Pic of the day

Yesterday Joel ran a 5K with some of his coworkers.  Just thought I would share a pic of the event!

Stayed tuned for some pics from Japan!

Pic of the day from Colorado

Just had to share a pic my dad sent.


This is what he woke up to after his nap outside on the hammock.

A nosey dog who just wanted to join in on the nap. : )

Joel's 30th and the Chili Cook-off

For Joel's 30th birthday celebration we headed back to Bubba's BBQ for their annual chili cook-off.  We had a blast, eating chili, hanging with friends and embarrassing Joel with a giant hat and beer glasses.

Part of the group hanging out!

Joel with all his birthday goodies on!

Sampling Chili

Joel had a backpack with lots of items so he was prepared for anything...
among those items, a toothbrush!

Everyone was enjoying the nice weather and great food!

With the Birthday boy!

Happy 30th to my wonderful husband!!  I love you!

Grape Picking #2

If you remember around this time last year I shared our trip to the grape farm to eat lunch and pick some fresh grapes.  This year we took the same trip to fill our freezer with delicious grapes and brought some friends with us.

With Kelly and Kate in the ancient town.

Joel getting a snack.

Our lunch at the grape farm.

Snails anyone?

Picking grapes...ignore the hair!  It was hot and humid!

Enjoying picking grapes!

The whole group!

It was such a fun day!  It is always great getting out of the city for a little while!

Pic of the day

This is what $12 will get you at the local wet market (produce and meat market):

One of the perks of living in China!

Muslim Market Shanghai

We had really high hopes for the muslim market when I set out with some friends to see what they had to offer.  The listing we had found online for it boasted of fresh imported produce and made it sounds like a must see in the city.  Well, it was interesting.  It was just a few booths set up on a really busy street and a few chairs set out for those who wanted to stay and eat.  Some of the fare actually did look good, breads and noodle dishes but we didn't sample...just observed.  I snapped a few pics with my phone so that you all could see what I am talking about.

Busy street, we were hoping for a few more booths!

Dinner anyone?

The breads looked good!

Not sure it would be at the top of my list to go back but I guess everything is an adventure when you live in China!

Beer and Blue Grass in China

Last weekend we headed down to the local BBQ joint (yes still in China!) for a relaxing Sunday.  They had a blue grass band set up on their patio so we spent the day enjoying the music and drinking cold beer.  The boys were even brave enough for a shot of Jager!

Cheers!

Gambei! (Bottoms up!)

Pick of the band.

Pic of the day...

I started last week teaching at the Healing Home again for the fall and today we had a blast signing and singing!  Cj had a little too much fun and fell asleep before class was over.  Such a cutie!!

The end of my trip home

Even though I have been back in Shanghai forever I still have not finished sharing everything that we

did.  I thought I would finish up with a little picture overview...

Joel and I drove up to Aspen for a night to see our friend Adam from highschool.  We went to an adventure park and rode rides and toured the famous caves in the area.  It was a blast.

Waiting to go on the alpine slide.

Adam and I before our tour of the caves!

Adam owns several tanning salons in the mountains and while we there he had an opening complete with a ribbon cutting.

With his big scissors.

Joel and I spent a lot of time in the mountains, we got to visit with my brother and his girlfriend Lizzy and my dad took us all to the shooting range.

On a hike with Colin and Lizzy.

Joel shooting.

I almost got a bullseye!

Joel's sister also flew in from Florida so we got to spend some time with her and Joel's dad and brother.  It was so great to catch up.

The fam!

After Joel left town I went to the Florence and the Machine concert at Red Rocks with friends.  It was such a great night, lots of dancing and singing along!!

Mel and I waiting for the show to start.

One of the highlights of my trip was watching one of my oldest friends walk down the aisle!  She was such a beautiful bride.  The wedding was amazing!

The bride before the ceremony.

A married woman!

I had such a blast at home and feel so blessed that, although we live very far away, every time we travel home it feels like no time has past and we still feel like we are home.  I can't wait to see everyone again over Christmas!

BBQ at the Wegman's

A few days after Joel got into town some friends of ours had their annual summer BBQ!  It was such a blast, we played games and got to catch up with everyone.  They even had a piñata!  We had a few attempts at knocking the piñata down before the boys got bored with it and Joel hit it with out his blind fold and it went flying!  There was tons of candy in it and also some little alcohol nips!

My attempt at the Piñata.

Holly trying...

Joel knocked it down!

Joel with his prize!

My beer caught an accidental lollypop when Joel knocked the piñata down.

Kari with her loot.

Kari and Chris (the cool aid man) Oh yeah!

We all had such a blast hanging out and playing yard games.  Dizzy bat was the most fun to watch.  You have to hit a ball with a bat, then put the bat on the ground with your forehead on it and spin around 5 times and then try to run the bases.  It was hilarious.  Lots of people falling everywhere.

Team beer.

I sat with the Gillaspie's and some other not so brave souls to observe the game and judge if people were cheating or not.  It was definitely the highlight of the night watching everyone wipe out after spinning on the bat!

Watching with the Gillaspie's

Joel playing dizzy bat, hilarious!

Chris and Bella!

We have one new baby in the group who you all saw a pic of in the last post and another on the way!  This little boy is due on my wedding anniversary, September 27th!  I can't wait to meet him over Christmas!

Belly rub!  

At the end of the night we played some beer pong.  Taylor was on fire!  And don't worry, Kristen was their team's designated drinker!

Pregnancy beer pong!

Such a fun way to get to see everyone while we were home.  Can't beat a great summer BBQ!

My visit home so far...

So far I have been having the best time here in the US.  I have been here for almost a month now and it has flown by! Joel has already been here for a week and a half but still has 2 weeks until he heads back.  We have spent our time catching up with our friends and family, spent a lot of time in the mountains and mostly just enjoyed Colorado.  I haven't taken a huge amount of pics but I thought I would just share a few from my phone to catch you all up on what we have been doing!
We had Joel's brother over for dinner a few nights ago, after grilling out we played around and took the dogs out.  Penelope (our black lab)  is a golf ball finding genius and loves fishing them out of the bottom of the creek as they roll past.  She can stick her whole head under water to grab them.  It is quite impressive!

Joel and his brother enjoying a walk and playing with the dogs on the golf course.

Penelope getting her ball out of the creek, can you see her head?

A good friend of mine from college had a baby a few weeks ago and I am so glad that I was able to come home and meet her while she was still so tiny!  This is the first baby in my group of college friends so we are all very excited!  After Joel got in he got to meet her and didn't really know how to hold her.  It was really funny to watch!

Joel meeting Brooke.

She fell asleep!

Joel and I tried to go on the Coors Brewery tour recently (because it is so close to my parents house!) and the line was so long we opted for a smaller brewery in Golden, called Golden City Brewery.  It was fun, not super exciting beer though.

Joel with his beer.

We have also spent a lot of time, like I said, in the mountains.  This was the only pic I took from a night up here with our friends Kev and Mel.  We put Kevin to work and made him hang a deer head.  : )

Kevin with the deer head.

For the Fourth of July, fire works were banned but that didn't keep us from having a great day!  Joel and I had three parties to attend.  The first was a pool party with a small group and Brook even joined us in her super cute new suit!  We then went to Joel's friend Shannon's house and then ended our night at my parents house who had a huge bash.  It was a great day!

Brooke modeling her swim suit.

We were twins with our patriotic colors!

And last but not least, on another trip to the mountains (one which I will share a few more pics from in the next post)  it was cold and rainy and we all had to bundle up.  It rained all day and night and the temps dropped down to 55 degrees so we were even able to have a small fire at the cabin.  One person however did not appreciate the cold weather and wore his snuggie around the house all day.  That would be the tough hunting dog Guinness.  He really loves his snuggie.

Guinness all bundled up!

Well, that is all for now!  I will share more pics in the next post!