Laney's Birthday!

Laney officially turned 1 year old on September 1st! Is that her actual birthday? We have no idea, but it's probably close to when she was born. We decided to make the weekend all about Laney and try to do all her favorite activities. On Saturday we took her hiking to Mt. Quandary Peak (which she loved!), we put a little shredded cheese in her food, let her sleep on the bed and to wrap up the weekend she had a little birthday party with Wrinkles, complete with cake and gifts! Yes, we admit it's a little over the top, but we love our little Laney!

The cake box from Wag N' Wash- the staff signed it

Peanut butter flavored cake

Birthday presents! (so spoiled!!!)

Sharing cake with Wrinkles

Stealing cake from Wrinkles

Where did my cake go??

Happy 1st Birthday, Laney! We look forward to celebrating many more!

Mt. Quandary

It has been a few weeks since I've posted anything, but we've been busy! This past weekend one of my best friends, Megan, came to visit. The weekend before Craig and I climbed Mt. Quandary and celebrated Laney's birthday!

There are 88 mountain peaks in the US that are 14,000 feet or higher above sea level and there are 53 located in the state of Colorado! Craig has climbed about 3-4 fourteeners since moving to CO and it became a goal of mine to climb at least one (if not more). Two weekends ago I was able to cross it off the list! Mt. Quandary is one of the most accessible fourteeners in the state because the trail head is accessible from the road and the hiking distance is short. It's about a Class 1 in hiking difficulty, which means you don't need any technical climbing skills. The total round trip distance is a little over 6 miles, which means you're gaining a lot of elevation in a short distance...basically you're just walking uphill. The first two miles of the hike were pretty easy, but once you get out of the timberline the trail becomes very rocky. The last 1/2 mile of the trail was straight uphill and super rocky! But we all made it...even Laney! Laney had the most energy out of the three of us.

View on our way up...amazing! And rocky!

Craig at the top

Geo Marker at the peak

Tired Laney after the hike

The food we ate after the hike...well deserved!

Mt. Quandary was a challenging hike even though it was a Class 1, but we definitely plan on hiking more fourteeners before we leave the great state of Colorado!

We Remember 9/11

It's hard to believe that the horrific tragedy now known as 9/11 was eleven years ago. I still remember exactly where I was when it happened. I was a senior in high school and I was walking into Mr. Markovitch's Pop Culture class. On a normal day, we would've watched a movie that had some kind of pop culture significance in the 1960s, but on that day we watched the twin towers of the World Trade Center fall to the ground. I literally watched the second plane crash into the second tower and could not believe my eyes.
Craig was a sophomore in high school and in a Sports Media class (I swear we're both fairly intelligent people that took actual classes in HS too). He saw the second plane hit the second tower live on TV as well.

We remember the innocent lives lost during that day and the families that continue to be affected by the aftermath. We remember the soldiers that have lost their lives fighting and the soldiers that continue to fight and serve today.

Colorado State Fair

Last Saturday Craig and I visited the Colorado State Fair. I am a huge fan of fairs (more specifically, fair food). The first experience I had with a state fair was the Del Mar Fair in San Diego and more recently I visited the Wyoming County Fair in northern PA with my best friend Jackie. There's just something about the combination of farm animals, carnival rides and incredibly unhealthy food that make for an amazing experience! The Colorado State Fair was a lot of fun! Tons of animals and food stands everywhere. We were a little disappointed with the carnival ride selection, but the tilt-a-whirl guy let us ride for the price of one and let us stay on for two rounds!

Yummy Fair Food!

Giant Corn Dog

Petting Zoo!

Sweet little doe

What are you looking at?

Shy turtle

Baby zebra

Kangaroo

Nascar Craig!

We caught a wild animal show....this guy was pretty crazy, but the tiger was beautiful!

Another beautiful tiger!

The infamous bunny cow :)

Glad we had the chance to experience the Colorado State Fair! The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed eating our way around the fair: corn dogs, lemonade, fresh roasted corn and ice cream!