Springtime beauty

Late spring afternoon

Sunset starting to set over the Monument.

View from the hot tub grotto.

Little Kitty totally photo bombed this one.

Gateway, Highway 141, Hanging Flume

 View off the side of Highway 141 toward Gateway.

 The Dolores River with the Hanging Flume on the right cliff bank. It's about half way up. Here's a detail:

Night view of our backyard

Hanging in our hot tub with friends. A great way to spend a Friday night.

View of the hot-tub grotto from the second-story deck.

2009: A recap odyssey

As I sit here attempting to sum up this year, 2009, I'm overcome by a few strong sensations.

First is happiness. I have two really good jobs that I really like (I never really understood that idea of working at a job that made you unhappy), a devoted husband (again never understood staying with someone who didn't make you happy), a stepson of which I'm immensely proud and a daughter who blows my socks off in oh-so-many ways.

This also extends to the fact that my mom is now living with us. But that happiness is clouded, of course, by the stupid cancer that has tried — without success, I might add — to take her down.

Honestly, my mom's illness, coming on the heels of my dad's death two years ago, was initially devastating. I remember crying on the phone to my brother and asking, "Why is this happening to us?"

I now realize that sometimes sucky things just happen. You can either sit back and let the sucky things make your life suck or pick yourself up and get busy living.

And that's just what we did.

I wanted to include a few pictures from 2009 showing the places we visited and that stuff we did, but it turns out we had a really kick-booty year. I had a hard time narrowing it down. So without further ado, here's a kajillionty photos I'd like to title:

The stuff we done did in 2009

We climbed Mt. Garfield.



Skied at Powderhorn.



We celebrated Easter with my co-workers here at The Daily Sentinel.



My band, Riveter, opened for Bret Michaels.



I saw my beloved stepson, Sean, graduate from Palisade High School.



We hiked to Hanging Lake near Glenwood Springs.



Saw my daughter turn 9 years old.



We stood on the Four Corners Monument.



Visited the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco.



Climbed the ancient steps to the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde.



Bill and I got to see our president speak on health care reform.



Took a motorcycle ride through scenic Gateway Canyon.



Visited the museums of our nation's capitol.



And I started the long and painful journey of getting a giant tattoo on my back.



Phew! Just thinking about it makes me exhausted ... and excited to see what 2010 has in store.

Happy New Year to all!

Melissa's lovely paintings

Friends = awesomeness

These are our lovely friends, Jeff and Melissa. Jeff (aka Yuppie Jak) is a member of Jak's Skateboard "Team" (I use the word "team" loosely — very loosely) along with punk-rock legend Bill Halen (aka Jak's team legend Bill Halen).

Saturday, Bill and I took a few hours from our family situation in Denver to visit with Yuppie Jak and his uber-awesome lovely.

They took us to an amazing French restaurant, Bistro Vendome where we shared orders of mussels and pomme frites that were so good, I wanted to move in and dine exclusively on them forever.

Even though they were preparing to hike one of Colorado's famous 14ers the next day, they graciously ate and drank with us and we happily accompanied them in some pre-hike shopping (Hello REI, thanks for the smashing deal on skis and bindings for Margaret).

We ended our visit by viewing Melissa's show of paintings. I really enjoyed Melissa's paintings, as they're crisp details of cuteness work on a sophisticated level.

Looking at art is one of my most favorite things to do ... right next to visiting with awesome friends.

Mystery photo

I'm just now uploading pictures taken from our trip to California. While out west, Bill and I made a trip to San Francisco for Bill's skateboard "team" reunion.

I can't remember where I took this picture. I think it was a bathroom. I could be wrong. But I know that I must've been interested in the no-crawling-on-your-hands-and-knees-while carrying a cup-(or-some-other-cup-shaped-thing) sign and was glad that they didn't have the rule at Quincy's.

Also, what is up with the no babies sign. I mean really.