Sarah, my "baby"

For all of you that don't know, Sarah works for the National Park Service in the same building as I do. Her job is in the budget office and she deals with the new travel system. As a result, everytime I go to a park I get, "Hey, are you related to Sarah?" or "Is Sarah your wife?" This is kinda odd because I am use to people asking me if I am related to my dad. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how much money he has gotten the NPS or what he has done for the organization...he will never be as popular as the employee that gets you your money for travel...that being my wife.

Anyway, so today I was headed to lunch and I saw a co worker in the hallway. This is how the conversation went:

Employee, with travel voucher in hand: "Hey Nathan, is Sarah your daughter?"
Husband of Sarah, with astonishment in eyes: "Umm, NO."
Same employee, now with confused look on face: "Is she your younger sister?"
Husband of Sarah, with clogged ears?: "No, she is my wife."
Employee with jealously in his mind (assumed): "Oh, I was wondering if you were related."

What an awkward (aawwwkwaarrd: shout out to the Todds) way of asking. I went on to ask him how old he thought I was. He said he didn't know and slipped through the door, tail between legs. If I had Sarah at age 15, and he thought she was 20, then he must think I am at least 35!

Moral of the story: Never call your wife baby. It is degrading, and someone may take you seriously!

Ketchup

I realized today that I haven't posted in about a month. Because I am behind schedule, there is going to be less text and more pictures in the blog...which is my style of reading anyway.

One thing I forgot to blog about was our trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. We met up with my familia (a shout out to Jeff) there. It was fun. We went hiking and white water rafting. Did you know that Teton means boob? Kinda puts a different spin on things.



Speaking of boobs, we also went camping in some "diamond cutter" cold weather up in the Indian Peaks with the David, Beth, and Isaac. While it got down to around 30, not including the gusting wind, it still ended up being a great trip. My car still smells like camp fire.


We also spent a weekend day with the Forshees taking Isaac to his first brewery, O'Dells, and his first Winery, Trail Ridge Winery. I put my hat on Isaac so that maybe they would think he was a college student and give him a free sample....it didn't work.



I have been traveling a bit for work. Once to Phoenix, then across CO to Mesa Verde National Park.


I guess that is about it. We went to the Italian Festival in Belmar last weekend with the Todds, which was fun. Sorry, no camera. Other than that we have been packing and getting ready for our move, scheduled for this weekend. Will definitely blog about that!

We Are One!

Can you believe that Sarah and I got married one year ago?


It is amazing how time flies. I can say that similar to children, at age one we are starting to walk (we're starting to figure things out), teething (we rarely argue, but more so than when we dated), and I am almost potty trained...by that I mean Sarah, most of the time, gets the upstairs bathroom to herself since I have to go downstairs to make a stinky.

Sticking with my lists for things, here they are for our first year:

The Good

1. Sarah - I definitely landed a keeper and love her more everyday. I still can't believe I found someone with all that she has to offer and that that someone liked me in return!

2. Having a partner in crime - We're not talking misdemeanors or felonies, it is just extremely nice to share travels/hiking/activities with someone that you love.

3. Everything is a combo platter- All my life I have wanted more than one thing on a menu, and Sarah and I have similar enough tastes that we can split things. It rocks.

The Bad

1. Heat exchange - We are still new enough in our marriage that we snuggle at night, and having another body next to you is like sleeping next to a furnace! You got to trade one hot for another I guess.

2. Living with an OSHA inspector- I thought I was clean for a guy, but apparently I am not the cleanliness nazi that Sarah would like me to be. Everything can always be cleaner now-a-days.

3. Non-combo Holidays- With parents in two separate states, we have to split visits. We never get to see everyone as much as we like. Maybe all family could move here? At least we have Beth in David local until next summer....you guys going to China will definitely make the bad list (for us, not everyones who's lives you will change forever) for year two!

The Ugly

1. Potty training - I spoke of this earlier. In year 2 I see resolution to this problem because we will have 2 bathrooms on the same floor.

2. From implosion to explosion- During the courting phases of a relationship, one would not dare to gas around the other. In fact, you wouldn't even risk crop dusting or a tester spray in fear that your significant other may catch a wiff. Well, lets just say that during the first year of marriage that changes.

3. The double "bubble" standard- How come when I have an audible or smelly output I am a "Freakin nasty freak", but when a female's behind exhales it is a "poof" and often found hilarious?

Overall this year with Sarah has been amazing and I couldn't be luckier. While year one has been great, I look forward to making year two even better!

Nathan's Notebook

We are back. Yup. We decided that we would occasionally post a blog here and there for our handful of stakeholders out there.

So whats been going on with us lately, you ask? How kind. We did take a trip down to Great Sand Dunes over the long 4th of July weekend.




Otherwise, we have spent our time playing with Baxter, hanging out with friends, and watching life fly by. One thing that is new is that we are getting older and starting to notice. Really the "noticing" part is all that is new because everyone is always getting older, they just are not aware. Recently, these have been age indicators that we have picked up on:

1. Sarah leaned over to me in church last Sunday and said, "I want to be holding a baby during church." Wouldn't have heard that 5 years ago. And most important, this came as no surprise!

2. We bought a house/have a dependency on income now. If we lose our jobs we have a mortgage. Definitely didn't use the term mortgage or hear it nearly as much for the 28 years of my life leading to this one.

3. I have to stretch. It is ridiculous. I played in a soccer game for under 5 minutes before rolling my ankle. Have you seen White Men Can't Jump? I can now relate to Woody Harrelson and his stretching.

4. There was a fire on the mountain behind our house yesterday and I realized that everything we had wouldn't fit in one car.

5. Both sets of parents have become grandparents within the last year. This really hit home when I saw Grant in a picture WITH HIS GREAT GRANDMA.

6. I watched The Notebook.

7. I admitted to watching The Notebook.

8. I still think about The Notebook. But really that is what started this whole post. I always heard that it was an extremely sad movie, when in actuality the way the movie plays out is about the best you can hope for in life. Maybe that is what makes it so sad?

Thats all for now. When I was a kid some of my friends called me Nate the Great. Guess it won't be long before I am called Nate the Great Grandpa.

I turn pike and a hike

This last Friday I went with my friend Aaron to Williams Fork Reservoir to try and catch a pike on a fly. While it was windier than a bathroom in a mexican restaurant, we managed to push through and catch our first pike on a fly:










We later ran into some guys that caught this pike. They caught this submarine using dead bait, sitting on a cooler and drinking beers, while we worked our poopers off to catch what now looked like minnows. They were kind enough to give us this fish to take home and eat, and show our wives that there are better fisherman out there than us.



On Saturday, Sarah and I went hiking with our new friends Christen and Adrieane. We are still on our quest to go to all the open space parks in the area, so this time we checked out Mount Galbriath park and did a 4.8 mile hike there. It was hotter than an athlete's armpit, but we survived.

A Walk for Life, then for Food

This weekend was the much anticipated Walk for Alternatives in downtown Denver. This walk was for the Alternatives Pregnancy Center, where Sarah volunteers her time. The 1.5 mile walk was probably just long enough to burn of the free donuts we inhaled beforehand. As you can see, some of our friends joined us.

After the walk, several of us went to the People's Fair in Denver. It is ironic that the walk, sponsored by a non-profit organization had free food and drinks, while the "People's Fair" cost an arm and a leg for anything (except for the free water given out by another non-profit, the Denver Church). So why exactly is this a "People's Fair"?

I guess it is a People's fair because it gives ordinary folk an excuse to get snockered early in the day, dance, and make idiots of themselves. I expect more of this at the democratic convention here in Denver, minus the alcohol...:

Following the cut "So You Think You Can Dance?" auditions we went to the Denver Art museum to see "Outward expressions of inward emotions", or something like that. My favorite parts were the long hand rails that I could slide down...and leaving. Perhaps I would better understand and appreciate modern "art" if I had started drinking at sunrise. I do highly recommend seeing the outside of the building:

Introducing Baxter, and dinner

So did we tell you that we got a new dog? His name is Baxter. Baxter is a lab-collie mix that we got from a shelter in Denver. He is just over 1 year old and enjoying life.


Baxter has been equipped with a backpack for hiking, many toys that he destroyed like a donut at a weight watchers meeting, and a couple other outdoor living accessories. He loves to hike and fetch a raquetball or tennis ball.

Baxter and Sarah at Lair O the Bear Open Space


We took Baxter camping on the South Platte river near Deckers, CO, this last weekend and he did well. Other than going postal on some neighbor campers when they walked by with their headlamps on at night (I am sure they left a snickers in their shorts) he was well behaved. Fishing was decent, and Bax and I played fetch with this fishes head for a while before heading back out to the river.