Teva Mountain Games

Ok. If you are ever in Colorado the first weekend in June, you HAVE to go to this thing! Teva Mountain Games is a HUGE event in Vail taking up all of Vail Village and Lionhead. It's a ginormous outdoor athletism event for four days straight complete with Bouldering, kayaking, rafting, fishing, biking, running, and even dog competitions! We originally just thought it would be fun to run in the 5K mud run but I had no idea how much of a blast we were going to have the entire weekend! This will now be a yearly Usry event!

We headed up to Vail Friday night and took advantage of all the early morning vendor tents on Saturday. Vail village was packed - with competitors, families, baby joggers, dogs, and bikers everywhere. There were a million tents, with products from all the outdoorsy stuff you could want, to organic foods, to dog accesories, and we even saw a breast cancer informational tent...all sorts of variety! We attempted to take Sager, who was completely overstimulated and jumping after every dog we passed (which was like every 10 feet!) and therefore spent the second half of the day in the car. I think she didn't mind much since we let her run under Vista Bahn lift and play in the river for an hour prior to her car nap! It was the weirdest thing, playing fetch in the grassy mountain under a ski lift that we skied on only a few months ago!

Saturday afternoon was mud run time - not as muddy as we thought it'd be but fun none the less. I did learn that my lungs are worthless in high altitude but Grant was a sweetheart in letting me walk a bit and recover from a full blown asthma attack before finishing. This possibly could be due to the fact that I am no longer in pristine D1 athlete shape (which is quite sad!) - but I choose to blame it on the altitude instead! After the mud run we continued to travel around in our now mud covered attire and watch some fly fishing casting competitions, dog "high jump" and "speed retrieve" and kayaking events. We stayed for some of the free concert Saturday night and grabbed some ice cream (wheat, soy, and peanut free of course!)

Sunday was just as great, minus the fact that I obtained a major sun burn. We spent the morning and into lunch watching professional bouldering, more dog events, and citizen rafting competitions, which were quite entertaining! We had lunch at a vendor tent and enjoyed a bit more browsing, then let Sage play in the river a bit before heading back to Denver. Such a wonderful weekend. I'm told they have a winter games as well - which we WILL be checking out this winter!

In summary what we learned from Teva mountain games:

1. Michelle's lungs are not so great.

2. Teva is not in fact pronounced TEE-VA but TEH-VA

3. The mud run in the mountains = trail run with a man made mud pit at the end to jump in.

4. Sunscreen should always be worn in the mountains.

5. The Roost Lodge is not so nice and definitely not the three stars it said online BUT it is cheap, close to the mountains, and dog friendly!

Seriously. Check out the Mountain games!

Teva Mountain Games Day 1

Post mud run!

World Championships of Bouldering - This guy was competing from Japan.

The Dog events were under the Vista Bahn lift. 

A little odd seeing people's tents and dog kennels lined up along the lift.

River rafting competition. Really entertaining to watch! A guy flipped his raft, it got stuck, and he jumped from the bridge onto it to try and get it out of the swirl! Craziness!

G just had to take this pic. Hahaha...

Sager loves Vail!

"Dock Dogs" events. Apparently, if you place at the Teva games, you are qualified for regionals! Who knew they even had regionals for dog jumping competitions! 

Sager will start training soon for next year!

School is Stealing my Blogging Time

Holy cow! I forgot how much time school takes! I recently started a certification program through Metropolitan State to get my Wound Ostomy Continence nursing certification. It's fricken hard!!! I study like every night and am still struggling through. I don't know why I thought this fast track (12 hours masters credit in 3 months over the summer) would be a good idea while working full time....but I guess it will be worth it come September when I am done and off to the Wound Ostomy world of nursing! Something I've always thought about doing and Thank You Denver for giving me the time and energy to do so.

Anyway, this will have to be a collaborative blog from the last few weeks of what's been going on in the Ursy's world. It's been a busy an emotional few weeks as well, which made it hard to get on and talk about fun stuff here in Denver.

 My little bro (he's not that little - he's 24), Jay, lived in Joplin and was there during the big F5 tornado a few weeks ago. Thank God he was at work and therefore safe when the tornado hit but the tornado took everything he had, including his home, all his furniture, clothes, and possesions. It tore the city apart leaving him little hope of restarting there, so he's back home living with the rents at the moment, and his sweet girlfriend moved in with them as well. I must admit, I hate that for Jay and we are praying every day he finds a new job ASAP, a better job even, and that Danita does as well...BUT....I am incredibly jealous that I'm not in Dallas with them. My parents have such a full house right now and every time I call it sounds like they are having a blast! With Jay, Danita, and my sister Melissa (meme) all living at home right now (Meme tore her ankle up in February requiring surgery and lots of recover time so she moved in with my rents then), they have every bedroom full. The house is officially housed with two dogs, three cats, and 5 adults all living under one roof. Having them all together there with me way up here made me so anxious and upset that my loving husband let me go home a few days after the tornado to spend time with them. Jonathan was home too so all four of Martin kids plus Danita got to be together with my parents. We didn't even get that much at Christmas since Jay and I both were working so this was a big treat. Although most of the weekend was spent rearranging bedroom furniture and cleaning and recleaning clothes and the few items Jay salvaged, I enjoyed every minute of it. It was a truly blessed time and worth every penny for the flight. Here's a pic of all the "kids" together. To see pics of the tornado, go on my facebook. They are unbelievable and will make your heart hurt, but also make you so thankful he is still alive and unharmed!

Aside from the Martin family stress and struggles, G and I have been having a great time here in Denver as well. We went on another weekend adventure over memorial day, this time with a team of Dallas friends who flew up for the holiday wknd - Tauber, Austin, and the Dugans. We headed down to Aspen, where I have never been, and got to experience the mountain life of the summer, which I have never done! SO fun! We spent those few days fishing staying in Tauber's version of a "mountain" condo (he was in charge of housing) - a million dollar three bedroom luxury condo at the base of Aspen! We were living the high life and able to walk downstairs and be right in the middle of the main drag, complete with restaurants, bars, pubs, and shops. The only downside - the condo was so fancy that half the time we couldn't get the TV on. But who needs TV when you are in the mountains anyway! Saturday, Hilary and I toured the cute little mountain town shops while the boys fished, and we all spent some great time in Basalt, CO, a cute little spot of about 3000 people with the river running through it. So Beautiful!! I think Sage enjoyed her time as well. That dog has gotten to do more cool stuff the three months we've lived here than her entire life! Thanks to dog friendly Colorado, we can take her just about anywhere. Pretty sure she's glad we moved! Here's some pics of Aspen in all it's glory!

The whole crew in our luxury condo!

My poor pup. She couldn't stand not being in the water if Grant was, so she swam out to him - that water is FREEZING! From the looks of this pic, she quickly regretted her decision.

Austin, fishing in his "sweet spot". He was the fish master of the wknd for sure.

This is what you get if you let the boys fish all day. They were out for hours. 

Downtown Aspen - off to a pub for Taub's B. Day celebration!

Basalt, CO rocks.

Love Garden Phase Two!!

Here's more pics of turning the dirt area in our backyard into a full blown, fenced in garden part 2! We are going to be so self sufficient in a few months when it comes to veggies and fruit! Thanks Carin and Wayne for your help!

Gotta have the mulch. Enough mulch to last a lifetime!

The tomatoes have been hibernating in our mudroom. Time to plant outside!

Wayne and Grant building a "Keep Sage Out" fence.

All my onions!! We won't have to buy onions for the rest of the year!

Beauties. And sweet too. Austin checked em out for us - ate them from the stem like a carrot. 

Sage snuck an onion. She approves of the taste. 

Hooray for a finished phase two of the love garden!

The Usrys Come to Visit!

I'm quite behind on my blogging due to all the family issues this week! (Thank you Joplin tornado). But I think the Usry rents coming to town fully deserves a post!

Wayne and Carin came to visit last weekend and we had a blast! It was so great to get to show off our new lives and home to family members. Friday night we took them down Tennyson street to Hops and Pie for dinner, one of our favorite pizza places just blocks from our house. We learned Friday that Hops and Pie also has gluten free crust and wheat free beer! What a great find to help us with Grant's new food allergy diagnosis! I guess I haven't mentioned it before in blogging, but Grant has been having some issues with feeling like food was stuck in his throat after eating, coughing, etc. and we finally got him looked at. They diagnosed him with class 4 wheat, peanut, oats, and soy allergies! No wonder we've been having issues with eating lately! So - we've decided to change our ways and go food allergy free! Good for us, Denver is very accommodating to that being so "green" and all AND I also have a mother in law who happens to be passionate for organic, healthy cooking! More adventures of the new and improved allergy free family to come....

Saturday, we rode bikes down to Tennyson for more fun restaurant eating at our favorite breakfast spot, the Cozy Cottage. It was a bit cold but thanks to the sunniness of Denver we got to sit outside on the patio and then tour the strip and shop afterward! We then headed up to Boulder for a hike. It was a bit too cold for Carin and I, so we went up a ways and then headed back to the main drag, Pearl street for more exploring. We found one of the best things yet I've found in Boulder! The amazing Boulder Farmer's Market! Apparently it's every Saturday until 2pm and is full of tons of organic, gluten and allergy free foods! I found a whole list of great brands that Grant can eat and Carin and I had a great time exploring! I've been to Pearl street several times now, but never on a Saturday afternoon. It is a mad house and quite interesting! "Entertainers" and "artists" on every corner, a circus show, and people everywhere. Fun! We spent the afternoon touring the main drag, shopping, hitting up the sales, and enjoying the entertainers amongst the strip! The boys met up with us after their major hike and we had a drink and dinner at a brewery in town. Then we went and relaxed to watch the Mavs game at the house.

Sunday we took a trip to church, then Wayne and Carin helped us finish our garden! Wayne and Grant built a fence for our tomatoes and strawberries so Sager wouldn't break in and get them, while Carin and I pulled the onions and cut them up for eating! My first accomplished gardening! Tons of onions!

We had such a great time and were sad it was so short! So glad they came!!

OKLAHOMA! Where the wind comes rolling down the plain...

And oh how it did! OKC is a windy place! I don't think I fully understood that song until we went to OKC to visit little Jon (my younger brother) and venture over to Chad Palm's wedding.

What a great weekend it was! Sad that it wasn't the warmth I was craving for due to those crazy cold winds, but it was so wonderful to spend time with family and friends. I have never really been to Oklahoma City. It's surprisingly cool! I'd put it on a list of potentials to live in even. Never thought I'd say anywhere in the state of Oklahoma would be a potential! I must admit though, Bricktown makes that city. My brother lives downtown in a really sweet industrial looking loft, the perfect bachelor pad. It was walking distance to Bricktown, the newer development (only 10 years old I'm learning!) of refurbished old brick warehouses into shops, restaurants, bars, and hangouts. This area had it all, complete with a man made river canal, outdoor parks and sitting areas, and of course the very popular basketball arena where the playoffs were held on Sunday! Right on the other side of the highway was the newly developed rowing facility and park area, a training facility for olympic and paraolympic athletes on the river. It was gorgeous and an outdoor lovers dream. The river had places to rent canoes and kayaks, biking trails that ran along it, and lots of fun sitting and walking areas. Grant and I will have to hit that up again sometime!

Jon took us to all the hotspots and gave us a full tour. We went to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial on Saturday - a gorgeous and breathtaking display in remembrance of the victims of the bombing. It was an architect's dream so my dad didn't mind going back an admiring it although they had been many times before. It was constructed in such a cool way - a statue of Jesus with the verse "Jesus wept" out in front, the two big walls saying 9:01 (when all was right in the world of OKC) and 9:03 (when their world would never be the same) with a shallow water feature aligning the two. And in the grass where the building used to stand, hundreds of chairs, each with a victims name on it. They are aligned by floors and the smaller chairs were the children. These light up at night so you can see their names from far away. So cool. They also had a wall of tiles that children (from Texas!!) had painted in elementary schools and sent right after the bombing, and a little sitting area full of inspirational quotes around the 100 year old tree that survived the bombing and stands alone. If you ever go to OKC - you must go see the memorial! It will seriously impact you.

We also hit up Jon's favorite restaurant and bar - Bolero (where he is quite the popular guy with all the ladies I must say!) and later, G headed to the wedding and the Martin's headed to a OKC Redhawks (the AAA baseball team) game. Sunday, my parents drove back to the Big D and Grant, Jon, his friend Chance, and I hit up a sports bar down the street from the stadium to watch the final playoff game between OKC and Memphis.  I was so glad the Thunder won - it sure did make downtown on Sunday a fun place to be! We enjoyed the live bands up and down Bricktown and the massive amount of blue shirts cheering and running all over the place after the game! On a side note - I'm interested to see what this upcoming series between Dallas and OKC does to my family's moral! My younger brother Jay is a die hard Mavs fan - biggest fan you'll ever meet. He and Jon (the baby bro) are going to game 4 together. I hope they come back from the game still speaking to each other!

We are so blessed to have found those cheap last minute tickets for the weekend. Grant got to spend much needed time with his buddies Austin, Blake, and Zach at Chad's wedding (which was lots of fun I hear!) and we got to spend much needed time with my fam as well! Thank you Frontier airlines!! Thank you Chad for the wedding invite!! And thank you mom and dad for driving up!!

Here's some pics from the time in OKC:

Hiking Hiatus

This weekend was so perfect we just couldn't let the beauty pass. So we planned an excursion.

After church at Watermark Denver - Alex, Catherine, Nate, Eva, Grant, me, Sage and Murphy all headed up to Boulder for a 5 mile hike in the flat irons. It was a great time. Sage and Murphy (Murphy is Nate and Eva's dog) are new best buds. They spent the entire hike side by side and I'm sorry to say, my dog was the bad influence always leading Murphy astray off trail, up steep rocks and into caves. But neither dog got hurt so we are all good! We are totally in love with Boulder hiking because you can hike with your dogs "off leash" in most areas. It's perfect for our wild pup who needs her freedom. And she is really good about staying right with us...in eye view at least.

This hike proved a few things to me -

1. I am not in shape like I was in college.
My legs were pretty sore and I just kept thinking..."what happened to the days when I could kill a series of stadiums at UofA football stadium, complete with one and two legged hops to the top?". I was shaking by the end and inspired to start running again.....maybe....

2. The altitude really does make a difference.
Hello asthma! Haven't seen you since college either. Pretty sure I scared our new friends a little with my incredibly loud and annoying wheeziness.

3. Dogs are in such better shape than humans.
Sage and Murphy had endless energy! They were running around, up and down, hopping off rocks, putting us to shame.

4. Boulder is beautiful.
The pics at the top will show you that! It will take your breath away and remind you of God's glory all at the same time.

We had a blast and I can't wait to make that a frequent event. Catherine and I decided we need to do a hike every few weeks after church on Sundays so we can be in sick shape. :) So be prepared everyone. By the end of the summer I'll have my track body back with massively strong lungs! I hope!

The Crew!

Murphy and Sager - best buds

The arch at the top of our Hike.

Party on the Platte!

Finally! A perfect weather weekend that everyone keeps saying Colorado is known for! So perfect that it deserves two seperate posts! One for Saturday and one for Sunday! I was beginning to doubt the talk of the beautiful summers here and today doesn't hold that claim very well - it's 50 degrees and threatening rain, BUT all the Coloradans kept promising me that Mother's Day weekend is always the shift for the weather from unpredictable to perfect. This weekend proved that to be true!

Grant and I took advantage of the 80 degrees Saturday and Sunday and filled them with fun outdoorsy activities that wore us out! Sage was pretty worn out as well! Saturday was a day for remembering. We took a trip to downtown's Platte River and Confluence park, the very place we fell in love with the idea of moving to Colorado. Well, maybe I fell in love with it. Grant has been in love with that idea longer than he has been in love with me. :) We spent the entire day around that park Saturday, reading, talking, dreaming, basking in the sun, watching the bikers go by and kids play in the swimming hole, and Sage's favorite activity of the day - playing fetch in the Platte river! Grant wore that pup out - throwing the ball to her for an hour straight. She was so tired from swimming and running that her legs were physically shaking, yet she was relentless, nudging the ball to him over and over until he'd throw it again.  In the afternoon we walked into downtown and met our new dear friends from church, Alex and Catherine, for drinks and derby watching. Then headed ourselves right back over to the park that evening, for dinner and a few more swims for Sager. It was a perfect day.

I love that park. It reminds me of when we were newly dating, when we came to CO to ski and Grant brought me to Denver for the first time on a whim and an intentionally missed flight. We wandered through the park dreaming of living near it someday as the snow was falling around us. Reminds me of the a visit to Brittany in the Springs, when she had to work on our last day there so we spent the afternoon in Denver and decided randomly to tour an apartment complex that sits on the Platte. We ate pizza at a restaurant by the river and dreamed about getting to do that weekly someday. It reminds me of August, when we came up from the big D to see Ray Lamontagne at Red Rocks and spent the whole day in that park together, playing frisbee and throwing the ball around. It reminds me of why I wanted to marry Grant. Why I wanted to move here with him. So thank God for good weather and good reminders!

And thank God for new friends, sunny weather, and fun places like Confluence park! Here's a few pics from our perfect Saturday!

Platte River here we come!

Sager wanting to play fetch already. 

Don't be deceived. The weather was 80 but the water was COLD!

Here's the "swimming hole" with a few brave kiddos already swimming!

The pedestrian bridge into downtown. 

Only in CO would they think to make bike ramps up and down the bridges.

LOVE the amount of bikers here! We will be super "green" before you know it!

My favorite biker of the day. 

And check it out - in full blown pearl izumi gear and all!