Dreaming of a White Christmas

Last week the fam gathered in Denver for the holiday. First things first we all headed to Copper Mountain for some fresh powder action. Skiing season is just starting to really get good...really cold...but good none the less. Thank heavens for our jumbo pack of hot hands from Sam's!

Curtis taking a breather on the slopes as a first time skier.

A little video footage of Leo, Will and Max finding their inner ski bunnies;)

Then over the next few days we cooked a lot, ate a lot, relaxed and enjoyed Jake being back from Afghanistan!!

Leo and his dad doing the honors for Christmas dinner....

Happy Holidays from the Mile High Sooners!!!!

Mile High Sooners go skiing

This weekend we hit the slopes of Keystone for our first time skiing together and I think that we made a great pair! And don't worry mom...we took it easy for our first day back on the slopes;) No hurt knees for us thank you very much. Although we realized around 3pm that our legs muscles are not quite ready for a full day of skiing so we called it quit before the lights turned on for night ski and headed back to the house in Silverthorne for a little hot tub relaxation.

Leo on a lunch ski break

Our Morning Commute

With a our hiking boots on and a change of scrubs in our bags we decided to commute to work together using an alternate mode of transportation this morning....snowshoes on some fresh Denver powder!!

The hospital that we both work at is in the upper right corner

Advent in Colorado

As any avid blog reader knows (that is if we have any "avid" blog readers?!?) we love to decorate for the holidays and since I cannot drag my sisters over to my house to show them my holiday decor I can at least drag them to the computer to show them some holiday home pics.

Leo doing the honors...

Random house pics... I was especially excited to hang up our stockings side by side this year for the first time. They look great grandma! And Dad...check out the train you made under the tree being put to good use;)

Leo was extremely excited about the LED action outside;)

Happy Holidays and BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!!!

Turkey Day Okie-style

We had a great time going home this past weekend! Seeing everybody was definitely a treat for Turkey day:)

Leo and my Dad carving up the birds before dinner at my parents...

In Lawton Leo introduced me to my first pig and tried to teach me how to jump on top of hay bales... which for those who were not there just imagine me running straight into a round hay bale... repeatedly... and unsuccessfully. Entertaining and funny for everyone watching but all I got was a front full of hay.

Leo is trying to whisper into the pigs ear how yummy that feed over there looks! I think his favorite pig is the middle one...Just look at that ham;)

And as a great end to the weekend the family gathered for an awesome bedlam game/Hillary and my birthday at my parents. I did not really catch on to the the German theme of the evening because I guess that I am just a German girl that loves her German food...good beer + good brats= good times in my book:) But then Leo came downstairs wearing the kiddos dress-up suspenders (it was a snug fit!) that look like lederhosen to give me my present. As it turns out we are going to Germany this spring to celebrate Leo being married to an older woman in style! Stay tuned for travel updates in late April...

"Uncle Leo!..What you doin' here?"

This weekend Leo is on call for eye emergencies for Denver and last night I think that people were purposefully poking themselves in their eye to get a few moments with my doc;) So last night as Leo was at University hospital he glanced at the ER patient board and he saw a name that looked like our last name. So he took another look (since our name is not like Smith or Jones) and it was our name! Then he looked to see who the patient was....first name Penelope....patient age 3. Leo was a bit surprised and did not believe that it was our niece because Children's hospital is right next door but just then he saw the little patient in the hallway with a lollipop in her mouth. It turns out that Penny had another case of nursemaids elbow:( When Penny saw her Uncle Leo she said, in front of all the other ER docs...."Hi Leo...What you doin' here?! Why you wearin' a doctor's coat? You not a doctor! What you doin'?" The ER staff thought this was HilAriOuS! I guess that to a 3 year old we make our livings just being their Aunts and Uncles:)

First Snow!

This morning I was peacefully resting at a little after 6am when all of a sudden I heard Leo in the bathroom yell "Oh My Gosh..Gretchen!" I got up, a bit startled, to see what was broken/leaking/about to explode when Leo came bounding into the bedroom with a big grin, throwing open the shutters exclaiming "It SNOWED... Our first snow of the year!!" ...to which I went back to bed thinking to myself that I may have married a 7 year old;) Gotta love his enthusiasm for the small things in life!

I think that my Rice gnome is thinking to himself that he would rather be in Houston right about now;)

Happy Halloween!

Although I am sad to have to take down the spiderweb it was yet again another great Halloween holiday this year. Thursday night Leo and I went with some friends to the Haunted Field of Screams in Thorton. It was a corn field that they had made into a haunted house type of feature and it was AwEsOmE! I think that it may have even had Leo scream once...my heart was pounding the whole time;) Last night we had fun with all of the cute trick-or-treaters and Leo once again rigged up a little surprise for them...when they opened the gate a bat flew down. But it did not move too fast or too low...Leo was on call after all and if someone got their eye poked out it was just gonna lead to the heavenly sound of his pager going off.

Some of the trick-or-treaters that are new to the 'hood that visited us last night.

Travelling weekend

This weekend as Leo was driving from California to Colorado I was back in the heartland, Oklahoma, spending some QT with the fam. It was a great visit!

As you can see Missy totally slacked on the kids costumes this year;) Reid wanted to be a robot and Emiline wanted to be the Queen of Hearts...Missy was a little bit concerned about being able to pull off the Queen of Hearts. LJ on the other hand did not know what the big deal was...she just told Missy to get two pieces of cardboard, paint them, tie them together and there you go. No Laura...That is one of the Queens cards, not the Queen herself. See the little goblins for yourself with the robot in his robot character and the Queen complete with flamingo croquet mallet!

The kids with their pumpkins picked from Mimi and Papa's front yard pumpkin patch.

And last but not least, Eli...who may not be able to walk all that far but put him on his spring loaded horse and look out...he is a rockin' machine!!

The only thing missing is the apron

One of Leo's many talents...gotta love a man who knows how to use a rolling pin;)

Dinner is served!

All Aboard!!

This weekend we had two visitors in town that are soon to be our new neighbors, Neika and Agatha, for a weekend of house hunting. With nieces and nephews moving to town Leo and I, aka the coolest aunt and uncle around, felt like we needed a little somethin' somethin' to secure our #1 title. I know, I know... we will always have the #1 title regardless and do not need to supplement b/c we are just that lovable and fun but the toy just looked too good. So last week we purchased a toy that I loved growing up and that my parents still use as a bribery tool/grandchild motivator in their house....a ride-able train! It doesn't look like Agatha is too geeked out about it now but give it a bit more time...she is just 10 months old after all;)

After all that train riding Agatha was pretty tired and just wanted a relaxing dinner out with the fam...

Halloween is in the air!

As many of you know I go absolutely Ga-Ga over Halloween and this year is no exception. With our new house every holiday brings us new ideas of what we could do to look festive for the season. For Halloween I found a spider web online that I loved and reminded me of the webs that my dad made when we were little....but it was about $125!! I don't think so! So instead I bought 200 feet of rope at Home Depot for less than $15 and went to town. Trick-or-Treat here we come!!

...Next is Christmas with Leo's love for Christmas lights. We made need to pass out sunglasses to our neighbors because I think that he just may go Griswald on us this year;)

Fall has arrived!

This was the first weekend in what feels like a while that Leo and I were able to do some fun stuff together.... well, minus Leo having to attend an all day lecture on Saturday...that was not so much fun:( But we made the best of not working/not being on call and had a great fall weekend!!

We started off the weekend going to the Rockies game with some friends. It was a blast! We sat on mile high row (And for those of you that have never been to mile high stadium they denote the mile high altitude with a row of purple chairs...aka, where we sat!), saw a great baseball game and an even better fire works show. They even let fans come onto the field but since our seats were so high up (a mile!! Hello McFly!) we decided to watch from our seats.

Then came my toughest battle of endurance to date.... the neighborhood kickball tournament!! All of our neighbors formed a team together to play in the tourney and although we did not come out victorious we had a great time trying! How could you not when the 'hood provides a moon bounce, pizza, chipotle burritos, and all the PBR that a woman could want while playing... all for free?! We are definitely marking the tourney on the calendar for next year and with the new Denver Seibold additions we just may be unstoppable!!

Finally, on Sunday, Leo picked out what turned out to be a spectacular hike for the two of us to Blue Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The Aspens are starting to turn and it was a gorgeous drive up to the trail head followed by more spectacular views all the way up to Blue lake, which really is blue and crystal clear! Although we did have a small mishap with the first use of our back country stove we pushed forward and warmed our bellies with some tastiest chile that I have ever had....I was very proud of us and our back country skills:) Enjoy some pics from our hike below. I hope that everyone else had great weekends as well!

Leo is now the pround father of 5!!

5 Godchildren that is;) This weekend was our first trip back to the great plains of Oklahoma since moving in honor of the baptism of Sarah and Curtis' cute little guy, Connor Joseph. We had a great time going around the city and hanging our with our families, seeing my grandma's new house, my grandma's old house that is now Laura and Jeremy's new house, Missy and Robin's renovations, and just being lazy at home;)

Leo with two generations of Godchildren:)


Robin and I went cruisin' on his new wheels!

And as the grand finale to the weekend the family all gathered at my parents' house to slice into a cake to find out together what the next addition to the family will be for Laura and Jeremy. Any guesses? We are all thrilled!!! Congrats guys!

Seibolds take over Denver

Neika and Max hit the streets of Denver this weekend for a house hunting extravaganza for their upcoming big move from sunny Cali to snowy Colorado! Leo tagged along as a neutral party for the house hunting while I manned the IV room at the hospital...but it sounds like the kiddos might be able to ride their bikes to their favorite aunt and uncle's house;)

A de-stress dinner after a long day of house hunting with steak and vino...very yummy!

Democrats Gone Wild!

Tonight Leo talked me into braving the downtown Democratic National Convention scene to be a part of the action...so before I knew it we were on our bikes heading downtown toward the political rioting masses! It was quite the scene with people making a scene for no absolute reason other than because they could. But sadly no Obama sightings (I was hoping for Charlize Theron...someone Leo knows saw her yesterday). Oh well, we will somehow find a way to still live fulfilled Obama free lives...someway...somehow;)

Enjoy a few pics of the riot lines:)

It's Showtime!

This weekend is Leo's first weekend on call so we have to stay close to make sure that all of the people in town for the Democratic National Convention (DNC if you are hip to the lingo) return safely to their homes with the same vision that they came here with;) Because of this we took advantage of one of the neighborhood activities that we had yet to experience...the outdoor summer movie series. Last night they were playing Cars with Lightning McQueen (or Bubble car if you are Reid). It was a lot of fun and because we biked back and forth we got to treat ourselves to some homemade peach pie with Colorado Palisade peaches when we got back home....it was a super yummy summer treat!

Leo and his "Ladies"

This weekend we went to Dillon with all of the other ophthalmology residents in Leo's class and their spouses to one of their families cabin's in Dillon, CO... and come to find out their definition of "cabin" is a huge 5 bedroom log home in the woods. I could get use to that! After a great dinner in Golden we headed to Dillon and stayed up late playing Mexican dominoes. Needless to say I was not a natural to the game. The next day we went on an awesome hike in chilly 30 degree weather and finished off our weekend with a meal of buffalo burgers at the Dillon Dam Brewery. Summer in Colorado is quite rough;)

Leo and his "ladies" (from left to right Emily, Lisa, Leo and Carolyn)


The view of Dillon reservoir from the hike....if you squint all of the beetle tree damage makes it look like fall colors;)

The Parents have landed!!

My parents visited our new home this weekend and we had a great time! We went to the sculpture festival in Loveland for my Dad to see about showing there next year, had a great birthday dinner for Mom... among many other great meals (including a Thai place where fat tire is 50 cents!!), went to Estes Park and Pearl street in Boulder, and all in all just had a great relaxing weekend. Thanks for the visit!!

Here are some pics of us cooking out in the front yard and my mom and her tequila-lime pie that I made her for her b-day... it is still margarita season after all;)

The sweet smell of compost in the mornin'

I do not know how many times we entered a garden center or home depot this weekend but it was aLoT!! We decided that before all of the plant selection was gone that we had better put our green thumbs on and overhaul our front flower beds.

This included...

#1 Piling up all of the current mulch on tarps

#2 Ripping out all of the weed stop material

#3 Ripping out all of the previous owners U-G-L-Y plants

#4 Fixing all of the soaker hoses in the garden

#5 Buying a cubic yard of oh so delicious compost... it had 3 types of manure in it fyi

#6 Tilling said compost into rock hard clay soil

#7 Planting all of our new plants

#8 Replacing all of the mulch

Needless to say we are beat but also very proud of our hard work. It was a bit hard though in the final hours when our neighbors were having a cold one on the porch while we were sweaty and extremely filthy.

My good looking yard man at work tilling part of the garden.

Watering the fruits of our labor. I am pretty excited about our first attempt at rose gardening. We bought 4 knock out rose plants and I hope that they live up to their reputation:)

Prairie Dog City

Today on my bike ride home from work I decided to finally count all of the prairie dogs that I see on my cruise home on my two wheeler. You see....my path home from work goes from the hospital, past the public golf course, through a nature center (that is full of prairie dogs among other wildlife), and then home. I always thought that there were tons out there every afternoon and initially thought that I would at least make it to 10. But I quickly realized that I would go way past #10 early on as the darn dogs kept on comin'. Then before I knew it #15 had come and gone....then 20...then 25...with a final count of 29 freakin' prairie dogs!!