The Holiday Week

This week has been different from normal, and it has thrown me off completely. 

I'm going to back up JUST A LITTLE BIT, though, and go to last weekend. I started receiving several orders from my Etsy shop (Christmas gifts, I assume), so I'm feeling overwhelmed there, but it's also a great feeling. It was wonderful working on those orders in the sunlight of my home with my two fur-babies. 

Gilligan always has to be near me - even to help me make magnets!

At least Stormy stays away and lounges in the window... in awkward positions.

On Saturday, I drove over an hour away all by myself to see a movie that was out on limited release. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is one of my favorite books, so I headed to a suburb of Denver to see it, and it was INCREDIBLE. Seriously, guys. IT is definitely the best book-to-movie adaptation EVER. Read the book. Go see the movie. Just do it. 

After the movie, I headed to Denver International Airport to pick up Dan. He had been in California at Edwards AFB for one of his classes, and he had a BLAST out there! We stayed in a hotel in Denver that night and headed to Winter Park to hit the slopes with a friend all day Sunday. Skiing was amazing, and the mountains were beautiful, as always.

I had to work on Monday and Tuesday, which is unusual for Thanksgiving week, but it was fun because Dan came in and did physics experiments with my students during their science class, and I got to help out with that. They had a BLAST and paid SUCH good attention to him. It was incredible. I took a ton of pictures, but I can't show their faces, so I'll leave you with this one of three of my rowdy boys completely engaged with what Dan was telling them.

On Tuesday, as soon as school was out, we left to head to Missouri to see my family in Kansas City for the holidays. We always take the cats with us when we drive, but we normally drive all the way through at once. This time, we couldn't leave until close to 5:00PM, so we had to stop in a hotel for the night. Because of this, Gilligan and Stormy got to stay in a hotel room for the very first time. They were skeptical, but I don't think they minded it too much. 

We spent Wednesday and Thursday hanging out with and talking to my family. Thanksgiving was fun, and we are hanging out with some friends tonight. Having five days away from work is nice, but I am ready (already) to get back into my routine. I'm such a creature of habit. Winter break will definitely throw me off this year, as it is two weeks long, and we will be flying to two different places during it. 

Stormy hid from us, of course, but Happy Thanksgiving from us to you. 

Busy Summer

This summer has been crazy busy so far.

School got out, and I attended the Air Force Academy Ring Dance that weekend. We rented a house in Breckenridge with friends and had a blast.

Then, our friends Lucy and Simon visited us all the way from England. We did all the typical Colorado tourist attractions, and we drove to the Grand Canyon and to Las Vegas for some fun with them.

Dan left for his time working at a Boy Scout camp, and Lucy and Simon headed back to the UK... and I had one lazy week around the house.

And then I drove home to Kansas City, where I am right now. I'm spending time with my family and seeing some friends. It's been fun so far, but my drive was not so normal.

You see, it's usually bright and sunny for the entire ten hour drive... kind of boring, right? This time, I drove through an INTENSE storm before I even got out of Colorado. We needed the rain for sure, but this was eerie.

these clouds were SO dark!

I had never seen anything like this before, even growing up in tornado alley in Missouri. This was SO cool, and I couldn't stop looking at it. Have I mentioned that I *LOVE* severe weather? I really do. I'm such a geek. 

I'm having fun here, but I can't wait to see my handsome fiancé in about a week and a half! He is already half way done with his time in New Mexico, and I'm ready to have him back!