Old Dog... New Tricks

Turns out, you CAN teach them! Michael was determined, and by george, I think he's got it!



Now let's see if he can do it while juggling. :)

Michele

Autumn in the Mountains

When my parents were here, we took a drive up toward Mount Evans - we couldn't go all the way up because it was already closed. But we went as far as Echo Lake, and it was SO GORGEOUS... the Aspens were a beautiful golden color, and they surrounded us on all sides. At times, we even went through a golden canopy. I was driving and didn't take the time to snap any photos... but I wish I had.

Maddox and I took that same drive about 3 or 4 days later and because we had a couple days of wind, a lot of the leaves had already been blown off those beautiful trees. But I took some photos anyway, and learned a lesson or two about snapping photos at the very moment you see something beautiful. Because if you wait too long, the beauty fades! (hmmm, sounds about like life, doesn't it?!)

Anyway, let me take you on a drive up to Echo Lake...




And here we are at Echo Lake...


Now we'll continue on down toward one of my favorite towns, Idaho Springs, where you can see this charming water wheel.

Take notice of how the gentleman remained healthy. ;)

It was so cold this particular day, that the waterfall had icicles on it!

And one last shot on the way back home...

...oh, wait a minute... this IS home! This is my own front yard! :)

I'm so lucky.
Michele

An Elk...

...close up.

This was taken on September 8th, RIGHT outside my back door. He was eating the vegetation at the edge of our patio.

Michele

A Pile O' Boys

Michael snapped this one last night and I thought you should see...

That's what you call a pile o' boys! (good-lookin' ones, too!)

Michele

October 11th...

Since I just went back and showed you what August looked like, I feel the need to catch you up to date. This is what we woke up to on this glorious Sunday morning:



Beautiful, isn't it?

Michele

Larry & Dianne's Visit

I just realized that I never got some pictures posted of our wonderful visit with Larry & Dianne this summer! I do apologize! So, let's back up to August when they came...

Of course, we took them to Red Rocks...

And because they were here over Dianne's birthday, I made her some yummy pumpkin bread!

One evening, I caught Maddox with my iPhone. He's become quite the little iPhone pro...

...hmmmm, well, it looks like they ALL caught the bug...

We went on my favorite short hike on 3 Sisters.

If you look closely, you'll see Mason & Morgan up there at the peak. They love to climb the rocks...

As usual, Maddox pooped out, but Papaw Larry was happy to lend a "comfty" (as Maddox puts it) shoulder the rest of the way.

One of the highlights of their visit was our drive up Mount Evans... it's not far from our house and it's absolutely BREATHTAKING! This first shot is of the beautiful Echo Lake, which is at the base of Mt. Evans - the elevation here is around 10,000 feet.

After a long and treacherous drive... and I DO mean treacherous!! That road winds all over the place withOUT any railings... anyway, after our treacherous drive, we finally made it to the peak - 14,130 feet!

It was C-O-L-D and W-I-N-D-Y up there too!! We probably would've stayed and looked around longer, but we were all freezing!

The mountain goats were plentiful up there...


Look at this one below... he's saying, "gee, it sure is a long way down!"

And just to prove how high we were, here is the local warning sign:

On the way down, we stopped at Mount Goliath National Park, where you can see beautiful bristlecone pine trees - one of which is over 1500 years old!



This is the place where I took that gorgeous photo that I turned into a postcard:

It was a wonderful visit! I'm sorry I didn't share it with you sooner!! ...Dad & Dianne, y'all come back any time!

Michele

My New Secretary!

A little over a week ago, Michael and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary. I must say, he went ALL OUT this year! I had seen a gorgeous antique wood secretary at a local shop a month or so ago and kept teasing him that I would love to have it - I really did want it, but I knew full well that it was way out of our price range.

Well... my wonderful husband surprised me on our anniversary and brought it home!

Oh, just look how gorgeous it is!! Here... take a closer look at that wood.

It's made by Theodore Alexander with antique wood from Castle Bromwich, in England.

...and here is the inside:

Wow. Nothing says "I love you" quite like a gorgeous new secretary! (wait a minute... that didn't sound right...)

Michele