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!!!!