some of his stickers "hey dude, want some stickers??" pretty funny. The stickers were of the above picture.

We ended up getting a ride from a stranger in a mini van - all 8 of us plus their 3 kids and the driver!! (thank goodness Idahoans are friendly!) and made it to Aaron's parents house not too far away.

We managed to get a key made for the van by 9:00a.m. the next morning which was great because Winston and I were driving the four nephews to Salt Lake City to pick up my dad from the airport that afternoon!

Dad's flight ended up being delayed so we spent some quality couple of hours at the Layton park.

Here we are feeding the duckies:

We managed to pick up dad from the airport after which we stopped in Park City for some delicious dinner from McDonalds and then headed to Denver! We stayed the night with Brad and Carena after which Dad and the boys continued driving to Arkansas and then I caught a flight home to Reno!

Thanks John family for such a fun visit!

Catch - up post number 8, Zack's wedding in Denver

2009-08-24T19:57:00.001-07:00

Duke's friend, Zack, from Pharmacy school was married on July 31st and Duke was asked to be a groomsman at his wedding. So, we made the trip to Denver, it felt like we were going home! But, we only stayed for the weekend. Duke had to get dressed all snazzied up in a Tux, I must say he's a hottie :)

I thought the Boutonnieres were pretty...

That's A LOT of groomsmen!

Oh, so cute!

We were able to visit with our good friends Brad and Carena for the day. It was good to see them as part of this trip too!

Do you think we're done traveling yet? Of course not! After the wedding, Duke flew back to Reno and studied hard for his national exam while I flew to Salt Lake City and then drove up to Idaho to spend the week with my sister's family! Pics of the Idaho fun to follow shortly!

Catch - up post number 7, Zollingers visit Reno

2009-08-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

A week and a half after our visit to California, the Zollingers came to Reno to visit! We managed to get some pictures of Bocce ball...

This one is funny. If you look real close you can see the motion of JTs and Zack's hands!

After staying the night with us, they made their way to Virginia City and then to Lake Tahoe. Thanks Zollingers for taking time to visit us :)

Catch - up post number 6, babysitting the Fallows

2009-08-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy summer for us if you haven't been able to tell already! I returned to Reno after being in Arkansas on July 13th, and two nights later Duke and I drove to Brentwood, CA to spend a couple of nights with Duke's sister's kids. Jodie and Chris went to a Shakespeare festival in Oregon and we were lucky enough to spend a couple fun-filled days with Marin, Ell and Jack.

We went to this fun filled play place that was full of blow up - slides and jumping toys. These are the only pictures we managed to get of the fun we had the entire weekend, but they are cute pictures!

After the Jump-it place we managed to make our way to a pool for a few good hours of swimming. I think we wore them out the first day!

The next day Kadie (Duke's sister that lives in Gilroy, CA) drove down with her kids, Brevin, JT and Zack. We went to the pool again with Kadie's boys and enjoyed some great pizza for dinner!

The two days went super fast and then we had to drive home the 2nd night so Duke could get to work on Saturday morning.

We had a great time with the kids, thanks Jodie and Chris for leaving town so we could come play with your kids :)

Catch - up post number 5, Renee's wedding

2009-08-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

The next weekend after the 4th of July, I went home to Arkansas to attend my good friend's wedding (friend from high school). She was a beautiful bride and it was fun to be with my family for the weekend! As always, it wasn't enough time at home :)

These first three pictures are at the rehearsal dinner:

Renee, her mom and me

My mom was gracious enough to be my date for the rehearsal dinner! Thanks, mom!

Renee was a very beautiful bride!

Quite the cake huh? It was as delicious as it looks pretty! So good!

Grooms cake - very good too!

Catch - up post number 4, cont'd, 4th of July fun in Lake Tahoe

2009-08-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

Our first weekend in Reno, AKA, "The biggest little city in the world" happened to be the 4th of July. We decided to go explore Lake Tahoe and ventured to a cool hike and then stayed to see the "supposed to be biggest ever fireworks" but I think they miss-printed their flyers... I wasn't so impressed!

This first picture is driving up to Lake Tahoe, it's so beautiful up there.

Then, onward to our hiking destination which was about 15 miles south of Lake Tahoe. The name of the hike is called "horse tail" because there is a waterfall that looking from a distance looks like a long horsetail. The waterfall followed the hike the entire way up. Here's a few pictures of how cool of a hike it was... if you come visit, we will take you :)

So pretty...

So, we climbed down to stand "in" or close to the water. There was a big boulder in the bottom that looked pretty stable to stand on for a picture. In the middle of my oh so cute pose, I started leaning backwards! The big boulder that should have been stable, was very deceiving... none the less...

It made me react like the below picture. You can't tell by the picture, but my heart was racing very fast after that happened over fear I would fall in!

After my near fall into the water, we continued the never ending hike, but we eventually made it to the top of the hike where we came to the lake where the waterfall started from. About 3/4 of the way up to the lake, I was surely ready to give up - it was a very hard hike, and would it be that worth it? And, I kept looking down thinking, "we are never going to find our way down from here!" After we made it about half way to the top, the hike turned into big boulders of granite. On the way up to the lake, we kept seeing these home made "trail markers" made of rocks piled 4-5 high. I thought that was pretty cool (I guess I'm an inexperienced hiker) so I added a few myself to the collection - and then we kept going. But, once at the top, there were amazing views and it was so peaceful up there! It was worth it!

Here's a few pics from the lake:

When we finally decided to make our way down, looking down at those big boulders of granite was so overwhelming for me! We in fact, headed down the wrong way one time to come to a dead end where we couldn't go any further because of a 20 foot drop off. So, we made our way back up and looked for our trail markers. (I will never go on a hike that doesn't have a trail without trail markers again!) It was such a relief to find them and then, someone that was very prepared had made trail markers with spray paint on the rocks.... so smart! We followed those for a little while until we couldn't see them anymore. At that point I got the following injury:

My legs were really tired and my feet slid out from under me. I was able to catch myself before sliding down a 10 foot drop, but managed to jab my finger into the rock and scrap up my knee in the process... ouch :)

We then came to a spot that it seemed as if we couldn't go any further due to a crevasse in the rocks... we decided we didn't have another way so Duke made it down giving me confidence to go next and FEW! we made it! Eventually down to the car where I could have drank a gallon of water...!

We made it to a local pizza shop, ate some dinner and then relaxed to see the not so big firework display! Over all, it was a great day!

Here's to the end of catch-up post number 4 and wishing you a happy 4th of July:)

Catch - up post number 4, Reno is home now?

2009-08-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

The drive to Reno went well, except for the part about my indecisiveness about our apartment when we first drove up to it. You see, we did our apartment shopping online, very difficult I must say, and they failed to mention the location of our apartment was conveniently located by a trailer park (but don't worry, it's fancy, it's gated) and pretty much nothing else. So, we pulled up and decided I just needed to go look at a few more places for my mental sanity before we signed the contract. We did so and upon pulling back up to The View, I felt okay about it so we signed the contract. But not for the apartment we originally wanted, for one that has a MUCH bigger kitchen (which I love) and an actual room for laundry. Thanks Duke for letting me have the bigger and better apartment! :) .

We got to Reno on a Monday night, and on Thursday we drove to California to say hi to friends and family. First stop though was to purchase our new Iphones.... yes, we are a two-Iphone family, and we love them. This is the first picture taken with my new Iphone... say cheese!

Next stop was to see Ed, Lindsey, Sarah and soon to be baby Kai. Lindsey was gracious enough to give me a nice bang trim, she is a great hair stylist, and we woke up to the ever so wonder, drum roll please, my birthday! We ate a delicious burger in Palo Alto and then headed to Fraich... (sp?) the best frozen yogurt ever!

After visiting with the Harmans, we drove to see Clint, Kadie, Brevin, JT and Zack who helped me celebrate my birthday with delicious chocolate cake and ice cream! We made it to the beach and Clint was able to come with us (he had back surgery not too long before) and we had a great time! On the way home from the Zollingers, we stopped in to see Jodie, Chris, Marin, Ell and Jack. They fed us lunch and sent us on our way so we could get back to Reno where Duke would soon start his new job as a Resident at Renown hospital.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the rest of our fun that we had this weekend.

Catch - up post number 3, Packing, packing and cleaning so we can leave Denver

2009-08-18T19:36:00.000-07:00

Our last 4 weeks in Denver went extremely fast. Between graduation, Cheney boys golf trip, finishing up work, packing and cleaning the apartment and loading the movie truck, a family wedding to attend and last but not least a work going away party hosted by my boss at work (the night before we drove to Utah) we were very busy.

After the golf trip in Denver, Duke's parents so graciously stayed in Denver (after going to pick up a bus in Oklahoma) to help us pack and clean and load the moving truck. We definitely couldn't have finished these tasks without their help. I don't think I could thank them enough for everything they helped us with.

I finally finished my last day of work the Wednesday before we planned to leave town. Between saying last goodbyes to all of our friends, eating one last time at all of our favorite restaurants and finding time to finish packing and cleaning, we were go, go, go until the minute we left!

So, you ask why am I posting more graduation pictures? Well, these are not to portray more photos of graduation, but to show you the building that I used to work in. This is the Army hospital that President Eisenhower was treated in (yes although renovated, for the most part, still feels like a hospital on most floors). I didn't think I would miss this building... the life size cockroaches, the water that was contaminated with lead, and the people I worked with inside, I'm finding that I do miss that place! It was a part of our life in Denver for so long, how could I not miss it?!

And, why do you ask that I have a picture of a jeep? Well, this used to be my (our) jeep. I really liked driving this jeep for the year that we owned it... We decided that everything else we had going on wasn't enough, so we posted our jeep on Craigslist to see if it would sell before we left Denver. We posted it on the Sunday before we left and we sold it by Tuesday night! We were so blessed for this happening! So, goodbye to the jeep, it was fun while it lasted!

Last but not least, the apartment complex that was home for us for the last 3 years of our Denver experience. Albion Court Apartments. If you didn't manage to visit us in these 3 years that we lived in Denver, the apartments were a little better than what they look like from the outside. Our apartment was a one bedroom with a loft that had 20 ft high vaulted ceilings. It took a year of convincing me to move to these apartments, and I tried to get Duke to move us about every six months after living here, so I never thought I would miss this place. For a number of reasons:

Absolutely no storage (no linen closet, no pantry, no storage)

The bathroom, need I say more? (the bathtub was falling apart and I just felt gross in this bathroom - it never felt clean no matter how much I scrubbed)

The Kitchen: No storage so our food storage was stored behind the counter held up by cinder blocks and wood slabs. The cabinets: horrible design, not enough room for dishes. The fridge, was probably as old as the complex!

The living room: was more long than wide which made it difficult to arrange furniture

The sirens from the fire trucks, police cars and ambulances that echoed in our apartment as they constantly drove by at all hours of the day and night.

The helicopters that frequented flying over the top of our building to land on the hospitals.

There were a number of reasons to not like this place, but when we got everything out and made one last run through to be sure we didn't forget anything, I was sad in my heart to be leaving!

Duke drove the moving truck and I drove the car. As we left the intersection one last time that has a stoplight that took absolutely forever to turn green, I decided I was really going to miss that intersection. I was going to miss my short 3 mile runs down hale parkway up to 8th and Monaco. I was going to miss the short distance to the baseball park downtown. I was going to miss Park Meadows and Cherry Creek. I was going to miss my soccer pals and playing soccer twice a week. I'm pretty sure Duke still doesn't know I shed tears when I left, but it is true. I got over them by the time we made it to the 25, but it did happen. Oh, okay, I'll stop now!

We do miss Denver, but are excited to be in Reno. Sorry this post wasn't so exciting, but I had to document what we did as we moved...

Here's to the end of catch-up post number 3! So far so good!

Catch - up post number 2, Cheney Boys Golf trip to Denver

2009-08-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

Two weeks after Duke's graduation, we were lucky enough to host the Cheney boys golf trip for the summer! Roger and Sue came back into town and Jake and Justin made it out for not just one or two rounds of golf, but 4 rounds of golf in two days (72 holes - whoa). In addition, Duke and Jake played 18 holes before everyone else got in so, they totaled 90 holes. Sheesh! That sounds like more work to me than fun, but I'm sure of it that the boys would say otherwise! Although, I'm pretty sure they went home tired from all the "work" and fun they had :)

Here's a few pictures of the courses they played in Colorado.

Thanks Cheney boys for letting us host in Denver!

Here's to the end of catch-up post number two... so far I'm on track for a 100% record :)

Catch - up post number 1, Duke's Graduation

2009-08-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

My excuse for the long delay of an update is travel... yes, I've been in Reno for almost two months and I think I've stayed home for two weekends thus far. I've been doing a little of traveling, maybe too much traveling (can you travel too much?), but between travel and work I haven't had much time for blogging. So, I'm playing a little, OKAY, a LOT, of catch up. Starting with a few things that happened in Denver before we moved to the metropolis of Reno, NV.

First things first, Duke's graduation. The night before graduation the school hosted a dinner for the pharmacy grads and their families. We went with Brandon and Alison to the dinner (although we sadly had to sit at different tables)! Duke and Brandon were among those that were "honored" at the dinner for being a part of the "bow-tie" clan... Duke with about 8 or 9 other guys in their class decided to wear bow-ties for their class pictures. Duke failed to mention this to me (on purpose I'm sure of it!) that this was the plan. I'm sure had he mentioned it to me, he would have got the "are you sure that's a good idea speech!).

These pics are of us with Brandon and Alison, and then with Danny, Duke and Brandon, me and Alison and then Brandon, Duke and Danny with one of their professors.

We were lucky enough to have Duke's parents and my parents attend graduation. These next few pictures are the morning of the ceremony as we're getting ready for the BIG event :)

Who's graduating... me or Duke? :)

And now, for the big event! Duke was hooded by one of his professors and then when it was Brandon's turn, he hooded Brandon. (which I didn't know was the plan, so I didn't get any pictures of this... maybe I can get one from Alison?!)

He finally made it! It was a wonderful four years in Denver and we couldn't believe this day came so fast. Here's a few pictures after the ceremony. Thanks to our parents for making the trip to celebrate with us!

After the ceremony, the guys went golfing and the girls headed to the outlets. Of course, there was success at the outlets (I think we all left with a few bags) and there was this Moose that was just really wanting to have his picture made, so me and Sue sat in his lap for a picture!

My parents left on Sunday and after church we went up to Red Rocks theatre- a natural ampitheatre with Duke's parents. It was raining so it made the red rock really colorful - so pretty!

On Monday, Memorial Day, we went to watch the Dodgers and Rockies... the Rockies didn't give a good show that game (lost by more than 10 runs) but, you can't beat a ballpark hotdog, and Of Course, some cotton candy!

( stop eating your hot dog and smile for the camera!)

It was a wonderful weekend that we didn't want to end for a number of reasons! The company was wonderful, the fun we had was immeasurable, and this meant our time in Denver was coming close to an end so we had ALOT of things to do before we left!

Here's to the end of post number 1 of playing catch up... my goal is to post one a day this week (or however long it takes) until I am all caught up!

who has time for Blogs?

2009-07-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I've neglected my blog for quite some time now... life has been busy, and I am on the computer all day everyday and don't care for being on it any longer than necessary, but I'm hopeful to spend some time updating this weekend while Duke studies for all of his exams...

Giving Duke some credit

2009-05-13T20:35:00.001-07:00

Okay - so after my post below about Duke's knowledge on purses, I have to give him some credit. He purchased this purse for me - I was very surprised "I thought you needed a not so dressy purse too" he said :) Not bad, huh?! A Puma purse for the casual days, I've already worn it a few times... nice work, Duke!

What's wrong with this picture times 2??

2009-05-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, one year later, I have lost my toe nail AGAIN.... Got munched at my soccer game. (be grateful, I edited my toe where the toenail used to be before I posted it so it didn't look so gross!) lol - I'm sure you wanted to see this again.

New Purse - likey or no likey?

2009-05-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

OK, so I got this new purse... and, I don't think Duke is a great judge of good purses, but I may be wrong. He said "I like it if you like it!". So, I'm posting to see what you think. Maybe the picture doesn't do it great justice, it's a shiny material. I loved it when I first found it. What do you think?

Oh yeah, this will count as my tag, Kadie!

Springtime in Colorado

2009-04-18T08:33:00.001-07:00

Yes, we were hit with another spring snow storm! The snow was super wet and great for snowballs and snowmen. Here's a few pics of the fun...

This was after our first attempt to build the seven footer. We got three of the mounds of snow on top of each other, then as I was adding snow to it, it decided to topple ON TOP of me! I thought I was going to die... it was way heavy! I survived...few!

We made a snowman and a snow dog... were soaking wet by the time we finished and then settled down for some hot chocolate!

I Love Birthdays!

2009-04-08T20:17:00.001-07:00

I absolutely love to celebrate birthdays! Duke's birthday is tomorrow. I've reminded him every week for a month now that his birthday is getting closer and closer, and now it's here tomorrow! The funniest thing about shopping for presents and hiding them in my apartment, is we don't have many places to hide things. SO, I had something coming in the mail, and the first temptation for Duke was that he had to resist looking in the closet where they put our delivered packages. You know when there is a package because they put a yellow post-it on the door. Then, I brought something home when I came home from work, with no where to put it, so I put it on the extra bed with my coat over it and said "DON'T YOU DARE LOOK UNDER IT!!!" As far as I know, he's been compliant :) It's been there for a couple of days...Not very nice huh?! The surprise will be revealed tomorrow :) Who else can't wait! lol

Snowboarding at Copper Mountain

2009-04-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago Duke and I went snowboarding at Copper Mountain. The mountains in Denver have been getting an incredible amount of spring snow, it was so much fun! Duke and Brad decided to take Me and Carena to the back part of the mountain to board down the Bowls. We finally make it back there and get to the top to find out that they are DOUBLE BLACK DIAMOND runs... yikes! On the way up the lift, the guys noticed the Cat and it was taking people up to the top of a different Bowl. Of course we get over there, and this is the encouraging sign at the entrance to the line....

I'm by no means an "expert boarder"!!! It did have me quite worried! You can see the Cat in the background. After waiting about 45 minutes, we finally made it on the Cat. We were sure that once the Cat dropped us off, we would be ready to drop into the Bowl, BUT, little did we know we were going to have to hike up hill for 15 minutes before we could drop in! Duke and Brad didn't give Me and Carena a chance to change our minds... as soon as we were off the Cat, they took off with our boards up the mountain. (which I am so thankful for it was so tiring without the board in my hands!)

We made it up, and this is the result....

Two dead girls from the tiring hike in super high elevation! It took us a few minutes to recover, but we finally did. It was so beautiful - awesome views, you could see for miles!

Duke and Brad went a little further and left me and Carena to drop in the bowl by ourselves. We took a little longer than the boys to make it out.... we were having so much fun making our own fresh tracks in the powder, we just wanted to enjoy it as long as we could!

The boys were nervous that they were going to be in trouble when we got down since we took so long, but we had a blast and it was worth the hike!