New 'Dos for the both of us

So this was the week of new hair for Nick and I. Last week I cut 6 inches off my length! I can't believe how long it had gotten. Then I got the color touched up...and love it! I need less hair to handle all this heat....at least that is all Nick has been saying these days....hence the photo of him below. I came home from work last week before we were leaving for Lake Meade to him with a poorly buzzed hair cut. After looking at the buzz head with a mini rat tail in the back, I re-buzzed it yesterday to at least make it even. I think we both agree that less is more in this HEAT!!

Lake Meade Trip

Nick and I got back from Lake Meade today and it is fair to say that we were hobbling into our place. We are so sore! Being in the sun all day long and wake boarding, eating, laying on rafts, and playing games all night sure does use a lot of muscles!

We left on Thursday evening after work and drove up to Temple Bar Marina on Lake Meade. Michelle and TJ invited us to meet them there along with Michelle's parents John and Jeanine and her brother Mark. TJ had his two boys as well, and of course how could I forget that puppy came along too. It was about a 4 and 1/2 hour drive that actually went by pretty fast. We stayed in a "resort" (more to come on that later) right there next to the water, so it was so nice the next day to get on the lake in no time. We spent all day Friday on the lake. We found a great place on a little sandy beach to set up a canopy tent to get some relief from the sun, and we made that our home base for the day. We had such a great time out on the water. It was perfect wake boarding conditions and no one else seemed to be out on the water!!

Some of the highlights of the trip included: I got up on the wake board first try...and did pretty good on all of my runs. I must say I was excited, because I am usually no good at these kinds of things. Also, I got a new raft out of the trip--loved having it. We got to play a fun board game that we got for Christmas with everyone called Wits and Wagers at night. And of course--the ultimate highlight was seeing our friends.

A few no good occurrences were: Nick totally biffed it on one run and when he hit the water his bottom jaw hit his top jaw and chipped the whole corner off his right from tooth. His nickname the rest of the trip was snaggle! Good thing I work for a dentist! Another downer was the hotel (it is called a 'resort' but that would be the last adjective I would use to describe it with) had a sewer problem and all the toilets and showers started to back up--oh was that awful--at least it was on the last night. Did I mention that this "resort" had cynderblock walls!!! The last no good occurrence would have to be the Badger Boys sunburns. Only TJ and his boys got fried, and it didn't look comfortable--the rest of us smart people reapplied throughout the day. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Nick sliced open his foot between two toes on the side of the boat---he by far had the most battle wounds of anyone this trip.

We had such a great trip and are even more excited for Lake Powell Houseboat trip next month with everyone again. Here are a few pics although we didn't take too many, we were too busy playing in the water and having fun.

The rock formation that gave Temple Bar its name

Me up on the wake board

Nick and I--not the greatest picture, but the only one we took

Nick getting some air--probably the jump that took half of his tooth!

Trying to stay cool on our rafts

Michelle and I on the boat

4th of July Fun!

Happy 4th of July!! What a fun day we had. Nick and I decided that we would head to Sunsplash waterpark for the day. We haven't really done too much outside this summer yet, so what better day to do it then on the 4th. We got there early enough to hit up all the slides before it got to busy, and then spent the afternoon in the wave pool and lazy river. We sure got some sun (in Nick's case that is an understatement-I might have forgot to put sunscreen on his lower back..oops!).

We thought we would have a low key night, but then our friend's Garrett and Tara called and wanted to play. So we went to Waldo's BBQ for dinner--so good!!! Then we took the light rail to Tempe Town Lake to watch the firework show with everyone else in AZ. It sure was busy down there--and hot--ugh-something about it being 11pm and a 104 degrees out in a mass of people that just isn't very appealing to me anymore. In case you haven't been on the light rail yet to get anywhere downtown-you need to take it! It is so nice to not have to deal with the traffic and parking.

We had a great, long, and HOT day! We are grateful for the freedoms we have and for those that serve our country. God Bless the USA!

Nick and I at Waldo's BBQUs on the light rail headed to Tempe
Waiting and sweating for the fireworks to start
Tara and Garrett
Fireworks

The Denver Details!

As fun as our trip to Denver was I was dreading writing this post because I knew it would be so hard to pick out pictures because we had way too many good ones. Three of our good friends-TJ, Michelle, and Paul-live in Denver. Since I had several days off work and Nick had a little break from summer school we knew we needed to make a trip. We went to Red Rocks Amphitheater, hiking in Estes Park, mountain biking in Winter Park, shopping in Boulder and downtown Denver, swimming, and played horse at the neighborhood park with TJ boys Brandon and Mason (which I am happy to report that I won both games)! We had such a great time, and already have decided that this needs to be an annual trip!

16th St. Mall-Downtown Denver

Michelle and I at Red Rocks Amphitheater

Nick and I at Red Rocks Amphitheater

Us at a delicious icecream parlor

Shopping at 16th St. Mall

TJ and Nick=Man Love in Estes Park

The Boys hiking in Estes Park, CO

Us hiking to Alberta Falls

Jen and Nick-almost to the top of the falls

Us at Grand Lake, CO

Nick, Jen, Michelle, TJ

We drove across the Continental Divide

Lots of Elk on the drive across Colorado

Nick and Jen at the WinterPark Resort

Trying to get these helmets on!

Frazier River Trail-WinterPark, CO

Mountain Biking

A Denver Sneak Peak....

Just got back from Denver on Sunday night and have been way too busy to blog about our fabulous trip to see our friends TJ and Michelle. Here is a sneak peak of Michelle and I. We all had such a blast, and it made me realize just how much I miss Michelle not living here in AZ anymore. More to come...

Baby Shower for Bethanie and Baby Girl!

Congrats to Bethanie and Greg Romney! Baby girl (I am pretty sure they haven't decided on a name yet) is going to make an appearance next month!! I am so excited for her! My excitement is shared with 2 other very close friends-Heather and Rochelle. The four of us (Heather, Ro, Beth and I) were all college roommates, and are so grateful that we can share big and important events in each other lives. We decided a group gift was in order so we could get Bethanie something she really wanted. So an Ergobaby carrier was in order! Here she is modeling it below. I also had my friend, Mallory, make Bethanie a baby wipe holder. It turned out SO cute and I must say it was the hit gift at the shower! Love you Bethanie!! I can't wait to meet your cute little girl very soon!

I Love My Daddy-Happy Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!! I love my daddy! He has done so much in his life, but mostly I think about how much he has done for me! I think we can all look back once we get older and realized what our parents have done for us. When my parents had all four of us kids my dad decided to go back to school. I think my mom thought he was crazy when he told her that he was going to leave his construction company behind in Phoenix, AZ and move us all to to College Station, TX so he could get a doctorate in Entrepreneurship. First, we all had to ask what did that long word mean!! Off to Texas we went, and somehow for those four long years that my dad was in school-my parents made it work. My two brothers were in charge (who were just barely teenagers themselves) and my sister and I survived!

When school was over we moved to SC and then on to CA where my dad worked for different universities, but it was my junior year that my dad went to Sweden to work at an International Business School. He was gone quite a bit that year, but that is what jump started his career I guess you could say. The next year we moved to Louisville, where my Dad was hired to start up the PhD program in Entrepreneurship from the ground up. Nine years later it has been a HUGE success, and my parents plan on staying there for long haul. Recently dad has been named the eighth most-prolific researcher in the world and fifth in the United States in a study ranking top entrepreneurship researchers. Congrats! That proves that brains are in my gene pool!!!

Besides all the smarts that my dad has, he has been such a big support to me. I am thankful that my parents have supported me in all that I have done. They have always emphasized education (of course) and helped put me through college to ensure that I only had school to worry about. It was my sophomore year in college that Dad called me up and said, "You need to pick a major-and stop wasting your time, but most importantly our money!" Next thing I knew I was in hygiene school and graduating.

Now days my dad is a phone call away for sound advice. Whether I need advice on real estate, cars, money, or who to pick in my march madness brackets--he is there. I love you daddy!!