Where to begin...

Obviously we haven't been posting on our blog like we used to. Sorry about that. I've been meaning to keep everyone updated, but so much has happened in such a short amount of time that its hard for me to even keep up. As most of you know I got a job at the Science Center of Iowa and we moved to Iowa. I moved here in May and Jesse followed in late June. Talk about craziness.

Jesse and I made a quick trip back to Iowa for Easter and my first interview in April. Then roughly a month later we were back again for a trip we had already planned, only this time I stayed and lived out of a suitcase in my parent's basement for several weeks. All the while Jesse finished up the packing and took over my nanny gigs to make some cash since he quit his job. My parents drove out to Denver with me and helped us pack up our stuff. Jesse stayed behind for another couple weeks to finish a house sitting job we had promised we would do and to attend this year's Westword Music Showcase. His band was again asked to play, so he couldn't miss it. While here I worked on unpacking and organizing our new apartment (aka my parent's remodeled basement) and I took a weekend trip to Illinois for my cousin's wedding.

Jesse is here now and we're officially Iowa residents. He's currently looking for a job and helping out around the farm. I'm working away and trying to get adjusted to actually living here again. It's been nice having my family around, but it still seems like we are just visiting. I'm sure someday soon I'll wake up and realize this is our new life. What a change of pace. The country vs the city, bugs vs no bugs, humidity vs dry heat, etc...

Our wedding is quickly approaching. The date for the rsvps to our wedding has come and gone, but do not fret we are still willing to take rsvps and we would love it if you would. There will be no formal sit down dinner, but it would still be nice to have an accurate head count for the food and drinks. Feel free to rsvp if you haven't yet.

I promise to write more soon and post lots of random pictures from the last couple months.

Take care,

Erin & Jesse

Best Worst Gift Ever...

Don't even try to top this amazingly awful wedding gift, because I am not sure it can be done. Jesse's friend/band mate/co-worker, Adam, brought this lovely little gem into work yesterday and told Jesse it was his wedding gift to us. Apparently he found it in a pile of stuff in his building that someone was tossing. Hard to believe someone would want to part with this, I know. It was painted in 2009 by some unknown artist... the signature is hard to decipher. It's so hard to explain how I feel about this painting. If anyone falls in love with it I think we would be willing to part with it... just let us know and we'll get it to you asap. Oh Boy! or should I say... Oh Man/Woman Thing!

Good Bye 4 Eyes...

As most of you probably know by now Jesse had Lasik eye surgery at the end of March. He actually scored an amazing deal through Groupon that saved him a ton of money... it still was a hefty purchase though, but he had the money saved up. He debated for days and ultimately decided he wanted to go for it. At his last check up the doctors said he has 20/20 or better vision. They say the trick now is getting your brain to realize your vision is better. It's so used to looking through bad lenses that it takes it a little while to get with the program and things might be slightly blurry for a while. He's doing great though and he's completely satisfied. Aside from a few silly moments at night were he tries to take off his glasses or take out his contacts before bed he doesn't miss his optical support one bit. However, during his debate on if he was going to do it or not he said "Glasses sort of add to an outfit and make you look smarter, now I won't have that." He decided the benefits of the surgery outweighed the fashion of his glasses... thankfully. Silly boy!

Here is the last picture of Jesse with glasses. I took it the morning of his surgery. By the way I went in the room and actually watched the surgery. It was incredibly fascinating.

Dog/House/Baby-sitting duo...

As I've said several times before Jesse and I have become quite the tag team when it comes to taking care of other people's homes, kids, and 4 legged friends. We've been pretty busy lately, so I haven't posted in a quite a while. I do apologize. Here are a few pictures of Jesse dog sitting for 3 of the dogs we have watched lately.

First up Jesse and Ruby.

You'll remember Ruby for an earlier post a few weeks back. She's the one setting with Jesse outside of the bank. Ruby lives downtown with her family which includes Henry a rambunctious 3 almost 4yr old. I believe this picture was actually taken after Jesse, Ruby, and I put Henry to bed. Apparently Jesse and Ruby couldn't stay awake until the adults came home. Henry is a lot of fun, but he can definitely wear you out.

Next up Jesse with Dakota (she's got the black coat) and Cheyenne (she's got the brown coat).

These two lovely ladies are 1/2 sisters. They're labradoodles that live with their family, The Jeongs, downtown a couple blocks from Ms. Ruby in fact. We house/dog sat for the Jeongs over the weekend. These girls can be high energy, but they're pretty well trained. We took them for a 3+ mile walk on Saturday to the Farmer's Market. When we got home we were all pooped. The 4 of us napped the afternoon away.

Here's the girls walking Jesse.

They really are well trained, but when they saw me walk out of that farmer's market they were so excited. They almost ripped Jesse's arm off trying to get to me. They become very attached to their friends.

*Side note: If you notice Dakota looks almost identical to Ms. May the first dog we ever dog set for and oddly May & Dakota are next door neighbors. Sometimes people in the neighborhood get them confused. It's easy to do, but they definitely have different personalities once you get to know them.

Day of the Dead Skulls...

Jesse has been wanting to make a Day of the Dead Skull Stencil for sometime now, so last week he drew up a skull and we all took turns coming up with some design sketches. I had a blast doing it and ended up making several of them. They are still up for possible edits, but I figured I would post a few for you all to see. We made a few shirts with them and are thinking about printing them on throw pillows for our couch and on a canvas bag for groceries. We actually bought the materials to make our own canvas bag, so we will see how that goes. Here are some design pics...

 1/2 of Jesse's skull sketch.

Jesse's Skull.

My skull designs.

 I didn't get pictures of all the shirts we made, but here are 2 of the same skull design. Red on pale red and silver on blue. They turned out cool looking if you ask me.

Next up  faces with Lucha Libre Masks, so stay tuned...

Mountain Pictures...

My cousin and his girlfriend came to visit us for their Spring Break last week. While they were here we went to Manitou Springs and the Garden of the Gods Park, so I took the opportunity to snap some mountain pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

In Black & White...

In Color...

And in Sepia...

This final picture is probably my most favorite picture from the hiking trip. I love the Garden of the Gods and I'm really going to miss being able to go there whenever I want. It's just so beautiful there. Every view is breath taking. If you've never been there I highly recommend going, especially if you are into photography.

Over the weekend...

We ended up house sitting for a family that I used to do some part time nanny work for. They were going out of town and needed someone to watch their house and their dog, Ruby. Since we are now seasoned house/dog sitters and we can always use the money & the place to do free laundry we jumped at the chance. Ruby is a great dog, who always wants all of your attention which is hard for her to get when 3yr old Henry is around. She had a blast having our full attention, but seemed to prefer Jesse over me since he is a total sucker and would throw the tennis ball for her until they both felt like collapsing in a heap.

Since we were in the downtown area we figured we would walk down to the St Paddy's Day parade on Saturday and maybe take Ruby with us. Our friends the Jeongs live near by and they ended up needing us to watch the kids for a couple hours, so we took Denton & Fiona to the parade instead. I think we might have been considered certifiably insane for doing that. Google maps says it's at least a 55minute walk and I think they are judging that from a normal grown man's pace not two people caring diaper bags, snacks, and pushing a double wide jogging stroller. Plus all the hills... oh the hills! Thankfully Jesse did most of the pushing, except Fiona wanted out of the stroller and into my arms for part of the journey. By the time we finally got there the crowds were ridiculous and you couldn't get anywhere even remotely close enough to see, plus Fiona passed out (see photo below). We decided to take turns putting Denton on our shoulders and braving the crowd to let him at least see part of the parade. I think he had fun. Then Fiona woke up and they both decided they wanted to stop for snacks and play time, so we did. Our little 2hr adventure turned into nearly 5hrs and by the end the kids were jazzed and we were pooped. What a long day, a fun day, but a long day.

 Jesse & Ruby waiting for me outside the grocery store.

Sleepy Girl.

My two favorite guys, also my favorite picture.

Showing off his muscles for us.

Showing off her dance moves.

Playing Peek-a-Boo w/ Jesse.