FIBArk 2009

FIBArk First In Boating the Arkansas river

Ping pong basketball at Patty's place

On the river

Minnesota Lily

First Boat ride





Lily's Baptism



Lily at Grandma's Work


Grandpa Walking with Lily


Grandpa Playing with Lily

Canoe trip down the Mississippi

Sarah took this picture of a Bald Eagle and it made it into the local slideshow

Lily In Minnesota Finally

Patchouli in Fargo, ND

Bruce and Julie Patchouli :) http://www.patchouli.net

Here we are playing along

Power outage Mid March

We have been away from the blog for a very long time. I will make these next ones short to give a brief update.

This was a mid March snow storm that left us without power for 14+ hrs

We are alive...and busy!! Here we are in South Dakota

Mt Rushmore

Ron and Irene met us in hill city for a few days. After Hill city we drove to see Aunt Kim in North Dakota.

Here are some shots

Easter fun

During the Easter break, I went to visit Mark, Sarah and Lily. Some of you know that I am more of a city girl vs. Mark's excitement for EVERYTHING outdoors. So, Mark asked if I wanted to go for a "bike" ride with him. I was willing, so off we went. As we started off down the road, Mark tells me we are going to go off roading and it might get a little scary at times. Well, I know I challenged my comfort zone on this adventure. Would I do it again, IN A HEART BEAT!! If given the opportunity, so should you!

In this video, you will see just one of the many "hills" we went up and down. While the video doesn't do the ride justice, you can get a feel of what my 2+ hour ride was like.



Other Pictures from the weekend:







Trying to get up the hill :) The bike would have made it had there been fewer trees on the ground.















The "Bike"













What page would be complete without an updated photo of Lily?












Lily with Mark (Sarah managed to make it all weekend without getting in one of my pictures...sadness)















One of my favorite pictures :)

Ceiling boards continued...

Yesterday Nicholas, Sarah, and Myself finished the ceiling in the kitchen and half of the living room. 100 boards to go to finish the rest of the living room

View from the kitchen

View from the living room

You know you are from Minnesota when...

Winter Wonderland and NO SCHOOL!!!

We had a snow day up here today!!! We called the neighbors and Sarah's Dad Nicholas to come up and enjoy a bit of snowshoeing and xc skiing. Good fun had by all!!!

We wanted to get a bit closer to the forest service road leading to the top of Seam rock but the roads were not all plowed yet.

This image is of the old burn area above Seam rock. New growth is on it's way.

Here is Nicholas charging down a hill that we prepped for speed

Here is me and Nikita

Sarah and Lily

The community plow

Palisade Mountain Scramble

Our neighbors Goran, Sarah, and Antonia went on a hike with us. We decided to hike Palisade Mountain since it is within a couple of miles from home. It was a gentle hike up until this point where we had to scramble to the top.


Nikita getting some camera time.

A view toward Loveland.

Shown here is the Big Thompson Canyon. We drive this road every morning to work.

Fargo Blizzard

So I know these pictures are not of CO and Mark and Sarah's beautiful home, but thought folks out that way might like to see what a real winter looks like :) This blizzard has shut everything down. In the last 5.5 years of working at North Dakota State University, we have never had a full "SNOW DAY" today we are closed. They are advising no travel even within the city limits. The mall has closed, as have many other businesses. Enjoy the views from my apartment. If I get daring, I might go outside and try to take some fun pictures!

View from my living room around 10 a.m. ...
(note: normally there is a nice little park area between me and the other apartment buildings)


View from my bedroom about an hour later...
(note: I live in town, surrounded by stores, apartments, homes, etc. You really can't see any of them)

and it's only suppose to get worse as the day goes on...

Motor Bike Ride in the National Forest

On the weekends we like to explore the many Forest Service trails and land behind our property.
My favorite way to do this is to hop on the bike and get lost.

The bike we have is two wheel drive. It can make it up almost anything as long as you can hang on to the bike.



This is a shot from way above the first picture. Loveland is in the background.

Longs peak and Rocky Mountain National Park