Royal Wedding Fever!

Okay, not really. I didn't stay up to watch it. I won't watch any recap. But I have been looking at pictures, because I love weddings. :) So, just a (very) few of my favorites:

Her dress was absolutely gorgeous. The silhouette, the lace, the train, the sleeves, the neckline ... perfect. I love that it was pretty modest too. You don't see that in celebrity weddings much anymore. Very classy!

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This was her maid of honor. I love this dress! Like the bridal gown, it's so refreshing to see a dress that's not strapless. Don't get me wrong, strapless dresses are often very pretty, but you just see them so much these days. This dress is elegant and the cowl neck is a beautiful, different, but not weird, addition.

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I just think this picture is cute. I don't know about you, but those smiles seem pretty genuine to me.

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Weddings are fun! Lucky for me, I get to attend my little sister's this summer! That one will be even better!!

Cooper Family Semi-Get-Together

Needs more dashes, don't you think?

Anyhow, the weekend of March 12th, Steph, Ryan, Mandi, the boys, Caroline, and Skylar (her fiance) came to visit! We had one crowded house but had so much fun hanging out eating Indian food and breakfast burritos, watching the Cougars play, playing Dominion for hours on end (which continued into the week as Ryan and Mandi were here for a whole week!!), and seeing some of Denver's sights. On Saturday, we went downtown to Confluence Park. It was a chilly and gray day (you would think that's all we have what with my last few posts, but we have over 300 days of sunshine here in the Mile High City). Kurt and I showed everyone REI's awesome flag ship store, and then across the river in the park the boys enjoyed running around with the dogs.

Getting ready to leave

 Work it, Max!

Playing on the playground(?) in the REI store

Running with the dogs...

And sometimes, making the dogs run even when they don't want to (well, Dash)...

Chris, pensive...

Confluence Park and the Platte river

Ryan and Max

Group shot!

After the weekend, Caroline, Skylar, and Stephanie went back to Utah/Idaho, and Ryan and Mandi hung out for the week. But for a few days they stayed downtown and I watched the boys, which was really fun. I took them to the zoo and to McDonald's way too many times, and the library lots. We watched LOTS of pokemon (their choice from the library), and played with Ruby and Swift, and built tents. And when Ryan and Mandi came back, we played Dominion pretty much non stop, and watched March Madness. It was really fun getting to play host and hostess to my family for such a long time. 

Chronologically Speaking...

I've gotten somewhat out of order. Meh.

Stephanie came to play the last weekend of January. I love that I am now so close to so much of my family! It's so easy to see them now. It's still at minimum a 6-hour day of flying to see my parents, but Steph and Caroline are really only a 1 hour flight away (if Caroline comes down to Salt Lake, as she usually does). It's awesome. Steph and I in particular have flown to and fro Denver/Salt Lake at least ten times since she moved back out to Utah last summer. Love it.

Anyhow, as I said, Steph came to play. She's picking up photography as a hobby and wanted to play around with her new camera, so we went down to Wash Park to play around. Unfortunately, it was a windy, gray, and chilly day, but that's alright. It was more about Stephanie getting to know her new camera then taking any great pictures. Except my hands were frozen by the time we were done!

 We weren't sure a) what this was or b) why someone nailed it to a tree.

 LOVE the houses in Wash Park!

Just some of her pics she took of me. She's really doing a good job and is getting better all the time!

Stud Muffin

I know you're totally jealous that he's mine.

All mine.

^_^

Chou chou's Doppleganger

A couple of weeks ago, we went to visit a friend in the ward who recently had a baby. When we were leaving their apartment complex, I was shocked to see Chou chou's doppleganger walk in the door! Aside from a few differences (face, length of tail) she was a dead ringer for my sweet Chou. I had Kurt snap a few pics on his phone so I could send to my family. What do you think? (Sorry the pics are so bad ... camera phone + squirmy dog = not the best pictures.)

The Doppleganger

 

My Chou:

I just hope this doesn't launch me into some weird Black Swan experience.

Jimmermania!

On March 19th, Kurt and I were lucky enough to watch Jimmer and the '10-'11 Cougs win their second round (third? I don't fully get the tournament set-up) game and advance to the Sweet 16. The last time they got that far was in the early 80s, in the days of Danny Ainge. So it was pretty exciting! BYU played Gonzaga, and we were expected to lose, but Jimmer was on fire with 32 points, and the whole team did really well. It was a really fun and exciting game to watch!

Our friend Evan came with, as well as one of his friends. 

 Crappy seats, but whatev.

 With a few minutes left in the game, we ran down to the BYU fan section to celebrate and see the action up close.

Umm, we think the Cougars are #1. In case you didn't pick up on that yet. ;D

Kurt's Last Day of Public Accounting!

In January, Kurt did something he'd dreamt of for years ... quit public accounting and go into industry. Gone are the 70+ hour work weeks during busy season, the 11 pm, 12 am, 1 am trips downtown to pick him up from work, the worship of April 16th. Kurt's new job is pretty outstanding compared to that. No more long hours. Great location--only a 15 minute driving commute (he rides his bike so it's 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how hard he rides). Saturdays free for snowboarding during the winter. We're both very happy!

Here are some pics from his last day. He had a cool view, but it wasn't really worth all the extra stress:

Don't Give Up

This song has helped me stay positive through many hard times.

Times when I doubted my own thoughts and feelings.

I always imagine it's a message from the Lord.

Enjoy. :)

(Watch the official Josh Groban video here. (They disabled embedding. :( )

My Favorite Colors

My favorite colors are:

PINK

TURQUOISE

and

GREEN

So, imagine my delight when I saw the latest Kate Spade home page layout!

All three of my favorite colors, seamlessly gathered in one picture perfect arrangement.

Oh my.

It makes me so happy.

So here's the thing about these colors.

Pink makes me super happy whenever I see it, especially bold and bright pink.

And turquoise also makes me super happy, pretty much any shade.

But I crave green.

Especially bold, grass green like above.

And look at all of those green products!

Each makes my heart swoon.

(Green is Kate Spade's current color of the month!)

(Oh Kate Spade, how I love thee.)

When I see something green, I want to see more and more.

And you wonder why I love spring?

Green, green, green!

Also, I have a love for beach cruiser bikes.

Big ol' cushiony seat.

A basket up front.

Fun color.

So imagine my heart beating wildly when I saw Kate Spade's latest product:

Isn't it the most perfect thing you ever saw??

It's only available in stores.

For fun, I tried to find a price.

But couldn't.

Which means ...

if you need to find the price,

you can't afford it.

Maybe one day I'll get a cruiser and paint it a happy grass green like that.

I have a problem...

... I have too many interests!

This might not sound like a problem. But I can assure you, it is. Especially for someone who likes to pour too much in her glass.

Over the years I've been active in dance, snowboarding, musical theater, turbo kickboxing, decorating/crafts/DIY, cycling, running, hiking, Zumba, trail running, piano playing (and various other instruments), rock climbing, step aerobics, improv comedy, writing, baking, and weight lifting. (To name a few.)

The sun has set on some of those, like dance and improv comedy. It's taken years, and sometimes I still pine for those days, but I'm content to merely say that I did them and loved them, but I've moved on to other things.

I'm running the Bolder Boulder 10k again this year. Then, after I get back from my school residency in June, I plan to dive in cycling. I've loved going to Kurt's races and I want to tackle some myself. I'll still keep with the turbo kickboxing because I'm addicted. And then I want to swim once a week because it's so good for my asthma/cardiovascular health. Oh, and weight lifting, my first fitness love. Always weight lifting. And I hope that Kurt and I will do some rock climbing and hiking this summer. And mountain biking.

See what I mean by taking on too much?

And of course I'll write. I can't not write. And remember how one of my 2011 goals was to become a better piano player? Well, the Lord blessed me with an opportunity to achieve that goal: Relief Society pianist. (My most dreaded calling of all time!)

And of course, I'll bake the occasional cake, pie, or batch of cookies. It's a stress relief for me. And continue to make my house more cozy and (hopefully) beautiful. I want to try my hand at building some furniture.

But my greatest energies will be in writing (slash school work), piano playing, and fitness via cycling, weight lifting, swimming, and turbo kickboxing.

It sounds weird, but writing this all out makes me feel relaxed and happy.

Happy Wednesday!

Wow, 2011 Has Been a Dud So Far...

School has finally calmed down! Last week I probably spent 25 hours on school work, including 12 on Friday. Blech. But, I'll be able to breathe easy until the end of the semester.

It feels good.

So, we haven't been up to a whole lot this year so far. Probably because school has been kicking my butt. I can't find pictures from anything prior to Valentine's weekend, but the Saturday before we babysat for our friends, Jen and Evan, so they could celebrate. Their little boy Dean is adorable. And he seemed to really like Kurt!

Man, Dean has really grown since then!

Okay, that's all. 

You Are So Smart

So, April Fools! I figured no one would believe me, but it was putting that post together anyways. But since I teased you about our plans for the exterior of our house, I figure I'll let you in on what I'm thinking. At least, color scheme-wise. I'm not thinking clearly these days, but I'll just introduce this picture by saying that my friend Lindsay showed it to me and I fell in love. Gray can be blah, but a nice saturated gray with crisp black and white (and a colorful door!!) is awesome!

This is the Painted House. Very apt name! And isn't that house gorgeous? Click through on the link to see what an amazing transformation it was!

But first we have to finish the kitchen... :)

Pepto Bismal Ain't Got Nothin On Me!

As our kitchen reno is finally nearing its grand finale, we've started to think about the exterior of the house. It really needs a lot of work. I mean, come on. Almond exterior paint with brown trim? And brown gutters? Really? It looks like our house should be white, but is really dirty.

Blech. I mean, it's not terrible, probably. I just don't like it. And on the back side there are some spots where the paint was touched up and the new stuff didn't quite match the old stuff.
So what are we thinking? I want something fun and playful. But with curb appeal. After searching for a while, I found the perfect color: pink!

 Da qui. This house has a cool, old Charleston vibe with the double porches and what not. Love it.

 Da qui. The architecture on this house is super fun. I actually like those statues. They kind of remind me of the Piggly Wiggly's owner house in Charleston. Instead of lions guarding his house, he has pigs. Sweet! Sadly, I don't think it would work for my house.

 Da qui. This house has a fairy-tail-cottage feel that I'm starting to dig. And the hearts? Not too bad. Our daughters would certainly love it!

Da qui. Another house with hearts, though I like these more than the last. They're fun along the porch. I could put some on our shutters. That might be nice.

I was worried when I told Kurt, but he didn't hate the idea. He'd prefer something really pale, but he thinks it would definitely set us apart from the neighborhood, which will be good when it comes time to sell. I'm getting really excited about it! Even though it's still a few months away. But I can still pick up some paint swatches. :D