So, if you have never heard of Groupon you really should check out the website. Brett and I follow about 3 different "deals" websites but Groupon has been my favorite. Today, I participated in a very useful Groupon that I purchased.

For $49 I got to attend a $125 dollar photography class with Chimpsy Photography School here in Denver. It was a 2 hour class where we learned about the basics of our DSLR cameras! I did it with a girlfriend here and it was a lot of fun. Plus, we learned a lot! I had been using all the settings and techniques that we practiced but I learned some extra very important skills as well. The owner, Mike Cafiero, is a wedding photographer as well as teacher. He was very helpful, patient and very clear in his explanations! Here are some photos from our practice!

Utilizing the cool buildings in Denver

Denver has some great architecture

Practice blurring the background

Capturing details

Focusing on something and blurring the background

The great thing about Groupon is that they send you a daily email with the deals so you don't have to bother remembering going to their website everyday! It is also a great way to try something new for a great value! I already signed up for the second class in the series at Chimpsy, so I am excited to see what I can learn!

Thanks for reading!

Good Morning from Denver,

As I am sitting watching the news on Saturday morning the weatherman is telling me that the weather is changing. It was 68 degree yesterday however Monday is expected to be much colder and Tuesday even more. They are using the term frigid for Tuesday and the likelihood of not even getting above 0 degrees. Time to get out the big guns (jackets, gloves, Pete's jacket and our boots)

Playing with Pete at the park!

Along with the exciting weather Brett and I have been having a great winter in Denver! Brett started another rotation for clinicals and this time he is at Children's Hospital in Aurora. He is learning so much and no doubt making every day in the hospital better for the sick children. He also participated for a day in the cardiac clinic which he said was interesting and rewarding! He is doing amazingly well in school and as far as I can tell loving every minute of it! It is hard to believe he only has 3 months left! He also has great things to say about Children's Hospital. It is very nice, new, clean and bright! All the rooms are painted happy colors and there are lots of room with toys and things for the kids to do while there!

The Hat Tree- children in the cancer center can pick out a handmade donated hat before they leave the hospital!

Two of Brett's classmates, April and Elizabeth. April's new puppy Daphne and Elizabeth's new baby Jack! This may have been Brett's study group that day- never a dull moment!

I on the other hand have been doing the same grind since we got here. I am still working at Jones International University, fighting traffic and helping students get an education. It is a great job, for now, and I am thankful to have met some wonderful friends there and gained a lot of experience. In my free time I have been cooking, A LOT, hanging out with Pete (he walked 2.68 miles the other day!) and making our little basement apartment as much of a home as I can.

Brett and I have been doing lots of discussing about our future and what is next. We always seem to start the conversation with, "So, what are we going to do with our lives next?" and the conversation ends with a lot of ideas and exciting thoughts but still no definite ideas....

We celebrated Brett 27th birthday last Wednesday which was a lot of fun! We got to celebrate in the morning with breakfast, had a normal afternoon working but then got to open presents and have dinner with cake in the evening! It was a mellow birthday but still a lot of fun planning, surprising and celebrating.
Brett's Birthday Appetizer before the main course!

All in all everything in Denver is excellent! We are having a great winter, enjoying our new city and trying to take advantage of everything it has to offer. Last night Brett met with at the light rail station, which I rode to work with my bike because of the nice weather, and we went to a super cool little restaurant for happy hour. We had a glass of wine with two very fun appetizers. Bacon, cashew caramel corn and cheese stuffed donuts! We rode our bikes home and enjoyed some leftovers from when Brett made dinner! Yes, Brett made dinner! It was awesome! I was doing bible study with some girls so I would not be home until late so Brett made homemade meat loaf, gravy and salads! It was such a treat and so yummy!!

Thanks for reading and we hope your winter is as great as ours is!
Love,
B and K8

Happy New Year!

A lot has happened since the last post, considering it was before Thanksgiving and now it is well past New Years! Welcome to 2011! I hope your new year is going as well as ours is! Since the last post we have been all over the place and done some great things!

We flew home on December 16th and spent an awesome week with both our families! We got to see all our aunts, uncles, grand parents, brother, sisters, nieces and nephew and even some great friends!. Sorry we missed you Mich. :( We relaxed at home, shopped at the market, Brett went to a Seahawks game and we had a mock Christmas with the Teodoro family. Presents, stockings, food and all! It was a great week.

On December 22nd, Brett parents, my parents and Brett and I all flew out to somewhere different for Christmas. Brett parents went to Okinawa to see Chad, Mich and Olivia. My parents went to Cleveland to welcome Violet Mary Lester to the world (my sisters baby, born on Brett and I's second wedding anniversary, December 20th!!) We flew out to Maui!

Brett and I spend 15 amazing days in Maui relaxing, snorkeling, paddle boarding, sun-bathing, swimming, exploring, eating, driving and playing! It was a great trip and I am already looking forward to the next time we get back there!Brett paddle boarded every night at sunset!

Relaxing at the beach!

We flew home for one night before coming back to Denver on December 7th. We had a nice weekend here before we jumped right back in the routine of school and work. We did, however, get a foot of snow on Sunday night and we have been enjoying the beauty for a full week now! Thankfully no accidents or issues with all the snow and ice.

We had a bit of scare last Tuesday and unfortunately I ended up in the Littleton emergency room. I was having severe chest pains, I could not breath, the pain was also in my lungs and to make it all worse I was grocery shopping. I called Brett as soon as I checked out, crying of course, telling him I was scared and didn't know what to do considering I was 45 minutes or more away from home. He told me to head to the hospital and thankfully used all his knowledge to comfort me and help me while he drove down. He called the hospital to tell them I was on my way and of course he asked all the right questions and got all the info we needed before we left. After being wisked into an ER room, while the loud speaker yelling "chest pains in room 2", I got stripped out my clothes, hooked up to an EKG machine, an IV inserted for pain meds and oxygen up my nose. The Dr. came and discussed my pain and issues with me and sent me for a CAT scan of my lungs and heart and then a chest x-ray. Turns out I have pleurisy which is inflammation in the lining of my lugs and there is also a little fluid in my lungs. They sent me home with some pain meds and I have a follow up with my primary doctor on Wednesday. Wow, does that sound intense, because it was!! While some of you wont believe me I am pretty convinced that I can handle labor now because this pain brought me to instant tears and to my knees multiple times. Not to discount any of you ladies who have been through labor but this hurt bad too! :)

All is pretty much the same in Denver now. We will you all a Happy New Year and a great long weekend!!!

Love,
B and K8

Of course Brett wanted to kite!

We love to cook in Maui because of all the fresh ingredients

Enjoying our drive to Hana

The whales got so close they hit the boat at one point! I happened to be the closest person to them!

Taking Pete home with us!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

While we missed everyone on Thanksgiving we did get to have a nice relaxing holiday with our little family. We headed up the Breckenridge on Thursday morning and played tourists for the day and night. We spent the morning driving up and stopping in all the tiny ski towns, we ate lunch and walked Pete around downtown Breckenridge. We took a tour of the amazing "mountain cabins" in Breck and then stayed the night in Frisco at the Lake Dillion Lodge. It was a great holiday with lots of fun memories! I'm pretty sure this is the first Thanksgiving that either of us have ever eaten Mexican food for Thanksgiving dinner!

The Continental Divide- notice the snow line

Downtown Breckenridge


A "cabin" in Breckenridge

Brett and Pete hanging out!

Walking around in downtown

Lake Dillon

Our family Christmas photo

November In Denver

Life in Denver is always fun! We have been pretty busy but also really enjoying ourselves here.

Currently Brett is at Denver Health doing his mental health clinical rotation. He is really enjoying it despite being gone all weekend. His rotation is Saturday and Sundays 630am to 630pm. However, it does give him Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays off to work on homework, go to the mountain and hang with the dog! He also found out his next clinical rotation will be Saturday and Sundays at Children's Hospital for his pediatric rotation. He has said he is really looking forward to that particular rotation. Considering what a great hospital Children's is hopefully he will get to see a lot and help out a lot as well. All this knowledge he is gaining makes me much more comfortable and it will be so nice when we have a family.

I have been working as usual. We are counting down that days until we head home and to Maui. I made a paper chain with a countdown so we can get excited every day!

Not only are we looking forward to the amazing Maui weather and vacation but we are also excited to see our families and wish each other safe travels over the holidays. My parents are headed to Cleveland to see Amy and Zach. My sister is due to have a baby girl on the 16th of December. Brett's parents are headed to Okinawa to visit Michelle, Chad and Olivia. Scott, Erica and the kids are headed to CA to see Erica's family and we are headed to Maui. Our families will be very spread out this holiday season. I am also looking forward to meeting Brett's cousins new little girl Kaylie!!

Not only has Denver been fun for us but we are guessing that Pete is pretty happy as well! He will be coming home with us on the 15th and staying with Ann, Mike and the Kids. I am positive he is excited to see his old life for a couple weeks. However, I think he is trying to catch some extra sleep because he knows he will be running around a lot in the upcoming weeks!

"This is what I woke up to this morning!"

We had our first bit of snow in Denver. So far it hasn't been anything to write home about but we have a had a dusting here and there. It is always fun when it snows because everything is so quiet and pretty. We thought because of the snow we should also equip Pete with the right gear for our walks!

I have also been trying to get into the wintry spirit by decorating our little basement apartment and cooking some yummy holiday/wintry dishes!

"Roasted butternut squash with rosemary, thyme and onions"

"Pete and Brett showing off the fireplace decorations!"

Halloween

It's Halloween Day and we have already done so much this weekend! I think today will be dedicated to watching football and hanging out with friends. Thankfully it doesn't really feel like fall with the 75 degree weather and sunny skies!

To get the Halloween weekend started, yesterday I ran my first 5k. I ran the Monster Dash with 2 friends from work and it was so much fun! The boys came to support us and cheer us on! Emily and I ran together and we beat our goal time so I feel really good about it. I have already printed off my training guide for a 10k! Lets hope I can get there! The 5k was harder than expected. I think I messed up on the my h2o intake because I was soooo thirsty throughout the race and it was a pretty warm day. Thankfully we train on a lot of hills during our lunch time work runs because this course was considered challenging and it was!

Last night we continued the Halloween celebration by going to a nursing school Halloween party. It was a ton of fun and people really got into it. We had a entrance fee which would then go to the winner of the costumer contest and we also had a spooky themed food table. It was intense but a ton of fun!!!Brett ("1986 Olymic Skiing Champion"-the runner up) and Kember ("Jane Fonda"-the Costumer Contest Winner)

Needless to say the food was so gross no one ended up eating anything...



Jordan and Jeff

Happy Halloween and Fall ya'll!

Fall in Denver

Fall has finally come to Denver and from what we are hearing from others the fall is lasting longer than usual. It is Denver's tradition to snow on Halloween but so far I am not convinced it will be happening this year. For now I am happy with fall lasting awhile longer because of I love the crisp cool air with crystal clear blue skies! I am also loving the fall leaves! Our block has some particularly beautiful trees!

Takin' Pete on a walk!

Fall leaves by our house

A gorgeous tree!

Teo Halloween pumpkins!

Pumpkin Carving party with Brett's friends from school

Awesome produce from the farmer's market! All this for $10

Thanks for reading!