Chili Cook Off!

We went to a chili cook off in Loveland at Grimm Brothers Brewery last Saturday. 16 local restraurants competed: catering companies, individuals, etc. I managed to try them all, the last few were small bites. We were so full all day, probably wasn’t the best idea haha.

 

 

schwarzbier(black lager), Grimm Brothers mostly makes German beers. The green chili on the right won.

starting to get full

The one on the left had goat cheese. Other people had feta. Never had fancy cheese with chili!

about half way through. I was taking notes

We stopped by Funkwerks in Fort Collins for a bottle release

Redheads - We watched the Broncos Sunday in Louisville @ Electra's

"selfie" @ work

Gumbo

Steph and I are trying to get rid of old freezer food, realized we had most of the ingredients for gumbo.

I used 1/2 bacon drippings and 1/2 butter for the roux. Steph got a nice cast iron pot from Electra for Christmas, it was perfect for cooking the roux in the oven.

I simmered chicken on the stove for 1.5 hours, deboned it, then added the sausage and okra.

We cooked the trinity (celery, bell peppers, and onion) in the roux, smelled soooo good. Then mixed everything together.
  (notice the stocking stuffer pot gripper)

 I made rice the next day to go with it, ended up eating this all week and still froze two big bags.

Violet Sitting

She was easy, took a short 20 minute nap after Erica and Carter left for the movies. We played with her then gave her a bottle then she slept 2.5 hours, all the way until they got home.

comfy

playing with Steph

Afterwards we met up with Steph's friends Electra and Justin at LuLu's BBQ in Louisville . I had my favorite, ribs!

Snowshoeing

We went up to Rocky Mountain National Park yesterday to snowshoe. It was the first time we used US-34 since they rebuilt it from the flooding.

First, we went to Sprague Lake, it was a nice easy loop to get started, barely saw anyone

Next we went to Bierdstandt Lake. Not so easy, lots of switchbacks and elevation gain. We passed a lot of people coming up, only saw one person coming down. Two groups had to turn around, they def were not prepared

I got really hot hiking then my hair froze

At the lake, I postholed. My leg is stick straight down, pretty deep

We didn't stay long, very cold / windy at the top

goofy pic

Steph fell

We saw a herd of bucks on the way down. They were huge and not bothered by us at all

Elk in Estes

The flood damage can still be seen everywhere. All the houses along the river were tagged: Inpsected, No Retry, Limited Entry. I'm thinking mold is a big concern, along with the obvious structural damage. The river was full of huge trees, it is going to take a long time before anything is "normal"

We're tired today! Going to babysit Violet this afternoon, I'll take lots of pictures :)

Christmas in Graytown

cool Greyson playing outside

selfie on the porch, just like Mom :)

yogurt time!

cooking

yawn

firing squad

backup

there was never a lack of interest to hold Violet

Go Irish!

"Christmas" Dinner

I set up the timer on the camera then said "look over there!"

SO many presents

Hi Sophie

Ploop on the baby, very normal

Greyson liked jumping around in the wrapping paper

the end

Christmas in Durango

We left for Durango the Saturday before Christmas. I got my 300m inspected earlier in the week (better in the snow vs. Steph’s car), it ended up dying 10 miles south of Fort Collins Friday night. Luckily we were just going to a party, not in a hurry. I called AAA and got a tow (even bought Stephanie a nice Wendy’s dinner haha), then we grabbed her car. Very lucky this happened when it did, we could have been stuck on a mountain pass!

Her friends Holly and James just bought a house in Durango, we got housesit while they were visiting family. Sadly, Steph was really stick most of the trip, we didn’t go out much. It was nice we had a place to be lazy and not infect other people. I made her chicken and rice soup, added lemon and ginger. I ended up getting a little sick too, just a cough.

We went out for sushi the first night, dinner with her parents the next. Had soup and appetizers at her brother’s new apartment Xmas eve and watched Christmas movies. On Christmas day we had a big meal at her Dad’s house with extended family then went to her Grandpa’s house(Mom’s side) for another celebration.

On the 26^th, we drove from Durango to Boulder (~6 hours), I grabbed the Mustang then went straight to the airport. Flew to DTW then met Mom and Dad and drove with them to Graytown. Lots of traveling!

Steph and Holly, we stayed at her new house



Marcos and Scott (Steph's brother)

Gift from Scott and his GF



Opening presents, cousins do a secret santa

Scott and Oli

Heather and Rick (uncle)

Gag box, pretty funny

Steph and Cadence (cousin)

Great Grandma Margaret (with Grandpa Fred photobombing)

Steph, Fred, Jene, & Kristie (Aunt)



More cousins (Kyle and Adam)