Dear Kansas highway department,

Please put a curve in the highway so Bob doesn’t have to hold the steering wheel straight for 8 whole hours.

Thanks, Jen

The trip was long, as we expected. We packed up all 3 pets and headed to Rochester for Christmas. The dogs were actually amazing and slept all cute and cuddled up the entire time.

Our only issues came with Paco.

Senor Paco does not enjoy car rides and tends to go to the bathroom in his cat carrier. We knew this already and I packed a “diaper bag” with towels, rubber gloves and wet wipes. Paco had 4 baths on the way to Rochester. The most eventful was when he pooped and we took an hour to find a family bathroom to give him a bath in. The sink was not made to bathe small animals and Bob was not happy about it.

Paco had a few more baths on the way back to Colorado. One time he pooped in the corner of his crate and didn’t smear it all over like he had before. I know it is gross, but Bob was very excited that it was a “clean” poop! He praised Paco for getting it all neatly in the corner of his crate to make clean-up easier. Then Paco got wiped down with cat wipes… for cats that bathe with dignity. I’m not kidding.

Paco begs to differ about the “dignity” part. He was still very embarassed.

It was still freezing cold (around 26 degrees) so we grabbed some hot chocolate and hot cider and fed the goats before heading home. The goats loved Bob. Must be all of his facial hair that matched the goats.

Today we went to Rock Creek farms that had the same problem with pumpkins freezing and rotting. Acres upon acres of the pumpkin patch were a bust to walk through. All of the remaining pumpkins had already turned to mush. We headed to the pre-picked bins to get pumpkins that hadn’t turned into orange blobs yet.

Since it is getting chilly here, the kids have started to snuggle. Don’t look at the next picture if you can’t handle cuteness. Don’t let them fool you though! They are still trouble! Just ask Coda where my loaf of beer bread and pound of vanilla fudge went.

Oh, and Bob wanted to show off his pumpkin again:

In my words, I would say it is a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath home with ugly carpet and and ugly kitchen that hasn’t been updated since 1977. See for yourself.

Bob and I did some work and painted wood paneling in the living room the day after we moved in. Even Mike Brady would have approved of us painting over the paneling. We also painted the office and two bedrooms. I replaced dark navy blue fabric vertical blinds in the kitchen and hung lighter drapes in their place.

Now we just need some ore visitors! Looking forward to Jimmy, Beth, Kendall and Sydney visiting in February. We are taking reservations year-round, so let us know if you’d like to stay at la casa de Spryns.

There is a lake we can walk to from our house. It is called Standley lake and the Colorado state record for the largest walleye was caught there. The lake has bass, trout and panfish as well so Bob and I decided to try our fishing skills out there. We tried to fish from the shoreline but the water was so shallow where we were so we only caught weeds with our lures. I did, however, fish out two golf balls with the net, so we didn’t go home empty-handed.

Mommy and daddy went off to work and I spent my day as I usually do: sleeping and hoping to see my new friend. I met a beautiful furry gal a few weeks ago and she sits on our front porch a couple times a week. We gaze into each other’s eyes and talk through the window. She hasn’t told me her name yet, but I call her the most beautiful name I can think of: Maria Bonita Burrito.

When mommy got home she brought in the mail and I got a Birthday card from my furry birth mother, Dorothy. She’s a sweet lady and it makes me happy to know she still thinks about me. I have seen pictures of her and I’m told I look a lot like her!

As a special birthday treat I was given a few pieces of steak. It smelled good, but I wasn’t in a carnivore mood, so my big brother Coda gobbled up the steak for me. I was ready to get to the presents! Oh boy oh boy! First I was given a shiny crinkle ball. It was ok, but I was pretty much not interested because I knew something better was in mommy’s bag of tricks. Then she pulled out this glorious green ball with a bell inside. My favourite color is green and I love anything that can make noise to annoy my daddy when he’s asleep. This was perfect! I kept shoving it under the couch where I couldn’t reach it, so my parents had to help me get it out each time. I did it on purpose. I love making them dote on me just because it is my birthday. Hehe.

The last gift was wrapped with a nice bow on top. I didn’t know how to open it, but once again, big brother Coda came to the rescue and opened it for me. It was a fish-mobile! I swatted it around for a bit and when Coda came around, I started swatting at him too. Hey, it is my birthday and I’ll swat if I want to!

Paco’s 1st Birthday from Bob Spryn on Vimeo.

After all of that excitement and playing I’m all tuckered out. I’ll take a catnap when mommy and daddy watch TV tonight just so I have enough energy to get up at 5 am again and play with my noisy green ball…right next to daddy. I might even take the green ball behind the dresser where daddy can’t get me.

1. No leather
2. No Microfiber
3. No flowers
4. Not too soft
5. No fluff
6. Clean lines a must

I found a place called Cort that rents furniture for staging houses. They also sell this furniture at a discounted “used” price, even though the furniture is never really used to sit on. So we got a great deal on a “nearly new” sofa and chair.

After seeing Grandpa Zip bust a move, I immediately knew where my dad and uncle Jimmy got their sweet skills. Lets just say they won’t be winning a mirrorball trophy anytime soon, but they sure do have fun. To our younger friends known for dancing (that is you- Nespeca)- bring your dancing shoes and prepare for dance-offs!

Saturday was spent running errands and was very productive. I met with the DJ and had alterations done as well and also met with the banquet planner at the Golf Club. Sunday our family was supposed to have a portrait taken but due to some unexpected kidney stones and a trip to the ER, mom and dad bailed out. Had mom been able to make it to the photoshoot, she would have been drooling like a bulldog due to the vicodin she had to take. It ended up being Amanda and I posing together. And by posing, I mean I am choking her in one picture and pretending I’m at a photoshoot by “Glamour Shots by Deb” in Napolean Dynamite. The photographer told me not to smile for a few pictures so I look downright cranky.

After a flight delay I made it back to Colorado late Sunday night. I was lucky to come home to a clean house (windows washed and all!), a dog that finally broke the squeaker in his annoying toy, cuddly Paco, and a big hug from my husband-to-be.

So to get you up to speed, yes we moved again after only a couple months in Highlands Ranch, CO  to Broomfield, CO.

Here are pictures of our place.

Yes it stunk to have to move again, but I got a great job offer out of a company in Boulder, CO that just seemed like the right move to make. Its a small startup company (25 people or so) in a fast-moving market of the internet (social networking for enterprise companies) called Hivelive. Its a company with a whole lot of really smart people, and we already have a great product. Essentially my job is to help make the product even better and take it to a whole new level. Its great to find myself smiling during the day for no reason other than I enjoy what I’m doing. Its also cool to have a stake in the company’s success.

On to other things.

Coda is doing well with his surgery. We had xrays done and the bone is filling in and healing where its supposed to. He shows basically no signs at this point that he ever had surgery as far as how he behaves. He is actually pretty frustrated that he still isn’t allowed to play. He has another 6 weeks before we can start playing with him off leash at all… and probably another 18 weeks until he is considered 100% back to normal. So hopefully he’s right on schedule.

Paco was neutered today, and since he has got home he has been absolutely crazy… literally bouncing off walls, bouncing off Coda, and crashing into things. We figured the less testosterone might mellow him out! Watch Paco’s Movie… click below:

Jen also had her first day of work today, and so far so good. She has an office with a view of the mountains (lucky) and she says all the people are extremely nice. So she’s excited. She’ll be doing very similar work to what she was doing at Trout… customer service type stuff for their members. The company is called Nita which stands for National Institute for Trial Advocacy. They are kind of continuing education for lawyers… they do a lot of seminars with mock trials to train lawyers on the right way to do things.

That’s about all that is new around here!

Catch ya soon!

http://www.bobandjenswedding.com

We have a guest room so come visit!