Kriederman's Colorado Chronicle

Grandma turns 90!

2009-12-22T08:20:00.000-09:00

My Grandma T turned 90 this year so we all headed to Iowa to help her celebrate!

This isn't the best smile she has, but man did she still have her wittyness about her, crackin jokes left and right!

My mom used her cake decorating skills (she was a professional when I was little) and made the cutest cake ever!

Ta Da!!! She accidentally forgot the top piece of cake, so she had a local supermarket bakery make it for her....you can tell which one they did - can't believe they charged her for that! But still, it was SUCH a CUTE cake!

Another one of my grandma's cakes....made of all flowers. She had another one too, forgot to take a picture though, but it was cheesecake wrapped in fondant to look like stacked presents, very cute!

Lifeteam......UNITE!

2009-12-15T14:01:00.002-09:00

For Turkey Day this year, we reunited with our best friends we had in Alaska...Kevin and Rennau (aka Chris or SD). Anyway, when we were in Alaska all together, we pretty much hung out everyday, and would do some pretty crazy and random things where our individual skills and knowledge would get us out of some sticky situations. We had dubbed ourselves "The Lifeteam" for this reason. So after 15 months of being separated (Ben and I had moved to CO, Kevin remained in AK until moving to San Fran last month, and Rennau had moved to MT), we decided it was time to unite again! The 4 days together flew by faster than a roadrunner on speed, and our stomachs hurt everyday from the laughing (seriously, we felt like we had done 1000 situps the previous day!). Anyway, here's a few photos from the Lifeteam Reunion of '09! Love you guys, can't wait until our next one!

Lifeteam Reunion 2009

Our Wisconsin Trip

2009-12-13T12:50:00.004-09:00

In late November, Ben lost his uncle Bob to a battle with cancer. We were able to make it back to Wisconsin for the services, and where all the family still lives except Ben and his parents and brother. It was a sad trip, but at the same time a great one, to be able to see where Ben grew up and to be with his loving and hilarious family. Click on the picture to see some photos from our trip.

Wisconsin

Success!!!!

2009-11-20T15:51:00.000-09:00

Ben's beer is ready!!! And, by the look on his face, its great!! Woohoo, Ben's Brewery is open for business!!

A little more progress!

2009-11-20T15:36:00.000-09:00

Ben exploring the trench! We had to dig so far down because our ground is almost all clay.

Puppies turn!

We had them remove our buckled back patio....gonna put in a flagstone one soon!

Getting the foundation poured!

Stay tuned for more posts, hope to have it done by January, hopefully!

ONE YEAR!

2009-10-31T15:22:00.000-08:00

A year ago exactly from today, we were handed the keys and moved into our house!!! Its been quite a year, filled with fun, demolition, remodeling and visitors! I wonder what the next year will bring. Maybe its finally time to have a housewarming party :)

SNOW!

2009-10-29T09:06:00.000-08:00

Whew! Quite the snow dump we have been having since Tuesday night....haven't taken an official measurment, but I'm guessing at least 24 inches, and its still snowing!!!!

Decided to take the dogs skijoring in the awesome new snow! However, it didn't go so well, as the bottom layer of snow is a sloppy wet mess, so our skis just wouldn't glide.

Oh remember our garage project? Well this is what it looked like before....

And after! Think its gonna be delayed a few days. :(

The Garage is coming!!!!

2009-10-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

Work has finally begun on our garage being built....we're pretty excited about this. Thought we post a few pictures of the beginning of the demo :)

The picture doesn't really show how deep and big the hole in the ground is!

Home Brewin

2009-10-29T08:35:00.000-08:00

On to the next project!!!! A friend of ours who recently moved away from Boulder was a big home brewer but needed to lose some weight for moving, so he graciously gave us all his equiptment for making beer (Thanks Javi!!!!) So Ben was super pumped to brew his first batch! He picked out ingredients to make a Bavarian Dunkleweisen.....basically a dark Hefenweizen.

Mmmmm, smell the aroma!!! :)

Now we just have to wait til about Thanksgiving to bottle and try it! Any taste testers out there? :)

A great visit!

2009-10-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago, my old roommate from college in Tucson.....and Ben and I's matchmaker :) made a visit to Colorado. Michelle and her sister Stephanie and their kids came over for some spaghetti, some wine and lots of laughs. So great to see you guys!

Miche and Steph

Miche's son, Nolan - this kid's got the biggest eyes ever!!! :)

Steph's cute-as-a-button daughter Rachel

Our First....and maybe Last, Cruise!

2009-10-21T11:10:00.003-08:00

At the end of September, Lisa's parents, aunt and cousins, and us two went on a short 3-day cruise from Seattle to Vancouver Island. None of us had been on a cruise before so we decided to do a short one. Well, after it was all said and done, we just weren't that stoked about our experience, really overrated. Which is weird, because I know a lot of people who love cruises and never had a bad experience. The food was pretty bad, pools and hot tubs closed after sundown, and just didn't like being stuck on a boat with not much to do. Had the food been better, that might have made being on the boat better, but no such luck. Oh well, we still had a ton of fun together and now we know what a cruise is like! Click on the picture below to see our trip photos!

Cruise

Backpacking with the Velasquez's

2009-10-21T09:25:00.002-08:00

Ben and I had a slow summer since we both were injured for most of it. But this fall we both were feeling better and really wanted to do a backpacking trip. We were able to convince our friends and newlyweds Michael and Darcy to come with us. The hike we chose, that went to Arapaho Pass on the Continental Divide, was only going to be 6 miles roundtrip, only 3 one way. Easy right? Well, we didn't figure on hiking much past the Pass to camp, but it ended up being about 13 miles total. Thankfully, the Velasquez's still really enjoyed themselves and are excited to try hut camping with us this winter. You guys rocked!!!! Click on the picture below to see more of the adventure!

Backpacking with Michael and Darcy

A 90th Birthday Celebration

2009-10-21T09:12:00.002-08:00

My grandpa turned 90 this year, and we all made a trip up to Nebraska to help celebrate. We also got to cheer on my dad at an antique tractor pull...a first for Ben to see. Good times, good pics. Check them out!

Grandpa's 90th Birthday

Jackpot!

2009-10-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

Our washer didn't seem to be draining right the other week, so Ben took it apart and found out why.....(minus the wrench parts). Even a Glow-In-The-Dark Ninja found his way in! Have you looked in your drain trap lately? :)

Enjoying the Outdoors

2009-10-18T09:44:00.003-08:00

Ben and I on a mountain bike trail near Nederland

Crankin up a hill - the picture just doesn't do it justice!

Taking the dogs on a trail up Boulder Canyon

Some great single track, Ben and I are gonna bring our bikes instead of dogs next time!

Doing some training with Cubby

The view back to Boulder from the trail!

Presenting the Velasquez's!!!!

2009-10-18T07:36:00.002-08:00

Back in September, we were invited to attend our great friends wedding, Michael and Darcy. It was so great to make it to theirs and seeing all the planning Darcy put into all the decorations - something I still have fun looking at even after a year after our wedding! It was a beautiful ceremony and reception, thanks for inviting us guys and seeing your love take the next step!

Michael&Darcy's wedding

A Hike with the Block Family in the Park

2009-09-23T08:47:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, we called Brian and Vanessa to see if they wanted to hang out and maybe go hiking. This would be their baby Zander's first big hike, as V and I had gone on a short hike the day before, but this was exciting to go into Rocky Mountain National Park with all of us for a fun long hike.

All three of them were trying to get Zander into the Baby Bjorn - it was entertaining :)

The new mom and dad with their baby boy

Ben feelin and lookin good in the warm sun :)

Some of the views we had on the way up

2009-09-23T08:39:00.000-08:00

Brian with Zander, Vanessa and Ben taking the side trail up.

Once we got to the Loche, there was a very persistent chipmunk wanting food, he got withing 2 feet of me!

A beautiful blue jay was hanging around as well

Ben fishing at the Loche

2009-09-23T08:30:00.000-08:00

Who needs a changing table when you have a perfectly good rock? :)

Dad and son doing a little outside bonding

Enjoying some Fosters after the hike

What a great hike with great friends!

Dispatched to the Discovery Fire

2009-09-18T12:54:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, I was dispatched to the Discovery Fire in Naches, Washington as an IMET trainee (an Incident Meteorologist). For those of you who have no idea where that is (I didn't before I went), its about 30 miles west of Yakima. Again, one of my favorite parts of being an IMET is going to some amazing places in this country I wouldn't ever think of going otherwise!

Here is Base Camp at the end of the incident...fire was controlled and they had already sent lots of supply away. It was located near Rimrock Reservoir.....very nice area, I would love to come back and camp here for fun one day!

Some isolated tree torching as the crews were burning fire line. The Fire Behavior Analyst and I were having lunch watching the activity - not bad entertainment! :)

Rimrock reservoir. Lots of clouds from the marine layer west of the Cascades pushing east over the crest.

On the other side of Rimrock Reservoir....again, so happy to be out enjoying the beauty of the country while doing a job I love!

Discovery Fire cont'd

2009-09-18T12:46:00.000-08:00

This was where the helibase was located....pretty nice setting eh? Three hours prior, a supertanker was here, didn't get a picture in time though :(

Amazing rock formations near base camp....I wanted to go climb them!

Some more amazing and interesting rocks....all from volcanic activity. The vertical blocky sections were so crazy!

Visit from Kevin

2009-09-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

Our friend Kevin from Alaska came down to Colorado in early August, to hang out a bit and also go to all 4 nights of Phish at Red Rocks! Anyway, it was SOOOO great to see him again and share some of life's adventures again with him.

The first day, the boys (Ben, Kevin and our roommate Conrad) packed up the canoe and headed up to a reservoir up above Boulder.

Kevin and Ben hauling it into the lake

Fishin it up!

Conrad sporting the latest fashion in PFDs and Ben looking like he's trying to unhook him

2009-09-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

The next day, Kevin and I decided to head up into Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike. We decided to head to Emerald Lake. Along the way, found this downed tree with its roots out of the ground...so beautiful.

Kevin getting a pre-hike stretch in :)

A lily pond along the way

2009-09-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

Lots of really cool logs and trees around the trail....this one was one of the favs

Cool curvy rock designs

One hell of a weird face I can give eh???!!! :)

2009-09-03T09:57:00.000-08:00

On our way around Emerald Lake

At the back of the lake, we found a huge field of columbines....we stepped very lightly around them!

So pretty!