Hairy Chips

Josh and I attended a co-ed baby shower last weekend for one of his family members. The food served was a buffet of catered BBQ: pork, brisket, and chicken. Beans, macaroni salad, potato salad, and cole slaw. Bread, chips, and dips. My mouth was watering as Josh and I headed to the line.

Right as it was my turn to grab a plate, a girl of about 6 years old leaped in front of me. "I"m really hungry; do you care if I go in front of you?" Of course, go right ahead.

At that same moment, an older boy of about 13 came over to the girl carrying a medium sized, very hairy dog. (He was carrying the dog like a baby, cradled in his arms). The girl reached out and petted, patted, and mauled the dog. I was disgusted.

The girl then started to reach for a plate, but I could see the dog hair all over her hands. Time for me to step in, especially since she was right in front of me.

"Hey, sweetie, you have dog hair all over your hands. Why don't you try to brush that all away before touching anything."

To her credit, she did try. She clapped her hands together and then ran her hands down her wet swimming suit.

She then grabbed a plate and handed it to me. "Here, I got a plate for you."

I inspected the plate for the hair. It seemed clear.

"Here, I got a fork and spoon for you, too." Inspection passed again.

She continued to talk. "I think I'm only going to have chips today. I'm really hungry, and the chips look really good. Are you going to have any chips?"

"Yes, sweetie, I'm sure I'll have some chips. Make sure to only touch the chips you are going to take." In my mind, I pictured her taking her thumb and pointer finger and delicately picking up a few chips, leaving the rest untouched.

"OK," she said as she reached her entire palm into the bucket of chips, touching EVERY. SINGLE. CHIP. in the bowl. All I could think about was the hair on her hands.

She then proceeded to dig her hands into every single chip bowl (five in all). She took a small amount of each chip selection, adding dips to her plate as she moved along.

I decided I could do without chips and gave myself a giant helping of pork.

I Am...

I am...rested. What a difference two months makes. I have no schedule, I can sleep when I want, and I am refreshed for this upcoming school year.

I am...caught up on my all my TV shows. During the school year, I have very little time to watch TV, but thank goodness for my DVR! I am all caught up and ready for the new seasons to begin.

I am...a reading machine. I have lost count, but I have read more books this summer than I ever have before!

I am...looking forward to returning to work. Don't get me wrong, I love my time off, but I am starting to miss my kiddos and miss seeing my dear friends every day.

I am...tan. Bike riding has definitely helped with my tan, and I am proud to say that my friend Liz has made it her goal to be as tan as me by the time school starts.

I am...looking forward to the Olympics. While the opening ceremonies were quite disappointing last night, I have been already been glued to the TV this morning watching all the events.

I am...annoyed with Comcast. Problem after problem has arisen, I have been charged far more than I was supposed to, and more phones calls have been placed to Comcast this summer than anyone else.

I am...a bit tired of the extreme heat.

I am...loving the cooler evenings we've been having.

I am...craving Thai food. My favorite!

I am...loving the summer fruits and veggies, specifically, peaches. I LOVE peaches so much, and they have been so big and delicious. I can't get enough.

I am...grateful for my family, boyfriend, and friends. What amazing people I have in my life.

A New Friend

Those who know me know I don't like dogs. In fact, I find them quite disgusting. Especially the small ones. The ones with goup in their eyes. The ones that drool. The ones that shed. The ones that bark. The ones that jump. The ones that lick. (Doesn't that pretty much sum up ALL dogs?)

I am pleasant around them, especially when I'm around dog lovers. I have never been rude about it (even though I find it incredibly rude for the owners to allow slobbering, licking, and jumping on anyone other than themselves). I put on a pleasant smile and just don't touch the dogs. On the inside, however, I am crawling.

Despite my dislike for dogs, dogs LOVE me. That is not an exaggeration. Any dog, anywhere, anytime, will run up to me. They will jump, lick and beg for attention. They will sit on my lap if I dare sit down. They will beg to be loved. Most dog owners will say something to me like, "Oh, my dog loves you. You've got that special touch." I smile, try not to touch the dog, and try to walk away (as the dog follows me). They sense that I don't like them, and they beg even more for affection.

My friend, Liz, has a wiener dog. He's actually one of the dogs I find cute, and I don't mind him that much. She has brought him to school on several occasions, and while I have never gone out of my way to pet him, nor do I avoid him, I have always been nice to Sully. When I go to her house, I say hi to Sully and have even petted him a few times (usually with just one finger to avoid all the germs and hair).

Recently, Liz came to my house for pool day. Josh was here (Liz and Josh have become good friends), and they were joking around about dogs. I was off to the side listening (because I have no input about dogs) and Josh says to Liz, "Well you know Shiloh doesn't like dogs, right?"

Nope, Liz didn't know that. I don't blurt out my dislike for them, especially to dog lovers. Like I said, I'm pleasant.

She whipped her head around. I was waiting for the freak out (as most people do who learn I don't like them).

"Oh, that totally makes sense! I wondered because you didn't fall head over heels in love with Sully like most people do. You don't usually pet him, and while he adores you, you just didn't seem that into him. I get it now."

Guess who's going camping with Josh, Liz, and Shiloh this week? Sully!

I guess we'll become friends after all.

Misc Pictures

 My dear friend Abby came for a visit a month ago. I love this girl to death! She has the most amazing husband and probably one of the cutest little boys on the planet. While our time was short together, we were able to get together for a night of food, conversation, and wine. 

Before Abby moved to Kansas, the four of us girls spent a lot of time together. It was fun to remember the "old days". 

Nikki, Kari, Abby, and Me

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Linda, after 25 years of teaching, was finally able to retire. Linda was one of the first people at Chatfield to take me under her wing to become not only a mentor, but a very special friend to me. We will miss her dearly this upcoming school year. 

We (the English department) threw Linda a retirement party, and it was a fabulous night. It was Hawaiian themed, the food was great, and the drinks were flowing. Here are three of my favorite people. 

Linda, Liz, Britt, and Me

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Hayli and I did not like each other when we first met. We both worked at Sonshine World Daycare, and she thought I was a snot and I thought she was a snot. It took almost a full year of not liking each other before we decided to exercise together. We met at Target and went for a long walk and then went shopping after our walk. We were inseparable from that moment on. We discovered that we were both pretty cool. 

We lived together for a couple of years during our college days while continuing to work together at Sonshine World. I was in Hayli's wedding, and then she moved to Omaha and I moved to Denver. She was in Denver this week, so Hayli and I got to see each other for the first time in THREE years. It was so good to spend a few hours with her and catch up on each other. 

 This pictures is not recent, but it's the last picture Hayli and I took together a few years back. She looks the same, and other than my hair color, I look the same. 

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We're not girls if we're not pampering ourselves. So that's what we did. Thanks to a Groupon, four of us girls got a facial one Sunday afternoon. Here, we have chocolate and honey on our faces.

Me, Liz, Erica, and Shannon

July 4, 2012

Monday, Day 1 (July 2)

Less than 24 hours after completing my big bike ride, Josh and I left for camping. Let's just say I could have used one more day of recovery, but I was a good sport and crawled out of bed at 5 a.m. Monday morning so we could get to Glenwood Springs by 9 a.m. Once in Glenwood, we spent a few hours with my aunt and uncle and some other relatives. We get to see this side of the family once a year, so we had a good time catching up on the past year. After spending some time there, Josh and I left to go find our camping spot. We also got groceries and water to last us the week.

We were lucky and got our favorite camp site at the top of McClure Pass, about 30 miles near Carbondale. Josh and I spent the afternoon setting up our campsite. We made dinner, got attacked my flies, flies, and more flies, and then we drove to mom and dad's camper and hung out with them for a couple of hours. It was approaching dark by this time, so we headed back to our tent and called Day 1 a success!

Tuesday, Day 2 (July 3)

We met mom and dad bright and early for a morning of 4-wheeling. We took a four hour loop beautiful countryside.

 We stopped halfway through the ride for a picnic lunch. Josh and I had PB&J, but mom and dad were fancy with......yes, wine.

 Boxed wine. Josh and I had soda.

 We all survived with no accidents.

 Josh and I headed back to our campsite to play with Josh's new toy.

He is pretty excited to go hunting this year to see how his new gun works.

After eating dinner, we went back to mom and dad campsite to find Shannon, Jeff, Case and Siahna had arrived for the week. Since it was hot, we played in the river.

 Man, this water was COLD, but it felt so good after such a  hot day.

 Jeff and Josh started their search for gold. A few slivers were found but not enough to make us rich.

Wednesday, Day 3 (July 4)

The entire crew headed to Aspen for the 4th of July Parade. This has become a tradition, and the kids gather up A LOT of candy (enough to share with the adults).

 Waiting for the parade to start.

 After the parade, we all headed to the Grottos, a picnic area halfway up Independence Pass. The entire family (including the crew from Glenwood) picnic here every year. Here, Jeff and Case are starting their decent into the ice cave.

 Josh and I sitting on top of the ice cave.

 Looking down into the cave at Jeff and Case.

 Family and friends enjoying a cool afternoon at the Grottos.

 Ironically, during the driest summer CO has seen in a long time, it started to rain on us. And rain. And rain. It poured for a couple of hours. Everyone was soaked and cold, so we eventually packed up to head back to Glenwood.

Josh and I hit the hot tub to warm up, and then we spent a couple of hours at my aunt and uncle's house hanging with the family. We drove back to our campsite late that night.

Thursday, Day 4 (July 5)

I don't have any pictures from day 4, but Josh spent the morning fishing while dad and I did some bike riding. We rode from dad's campsite up to the town of Marble. It's only 5.5 miles, but it's all uphill. Dad wanted to prove he can still do it, and I said I'd do it with him. Dad did great!

Mom met up in Marble, and we sat by Josh while he fished. We had a picnic lunch and then spent some time playing in the river looking for more gold.

Later that afternoon, mom and dad, Josh and I drove to Redstone for some ice cream. Yumm. It started to rain and rain and rain, so we sat in the camper and played cards for a couple of hours. Josh and I eventually headed back to our campsite. 

It rained all evening and night. Since we couldn't start a campfire, it was pretty miserable. Josh made this rain cover out of misc. stuff he had in his truck, so we did stay pretty dry underneath his canopy. But it wasn't a very fun night with all the rain.

Friday, Day 5 (July 6)

Josh and I had had enough of the rain. We packed up our campsite and headed back to Denver.

Mom and dad, Shannon and Jeff all stayed for two more days. It rained and rained and rained on them. They even had mudslides where they were, and part of the road closed for a while. Josh and I were glad we still weren't camping in all that rain.

It continued to rain that entire weekend, even down in Denver. We are so thankful for the moisture, but we wish it would have come on a different week when we weren't camping.

I survived four days of camping!

And I'm about to go again next week for four days.

Cow Appreciation Day

Oh, the things I'll do for free Chick Fil A!

I received an email from CFA telling me about Cow Appreciation Day.

Dress like a cow, receive a free meal. Sold!

Josh and I went to Goodwill and found this cow hat. I cut out some spots, put on a white shirt and black shorts, and I looked like a cow.

Now for Josh's outfit.

Nope.

He refused to participate.

So, I drove to CFA dressed as a cow. Upon arrival, Josh quickly jumped out of the car and tried to run away. "There's no way I'm going into the restaurant with you."

I made him hold my hand. The entire time.

I got my free meal, and I wasn't the only adult dressed as a cow.

I'm just so glad I don't live near my school. 

Vail Pass

The family recently headed to Vail Pass to do a little biking (all downhill). It's a fun path that runs from the top of Vail Pass into Silverthorne.

 Case even got some cool gloves to help him bike.

 Case got this cool pull behind that actually had pedals so he could help Jeff. Case had a lot of fun on his new "bike."

Josh had recently bought himself a gold pan, so rather than bike downhill with the family, he went searching for gold.

No gold was found, no bikes were wrecked, and the day ended with some Dam food from the Dam Brewery (and a few Dam beers and a huge plate of Dam Nachos).