Back in The Ranch!

Kevin and I moved into our new house last week! I am now, officially, a Highlands Ranch resident once again! It feels great to be home. We are enjoying getting settled into our new home. We have so much more space that we had before. I love it! It's also great to be closer to my family again. Jill seems glad that I am home. I went to master's swim team with her yesterday and will be going again tomorrow and Friday. It feels great to be back in the water after a long time away.

We have had a great week. Kevin's aunt and uncle and cousins were in town, with another family they new. We had fun spending time with them. We went to the Rockies game to see the fireworks on Friday night and then we took the kids to the zoo on the fourth of July. I had a great time being dragged through the zoo by two five year-old girls. They were really fun. We also went to our niece's ninth birthday party at Boondocks. Kevin's five year-old cousin almost beat me at putt-putt golf. It was her first time golfing and she got two holes-in-one! Ok, she didn't almost beat me, but she played great for her first time. Yesterday, Kevin's sisters came over and we had a BBQ with my neice and nephew-it's so fun to spend time with family in our new house!

Also, over the weekend, my grandfather was in town. I hadn't seen him in about two years. I'm so glad he was able to come visit. I was able to show him my wedding album and talk to him for a while, so that was pretty special. I was also really glad he was able to see the new house.

I'll post pictures of the new house soon...as soon as I can find the camera. For now, we're just unpacking, enjoying my week off work, and enjoying being homeowners!

Big News!

Kevin and I bought a house! We've been planning to buy a house this summer for quite a while now. So, last weekend we went out looking, and found one we liked! We put in an offer on Tuesday, and the owners accepted our offer! We are so excited. The house is in Highlands Ranch, not too far from my parents. I am so excited to be closer to my family. I'll have a quite a commute to Boulder every day, but I am ok with the commute. We close on June 29, and are probably going to move in the weekend of July 4. We cannot WAIT!!!!

I am almost done with school! I only have one more class on Thursday, and then I'm done. Just one big project to worry about. I will be very glad when this week is over. June is shaping up to be a pretty big month for us!

What we've been up to!

Not a whole lot of new information to report here. We are really enjoying springtime in Colorado. I love how much the weather changes! We'll have 80 degrees one day and then six inches of snow the next. You gotta love it.

I am VERY quickly approaching the end of graduate school! I will be DONE five weeks from tomorrow. I have really enjoyed my graduate program. It has been a lot of work, but I am proud of myself. I am definitely ready to be finished though. I just figured out I only have 9 days of internship left. I am busy applying for jobs. This has proven to be a very intimidating experience! Each school district requires you to apply online. They each have different applications, even though they all ask for the same information, but each application takes about an hour to complete. Once everything is submitted, you have to wait to be called for an interview. So far, I haven't had any interviews, but I did get some good leads this week. Hopefully I'll have more to report in the next couple weeks.

I'm enjoying the summer movie season already! Kevin and I went to go see X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I loved it and thought it was very entertaining. We also saw Earth (the Disney nature movie) and The Soloist. I am very excited to see Angels and Demons next week.

Overall, we're doing well! As soon as I find a job, we are going to start seriously looking for a house. That's going to take up a lot of our time this summer.

Partial Spring Break

East High School was on spring break this week, so I didn't have to go to my internship. Since I'm only getting paid to work 25 hours/week, I decided I was going to take it easy this week and actually only work 25 hours! I took Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday off, which was very nice! I worked Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Denver-metro area was in a Blizzard Warning! Kevin's school called a snow day before it had even started snowing. By the time I left for work at 7:20 a.m., there were a couple inches of snow on the ground. It took an hour and 20 minutes to get to work. I got to work at 8:40. At 8:45, I learned that CU had decided to close at 10:00 because of the weather. So I didn't even stay til then. I left and drove home because I wanted to beat traffic. I am so thankful I didn't wait because I don't think I would have made it home if I had waited! It was snowing like crazy and it was really windy! I love that weather, especially if I don't have to travel in it. We ended up with 17 inches of snow, which is more than we have had all winter!

Friday we had the memorial service for Kevin's grandmother, who passed away in November. We had a small service at Fort Logan National Cemetery, and then a longer service at the church. Kevin, his brother, sister, and dad all play brass instruments and asked me to play with them in the service. I was really excited to be included, but was pretty nervous. I really didn't want to screw up on something that important. The service was beautiful, and Kevin's older sister gave a beautiful talk.

It was fun to spend time with family. I got to know Kevin's cousin, David, much better. I also got to spend some time with his older sister, Katrina, and her kids, Kelly and Sean. They are soooo cute! Yesterday we went with them to the Butterfly Pavillion in Westminster, which I had never been to. It was really neat. They have butterflies flying all over the place and they also have spiders and other insects to look at. One of their main attractions is Rosie, a Chilean Rosehair Tarantula. They let people hold her! I am TERRIFIED of spiders, so I didn't think I'd be able to do it. But then Kelly, my 8-year old neice did it, and was looking at me like, Duh, it's your turn now Amy! So I did it! I'm so proud of myself for doing it. I surprised Kevin's dad. He didn't have time to get the camera out because he didn't think I'd actually do it. I think Katrina got a picture though. My parents and sister don't believe me. I got the sticker to prove it!

One Step Closer

So, I finished up my internship at Ranch View Middle School last week. I really enjoyed my time there. I was suprised by how much fun I had with the middle school kiddos! I met some amazing people, and am extremely grateful to everyone I worked with there.

Finishing at Ranch View means...starting somewhere new! I was supposed to do my high school internship at Rock Canyon High School in Highlands Ranch, but that fell through at the last minute. Luckily, I was able to arrange for an internship at:This is Denver East High School. I had my first day there today. It is a VERY different environment that what I am used to in Highlands Ranch! However, I think this will be a great learning experience for me. It will make me get out of my comfort zone a little bit, and I will get some wonderful counseling experience that should make me more marketable in the future. I am really excited about this internship. This school is huge (2100 students). That's the same size HR was when I was in school, but East definitely feels bigger. It's a beautiful building - it was modeled after Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

Starting a new internship means...only 15 weeks of internship left, and 16 weeks total until I am finished with my Master's Degree. I am starting to get some "senioritis" and am ready to be finished! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... Hopefully I'll be able to get a counseling job and Kevin and I will be able to buy a house!

Some sad news today...my kitty, Sammy, who I have had since I was 13 had to be put to sleep today. She was almost 15 years old and apparently her health got really bad this weekend. I'm very sad about this. She was such a sweet cat. At least she is in a better place now, and she let us know when it was her time to go.

Same Old, Same Old

Well, we haven't posted in a while. That's because there hasn't really been anything to tell! We spent Christmas Eve with my family (well, my dad, aunt, uncles, and cousins), and Christmas Day with Kevin's family. It was very nice and relaxing. Kevin and I bought ourselves a Christmas presents - Wii got a Wii!!! And Guitar Hero World Tour. We have been having a great time playing with it. I'm definitely getting better at guitar, but I stink at the drums.

Work has been a bit crazy. Just before Christmas, we had to move everything out of the office and into a teacher's office so they could remodel our office. Then, a couple weeks later, we had to move everything back into our new office. It looks so much better now! I can't wait til we get our new furniture and it actually looks like new office.

I've been keeping very busy with school and internship. My university supervisor came to meet with my site supervisor and I this week and it went really well. Other than that, I am learning a lot! I have a few more weeks left at RVMS, and then I will switch to a high school. I am very ready to be finished with school.

Kevin and I are starting to talk about buying a house! We kind of know where we want to look but a lot of it depends on if and where I get a counseling job. It's exciting to talk about it though!

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!

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...

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!

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.

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:)

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!

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!

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!!!!

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!!!

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).

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.

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!

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!

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!