last night i went to the trace atkins/toby keith concert w/ some friends and it was a pretty good time! trace could use a face lift and toby a razor, but besides that i can't complain!

this is bobby. he was sportin a pretty mismatched outfit. if he looks like a fun guy to you, he would love to sell you a house
our crew: mike, gwen, kate, bobby and i

we really didn't fit in w/ most of the crowd, but had fun anyway!
(for the most part it was like going to the state fair)

the one thing i've learned at work:

everyone is wired just a bit differently, and working in boulder, well, i'd say you see a bit of everything. i've also discovered that people nurture other people to be like them. example: high maintenance patients have high maintenance children, etc.......

to which it is no surprise (since ezra is half human, anyway) that i, usually being pathetic and high maintenance in one way or another, nurture ezra to be the same---

he was EXHAUSTED after our hike and demanding affection....

pathetic nurtures pathetic!

i'm not going to lie-- our boss is cool
today instead of going to work, our little corner played hooky and left super early to hike the 14er quandary instead.
it was awesome and i'm so glad it worked out for us all to do it!

yes, i should be training for cross but this climbing stuff is addicting. rob, dallas, ezra, me, bobbi, jon and baileyit's obvious in the high country fall is around the corner.
our hikes have progressively gotten colder and today (THANKFULLY) we ran into snow, shaped like dippin' dots, instead of rain

we finished up the front range 14ers this weekend with pikes peak!
This adds to the list of one of the most physically exhausting things i've done.
here's our fri/sat recap:

leave golden 1:00 p on Friday
stop for burritos to hike up for dinner
drive to manitou
hike 10 mi up to A-frame at tree line
eat burritos
set up camp in the rain by 7:00

Sat:
leave camp 4:15 a
climb in the stars to the top (this was BEAUTIFUL)
wait for sunrise--- except it got suck behind a cloud and i made dallas leave before it actually came up (it was COLD! we're talking 20 degrees) and i couldn't take it anymore
hurry down, take down camp
hike down by 11:00
help adam and chelsie move into their apt, climbing 2 stories of stairs carrying things all afternoon

what i failed to mention was that this just happened to be the weekend of the ascent (when people race to the top). whoops! we still went anyway and were fish swimming upstream fighting 2,000 runners on our way down

with 25+ lb packs:
total mileage: 26
total elevation 15,000 ft

i guess now it's time to let my legs recover and get ready for the cross season

i love this pic--- a) it's AWFUL
b) i'ts blurry because i was shaking so bad from the cold
c) fake smile. i was not happy at the top!
d) we plain just look bad

so after reading close to 1700 pages this summer, writing a total of 40 pages of assignments and 1 huge research paper, along with 10 tests..... (i could almost cry with joy saying this)

I"M DONE, WITH AN A!!!

that said, my book has found a new purpose in life


also, brenda for some good tunes-- go to pandora and make your own radio station!

i've always heard that things that need to be recycled should be cleaned out first, so when we finished up our 4 lb container of peanut butter i was concerned.......

only for a little bit.......

ez is such a helper around the house

i would like to promote one of my biggest time sucks.

steep and cheap has helped us make all our summer excursions financially possible this year. yes, it is helps if you have a desk job, no life, or a book to study (ie online class) and have it running in the background

also, backcountry has some great deals too, although not as good as s&c, you don't have to wait for it to change every 20 min

my current desktop background, taken from the saddle between g & t:
next up: pikes peak on sat

whew!
in the last week.....

i have finished my class
finally got ezra new tennis balls
successfully killed some flowers
still havn't figured out what my grade is
havn't mowed the lawn (no rain, no mow)
watched william finish up his 16 lb bag of cat food
got new tires on my jeep (yeah! no baldies anymore!)
hosted adam and chelsie for their big move to the springs
figured out that we need a new dishwasher (not named andi)
went to co springs to hang out w/ dallas' family for the weekend

yea, this is the tourist trap pic at the cave of the winds but it's not
every day that you get 8 adults and 4 kids ages 6 and under
to all smile and look good at the same time!
L-R: dan & micah (1.67 yrs) , dallas,
andi, julia (6 yrs), jeremy, dalene,
amelia (2.83 yrs) carol, randy,
ethan (3.416 yrs) and doug
the burnums

yesterday jen called. i love jen, and whenever she calls, you know it's going to be something just fantastic! i love jen because we have the same life agenda: to avoid growing up as much as possible.

today we went rafting in clear creek for 3 hrs. and yes, it was fantastic!

FINALLY!!!

after trying to get to torrys mtn forever we finally did this! (since i was in college something has came up every time and i havn't been able to summit)

we are so excited to almost be done with the front range mountains and move on to the less traveled road! (still left for andi: pikes peak......in case you havn't heard we are trying to do them all before dallas turns 40)

we were surprised, for an aug 1 hike, how much snow it got last night

also, horray for ezra, his first 14'er!!

talk about picky pit bull

ezra is extremely picky about the tennis balls he will play catch with.

requirements include:
1) must bounce like new
2) must have no holes or cracks

you would think that these requirements would be really easy to fill but what you probably can't see in this picture are the 11 tennis balls that he refuses to play with because of their "deformaties" (ie not new)
spoiled dog

this weekend we had big plans to get out of here, car camp and bag some 14ers this morning.

going in, always a great start to the trip---
hoping it will blow over
9 pm....... raining outside

5:00 am---

• ezra has stolen my sleeping bag for himself
• dallas' stomach feels not so great
• it is 41 degrees out
• it is still pouring

so we move everything from the front seat to the back and drive home. :(

maybe next time

holy moley!

2 qdoba burritos = 2.6 lbs!
also the geek has been updating his blog.
i think he now has more posts in the last week than in the last year

grocery getting

ok, i will admit i'm a pretty finicky grocery shopper.
here is my mental list when purchasing items:

1) find what i'm looking for
2) find cheapest product (hint: look for non-name brands)
3) is it the right fat content? if no, look again
4) look at ingredients. are there too many? yes, but is it inexpensive (fancy word for cheap)? no. i might reconsider.....
*exceptions: captain crunch cereal*
5) if there are similar products within the dime of each other, look at packaging (yes, i do this). does one have more "fun" colors than the other? if yes, pick this one.

..........6) wait, can i recycle the package? oooh i can? ok... choose this one

yes, i know this sounds redicurous (yes, i did say redicurous--- from seinfield if you are confused) but that's how it's done here! which is why this lovely jar of ricotta cheese was chosen for our weekly meal, this time lasagna.
it passed all qualifications..... but i was very angered to find....

what are you looking for?
you're looking for the "easy to tear off top plastic packaging" nickel sized tab that prevents you from, *big breath* not using your teeth, because if your mom saw that she would crown you for ruining a perfectly good set of teeth so now you have to take out a knife to open top packaging in which most cases you would wipe on your jeans when you are done and return to the drawer but it's cheese, which makes the knife something extra you have to wash when you're done and washing dishes is no fun.

i realize that i did buy the generic ricotta cheese (obviously without all the bells and whistles), but even the kroger brand ketchup has a little tab! comon ricotta cheese packagers, a little love, please?

sorry for the blogging delay.... we were out at the
JOURNEY/HEART (!) concert!!!!
(which may i add was incredible!)

if you would like to see footage the lady right next to us (who BTW has been to now, 9, journey concerts) recorded the whole thing.

go to youtube.com and search under "journey/heart red rocks"

bodily pictures

with as much as i'm working i'm very impressed with my summer tan line so far!

also, a little plug for Dr. Koch at the boulder med center---
2 weeks later and it's looking great!

ok folks---before you read turn up the computer volume!

today i found reason #2 of why commuting to work isn't so bad after all

reason #1
i really need ANDI ALONE time every day. this means a period of time where there is no mental stimulation and i don't have to talk to anyone. my commute is perfect for this

reason #2
(as sung to love potion #9)
yes, andi's caller niiiiinnnnnneeeeee
yes, andi's caller niiiiinnnnneeeee

it's true. somehow i did it. today i was successfully caller 9 on 99.5 the mountain and next tues i have free red rocks tickets to journey/heart. OH YEAH!

dallas has already claimed his spot but just in case, the other ticket will go to the highest bidder

we came home a day early. yesterday driving home we decided we would "try" having a vacation day away from vacation just to see how it went. i think we both knew before getting back that this was going to be a new rule in our house!

today we cleaned, scouted out the next 14'er and ran errands, walking around like we'd been beat in the legs with a baseball bat

dallas, nate and i on top of humbolt

.....and we're back!

3 days
20+ mi hiking
(11 w/ pack!)

we're back and walking funny.

we had a really great trip. the only thing i really messed up was the sunscreen-bug spray - wipe it all off - rotation as i think i forgot sunscreen one day. but hey, when you have views like below a little sun won't hurt, right?

would i do it again?
OF COURSE

and i'm thinking i must be sick in the head. my favorite part was hiking our packs (mine 37 lbs) in. yes, WEIRD

scenery driving inbackpacking up
dallas, me, and billy, our mountain goat friend (in extreme background)
not a bad view waking up in the morning
although i didn't get to summit the needle this trip i'll go back and do it someday. this is on the way up to humbolt, another 14'er
dallas and i on top of humbolt.
we were analyzing how we could climb the ridges of the mountains (in background).
end of day
end of day view

its been a pretty crazy week. although i do notice other bloggers are slower in the summer so i don't feel quite so bad. please don't check in until next thurs (if yo'ure lucky, otherwise fri).

somehow i got talked hauling this up 4 mi at altitude. not in it: apples, helmet to climb, water bladder.