The Rush for Gold.

The actual "gold rush" started only a few miles down I-70 into the Rockies, so I thought it would be delicious and appropriate to make a dish known in my family as Gold Rush. But, as I am quickly realizing - my pan is too small, my meatballs are falling apart, the cheese is oozing out of the meatballs, and the sauce is too thick. How did my mom make the dish look so easy? Mike wasn't here to help me (or laugh at me, whichever he preferred at the time) and my attempts at cooking are so menial and unsuccessful at times that I shouldn't even deem myself a cook. I'm starting to realize that cooking is a talent that is coveted by women like myself who dream of creating meals that take no time, use one pan, are healthy, have limited leftovers, and taste good. Too much to ask for, I suppose.

Anyway. I've been rather busy recently with work. The state surveyors have made their little home in our facility as they pick apart our building and all the bad things that could/have gone wrong with it. I cannot even describe to you how stressed and tense the entire building is - well, I will say that our poor administrator slept in the facility last night because state showed up AGAIN around 11:30pm. It figures too, that the only problem they have found with the therapy dept. so far is a communication error that occurred when I was on vacation last month. Of course OT and PT weren't involved. Of course, a resident would have to choke, be suctioned, then taken to the ER and then proceed to tell me that he doesn't care if he chokes and dies. Of course all of this would happen this week when we are under such scrutiny.

Blah work. Who wants to hear about that anyway? Mike and I have been cooking away on items that are going to be on our Derby menu for next week. We have made Burgoo and Mini Kentucky Hot Browns (which were delicious!) just to make sure we could make them ....still on the list to make is Bourbon Balls, Sugar cookies with Grand Marnier sauce, and Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce. OH and cleaning, organizing and making the house look presentable.

A couple of days ago we had some crazy weather. And I know, those of us from KY think that the weather there is kind of nuts-o - But it really doesn't compare to this. At work I saw a TV channel with a radar showing what was going on, and seriously on the SAME PAGE was : Tornado warning, Severe T-Storm Warning, and Winter Storm Warning. And all within the Denver area. Depending on where you were in elevation, that's the card you were delt for weather. Weird.

Well, I registered for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure! My website it up and running and I'm planning on sending out my emails today to take a look at my personal web page. I have yet to join a team, however, I've done some emailing and found a 10-year survivor and her 2 girls that are walking in this race and have openened their time to me, if I wanted to join. I just don't want to walk alone.

Sorry about the random post today. It all seemed very unorganized. No new pictures, either. Boo on that. I promise though, my Derby Party post will be next....and it will be awesome!

Love wins!

Goodbye, Winter! Hello Spring..

I am such the slacker....although I might have a good excuse for not blogging. I totally caught the flu :( So, for right now I've plopped myself on the couch with my Gatorade on the table, windows open, dogs sleeping, Mike gone and I'm curled up on the couch with my computer (and my dog, shhhhh!!). Itunes is doing its thang (thank the Lord for Ray LaMontagne on a day like this) and I am reflecting on my amazing life. Oh! And my lovely orchids are blooming...I hope I can get them to bloom again. If anyone has any suggestions on how to keep orchids alive and well, please let me know.

I plan on becoming a green-thumb goddess this summer while Mike is gone. I think gardening will keep me busy and my mind off my husband's fun adventures in Ward. He starts on May 1 from the Boys and Girls Club office in Downtown then packs his stuff up and is gone the last week of May.

Easter was amazing! We rolled out of our house around 5:15am to get to Red Rocks in enough time to park/find a place to sit. Service started at 6am with a Bluegrass Band (which I truly appreciated), more music guests, a short sermon, and the next thing we knew, the view went from this :To This:
Pretty amazing, huh? About 10,000 people showed up to enjoy this fabulous event! We came home from the service, took a nap and then went to a park in Downtown for a picnic with Park Church. I love our church...the more I'm around the people, the more I truly appreciate a church family. The church doesn't strive to act like they have it all together, in fact, they want people who don't have it together to share in the journey. Church continues to be a blessing for us. Mike is actually meeting with one of the pastors of the church right now for lunch, just because.

I know that I have been talking about opening day for the Rockies for what seems like forever, but it finally arrived. I endured a brutally early morning on public transportation in order to get Downtown without a car after work. But, it was totally worth it! We met some friends and enjoyed baseball to the fullest!



I also went on a Women's Retreat with the church this weekend in Winter Park, CO. It was so beautiful and to spend a weekend with all women ejoying the presence of the Lord was something I'd been missing out on for a while. Aren't we some mighty fine looking young women?

And that basically catches you up till now, you know, me sitting on the couch because my stomach does flips when I get up to move. Dog on the couch, fast asleep, and enjoying the breeze through the windows.




Now, what to look forward to? Well, some of our very good friends from camp are coming up the first weekend of June to go to a concert with us (John Butler Tri0). My parents are coming up a couple weekends after that to enjoy summer in Colorado. This is fun, the Dave Matthews Band is headlining a HUGE festival here called the Mile High Music Festival. We've already bought our tix to this festival (and there are some pretty incredible bands playing in addition to DMB, check out the link). The Boulder Bolder is coming up Memorial Day weekend and I'm still planning on walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day in August, look for more info about this in my next post as I am registering this weekend. OH yes! One more exciting thing! We are having a Kentucky Derby party at our house on May 1st. Most of our community group will be there along with some friend from work, etc. We are soooo excited to share our love of horses with Coloradoans (? I don't even know how to spell that). Anwyay. I think we'll stay busy...hiking season is quickly approaching as well! Goodbye, Winter! I MADE IT!! At least I hope so.

Love wins, ya'll. See ya next time.

Word Vomit.

I feel a lot of word vomit about to explode from my mouth, but right now I'm so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open. So, it'll have to wait until tomorrow. Hope I can hold it all in.

Have a lovely beginning of the week, friends. Love Wins!

And for my next trick....

Have you heard about Molly the owl? I heard about this on my favorite radio station here in Colorado, 97.3 KBCO (you can stream online as well, I highly suggest you check it out). I don't know exactly what Ustream is, or who is responsible for this live webcam of Molly the owl and the hatching of her eggs, but it's pretty entertaining.

Streaming .TV shows by Ustream

Found out today that my parents are for sure coming to visit in June - and some of our really good friends from back home are possibly coming in June as well. Opening day in 3 weeks....but still snowing. Spring has Sprung? Well, not quite....but close. A piece of Halloween candy was found underneath melting snow today; that tells you how long we have had snow in our front yard. Here, I'll show ya. Here's a pic of the most recent 12 inches of snow (and no, I did not go to work this day):

And even more exciting! My best friend Sarah is getting married in July and I picked out my bridesmaids dress for her wedding....


The best thing is that the dress is made from cotton satin...and its so super cute! Ooo, and it has pockets (for the massive amounts of tissues I'll need to watch my very best friend get married). Her color for this dress is a Kelly Green. So adorable, right? I can't wait for July to be home with my friends and family!

Enjoy! Love Wins!

The Redneck Riviera.

Whew! Well for a week that was supposed to be a vacation, I find myself poop-ed. Probably because of the many runs, dinners, beers, beach bum days, and overall good conversations with many friends/family that occurred. At one time, our extended family grew to 16!!! But 16 does not compare to the amount of college kids that swarmed the beach in their Chacos, Patagonia fleeces, random hair braids to one side, Nike shorts, Buddy Holly sunglasses, hot pink/neon color skimpy bathing suits, and long sleeveless shirts from the 90s sporting their important sororities. Guys from the south sporting the long hair (and occasional hair swoop), dock shoes, buddy holly sunglasses, Ralph Lauren swimming trunks and a cooler of beer. Can't forget the beer. Natty Light 30 pack cans chugging one after another in beer bongs...one lovely lady three sheets to the wind asked Amanda and I if we would wash out her beer bong in the ocean. Oh! Drunk logic and Spring Break. UK, Auburn, U of A, TCU, Clemson, UT, and many other college flags were flying about...made me think of how my college days are long gone and my Grad School days are moving further and further behind me. Gave me a reality check into how sheltered my Spring Breaks were and how thankful I am now for making them that way. It makes me thankful that I made it through that period of my life, alive.

We went to a really local oyster bar on the ocean one night and as the night progressed, dancing on the tables, screaming fight songs, and finding drunk girls in the bathroom passed out invaded our evening. Made for quite the entertainment....but got old. Real quick. Nevertheless, I ate a raw oyster!!! Okay, so maybe it was covered in mozzarella cheese and bacon bits, but it was still an oyster, and it was still disgusting. DISGUSTING. But I did have crab cakes a couple times this week...I'm branching out people. Here is a highly entertaining video of our friend Chase psyching himself up to eat his first oyster. If you hear any crude language, I do apologize, Amanda and I had to keep these boys in line, and sometimes you just can't:






And speaking of my beautiful sister-in-law, here we are enjoying our last day at the beach. She had the floppy hat idea, and I think it looks rather flattering on us.

I know I'm jumping from day to day, but my parents were able to visit for about a half day on their way back up to KY from spending the most brutal part of the KY winter in their home in North Port Charlotte, FL. I miss them a lot, in fact, I missed the beach and the South in general, a whole lot more than I anticipated. Maybe it's because we (and by "we" I mean "Mike") had to shovel 12 inches of snow out our driveway before we could even bring our bags in. I'm ready for spring, and spring in CO just doesn't happen till the middle of MAY. Oh boy!

After being at the beach and enjoying some Southern Hospitality, I really did not want to come back out West. I would have just planted myself in Alabama somewhere and been happy, happy. So, which one is it Lynsey, which one do you love? The South.....where everyone knows your name and you are comfortable or the West which is more rugged and brings out the adventure in not only you, but your relationship with your husband. Is it the green grass and acres of trees that I miss? Is it the personalities of the people? Or is it just the comfort of "home" that I miss? I was happy to see the Rockies, as I had missed them, but the cold weather just really sent a chill down my entire spine and permeated my soul. I felt like all of the healing that the beach and humid temps did for my body, mind, and soul was erased just by that wind touching my sunburn. I keep touching my hands - they have finally softened up and closed all the gaping holes that a dry atmosphere and continuous use of soap and water will create. No more bleeding knuckles! Ack! How did I get talking about bleeding knuckles?

Here we are! One big happy family!




The sunset on the last night was to die for....Mike and I took a short walk on the beach to watch it set - my favorite part of the day! Please don't mind his scruffy beard!

Even though my past couple months have been amazing, I still have things to look forward to. LIKE!!! Opening Day for the Colorado Rockies the first weekend of April.
Lent is rolling on, 2 more weeks of working out everyday, although the discipline has been nice and I'm continually having to push myself to do it....but you know that feeling after you have exercised, how awesome it feels and that the pain was totally worth it. It has also become a time to talk with Christ, which is priceless to me. I'm still working my way through the Bible - this week I've gotten behind because of vacation, but Mike and I are trying to keep eachother accountable for this, too. Love wins, my friends. It always does.

Updates, please.

I lied, and I apologize. I said that I would update after our weekend of goodness....however, life happened and then the week passed, and then we got on a plane and headed SOUTH BABY!

Quickly, all....here is the recap so I can explain how awesome Florida is:

Vail on Friday. Lots of really rich people wearing a lot of name brand clothes going on really long vacations to ski for $90/day. Not for us really, but the skiing was amazing, and I guess I say that for Mike's sake, just because my skiing ability is still developing. My first fall of the season came this day, it was uneventful, but I'm glad I got it out of my system.


























Snowshoeing on Saturday. I must say, the more I'm around our community group, the more I love them. We drove to Estes Park and showshoed all day...I've already shared the glorious video of me busting my face in the snow. That's really the best part, but here is a picture of really happy snowshooe feet. I'm kind of sad we didn't discover snowshoeing earlier, it was really fun and a good workout. Basically, it's like hiking with big shoes. Here:



Frozen Dead Guy Days (FDGD) on Sunday. This was quite the experience....as I knew such an event would not dissapoint us. We took the dogs to hang out with all the Nederland hippies. The band that played had written muliple song about the dead guy and Mike and I stared in awe of how such a little thing as a guy on dry ice can create such a festival. They had a merch tent (where we purchased stickers), beer tent (with sponsers), face paintings, and I'm sad that we missed the coffin racing the day before. We're planning on going on Satuday next year..... here are a few pics from FDGD:



Writing this recap at the pool in Destin makes the snow seem so far away. I'm pretty sure that it snowed 5-10 inches last night in Denver, and I don't miss that one bit. Sitting in my bathing suit with my sister and family is heaven to me right now. My mom and dad stopped by Destin on their way up to KY from spending 8wks in North Port. We had chruch on the beach and brunch, and I loved every moment of it. So,I'll leave you right now with the thoughts of sun, sand, fruity beverages, and family. Amanda and I are going to a spa this afternoon, ahhhhhh!!!! I love you, love wins!

Sneak Preview.

Okay, here is a Sneak Preview of how much fun my weekend has been so far. AND we haven't even visited the Dead Guy yet!!



More updates to come on Monday! Love Wins!