The Rest of June

On Monday (6/18), it was back to work for us! I had a very long day in the office with the saw crew, or, sawyers. We were getting trained to spray pesticide. In order to handle the chemicals for our upcoming job, we had to become verified applicators. This training involved 8 hours of reading legal documents, and that was just the first day! On Tuesday we embarked on our epic journey to Trinidad, Co! A very exotic name, for a not very exotic place.  Ben was able to get up nice and early with me to drop me off at the office, which allowed him to use the car for the ten days I was going to be gone. And it was great to have some extra time together before my long hitch. I then hopped in the van with the 10 sawyers and we had a two and a half hour drive down to Trinidad Lake state park where our work site was. At midday we got to our campsite, which was VERY hot and sunny, rather small, but it was least near a lake!

Our campsite

 We set up our tents, and then drove to our work site, which was in a more remote area of the park. Finally, we could begin our task of cutting down and spraying herbicide on tamarisk! Tamarisk, also known as salt cedar, is an invasive species that is very prevalent here. The main problem with tamarisk is that it grows very well here, and loves to drink lots of water! The larger plants can drink up to 300 gallons of water a day, which is a very big deal here, where water is a more scarce resource (especially in this drought we are having!). I had the pleasure of being one of the primary applicators. I had wear one of the sprayer backpacks filled with 3 gallons of chemicals, whoo! After an hour I was ready to take that thing off- it was so heavy and uncomfortable! We made it through the first (half) day, and had to head back to camp and finish up our oh so exciting pesticide training. After another couple hours we were finally done!

Every day we got up at 5 am (or 430 for the breakfast/wake-up crew rotation: we all took turns doing camp chores such as wake-up, tool maintenance, cooking dinner, and doing dishes.), ate breakfast/packed lunches, and then headed to the park maintenance building to pick up some more habitat- our lovely blue liquid chemical we were working with! Then we would drive our to our work site, wade across the river, and  then hike a mile or so to where we were working. We then spent our day cutting tamarisk with loppers (and very rarely, chainsaws), collecting and piling up the branches, and then spray the stumps with the habitat herbicide. The days were very long, tedious, and hot (usually between 95-105 each day and we had to wear long pants and sleeves)! Luckily, we started early enough that we got off a little earlier to beat the heat! And, the saw crew is a great group of people, so we were able to keep each other entertained throughout the long days!
We also saw some cool wildlife, including horny toad lizards and a rattlesnake that was outside out leader's tent!

In the evenings/afternoons we had time to nap, play cards, spend time near the lake, and do lots of reading! One night, we even had a girls'night and watched Pride and Prejudice on someone's iPad! Most of the crew was very interested in reading- especially the Game of Thrones book series. I also took part in the reading parties and read the first Game of Thrones book on my nook! I learned a few new card games, including one called Rook that I really liked and hope to get a deck of my own soon! I also had a lot of fun at the lake! The two girls of the crew and I had a nice time sunbathing and wading in the lake, and we all had fun jumping in and swimming around a bit to cool off a few times (although we weren't supposed to!). Another lake activity I enjoyed  was fishing! I bought a pole and some tackle and went out several afternoons with some other crew members and got very sunburned! We did catch a few fish and eat them, but most were too small to keep. We were catching rainbow trout and large mouth bass. 
The crew consists of 8 great goofy guys and two girls! I think they were happy to have me around this hitch! Sometimes, it was like being back with all my guy friends in college. I even gave a few much needed haircuts!
On Saturday of our hitch we took a half day to have a little weekend! We went  swimming in a (very shallow and muddy) river near our work site, a few of us drove over to another campsite to take showers, and in the evening we went into the town of Pueblo to have pizza and go see the Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter movie! It made for a very fun and much needed break! 


Finally, on Thursday, our 10th day, we drove back to the office! We were very surprised to see lots of smoke as we drove up- several wildfires had started in the area while we were away. We had heard they were happening, but it was totally different to see it in person. Sadly, one of the crew members' houses burned down. Her roommates were able to grab some of her things before they were evacuated, but she still lost a lot. I've never felt so close to a natural disaster before- it was a very powerful experience. 
I got a ride home with a coworker who was headed up to the airport, and she stayed with us over night. It was so wonderful to be home, see Ben, and get clean! And Ben got me flowers to welcome me home! It was very sweet and they were very beautiful.

The weekend after I got back, on the 30th of June, we got to see Ben's family! They were on their family vacation out west, and we were able to meet up for a night. We went to Cold Springs National forest campground near Blackhawk, Colorado and camped with them for a night. We played some games and were able to spend lots of time together and get caught up! We also went on a lovely hike!

Picture stolen from Tonyia!

That Sunday was our one year wedding anniversary! The year has gone by so fast! We voted for a quieter evening to celebrate, and went to one of our favorite restaurants- The Bent Noodle for dinner and went to see the new Wes Anderson movie, Moonrise Kingdom afterwards. It was a very lovely and relaxing date night.

My work week over the first week of July was much more quiet than previous ones! On Monday I was helping around the office and we drove down to Pueblo to check on the crew and drop off some paperwork. On Tuesday I worked from home to do research for educational resources. Wednesday I had off for the 4th of July. Thursday and Friday I worked in the Denver office doing more education research. It was a slow week to get through, but it was made much better by my family coming to visit!
On Tuesday night my family came into town and stayed over night. On Wednesday we went to the zoo for the 4th! That night, we drove to Broomfield and met up with Justin and Ashley to watch the fireworks. It was a very big day and a very late night for a work night! The next couple days my family went camping in Rocky Mountain National Park while we all finished up our work weeks. We were supposed to camp with them on Friday and Saturday night, but it was very stormy! We've been in a drought and haven't seen rain in months, but as soon as my family visits it starts storming all day and night! It was much needed rain, but it was a little disappointing because it wrecked their trip plans a bit. And, I was sad because the smoke from all the fires around was blocking our normally crystal clear mountain views, and on top of that our usual all- day  sunshine was nowhere to be found. At least the temperature went down some with the rain! This past weekend they ended up cutting their trip short and coming back to our house. We played lots of games and still had lots of fun- just inside! We did try to take a hike in Cherry Creek State park, but the clear skies turned very dark unexpectedly and we ended up getting soaked while we were trying to get back to our apartment!
Ben left for Montana early this morning for work, and my family left to go home this morning as well. Bill and I did some errands today (he got a very fancy new car stereo!) and I packed up for my hitch I'm leaving for tomorrow morning!

Phew! This month has been jam packed and went by so quickly! And, I'm leaving the house tomorrow (7/9) at 5 am to leave for my 5 day hitch with the Hayman crew again!
Hopefully I'll be able to find a spare minute to write again this month!

Finally, some good news!

Ben ended up being gone over two weeks on his work trip! He worked 12-14 hour days, and had terrible phone reception so we weren't able to talk much. And, whenever I did get to talk to him, he was so tired that we couldn't have too much of a conversation.

While he was gone, Bill and I kept pretty busy so I didn't end up getting too lonely! We went shopping a few times just for something to do. We went to places like Sprouts, Dick's sporting goods, and we even ventured to the Cherry Creek mall. Bill bought swim trunks for Hawaii and we also ended up buying a fun garlic chopper that is a little car and a cheese grater at Williams Sonoma. We also tried Chik-fil-a for the first time on one of these trips and we really liked it! It was strange eating fast food because we never do, but the food was a lot better than we thought it was going to be so it was a nice surprise.

Over the weekend, it was so beautiful that Bill, Justin, Ashley, myself, and another coworker of the guys' and his girlfriend all met up at the Cherry Creek state park for a cookout. We had a ton of fun and just as much food! We also played frisbee and ball on the beach a bit too. I had ridden my bike there but found out that I couldn't ride it home because the tires had gone flat! I must have ridden over something sharp! That was a downer, but over all the day was beautiful and fun! Another fun thing that weekend was that Ashley and I got our hair done together! We made appointments at a salon at the same time and went together. We both got cuts that were not too different than what we normally have, but they are cleaned up and spiced up a bit!

In addition to all that, we still had time for more fun that weekend! Ashley and I went to a western store and she bought a pair of cowboy (cowgirl, I guess in this situation!) boots. It was a pretty funny experience because neither of us had been to a store like that before and we didn't know anything about the boots either! After trying a bunch on we finally found some that looked cool and felt good too! Later, the four of us (Justin, Ashley, Bill, and I) all went to see the Hunger Games movie together. We all really liked it. There were some things that were changed from the book, and the pace was really different, but I think it was well done overall.

I had an interview on Monday! The position is with an Americorps affiliate called the Mile High Youth Corps. It is for 18-24 year-olds and there are a variety of work positions. Some of the work is doing energy auditing and sealing like Ben did for Americorps last year. Another job is building houses like a habitat for humanity program. The job I applied and interviewed for is for park and trail maintenance in and around Denver. It involves traveling to many national, state, county, and city parks around the area and doing things like maintaining trails, thinning forests, habitat restoration, camp site building, and invasive plant species removal. It sounds like a really fun and hard job to have over the summer. I am really passionate about this kind of work and I think it came across well in my interview. I was almost told outright that I am moving on to the next round of interviews, which are mostly for team placement (there are a few different teams doing this work in the area). I'll let you guys know asap when I find out more! I basically spent the rest of the week on a high of excitement about the possibility of this job. It was a nice change of pace from all the rejections I've been hearing lately!

The weekend after that, Bill and I were feeling bored/adventurous and we went to the Denver Aquarium. The aquarium was a bit smaller than ones I was used to (like the Shedd and Georgia aquariums), but it was still really cool. At the end there was a place to feed and pet sting rays. You hold a little fish in your hand and they come up and cover your hand and take the fish! It felt very weird. They are very rubbery and slimy!

After we left the aquarium and washed our hands we decided to go out to dinner at PF Chang's. It was delicious, as usual! On Sunday we hung out with Ashley some more. She went garden shopping with me! I got some planters, dirt, basil, cilantro, tomato, lettuce,green pepper, and mint. We got dirty planting it when we got back. Most of the plants are still surviving today! Some of the basil, lettuce, and cilantro plants have died, but I still have some of each left. The mint, on the other hand is growing like crazy and has at least doubled in size! After planting, we had a nice dinner and we played Catan (cities and knights version). I had an underdog win!

Finally, last Tuesday, Ben came back! He was very worn out, but happy to be home. I made some carrot cake with cream cheese frosting to celebrate! Our Easter package from my mom had also come that day, too, so we spent most of the rest of that week on sugar highs feasting on cake and candy. By the time Bill's birthday rolled around on Friday we still had some cake left and we couldn't even think about making another one so we just put a candle in it and finished off the carrot cake! Our usual gang of 5 went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. The food was really good but the atmosphere wasn't great. If we go back we'll have to try and sit in the restaurant area instead of the bar area. In addition to good food though, bill also got a fancy birthday dessert- complete with a sparkler! It was very ostentatious and he didn't quite know what to think! After dinner we decided we were too stuffed to go home, so we went to see the movie Cabin in the Woods. The movie was scary and funny! We all loved it. On Saturday Bill spent most of his time packing and getting ready to go to Hawaii. Ben and I watched the movie The Gray, and it was terrible. That night, we played Ticket to Ride (America), the game we got Bill for his birthday. Unfortunately, we didn't like it as much as the European version, but it was still fun. Sunday involved getting up very early (5) and taking Bill and Justin to the airport. There was snow on the ground when we left! There ended up being flight delays and complications, but they made it to Maui eventually! We are all hoping they will at least have a little time to have fun between working long hours!

This week has been very strange so far. Not only does it feel like that Bill and Ben are trading places being here, but Ben has been working some overnight shifts. He leaves after dinner, gets back in the morning, and sleeps until the afternoon. I was looking forward to him being around during the day but he has been working long hours and needs to sleep! Hopefully his schedule will return to normal soon. 

Meanwhile, I'm just hanging out at home trying to get a job and waiting to hear back about my interview!

January Heating Up

So far, the coldest temperature I have seen is about 25. Ben says that one morning it was down to 13. But these temperatures are apparently not normal around here. It seems like most days are between 30-60. A couple days ago it got up to 70 (the day that it apparently got very cold in the Midwest!). It feels a little unnatural, but it is ok with me to not be freezing all the time. Ben is pretty sad though because he loves the cold! There are a few things that I miss about having a cold winter though! It hasn't snowed very much here (as everywhere, apparently), although, more accurately it has snowed a few times but then it gets so warm that the snow melts very quickly. There are just a few big black snow piles around in parking lots for the most part. Another sad thing is that we got an apartment with a fireplace and we don't really have occasion to use it! We have used it a few times to add some atmosphere, but really, it just makes us get hot! There's something to be said about curling up in front of a warm fire on a cold day! Those two things are the ones I miss the most. Other related items are: less occasion to drink hot tea, I have a ton of super warm and awesome winter clothes I am not wearing ( I even just added to my infamous wild knee-high sock collection!), and we haven't been able to go snowshoeing or skiing more than once!
Anyway, no one reads blogs to hear about the weather. You read my blog to find out about my exciting life! Hah.

I bought some new hiking boots! I have been ogling them for a couple years now. Finally we have some money I can spend! I thank my husband profusely for working so I can spend his hard-earned money on things for me! ;) My boots are purple Ahnu Montara boots- here's a picture: boots Cool, right!? They are so lightweight and fit perfectly that it feels like I'm not even wearing them!
See how exciting my life is?!

Last Sunday we went on a big adventure to fix the guys' cars. We drove to a shop about two miles away from us and left the cars there while we explored the surrounding area for the day. It was nice being forced to get to know the area we live in! We first walked a mile-ish down and checked out Target and Kohl's. We got a couple things after the guys enjoyed searching the clearance area for shirts. Bill ended up with 3 nice shirts, and Ben got some much-needed pants (unfortunately not on sale and very expensive), hopefully these last longer than some of his other pairs! After shopping we walked back past the car shop and probably another mile in the other direction to get lunch at the Olive Garden. Endless soup, salad, and bread sticks- yum! Eventually we made it back to the car place and picked up the cars. Ben's car unfortunately needed lots of work done and we spent lots of money on it! Hopefully, Daisy won't need any more major repairs for a while.
On the way back from picking up the cars we checked out a "farmer's market" called sprouts. Really, it's just a store akin to Trader Joe's. But, it is nice to find a store close to us that sells really great produce and natural products. And a lovely selection of cheese! I got a very large block of Fontina...  yummmmmm!

Last Saturday Ben and I went on a date to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It totally rocked! We saw a ton of cool things- Ben and I both found exhibits that we were particularly excited about and of course saw things that we were both interested in. We also had a delicious lunch at the cafe. One of the coolest exhibits was a traveling exhibit. We were lucky to catch it on the last day! It was about dinosaurs- particularly the Trex skeleton named Sue. Aside from info about Sue's bones and the dig, we learned a lot about dinosaurs in general and saw animatronic dinosaurs as well. The robot dinos were especially interesting because they were interactive! If you got too close to the nest, the triceratops would get visibly agitated and try to protect her eggs. The raptors would follow your movements and "hunt" you- very creepy actually. The robotic trex would follow you a bit too and roar occasionally, which would, in turn, frighten the other robotic dinosaurs. In general there were a lot of interactive exhibits at the museum and I really enjoyed it! We have to go back soon because even though we were there for over 4 hours, we only saw about half the exhibits! The place is huge!

This week, we took a step toward becoming official Colorado residents! We went to the DMV to get in-state driver's licenses. Of course we had to wait in line for 2 hours basically just to sign our names. And of course the other line went about 5 times as fast. But the lines were for different services and we just had to stand and wait. We should be seeing our licenses in the mail in as soon as 30 days! Wow... so fast! Unfortunately, Bill is going to have to go back another time with more paperwork to get his. Additionally, we'll have to go to a different DMV again to get Ben's license plates transferred as well (and cross our fingers in hoping there's no emissions test!), but at least we have started the process!

Last week I did something exciting! Well, got excited about something, more accurately. I applied for a job at the Denver Zoo! I've been applying for things here and there, but I haven't gotten excited about any jobs until now! The job is basically an educational zoo keeper. If I get the job, I would basically work with animals and then teach other people and kids about them in shows and workshops. It is pretty much right up my alley, and I definitely had a strong application. Keep your fingers crossed for me! If you have nothing better to do (which must be the case because you are still reading this blog), you can look at the job description here. I'm trying not to get too excited so I don't get my heartbroken, but I am obviously not having much luck with that.

Today I got to see some Luther friends, Nathan and Alyse! It was great to see some familiar faces! While the boys were still at work, the three of us took a nice hike to Cherry Creek State Park and had some tea (thanks for the AWESOME tea, LittleC!) when we got home. After that we had some cheese and crackers before the whole gang went to the Bent Noodle (our restaurant of choice lately) for dinner. It was wonderful to see them and hear about all of their adventures. Hopefully we'll be able to do more with them while they are still in town!

We'll see what's in store for this weekend- maybe I can convince the guys to go to the art museum!
Hmm, pretty unlikely.

Thanks for reading!

A better late than never update!

It is my pleasure to tell you that I am posting from a new computer! The keyboard even works! Unfortunately, this is only a new computer to me. It is actually my brother's 7 year old computer (3years older than mine!) but it is in a little better condition than my Betty!
Anyway, the reason I haven't posted lately is a mix of being too busy or not busy enough. Essentially, my life has either been incredibly boring to say anything about or I've been too busy to post!
But lots of exciting things have happened!
Let's see... I went dress shopping with Alex and Ashley again and she picked out a dress! It is beautiful and I'm very excited to see it on her!
It isn't nearly as exciting, but I got a haircut last month too. If you haven't seen it- it's a quite a bit shorter and a darker reddish brown. I like how it turned out, but I'm not sure I'll go back there or not- I didn't like the stylist I had very much.
We have also done lots of new arranging in our apartment and I decorated for Christmas! We got lots of new shelves, put lots of things away, and even got furniture slip covers! I have some pictures of the place on facebook.
Speaking of Christmas...
For a couple weeks before the holiday, we kept getting gifts in the mail. It seemed never ending! We had our own Christmas between the 3 of us before we left the state. We exchanged gifts in the afternoon that the guys had off. Ben and I got Bill snowshoes so we were able to all go tromping out together at the state park that same day. We ended staying out til sunset. It was beautiful! There's a couple pictures of that trip on facebook too.
Ben got me tickets to go to the holiday lights at the Denver Botanic Gardens as my gift! It was very beautiful and romantic! We got to walk around outside and look at lights, plants, snow, and ice! Inside we got to see some beautiful orchids- apparently that is their specialty!
Our friends Wilfer and Alaina were in town over their school Christmas break. We were lucky enough to get to see them on the 23rd after we got back from the gardens. It was great to see them, although we ended up staying up late chatting and eating cookies.
As for out big Christmas pilgrimage, we left on the morning of the 24th. Although, at that time of day, I'm not sure if it even counts as morning yet. We got up at 2 am, and gathered up our things. (Please not that Ben and Bill went to bed around 12:30 and I think I fell asleep about 1:55) At 2:45 we left to walk to the light rail station. It was very cold and I think bags weigh more that early in the morning. Ben ended up having to carry mine part of the way! We caught the bus at the train station. The airport shuttle was supposed to be a coach bus, but for some unlucky reason, we had a city bus. The ride ended up being very long and crowded! We did meet a nice little old lady that we got to talk to though! Finally, we got to the airport at 4 am. Luckily the airport was pretty quiet at that time and we didn't get held up by lines. Unfortunately, we did get held up at the ticket counter. All the other airline counters were open when we got there except ours! It didn't open until 4:30. So we got to have even more time to sit and rest. After we got our bags checked, we went through security and waited at the gate. Then we had our 6 am flight- our first flight of the day. We landed in Kansas City, Mo and had an incredibly boring 4 hour layover. If ever you have a choice of going to that airport, you should avoid it at all costs! It was tiny and boring and we couldn't even get anything to eat unless we went through security. Eventually we made it to Milwaukee and got to see the family! The only good thing about those flights was that we had some really nice and entertaining flight attendants!
The rest of the day we relaxed and wrapped up our gifts. We went to bed early and tried to catch up on some sleep! The next few days we fun, family, and friend filled! I'm glad I got to see lots of people, but sad that I missed seeing some and wished I could have seen more of other people. The whole experience was short but sweet.
Family and friends aside, it was also fun to see my family's new kitten and even newer puppy! Freyja the kitten and Gracie the puppy don't get along but they are both very cute! Gracie is an albino deaf puppy and she has a lot to learn! We are lucky we have Cody to take care of her and teach her everything she needs to know!
We flew back to Denver on the 29th. This time the layover was in Las Vegas. Were hoping it would be slightly more glamorous than our previous layover- and it was- but not by much. We finally made it home and had a friend pick us up this time. Then we slept for a long time to recover!
The next day, we were lucky to see Ben's parents! They stayed in town for a couple days and we got to have another family Christmas! They left on new year's eve and went to Justin and Ashley's house with some other friends- including Wilfer and Alaina! We had a very nice celebration complete with kinect and champagne.
The next morning we at french toast and came home to Bill's new mattress! He finally won't have to sleep on the floor anymore! New year's day was also Ben's and my 6th month wedding anniversary. So far, so good!

The boys have now gone back to work and I've gone back to looking for some. This week they are pretty bored, but they did have a special day on Wednesday. They had a big meeting with the whole office for the end/beginning of the year. They even met some  people that they hadn't met yet. That night, we got all dressed up and went downtown for an office dinner. It was really great meeting all of the coworkers and finally putting names to faces. The place was called ocean prime, and it was the fanciest place any of have ever been! We had calamari, crab rolls, and goat cheese ravioli as appetizers. Then, we had lobster bisque. Next, asparagus and hollandaise and truffle oil macaroni and cheese. Our main course we had options of 2 different steaks and crab encrusted tilapia (which is what I had). For dessert we had huge individual lemon-blueberry cheesecake (like me!) or an even bigger chocolate peanut  butter cake! The drinks were all really fancy too! I don't remember what mine was called but it had a organic edible orchid in it! There was so much food in that meal that no one could really finish! I brought lots of mine home to enjoy later! The company paid for all of that, and the icing on the cake was that their boss also got them Christmas presents- they each got a Nook reader! I'm very excited that I don't have to share with Ben anymore- he hogs ours!
Now that all the holiday madness is over, things are finally back to normal around here. Well, things would be more normal, however, if the temperature wasn't 60 degrees! When I took jterm courses at Luther the temperature was often below 0, even down to negative 40 once! Quite the difference! It doesn't even feel like winter!

I think that concludes my updates for now... although I feel like I probably left a lot of things out because there was so much to write about! I'll try to be better about updating more frequently and in smaller posts now!
Love you all!

Ooh, first post!

Hi all,
I'm hoping to start this blog for our family and friends that we have moved so far away from!
If you are wondering about the title, it is based off one of my favorite movies of all time, Paper Moon. If you haven't seen it, we should watch it together sometime!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'll be spending it with Ben and Bill. Our menu is: ham, sweet potatoes, salad, cucumber salad, cheesy potatoes, buns, and pumpkin pie.We have a few wines and eggnog for drinks. We are thinking of eating in the afternoon, so we are also having a big breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls (by yours truly- recipe here), omelettes and bacon. And of course lots of  juice- grape, grapefruit, and orange (I think that is one favorite type for each of us!).

So far in Denver...
The boys have been very busy with work! They work 8-12 hour days during the week. They come home exhausted every day! We eat dinner and they go to bed soon after. Ben fell asleep at 8 on the couch one night! We try to play a game almost every night, but we also watch movies or the guys play video games together (like tonight).
During the day I have been looking for jobs online, cleaning up around the house, unpacking, and cooking/baking. It isn't too exciting, and I am anxious to find a job! So far, I am finding that anything that I am interested in requires experience. I would be fine with starting at an entry level position, but it seems like nothing like that is available. If you are interested, I am looking for jobs in forestry, field biology, wildlife biology or rehab, environmental conservation and education, or basically anything in the field of biology that does not involve looking into microscopes all day and/or injecting rats with cancer and aids(which are very common jobs in this area).
On the weekends we have been making an effort to get to know our surroundings a bit better. We have gone to Cherry Creek State Park twice now. It is basically right at our doorstep. We can bike there very easily. It is a beautiful place, you just have to ignore the city sights and sounds that surround it. Other things we have looked at are some shops and restaurants around us. There isn't too much for entertainment that is in walking distance, but we have still enjoyed taking lots of walks together to explore a little bit. Our first (and only so far) downtown adventure was really fun. We took the lightrail (a new experience for all of us) for about 30 minutes that took us right on to the main street in Denver. The rail is only a block away from our apartment, and it dropped us off at a pedestrian street that is closed to cars but has a free shuttle bus running up and down it all the time. We hopped off the rail and onto the bus and got to the bar very efficiently. We met up with some work friends of the guys and went to a couple bars. We didn't stay out very late- I got too tired (it was the weekend after we moved in after all). The general impression I got from Denver was that it is very clean, shiny, and new. There were lots of theaters, cool shops, convention centers, and things like that. Lots of glass and lights. The people seemed nice too- there were some very polite people on the rail (especially the man checking our tickets after Ben had lost his!). We are hoping to go back this weekend to do some more exploring. The city may be as impressive as I thought it was, but I really only have Milwaukee to compare it to...
Living in an apartment building hasn't been too weird so far. It is basically the same as living in a dorm, so we are all pretty used to it. We don't hear our neighbors too often, although sometimes the pipes are loud! Otherwise we mostly experience the neighbors through smelling what they are making for meals. We had to do a lot of "filling in" in the apartment so far and have a long way to go. We have gone to Target and Ikea, but we need a TON more bookshelves for sure!
Bill and I met a puppy that lives on our floor on the other end of the hall after we first moved in! He was a very tiny Australian shepherd that reminded us a lot of Lettie! We all keep wanting to get a pet (or two...or three...) but we have to wait until we can afford the dues and deposit. It also makes more sense to wait until after the holidays in case we will be doing a lot of traveling.

I apologize for the length of the post... I had a lot of catching up to do! I promise to post pictures of our place as soon as it looks a little more put together and I can figure out how to do that on here!
Happy Thanksgiving!