Dianna, Heath, and Julie all came up for a visit this last weekend. It's been quite a while since they came up to Fort Collins to see me and Kate...at least since last spring! We had to do some shuffling since last time they were here Kate was still living in her rented house with plenty of room for guests. I let them have the real bed in my bedroom and slept on the futon in the office. It all ended up working out.
They got in late on Friday. I made some of my tortila soup for them but it was mostly Kate and myself that ate it. In truth, they were all pretty tired and Heath and Julie went almost straight to bed. Dianna stayed up a bit to play games and chat with me and Kate.
On Saturday, we rather bustled about. We had a light breakfast (though Julie didn't eat much the whole day) and went out for some shopping. Kate and I wanted to show them some of our favorite kid's stores around Fort Collins so we stopped at Children's Mercantile Company in Old Town, Once Upon a Child, and a locally owned shop called Harmony Kids. In the end, Julie ended up with more stuff, including some dinosaur socks and new jammies. Heath and Dianna bought us lunch at Arby's and we headed home to put Julie down for her nap.
We passed the afternoon playing games, including Quiddler (Dianna won one game and Kate the other), Boggle (Kate cleaned house, as usual), and Scene It (Dianna left us in the dust). As you can see, the womenfolk dominated. Heath put in a good showing for us men but I was a disgrace. ;-)
Kate baked a ham with pineapples, some potatoes au gratin (from a box!), and steamed some frozen veggies for dinner. It was kind of tricky getting Julie to eat - probably the strange surroundings were distracting. We put Julie to bed and were getting started on another game when the poor thing woke up crying - sounded like a nightmare or something. Heath and Dianna called the night short to take care of the little one and Kate and I soon retired as well.
Sunday was a little slow to start - we all overslept. We ended up making a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon, omelets, and cinnamon rolls. After breakfast, Dianna, Heath, and Julie headed back down to the Springs and Kate and I left for church. That left us plenty of time to relax a bit before our local friends showed up that evening for seafood pasta and ice cream cake - in celebration of our friend Dawn's 29th birthday.
Fun weekend, but now I don't really want to go to work. I need a day to recover from my time off! ;-)
Monday, January 24, 2005
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Kate Has a Gown
Big news on the wedding plans front! Kate found and bought a wedding gown for herself yesterday!
Our supervisor at the Fort Collins Library Lynda had clued Kate in to a shop at the Loveland Factory Outlet mall that was clearing out their supply of wedding dresses for 50%-75% off. Kate skipped going out on Saturday, figuring it would be a zoo on the weekend, but stopped by yesterday morning to have a look.
She wasn't expecting much. She tried on several dresses, including one that matched a design that she had already envisioned. She didn't like any of those. Instead, she fell in love with the first dress she tried on. Now, I haven't actually seen the dress yet but Kate gave a few descriptions. It has just enough "poof" for her and she told me that now she understands when women say a bride's gown makes them feel like a princess. :-)
Our friend Tammy took off early from work yesterday to go back down to the outlet mall with Kate before Kate had to scuttle off to work. Kate really wanted a second opinion on the dress before she bought it and Tammy has done a little seamstress work on her own so she'd know if alterations would be complicated. It turns out that Tammy approved of the choice so Kate bought the dress then and there. Tammy and Bill are holding on to the gown for now at their place but supposedly I'll get a chance to see it this weekend.
However, I'm not allowed to see my future bride in the dress...not until the wedding day. :-)
Kate is very happy. And I mean really happy! This was a big decision that she knew she'd have to make and she was imagining a long and tedious process before she found a dress that she'd like. But no! On her first excursion, she finds exactly what she wants.
And I couldn't be happier for her. I can't wait to see her in the gown...because it means that she's about to become my wife. ;-)
Our supervisor at the Fort Collins Library Lynda had clued Kate in to a shop at the Loveland Factory Outlet mall that was clearing out their supply of wedding dresses for 50%-75% off. Kate skipped going out on Saturday, figuring it would be a zoo on the weekend, but stopped by yesterday morning to have a look.
She wasn't expecting much. She tried on several dresses, including one that matched a design that she had already envisioned. She didn't like any of those. Instead, she fell in love with the first dress she tried on. Now, I haven't actually seen the dress yet but Kate gave a few descriptions. It has just enough "poof" for her and she told me that now she understands when women say a bride's gown makes them feel like a princess. :-)
Our friend Tammy took off early from work yesterday to go back down to the outlet mall with Kate before Kate had to scuttle off to work. Kate really wanted a second opinion on the dress before she bought it and Tammy has done a little seamstress work on her own so she'd know if alterations would be complicated. It turns out that Tammy approved of the choice so Kate bought the dress then and there. Tammy and Bill are holding on to the gown for now at their place but supposedly I'll get a chance to see it this weekend.
However, I'm not allowed to see my future bride in the dress...not until the wedding day. :-)
Kate is very happy. And I mean really happy! This was a big decision that she knew she'd have to make and she was imagining a long and tedious process before she found a dress that she'd like. But no! On her first excursion, she finds exactly what she wants.
And I couldn't be happier for her. I can't wait to see her in the gown...because it means that she's about to become my wife. ;-)
Monday, January 10, 2005
It's a New Year
Welcome to 2005! The last year was pretty good for me, especially because it closed with Kate agreeing to marry me! ;-) Here's hoping that 2005 has it's fair share of good times as well.
Interesting that I've already managed to forget to post on my blog after only having it for a month or so. Pff. Oh, well.
The holidays were great...very relaxing. The day of our flight to Washington was a little off. Kate and I were running late heading down from Fort Collins and the cold and ice on I-25 wasn't helping matters much. On the north side of Denver, I hit a patch of "black ice" and slid off the road! Our angels were working overtime thankfully, and I managed to keep the Explorer under control enough that we only steered into the ditch between lanes. I didn't hit anyone and the car was still upright. A little work while in 4WD and we made it out of the slippery slope.
Next we braved thoroughly indecent lines at DIA and ended up missing our flight. They had started calling forward folks that hadn't missed the 45-minute cut-off for checking bagagge; if they had started doing that maybe fifteen minutes earlier, we might have made the flight. Oh, well, I couldn't hardly blame the DIA employees; they were really looking frazzled and were obviously trying to do their best to get as many people to their flights as possible. I was rather disturbed at how many of my fellow travelers were downright hostile to this poor airport workers. It made me thankful for the job that I have; after all, I could be working the airport!
We managed to get transferred to a connecting flight on Delta (rather than United) that evening at 8pm (since we missed our 11:45am flight). Kate, Emily, and I spent long hours in lines and just sitting...so much so that by the time we boarded the plane, I was too tired to be anxious about flying! ;-) Oh, on that note, I'd like to say that the flight from Denver to Salt Lake City and connecting flight to Pasco, WA, was the smoothest I'd ever had! Thanks to the nice people from Delta!
Did I mention the three of us also got tagged for "special" screening while going through security at DIA? That was interesting. I guess I must've looked pretty shady to them with my darkish skin tone and two attractive women at my elbows. ;-) Curious thing: the x-ray and hand inspection of Kate's luggage didn't turn up the full-size scissors and nail clippers that she forgot were still in her carry-on. Oops!
I spent my time in Selah, WA, either reading, sleeping in, or watching Kate's brother Daniel play video games. I'm afraid to admit it, but I have been beaten at Soul Caliber II by a 12 year old. Oh, the shame! Otherwise, the whole trip was quick but very relaxing. I finished three of the books I was trying to finish and got caught up on my sleep. Many thanks to the O'Connells for being so welcoming.
We flew back to Denver, said goodbye to Emily (and her fiance Jason), and drove down to Colorado Springs. We had a little bit of a concern because Kate and I forgot to note down where the Explorer was parked in the paid-parking lot. But angels were with us again and we stumbled into it within five minutes. We got in late to my sister's place and chatted for just a little while before crashing. We spent the next day just hanging out and headed back up to Fort Collins late that night.
Originally, we were going to stay through the morning of New Year's Eve...but since I had a party to prep for, we decided to head back a little earlier. The party was a smashing success, of course. Bill, Tammy, Ron, Dawn, Kate, and myself managed to stay up past midnight and ring in the New Year. We did miss seeing good old Dick Clark on the TV but hopefully we'll see in for 2006. Arne, Jennie, and Liam stopped by for a little while. We played a number of board and card games and drank WAY too much soda and cider. Bill and I stayed up an extra two hours to play Halo 2...and we're pretty sure we're done with XBox games for a little while. ;-)
Kate and I spent the next couple days doing absolutely nothing and then it was back to work!
And that's how I spent my Christmas holiday! :-)
Interesting that I've already managed to forget to post on my blog after only having it for a month or so. Pff. Oh, well.
The holidays were great...very relaxing. The day of our flight to Washington was a little off. Kate and I were running late heading down from Fort Collins and the cold and ice on I-25 wasn't helping matters much. On the north side of Denver, I hit a patch of "black ice" and slid off the road! Our angels were working overtime thankfully, and I managed to keep the Explorer under control enough that we only steered into the ditch between lanes. I didn't hit anyone and the car was still upright. A little work while in 4WD and we made it out of the slippery slope.
Next we braved thoroughly indecent lines at DIA and ended up missing our flight. They had started calling forward folks that hadn't missed the 45-minute cut-off for checking bagagge; if they had started doing that maybe fifteen minutes earlier, we might have made the flight. Oh, well, I couldn't hardly blame the DIA employees; they were really looking frazzled and were obviously trying to do their best to get as many people to their flights as possible. I was rather disturbed at how many of my fellow travelers were downright hostile to this poor airport workers. It made me thankful for the job that I have; after all, I could be working the airport!
We managed to get transferred to a connecting flight on Delta (rather than United) that evening at 8pm (since we missed our 11:45am flight). Kate, Emily, and I spent long hours in lines and just sitting...so much so that by the time we boarded the plane, I was too tired to be anxious about flying! ;-) Oh, on that note, I'd like to say that the flight from Denver to Salt Lake City and connecting flight to Pasco, WA, was the smoothest I'd ever had! Thanks to the nice people from Delta!
Did I mention the three of us also got tagged for "special" screening while going through security at DIA? That was interesting. I guess I must've looked pretty shady to them with my darkish skin tone and two attractive women at my elbows. ;-) Curious thing: the x-ray and hand inspection of Kate's luggage didn't turn up the full-size scissors and nail clippers that she forgot were still in her carry-on. Oops!
I spent my time in Selah, WA, either reading, sleeping in, or watching Kate's brother Daniel play video games. I'm afraid to admit it, but I have been beaten at Soul Caliber II by a 12 year old. Oh, the shame! Otherwise, the whole trip was quick but very relaxing. I finished three of the books I was trying to finish and got caught up on my sleep. Many thanks to the O'Connells for being so welcoming.
We flew back to Denver, said goodbye to Emily (and her fiance Jason), and drove down to Colorado Springs. We had a little bit of a concern because Kate and I forgot to note down where the Explorer was parked in the paid-parking lot. But angels were with us again and we stumbled into it within five minutes. We got in late to my sister's place and chatted for just a little while before crashing. We spent the next day just hanging out and headed back up to Fort Collins late that night.
Originally, we were going to stay through the morning of New Year's Eve...but since I had a party to prep for, we decided to head back a little earlier. The party was a smashing success, of course. Bill, Tammy, Ron, Dawn, Kate, and myself managed to stay up past midnight and ring in the New Year. We did miss seeing good old Dick Clark on the TV but hopefully we'll see in for 2006. Arne, Jennie, and Liam stopped by for a little while. We played a number of board and card games and drank WAY too much soda and cider. Bill and I stayed up an extra two hours to play Halo 2...and we're pretty sure we're done with XBox games for a little while. ;-)
Kate and I spent the next couple days doing absolutely nothing and then it was back to work!
And that's how I spent my Christmas holiday! :-)
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