Millards In The Mountains

I am working on a big photo blog post now that class is over for a month or so! But in the mean time, check out this link to a video of some recent excitement in the news that involves my company! http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-small-plane-makes-safe-emergen-121410,0,3217131.story

I figured it was about time to post about the Denver Rock 'n Roll half marathon we ran TWO WEEKS ago. I knew that running a half marathon would give me a good idea about whether or not I could handle a full marathon. I knew I would either think "that was awesome, I can't wait for the full marathon" or "no way will I be running TWICE this distance!" The night before, we had a yummy pasta dinner at Olive Garden, courtesy of Arlene and Ron. We got a good night's sleep and woke up ready to run, albeit a little bleary eyed at 5:15 am. As it turns out, the half marathon was a great experience for both Matt and I. We got off to a bit of a rocky start, since our light rail train didn't get us downtown until 20 minutes before the race started. We basically had 20 minutes to us the restrooms in the convention center, walk (RUN) the 4 blocks to the race start, check our gear and get to the starting line. But we made it, and once we got started running, everythi...

Happy Fall to you all!!

I have been antsy to spruce up our front entry hall. For one thing, it's just empty and unwelcoming. It also drives me nuts that shoes just pile up there. Not something that really welcomes people into the house. See for yourself! Not very welcoming, am I right? Luckily, Matt and I happened to wander into World Market this weekend and found the perfect solution. It required me to drive to two different World Markets, on opposite sides of Denver. Matt had to do a little bit of work too. :) Here is the finished product! A coat hanger, shelves, and matching bench/shoe holder. We are so excited about the outcome! Pongo didn't get off of the bench part all evening, so we know he loves it! Close up of the shelving unit. And the bench. Apparently, we will have to ask Pongo's permission to sit on the bench, since he has claimed it as his own already. I think it has been a successful decorating weekend!

Matt and I are in week seven of 26 of marathon training and rapidly approaching the date of the Denver half marathon (Oct 17). It hardly seems like we have been training for nearly two months. I thought this would be a good time for some initial reflections. Running has always been my favorite stress outlet. When I am upset, I lace up my shoes and hit the pavement. I had a good 5K loop mapped out around the old neighborhood before we moved, but never ventured much further than that in terms of distance. I never really had a good reason to break that 5K habit until now. Click here for a recap of why we decided to run a marathon if you don't know already. When I looked at the marathon training schedule to see what all it would involve, I was actually pleasantly surprised. The biggest commitment is actually the "long runs" which are scheduled on weekends. We basically add a mile each week until we get to twenty-two miles, and then taper off a few weeks before the marathon. ...

We went camping possibly one last time last weekend. I say possibly because it was 90 degrees here today, so it hardly seems like summer is over. The only clue to indicate the onset of fall were the beautiful aspen trees turning a beautiful fall yellow up in the mountains! Our partners in crime, Ted and Susie met us to camp. We took an impromptu off trail hike, but couldn't get very far since the campground was surrounded by private (fenced) property. The gorgous trees turning colors. Our trio of beagles: Bagel, Pongo and Perdi. The guys kept plenty busy climbing rocks. And drinking oil cans. :) Cheers! Pongo hung out in the tent as usual. He was perfectly content to do so. Susie and I discovered we had matching flavors of vitamin water in the morning. Ted cooked some wonderful scrambled eggs over the open campfire for breakfast. It was nice to have one last quick camping trip before the seasons change. I hope fall comes soon now. I am getting a little tired of these 90 degree days...

This week was a short work week for me. I took a 5 day weekend starting last Friday through Tuesday. I came back to work on Wednesday feeling incredibly refreshed and productive. Since I hardly ever take that much time off work at once, it was great to get away from the office for a while and just enjoy the company of good friends. I certainly made the best of my "staycation." So what did I do with my 5 days of freedom? Here is a short recap: Thursday evening, Matt and I attended the Great American Beer Festival in downtown Denver. We went to this last year and had a great time. This year was no different...SO MUCH FUN! Friday, Matt and I drove up to Ft. Collins to watch the KU football game with our friends Ted and Susie, who just moved to CO about two months ago. While the game didn't come out the way we would have liked, we did enjoy some fantastic homemade chicken enchiladas made by Susie. And Bagel (their beagle) even treated me to a few of her cute playful howls tha...

Hi. How can it possibly have been a month since I have last blogged? I used to be pretty good at keeping you all semi up-to-date on what we have been up to. I have a few pictures to post from our labor day weekend visitors. Those of you on Facebook have probably seen these already, but I will post some here as well. Maybe by Christmas. :) Here is one that you Facebookers haven't seen, taken from my phone. Matt, Alissa and I decided to do some mini golfing in the beautiful weather on Labor Day. This course is about 2 minutes from our house and pretty entertaining. Anne and I did this course when she was here in July, so I had a one-up on everyone. I like to think that's why I beat Matt by one stroke anyway. :) Matt and I are continuing to train for our marathon, which we still haven't officially picked out yet. I have my heart set on Little Rock in March, but we have until Nov. 1 to decide for sure before the registration costs go up. We haven't done any seriously long...

I figure it's about time that I catch all of you up on the lives of the Colorado Millards. We have been very very busy (i know, always the same excuse!) with the move to our new house and various other committments. I think I am almost ready to take some house photos, as we are unpacked enough that I can show it without there being boxes everywhere! That will most likely be my task for the weekend. On Sunday evening, Matt and I returned from a fabulous weekend in Kansas City. It was not nearly a long enough time to spend there! Our main purpose for the trip was for a Walter family reunion. We stayed down on the KC plaza and did totally relaxing things such as swim, eat and hold lots and lots of babies! I was so happy to meet all of my cousins' children and catch up with everyone. Grandma Helen even flew all the way from Grand Rapids to join us. Of course we got to catch up with Matt's family too. It always seems like there is never enough time to go around between everyone ...

Just a little video to lighten up your week. We are in process of trying to make plans for Labor Day weekend this year, and it made me think of our labor day last year. Here is a clip! BTW, this is Matt :) Here are the pictures: That little Chunk (Perdi) wanted to say hello to our friend the Marmot! Hope you enjoy the pictures! Hopefully there will be more soon!

I am not a parent, but I do hope to have kids someday. Sometimes, it seems like this is just too harsh of a world to brave raising children in. This morning, I read my cousin Abbe's blog and have spent the rest of the morning in sheer disbelief that something so horrible could happen, and hit so close to home. Though I am not super close to Abbe and Adam, I do know that they are a couple of the most devoted parents around. I know this because Abbe's blog is "brutually honest," which is something I really appreciate and have a hard time incorporating into my own blogs. Words can't describe the pain I feel for their sweet family. I wanted to pass along the Dolls' story. Please read Abbe's blog " Breaking the Silence ." http://dollfamilyzone.blogspot.com/2010/07/breaking-silence.html I have it linked in my blog reel as well. You will be sad, you will be angry...you will probably go through quite a few emotions like I did. But please...all you paren...

First of all, let me explain the title of this blog before anyone starts worrying that I am thinking of another guy. :) You see, in 15 days, we will be closing on our NEW HOUSE, which happens to be on a street called Floyd Place. I used to think that I would be really sad to leave this rental house. It's the first house we called "home" in Colorado. This house rescued us from homelessness when we were crazy and stressed, moving from Kansas City without an actual address to give to the movers. My side of the family had our last real family Christmas in this house. We have hosted so many dinners, parties and barbecues, and housed countless numbers of visitors over the past two years. We have so many memories in this house, that it's hard to imagine living anywhere else. I am a pretty sentimental person, so I think this move would have been a lot harder had our current landlord not intervened. About a month ago, he called and said that he was going to have his son in law...

Some of you may have seen my status on Facebook earlier this week about our disappointing Memorial Day camping trip. As promised, I am blogging today to tell the story of the state park ranger who ruined our weekend. Early last Saturday afternoon, Matt and Alissa and I and our friends Nick and Carlene arrived at our reserved campsite at Golden Gate Canyon State Park (GGCSP) for a long awaited weekend camping trip that we had on the calendar for months. We wasted no time setting up our tents and unpacking our cars. A couple hours later, we noticed a state park ranger approaching our campsite. He noted several violations in our campsite, including our three tents on the pad (only 2 are allowed) and the fact that we had Perdi teathered around a tree with her leash. He asked us to take down a tent and tie Perdi to the picnic table, which we immediately did. He left shortly after that. We were slightly annoyed at this, but didn't really think much of it for the remainder of the afterno...

We are moving right along on our path to home ownership. Sometimes I wonder if this is supposed to go so smoothly, but I won't think too much about it until we close on June 23. The latest news is that the house passed inspection with flying colors! There were a few minor odds and ends to take care of, but the seller agreed to fix a sprinkler zone that wasn't working and replace a cracked window. So when we move in, the place will be almost flawless! I kind of didn't want them to fix EVERYTHING...Matt needs a few projects to keep him busy. :) I suppose the first thing on our list will be to replace the patio roof. It is pretty shot, but since it doesn't affect the inside of the house, we didn't ask the seller to do it. We also thought that would be a kind of fun project to tackle ourselves (and any handy volunteers who might want to come help). :) Matt was playing around with some of the photos of our house last week. They are the same ones that are online, but he h...

I am really excited to announce that we are under contract on a house!! After searching and searching through a sea of suburban houses in south Aurora, they all just started blending together. There were major disappointments with all of them, mostly due to the fact that the lot sizes are SO small. What do people do with their pets when they move on to a like that?!? We were also having doubts about if we were really ready for that particular lifestyle. So on Monday, we focused our search to an older neighborhood in the actual city and county of Denver. This area is in a good central location for both of our jobs and is much more accessible to the highways. It's still moderately suburban but it reminds me a little of Roeland Park, where we lived in Kansas City. HUGE trees, older houses and best of all, no HOA's and WAY lower taxes. It's a little funny, because we had originally skipped over this house when we saw it online based on the fact that it is a ranch style house (w...

Question: How do you pick ONE?!? There are so many to choose from!

I have been thinking a lot about volunteering somewhere lately. I miss doing volunteer work and I want to give back. In college, my roommate Anne and I decided to volunteer at the Lawrence Humane Society. We only went once or twice. We basically just took the dogs out on leashes and walked them around so that they could get out of their kennels and get some fresh air. I didn't understand a lot about dogs then and I was kind of scared when they protested so hard against getting back in their cages. It was hard to see animals in that condition, and even harder to see the "countdown" on the time they would be at the shelter. I just wanted to take them all home, but most of them had serious health or behavior issues that I would not have been able to begin to address. (Not to mention the fact that we lived in the dorms!) Still, the cruelty that some humans seem capable of inflicting on innocent animals was too hard to deal with. Fast forward to today. After work, I went to th...

I just realized over the past couple of days that probably the main reason I haven't been blogging as much lately is because of writing overload from class. While my second Penn State course has been much easier to handle overall, it really is a lot of writing with the weekly papers we are asked to compile. It seems I dump all of my (somewhat limited) creativity and energy into those darn papers and by the time I am finished, it's hard to write a blog post! Luckily, I have some pictures from my new camera to post, which rescues me from having to do TOO much writing tonight. (I finished and turned in my homework last night, so I'm off the hook with school for a couple days.) First off, I have to say that I LOVE my new camera. It's super small so I can take it anywhere. It's super thin, so I can put it in my pocket. Oh, and did I mention that it's PINK?!? :) There will be no excuses for not having lots of pictures now, unless I forget to bring it along with me. So...