guess who's coming to dinner

a rainy sunday night proved to be a fun reunion of friends here in denver.

the stovalls (med school), the lewis's (wake forest) and the horsts (atlanta) all at our house for a summer bbq - what a fun night!

jill & ben made their final trip to denver from albuquerque - they are moving back to georgia later this month. we will certainly miss their visits to denver, seeing their THREE cute dogs, and watching jill win road races! we will also have to find a new couple to run the denver marathon relay with this fall - any takers? Long live team Jessup Was Framed!

this weekend richard finally had a day off (well deserved) and we played tourists in denver. richard got me on my bike again and we rode from our house all the way downtown to the REI on the cherry creek trail luckily for me, there is a starbucks at the REI so we made a pit stop before returning home! we also hit a fun patio for lunch at LIME and enjoyed yummy chips, tacos and margaritas! saturday night we enjoyed a great dinner at the 9th door thanks to ann & don glaze, friends in atalnta who picked this hot spot for a wedding gift last year. i already know i want to bring friends back here!

10 Years???

Wow, i know time flies, but 10 years? before we hit atlanta for the big Lassiter High School www.lassiter.org 10 year reunion this weekend, high school seemed like a distant memory. but after spending three hours with old faces, in a way it seems like yesterday!

of course, it was the best seeing the usual crew, but seeing faces that i expected not to recognize was pretty cool too! 10 years seemed like long enough to maybe marry or start a family, but not long enough to change too dramatically (in most cases), and seeing a few old friends was a real highlight.

also a highlight...meeting baby grace holbrook!! what a cutie! unfortunately, she couldn't make it to the reunion...but she would have been a big hit!

here's to another 10 years of continuing to wear less flannel, and continuing great friendships that have lasted well beyond lassiter high school!

Sunrays and Saturdays

Everybody loves a random Saturday - when you start out with really no plans at all, and you end up having an unexpected unforgetable day.


Our adventure started with a trip to Parker, CO (just about 10 miles south of Denver) to visit The Wildlife Experience www.thewildlifeexperience.com. They had a cool exhibit called Wolf to Woof (as dog lovers this certainly caught our attention) that showed the history of the wolf and how people came to have dogs as pets. it was pretty cool!





When we left the museum, we hit another Denver favorite, Liks, for yummy ice cream www.liksicecream.com. With a great crowd of locals, we enjoyed some delicious cones on this hot hot hot summer day.











Randomly, we then took a drive north to City Park, a huge park in the middle of Denver that was designed by the same guy that did Central Park in NYC. We just happened upon a crazy beer and bike festival put on by everyone favorite Colorado Brewery, New Belgium Brewery! http://www.newbelgium.com/vibe_tourdefat.php With no entry fee, people dressed in funny costumes, a ring where you could ride on crazy-made bikes and unicycles, and cheap beer, this was a great finish to our spontaneous Saturday! It was called the "Tour de Fat," named after the New Belgium favorite, Fat Tire beer, and will be touring around the country this summer...check it out in a city near you!

Not half bad for a weekend where Richard is working nights!

MDA Summer Camp

This week i spent four amazing days at MDA Summer Camp in Empire, Colorado. Known as "the greatest week of the year" for the 100 kids that go to camp, this week was truly one to remember! It is so rewarding to know that the other 51 weeks of the year that we work and plan events to raise money makes this week at camp possible.

At MDA Summer Camp, children with a type of neuromuscular disease get to spend a week with friends participating in activities specifically designed to their special needs. Campers go horseback riding, swimming, fishing, and can even ride a zip line through the mountains. Other activities this week included Harley Night, a talent show, and the dance on the final night.

I also made some new MDA friends this week...

Joey (below) is a new favorite. He never looses his smile, loves to play spiderman, and had a great time at the dance.

For more pictures from MDA Summer Camp, go to www.comdacamp.com/2007

the username is mdacampco07

and the password is pirates

almost a 14er

Another awesome day in the mountains!

With little sleep, we hit I-70 this morning to get an early start hiking Grey's Peak (just west of Georgetown, Colorado). Grey's Peak is one of about 50 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado (14ers) and would be the first ever for andrea (and arnie), but not for richard (or dirk)!

The route proved to be rougher, steeper, longer, snowier, rockier, and just plain harder than andrea had expected...but after about 4 hours on the trail we made it to about 13,500 feet. While not quite to the summit still an awesome day.

The views from the top were absolutely incredible - we were looking down on other "big" mountains and even saw a mountain goat fairly close up. The snow was up to our knees in places and the trail was often icy, and we can't wait to make another 14er attempt later this summer.

What a day!

today was the true measure of colorado life!



we woke up early and hit the road to Buena Vista, Colorado - a place as beautiful as it's name suggests - home of Young Life's Frontier Ranch and the Arkansas River. we met up with some friends at Noah's Ark, a local whitewater rafting outfitter, and hit the river about 10AM. after nearly 5 hours of paddling, hitting favorite rapids like zoom flume, pinball, and sidel's suckhole and braving the nearly 45 degree water, we came out unscathed and adrenalized! we can't wait to go back again this summer!

Summer Lovin'

for all of you doubters out there...we're still blogging!

the last few weeks have been so great for us - many fun events and trips to bring in the summer here in denver (where the days are warm and the nights are cool and everyday makes us want to spend more time outside)

memorial day weekend was awesome for both of us...

for andrea, it was the 4th annual WFU girls weekend - this time in knoxville, tennessee. with the arrival of baby sam leonard, it only seemed fitting to spend the weekend at the luttrell's lake house. the weekend kept up the traditions of relaxing, having great conversations, and playing many rounds of mexican train!

for richard, the holiday weekend brought a beautiful mountain top wedding for our good friends robert and jill and a reunion with many southwestern med school friends. (side note...jill and andrea have the same birthday and both went to high school in roswell, ga! - what a small world)

also bringing in the summer for the fuquays...

richard's first 100 mile bike ride - the Elephant Rock Ride in Castle Rock, CO

and, a fun weekend bbq with our friends tamra, dan and their two precious girls, regan & tatem (regan loved the ice cream!).

we are looking forward to many great summer weekends....we'll keep you posted.