The summer was full of great fun with new friends, and many great visitors (one nice thing about living in Denver is how often people seem to visit or pass through, and for that, I'm very grateful!), and it also saw the end of my time in the Ambassador's office as I now embark upon a new adventure: school. (...yikes)
A quick recap of some of the recent stuff in Larsonland:
* Matt had a college friend, Tyler, in town so we met he and his fiancee for a drink at the Rio downtown (again, it wasn't my choice of locale ;) ). It was fun to meet someone Matt used to play music with (they had a band called Tea for Three at Wheaton), and both Tyler and his fiancee were terrific! They're considering a move to Denver from Orlando, which of course we're all for, so fingers are crossed!
*My good friends Andy and Bethany (and their two adorable boys Caleb and Zach) were in town for various family events, so I was lucky enough to get to spend a little time with Beth in between their activities. We met at Kari's one afternoon so she could meet Noah, and the following day we chatted at my house for a bit and hit the nail salon for a pedicure. We chatted for hours, and ended our afternoon at Bardo, the local coffee shop in my neighborhood, for some more chatting. It was so great seeing her - refreshing for the soul, you know? Not many folks can you go without seeing for a year yet pick up right where you left off. I'm blessed to have them in my life - they are truly incredible people (though I didn't get to see much of her boys, so hopefully I will sooner than later!).
*Amber's birthday was last week, and as her boyfriend DJ said, we spend about a week celebrating it ;) (well, more he than us I suppose!). We met them and their friends up at Blackhawk for a few hours while I lost $20 in the not-so-loose slots, and Matt watched the UFC fights with the guys at the bar. A few days later we had a great family dinner at Maggiano's at the Pavillions downtown. It's nice being around for family gatherings like that - I definitely have a great family.
*Speaking of the neighborhood board, we threw our very first ice cream social on August 21st over at Dailey Park, and it was a huge hit! We weren't sure how it'd turn out (our neighborhood is quite diverse), and yet with all of our planning (or lack thereof), we had upwards of 250 people show up - even the firemen came to let the kids check out their truck and play in the water from the hose. I felt so proud to be a member of the Baker neighborhood!
*We continue to be so thankful for the friends we've met this year in Denver - two friends just recently returned from overseas travel this summer and we spent a lovely summer evening on our back patio catching up over wine and chocolate. Matt has been playing disc golf a bit more often as Joe and John have taken a liking to it, and I know it must be fun for Matt as he was willing to meet at 5:30am before work one day just to play! I'm thoroughly enjoying the small group/bible study with the girls from our supper group - we have bi-weekly get togethers to discuss our readings for that week, and bi-weekly get togethers for drinks downtown. It's so wonderful knowing these ladies! Supper group starts up this week, so we're also looking forward to those group dinners twice a month. :)
Before things get too busy, I have some time at home (about a month!) to take care of all the things I've been putting off for some time. Though this mainly includes things like making photo albums of trips from years ago (I only just now finished our honeymoon photo book), sorting through the 2 foot stack of "to file" items that are waiting to be organized, filling out unending paperwork for school and student loans, cleaning, catching up on missed/forgotten birthday gifts/cards, making all those doctor appointments I haven't done in quite some time, etc., it also includes taking a bit of time to visit with friends and family which I guess you can never get enough of!
Our first trip during my "break" was this past weekend when we drove (14 hours!) to Minnesota to see Matt's family. His parents recently moved from Austin, MN to just outside of Minneapolis, and it was great getting to see almost everyone. We spent some time at their new place, headed up to Gull Lake and stayed at a friend of theirs cabin (SO much fun - gorgeous place right on the water, boating, jet skiing, etc... doesn't get much better!), and even went to our first Twins game at their new stadium! I think it was Matt's favorite part of the trip, perhaps of the entire summer. :) I was thankful for time with his family, especially getting to know his sister Sara a bit more. Short and infrequent visits make it hard to really connect with relatives, so I was happy we got some good time together.
Our first night (we drove through the night on Wednesday and got there Thursday morning), we got to see one of Matt's oldest friends and his wife and new daughter. They are great people! (I'm also trying to set up Stella, their daughter, with Noah, Keri's son) :)
Friday we headed up to Gull Lake, and this is the view from the cabin. No joke. :)
We gave Lincoln no choice but to learn how to swim. He's always such a pansy! You can see the sheer terror in his eyes here:
Saturday night we went to Uptown in Minneapolis to meet up with two more of Matt's oldest friends, Cody and Greg. It was fun to meet them (I had heard many fun stories!), and hopefully we can make it back out for Cody's wedding next summer. Greg is moving to Brooklyn next month to be in a new band out there. Fun stuff! (I also learned that Minneapolis is a pretty fun city! Granted, as someone reminded me, we were not there in winter... hehe)
And the highlight of the trip, of course, was visiting Target Field with the fam. Matt's uncle Steve knows someone in the Twins organization (not to mention, his brother played for the Twins once upon a time!), so we got some pretty great seats behind homeplate! It was a great day to go- they had the Legends game before the real game as they're celebrating their 50th season. It was a blast!
This is Joe Mauer up to bat. Who doesn't love this guy! :)
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