Are we on vacation?

At times it seems as though we are on vacation, although the five day work week gets in the way.  Colorado is so beautiful.  A simple drive toward the West (that's looking towards the mountains) can be breathtaking and almost surreal. The following are pictures of things we've done just in the past month.  

Our great friends, the Kief's, invited us to Telluride for our first weekend in Colorado.  About a seven hour drive,  but totally worth it!  Telluride is amazing! 

What do you get when a lawyer and financial planner get together...a great pair of guys! 

Ahh, how cute! 

This was a surprise.  We were walking and saw, trees, trees, and then...hello waterfall. 

Why would Brian not climb a rock?

When we got to the top we both still couldn't believe that this state is our new home. 

A view from the top where Brian "works out."  I don't join these, I'm a little slow. Brian and some coworkers race up to the top after work and come down all before the sun sets.

Leave it to Brian to find somewhere to go wake boarding. It's a private lake with AMAZING views.  Pictures can't do the views justice.   If you look carefully, you can see the mountains in the background. 

Even Maui has found her favorite spot.  The local dog park has a little tiny lake.  A perfect place for her to jump in and fetch tennis balls. 

We were just driving home and were in awe of how beautiful the sky looked. 

Me at the beginning of the hike with my 100 ounces of water camelpak. 

We set up a mini tri-pod to take our photo, yea we need more practice. 

We were excited of the possibilities of seeing bears or bobcats...then the reality of actually seeing one made me a little nervous. Apparently at my new school.  My principal explained to me that we have lock downs sometimes.  I thought to myself, oh we had those...then he mentioned it was for bear or bobcat sightings.  OH MY! 

Even with her water bottle, she was EXHAUSTED toward the end.  She would go ahead, find shade, and wait for us to catch up.  

We thought these looked very tropical for the mountains. 

On our way back down, notice how my purple shirt is gone.  It was so hot and like Maui I was exhausted.  I need to get into Colorado shape, fast!  

This hike was a breeze for Brian. 

Another hiker was kind enough to take our picture.

After work, we decided to go skiing.  Brian brought out his slalom ski and I brought out the fancy camera.  Just like ski team days! 

Of course he still had to finish the day with his wake board. 

One weekend we were invited along to go on a rafting trip, heck yea!! We brought our own booties, really regretted not bringing our own wet suits, these were kinda stinky. 

 So far we are having a blast!  Too bad, work gets in the way of our fun.  We can't wait to see what new adventures await! 

Number 3

Brian and I recently celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary and we are currently in our 3rd home!

We were so excited about our first home, why?  Well, it was our first home as man and wife.  Our apartment was filled with our new wedding presents and we quickly filled it up with items we were fortunate enough to purchase with money we had gotten from the wedding.   It was so much fun shopping for things for our new home.  Two years later we purchased a house.  That too was awesome.  We finally had our OWN house and could do whatever we wanted with it.  We enjoyed thinking about the possibilities of our home. 

Now we are in our 3rd home. This time Brian and I are renting a house.  For the first time, we are not as excited.  We know what it is like to own a home and we miss it so much.  It's been frustrating not being able to update many things in the house.  For now, it makes the most sense since we are new to the area and the houses are RIDICULOUSLY more expensive in Colorado than in Texas.  One thing we do love is the location, we love being so close to everything. For now we are happy in our temporary home and looking forward to our own home with hopefully bigger closets and kitchen! Here is a peak of our house, but if you want to see more...well you'll just have to come visit!

This is a tri-level house, which we are actually really liking.

A view from the front door

The master bedroom, Maui has her bed beside ours.

A guest bedroom, aka the sports room. The closets are filled with ski clothes, shoes,  wet suits, etc. 

His and her, wake boards, snowboards,  and shot guns! Oh, and of course the wake skate and slalom ski.

Another room, we call this the...we don't know what to do with this stuff so we''ll put it here room.

Our TV room, notice our new 51" TV with wifi bluray player, no big deal! 

Living room with our painting made especially for us from our friend, Erica. 

A view of our backyard from the kitchen, we LOVE the trees. 

Where can you find these? In our backyard! 

Randomly growing in the backyard. 

The new gaming closet, needs more games! 

The office, you can also find Brian's closet here.  We have too many clothes. 

Kitchen, at least it has good counter space.

We are so lucky!

 When Brian and I first moved to Dallas, we didn't really have a lot of friends.  We of course had our old college friends Arseli, Brandon, and Parrish. But as time went by we branched out and met new people, thank you Arseli for being our social butterfly.  In time we had our close group of friends.  These people are the most amazing people one could ever met.  These are the sort of people that will do anything for you.  That will support you and be there for you.  These people are hard to come by.  

We are so lucky to have these amazing friends in our lives.  One of the biggest downfalls of moving was being so far from our friends.  Our last few days in Dallas with our friends were so special!  

MAK, Mueller, Ars, and Kief...we'll be together again soon!

The BFFs moved!  When Arseli and Stephanie moved out of Dallas, I felt so alone.  Then when Brian moved up to Colorado, oh wow...I had never felt so lonely.  But in time I realized, I'm not alone, I have the most amazing girlfriends!  They are the ones that kept me strong while my husband was away.  They are the ones that made sure I went out and didn't stay home alone with Maui.  They were the ones that were there for me with open arms when I had a bad day and just needed a hug.   The nine months I spent alone were possible because of these group of girls!  I am so thankful to have met them and it makes me so sad when I think about being so far away from them.  What I do know is that just like my BFFs, it doesn't matter how far away you are, these are the type of friends that last a lifetime and will continue to be by my side not matter what! 

The girls and I went to Kelly's for our final dinner.  They surprised me by all wearing black since they were in morning. They had a big heart cut in half to show that their hearts were broken and each one gave me a black balloon.   

My work spouse and partner in crime, Kristin Ransom.  She was the reason I really enjoyed my job!  She was my assistant team leader but most importantly an amazing friend! She's always stood by me, literally.  During our Warrior Dash Race, she wouldn't leave me.  "C'mon Mueller, you can do it!"

We were trying to hold back our tears during at last adventure together! 

The most amazing friends and family!!! Everyone traveled from near and far to join us for our last Dallas Party.  We couldn't ask for a better bunch! 

The clouds are beginning to break!

A few days after Maui's vet visit we were told the final verdict, a metal plate would need to be surgical placed in her right shoulder. Without this surgery, Maui would not be able to walk. Being that she is not even two, the vet said this would be the best to get her back to her old self again.

Maui is truly loved. She received care packages. My kids wrote her get well cards. Brittany's kids even made her a get well poster.

Maui's care package from the Mueller's.

Maui's care package from the Strohecker's. Mrs. Strohecker personally delivered this herself at my school. I almost burst into tears from gratitude. So many bad things had been happening that to have someone personally bring you something brought me great joy.

Maui's was doing okay, she quickly learned how to walk around on three legs.

Right before her surgery Brian's mom got Brian a plane ticket to Dallas. I guess we both sounded miserable. Having him around was wonderful. We got so much done...

Brian took out our dead tree. Thank you HOA for pointing it to me!

We planted a lovely new tree which hopefully won't die. And after a long day's work, we of course had to venture out to Dallas' newest finest eating establishment, oh yes, In-Out Burger! Mmmmm!

Monday, May 16th, the day of Maui's surgery, it also happened to be the day my BFF, Arseli was coming back to the states.  I had taken the day off, family illness. I dropped of Maui early in the morning. She was not happy that I was leaving her at the vet.  I then drove 6 hours, yes, you read correctly...6 HOURS to Kansas to pick up Arseli.  Man, I sure am a great friend.  The Air Force being the Air Force decided to take their time in letting her off of the cargo plane so I wasn't going to be able to pick up Maui.  My work spouse, Ransom was able to help me out and pick her up.  Due to wonderful technology I was able to be put on speaker phone so the vet could let me know what I needed to do for Maui for a speedy recovery.

As we were driving and thinking to myself, because my wonderful co-pilot Arseli crashed as soon as we hit the road, I received a text from Ransom showing me how Maui was looking.  Arseli awoke and looked at it first.  Arseli said, "Now don't freak out, it's only temporary..."

"Ahhh!"   My heart sunk, poor Maui looked HORRIBLE!! She looked so sad and helpless.  I tried to get back home as fast as possible.  Luckily,  our house wasn't too far from Oklahoma.  We finally made it home.  My poor puppy was in so much pain.  Plus, we had to be very careful with her and let her jump or even walk around.  The vet basically said she was on "bed rest" for the next 4 weeks.  Full recovery time was 6-8 weeks!!  Well, needless to say I did not return to work the next day.  I just couldn't leave Maui all my herself. She had one heck of a battle wound.

 I don't normally dress her up in dresses, but that scar looked awful, so I ended up buying a lovely summer dress.

Maui spent her last few weeks in Dallas inside the house being loved and spoiled!