Easter 2011

Easter 2011 was much different than Easter 2010.

A quick 2010 recap - Church and brunch with Col & Rod, which was fun and wonderful to spend time with friends...then we headed back to our apartment and watched movies on the computer for the rest of the day. This lead to me being weepy and sad that we weren't with our families and that we were on the other side of the country and yada yada yada. Basically, we had been here for 3 weeks, and I was super homesick.

Fast forward to 2011 - We made Italian Pizzagaina to bring to All Souls, spent the morning at church and at church brunch after with new friends, went to Avery brewery with friends for an Easter beer, and then went to Cassy & Justin's for Easter dinner, where Leah and Cassy whipped up a delicious feast and I made Coconut Key Lime Pie for dessert. We had a wonderful day with friends, we got to talk to our families back home.

While I still missed our families back in CT, this Easter was much easier to be out here, and it was so fun to spend time with our new friends! (It probably made it easier too, since we are heading back to CT next week and get to see everyone!)

Italian Pizzagaina

An update on our lives...

I havn't posted in forever, so I am catching up today. Besides all our visitors, here is what has been going on in our lives:
*Tim passed his certification exam, wahoo!
*We have been getting closer with people from church and it has been so fun and wonderful!
*We are both back into working out several times a week, and we have resumed biking to work a few days a week.
*Both of the kiddos I nanny have started walking - I'm so proud of them :)
*We are heading to CT/VT the first weekend in May for Tim to compete in Tough Mudders at Mt. Snow with a bunch of our friends - I can't wait to see our families and our bestest friends all in one place!
*The weekend after Tough Mudders, I head to Italy with M's family :) SO excited!

I think that is it for the updates...I'll try to post more often in the coming weeks!

Grammy's Ravioli

I've been wanting to make my grandmother's ravioli all winter, and after making calzone last week we had leftover ricotta cheese, so I thought I would take advantage of the rainy/snowy/cold day on Sunday (after a beautiful day of climbing in sunshine and almost 80 degree weather on Saturday!) to make them. When you don't have a pasta roller, making ravioli is time consuming and not super pretty, but we had them for dinner last night and they were delicious anyway! The secret is cinnamon and sugar in the filling - an amazing contrast to the saltier tomato sauce :) Here are some photos of the process and the result:

Rolling out the homemade dough

Adding the filling

the filling

Sealing the ravioli

finished ravioli - not my prettiest one :(

Plate of finished ravioli

plate of finished, cooked, and sauced ravioli :)

Grillin'

We recieved out REI dividend awhile ago, and decided to buy a grill with it :) We are super excited to be able to grill again, and have already used it a bunch. I was so excited about it the day we bought it that I took a million pictures, I thought I'd share them with you all!

Our shiny new grill :)

Makings of pina coladas - that pineapple coconut juice is amazing!

Our finished chicken burgers

Tim grilling :)

Yum!

Lisa's Visit!

A few weeks ago, Li came to visit us during her spring break. Her arrival didn't go quite as planned, and instead of arriving a little before 11 on Tuesday evening, she arrived at about 3:15 on Wednesday morning. After sleeping in, Li and Tim spent the afternoon biking around Boulder, and when I got home we went for a walk and made dinner and hung out. On Thursday, Li and Tim went skiing at ABasin, and on Friday they came and walked with C and me. On Saturday we all headed back up to the mountains and had an unexpected powder day at Breck :) We were all sore from various workouts earlier in the week, and our legs were jelly by the time we were walking around the town - it was totally worth it though! Li made us a delicious dinner on Saturday evening, and we spent the night watching a movie and relaxing. On Sunday we went to church, and then went to the largest Bass Pro Shop ever before dropping Li off at the airport. It was a fun trip, and we really enjoyed having Li here with us!

We also had Adam stay with us on Sunday and Monday after Li left, and it was wonderful to see him too! I think our visitors have ended for the time being...it will be weird not having anyone with us for awhile!

Here are a few photos of Li's trip:

Li looking out at Boulder from Mt. Sanitas

Me and Li - Sistas on a Pow day at Breck

Li at the top of Imperial Bowl

Happy Hineys!

Mom & Dad Hine Visit Boulder!

Last week, Tim and I had some more visitors! His parents came to visit our humble abode, and we had such a fun time showing them around Boulder :) Here is a brief rundown of their trip:
*On Tuesday Tim picked them up from the airport, took them to The Toad for lunch, and had them hike Mt. Sanitas (nothing like a hike to wake you up!) Then we all went to dinner at Mountain Sun, our fav :)
*On Wednesday, Tim and his parents went skiing at Keystone (well Tim and his dad went skiing, his mom went snowshoeing due to an injured foot) That night we hung out and had dinner at our place.
*On Thursday, Tim and his dad went cross-country skiing up at Brainard Lake. Momma Hine and I went grocery shopping (where we picked up some beautiful flowers!), out to lunch, driving/walking around town, cappuchinno and chocolate croissants at Peet's, and babysitting for M. Then we had some yummy homemade pizza and watched American Idol :)
*On Friday, it was Tim's birthday :) We went skiing at Breckenridge, and walked around town after. The day was beautiful and the snow was good. We then went to dinner at the Breck Brewery, and got some yummy chocolate at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
*On Saturday, we had a lazy morning and then walked all down Pearl Street to REI, and back again. We had lunch at Snarf's, and then went to see True Grit. We had dinner at The Toad.
*On Sunday, we went to church and had one last meal together at the airport before they left for CT.

We had so much fun with them, and we can't wait until they can come visit again :) Here are a very few pictures of our trip, seeing as I forgot to take out my camera :)

Me and the Birthday Boy :)

Tim and Dad

Our lunch spot

Bunny at our apartment

Oh yeah, and Tim chopped my hair :)

All Souls Women's Retreat

Let me just say, first of all, that the women of All Souls in Boulder are amazing wonderful people.

So to back up, Tim and I started attending this church with my sis in law Sarah was visiting (she's the one who found out about it!) and since then, we have been attending Sunday service and a Tuesday night Community Group with some really fun, welcoming people! One day at church, they announced that there was going to be a Women's Retreat at the end of February. It sounded like fun, but I am not very bold so I wasn't sure I would go. Then I got the email inviting me...and then I got another email from Cassy (a girl in our community group) telling me I should come...and then I got another email from Sarah saying I should go. So, I talked to Tim about it and we decided that I should go. Fast forward to the week before the retreat, I was a nervous wreck. I kept waffleing back and forth about my decision to go, and I almost backed out. Luckily, Tim wouldn't let me.

This past Friday, I met at the church to drive up with a few women I didn't know, and one that I did. I felt instantly welcomed and at ease, and we had quite an adventure getting up to Pinecliffe,CO - driving in the dark on windy roads, missing our turn, finding our way again, and then getting TWO cars stuck on the hill up to the house! The rest of the weekend consisted of amazing food prepared by an awesome girl named Leah, teachings from a very wise lady named Tammy,  walks outside and lots of fellowship and time to meet new friends. I am so blessed to have spent a weekend with these women, and I can't wait to hang out with them all again!

It was a weekend of answered prayers, and I am glad that I went! We truly have been fortunate to find such a wonderful community of Christians :)

I'll post some pictures if I get them!