Cat and Gabi Olivares

Monday: Freedom, Free Art And Family

2010-05-28T10:36:00.006-06:00

Because we got very little sleep on the redeye, we slept in on Monday and headed into the district around noon. I was supposed to meet a good friend for lunch but he got surprised with a last minute assignment from a partner at his firm, so Josh and I were on our own for lunch. I was originally going to go to Old Ebbitt’s Grill for lunch which is a historic restaurant near the White House, and we decided to still head over there for a very welcome meal. We started off with calamari and mussels, I had the very highly recommended fish and chips, and Josh had the almost equally praised trout. We walked away thinking that other than the calamari, everything was overrated and definitely overpriced. But that’s kinda D.C., isn’t it?

Walking to and from the restaurant we travelled both along the mall and Constitution Ave. We walked by the capitol, and the offices of many of the departments of the Executive Branch. We also got as close as we could to the White House, which is not close at all. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in our Nation’s capitol and I was too young or absent minded to remember some of these great buildings. However, being much older and wiser, I can truly appreciate the history that took place there and based on the enormity and architecture of these structure, I fully agree that our founding fathers were attempting to establish a modern era Roman Empire.

We headed over to the National Gallery of Art, which I was surprised to learn was free to the public. It is an outstanding collection and featured paintings by two of my favorite artists of all time: Edward Hopper and Pablo Picasso.

After that, I left Josh at the Arlington Cemetery and went back to Kim’s place to wait for my cousin Phi Nam to pick me up. It’s been six years since I’ve had a chance to visit family on the East coast and there are a lot of people I haven’t seen in that time. We headed over to my grandparents’ apartment and had dinner with them and my mom’s cousin Co Zung. Everyone brought food and my grandma, Ba Noi, made food (against strict orders). So we had quite the feast.

Phi Nam’s brother Quang came over after dinner and brought his wife, Shana, and their two beautiful children, Nicholas and Talia. I had never met any of them, so it was really fun. My uncle and aunt came over to watch the kids, while we all went out for drinks after dinner along with my other cousin Cu. Towards the end of drinks we were joined by Co Zung’s brother Co Hung, and it was a great evening of swapping stories and catching up. My favorite part was learning how people have mistaken Cu for being Korean while other people have thought Quang was black… And they're brothers! It was a really nice evening, and I will have to come back soon with Cath so she can meet them all.

Tomorrow’s agenda: Tour Nationals Ballpark in the morning and head up to Baltimore in the evening for an Orioles’ game.

Sunday: Everything Would Be Better If It Was Topped With Cheese Whiz And Fried Onions

2010-05-28T10:06:00.009-06:00

We got into Philadelphia really early on Sunday morning (before 6am) and had about five hours to kill before going to the ballpark. We wandered around the city for a couple of hours and got to go by some of the historical sites in the formation of our Nation’s government and constitution. Unfortunately, there’s not many (any) museums open early Sunday mornings, so we ate breakfast and headed back to the train station to try to sleep on their luxurious hard wooden benches.

My first impression of Philly: a little grungy and inconvenient to get around. Of course, we were mainly in their subway and I’ve been spoiled by New York, which is a little less grungy and a lot more convenient to get around. We did not get a chance to walk around Broad Street so the next time I’m in the city that will be on my list.

We headed to Citizens’ Bank Ballpark which is on the south end of town and I was very impressed by the site. I’m a fan of putting ballparks near the city center, which most of the revival era ballparks are, but I completely understood why they put Citizens’ Bank on the outskirts. The space is wide open and very clean, and the walk up to the ballpark was a welcome change from what we had found so far.

For full disclosure, I must admit that I am biased towards Coors Field. Working there for a year and living blocks away for two years made it next to impossible for me to fairly compare any other ballpark. Of the revival era ballparks I have visited in the last decade (Rangers, Dbacks, Giants, Padres) none compare to the ballpark which I have come to call home.

That being said, I am very impressed by Citizens’ Bank. It is baseball lovers’ park. There are many things to appreciate: the park is huge but still feels intimate, there are great food options, monuments paying homage to Phillies’ great baseball history, landscaping that pays attention to small details, and a very exciting atmosphere. Of course, that atmosphere may have been the byproduct of a Phillies team that is very good as of the last few years playing against one of the most popular franchises the Boston Red Sox (most of their fans are bandwagon jumpers by the way.) One thing that I think the ballpark does better than Coors Field is standing room only facilities. We purchased (relatively) cheap tickets in the upper deck and spent most of the game wandering the stadium. The concourses are lined with railings to put your food and drinks on and enjoy a great view of the game. One thing that they need to improve on is the signage, it was very difficult to find the scoreboard that had the current balls, strikes, and outs which seems to me a little absurd.

The food options were great. We headed to Ashburn Alley before the first pitch and had the choice between two famous cheesesteak purveyors: Tony Luke’s and Campo’s. Now if my memory is right, Tony Luke’s was in Ashburn Alley when they ballpark opened but Campo’s only recently replaced another popular cheesesteak stand. We decided to follow the crowd and got a couple of cheesesteaks with the requisite cheese whiz and fried onions. The amoroso roll was great but the meat was bland and the whiz was lacking. So I was a little disappointed. Though my stomach was soon satisfied when we discovered Crab Fries from the Chickie's & Pete's stand. We couldn’t figure out beforehand if they were fries made out of potatoes or crab, but we soon discovered that they were traditional French Fries seasoned like crab (I’m guessing a generous sprinkling of Old Bay contributed.)

The game was as good as it could be considering I pretty much hate both teams: the Red Sox knocked the Rockies out of the 2007 World Series (and they are the Red Sox) and the Phillies knocked the Rox out of the 2009 Division Series. I did get to see one of the best pitchers in the game throw, Arvada West’s Roy Halladay. Boston countered with the veteran (old) knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. To everyone’s surprise Doc Halladay got shelled and Wakefield through a gem. Here’s the game report.

Back on the homefront, the Rockies beat the Royals for the second straight game, so I’m saying they’re 2-0 on our trip. Our boys are back to .500 and creeping up on the rest of the NL West.

After the game we headed back to the train station to catch the Amtrak to Washington D.C. where we spent Sunday night with Kim watching the Lost season finale. I will say this one thing about it: BEST ENDING EVER TO THE BEST SHOW EVER.

On Monday’s schedule: a free day in D.C. to sightsee and catch up with family.

The Great Baseball Tour of 2010

2010-05-22T23:26:00.002-06:00

I guess since this blog has become "Cat and Gabi Olivares," its time for me, Gabi Olivares, to start posting, and I intend to start blogging with a bang.

Prepare for the Great Baseball Tour of 2010...

So we were in NYC last February and my buddy Josh started asking how long it would take to get to Cooperstown. That eventually led to a suggestion that we do a stadium tour in the summer, but between finishing my first year of law school and starting my summer internship, I didn't think I would have any time. A few weeks later, I ran into the recruiter for the law firm that I'm working at and she said that I would be starting the day after Memorial Day. That meant I would have a week and a half between finals and work. That's when the wheels started turning...

Now if there are any guys reading, a bit of advice: timing is everything. I may have suggested to Cat that she spend a few weeks in Europe while I play lawyer this summer. Then I may have casually brought up that Josh and I were thinking of doing a baseball road trip. So, she may have been a little more willing to agree to our non-sense. But honestly, that's no worse than the time I took her hopped up on painkillers to Best Buy and came home with a 47" LCD TV. In all seriousness, she's been awesome about this trip and I will probably owe her another trip to NYC this fall to make it even.

But back to baseball... The baseball gods must have known that we were going to take this trip because the schedules lined up almost perfectly: 6 stadiums, 5 games, and Cooperstown. Here's the plan:

Sunday: Boston Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies

Monday: Off-day in Washington, DC to visit family and friends

Tuesday: Tour Nationals Ballpark in the morning then Oakland A's at Baltimore Orioles

Wednesday: Cooperstown!

Thursday: Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets

Friday: Cleveland Indians at New York Yankees

Saturday: Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox

It's going to be a whirlwind trip, with lots of train rides and one long car ride to Cooperstown in the middle of the night, but it'll be fun. I'll be posting as we go along, so feel free to follow me and Josh on our latest misadventure.

Ode to a ridiculous dog-Louie

2010-04-03T15:09:00.006-06:00

When I got married, I inherited a very happy yellow lab. Although he drives me crazy some times, he is actually a good dog. He is like a little kid and cracks us up all the time. He has the most hilarious sleeping positions.

I woke up to use the bathroom one night to discover Louie totally asleep with his eyes open.
He loves being outside.

Louie also has a love/hate relationship with the vacuum. It may have started when I tried to vacuum loose hair off his back. Whenever I vacuum he stands near me just looking at the vacuum with worried eyes. I was vacuuming downstairs and he come into the room just to watch the vacuum. I honestly think he feels better if he knows where the vacuum is. I am sure it doesn't help when I pretend like I am going to vacuum him again. Don't call PETA on me please.

Christmas Break

2010-04-03T14:47:00.004-06:00

The first part of Christmas break we spent with my parents. Kenny's family was there the first weekend. When we first arrived we went out to the field to find Kenny and the boys. They are discovered a dead deer. It looked like it had laid down in the sun and just died. There was no blood or marks on the deer. The boys posed next to the deer to make Johanna's hunting brothers jealous. After seeing the pictures Kenny sent Tyler called. He wanted Kenny to bring the head of the deer to Kansas with them. So Kenny and Gabi removed the head and it traveled to Kansas in their overhead case on their van.
We opened presents a little early for Kenny's family.

Snow in Grand Junction.

We left for Los Alamos the day after Christmas. Grayson and me playing with my iphone.

Louie and Grayson taking a nap together.

Phi Yen, Gabi, and I went snowshoeing

Needless to say I didn't take a lot of pictures during the break but it was so nice to spend time with family.

Master Chef Gabi

2010-04-03T11:32:00.007-06:00

So Gabi is a great cook. His parents told me that when he was little he didn't like most foods. They told him that they were not going to cook two dinners just because he was so picky. He started cooking for himself at an early age and it paid off. On our first date he announced that he was a recovering picky eater and that he didn't like almost every vegetable. I, myself am a picky eater so I didn't think much about it. I soon discovered that he REALLY didn't eat vegetables. By the fall we were talking about marriage and I told him that he would have to eat vegetables in front of our kids. So in the Fall he started stretching his tastebuds and he discovered that he liked vegetables if they were cooked right. His new tolerance of vegetables has really helped his cooking.

We wanted to have our first Thanksgiving in our house this year. Both sets of parents came, my friend Jeff and 2 of my sisters. Gabi planned a 3 day cooking schedule. On the day of Thanksgiving the Dads, Connie and I raked the leaves outside while Gabi and his mom cooked. (we are a progressive family). It was amazing.
Notice the fish spreader. We got that for a wedding present.

Phi Yen (Gabi's mom) made crab cheese won tons because I love them so much.

Spanish style appetizers

A couple more of Gabi's amazing creation:
Breaded veal cutlets with arugula and fennel salad.

And finally, just for the halibut: Olive-oil poached halibut on rice. (Connie caught this while she was in Alaska)

By the way the "just for the halibut" joke was written by Gabi. I swear he likes cooking halibut just so he can make the joke 3 or 4 times while he is cooking.

Fall Break

2010-04-02T14:13:00.000-06:00

For Fall Break Carol and I went to visit my brother Kenny and his family. It is always a treat to visit his family but I usually leave needing a vacation. I am not sure how Johanna does it. We got up early to help Drew with breakfast and get him ready for school, finish feeding the other boys, and then I was ready for my first nap at 8:30 a.m. It was a week full of lots of activities.
Drew was pretty amazing at the jungle bars.

Mya was just so cute.

We took the boys to the Palm Springs Zoo.

Decorated a ginger bread house.

Had a lot of cuddle time.

And we were there for Halloween. We watched the Star Wars cartoon so that Ian would know who Obi-Wan Kenobi was. In the cartoon Obi and Anakin were still friends. I didn't know how to explain to Drew that Darth Vader was not a good guy and kills Obi-Wan so I just left that out. The whole time we watched the cartoon they would ask about every 2 minutes, "Are they a good guy or bad guy." I was glad that the movie was only about 85 minutes long.
As always I had a great time in California. We ended the week by seeing Drew and Ian play soccer. It was great.

Fall Fun!

2010-04-01T11:03:00.000-06:00

This Fall Gabi and I were really busy. Gabi started Law School at Denver University the same week I went back to school. Our amazing summer had come to an end. When Gabi decided to go to Law School last year we planned for him to attend the night program so he could work during the day. He later was laid off in April but it was too late to transfer to the day program. Gabi and I have completely different schedules. He leaves for school about 5 p.m. and I get home around 5:15. On Monday/Wednesday he gets home around 7:45 and on Tuesday/Thursday he is finished around 9:40. It was been an adjustment for us.

At the end of August we bought our 1st house. We were very excited not to be living in an apartment with Louie. Our move was successful except for the couch. I had inherited a couch from my sisters, from some guy. It is an older couch so we planned on putting it downstairs. Gabi and Brother Becker worked on getting that couch downstairs. 2 hours later and many marks on the wall they had it stuck in the bathroom/hallway downstairs. There was no way it was going to fit into the empty room. They started bringing it back upstairs and it got stuck again. I told them, "if it doesn't fit downstairs I don't want it in the house." They were excited to hear this because that meant they could just break it in half. And so, the couch is no more. I think it helped morale to be able to destroy that couch after wasting 2 hours on it.

What is left of the couch.

We were excited to be able to finally put both cars into the garage. The house is almost completely unpacked. The office is still a disaster but every other room in the house is set up. It took us 5 months to put pictures on the wall but we finally did it.

Bo and Joe came up to Denver for my 30th birthday. We all bought puffy jackets which made Carol mad. Carol has a puffy jacket and has done everything in her power to persuade me to not buy one too because we would look stupid both having one. I have not regretted my decision once.

The Rest of our Summer

2009-12-19T16:57:00.006-07:00

Clearly I haven't blogged in forever. So I am going to doing to summarize my last 6 months with pictures. Enjoy

Los Alamos

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Grand Junction

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My sisters performed a song for Gabi and I about our courtship. It was very funny.

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Random Summer Fun

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Wedding Day

2009-08-23T17:32:00.009-06:00

Our wedding day was great. There was little stress because of my amazing friends and family. There are so many great pictures but I can't show all of them. I picked some of my favorites.

Bo and Cami busting a move.
It was a hot day. This picture brought Gabi and I to tears while we were laughing. It was a long day.
Cece's (Gabi's sister) and family. They got the best family portrait award.

We had a Shirley Temple Bar. Jeff was our bartender and Diana was 1st assistant.
The Weaver boys in the Zoot Suits from Harlem. They got them the day we got engaged.
My favorite thing about this picture is that it captures everyone in mid laugh and whatever dance move Gabi is trying to pull off.
The True Summers' sisters
Jose (Gabi's dad) and Grayson (my new nephew) playing around.
4 of my nephews waiting for us to come out of the temple.
Gabi and I saying hello to Phi-Yen (Gabi's mom) and Jose.
Down time
Ian had just woken up.
Owen loved the zippy ties and wore several of them all night.

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It was a Beautiful Day!

Pre-Wedding Activity

2009-08-23T17:09:00.003-06:00

I am seriously behind in my blogging. I can blame it all on that fact that I got married this summer. I will just give you the highlights.

Pre-wedding Activities

A Rockies Game with 30 friends. They were suppose to put our names on the jumbo-tran but they didn't. It was a great time anyway.

Bachelor and Bachelorette Party

We decided to go play laser tag boys vs girls. We outnumbered the guys 20-10 which I think was our downfall. There were too many targets for them to shoot. My code name was Bridezilla and Gabi's was Groom of Doom.

The highlight was when my pregnant sister-in-law physically assaulted Gabi and his brother Javier. Touching was off limits but we let it slide. Don't mess with a pregnant lady.

Carol planned a spa get away on Thursday morning for just the girls. It was amazing. We had lunch in our robes who could ask for more. All credit goes to Carol for this idea.

Friday morning we had breakfast at my favorite breakfast place, Dozens with family and close friends. That afternoon we had a family BBQ at a park so everyone could get to know each other. I can't find my pictures of both events. Sorry.

Lost Finale

2009-06-05T12:23:00.003-06:00

I love Lost! I watched a little the 1st season but stopped watching after awhile. Last year I started watching with my sister and then I started dating Gabi and he is obsessed. He will read about different theories on the blog (he is a big nerd about it). I have spent much of the last 5 months getting caught up on past seasons. Season 5 (this year) started out with Gabi, Carol, and I watching together and then a couple of more friends joined us. We would rotate who's house it was at and have dinner before. I always looked forward to Lost night. For the Finale we rented Gabi's apartment theater and had a big group of dedicated fans watch it. It was so much fun. We ordered pizza and my friend Meranda made a Lost cake. It looked amazing. What a great episode although there was a big cliff hanger but we expected that. I can't wait until next season.

The Coldest Spring Break Ever!-Wisconsin

2009-04-05T09:31:00.008-06:00

It is a goal of mine to go to all 50 states by my 31st birthday. I only had 5 left so I thought spring break would be a good time to knock out Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. I talked my friend Jeff into going with me.

Lake Michigan in Michigan

We stayed in Green Bay the first night

Lake Michigan in Wisconsin

We went to Door County in Wisconsin. They call it the Cape Cod of the Midwest. Everything was closed when we went but I loved the road.

We went to the Henning Cheese Factory in Wisconsin. We were able to take a tour through the factory.

Jeff by 500 pound blocks of cheese.

Cheese curds

Blueberry cheese blocks

The 12,000 pound cheese block is the biggest they make. Here is a picture of one they were cutting into smaller sections.

12,000 pounds of cheese 6 feet by 6 feet
The family who owns the cheese factory. It was started 95 years ago by the grandfather. The guy between Jeff and I is a master cheese maker and one a gold medal in the world competition for his peppercorn cheese.

The Maritime Museum in Mantitowac, Wisconsin.

We were able to tour a World War two submarine. It was pretty cool.

We went a museum in Appleton, Wisconsin. It was in an old Masonic Temple.
There was a "controversial" Houdini exhibit where they told you how he did his tricks. He was born in Appleton.

After my honeymoon this June I will only have Alaska left. I have more then a year to go to Alaska to still accomplish my goal.

Snow Days and Manti Temple Trip

2009-04-04T10:13:00.004-06:00

In the history of my life, both as a teacher and a student, I have rarely experienced school snow days. Well the Thursday before spring break we had one. It was amazing. Gabi came over and hung out all day with Carol and I. Then the unthinkable happened, we got a second day snow day on Friday. Since we had spring break the next week that made 11 days off in a row. Truly a miracle.

A group of us decided to take a temple trip to Manti. We rented a van and left for Grand Junction on Friday.

There were two things about the van that we loved. One was the child mirror that you could watch what was going on in the back seats.

The other was the side windows that rolled down. We had a lot of fun in the mini van.

We had to take a picture of our matching temple bags.

It is such a beautiful temple.

Winter Fun

2009-03-22T10:31:00.005-06:00

My friend Megan and her husband invited us to go to a Nuggets game with them. Vanilla Ice was playing during the half time since it was 80's night for the Nuggets.

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Gabi and I were in charge of Family Home Evening in our singles ward. We decided to make value commercials. Every group was given a value. The honestly and family one was my favorite but there were all so funny.

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The 2010 Olympic Curling Trials were held in Denver. We went to them and it was a lot of fun. The yelling "hard" or "push" like pirates kept us cracking up. My new favorite sport.

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We had Relief Society Enrichment my committee was in charge of. We had a nice dinner, a lesson by our Bishop's wife, and we decorated mini cakes. It was a lot of fun. Cami and Diana helping in the kitchen.

The cake I decorated.

This is Diana's Chuck Norris giving Jack (from 24) a roundhouse kick to the head. It is a ward joke and Diana and I are on the Chuck Norris side.

There was an Office party for my friend Clay's birthday. These are all the people who dressed up.

Audra and I found his outfit for Gabi. He even has the calculator watch.

I am Pam from the fun run, Mark is Moes, Gabi is Dwight, Audra is from Beach day, and Tina is Stanley.

The boys wanted a Schrute family portrait.

Moes even brought his own beet from his farm.

New York City President's Day weekend

2009-03-22T09:50:00.007-06:00

It was time for our annual New York City trip. We decided to take it over President's Weekend. We had a big group including 4 Summers' sisters, the Weaver boys (Bo, Joe, Chevy), Gabi and his sister CeCe and her friend Emily. Gabi found us an apartment to rent so it would be cheaper. We had a lot of fun and are already planning on going back.

We went to FAO Schwarz toy store. Here is my reenactment of the scene in Big. They make you take your shoes off and the key board is really slippery.

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Star Wars characters made completely out of Legos.

We also happened to be there over Valentine's Day. We decided to have a little time in the morning to ourselves. He found a great little bakery that had amazing croissants (my favorite food in NYC) and then we went to Washington Square Park (my favorite place in NYC) to eat them.

He used the opportunity to propose. This is not how it was done.

He told me how much he loved me and then just stopped. I asked him if there was something else we wanted to say. He became distracted by the camera case he was carrying. He finally got he ring box out and opened it while he asked if I would marry him. When we opened the ring box it was empty. We both were looking down at the box and I could tell this was a surprise to him too. Then we heard this high pitched "ping." The ring had fallen out. Gabi was on his hands and knees in a flash looking for it. He said "I hope this isn't a sign." The ring had a very small mark on it. He said we would get it buffed out but I told him I didn't want him to. Now there is not pressure on me since it would have happened at some point. It totally fits us. We are getting married June 27th in the Denver Temple.

We celebrated over Shirley Temples at Dinner. It was nice having our sisters and the Weavers there to celebrate with us.

It was pretty cold there so we didn't take a ton of pictures. We eat a lot and shopped. It was a great trip.

I am glad that Gabi shares my love for New York City. I am sure we will have many more fun trips there over the years.

Christmas Time

2009-01-03T09:19:00.009-07:00

We started our Christmas time with the Parade of Lights in Denver this year.

Ugly Sweater Party

Our ward had an ugly sweater christmas party and Gabi and I decided to go for the 1st prize. So bought matching women's cardigans and color coordinated our turtle necks and won 1st prize. Well worth it.

Usually on Christmas Eve we read the story of the Birth of the Savior from the Bible but this year we reenacted it. This is a tradition for Kate and Aaron so parts were given and costumes were found. I think we did a pretty great job.

Mary and Joseph and baby

Angel and narrator

Wisemen

Shepherds and sheep

The whole cast (except one wisemen to take the picture)

I realize that most people say this but I really do have the greatest family. I love being an Aunt and I have a greatest nephews and niece. I have been lucky this year to be able to spend a lot of time with them with visits to California, Kansas, and Utah for a baby blessing. They change so fast. Here are some of my favorite pictures of Auntie time.

My computer has this program that makes funny pictures. We were entertained for almost an hour. These are some of my favorites

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Thanksgiving

2009-01-03T08:57:00.004-07:00

This Thanksgiving we went to Los Alamos to spend it with Gabi and his parents. We had a Thanksgiving Day miracle, a white Thanksgiving.

We had Thanksgiving at some friend's house. There were 26 people and the food was great. Gabi's mom wanted to have leftovers too so we had a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. It was also amazing.

Gabi's parents are adding a new bedroom on their house so we helped.

Carol and I pulled wire all day on Friday. I found 2 dead mice and almost had a spider attack me.

Carol and I marked our territory.

The working crew.

The wall we helped drywall (I think that is what it is called)

We went back to Denver for Sunday and my parents come up so Gabi made another turkey. Yes that makes 3 thanksgiving dinners.

I am not sure why but it is a tradition for me to take a picture with the cranberries. I don't even like them.

Fall 2008

2008-12-25T13:04:00.020-07:00

So clearly I haven't been blogging at all for the last 6 months so here is a summary of me this Fall.

Rockies Game with friends.

Jeff and I rode on a tandem bike and we won out of our group with a last minute sprint.

To celebrate my friend Jeff's end of radiation we took him to Heritage Square for an afternoon of fun.

We also went go-cart racing with Jeff. They went 35 miles an hour. Jeff kicked my butt.

Gabi and I on the lake in Ouray.

Fun in downtown with Gabi and Batman.

Democratic Convention in Denver.

Lots of cops ready the night Obama spoke. We saw Jimmy Carter that night.

My friend Whitney visited right before school started.

My friend Meghan Johnson also come to visit in August.

Our last Rockies game of the season.

Gabi's first time going to General Conference.

For Fall Break Carol, Gabi, and I went to California. We had a great time with Kenny and his family at Sea World.

Bo and Joe surprised me with tickets to New Kids On the Block for my birthday. We had a great time.

We also went to the BYU vs Air Force game.

Carol, Gabi, and I played in a golf tournament for School. I won $30 for having the longest women's drive. Those golf clubs I bought this summer really paid off.

I helped plan a scramble golfing tournament for my friends.

Southeast Asia Trip-Vietnam

2008-08-06T21:23:00.005-06:00

Some of you know that my big trip this summer was to Southeast Asia. I went to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand on a tour with my sisters Carol and Connie. Connie flew home and Carol and I visited an island in Thailand and then Malaysia and Singapore. It was a pretty amazing trip. I am going to give high and lows of our trip since I have so many pictures.

Vietnam

These two pictures sum up Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Crazy amounts of people on mopeds and wires looking unsafe. Saigon is growing too fast for its own good.

We went to the Cu Chi Tunnels (and yes your pronounce it the way it looks). They are the Viet Cong tunnels that were used in the Vietnam War to fight against the Americans. They were pretty cool.

There was a lot of anti American propaganda that we had to listen to. Basically they were told that America was evil and stupid and the Viet Cong were great and incredible smart. After awhile it got old to listen too.

They had these small holes so that they could quickly hide from the American troops. It was not very big. My hips barely fit. You had to go down with your hands over your head or your shoulders wouldn't fit. The tunnel was really small and apparently there were two bats hanging out in the tunnel. I found that out after I crawled through that tunnel.

On the way back from the tunnels we kept passing these houses with German Shepherd statues on their gates. We thought this was really random and it took about 12 tries to get a picture of one.

This was the most we ever saw on one moped 6 people. They passed a law so that adults have to wear helmets but apparently kids don't have too. Crazy.

Cambodia

2008-08-04T00:00:00.000-06:00

Cambodia Phnom Pehn

Since I teach 7th graders I always take pictures of the toilets in the countries I travel. The love that.

Fried crickets for sale

A Buddhist Temple

In 1975-1949 the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and started a genocide that killed a little less than 1/3 of Cambodia's population. Everyone in Cambodia knows people that were killed. Our two tour guides in Cambodia both lost family in the genocide. No one has been tried for the things had happened. The current Prime Minister used to be a member of the Khmer Rouge. He tells the people that they need to bury their bad feelings and memories and move on. We toured two places, S21 (former high school turned Prison and torture camp in 1975) and a killing field. It was a pretty heavy day.

The whole time our tour guide was telling us about the genocide his eyes were moving back and forth to see who was around. He told us and the government has people listen to what the tour guides are saying about the current government and any involvement. At times he would stop in mid sentence because someone else come into the room. Freedom of speech does not exist in Cambodia.
They took pictures of everyone who was a prisoner at S21. Less than 10 people who stayed there survived.

At S21 the goal was to torture the prisoners to the brink of death and then send them to the killing fields for execution. They never used bullets because they felt like it was a waste. There were over 100 killing fields all throughout Cambodia.

Siem Reap

There were so many pictures

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Thailand

2008-08-03T21:35:00.000-06:00

10 Year Class Reunion-I'm getting Old

2008-08-01T16:33:00.000-06:00

In July I went to my 10 year reunion for High School. The first night we just meet at a bar to socialize. I needed up leaving Denver really late because I took a nap that lasted a couple of hours (caused by my jet lag). By the time I got there most people were pretty drunk. I had a fun weekend. It was interesting to see people I hadn't seen since graduation and to see what they are up to now. This picture is with my friend McKenzie. We have been friends since 1st grade.

New Mexico

2008-07-24T00:03:00.006-06:00

Last week I went to New Mexico with Gabi to visit his family. It was a fun and relaxing trip. I have never been to Santa Fe so on Thursday Gabi, his sister and I went. It was pretty close to Los Alamos. I got to eat corn on the cob which always makes me happy.

On the way there we stopped by the Sand Dunes in Colorado. I have always wanted to see them. Can you say Random? Sand Dunes in Colorado.

Gabi's mom taught me how to make crab cheese wontons. I only burned myself once.

Here is Gabi getting more corn on the cob ready to cook. Did I mention how much corn on the cob makes me happy? The last night we were there we went to the new Batman movie. It was the most intense movie I have ever seen.

We did have some excitement while we were there. A black bear come out on their porch at night. Gabi's yellow lab, Louie, was outside in a kennel so we had to sneak him in. By the time we got Louie in the bear and gone to the neighbors and I was disappointed I never did get to see it.

Savannah's Amazing Race

2008-07-23T23:00:00.013-06:00

I had a chance to compete in Savannah's race this June. My sister Carol's friend Leah planned this "Amazing Race" style activity to help raise awareness about Down Syndrome. I am attaching the Savannah's Race webpage and the News story video they did before the race on Channel 9news. They do a better job of explaining why this race happened.

http://www.savannahsrace.org/

http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=93479

Leah and Savannah

There were 9 pairs who competed and Carol and I (nicknamed "The Teachers") got 3rd. Every team had to have a camera man so Gabi volunteered to listen to Carol and I fight all day.

I am going to use the information on the Savannah's Race website to explain each task because that is easier. All credit for this goes to Leah. Her information is in bold and my comments are not.

3...2...1...GO! The teams are running to their cars to
open their first clue...They must go to DIA and find a
marked car in the East long term parking lot.

The three teams that raised the most money had a head start. We were not one of them. On the way we were passed by another team and they got pulled over right in front of us. For those of you who aren't familiar with the DIA airport the East long term parking lot is huge. We didn't know where to start. I was trying to figure out if they would just put the car in a random spot of a row that meant something. The rows are marked by letters. I told Carol just to drive to S for Savannah because I was convinced it was there. I was right and we beat every team except the team that left first.

The clue at DIA sent the teams to INVESCO Field at Mile
High. Here, they had to count the # of orange seats in
the Bronco's mane - then they got their next clue...

It was pretty cool to be running around Invesco Field while it was completely empty.

Which sent them to Ceramics in the City, where they had
to paint their own ceramic plate with a theme of Down
syndrome awareness

The clue teams got after they painted their ceramics sent them to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, where one teammate
had to arrest the other. They had to recite the Miranda warning by memory, cuff the suspect, frisk them, fingerprint them, and
as shown here, take a mug shot. Teams then opened their next clue, which sent them to an eating challenge at Rocky
Ridge Park. Then... The worst part for me was the eating challenge. We to eat a 6 inch sub. I know I am weird but I hate sandwiches so it eat a 6 inch one was painful. To make matters worse I had just eaten a big donut while waiting for the mug shot to develop. I almost throw up twice.

On to Kiowa Creek Sporting Club! Each person got 20 tries to shoot 5 sporting clays. Then the best shot had 10 tries to shoot a double clay: two clays with one shell. If they didn't make the required number of hits, the teams sat out for a 5-minute time penalty. Racers had a great time at this location, and did a great job - even some of the first-time shooters did great!

This was my favorite event. We got there are there were two teams in front of us. I have shot a gun before but have never hit a clay pigeon in my life. The owner of the shooting range was so helpful. and I hit my 5 in 12 shots.

Carol struggled to hit any until the last 7 shots and she hit her 5. After that I was the one to try to hit two clay pigeons with on shot. No one yet had done it at all and out of complete luck I did it on the first try. I was so shocked I didn't even run. The guy had to tell us to get going.

Teams were then sent to Strasburg High School where they had to complete a track and field event (shot put,
discus, and hurdles) and also complete a Greek word puzzle. I finally got to use my shot put skills I gained from coaching middle school shot put.

One of the more difficult challenges had teams diving in the Beck Rec Center Pool to retrieve 20 laminated cards
of their team color. Once they retrieved all the cards, there was a word puzzle they had to complete using
those cards. This was the reason we got 3rd and not 2nd. One of our cards got sucked down the drain. I were it the pool forever looking for it and finally one of the helpers swam around looking. When we lifted the cover on the drain our card popped out. Oh well it was for a good cause anyways. We won 2 one-hour massages for 3rd place. They raised $12,200 for the cause.

It was one of the funnest things I have every done. Leah did an amazing job at planning it and getting sponsors. It was very professionally done. I think we ended up driving over 230 miles.

Golfing with Friends

2008-07-11T00:38:00.006-06:00

It has become tradition to go golfing when school gets out with some of my work friends. I wanted to get get some practicing in before embarrassing myself so I went out with some other friends the day before. I am not very good at golf but I enjoy it.

We picked a cold day to golf. I went with my friends Jonathan, Joe, and Audra and we had a lot of laughs. Several people were almost hit with a ball.

The next day I was able to drag my sister Carol to play with us. She has never golfed before but she had a really good time. This is proof that she went.

Jeff had a good day on the course.

Camping with Katie Rose and Bo

2008-07-08T22:28:00.012-06:00

Bo's friends were planning on going on a rafting trip at the beginning of June. I decided to go. I paid part of the money and waited for school to get out. About a week before we were suppose to leave I got an email from Bo saying the river was high and that they didn't want to take such a big group so they wanted people who were experienced and good swimmers. My sister had read that some people died on that part of the river because the water level was so high. Katie Rose emailed us and summed it up the best by saying "How good is good for swimming?" So we decided to go camping instead since Bo and Katie Rose got the time off. We went to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon in Utah. What a great way to start the summer! Going camping with friends I have known since high school.

We went on this great hike in Zions National Park. It had a pretty big drop off.

We made tin foil dinners both nights. Bo was in charge of the cooking and he was a master with his sticks.

I made eggs for breakfast. We eat pretty good even if we were camping.

Bo and I went to Bryce Canyon for the last night. It is so beautiful

We started having a manpri contest since there were so many Europeans around. For those of you who don't know what a manpri is I took a picture. It is capri pants on a man and they are very popular with European guys. Very rarely do you see them on American guys. Bo ended up winning with a total of 21 sightings and I had 19. Like I said there were a lot of Europeans.

This guy looked at me right when I was taking a picture.

It was a great camping trip and a great way to start off my summer.

Cinco De Mayo

2008-07-08T22:18:00.005-06:00

In college I would always have a Cinco de Mayo party. Since I have lived in Denver I have only had one but this year my friend Megan and I decided to play sick that day from work. She is a teacher also in a different district. We were talking about it at church and got 5 more people to hang out that day with us. We started the day at Dozens, my favorite breakfast place, and then went to city park. It was such a nice day. We celebrated by going to a chick flick even though there was one boy with us. After that Audra, Megan, and I cruised Federal where all the Cinco celebration was and had homemade tortillas.

It was a great day and I have decided never to work on Cinco de Mayo again.

2nd Annual Spring Recital

2008-05-18T11:07:00.004-06:00

Its that time again, 2nd Annual Spring Recital. After hearing about a recital my sisters held with friends several years ago, I decided to host one myself. I thought it would be a good excuse to learn something new on the piano that wasn't "Baby Elephant Walk." There were about 15 people who came last year. People sang, played the piano, french horn, guitar and ukulele. We had a wide arrange of abilities and it was a lot of fun. This year was even better.The whole point of this is to learn how to play something new or challenging for whatever level you are. I know what some people have talked about pulling out their middle school band instruments:) There are only 3 rules to remember. 1-You can't come if you don't participate 2-No kazoos 3-No recorders. I have a piano but any other instrument you have to bring yourself. Dessert will be provided after.

Spring Break: California here I come!

2008-04-06T12:07:00.013-06:00

For spring break this year I decided to go visit my brother Kenny's family. Kenny and Johanna have three little boys. Drew-4, Ian-3, and Owen-about 9 months. While Drew was at pre-school Ian was my little helper. He helped me brush my teeth (an interesting experience) and do my hair. He wanted to get his hair done so I gave him a couple of different looks. (There are more pictures on the Summers' Family Blog)

Nerdy

Emo

fro-hawk

He decided it was more fun to wet his hair and then dry it over and over and over again. When he finished his hair was just randomly sticking up.

For lunch we went to John's Incredible Pizza. It basically is Chucky Cheese on steroids. They have a little roller coaster. Drew and I rode on it. It wasn't very big so I thought it would be a nice slow ride but it was surprisingly fast.

They also had this spinning ride that made me feel al little sick. Note to self: you know you are getting old when basically a tea cup ride makes you sick.

Owen was just having fun watching.

We did find a ride for Owen, the carousel. He loved it and cried when we ran out of tickets.

Owen has a lot of hair just on top. He has a total mo-hawk. While I was there Owen got his first haircut. This is the before picture.

He did a great job of just sitting there.

The after picture. The lady spiked his hair.

We also went down to San Diego during the week. Owen got sick right after we left the house with some projectile vomit so we had to go back to the house to clean him up. The little guy rebound pretty well for the rest of that day.

We took a boat ride from Catalina Island. It was cold on the top. I was doing my best not to lose one of my nephews over the side of the boat. That would have been bad.

After an eventful night (one bloody nose, one baby with a fever and blow out diaper issue, and a wet bed accident) we were off to Sea World.

Ian, Kenny and I went on the Atlantis ride and got wet.

After getting really wet at the dolphin show we decided to take the higher seats for the Shamu Show. It was a good thing because the killer whales soaked the crowd.

I had a great trip visiting the boys. There was a lot of playing Zugor (aka Monster), reading books, cuddling on the couch, riding bikes, going to the park, giving bathes, playing trucks, and helping out in the bathroom (don't ask). I have no idea how some of you do it. I am so tired and it will probably take me several more days to recover.

Seeing Stars

2008-04-06T11:13:00.009-06:00

We went to the first Colorado Rapids game of the season as a mulit-stake singles activity. They were playing the LA galaxy. It just so happens that David Beckham plays for that team. I am not going to lie, I was excited to see him. They had a raffle before the game to let people go on the field to watch them warm up. I had a dream about 5 days earlier that I was going to be chosen to be on the field. After that I was totally convinced I was going to win. Well I did. It was really cool to watch the players warm up and yes we were closer to the boys. I know most of you don't know much about soccer but while we were down there we saw many soccer stars that have played for the USA national team.

Landon Donovan

We saw Coby Jones on the sideline. I think he is a trainer now.

Alexi Lalas is the President and General Manager of the Galaxy. I almost didn't recognize him. He looks a lot better now.

And yes, David Beckham.

Here they are warming up. You can hear everyone yelling for Beckham.

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Despite all the big names and large Galaxy salaries we beat them 4-0. It was a great game. I forgot how much I love soccer. I got the first goal on video.

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Rugby

2008-03-04T21:25:00.002-07:00

About a week ago I went up to Boulder to see BYU play CU in rugby. Man that is a violent game. I am not really sure about the rules but it was fun to watch.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia (part 2)

2008-03-04T21:14:00.004-07:00

So I was a little delayed in planting my chia pet. You have to water the chia everyday. I planted it on Monday and then on Tuesday my sister reminded me that we were going to be about of town for 5 days. I had two choices, one to replant or two to submerge my chia in a pot of water and hope for the best. I submerged my chia and after a week it started to grow. So here are my newest pictures.

If you look close you can see that my chia has a hairy mole. I love it.

My New Piano

2008-03-04T21:08:00.004-07:00

Right after Christmas I bought a piano. I know what you are thinking. "Cat, you don't know how to play anything except baby elephant walk." Well that is mostly true but I still enjoy playing. Connie helped me pick out some music that I would be able to play. I try to play everyday. I will try to record something soon and post that.

Don't Mess with Texas

2008-03-04T19:33:00.004-07:00

For President's Weekend Carol, Pauline, Jen and I decided to visit Connie in Austin. We did a lot of shopping, eating, and laughing. The first day we were there Connie told us about eyebrow threading as a replacement to waxing. It is done using some sewing thread. We all wanted to try it. I got Carol's on video. It is so hard to explain so i thought it would be easier to understand by watching it.

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Connie took us to get some BBQ at the Salt Lick. It is out in the middle of no where and totally classic. They consider potatoes salad and coleslaw vegetables.

It is BYOB. People bring their own beer in coolers or buckets. We ate a lot of meat and Pauline even got "meat sweats". Believe me, it isn't good.

It's Official. I am a Dork!

2008-02-03T11:03:00.001-07:00

Around Christmas I was talking with some friends and I admitted that I had always wanted a Chia Pet. One christmas about 8 years ago I actually went to 3 stores looking for one but they were all sold out. We decided to have a chia pet exchange so that we could all finally get one. I am sure I will put more pictures of my chia pet once it starts to grow.

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Starting 2008 off Right

2008-02-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

I decided to start the year off right and to make sure that I was having fun. Even though I don't know how to play lacrosse I love watching Denver's indoor team, The Mammoth.

If it seems like we are far away from the action it's because we are. Nosebleed seats for $5.00. You can't beat that.

I finally got to go snowshoeing. This is why I love Denver. You can leave Denver and there is no snow on the ground and then be in the mountains snowshoeing an hour later. But let me just say that I am out of shape.

The National Western Stock Show

Last year I went to the National Western Stock Show and it was a lot of fun. They have all these cows on displayed. It is a little weird because they brush them to make them look really fluffy. I am not really sure why.

You can't go to something like the stock show without having funnel cake. I think it might be a law.

Others wanted a big turkey leg. I have issues with eating meat on the bone so I totally passed.

To make things even better they had corn on the cob. When I went to buy one they gave me two for the prize of one. I like to think it's because of my amazing looks and my sparkling personality but who knows.

We mainly went to the stock show because we wanted to see the rodeo. The bull riding was intense. No rider stayed on for the 8 seconds. This picture sums it up.

TUBING FUN

When I first moved to Denver I heard that there were places were you could go tubing at the ski resorts and they drag you back up the hill. Since then I have wanted to do this. So on Groundhog's Day I decided to make my dream come through. It was awesome. All the fun of tubing with none of the work. I did feel really lazy getting dragged up the hill but it was so fun.

Tubing really makes you feel like a little kid. I wish I had pictures of everyone's smile as they approached the turn. People had that look of scared excitement.

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Christmas Fun!

2008-02-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

December was a really long month for me and I was excited to leave everything behind and be with my family for two weeks. Because my oldest sister Kate is pregnant (with our first niece) her family wasn't able to make it for Christmas. Everyone else was able to make it so we had a really full house.

When Kenny and Johanna left to do some Christmas shopping for the boys, we were the babysitters. Drew was a little sad that mommy wasn't around so he asked to sit next to Owen. This is such a cute picture.

We had our traditional fondue Christmas Eve dinner. It is always good but a little dangerous with the oil popping every once in a while.

Christmas morning was all about the boys.

Kenny got some skittles in his shocking and Ian thought they were his. A boy after my own heart.

Here is Owen just looking cute.

It would't be a family gathering without a trip to the dump. Since we moved my Dad's office into our house we had a lot of things to get rid of. Kenny and I were volunteered to drive the truck with bad brakes across town to the dump.

Kenny had fun throwing the old toilets and trying to see if they would brake. We managed the trip without getting in an accident.

Our living room had a huge fort in it for most of the break. The boys loved being chased by the monster (me) and then hiding in the fort.

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Owen being cute again.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

I am in a new ward now. Well actually this was the ward I was in when I first moved to Denver but it has changed a lot. It was good timing because the day after I started at the new ward they were having their annual Maplewood Thanksgiving dinner and auction on the Monday before Thanksgiving. I bought a Nuggets ticket while I was there for the next day. A girl in my ward is a nanny for some really rich people. He has season tickets on the 10th row center for the Nuggets games. I bought one of these at the auction. I was really excited about getting to sit close at a Nuggets game because I am always up in the high balcony.
I have long said that before I die I want to be on the gaint screen of some sporting event. Well at some point during a tv timeout they asked people to get out their King Soopers discount card. I got mine out and started waving it around. All of a sudden I was on the giant screen so I got really excited and started jumping around more. The camera went off me and I still was jumping around. After about a minute I was on again and it said winner around me. I, of course, was really excited so I jumped around more. I asked my friend what I won and they said $100 gift card for King Soopers. So now I can die a happy person. I was on the big screen for about 15 seconds and even got a gift card. It was awesome.
This year at Thanksgiving there was just four of us. We had a great dinner and I eat to much and apparently drank too much kool aid. My stomach hurt so bad for the next two hours but it was worth it.
At the dinner table we noticed my Dad's shirt. Both his elbows were worn out. He told us he saves those shirts so when he has to wear his suit for a short time he can still wear them. He marks an X on them so that he knows which ones he has to keep his suit jacket on for. We all got a good laugh about that.

My Dad is retiring at the end of the year. We got recruited to help move some filing cabinets from his office to our house. Little did we know there was more he had in mind. We had to move boxes of files to a storage unit.

Carol and I did have fun with the moving dolley. The filing cabinet was a job that was a little bit too big for us. I have a big bruise on my leg to prove it. At one point one of the cabinets fell off the dolley and rolled down a hill at our house and then we dropped the big one which broke a painting in our family room.
We also went to the BYU vs Utah game. Here is my Dad and my Uncle Don dressed for the game. It was 37 degrees that day. It was a good one.
Most of you probably (or you should have) watched or listened to the game. Very exciting.
Students rushed the field. I remembered how much I loved those games, especially since we won.

Fall Break

2007-11-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

We get a week off for fall break. Last year we went to Guatemala this year Carol and I decided to visit Kim in D.C. After talking about it we decided that we probably should spend a long weekend in New York since it has been almost a year since we have been there last. Connie and Kim didn't want to be left out so we had a Single Summers' sisters' long weekend.
Carol, Connie, and I took the red-eye and arrived Saturday morning. Kim was taking the China Town express bus from D.C. and didn't get in until that afternoon. It rained the whole first day we were there. I had to buy an umbrella from a guy on the street.
We went to two plays this time. We wanted to see musicals that we hadn't seen yet. The first night we saw Legally Blonde. The story is pretty much the same except for a couple of things at the end. The songs were pretty funny but the singing was great. The girl who played Elle also played Glinda (Wicked) on Broadway. She was really good.
We also saw Drowsy Chaperone. It was good but not my favorite.
Oh and Bob Saget was in it which we thought was funny.

We waited too long before we found a place to stay so the cheaper hotels were all booked. We decided to stay at a hostel again. Last December we stayed in a hostel so we decided to use the same one, The Continental. It isn't very nice but at least we knew what to expect. It is located on 95 on the Upper East Side. Our room had two bunk beds. It was simple but it worked.
Washington Park is one of my favorite places to visit.
Every time I have been to New York City with my sisters we have tried to eat at a place called Serendipity 3. It is suppose to have really good desserts. So this time we made reservations since it is always busy. The dessert was pretty amazing.

All we did this time was shop, eat, and see shows. Connie went back to Texas and the three of us went to D.C.
I have never really been to the D.C. zoo so we went. One of my favorite safari animals is always the hippo. It was cool to see one up so close.

We also went to the Spy Museum. It was awesome. I have always been upfront about my desire to be Sydney Bristow. Here I am trying to go through this heating duct without being loud. They had a little noise meter. Watch out Jennifer Garner.
One of Kim's roommates works in the West Wing of the White House so we got a private tour. We weren't alowed to take pictures inside the West Wing but here we are outside.
I really wanted to sit in the Oval Office but we weren't allowed to go into the room. It was still pretty cool. We ended our vacation in Delaware at our Aunt Ann's house. I didn't take any pictures but we had a great time. We drove to Intercourse, Penn to see the Amish Country. Good times!

My First Triathlon

2007-10-15T19:55:00.001-06:00

So sometime during July I decided to train for a sprint triathlon (500M swim, 15.5 miles Bike, and a 5K run). Carol and I have been biking a lot this summer so I wasn't worried about this part of a tri but I have no real experience with swimming laps. I had to find a tri that was at least a month and a half away so I would have enough time to practice. Most of them were on Sundays so I picked the Montrose Triathlon on October 6th, a Saturday. I thought it would be a nice way to turn 28. I invited friends to do it with me and there were a lot of people who were excited. However, when it came down to it, almost everyone backed out. Carol, Bo, and I were the only participants. The first time I went swimming I thought that my heart was going to explode it was beating so fast but each time I went, it got easier and easier. Here,I have documented our journey.

Since the triathlon was in Montrose and it is 1 1/2 hours away from Grand Junction, we decided we would need to get a hotel. Carol and I took the day off work even though we left at 3:00pm. We met Bo in Grand Junction and drove to Montrose. We wanted to go to the information meeting that night but I got pulled over in Montrose for being in the left lane too long without passing. I was trying to find the road that we were looking for. Basically the state trooper was bored but he didn't give me a ticket. This caused us to miss the meeting but it wasn't a big deal. We decided to eat at Chile's that night after we drove around trying to find a movie theatre. Carol ordered a Diet Dr Pepper to prepare her for the tri.
Here is Bo showing off his really really tight swimming/biking/running shorts.
Bo is getting the bikes ready.
I am at the transition stage setting all our stuff out. We really didn't know what we were doing. We just kept looking at everyone else and copied them.

They had to write our number on our legs and arms. It only took a couple of showers to get rid of it.
The bike portion was the part that we were the least worried about. The swimming was actually really easy. The bike was horrible. It was really windy and at one point it blew me off the road. No matter what direction we rode the wind was in our face. It seemed like it would never end. I got to the transition zone first and waited for Bo and Carol. Needless to say our transition time wasn't that fast.
Here is Bo and Carol running for the finishline. The run was up a hill and back down.
Here is a picture of us at the finishline. They had to take the finishline down while we were biking since it was so windy.
After the tri we decided to award ourselves with Wendys.
I had a great hamburger and fries.
Carol enjoyed her frosty.

I think Bo had a hamburger and the frosty.

Summer Fun in Denver

2007-08-26T11:41:00.001-06:00

Even though I was gone a lot this summer I was in town long enough to enjoy the great Denver weather.

Dave and I went to a Rockies game with his sister Ann and her boyfriend. Dave caught a foul ball. It was pretty cool. I think the Rockies won but I can't remember.

We also hiked Pikes Peak with my Dad.

My Dad didn't start hiking 14ers (14,000 feet peak) until he was 60 years old. After learning that he had Parkinsons he decided that he wanted to finish 10 14ers. Pikes Peak was number 10. This was really important to him and we were all excited to be there.

You can actually drive to the top of Pikes Peak so my mom met us up there. My dad does really well hiking up but his balance is not what it has been so going down is harder on him. This was my mom's second 14er. She drove up to Mount Evans last year with us.

I have been biking a lot this summer. A couple of my friends did the Moonlight Classic with me on August 18th. It was a midnight 15 mile bike tour through downtown Denver. It was a lot of fun. People dressed up in random customs. We decided to make this an annual event. Here is my friend Jeff from work, me, and Bo.

Carol, Lauren, and Joe

Joe had the best bike out of our group, 3 gears.

There were about 6,000 people there that night.

We all made it to the finish line without accident. We are planning on doing a 25 mile bike tour in Palisade on September 15th. I am also training for my first triathlon in Montrose on October 6th. I figure it will be a great way to celebrate my 28th birthday 2 days early. Anyone is welcome to participate. It is a 500 meter swim in a pool, 15 miles on the bike, and a 5K run.

Ouray, Colorado

2007-08-26T10:52:00.000-06:00

The first week of August my family met in Ouray for a little bit of a vacation. A family in my parents' stake offered their "cabin" for us to use. We like to call it the mansion. It is incredible.

My sister Kate surprised the family by showing up on Monday with her two boys. My brother-in-law Aaron wasn't able to get work off to join us. My nephews loved throwing things into the lake. Here is Curtis 4, Drew 3, Ian 2, and Michael 1. My newest nephew, Owen was just about 1 month old at the time. The boys had a blast playing with each other.

The four "singles" and my dad when jeeping on day. It was amazing. The San Juans are probably my favorite mountains in Colorado.

One night we were giving each other pedicures. Michael (1 years old) wanted to join in on the action and scrub his feet. He was pretty funny about it.

Our last full day Carol, Connie, Kim, Dave and I went on a hike to a waterfall. It had some amazing views of the town.

We had to take our trash with us when we left the mansion so we piled it into the car. Connie and Carol were the lucky ones who got to sit by the trash.

Last year there was an attempted to get rid of the trash at Subway. It didn't go well. This year we decided to give the KOA a try. So Kim and Connie tried to sneek the trash into the garbage bin. Kim forgot to put the car in park so it started to roll as she ran out to throw the trash away. There was a lot of giggling but we did get rid of the trash.

KENYA 2007

2007-07-17T16:04:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, I have recently returned from my third trip to Kenya. The group I went with was called Reach the Children but is now World of Difference. We have been working on the same school every summer and I must say that it is really coming along. I have included 2 pictures from the first two years so you can see the difference.

Summer of 2005-The first year I went to Kenya we arrived to find a mostly empty lot (we had to take down a little structure) where we were to build a school called Vessel of Hope. We spent our time working on the foundation and then the walls for the first floor.

Summer of 2006-The second year we worked on building the second floor.

Summer of 2007-This year we worked on cleaning up the two floors. We put a roof over the second floor, plastered 3 rooms, built shelves for the library, cleaned up the outside of the school, cleaned up the upstairs classrooms so they could be used, and fixed the road in front of the school.

Why Kenya?

Some people me ask why I keep going back to Kenya. It is hard to put into words but these pictures help explain. My first year we met a girl we all called "Green Dress" only because no one knew her name. She wasn't in school so she didn't know any English. We found out later her name was Sarah and her parents were dead. She was being taken care of by neighbors. I didn't see her smile much that first year.

My second year she was in school and was a totally different kid. She was always smiling and had learned some English. This year she was all smiles and has learned so much. It has been awesome seeing her growth.

The Project

This year we plastered 3 rooms. We thought we would be able to help but it turns out that plastering Kenya style is not easy.

I have to be prefectly honest, I sucked. So, it was obvious that Kenyans should plaster and we would be support.

Plastering has many different steps. There are like 6 different layers of stuff and then they smooth it out.

As support we had to sift the sand because it had been sitting out too long. Kids had started to play on it so it was clumpy. Sometimes in Kenya you do something just to do it again later. Here is Joe and me working hard sifting sand with our hands.

After seeing the kids playing in the nastiest water I have ever seen, we decided to fix the road with the dirt that was everywhere upstairs. Jeff and Chevy helped make a slide so that it was easier to move the dirt from upstairs to the road.
The slide really helped. Notice the nasty green water and yes, the kids were playing in it.

We tried to make a canal system so the water wouldn't go everywhere. We were really proud of our road and the lack of stagnet water.

We didn't make any desks this year but we fixed them. I decided to use child labor and I put the kids to work. They were always eager to help and they are really fast.

Another task we worked on was chiseling the outside bricks so that they can fill it in again but make it look nicer. It is a little random but that is how they do things. Here is Joe and me working on the front of the school.

Here is Bo and Chevy working on the side. They worked on that wall for most of the day.

This is the finished product.

We only had enough money to cover 4 of the 6 rooms with a cement slab (the ceiling for the second floor) so we had to make a roof to cover the last 2 rooms. Here is Amy aka Danger and me sawing the wood beams that we used to build the tin roof..

After the walls were plastered in the new library room Brian and friends built shelves for the books we have brought over the last 3 years.
The last day at the site several of the girls on the team organized the books. It looked totally amazing afterwards.

Electriciy is now close enough that the school will have it soon. An electrian came in and hooked up the bottom floor so they can have light!

Here is one of the second floor rooms with a concrete roof. They hold up the slab with wood planks. We cleaned up the 4 rooms so that they could have class as soon as the slab is dry.

This is a claasroom on the second floor where we built the wood/tin roof. We cleaned up the two rooms so that they could have class in them the next day. Here is Bo and Michelle aka "Jessica" after we finished setting the room up.
The second floor rooms are bigger and have natural light so they were excited to use them. We fit as many desks as we could find so that all the kids would fit. They put at least 3 kids in each desk, sometimes 4.

Some Favorite Kenyan Moments

2007-07-16T22:23:00.000-06:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures. There are a lot of pictures of kids. They love to see themselves on the digital camera. They always say "take me a picture" or "and me and me".
We are a huge distraction for the kids so usually they don't have class while we are there. Here is a sample assignment that the grade 1 students were working on.
This is Kamani. He is one of my favorite kid ever. You can see him in many of my pictures.

Can you find the Mzungu?

The front of the school with the wood/tin roof.

Naga, Kamani, and me
If you have a camera on you, the kids want a picture. We are in a classroom on the 1st floor.
Cicila Marta working hard sanding a desk.
Kids line up to have Joe draw on them. The gel pens really show up well on their skin. It was common to see kids walking around with stars on their foreheads.
Another shot of kids in front of the school.
"Give me bubbles!"
Bubbles are also very popular. Brian brought a bubble gun this year which made it easier and less messy. One kid loved it so much that he didn't even bother pulling his pants up.
My school donated a bunch of PE shirts and I took this picture for them.

So I love squeezing the cheeks of my nephews so I did it to one of the kids and took a picture. Well I heard "and me and me" so the kids got in a queue and for the next 10 minutes we took pictures. I can't help but smile everytime I look at those faces.

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This is what the school looked like the day we left. Notice the power line that is now in this part of the slum.
We played a game in Kenya called Pee. It was pretty simple. When you saw someone peeing you just say pee. You'd be surprised how many times it happens. Every once in awhile someone who offer points for other random things. Chevy offered 20 points if Joe would get out of the van and just bust it. So he did. It was really funny because the Kenyans would stop what they were doing and start laughing at the Mzungu (white person) dancing.

Danger "Amy" with Veronica
This is Marcy and Kevin on the outside (brother and sister) and Kamani on my lap.

The Hairy Ape Song

Naga was a pretty shy kid but he would come alive during the Hairy Ape song.

Every year we sing songs with the kids. This year Judy and Joe introduced the Hairy Ape song to the kids. They loved it. We used the balcony on the second level as a stage. The kids would get really into it.

I recorded the Hairy Ape Song on my camera when we were at Issac's school. It was the first time these kids ever heard the song so they weren't dancing with us. If you listen carefully you can hear the cutest little giggle ever.

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Who is the Liar?

So one of our favorite songs this year that the kids sang for us was "Who is the Liar?" We don't understand all the words except "Who is the liar? The Devil is a liar . . . (words we don't understand) and throwh him in the fire".

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Interested in Sponsoring a Child?

2007-07-16T15:19:00.000-06:00

Many people have asked me how they can help. By no means do I want people to feel obligated to sponsor but here is the information if you are interested. To sponsor a child for a year at Vessel of Hope costs $120.00. This buys the child a school uniform/shoes (once a year), school supplies, and lunch everyday. More than half of the students at Vessel of Hope do not pay any money to be there. This effects a lot of things. Unfortunately this means that these children rarely eat lunch and are often seen wearing torn clothing and shoes that don't fit. Often teachers, who have families of their own, are not being paid so that these students can stay in school. There are also lots of students who just want a chance to be in school that live in the area. I took pictures of some of the unsponsored students. I've included their names and what grade they are in. Some of these kids are in school but some aren't yet. If you are interested or just have questions, you can email me. If you want to sponsor someone, include the name of the child and I will put you in contact with Grace Omingo who started Vessel of Hope.

catsum205@hotmail.com

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Sorry the names are so small but if you put the mouse over the names they get bigger.

Southern States tour

2006-11-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

My sister Kim moved to Washington D.C. this summer so my 3 other single sisters(Carol, Connie, and Kim), my mom, and I decided to do a southern states tour. I hit several new states like North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. I only have 5 more states to go.

Nat (college friend) and I in Atlanta. She did a great job showing me the sites.

New Orleans

Heidi (college friend) and I at Texas Roadhouse

A cool old house we drove all over to find somewhere in Mississippi (I think).

2-Guatemala: Tikal

2006-11-06T14:31:00.000-07:00

We went to see the Mayan ruins in Tikal, Guatemala. They told us that Tikal is the largest Mayan ruin site in the world. Who knows if that is actually true but it was amazing. Here is a picture of Bo and me on one pyramid looking back to another.

Here I am on top of a flat pyramid.

Temple # 5 was the steepest. There were 104 steps that you had to climb like a ladder so that you wouldn't fall. It was pretty scary but the view from on top was worth it.

Here we are on top of Temple #5.

There were over 10 big pyramids and tons more that they don't have money to uncover. Basically, every hill has a temple underneath it.

This is the vip-line tour we went on through the jungle. It was a lot of fun and I screamed a lot.

1-Guatemala Trip October 2006

2006-11-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the year my sister’s friends started planning what I call a "High Adventure" trip to Guatemala. I thought it would be fun so I decided to go. There were 20 in all that went in our group and I only knew 5 of them before the trip. My sisters Carol and Connie came, my friend Bo from Grand Junction and two friends from Denver, Jill and Pauline. We left on Friday 10/20 and returned on Sunday 10/29. I didn't have to miss any school since we get a week for fall break. It was an amazing trip and I couldn't believe that I was really in Guatemala and doing the things that we were doing. Our main activities were sightseeing in Guatemala City, exploring Mayan ruins in Tikal, hiking a volcano, mountain biking around Lake Atitlan, and kayaking through the dense mangroves and spacious wetland lakes to the Pacific Ocean to stay the night on an island.

We had enough time to go to the temple in Guatemala City and do a session. It was Saturday so it was very busy.

3-Guatemala: Acatenango Volcano Hike

2006-10-25T14:54:00.000-06:00

We started hiking Acatenango Volcano in the morning. We had three guides (Matt, Cisco, and Luisa) with us for the hike. Matt told us that there wouldn't be a warm up because the hike started with us going straight up. He wasn't kidding.

Connie and me when we stopped for lunch.

I climbed the watch tower but it was really high and the tree was moving so I only made it half way up.

Connie summiting in the thick sand. It was so steep and such deep sand that if you took 3 steps, you slid down two. It was really frustrating. I laid down about 10 feet from the top for a break. The sand made a really soft bed. It was hard to get up and start moving again.

Me at the top. I wanted to cry for joy since I was done. We hiked straight up for 6 1/2 hours. They kept telling us we would get to switchbacks but I don't think the Guatemala definition for switchback is the same as the American one. We hiked straight up the whole time.

Fuego Volcano at sunrise. At night we could see the red glow of Fuego. I tried to get pictures of it but they didn't turn out.

Connie in front of Fuego. You can see it smoking.

Our camp site in the mouth of the crater. It was really cold that night and we were all excited to get going in the morning. We couldn't build a fire so we just froze. The view of the stars at night and the other volcanoes in the morning made it so worthwhile.

I took a lot more pictures on the way down since we weren't as tired. The rainforest was awesome.

As we got closer to the bottom we kept taking off the layers.

Carol and me almost at the bottom. We hiked about 5000 feet up and the top was about 13,500 feet.

4-Guatemala: Biking around Lake Atlitlan

2006-10-22T15:15:00.000-06:00

Lake Atlitlan after our 13 mile road bike trip with the group. We stopped at an overlook for lunch.
Anne Marie, Ken, and I decided that we wanted to try Guatemala mountain biking. We got a picture with our brave guide Cisco before splitting with the group to do single track mountain biking.
The mountain biking totally kicked our butts. Ken ended up in the corn field twice and then later a barbed wire fence. I fell several times in the dirt and Anne Marie ended up in this ravine but as you can see we are still smiling because it was awesome.
Cisco took action shots of us while we mountain biked.
Sometimes the action was us carrying our bikes over hard sections. We called it Hike Biking.
Cisco and me after we completed our bike ride. Lake Atlitlan is in the background.
After we got back to the vans we had to have a victory shot. We all had battle scars to appreciate our ride even more.

5-Guatemala: Kayaking

2006-10-20T15:22:00.000-06:00

We took a waterproof camera on the kayaking trip and I haven't developed them yet.

Connie and Jill are sitting under the mosquito net. We got eaten alive that night. The mosquitos in Guatemala give no mercy. I am still itching 1 1/2 weeks later.

The Pacific Ocean view from our bungalow. We found out the next day that there were sand fleas on the black sand beach and because of the fleas on my first day back to school, I wore only socks all day. My feet still itch because of the bites. We also found a syringe on the beach. Not the best beach I have ever been to, but the sunset was beautiful.

Loading up the boats the next day.

One of my favorite Spanish words that I can still remember is Biblioteca and we found one. I was very excited.