Happy Holidays!

Ashley and I decided to head downtown Denver last night and take a look at the awesome light display on the City and County of Denver Building. Check it out!




The large pillars remind me of the Tom Green County Courthouse back in San Angelo. It looks so cool all lit up.







The stairs were constantly changing colors, and I liked these colors the best.




Even Santa had to stop and take a look at the beautiful light display.




A steady crowd of people came to check out the display. We'll definitely go check it out again next year.




I leave to go back to California for the holidays tomorrow and Ashley will be joining me on next Thursday. I did get the job offer from the Boulder Police Department and I'm really excited to start that job on January 11th.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season! See you in 2010!

Thanksgiving weekend in Michigan

For as long as Ashley and I have been together, we have always gone to see part of her family in Fenton, Michigan, about 45 minutes north of Detroit. We left Denver on Wednesday morning on a nonstop flight on Frontier. Frontier Air Lines is cool because they have DirecTV on their planes, as well as cool animals on the tails of the aircraft.




Thanksgiving day was really awesome. I helped Ash's Uncle John deep-fry one of the three turkeys we had at dinner. A bunch of family and friends came over to Ash's step-mom Amy's house, who is always a great host to the annual get-together. I was too busy having a good time catching up with everyone to take any pics...next year I will!

On Friday Ashley and I took her little brother Jake and little sister Casey to this place called BounceU down in Brighton. It's a place to take kids where they can climb and bounce all over these huge air-blown bounce houses and various other things kids love. We all had a great time.






Although it was "technically" against the rules, Jake thought it would be cool to do a somersault down one of the slides....oh to be young again!




We spent a good two hours at BounceU and I'm not ashamed to say I was more wiped out than the kids were when it was time to leave.




(A little side story...we asked Jake where he wanted to go get lunch and he said "pizza". So we went to Pizza Hut near his house. We sit down and ask Jake what kind of pizza he wanted and he says, "I want chicken fingers." haha good thing we were at a Pizza Hut/Wing Street where we could get him what he wanted.)

Saturday morning Ashley, Amy, and I took the kids to a cider mill near Fenton. The kids quickly found a playground where Jake enjoyed the rope swing.







Ash helped her sister go for a ride on the rope swing as well.




At one point Jake thought it might be fun to ride on my back while I rode on the rope swing...




We always enjoy coming to see Jake and Casey when we go out to Michigan. They are such great kids.




On Sunday Ashley's Aunt Mary and step-mom Amy planned to throw her a bridal shower at Amy's house. So Ash's Uncle John and I took Jake to the Detroit Zoo for the day. On our way down, John pointed out to me a huge Ford factory that had recently shut down. He didn't think that it would ever re-open. The zoo, for a Sunday, was not very crowded at all. Jake posed near every animal he could find. He must have known that I'm a University of Texas football fan because he threw his horns up for this photo.




Cool Croc!




Even animals gotta eat! This one decided to eat some grass.







One of the coolest parts of the Detroit Zoo was the Australian Outback Adventure. Inside this gated area, there are probably 15-20 kangaroos running free, with no cages. There is a main walkway through the exhibit, and if a kangaroo comes near you you're supposed to stand still until it moves away. But all three of us though it was really cool how they got so close!




After picking up some food we made it back to the tail-end of Ash's party and I got to quickly catch up with her college friends (from left) Tiffany, Linde, and Courtney.







So after a long weekend it was time to go. We first want to thank Ashley's step-mom Amy for always opening up her home to us to allow us to stay there for the weekend. We always have a great time with her family and friends.







I have always been a huge fan of the University of Michigan football, so we always have to make a pit-stop in Ann Arbor on the way back to the airport to check out the Big House. Back in 2003 Ash and I went to the Michigan/Ohio State game where they set the record for attendance with 112,118.





Every sports fan has to go to a game at the Big House at least once in their life. It's something unforgettable to see. Construction to the Big House has been ongoing for several years and a new press box and luxury suites are two very noticeable changes you can see on either side of the field.




This is the ramp that the home and away teams take to get down to the field.




After grabbing a quick lunch in downtown Ann Arbor at Good Time Charley's, it was time to head back. Ann Arbor is such a beautiful college town. Especially when the leaves have recently changed.




We are already looking forward to our next trip to Michigan. Thanks again to everyone for such a great trip!

Dowtown Denver Library

One thing I really enjoy is reading books. For Christmas in 2007 Ashley gave me a journal to write about all the books I read. It's a great way to keep track of what books I've read and how many I've read in that particular year. In 2008 I read 24 books. I have crushed that number so far this year. I've read 28 so far. My favorite authors lately have been Michael Connelly (no realtion, unfortunately), Robert Crais, and I recently stumbled upon another author I like James Patterson. Currently I'm reading a series called "The Women's Murder Club", which is a series about a woman who is a Lieutenant in the San Francisco Police Department. I think I really like this series because it takes place back near my hometown and it's really easy to follow the different locations throughout the book. So I went to the downtown library for the first time, and it was really cool. I had to park in this parking structure near the Civic Center Cultural Complex, which includes not only the library but the Denver Art Museum and the Colorado History Museum. I was very impressed with the way the Denever Art Museum was built. It looks so cool!



The odd-shaped building immediately made me think about the downtown Seattle library, which Ashley and I visited in 2004.




While walking to the library, I came across these guys washing the windows on this really tall building. Having lived in San Angelo for almost three years, where there aren't any really tall buildings, it was really cool to see these guys. Not the job for the faint-of-heart, though!




I thought the library was really cool. It's very tall and very modern looking. For a weekday, it was very crowded.







Ashley and I leave tomorrow to head to Fenton, Michigan for our annual trip there for Thanksgiving. It's always a great time because we get to see some of her family, including her little brother Jake and little sister Casey. We'll post some pics of our trip when we get back. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

First Major Denver Snowstorm

WOW! That pretty much sums today up. We woke up and saw a TON of snow on the ground. We have had about three or four previous snow days, but this time it was sticking to the ground and the streets had to be constantly plowed today.





Ashley and I had to use our new ice scrapers to clean off our cars. It wasn't too bad though because it was just snow and not ice on the windshield.





Ashley's truck filled up almost completely with snow. We tried to clean it out but by the time we got back from errands, it was pretty full again.





After we cleaned our cars, we headed out to run errands.





My car was covered by the overnight snow. It has been snowing non-stop all day long.





The City of Denver workers were busy plowing all streets around the city.








I took Cali to a nearby park to play in the snow. I came across this park bench that was covered in snow.





This is Cali's first time in the snow. She really likes to run around and chase her frisbee but she also loves to eat the snow! Someone needs to tell her that eating snow will actually make her more thirsty!








The snow continued through the evening and is supposed to continue all day Thursday.





This is the first video I've tried to upload to the blog. I know it's not awesome but at least it shows the snow all over the ground!





I had to stop and fill up some gas, and saw that the snowfall looked really cool against the street light.


So a little update on our lives: Ashley got a job with Adams County. Her first day is next Monday. She will be responsible for interviewing prospective foster parents in Adams County. It's a different job than she had in San Angelo, so she is excited for the new challenge. As for me, I had an interview at the Boulder Police Department for a Records Specialist position. The first part of the interview was basically a pre-employment interview where they just ask basic questions and then I had to take a 80 question computer multiple choice test. Then they emailed me today asking me to come back next Wednesday for an oral board interview, where I will be in front of 3 to 4 people firing questions at me. There are two positions and at least three people interviewing. The job sounds really fun. There will be a good amount of assisting officers and detectives with their investigations, something that really interests me. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things go well next week.

I do miss photography. I can definitely tell from my photos these days that I'm rusty. Part of me is sad to put a photo job in the rear-view mirror, but who knows what the future holds.

We haven't really planned too much of our wedding yet. It's hard because we really want to get married in California but we don't really have any opportunities to go try to find some places. Hopefully during the Christmas trip we are planning back home, we can find some time to pick a spot. We are hoping to have a wedding in the Fall of 2010. But it all depends on if the spot we like is available.

Another round of snow on Thursday!!!

Birthday Trip South to Colorado Springs

I had my 31st birthday yesterday, and Ashley and I took a day trip down to Colorado Springs. It was a quick hour trip down. Before I left San Angelo, a former co-worker at the San Angelo Standard-Times named Paul Harris, who used to freelance at the Colorado Springs Gazette, had been telling me we had to go eat breakfast at The Omlette Parlor. So we got there and read about the history of the restaurant. Apparently it used to be someone's house way back when, and has been a restaurant for decades. It was an awesome local place to eat.







I like how it says "probably" and then it's crossed out, claiming to have THE best omlettes in the West.





It was my birthday so I had to absolutely CRUSH my breakfast...two pancakes as big as my head!





After breakfast we drove to see the building that houses the Colorado Springs Gazette. Since working at the Standard-Times, I always find it fun to see what other newspaper buildings look like. This building in Colorado Springs looks a lot bigger than the San Angelo paper. The scenery with the mountains as a backdrop is always a plus.






We decided to check out the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo after stopping by the paper. Ashley and I love going to zoos. We thought that the Denver Zoo was so cool, but after spending the day at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, we may have to re-think which zoo we like better. The zoo is built at the base of a huge mountain, so a lot of the exhibits incorporate the natural habitat of the mountain. First stop was the giraffe area. We couldn't believe how many there were and how close they got to you. for a dollar you could get three crackers to feed them.








I can't believe how long their tongues are!





Close up of a furry mouth.





Oh how we love the "hold the camera up ourselves and take the photo".





The zoo was on a huge mountain so it allowed for gorgeous vistas. This was taken on the way to see the tiger exhibit.





A family rides the air tram down to the bottom of the zoo. The changing colors of the season are clearly evident in the background.





Oftentimes when we go to a zoo it's a 50/50 chance that the animals are actually doing anything or just laying down. Luckily when we went to see the tigers, one was swimming and the other was walking around.








So cool to see the tiger playing around, at one point trying to eat a branch on tree.





Intense stare of the tiger.





Leaving the tiger exhibit we walked to the grizzly bear exhibit. There were two and they were wrestling. It was really cool because the viewing glass was right where they were playing in the water.











Another pic of the two of us taken by one of us.





A goat was standing on this steep pile of rocks.








We walked in to the hippo exhibit at the perfect time because the worker there was about to feed them. He held out a head of cabbage while the two hippos were in the water. Within 20 seconds, they smelled the food and came up into the cage. The worker gave a head of cabbage to two kids, each getting to toss it into the mouth of the two hippos. Both made it in and the hippos chomped the cabbage and the whole thing was gone in under a minute. It was so cool to see!





As you might imagine, I totally loved hanging out with the giraffes, so before we left, we made one last stop back at their exhibit. Some of them were sprinting around and it was very interesting to see how such large animals can still move quickly.





I made a new friend while in Colorado Springs. We'll probably hang out again soon.




Ashley took the camera and came up with this creative picture of the giraffe's feet.





The wildlife wasn't restricted to the inside of the zoo. Several deer were hunting for food amongst the trees in the parking lot of the zoo. Very cool to be able to get this close!



Had a great birthday trip to Colorado Springs! Looking forward to our next trip!