Our house is one thrill after another

Look how exciting it is here!

KICKBALL!

(sorry, no picture)

i have been HYPED up all week for this--

FALL KICKBALL!!!

i don't know why but i have the greatest time playing kickball. the summer was good. our team was horrible, but our team is FUN and that's really what counts.

team name: got beer?
mascot: nothing
record so far: 0-1 (although it was a good fight)
we lost to the sea pandas.
we always lose to the sea pandas!

something special for the fall--dallas is playing too!
i may have (on pure accident) forgot to tell him some of the rules for his first game
and he had quite a few errors last night (costing us some outs!)
but it will be awesome---
just don't count on us for anything on wednesday nights!

William, happy for 5 min of peace and quiet

beezer visits!

and gets buried in dog

yesterday we hiked the shavano/tab group.

it was exhausting.
i was tired going in, dallas has been gone for the past 3 mo.
by the end we were dragging.
although it was only 12 miles, you essentially had to climb 3 peaks to get them all in.

up shavano
down shavano
up tabaquache
back down tab
up shavano again
down shavano

we enjoyed it though
saw some pretty trees
and got a subtle reminder from mother nature that fall is quickly approaching in the high country
we were supposed to hike today as well but yesterday left us sore and grouchy and we thought we shouldn't push our luck. most of the collegiates are 10+ miles.

today i'm not sore but someone else might be. :)

for the record

gretta likes puffcorns
ezra does not
and
william still does not like gretta

William

Now that there is another giant set of chomper jaws in our house im sure that there is at least one of you worried about william.

Let me assure you that william is a feisty little thing and if he can survive the coyotes he can survive gretta. Gretta, while wagging tail, gets close, and william growls back. Im sure that he is molting his coat with anxiety but soon this honeymoon phase will be over and everything will level out to some kind of normal.

Need some more lap space

Grocery shopping

Andi: oooh my mom and i love these!
Driving home, as im munching away....
Dallas: the guys at the plant love those. I try one. (munch) ew.  i think i just at stephyerfoam

Andi: you probably did! With artificial butter!

Needless to say, the entire bag is mine and i dont have to hide it!

Ez gets a friend

......a permanent friend.
After seeing gretta at the animal shelter we couldnt stop thinking about her. Now.... Our house has 85# of more protection

We thought it couldnt get worse

Having a 75# dog in bed is something we are not particularily fond of, but deal with.

But when mr. deflated basketball came to bed too we had to draw the line.

Nice try ez

i've been emotional lately--i know.
sorry to anyone who has talked to me as of recently.
friday was my last day in boulder.
i had a great time working with rob.
it was really hard to leave.

as of today i'm with exempla on their lutheran campus.
i'm still doing ortho
i still don't know what to do with my life,
but,
this is a good option in the meantime!
my commute has lessened from 45(+) min to 10.
right now we're in orientation and it makes you want to jab your eyes with a dull pencil but i'm hoping that it gets better than this. .....
otherwise i may be begging for my old job back.

When you give a mouse a cookie

Or when you give ez a ball....

Ez loves to play soccer, but usually punctures the ball, so we thought there would be no way he could puncture a basketball. Wrong. 20 seconds into the game the game was over.

Saturday

D got home early last night. Today our friend duane got us the hook ups to bandimere nationals. Free pit hookups with drinks nd burgers....free tickets....how could we go wrong w that?

A plug for breakfast!

Bunny tracks is $3.30 off at king soopers!

A plug for breakfast

Bunny tracks is $3.30 off at king soopers!

weekend

Ahhhhh....the weekend was a blur--
my favorite!!!

This past friday was most likely my last friday off for a long while, so my parents and i hiked quandry peak. i'ts a tough climb (capturing 3300 ft of elevation gain in only 2.5 miles) and they did great!

saturday my parents did my honey do chores, which had been on my nagging list for sometime! go mom and dad! it was great. they: cleaned out my refrigerator (which was rather embarrassing) and my kitchen, fixed my bathroom sink, put in a medicine cabinet (my stuff has a home now!) and fixed our swamp cooler-----all before noon!

sunday--
liz and i tackled mount elbert, the tallest mtn in co. we had a killer pace going up. i couldn't help but gather satisfaction every time we passed a group of dudes. (naturally competitive i suppose?)
like always, it was beautiful up there. a lot of snow has melted, even just since hiking massive 2 weeks ago. below--mt massive as seen from going up elbert

liz is much better with my slow ancient camera than dallas and i combined. she got a sweet air shot---so cool. thanks liz!
sunday night--- volunteer at church preschool and in bed at 8:30.
exhausting weekends rock.

Hi!

Today my parents and I hiked quandry peak! They did fantastic!

Who would have thought?

Ezra likes eating dill pickels.

What a weird dog

ice cream

this is a subject close to my family's heart.
in the holste household, bunny tracks ice cream is a subject
not to be taken lightly.
we fight over it.
we plan each scoop from the box to strategically
get all the goodies for ourselves.

usually dallas isn't around so ez and i get our own box.
it's a perfect match up.
i get the goodies.
ez gets the vanilla ice cream surrounding.
nothing could be better.....

SATURDAY
andi: (eating out of the box and "maybe?" dropping
ez a few here and there)
dallas: are you just digging out the good stuff
and leaving just ice cream behind?
andi: no (i really wasn't. it was level across the top)

SUNDAY AFTERNOON
dallas: is there any ice cream left?
(like ez and i could eat the whole thing)
andi: yes
dallas: (eating) wow! this is good stuff!
WOW! look at this!
andi: are you just digging out the good stuff?

apparently the double standard rule applies in our house

SUNDAY NIGHT
andi: (going to get ice cream)
did you eat all the chocolate out?
dallas: it was really good! it was the glory hole

ugh. men.
what am i left with?
just plain vanilla
this is the last time we tell dallas where the ice cream is

Hi!

From the top of mt massive!

Only my boss

My desk at work today...

Thank you rob

in case you can't tell--- it says: "stop talking"

This is a sight I will not be missing.

Down another life

Will I. Am is finally feeling better after his little night the other day.  Something had tried to eat him (he's plump, why not?) As he came limping in the dog door, shedding hair nervously, and was quite the mess.  4 days later he is finally wanting attention.

I cant remember but hes down 4-5 lives at this point

Sit down for this

After dinner tonight all 4 brothers ended up doing dishes.

It was awesome. Lets hope the trend continues thru the weekend!

Happy bike to work day!

At my parents house this is an example of mutualism. Callie (the dog) gets a lifetime friend and hemi (the cat) gets a warm spot to rest and someone to share his ticks with.

wow it's been nuts here.
after a busy week, which included our kickball team losing to the stinky twinkies on wednesday, ez and i went back to atwood for a nice 4 day weekend.

i made the mistake of giving my parents ample notice i was coming back for a long weekend. consequently the list grew.....and grew.... and it has grown so much that i have things to do NEXT time i go back.

a few of our activities included:
*powerwashing 2 buildings
*painting those buildings (a full 2 coats each)
*repainting some cows that were painted on there
*cleaning out 3 generations of crap from a building
*trimming trees
*moving branches to the dump
*finishing up some faux finish i had started a couple years back

by doing all that i was able to eat either cheesecake or icecream for every meal (including breakfast) and still manage to lose a pound. sign me up for every weekend. :)

here is our trailer of stuff for the dump. we had 2 pickup beds full of stuff plus this trailer full of metal. please look at my osha approved dust mask.....it was nice.

Ignorance is bliss

Since we had a rather (unwelcomed) eventful saturday night spent in the bathroom, we didnt make it out hiking so I thought of another item ive been waiting to get off my "things to do" list.  Why dont we park a car in idaho springs and ride there, over squaw pass, on our bikes?

Ignorance is bliss. I had no idea what my fat mouth signed up for. I know many a people do this in the triple bypass (not the heart surgery) but this ride taught me a few things:

1. Im fortunate to have married dallas. Not only does he agree to doing obsurd spontaneous things, he encourages me......even when im whining about the climb the entire way up (whats 5000+ ft of climbing anyway?)

2. Who am I kidding? Maybe I should be more physically fit to do such a ride. I need to start riding more

3.  It has been confirmed.  Yes, I STILL hate climbing. I know, big shocker out there.  Look at dallas and I. Do we look like we are built to be climbers? No. but downhill is sure fun (let me note that despite his size dallas is actually a very good climber).

All packed up and nowhere to go

We had big plans to tackle massive today.  Things change when the gi bug bites ya in the middle of the night.

Actually it got ez and I fri night and d last night. Talk about wasted weekend!

Overhaul

Yesterday I had the day off but had a giant list of things I wanted to do.  I thought I could get the front yard done in the morning and have the entire afternoon to play bikes. 

Hours later im finishing up at 6 pm. This yard stuff is a lot of work!  I may have not got a ride in but im not embarrassed of our house anymore.  Well, guests are welcome in the front yard but no further......the rest could use the same tlc

Seriously?

Once upon a week ago this used to be a frisbee. I guess technically it still is.... And in ezra's imagination it still is...

Maybe its just me but I feel like im shortchanging my dog when I throw this small chewed up hunk of plastic across the yard and he still goes for it. Guess we are getting our money's worth

today was a busy day.

i went running
and rode my bike
and then played 2 hours of kickball.

i am pretty sure it will be the kickball that does me in.
i will be sore tomorrow.
(yes, i joined a summer league! it's awesome!)
don't knock it till you try it.
it take a LOT of effort to kick those far,
and,
after you kick it's a full on sprint to base.
i havn't done this much sprinting since high school

(please note the picture above is not our team but merely a representation of what it is like. our team name is "got beer?" which ironically tonight everyone forgot to bring it. do we got beer? no, we do not.)

take 8

i finally got this all put together.
the other day it took dallas several tries to get the perfect handstand

Happy 30th!

Happy anniversary to my parents!

Nothing says celebrate like donught holes with caramel dipping sauce!

3rd times a charm

today we finally climbed our 1st 14er of the year!

we were going to do it a month ago, but slept in;
then we tried it yesterday going thru leadville, but that didn't work either;
so today we went thru fairplay.
we left by 5 and were at the top by 9:30.
we were pretty slowgoing but it will get much faster by the end of the summer!
beautiful views on top of the sherman-ator!

there wern't many hikers out today and we were by ourselves at the top, so we decided to repeat our silly pictures part 2.
we had a blast coming down---

wedding!

where have we been?

well, last week we traveled back to manhattan, ks for beezer (my sister's wedding). she looked real great.
unfortunately, being sister of the bride i didn't get many pictures.
i did make them a mosaic for their wedding, although i can't tell if they liked it.anyway, all the driving (1500 miles) and stress and the fun got to us all all week we have looked like our animals--curling up and sleeping whenever we can!

On the road again

We left last wednesday for manhattan to get little beezer married off. As much as i was,looking forward to the break from reality i  was dreading the 9 hour ride back even more.  7.5 hours in ez is obivously over the trip