Fiddlers Green

One of Vance and my first dates was at a Rascal Flatt's concert at Fiddlers Green in Englewood. July 2006
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Over three years later Vance took me to a Brad Paisley concert at the same venue, it was fun to reminisce

September 2009

I don't really think that we look much different!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Today I got to help my friend (another chem grad student at DU) who was having hand surgery by driving her two and from the hospital and staying with her for a few hours after the surgery. The big perk is that I didn't have to go to work today, I am just hanging out at her apartment and updating my blog and facebook!
We had a wonderful thanksgiving weekend. we went to Vance's aunt and uncle's home in Kansas. It was great because a lot of Vance's extended family also made the trip out. There were about 30 people there! We had such a wonderful time!
We came home after thanksgiving dinner and that night I went with some friends to the outlet malls in Castle Rock, which was CRAZY!!. THe outlet malls are only about 15 minutes from our house and it took 2.5 hours to get there!!! We did find some good deals though. I bought a bunch of baby stuff for my sister-in-law and a present for Vance. The next morning we went to the mall, and I will tell you that the mall is the place to be on black friday!! It was not crowded at all and there were great deals!! All in all black friday was a success, I was able to get all of my christmas shopping for my family done!!

On Saturday Suze and I threw Jenni a baby shower, which was a lot of fun! But, I have to admit that I am a little jealous that it isn't us who are having the first grand child and the first great grand child. Here are a few pictures from the shower.Playing who can drink out of the bottle the fastest.

The spread: we decided to go super simple we just made taco soup, punch and a cake. I think that it turned out so nice.

On Sunday we had an early Christmas. Both Vance and Jenni will not be home this Christmas so Suze had us open some of our presents early. Suze and Kirk give us pajamas every year, so we opened those. I got the cutest pajamas ever!


The girls in our new pajamas
So, that is what we have been up to lately... But tomorrow I am going downhill skiing for the first time in my life! I know, pathetic since I am from NM, went to school in Provo and am now in Denver and finally going. I am super nervous... Vance told me it is like ice skating and I am not very good at iceskating... but then again I have been going to Yoga for almost two years, so my balance is a lot better now then the last time I ice skated. Hopefully I will post on that soon. I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season!!!

No One Mourns The Wicked

Vance and I went to see Wicked last Thursday, and I have to say that I LOVED it! I was a little nervous considering it has been the most praised musical from my friends, so I was a little worried I would be disappointed. However, it was better than I ever could have imagined! I loved the songs, I loved the story, I loved all of the references to the original Wizard of Oz! I probably should admit that my everyone in my family is a die hard Wizard of Oz fan. We watched that movie together many many times when I was young and I read the book by L. Frank Baum at a fairly young age. My maiden name is Gale, so I even share the same last name as Dorothy. Also, my dad loved the story so much that he convinced my mom to name my youngest sister Dorothy! So my sister is named Dorothy Gale, just like Dorothy on the Wizard of Oz. Which is kind of a funny story because a few months after my sister was born in Nebraska, a tornado hit our house and our neighbors house taking part of our roof and our garage. Our neighbors also had a dog named Todo. Weird coincidence huh?! Anyway, I feel that my long love for the original Wizard of Oz contributes to my new found love for this wonderful musical!

I also thought that the musical was very thought provoking. Some of the questions that I thought of while watching the musical:
1.) Does no one really mourn the wicked?
2.)Does even the most wicked person in the world have someone who loves them unconditionally and would mourn them?
3.) Are we born wicked, or is wickedness a learned behaviour?
4.)Would I stand up for what I believed in if it would make me perceived as wicked?
5.)Why do the wicked sometimes prosper and the good suffer? Or do both suffer equally but it feels unequal because one is wicked and the other is good?
6.) Or, are the only people who are not mourned the forgotten rather than the wicked?

I am still thinking about these questions a whole week after I saw the musical. Probably because I still have the song "No one mourns the wicked" stuck in my head, which poses some of these very questions in the song. All in all it was a wonderful performance! I loved Glinda/Galinda she was probably my favorite character in the musical.

I hope that I have the opportunity to see the musical again someday!

September and October

Wow, I guess it has been a while since I last posted! September and October were a lot of fun. I had a birthday party in September, it was really fun to see all of our friends in Denver. In September we also had the Stake Fair, which is always really fun but this year it was SUPER rainy! Can you notice the difference between the two pictures below?
Me. Ashley. Alexandria. Rachel

Rachel looks so good in this picture, she is 7 months pregnant in this picture!

At the beginning of october my Mom and Dad came and visited us for a weekend because my dad had a business trip. It was really fun to have them stay with us for a few days. We went to the art museum and took them on the lightrail. The same day I helped throw a baby shower for a woman in our ward, it was so much fun!

The next weekend Ashley, Alexandria, and I threw a baby shower for our good friend Rachel. (I am also her visiting teacher, but I am not a very good one, so it was nice to do something nice for her because she is always serving everyone else!)

At Rachel's baby shower

Then this passed week my Dad came and visited me again! Only this time it was REALLY snowy. We had a blizzard that hit last wednesday, the day my dad flew in. Luckily it worked out pretty well that his business meetings were downtown and he could light rail to and from the convention center. He stayed with us while he was here which was really fun. While my dad was here he bought me an early christmas present, a snuggie! It is actually a fun little thing to have. Vance thinks it is rediculous.

My Dad in Front of the Train coming
My dad forgot to bring a winter hat, so you will notice in the above picture he is wearing mine! :) The nice thing about Denver is that even though we get blizzards now and again, it is almost always so sunny! The snow from the blizzard is pretty much already melted, which is nice!

Last weekend was also Halloween. Vance and I went as Star Trek characters. Vance found the badges in a cereal box a few months ago so he saved them.

Halloween was a lot of fun! We went to a few parties, it was great celebrate this fun holiday with our friends. Happy Halloween everyone!

Rockies Game and Cake Pops

On Wednesday my friend Josh Black invited me, Vance and Paul (another grad student) to go to the Rockies vs. Reds Game. It was so fun! Josh is a big Reds fan because he is from Indiana which was kind of interesting. Some people that we were sitting by (see guy in the white shirt in the background) were a little upset that Josh was cheering on the opposite team. I was getting a little nervous for Josh when the Reds took the lead. It was such an exciting game! The Rockies barely won in the last inning! Which, I think was a good thing for Josh. I think if the Reds had won, those angry Rockies fans may not have left him alone! (sorry for the blurry pictures, I took them on my phone!)

Me . Josh . Paul . angry fan in background

Vance and me

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Yesterday was one of my VT girls bdays so last night I tried to make the famous cake pop, I thought it was going to be so easy... but it wasn't. I made a HUGE mess! The end product looked like it was supposed to, but not worth the effort (in my opinion). Really the only problem I had was when I went to dip the cake pop they would fall apart. However, Vance loved them so much he wants me to make them again and again. We'll see. I think I really prefer a good cupcake and they are WAY less time consuming, taste better (not as rich), and have fewer calories. Really, I cannot see a pro for the cake pop. However, I do think they are a fun and cute idea.

The cake pop

My cake pops (I tried to make a heart shaped one, that is the funny shaped one on the left).

Everything else is going well around here. School has started again, which doesn't really change my schedule, but I did need to decide what field of chemistry I am going to get my degree in, and I chose inorganic chemistry (which may turn into bioinorganic). I am pretty excited about it! It is funny because when I started school I don't think that I expected to take this route!

Vance is also working hard at school and studying for his board exams which he takes in April. It is kind of exciting that in April he will be officially done with classes. I feel like we are almost adults! :)

shabby apple dresses

Am I the only one who has never seen these dresses before? Super cute and super modest! I have never ordered a dress online before, but I think I just might. Here are my favorites:

So cute, right? This website also has a quiz you can take that tell you your body type and the dresses that are most flattering on your body type. I got an Apple body type, which I think is pretty accurate.

The only problem is that all of my favorite dresses did not fall under the Apple suggestions. Hmm... what to do!? Well, I have not convinced Vance yet of buying me one of these dresses but luckily my birthday is just around the corner! :)

Denver Health Care Town Hall

I had the opportunity to go to a Health Care debate hosted by my representative today. I was a little disappointed because in two hours only 13 questions were answered and my question was the 14th! :( Here was the question I was going to ask:

How is congress making an effort to increase the number of doctors in America, especially primary care doctors?

I was upset that this issue was never brought up during the whole meeting. I was also upset with how much time was spent on each question. On one question congresswoman Degette spent over 5 minutes giving us a civics lesson on how the legislative/judicial/executive branches work. This really bugged me because I even know how those work and the only civics I have had was in high school. I probably wouldn't have been so annoyed by this if I got to ask my question.

The anger in that meeting was really incredible/scary. This one lady called me an idiot because I clapped for what I thought was a good point. I didn't really like that. I mostly tried to keep my emotions blank after that.

One thing that I did gain was a better respect for my congresswoman. I agreed with some of her ideas and disagreed with others, but I do genuinely feel that she is at least TRYING to do what she thinks is right. We agreed on two major issues: Health Care for all American citizens and no more people getting denied health insurance for pre-existing conditions. I also was impressed that she knew the bill quite well. There were several times when people asked questions regarding specific sections and subsections in the bill and she was able to answer them pretty easily. But one moment was especially funny when she said, "I know, the bill is really confusing." Hmmm.... I think so too!

It was definitely an experience! Yay for America where we have a wonderful Republic! :) (Is that the right term? I know America is not a pure Democracy, but then again the only civics I have had was in high school). It is exciting to see so many people passionate about there ideas. I hope that compromise can come from this health care debate and that America will be better for it!