another fantastic camp...

Another week of work... no change there but great once again to have our new staff member who is VERY helpful... then this weekend I worked Sat am (yesterday) before going home for a 2 hour hike, getting some errands done and then packing it up to go camping again. This time was supposed to be "family camp" but all the families cancelled last minute so it was Brad/Clifford/me and a friend (he had the tent). We decided not to put up a tent and had a great time with an awesome dinner of salmon, lemon rissoto, ravioli, thai chicken rice wrap and smores... then got entertained by Brad at the fire... Clifford and I went hiking this morning after waking up to some serious frost and then came back to the sun fully up and drying our campsite... got home (twas only over the pass so just a short bit out of town) and unpacked, did laundry and now soon off to a Sukkah party then dinner and a movie for date night for Brad and I. Then back to work tomorrow. Overall a GREAT weekend, fun filled and action packed.

WHAT AN AWESOME WEEKEND... B's Bday event

What a fantastic weekend! AND life is going to be so much better from now on... Ok so we finally have help at work so no more 100 hour weeks YAHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Got to sleep in Fri and had a wonderful day working with teaching Shinta to drive, hanging out with a friend who is ready to pop with her second baby, going to dinner at Brad's folks and then to a party. Then Sat am got up and packed up the car and went up to Lincoln Creek on Independence pass for a fantastic B-day celebration with Brad and many friends. The weather, food, company and activities couldn't have been better. It was spectacular all around. Needless to say it was the perfect way to start a much better next year without being overworked all the time. I am even looking forward to another weekend of camping at "family camp next weekend" at a site just over the pass with hopefully more friends/food and wonderful scenery!!! :) The pix below just says it all!

relief, hanging lake etc

FINALLY THE CRAZY WEEKS ARE OVER! Our new PA started Friday and she is fantastic so she will be working full time and it will be significantly more reasonable for us. No more 100 hour weeks (or at least not regularly) YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...
I really only had about a 50 hour week and unfortunately had to say goodbye to one back staff I really liked since her boyfriend got into law school in Denver and she decided to move with him. We have some great people hired but still it is hard when we lose a good one.
Other than that today I got to hang out with Kay and Derryl and hiked to Hanging Lake. SO this summer I have done 2 hikes I have wanted to do for 11 years (Sopris and Hanging Lake). This was an easy hike comparitively in that it was only about 1.25 miles up for about 1000 foot gain. It was steep but beautiful BUT WAY OVERCROWDED. I am not into sharing nature with that many people. It was good to catch up with K and D though so overall a great day!
On to a more mellow week (YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) AND B's bday :)

100/5/5/5...

these are the numbers for this week... 100+ hours of work done, 5 adults/5 kids and 5 dogs staying at the house for labor day weekend... it was very fun... work was hard but it wasn't as bad as expected and i only have a 56+ hour this week! THEN we get relief :) since a person we hired will start working...

got to see Wilco and the Dixi Chicks, had GREAT Indonesian food with green curry, red curry and Shinta food since she came and joined us for dinner last night (I got called in before and during but had some time to hang with the gang)...

Btrad was off on a river trip but stayed Fri night to hang out with all of them and listened to him play music with Holly and Ken and Bernie and Jenny and that was great!!!!

So, so much fun... now off to breakfast with them and a small hike and then tomorrow back to work!

MV and beyond

So last weekend I flew to MV with Brad to join my family there. We had a good time despite the nonstop rain for the 4 days we were there and the travel nightmares of travel! We did a really cool puzzle with the family, went to a county fair and saw pig races, had Brad cook dinner for us, got to know James better, got blown away on the beach (lots of videos I am not sure I can attach to this... NOPE!). Then came home and spent a few days hiking and enjoying the mountains and sun. Then a wonderful wedding (Josh and Clare's) and a Great Gatsby party (unfortunately no pix) with lots of old time Aspenites which was a blast with awesome costumes... currently avoiding getting ready for the week which will be insane.

Mt Sopris after 11 years

This was an insane week with >70 hours of work and then my 1 day off today... I was convinced by my friend Jennifer to hike Mt Sopris. This is a 6+ mile hike 1 way up MANY thousand of feet. It was long and hard and wonderful. It was Clifford's longest hike since his surgery and we had a great time. Both of us are on anti-inflamatories as we speak. Beautiful views and some steep rock fields that were VERY hard on the way down especially!!! Even better was I had the office pager and was able to answer many calls on the way up!!! The last pix is 1 hour into the hike and we went to the top of that mountain!!!! The next one up is an hour later when we were at the first lake and MUCH CLOSER to the mountain. Then the rest are on the way up. Twas beautiful. I am exhausted but happy! Now back to another crazy week including work and call tomorrow... ughhhhhhh....

Vegas Baby!

OK, so my office manager/friend Bridget and I went to Vegas this week for a conference for our work (electronic medical records). Worked Mon and Tues and then drove Wed (9 hours) and had the conference Thurs- Sat... Highlights were the place we stayed (Mandalay Bay) which was a great place with wonderful facilities, the aquarium in our hotel, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic lecturing on leadership, the inside of the Belagio pictured above, and the Circ de Sole show "O" which was absolutely, jaw dropping, spectacular. The conference was good but just makes me wish we had an I.T. person dedicated to just our EMR or I could make it my full time job so that we could use the very robust product we have to it's fullest. Drove home today and got home to fresh vegies from our garden (see last weeks picture) and had an awesome stir fry. Now getting ready for a 70+ hour week of work culminating with climbing Mt Sopris next weekend if possible (a 14,000 foot peak close to home).