Our first official Snow Storm

Well, we are officially in the middle of our first major snowstorm here in Denver.

This first picture is from about 11am this morning - We had about 8 inches of snow on the back porch.

This was taken about 1:30 this afternoon - I'd say about a foot of snow.

We always enjoy watching Matt's flamingo as it weathers the storm - As of 1:30 this afternoon he was still doing pretty good - Just a little snow covered.

Well, I'd say this evening, he is getting a bit chilly (especially the rear end_. This was taken about 4:30 this evening - I'd guess about 14 inches now.

The forecast is still calling for another 3 - 6 inches tonight and another 2 to 4 inches tomorrow until the storm warning is done at 6pm tomorrow.

We'll keep you updated on the plight of the poor flamingo...

Happy 4th of July

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We had a great long weekend up at the condo.

We had two fantastic nights of fireworks over beautiful Lake Dillon.

On Friday night, we enjoyed a short hike to the marina in Dillon and watched the great show over the amphitheatre. It was a bit crazy and we parked way on the edge of downtown Dillon. Matt planned to try his hand at photographing the fireworks so we choose a quiet bench to watch the display.

On Saturday night, we watched the fireworks that were from the marina in Frisco. As we were driving from the condo to Frisco, we spotted the scenic overlook on I-70 overlooking the lake. We saw a couple of spots and made the U turn at the Frisco exit. We arrived at the overlook about 7pm and found one of the last spots where we could back the truck up and enjoy our dinner of wine & cheese on the tailgate. Have I mentioned that we thought we would be rained out as it rained and was very windy for several hours in the afternoon. Needless to say, after the rain, it was very chilly and by the start of the fireworks at 9:30, we would be bundled up in multiple fleeces, winter hats and several blankets. We had a great view across the lake to the fireworks.



We spent Sunday photographing some columbines near Rainbow Lake in Frisco. I just got a new macro lens to help me photography photos up close (& personal). Here is one unsuspecting model.



Here are some awesome fireworks photos:

Here is a link to more of Matt's photos....

I've spent most of the day creating digital pictures of my 2005 Scrapbook pages. This is actually one album that I've completed so its nice to have a full backup of it electronically so that I can share it.

Blizzard of 2009

I wanted to share a few pictures from the backyard of the aftermath of the blizzard of 09!!!


This is how we opened the backdoor this morning... A foot of actual snow and a couple of feet of drifted snow on the back patio.


















The snow fall was gorgeous (and much needed). Notice the beautiful blue skies that we had just one day after the storm where we could not see across the street.























Poor flamingo... We are guessing a massive amount of snow must of fell from the room on him!!























The start of the shoveling... Yep... Had to start from inside the house as we could not get out the back door.

Still shoveling.... Making some progress....



















Wow... This is heavy snow...























I'm watching you!!!!






















Back on Top of the World...
Or at least on top of the snow pile....

Play Time

I wanted to share another layout I did while we were in McNeil River Sanctuary.

As you can tell, I'm definitely trying to get this trip all done. Here we were watching a couple of sub-adult male grizzlies play through the river. They never took note of us as we crept up on them to take some pictures of their play time.

























Credits:
Based Template by Di Hickman
Fall Frolic Kit by Di Hickman

Here Fishy Fishy

I wanted to share another digital layout I did of our time in McNeil River Sanctuary.

Here we watched as a mother grizzly stood on her hind legs in the McNeil River looking for salmon. She would stand for quite some time and after spotting a fish would take off splashing after it. We'd watch as she would eventually catch a fish and bring it to her cubs where they would fight over it.

Credits:
Template by Di Hickman
Gone Fishing kit by Atomic Cupcake
Photo by Matt
August 16, 2008
McNeil River Sanctuary - Alaska

Camp Foxes

I wanted to share these adorable photos on this layout from McNeil River Sanctuary in Alaska last summer. We had this adorable family of little red foxes that lived between our camp area and the guides cabins (safe from the bears). We would watch them for quite some time as they were quite tame and often had to back away from them to get the camera's to focus on them.



Credites: Fall Frolic Kit by Di Hickman; Based on a Template by Di Hickman; Font: Papyrus

Update...

Wow, its been forever since I've posted here. Lots going on and very busy with work and play!! We've been skiing a couple of times at Loveland and are planning on going Sunday so that I can take a lesson and Matt can try out some new skis.

We have spent a wonderful Thanksgiving in our new mountain condo with Matt's family. We purchased our new condo in October and have been steadily working on it and getting it ready for family visit on Thanksgiving.

Below are a couple of links to some photos of our wonderful new home... We love it!!!

Photos
Link to rental Site

We're back...

Just a quick note that we just got back from our trip to Alaska and it was fantastic... See the link below for some of our favorite pics...

http://picasaweb.google.com/ARShetzer/McNeilRiverSanctuary

You say its your Birthday.... Or at least it was...

I've finally gotten around to posting some great pictures from our Memorial day visit from Ted, Beth & Annie. We had a great time trekking around Denver (of course the obligatory visit to REI). Everyone arrived on Thursday evening and we spent a quiet evening at home resting up for the big weekend ahead.

Here is a link to the full album on our Picasa site...

Friday started out with some shopping (Sorry Ted!!). We dropped Annie off at "The Yarn Store" and she had a blast shopping (of course, I had to buy a couple items for scrapbooking also). Ted, Beth and I headed off to Wal-Mart and Payless for some shopping before we picked Annie back up to head downtown. After a great lunch at Protos pizza (complete with Anchoivies for Annie & Beth), we headed over to REI for a marathon shopping spree (sorry Matt). Everyone was quite tired so we headed home for a bit of rest before going to a great dinner at The Fort in Morrison to celebrate Ted's birthday.

This picture is with his "buffalo" hat!!

On Saturday morning, we climbed in the car and headed South to Canon City for a ride on the Royal Gorge Train. We were treated to beautiful sunny weather as we watched the breathtaking scenery go past.

Here, Ted & Beth relax and enjoy the views....

Annie enjoying the peaceful views...

We drove back to Colorado Springs on and stayed near the Garden of the Gods. We woke on Sunday morning to catch the 8am Pikes Peak train to the summit of Pikes Peak.

Here Annie & Ted wave through the thin COLD air....