The Grand Escape
8/25/2010 - Posted by Nicole - 0 comments


Got a little story for ya, Ags...


As many of you know, Michael is in Argentina right now, leaving me and Pepper alone in the house to fend for ourselves. As such, I have been very cautious about keeping the doors and windows locked. This has kept us quite safe, however, it came back to bite me yesterday when we went out for a walk. 


We went for a little hike up the hill, and when we got back to the house I tried to open the door and realized it was locked! Dun, Dun, Duuuun. No problem, I thought, I will just climb in the open window in our living room. However, after I raised the screen I realized that the window was locked. Therefore, I was forced to go around to the back of the house and climb through the world's smallest window into our mud room. Suffice it to say, I did not look too graceful, I have bruises on my legs and forearms, but I got in and unlocked the back door. I'm just glad that my neighbors didn't call the cops on me breaking into my own house. 


You might think that was the end of the story, but Pepper had a different idea. Once I got inside, I opened a few of the windows in order to let in the mountain air. Pepper heard another dog outside and started going crazy, but I told her to calm down and didn't hear much more from her, so I thought we were good to go.


About half an hour later someone came to the door and I was surprised when Pepper didn't attack the guy who came to the door, so once he left, I walked around the house trying to find her. She was nowhere to be found, and that's when I realized it... 


I had left the screen up when I was trying to break in to the house. 


And Pepper saw it as a perfect opportunity to make her escape. 


I found her about 15 minutes later galloping through the field across from our house- happy as a clam. What a little stinker! I guess that's what I get for trying to keep our house safe. Oh well...


5 Years Down...
8/20/2010 - Posted by Nicole - 0 comments
5 years ago today, I said "I will" to spending the rest of my life with my best friend and the most wonderful man I have ever met. I cannot believe all that we have done in the past few years, nor can I believe how quickly it has all passed. It's simply remarkable and I praise the Lord each day for giving me the opportunity to live my life with Michael. He has challenged me to go places and do things that I never would have done of my own accord, and he's supported me through some of my greatest challenges. I cannot wait to see what the next 5, 10, and 70 years bring...


Honeymoon in Kaua'i- 2005

Whistler, B.C. - 2006

Yosemite National Park- 2007

Fort Hood, Texas- 2008

Breckenridge, CO- 2009

Sint Maarten- 2010

Love you, Bub!!!


Wordless Wednesday- A picture collage of Courtney's visit
8/18/2010 - Posted by Nicole - 1 comments

























Love you, sister!



GMA
8/17/2010 - Posted by Nicole - 0 comments
This weekend my sister has been in town and we have squeezed in a TON of fun activities! I'll blog more about that soon, but for now, I'll focus on one of my favorite things that we have been doing each morning: sitting on the couch in our PJs and watching Good Morning America. For some reason, this activity is something I have enjoyed since I was a little girl. It wasn't always GMA, of course, back then it was Inspector Gadget, but the concept is the same: lazing around in comfy clothes, eating breakfast, and vegging out before starting the day. It's a lovely little guilty pleasure. Until just recently we didn't have cable service, so I haven't been able to partake in such a wonderful activity, but now I am able to take full advantage- at least on my days off. 


Pepper sleeps in a tent
8/11/2010 - Posted by Nicole - 1 comments
The past six weeks since my return from Russia have been a little hectic. Michael has been working at Copper as a resort services agent and I started work as the three year-old teacher at Summit County Preschool four days a week. Between both of our busy work schedules we haven't had many days off together which has restricted us from hitting the trail and doing any serious hiking or backpacking. 


But all of that changed about two weeks ago. Michael has taken on a few extra Army Reserve commitments over the coming months, so he decided to start working part time for Copper. The best part is that his awesome boss, Cara, agreed to let him work Wednesday-Friday which correlates perfectly with my schedule. So, for the first time since we lived in Texas (over a year ago for anyone keeping track), Michael and I actually have REAL weekends together!!! YAY!! What a blessing.


In celebration of our new-found multiple days off together, we decided to hike the Mount of the Holy Cross this past weekend. 




Mt. of the Holy Cross is named for the cross shaped couloir on the north eastern slope. The summit is 14005 feet and the 11.5 mile trail gains over 5,500 feet of elevation. The most challenging part of the climb is that from the trail head you must hike to about 11700 ft and summit the Half Moon Pass then descend into a valley before regaining the lost elevation and ascending the summit. In light of these challenges, we chose to hike in on Saturday afternoon, spend the night in the valley and then attempt to summit on Sunday... all with Pepper in tow.


Obviously we got pretty used to backpacking during our three month adventure at NOLS, so we weren't too worried about making it through the night; however, until this weekend we had not gone backpacking with Pepper. Initially we had planned for her to sleep in her own little "pup" tent (not that she was very excited about it) but once we got to our campsite we realized that segregation was not going to be possible. We had checked the weather beforehand, which called for .05 inches of rain, but around 6:30, once we got settled and had eaten dinner, it began to rain- and didn't stop until 5:30 am!!! The good news: Pepper slept at our feet in the tent all night long with now whining or disruption.


We were truly amazed!! What a great pup!

Sunday morning we woke up early, made breakfast (yay for oatmeal and Vanilla Chai), and hit the trail. We were surrounded by a heavy fog initially, but we had high hopes for an opportunity to summit.


Our first glimpse of sunlight

Rising above the clouds

Cresting the false summit (and running into mean, nasty clouds)

Unfortunately, just as we came over the false summit and began to approach the saddle of Mt. of the Holy Cross, a huge thunderhead rolled in and we (along with most of the nice people we had met on the trail) decided to hightail it down the boulder field and back to safety. We made it back to camp just ahead of the rain shower and waited it out before packing up and heading back to the Jeep. 

Although we were disappointed, on the bright side, this was our first 14er attempt that ended without a summit (that's 10 attempts for Mike and 6 for me). The overall experience, though, was super fun!! We spent a bunch of time reminiscing about how much we love our friends from NOLS, all that we learned, and how sad we are that we can't relive the experience again and again. I guess we'll just have to keep on camping!


The Death of Foxy
8/01/2010 - Posted by Nicole - 0 comments
Pepper is unequivocally the best dog ever. If you've ever checked out our pictures online you've realized that we take an inordinate number of pictures of her doing everything from sitting in the Jeep to playing in the snow and especially hiking, her favorite activity. The only drawback to our Pepper dog, is that she destroys any and every stuffed animal toy that we have ever purchased. She's really excited to play with the animal at first, but within a few minutes the seams are ripped to shreds, the stuffing is torn out, the animal is dead, and she has lost complete interest.


However, while we were in Dallas, my sister purchased Pepper the best dog toy on the face of the planet: the "indestructible" Crazy Critter Fox. 



The toy is everything that a regular stuffed dog toy is, but without the stuffing. I don't know why, but this someone makes the toy "indestructible". Throw in two squeakers, one in the tail, one in the head and you have the recipe for a great dog toy. Ever since we've returned home, Pepper has played with Foxy on a daily basis. She even takes Foxy into her kennel at night to sleep with her. 

We have both been amazed at the longevity that Foxy has experienced. Never in Pepper's three years has she been so attached to a toy, or so we thought. Tonight, Foxy finally met her demise. Pepper chewed through the seam in Foxy's head, turned her inside out, and silenced the squeaker. She is now no longer interested in Foxy, she's only interested in playing with her towel. Such a sad day in the Horn household. 

RIP Foxy
April - August 2010
Pepper's favorite dog toy