One week delay...

My dad stopped through last Friday for a visit. In one afternoon, we played 9 holes of golf, picked 15 pounds of apples, took a driving tour of IC, and had a lovely dinner at Taste on Melrose. It was a great, fun-filled afternoon, especially for being a bit impromptu!

Only in Iowa

I had a little road delay this past weekend on my way home from North Liberty. Apparently the cows got out of the pasture and they were trying to wrangle them up. There was a lady in the middle of the road with her arms out to stop me. Maybe she thought I wouldn't see the cows running at me. Too funny!

We had company!

Tyler and five of his friends stayed with us this past weekend. I'm sure they wanted to see us, but I'm sure the fact that our house is near campus made it an extra appealing time to visit as it was the Iowa vs. Iowa State football game. Iowa won by a landslide so it was a fun weekend! Here is Andy and I in our black and gold!
Ty guy with his new short do!
My friend Emily was also in town from New York City so it was great to see her, too!

So far Iowa is 3-0 so they are off to a great start. Everyone else is welcome to visit anytime.

Fall at the Litton House

Yes, we are kind of rushing fall over at the Litton household. As much as I love summer, I couldn't wait to pull out my straggly petunias from our planters and replace them with these mums. After doing the four urns, Andy and I decided that we would do the window boxes in mums as well. I guess we realized how bad they looked after we replanted the urns:).

We have also been going through the cookbooks and planning all sorts of fun fall menus. On Monday, Andy made french onion soup with cheesy broiled bread. We also have Eggplant Parmesan in line. I will let you know how it is and post the recipe.

Sailing, Biking, and more Hiking!

Yesterday we all went out on Lake Dillon. Seth, our captain, navigated us around the lake for the best views of Summit County. The skies were blue and the wind was actually pretty decent for some good sailing!

Here Andy and I biked downhill from Vail to Copper Mountain to Frisco. I think I only had to peddal about 10 times for the 15 mile ride. It was a nice break for the legs!

I guess the sun was in Andy's eyes...my eyes are probably closed also, you just can't tell with my huge sunglasses on!

Another 14er completed

Today we hiked Mt. Sherman, one of the 14,000 ft peaks here in Colorado. It was cold and windy, but the sun was shining and the views certainly made it worth all of our hard work to get up to the summit.

This is the view from the saddle, about half way up.

Here is Andy just taking it all in...I think he was eyeing the summit.
We started down in the valley, and this was probably about 3/4 of the way up.
And finally to the summit!
After eating a few Snickers bars, we were ready to head back down. It looks nice and sunny up there, but man was it cold!

I spent the rest of the afternoon laying in the sun by the hot tub. Andy had enough energy for some tennis...that will have to wait until tomorrow for me!

Our winter summer vacation

I am updating you all from Frisco, Colorado! We will be out here for the next week hiking, sailing, and just enjoying the beautiful outdoors. I have come with Andy and his family the past four years, and Andy has been coming out here for about the past 20 years! I say that because we thought we knew what to expect...cool nights, perfect sunny days in the low 70's. You can imagine our surprise when we heard that they were making big trucks put on their chains because of the SNOW...in August! My first thought was that I only brought one pair of jeans, but I did like that I had an excuse to wear my vest:) Andy was REALLY excited to see the snow and I was totally bummed that we were missing out on summer in Colorado. I am glad it did not last long!
Luckily the snow on the ground is now non existent except for up on the peaks and we actually had pretty decent weather today. We drove over to Glenwood Springs and did the Hanging Lake Hike. At the top in the most beautiful crystal clear aqua water and water fall. You could even see schools of trout swimming around. We were going to go to the sulfur springs afterwards, but it was very crowded and stinky so we decided we'd soak in the hot tubs back at the condo instead. I am glad it was back to sunny more summer-like weather today!