Monday, December 8, 2008

Thanksgiving and Stuff

We're still keeping busy! We had one Thanksgiving dinner at Kevin's grandma's house, and another Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house. I made an apple pie and it turned out pretty well! Kevin and I decorated our apartment for Christmas. Our tree turned out pretty well.

Some sad news...Kevin's grandmother (his mom's mom) passed away the Monday before Thanksgiving. We kind of knew it was coming, but it is still pretty hard, especially right before the holidays.

It's snowing like crazy right now. Kevin and I are both kind of hoping for a snow day tomorrow! It's so pretty out!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Fun Fun Fun

Things have been very busy, but we've been doing some fun stuff! Last weekend, my sister and I went to the New Kids on the Block concert in Broomfield. We had gone to a concert when we were little and thought it would be fun to go again. The latest concert was one of the most entertaining concerts I've ever been to. They put on a really great show!

Today, Kevin and I went to go see Twilight. If you haven't read these books, you should! They are very addicting. I absolutely love this series. And I want to go see the movie again. I loved it! And so did Kevin.

It's a short week this week. I only need to make it through 3 days, and then it's a long weekend! I need the break...

Monday, November 10, 2008

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

This weekend, Kevin and I traveled to Iowa Falls, IA to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday. We figured out that she has 6 kids, 15 grandkids, and 11 great-grandkids (so far!). Of all those people, only 3 grandkids were not able to travel this weekend. We got to see my aunts and uncles and cousins and second cousins and great-uncle, etc. It was so fun to see everyone. We don't get to spend very much time with the extended family, so we have to make the best of it when we do get together!

On Friday morning, Kevin and I flew to Omaha, where my parents picked us up. We then drove to Iowa. We stopped in Ames, where Iowa State University it. That's where both my parents and most of their parents and brothers and sisters went. It was fun to visit the campus and see where they used to live.

Then we drove to Iowa Falls, where we had dinner with the family. Then some of us went bowling, which was a blast. I am a terrible bowler! On Saturday, we had a open house for my grandma. There were so many people there! It was really fun. After the open house, a priest came and we had a private Mass for our family. I know that was really special for my grandma. Then we had dinner and went back to the hotel and watched football. There were lots of people cheering for lots of different teams, so it was pretty fun!

We drove home from Iowa to Colorado on Sunday. It was a long drive, but it was short compared to our drive from Texas last weekend!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

11 of 12!!!

As everyone knows, Kevin and I are huge CU Football fans. We have made it our goal to see a football game in all 12 Big 12 stadiums. This past weekend we drove down to Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. We had a great time! Texas A&M is 11 of 12 stadiums for me and 10 of 12 for Kevin. We both still need to go to Oklahoma, and Kevin still needs to go to Iowa State. Here are some pictures from our trip! Even though we lost, it was great to visit a school with some much pride and tradition.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Birthday Fun

So yesterday was my birthday, and I wanted to do something fun that I don't normally get to do. I was debating on taking a nice drive in the mountains, but I ended up deciding that it would be fun to go to the zoo! Kevin took me to breakfast at Village Inn and then we drove down to the zoo. We thought it would just be a leisurely afternoon at the zoo, but then when we got there, we discovered it was "Boo at the Zoo" day. Basically, all the little kids dress up in Halloween costumes and go trick-or-treat around the zoo. The zoo was PACKED! There were so many people there, but seeing all the little kids in costumes was almost as entertaining as seeing the animals (almost but not quite!). They were so cute. Here are some pictures from the day, including some black bears sunning themselves and some snow leopard cubs.We saw this ENORMOUS bison and couldn't resist taking this picture:)

Monday, October 6, 2008

Alumni Band

Every year for homecoming, the CU marching band invites alumni back to participate in Alumni Band. This year was extra special because it was the 100th anniversary of the CU marching band. They had some really fun activities planned for band alumni, and it was a huge celebration. Usually, about 75 alumni show up. This year, we had about 200! It was so great to see so many people I haven't seen in so long. They charted us into the show, so we had to learn a few moves in a very short amount of time. We played one song during halftime and then the alma mater and fight songs. It is always fun to go back and be a part of that experience. I still love the rush of performing in front of 55,000 people!!!
On Friday night before home football games, the band always does a pep rally down on Pearl Street (they call it the Stampede). We went to that, and then they had reserved the back room at Old Chicago for band alumni, so there were a bunch of people there. Saturday morning we had rehearsal and then a lunch was provided. Then was the game. The game was fun, but we lost :(. Oh well, at least we got to see some old friends! Kevin's older sister, Katrina, was in the danceline of the marching band in the early 90's and she came for alumni band. Also, his younger sister, Kassie, is currently in the band. So we had 4 Larsens participating! Sometime we want to get all the Larsen siblings (they were all in the band at one point) and Kevin's dad to go to alumni band. That would be a fun family affair! After the game, the band dept. had reserved the private room at the Dark Horse, so everyone went there. It was a lot of fun, but man, were we tired after the day! So, we slept in on Sunday and took it easy all day. We watched the Broncos win, and then watched a movie. It was a nice, relaxing day.

I kind of started my internship last week as well. I'm working with a close family friend at Ranch View Middle School. I was only there two mornings last week, but absolutely loved it. I can't wait to get more experience and time working with the kids. I'll go back one morning this week, but I will start regular hours the last week of October. Looking forward to it!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Best Time of the Year

It's finally here - our favorite time of the year. That's right, it's College Football season! Even though we're both incredible busy with work and school and high school marching bands, we still find the time to do one of our favorite things - see our CU Buffaloes play football. A couple weeks ago, we went to the Colorado/Colorado State game at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver. My sister, Jill, went to CSU, so there's a nice little family rivalry going on there. Thankfully, the Buffs came out on top!

Last weekend, we saw our Buffs beat Eastern Washington. It was way too close for comfort. Hopefully we'll play better in our next game against West Virginia. That game is next Thursday night and is nationally televised on ESPN. I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun.

Anyways, that's what we're up to!

Monday, August 11, 2008

The Latest

So we have been pretty busy, but not with anything too exciting! After our last post, we were able to go the Mile High Music Festival (day 2), which was AMAZING! We really wanted to see One Republic, but we got stuck in traffic and barely caught the end of their last song. Then we saw Flogging Molly, which was really fun. Yay Irish. Then we saw a local Denver band, the Flobots. They were pretty fun, but way too political for me. Especially since their views were kind of opposite of mine! Then we saw John Mayer (awesome!) and Dave Matthews Band. I've seen Dave Matthews Band 8 times now, and this was by far the best. Absolutely amazing.

Since then, we've just been keeping busy! I've been working hard at work and in school. The CU kids come next week for Orientation, so I'm busy planning orientation and advising the incoming students. Kevin has had band camp for the past few weeks. He will actually have a marching band at Alameda this year, so that's exciting! He's also helping out with Dakota Ridge's band. His first day with students is tomorrow.

Yesterday, I went out to Boulder Reservoir to watch my cousin, Todd, compete in a half Iron Man triathlon. I had hoped it would give me some motivation to work out more, but I think it just made me tired. Swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, run 13.1 miles? YIKES! It was really fun to watch him though. Very impressive. After that, Todd and Liz had everyone over to their house for a BBQ. They had a blow-up water slide, which was pretty much the coolest thing I have ever seen. Those kids were having a blast.

We are really enjoying watching the Olympics! I love the swimming events. Especially because we have an HDTV now and can watch it in HD. Did you SEE the Men's 4x100m free relay last night? That was an amazing race! GO USA!!!!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Moving and ANNIVERSARY!!!!

This past weekend, Kevin and I moved to our new apartment in Westminster. We are very thankful to my parents, and our friends Heather, Jarod, Julie, Courtney, Dave, and Teo for helping us and making the move much less painful! We could not have done it without them!

Sunday was our good friend Heather's birthday. For her birthday, she wanted to go see the USA women's soccer team play against Brazil at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City. It was an Olympic qualifying match. It was HOT outside, but we had a great time, and USA won 1-0.


On Monday, Kevin and I celebrated our one year anniversary! I had already decided to take this week off of work, so we decided to have a fun day to ourselves. We decided to go up to Rocky Mountain National Park and drive up Trail Ridge Road. It had been a very very long time since I have done this, and I'm so glad we did! We got some great pictures of ourselves.

And we saw some wildlife too! Here's a whole elk herd:
And a deer:
And then the coolest one of all:
A MOOSE!!!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

CRAZINESS!

For the 4th of July weekend, we spent it all at weddings. Kevin's best friend, Nathan, got married on Saturday. Kevin was the best man, so we headed up to Estes Park on Friday for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner was at the Lake Estes Marina, so we BBQed and watched the fireworks over the lake. It was fun! Saturday was the wedding, so we arrived at the sight pretty early. It was probably one of the most fun weddings I have ever been to. And I've been to A LOT of weddings recently! They were so happy, and we are so happy for them! Nathan and Jessica are a great couple. Sunday, we helped them load their presents into their car and come back home. Then, we got ready for ANOTHER wedding on Sunday evening. This one was for Kevin's co-worker and our new friends, Jeremy and Nicole. This was also a great wedding. They had an 80's cover band at the reception. It was awesome.

That was our crazy weekend. This week is even crazier. We are moving on Saturday, so we are in the middle of packing and all that stuff. Our apartment is a mess. Moving is stressful enough, but on top of it, I'm still working more than full time this week, going to school full time, and Kevin is painting a house, so he's working 15 hour days! ACK! I'll be glad when this week is over.

We do have some fun things on the horizon though! On Sunday, we are going to see the USA women's soccer team play Brazil, then Monday is our one year anniversary! I'm taking next week off of work to get settled in our new place and relax a bit. If we can just make it through this week...we can do it, we can do it (insert mice singing Disney song here).

Monday, June 30, 2008

NEW CAR!!!


We got a new car!!! We had been talking about it for awhile and last weekend we finally went out looking. We went to the Ford Dealership and got super lucky because they had a used 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid (only 3800 miles on it!). We really wanted a small SUV, and a hybrid would have been great, except there is over a year waiting list on the new hybrids. Apparently, we have great timing and were able to get this used one (which is practically new anyways). AND it's a hybrid and gets great gas mileage. We're pretty excited about it!

Not much else to report! Amy is loving watching the swimming Olympic Trials on TV! We're gearing up for the weekend-of-weddings this weekend.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup 2008

For those who don't know, Kevin's family is pretty huge into Ford Mustangs. Kevin's little sister drives a '67 Mustang, Kevin drives a '67 Mustang, Kevin's dad has a '67 Mustang convertible AND a 2007 Mustang. They are all very pretty cars. Every year, they go up to a Mustang show in Steamboat Springs - the Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup. There are over 550 Mustangs up there. I am not into cars at all, but it really is fun to go up there and see all the cars. This was my third time joining them on their trip. This year, they took the '67 convertible and the 2007 Mustang. Kevin's dad got the CU Buff Club to sponsor the event, so they used their 2007 mustang (which is black with gold stripes) as a "sponsor car". They put the CU magnets on the side. It was pretty neat. They told us to wear CU stuff so we could match the car.
So we drove up to Steamboat Springs on Friday morning. That afternoon, they have an autocross, so basically, they set up a race track in a parking lot. Then the cars drive around the track really fast, racing the clock for the best time. I got to ride with Kevin while he drove a couple times. It is really fun to do that, but it's kind of scary to squeal around those corners so fast! Here is us getting ready to go for our first run:

And here we go!!



The show was on Saturday morning. After we had looked at all the shiny cars, we walked down to the Yampa River, which was running really high! It made me want to go rafting or swimming, or ANYTHING in the water. The water was very cold, probably about 40 degrees!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Still busy

Long time no post! We really do not have a ton to report. Kevin just finished out the school year and is now on summer break. Amy is still working hard in school. After next week, she will only be taking one class at a time. That will be a nice break! She's very excited because she found out where she will be doing one of her internships in fall. I'll be working with a good family friend, Karen Robinson, at Ranch View Middle School in Highlands Ranch, beginning in September or October. I'm so excited. I know that I am going to learn so much from her.

Other than that, Kevin and I have been apartment hunting. We want to move father south so we are in more of a "middle ground" between Lakewood, where Kevin works, and Boulder, where I work. We were also looking to save a bit of money each month, but also get a bigger place. We know that prices go down the farther we get from Boulder. We were trying to find a two bedroom place with a washer/dryer. After having a washer/dryer, I don't think I could part with that luxury. It took a while, but on Saturday we found a place that we love! It's in Westminster, it's a two bedroom, two bathroom place, and is about $100 cheaper a month than we're paying now! We can begin moving in on July 5 (though we'll probably push that back a bit as that is the weekend-o-weddings for us). We're very excited! It's not too far from where we are now, but far enough that it will make a difference.

When we were driving home to our current place from our new place, we passed Rocky Mountain Metro Airport, which is very close to both places. We didn't know it, but there was an airshow going on. The whole car ride home, we were able to watch an F-16 do tricks! It was like a constant flyover. The tricks continued for about an hour. This is a picture I took from our patio. There is an F-16 and an older plane. They were closer than this picture makes it look.
It was a fun treat for our Saturday afternoon! Free tickets to an airshow, and we could watch the whole thing from out patio. Very Cool. Next up: The Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup in Steamboat Springs. We'll be heading up there Friday and Saturday of this week. I'll post pictures soon!

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Family and Friends

Last weekend we traveled to Orlando for Amy's cousin Matthew's wedding. We always have fun hanging out with the family. The cousins always have a good time together. We flew in to Orlando on Thursday evening, and then went out in downtown Orlando that night. That was definitely an experience - much different than going out in CO. Friday, Amy went with her dad, sister, cousin, aunt, and uncle to Cocoa Beach, about an hour drive from Orlando. The beach was amazing, with really warm water and fun waves! Everyone got very sunburned though. Meanwhile, Kevin went golfing with three of Amy's cousins, which he loved. The wedding was on Saturday, and it was a very nice ceremony and reception. It was a short trip to Florida, but we had a great time!

This week was very busy for both of us, so we have enjoyed a nice, relaxing weekend this weekend. Friday, we went to dinner and came home and went to bed (before 10!). Saturday, we slept in and got some stuff done around the house. Then we went down to Highlands Ranch to spend a little time with Amy's parents. After that, we went to Amy's friend Danica's house. She and her family just moved back to Colorado from Idaho, and Amy is so excited that they are back! Danica made dinner for us and we played some games. We were also very entertained by her son, Jensen, who is a very energetic two year old! Her daughter Lily is an adorable little baby. It was very fun to spend time with them, and hopefully we'll be able to do this more in the future! Today we went out to breakfast and then helped Kevin's parents move some stuff out of their townhome. They are getting ready to sell it, so they need to keep it clean now.

The school year is winding down for Kevin, now. His last concert is this week, and then it should be much less stressful for him. Amy is still working hard in school. Now that she is taking two classes at once, she has much less free time. She'll be done with classes sooner, and she is very excited about that!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

RMPA State Championships

So yesterday, Alameda's Winter Percussion ensemble competed at the Rocky Mountain Percussion Association State Championships. There were four schools in their class - Sand Creek, Standley Lake, Glenwood Springs, and Alameda. Three schools would make finals. Here is a video of Alameda's show (during a rehearsal right before finals).


The kids played well during prelims. We discovered that after prelims, Glenwood Springs had a score of 84.20, Alameda had an 81.70, and Sand Creek had an 81.50. So yay! They made finals, but were pretty comforatbly in second place. The kids watched some of the shows and went out to rehearse a bit before finals. They absolutely ROCKED their finals performance. It was by far their best performance of the year! It was so fun to see them play. They knew they played their hearts out. When they announced the scores, they said, "In third place, with a score of 81.15, Sand Creek High School. In second place, with a score of 84.40 (and at this point we all gasped! Our score had jumped almost 3 whole points since prelims!!!) Alameda High School. In first place, with a score of 84.90, Glenwood Springs High School." The kids (and instructors) were THRILLED with their score! They knew they had given it their all and it paid off. So they were all excited, but then they kind of felt weird knowing they were only half a point out of first place. Either way, they were very proud of themselves, and we are so happy for them! They've been through a lot in the last year.

Along those lines, Monday was the anniversary of last year's accident. For those who don't know, last year, on the way to the competition, a band parent was driving the percussion trailer and was in an accident and was killed. Four other people were hospitalized, including several current members. After the finals performance yesterday, the news crews wanted to interview Kevin. Here's a link to the story: http://cw2.trb.com/news/kwgn-alameda-band-crash-year-later,0,2926440.story

These kids really have overcome a lot, and we're all so proud of them! It was a very fun and rewarding day.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Kevin's First Win!!

Kevin celebrated his 24th birthday on Friday. We had a crazy week, so we had a low-key celebration on Friday night. We went to Old Chicago in Boulder so Kevin could finish his third World Beer Tour. His parents and sister came too. The kids at his school found out it was his birthday, so when he left for lunch, he came back and they had decorated the band room and had a little party for him. Every period, one of the choirs would come in and sing "Happy Birthday". The kids were making fun of Kevin for being so young - he's the youngest faculty member at AHS by far, so they gave him some gag gifts - bath fizz, coloring books, and baby shampoo:) Kevin was happy that the kids wanted to celebrate with him.

Saturday, Kevin's Winter Percussion Ensemble competed at the Northglenn Competition at Northglenn High School. These events are run by the Rocky Mountain Percussion Association (State Championships are next week!). This was the first time they performed their entire show for the judges. Their show is a Metallica show - the songs "Fuel" and "One". There were only two schools in their class at this competition - Standley Lake and Alameda. For Prelims, Alameda scored an 80.20. Standley Lake scored an 81.00. Very close! SL has been ahead of Alameda all season, so the Alameda kids were excited and wanted to pass SL. The kids rehearsed all day between Prelims and Finals, and were exhausted by the end of the day. Finals were late that afternoon and both schools had good shows. When they announced all the scores, we discovered that Alameda had passed Standley Lake - 80.30 to 79.90. This was Kevin's first competition win as a director! He's very excited, but mostly he's proud of the kids. They have been through a lot in the last year, and they were so happy. Kevin still wants to better their score for next week championships! There will be four schools in their class, and three make finals, so we think there's a great shot! They have to rehearse hard all week, but hopefully this win will give them the motivation they need. We'll try to get some pictures up next week.

Even though we were exhausted Saturday night, some friends came to Old Chicago for another birthday celebration for Kevin. It didn't last too long! We were pretty tired.

Today, Amy went to the Rockies game with her sister. That was really fun, except they both got sunburned! Extra Crispy. Too bad the Rockies lost, but it was still fun. Kevin went golfing with some friends. Time to gear up for another crazy week!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

"Working"

For the past few weeks, we have both been keeping very busy. Kevin has been working on the musical at his high school. They are performing "Working". The rehearsals kept him busy, but what was really hard is the musical they were performing didn't have any instrumental music parts written out. Kevin spent hundreds of hours listening to the recording and writing out music parts so his students could participate in the musical. He had students who actually wanted to participate, and didn't want to turn them away. He worked very hard, and pulled a few all-nighters. Last night was the final performance. Amy was able to go, as was Kevin's family (his dad and brother were playing in the orchestra too) and Amy's dad. It was fun to see him up there conducting. The orchestra sounded great, and people said it was the best musical Alameda had done in ten years! It was a great experience for everyone, but we're glad it is over so we can actually spend time together again.

Amy is still working hard in school. Her current course will end on Tuesday, and she will start a new class the following week. She is still enjoying her classes, and is looking forward to April, when she will begin taking two classes at once so she can finish sooner. One of our assignments was to interview a school counselor to find out more about the profession. I chose to interview the mother of one of my best friends in high school. So last week I went and interviewed Kimsey's mom. It was great to talk with her and to see her again! Last night, one of the girls in my class had a St. Patrick's Day party, so after the musical I stopped by for a bit. It was fun to hang out with someone new! I love all my friends, but it is nice to meet someone new who wasn't in band! While at her house, I saw a girl that I have known since 2nd grade. I hadn't seen her since high school, but her husband is friends with my friend's husband. What a small world!

As some of you know, Amy has been working hard on her scrapbooking. She has been going in chronological order trying to get caught up to the present. She is very excited that she just finished working on pictures from the trip to Georgia in 2006. Next up is wedding stuff, so she's almost done!!

As you can see, we've been keeping busy! We're looking forward to spring break the week after next. Amy doesn't get any time off, but is probably going to take a couple days vacation from work anyways. We're hoping to get some stuff done around the house and maybe look for a new car!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

February

Wow, February is a crazy month for teachers and college admissions people:). Kevin is busy with his Winter Percussion group at the high school. They had their first performance on Saturday and got some great feedback. They are doing a Metallica show. He is also busy with the musical. Amy has been keeping busy with school and work. Her audition days are finally over and she is looking forward to having a relaxing weekend at home (and not working on Saturday!) and watching the Academy Awards on Sunday. We have a few more weeks of hard work until Spring Break. We received our wedding invitation to Amy's cousin Matt's wedding in Orlando in April, so that is something we can look forward to.

Let us know if you're reading our blog by posting a comment, and also let us know if you have one of your own!

Monday, January 28, 2008

The Places We'll Go...


So as some of you know, our good friends Heather and Jarod and Jess and Jeremy have begun talking about taking a trip this summer - to Peru. I have started looking into this option and am really really excited about the possibility. I think Peru is quickly climbing up on my list of places I want to go. As an archaeology person, I think it would be amazing to see Machu Picchu, Chan Chan, and everything else Peru has to offer. I've been looking online, and saw pictures of Lake Titicaca (which apart from being fun to say is GORGEOUS). This whole thing has made me start to think about the places I want to go. I've been to Cancun and Chichen Itza, Puerto Vallarta, Belize, Ireland, and London. I would like to go back to Australia so that I can remember a lot more of it this time - I was very young when we lived there. My list of places to go is: Austria/Switzerland/Germany, Peru, Jordan, Egypt, Italy, Norway/Sweden/Denmark, South Africa, New Zealand, and so many more! I also want to visit all 50 states in the U.S. I have 31 right now. I love to travel! Does anyone have any suggestions of places we should go?

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

New Year, New Blog


Hi everyone! Seeing a couple old friends over the holidays inspired me to create a blog so that I can keep my friends updated on our lives! Kevin and I got married on July 14, 2007 in Boulder, CO. Kevin works as a music teacher and Amy works as an admissions counselor/academic advisor, but she is in school to become a high school counselor. Right now, we're enjoying being married and living with just the two of us and our two cats in the apartment. Ellie is the black cat and Shelby is the black and white one (Yes, they're both named after cars - blame Kevin). It's nice to have some freedom while we adjust to married life. Be sure to check back every now and then to see what's going on in our lives!