Family Fun in Denver

We did a lot of family things together while Craig and I were in Denver. This blog entry is of random photos of the various activities and fun.

Craig and Trinity play a states game at the dining room table.

Trin works on shuffling the cards.

Prior to going to the temple, we went to Cafe Rio for lunch!

I had the chicken enchilada - delicious!

Guess who just spent five days at Scout Camp and got some new patches and badges?

JC! Way to go, buddy!

Since we were in Denver, I got to cross off an item on my bucket list - visiting Alameda East Veterinarian Hospital - site of the TV show Emergency Vets on Animal Planet.

That show was on three times a day when I was recovering from my hip replacement surgery, and I watched all three episodes daily. It is one of my all-time favorite TV shows.

I had planned to just drive by the building, but Sarah insisted I get out of the car so she could take my picture. I am glad she did - the scene is so familiar and straight off the show! (Er, with the exception of me in it...)

JC helped Boompa grill during Groompa Camp and he grilled during our visit to Denver, too. He made the BEST grilled sausages and hotdogs for our hotdog bar. Yummy!

More games - this time, we are playing Life.

Our Monopoly game went two days with Craig eventually winning.

Sarah has framed an old recipe from my mother and hung it in her kitchen. It made me smile to see it hanging there. My mother's cursive is so beautiful!

Bailey loves her naps. 

Inside and out!

They have a lovely neighborhood pool which is heated. Craig swims with JC and Trinity in this picture.

The kids with me in the pool.

After our swim on Monday, Todd took us to brunch at a local diner called Thee Little Griddles.

The omelette was terrific!

We saw a movie and then went to Montana Ted's for buffalo burgers.

Ted Turner is one of the biggest landowners in the United States and is known for his efforts to preserve the buffalo herds of the west. He also markets them in his restaurant.

(Although, technically, I should say "bison," not buffalo.)

The food was terrific, but I have to admit, I could not taste any difference between buffalo/bison and beef. (Hey, at least it didn't taste like chicken!!)

It had been a busy day, but the girls were not done yet.

Continuing a tradition begun by my mother with my own kids, we went back to school shopping. Years ago, it was a highlight of the year for us all, and we were so thankful for the new clothes. Now, I do the same with my grandchildren (or send their parents money earmarked for school clothes.)

Tuesday morning, Craig and I were up early to begin the long drive home. Eastern Colorado is so desolate and you can see for miles. We watched this storm rolling across the plains for over an hour.

We arrived home at 1:30 Wednesday morning and promptly fell into bed. It took me most of that day and part of the next to acclimate to the time change (two hours difference between Indiana and Colorado) and catch up on my sleep.

And now, time to get ready to go back to school! Summer is just about over - at least, the vacation part of it.

Sarah's Home - The Main Floor

Sarah and Todd have a lovely home in Denver.

It's deceptive, space-wise. For example, it looks like a two garage home, but there is actually a third bay inside.

Here's a tour of the main floor.

 The entry hall.

The home has a wonderful open floor plan that adds to the spacious feeling.

 Looking from the kitchen into the dining and living rooms.

 The kitchen has a bump out window (like our home) and an island. The countertops are granite.

 The living room and dining room with the kitchen in the back and the entry way on the right.

 Craig enjoys the love seat in the living room.

 There's a gas fireplace and a TV nook, both with cutout alcoves above them.

I love the staircase. There are three bedrooms upstairs, a bathroom, and a large family room. The master bedroom with a spa bathroom and another half bath are on the main floor. The closed door on the right is the door to the master suite.

 The laundry nook is off the hallway that leads out to the garage.

The back yard is smaller than the one they had in Iowa. Still, it's pretty and peaceful with room for Bailey to safely be outside in nice weather.

There's a large covered porch where the grill and outdoor patio furniture is.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures of the upstairs and basement before we go home.

My NFL Team

Seen yesterday in Mile High Stadium on a Peyton Manning fan's tee shirt:

A Colt is just a baby Bronco.

Too funny!

That, and attending a scrimmage of the Denver Broncos, helped me make my final decision - my new NFL team is the Denver Broncos! (I am getting into football so much that I even asked Andrew to include me in the annual family fantasy football league.)

Yesterday we drove to downtown Denver to watch the summer scrimmage the team was holding. It was free and open to the public.

I'd brought an orange tee with me, but Trinity lent credence to my attire by loaning me her Bronco necklace. (She had some nifty earrings - gotta get some for me!)

I have a LOT of learning to do about the team, and so attending this scrimmage was a big help in that. I got a team roster with team stats and information about the players, and I used that throughout the scrimmage.

I was a bit distracted by this:

No, not the close-up of the player (that's #17, Brock Esweiler, QB); I was distracted by what's on top of the Jumbotron. That's Bucky, and he is HUGE! Sarah says he is modeled after Roy Rogers' horse, Trigger, and that there is quite a story about the statue. Something to look up later.

The team came out and began warming up.  

Much of the focus by the crowd was on Peyton Manning. At 38 he's the "old man" on the team - there was only one other player listed as being in his 30s!

The scrimmage began with some 7 on 7, and then the cheerleaders came out on the field and danced.

Trinity and I both wondered why they were wearing long sleeves in the heat and sun. Kind of odd to cover up your arms when the rest of your body is quite exposed.

I was hoping The Girl on the Horse would make an appearance, but she wasn't there. We did, however, get to do the wave!

 It's coming, and Trinity and I are READY. (She to jump up, me to film it.)

 And uuuuuppppp we go!

Bronchos!!

 Watching the wave move around the stadium after it passed us.

It went around four times and finally died.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... (haha)

 Craig and Sarah were intently watching the action on the field. They're true football fans.

An hour later, the scrimmage was over. Denver beat the Broncos 14-7. (Guess which side Peyton Manning played on?) We waited in the stands (in the shade!) while JC joined the throng hanging over the sides of the stadium and hoping for an autograph. He was lucky enough to get one on a pennant he'd brought, although I am not sure who it was that signed it.

When he returned to us, we walked around the stadium to see the statues that are in place to celebrate the team and the wild west history of the area.

 Lots of folks wanted their picture taken with the big rearing horse. Not me.

I preferred the herd that was galloping up the hill behind it, along with the fountain and waterfall.

Me, Trinity, and JC.

Due to the crowd, we couldn't get an ideal spot for taking our pictures, but this one is fine anyway.

Such an enjoyable morning! And it really helped me decide just who my team would be. I am looking forward to following them. (Exhibition game with Seattle this Thursday evening - hope it's broadcast in Indiana so I can watch it!)

The Denver Temple

There are lots of good things in life. One of the best of them?  Attending the temple with your adult children. Temples are the highest form of worship on earth, and to be in the temple with your child, knowing that they value the gospel and live their lives so that they are temple worthy, a parent could not hope for more.

Yesterday we attended the Denver Temple with Sarah.

 Sarah and me.

Craig and Sarah.

Going to the temple with one of my children often makes me think of our wedding, just the two of us. As Kyle said once when he was with Craig and me at the Washington, DC temple, "This is where our family began."

True!!

We love you, Sarah, and are glad you're part of our eternal family.

Indiana Isenbarger and the Lost Billy Shelves

Just call me an IKEA newbie.

On second thought, just call me clueless.

Because I was.

How could I know? The closest IKEA is in Chicago, and I avoid that city like the plague. So, knowing Denver had one fairly close to Sarah, and needing extra shelves for an IKEA bookcase I'd gotten from a friend, we decided to drop by Friday morning before going to the temple.

I blithely thought I could walk into the store, grab my shelves, pay, and leave.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Boy, was THAT a silly idea!

My first clue that my run-in/run-out shopping trip might be a bit more complicated than I'd planned was when we pulled up to the store.

 It was gigantic, with a TWO STORY parking garage underneath it!

Which meant you had to use a system of elevators and escalators to get into the building (after carefully noting your parking space; we were P2B.)

And once you're in there, you have to read a map posted on a huge pillar to find out a) where you are, and b) where you want to go. (Not that I knew the answer to either of those questions even after reading the map.)

A deceptively SIMPLE map. There were shortcuts on some of the maps posted around the building. We quickly learned NOT to try those.

All I wanted was to find the stoopid Billy Shelves and their extra shelves!

After stumbling around lost, dodging hip looking shoppers (many pushing one- and two-baby strollers), family groups, older couples, and the like (all of whom looked like they knew where THEY were going)  and consulting several employees in yellow shirts and head sets who were striding purposefully around the showroom, we found one who looked my shelves up on the computer, printed out an order form, and told me to go to the warehouse (I thought that was where I was; turned out I was in the showroom) and go to Aisle A Bin 4 and my shelves would be there.

Okay, know that scene in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark where the ark of the covenant is stored in a giant warehouse full of anonymous boxes and crates? It goes on and on and on...

 Scene of the warehouse from the movie.

Well, the IKEA warehouse looked sort of like that, only with more of the hip-looking folks in yellow shirts and headsets. One had to direct us to our aisle; we were savvy enough to take it from there. The bin had a bunch of the shelves (and their hardware - I'd been concerned that I might have to make another jaunt back to the showroom) and we grabbed what we'd come for.

I felt like clutching them to my chest and never letting go, lest I have to go through that shopping process again.

Okay. We'd tackled the parking garage, the showroom, and the warehouse. Now, where in the world was check out??

Yet another yellowshirtedheadsettedhipster pointed out the way, and we were confronted with the last hurdle in my quest to buy two, count 'em, TWO stinkin' 14" shelves.

Checkout. With a million lines and people pushing dollies and flatbeds of merchandise waiting to pay for their purchases.

Luckily, we came out of the warehouse right by the "15 Items or Less" line, and got right through. Not sure if that counts as a tender mercy, but I'll take it.

Then we wandered out onto an expanse of concrete where Sarah met us, guided us back through the maze of elevators, stairs, and escalators, and helped us find our car in the underground garage despite the fact that she wasn't a yellowedshirtedheadsettedhipster. She was a welcome sight, nonetheless.

Indiana Jones, you ain't got nothing on me. Just try finding something in IKEA yourself!

Summer's Last Huzzah!

I go back to work on August 11, so as a last huzzah for the summer, Craig and I took a road trip to Denver, Colorado to visit Sarah and her family.

We went through Champaign and picked up 72, following that across the state.

Needing gas, we stopped in the middle of nowhere past Jacksonville, Illinois. As a joke, I sent this picture to my kids, letting them know we were back in their home state.

This engendered some snappy comments by them that made me smile - my kids are all blessed with their father's quick wit and sense of humor!

Then we crossed into Missouri and drove across the top of the state.

 I sent this picture to Jessica and got a quick message back - Kyle had snapped the same sign when he and his family were traveling back home from Utah!

We were also close to some church history sites. This sign made me feel a pang of sadness - I have visited Liberty Jail and the conditions in which Joseph Smith was held were awful.

Seventeen hours after leaving West Lafayette, Craig and I rolled up to Sarah's home, tired and stiff, but happy to have made the trip.

Her home is absolutely lovely. (This picture was taken the next morning as we had arrived at midnight EDT/10:00 MDT and it was pitch dark.)

Next up? A "quick" run-in to IKEA and attending the Denver Temple.