In Case You Were Wondering...

This is what I look like after my Doctor decides to shoot lazerbeams at my birthmark!

At least it gave Jay an opportunity to use his Dr. Evil impression!

Columbus Day Weekend on the Farm!

It's a tradition. We always go to Jess & Pete's farm for Columbus Day. We ride horses (well, I just watch) and have a huge bon-fire and just laugh and chat and laugh!

Here's Becky and Laura on their horsies. Thea May gets a horse ride.

Chloe and Hannah know how to get their horses ready to ride!

Bed-head Thea! Actually, it's helmet-head Thea!

Since I'm the only one who won't ride a horse, this is my annual picture with a horse!

Thea and Auntie Becky!Uncle Danny and Thea

We got to meet Kathy, the biggest horse on the farm! She is huge!!!!!

Our K-k-k-k-kitchen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Slowly, slowly, slowly Jay and I are starting to move into our new home. It's been three months and I'd say that we've only moved into 35% of our home. It's going to be a slow process because I'm not good with drastic change and like to take things wicked, wicked slow. One place that we've totally made ourselves at home is the kitchen.

Since some very important people in my life haven't seen our new digs (through no fault of their own - it all comes back to my neurosis), I figured I'd give you a tour!

Here's the kitchen table area. The light fixture and curtains came with the house -they will change eventually.
Here's a wider shot. The door leads to a three-season porch, or sun-room, that we use as a garage for 2 motorcyles, my bike, the recyling, and other assorted crap. Eventually we will put a new outdoor/indoor rug and the wicker furniture set my mom got us.
Here are the cupboards that we keep our plates, bowls, and serving dishes in. You can kind of see our Fiesta Ware peeking out 'cause Jay doesn't know how to shut cupboard doors (but I still love him!).

Here's the opposite wall. The blue countertop is original and has a funky boomerang pattern. The tiles have GOT TO GO and they will eventually. I like having a wall oven - much easier to see and use. Cupboards are used for pots/pans and pantry/spices.

This is to the right of the oven. You may be wondering what this is all about....

It's the laundry area and junk closet - don't look at all the crap in there. Just imagine that it is nicely organized and that you are impressed. But it is nice to have this on the first floor instead of in the basement. Also, this is directly below our bedroom closet and Jay's going to put in a laundry chute!

This pic shows the layout a little better. Notice the fire extinguisher on the far wall - Jay quizzes me every few weeks on the locations of our fire extinguishers. He's weird about that crap.

This is across from the washer/dryer closet. You can kinda see the sun room out the windows.

And here is our kick-ass fridge. It has the freezer on the bottom which is kinda neat. The granite-top table to the right of the fridge will be going as soon as we find something smaller to take it's place. The door to the left of the fridge goes to Jay's lair (the basement).

Here are a couple of full length shots. And don't get too jealous of the brick -it's fake. Jay got this stove all hooked up and working. He even made the hearth pad under it and re-lined the chimney! We've had a couple small fires just to make sure it works and it does!

And then there is this. Some of the 65% of the house we don't use. Our poor dining room area has been used as a catch-all for the past three months. Eventually we'll put down a rug and get a table and chairs, but for now - this is it!

Honeymoon - Bryce Canyon National Park

We headed to Bryce Canyon National Park after Arches (I'll post pics of Arches later). I loved Bryce - I think it was the most beautiful place we went.

We had to drive through more tunnels to get there.

We did the Queen's Garden/Navajo Loop and it was amazing. It was sunny, warm, surreal scenery, and challenging with a ~1,000 foot decline and then incline down and up the canyon.

Heading down...

That's where we're headed.

Isn't it just beautiful - again, the pictures do not do it justice.

More tunnels! There were a few of these on the trail.

Queen of the World!

Heading back up - this was a trip!

Half-way there...

But still a long way to go...

Almost there...

And we did it!

View from the top

Beyond beautiful!

Honeymoon - Mesa Verde National Park

After the train ride, we rode over to Mesa Verde National Park and spent some time being amazed at the Cliff Dwellings. Native Americans lived there around 1200AD. Here are some pics:

Huge butte while driving to Mesa Verde.

The first of many mountain tunnels - at home our tunnels go under the sea!
And we saw a coyote!

Here's Jay on top of the world. Elevation at Mesa Verde is pretty damn high - about 10,000 feet. Jay did get a little altitude sickness, but water and rest made him feel better.

Me - no altitude sickness (I rock!).

This is the Spruce Tree Cliff Dwelling. It is the most accessible and Jay and I walked down, down, down to see it.

Here's Jay checking it out.

This is where they would grind their maize, or corn for the lay-people.

And here's the kiva, where ceremonial and important occasions took place.

Here we are in front of the Spruce Tree House.

Okay, this might be hard to see (if you click on the photo, it usually gets bigger), but...see that arch in the cliff? Right under it is a cliff dwelling! How did people live here? And why?

To put it in perspective - that same arch is in this picture, on the left side.
Here's another one that is easier to see - you can see the windows. This was called the House of Windows.

And one more - right under the overhang (click on picture to see it better). It was amazing. I wish I took pictures of the museum we went into - they've found tons of artifacts in these dwellings - and there are thousands of these dwellings in the area!

Jay and I did the Balcony House tour. It was very, very cool - but also very, very scary. We started on top of the cliff (above the cliff dwelling) and the Ranger led us down a steep trail and stairs until we were below the dwelling. From there we climbed a 30 foot wooden ladder - scary!

And entered the dwelling. Here we had a nice Interpretive program (that's what I do for my job, so that was a different kind of fun for me!).

Then we had to crawl through a dark, small 12-foot long tunnel on our hands and knees. Here's Jay's bum going through!

We had to climb more ladders, then scramble across the face of the cliff where there were hand and foot holds chipped into the rock, and then another ladder!

Here's the view down once I got to the top! This is when Jay started feeling the altitude so I stopped taking pictures and we headed down to flatter ground! Next edition: Arches National Park!