Christmas Tree Hunting

My apologies - it's been awhile since I've posted. A few weeks before Christmas, a group of us decided to make it an afternoon and drive into the mountains to go Christmas tree hunting. For an $8 permit to cut a tree, it was worth it, considering how much fun we had. Four dogs, five people, a camelbak of hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps...makes for a great afternoon.

Our friends Pepper, Georgia, and Shane (the rope around Shane's waist was for the tree sled)
Group shot, including three of the four dogs
I was the one that decided on the tree growing from the side of the hill...let's just say the trunk of the tree was very crooked and almost didn't fit in the tree stand...
Steve and his very symmetrical tree
Victory! Me, Steve, Georgia & Shane with our trees - I was the shortest person there but I managed to find the tallest tree (Pepper already had a tree, she just came along for the fun)

Finally finished with painting

View from front door
View from kitchen

HUGE thanks to the 'rents for helping me paint the living and dining room! We finally finished and it looks beautiful. I owe them a few meals and bottles of wine. :)

More house

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I finally took a picture of the outside of my house. I'm slowly beginning the painting process, so once that's complete, I'll post more pictures. Dad has also been helping me clean out the backyard - it was fairly overgrown in the back and I want it to be ready for a fence in the spring. We've already decided on landscaping ideas - some nice edging along the front of the porch and the sidewalk. Any votes on where to put a raised veggie garden in the front yard? It's too shady in the backyard so the veggie garden will be put in the front, but I can't decide where.

Great American Beer Festival

One of the breweries was creative enough to send around employees dressed in orange jumpsuits and toting some stereo contraption - they would walk around blasting music, occassionally stopping and starting a dance party in the middle of the room

We had a blast last weekend in Denver at the Great American Beer Festival. It took place in the Denver Convention Center, with 1,800 breweries displaying between 2-6 beers available for sampling (some breweries had their beer in bottles, some in kegs). Heaven! I suggest anyone with a liking for good beer try to get a ticket for the event next year - it was worth it.

NEW HOUSE!

Last Friday, I closed on my house and finally started moving! Here are pictures of my adorable house (I forgot to take pictures of the outside, but once I get more settled, there will be more pictures to come).
Walking in the front door- it has a nice open floor plan, so this is looking at the living/dining room. The big rug rolled up in the corner was taking up most of the living room and covering the hardwood floor, so it was the first to go (the hunter green color was clashing with the rest of the house)
Guest bedroom off the right of the living room - it looks smaller than it is, probably because of all my stuff lying everywhere.

Master bedroom (off the right of the dining room area)
Full bath off the master bedroom
The wonderful, roomy kitchen (and it has a gas stove - yay! didn't take a picture of it, but it's across from the sink, to the right in the picture)
WALK-IN PANTRY!! - I was in heaven when I saw this (from the kitchen picture above, it's to the right of the sink counter)
Laundry room (off the left of the kitchen) - there is a half bath directly across from the washer and dryer

HUGE thanks to my fantastic parents and boyfriend for helping me move. Moving into your first house can be intimidating, especially doing it alone, but they've been wonderfully supportive and helpful. Now I need to finish unpacking so I can have company! I won't have internet until mid-October, so I won't be blogging regularly (I'm currently swiping internet from Steve...) Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Motorcycle Safety Class

This past weekend, Steve and I took part in the WY Dept of Transportation's Motorcycle Safety Class. The class is very cheap, and after a weekend of learning almost everything you need to know in order to ride a bike (and passing the written and driving test), you can then go to the DMV and receive your motorcycle license. It saves you the pain of taken the DMV written and driving test, which are known to be much more difficult than the class tests. We did have to travel to Gillette, WY for the class because the class here in Sheridan was already full, but it gave us an excuse to get out of town. The class was an absolute blast and now I'm hooked! I didn't have much time to take pictures, but here are the few I took.
Only nine of us in the course - above are the bikes owned by DOT and used for these courses (my bike is the red one in the very front, to the left of the bright yellow bike).

I fell in love with my cute bike! It was only a 125CC engine, which is considered very small for motorcycles. Due to the fact that I had never even been on a bike, and because I'm petite, I was given the smallest bike in the class...it was absolutely perfect.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of us on our bikes, but I figured a picture during the car ride back would work.

This is what we do at work before they let us out early