Busy Beeee

So I know I have said it time and time again...sorta using it as my ultimate excuse for not having time to blog this summer, but I have been one busy busy bee.  I got home Friday after spending five days in MI and three days working when I flew back into Denver.  Now I am already starting to pack as I fly back to MI on Friday for eleven days!!! CRAZY!!

Lisa and Rob had an amazing wedding and reception.  We had so much fun.  The trip itself was all sort of a blur.  I got in and from the minute my plane touched the ground I was whisked away and was busy until Monday morning.  It was so awesome to be with so many of my closest friends, I loved every second of it.  I can't wait to go back and do it all over again.  Only down fall is, I wish Bruce was coming with me......stupid job. :(

Speaking of my amazing husband, he is doing well.  He's been working a lot of OT, with me being gone so much this month, he is trying to stay as busy as he can.  And have I mentioned how amazing he is lately?! No....well let me just tell you....  ;)  I came home from being on vacay to a spotless house. Even the carpets and kitchen floor had been cleaned with our humungo carpet cleaner.  It's the little things that amazes me about him on a daily basis, he is the best.

We are planning on going kayaking this Tuesday and spending the day outdoors doing what we love.  Other than all the traveling and weddings, not to much is new.  We are all very happy and very healthy and just loving and enjoying the summer.  I probably won't be able to blog for at least two or three weeks as I will be in MI and let's be honest, the last thing I am going to be thinking of is jumping on the computer to blog.  BUT I will be seeing most of you during my time there! YAY!!! :)

We hope you all are having an amazing summer! We love and miss you!

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xoxo

Beautiful beaches.  The only thing we miss most about MI. 

Love them :) 

 My BFF since 2nd grade :) Lindsey and I 

Kayaking

So as most of you know, it has been HOTTTTT in CO.  So hot that most of CO is on fire!!! (please send some happy thoughts this way for all those affected)

Anyways, it's been pretty unbearable.  Way too hot to spend much time outside.  It has been early mornings in the Brown household.  Pudge and I have had to leave early in the morning for our daily runs, but we are slowly beginning to get back to the point we were at before the race.

Last Tuesday we could bare the heat no more and headed to Lake Isabel in the mountains.  As soon as we hit the mountains the breeze instantly change from scorching hot to cool and WONDERFUL!!! We took the kayaks out and lounged in the middle of the lake.  It was HEAVEN! We loved every single minute of it.

I leave Thursday to head home.  I am so excited to see everyone and spend some time celebrating all the wonderful weddings.   Bruce and Pudge are also doing very well.  Bruce got hired on to the ERT team through the state of CO and prison system, which is amazing.  They are picky and he got in quickly and was even recommended.  Have I mentioned lately how amazing he is?!

We hope you all are doing well.  We miss and love you all so much!! I will see most of you sooooon!

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge

Ready to hit the road :)

 Our surroundings 

 Relaxin'....Doesn't get much better than this! 

 My amazing hubby 

SUMMER LOVIN'

So summer is officially here (for us) and blazing! We are eating it right up!

We are keeping very busy being outdoorsy except on the days when it's WAY too hot to be outside.  But those days are not lost on us.  We usually stay in the cool house reading and relaxing or SHOPPING in the comfort of someone else's AC.

Not to much new to report.  Bruce felt ok (it was so nerve racking) about his polygraph test.  The guy did his job of intimidation very well and that was scary for Bruce, but since he has nothing to hide we are positive he passed.  Now the waiting game continues.  Until August/September when our personal deadline hits and we buy a house and settle here, waiting no longer.  So keep those positive thoughts coming.  WW went well again.  Lost another 1.6 this week.  I am back to hitting the pavement, and let me tell you......it is hurting! With the time off and the heat rising, my body officially hates me.  But I know in the end it is good and will eventually go back to feeling good too.

Bruce has tomorrow off (a very rare occurrence!) and there happens to be a festival in town so we are very excited to spend the day together!! And Tuesday we are heading up to the lake in the mountains and going kayaking.  WE LOVE SUMMER!!!!!

Hope all is well with you all!!! We love and miss you tons!

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge

Pudge enjoying his kiddie pool! haha :) 

 We got to watch the Tigers! Even if it was on the computer! 

 My boys! Cuddling before bed. <3 them! 

 HOTTTTT! 

 So random, but can you believe this lemon!! It's bigger than my hand and soooo round!  It came straight from Cali from a friends tree! We got a ton from them and I have plans for fresh lemonade, lemon pepper chicken, and a Roasted lemon hen.  :) 

Stranger

I have been a stranger to my own blog!!! It's been too long and I can't even begin to list all of the new things that have happened lately........

I'll start off by saying our little family is all healthy and happy.  We had Rosie visit a few weeks ago, and that was so much fun.  It's always so nice to have family around.

Bruce received a phone call from Boarder....he has his final final final step in the process, which is a polygraph test, on Tuesday.  We were both excited and surprised by the phone call, still trying to stay level headed and not get too excited.  But some extra thoughts and prayers would be appreciated.

Weight Watchers is great!! I missed two weeks in a row while Rosie was here and I wasn't feeling well one week, but back at it as usual.  :)  Running on the other hand has been put on the back burner because I keep telling myself that it's tooooo hot!!! BUT we all know that just a lame ass excuse so I have to start hitting the pavement again, I actually miss it and the feeling that comes a long with it!

Traveling this summer is insane.  I will be traveling home to MI FOUR times this summer and once in the fall.  Lots of weddings to celebrate! I am so excited to see everyone and celebrate all the love and happiness.

With the blazing weather it's so hard to stay inside or make time to be on the computer in general.  Kayaking, hiking, boating, fishing, camping, riding bikes, golfing......it's all so distracting ;)  But I promise to make an honest effort to resume my weekly updates and photos.  I am going to get back in the swing of things :)

We love and miss you all so much!!! And will be seeing you so soon! ;)

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge

Life lately

SORRY!!! I know I have been slacking a bit on posting, it's been a busy few weeks ;)

Happy to report that we are all very healthy and very happy.  We have been gearing up for our next visitor!! Rosie will be here Sunday!!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!! We couldn't be more excited!!! We are looking forward to spending some much needed family time with her.

The weather has been amazing (except the one day of hail) and I have a good tan going.  Bruce has a bit of color also, for him anyways hehehe ;) He stilllll hasn't gotten his test results back, we are IMPATIENTLY waiting.  They said two weeks and it's been a MONTH! Hopefully soon.  We have been keeping busy with lots of outdoor activities......running, biking, hiking, golfing.....the usual summer activities.  And we are loving every second of it, especially Pudge.

Last week I lost 5.2 pounds at WW.........def back on track and it feels AMAZING!! I am plugging along and it feels incredible, inside and out.  :)

Well we hope you all are doing well.  We miss and love you all so so so much! I promise to write more soon!!!

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xoxo

Camping & Bishop's Castle

The weather turned out to be nice so we were able to head to the mountains this past weekend to camp.  We were the only people at Isabel Lake and it was SO SO SO relaxing!  We were able to walk around the lake, let Pudge swim (his FAV!) play botchy ball, and relax in the sun reading our kindles.  It was beyond peaceful, and we loved every second of it.

And speaking of kindles......I was completely consumed with Fifty shades of Grey trilogy.  I had read lots of recommendations, but really had no idea what I was getting into!  They are very sexual books, to say the least, which is why I was worried they were going to be the typical boring sex novels, but they weren't!  They were wonderfully written and had a fantastic story line that kept me hooked.  As weird as it is, now that I have finished all three books, I oddly miss the characters and story line.  So please please please bare an open mind and GO READ THEM, alllll three of them!  You won't be sorry!!

On our way down from the mountains we stopped at Bishop's Castle.  Mr. Bishop, owner of the property and castle, starting building it in 1966.  He has built this beautiful castle all by himself everyday with no help, and was in fact already hard at work when we arrived at 10am.  He is a self-described hard working man who is self governing.  He was a polite older man, a bit of a hippie ;), and a very talented.  He lives off of donations, which also help with the continued build of the Castle.  He plans to add to the castle until it wraps around the entire 2 acres he owns.  It was beautiful! We were awestruck.  And we were able to explore the castle, which was so fun.  If you're ever in that area, it is a must see!

Other than camping, not too much is new.  Due to camping I was unable to attend WW this week, ugggggh, but I vowed to be there next week.  I have my paid week off this week and am getting a lot done.  I was able to try a lot of home remedies for cleaning our appliances, such as our HE front loading washer and stove.  THANK GOODNESS for Pinterest, such wonderful home remedies.  We both went to the dentist and had my eye exam.  I am impatiently waiting for my new glasses.  Bruce is still waiting for his text results and the weather is lovely.

We hope you all had wonderful weeks and weekends.  We will leave you with some pictures..... Love and Miss you!!

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xoxo

Beautiful Lake Isabel 

 Pudge is off! :) 

 Bishop's Castle 

 Beautiful detail 

 At the top :) 

 Little Stairs for a big man 

 King of the Castle :) 

BFF's since 2nd grade

So as you all know Lindsey, my bff since the 2nd grade, came for a visit this past week. It was sooooo wonderful to have someone here on a daily basis to visit with.  I miss her more then ever now that she has returned home........But it was wonderful to have a piece of home here for a visit.

We did a lot of shopping and eating.....two of our favorite things to do! And Bruce took Saturday off so we could all go explore the Royal Gorge and cook out.   It was so beautiful! We loved it!  We also did some walking and exploring of other local attractions.  And the weather could not have been better, so sunbathing on the patio was high on our list of things to do also.  I dare say our house is quiet now.....but soon enough (next month) my wonderful mother-in-law Rosie will be out for a visit, we can't wait!

Luckily due to Lindsey flying out yesterday, I was unable to weigh in.....and after the homemade cheesecake and lasagna splurges and eating out, I am GLAD! HA!  But back on track it is and I will be weighing in next Tuesday.  Bruce took his test and felt great about it, so that is a wonderful sign! YAY BRUCE! And Pudge is loving the beautiful weather and being able to SWIM! :) I have a paid vacay next week, so we are heading to the mountains to camp, first time this season!! We can't wait!!!

We hope you all had as good of a week as we had!  Take care, love and miss you TONS!

Love,
Nichole, Bruce, and Pudge xoxo

Relaxing by the fire 

 Royal Gorge

 Lindsey on top of the world :) 

 Walking the Bridge

 View from the Tran Am

 Skyline Drive

The only pic of the three of us at the bottom of the Royal Gorge.  

Please excuse my crazy hair :)

 Bruce's man fire :) 

 The beautiful flowers Bruce bought and had waiting for Lindsey and

 I when we came home Friday.  They were originally in two 

vases, one for each, but we decided to blend them :) God he is AMAZING!