Shop time.......I put together the new cruiser and put some new tires on my scooter.

Manitou Springs Weekend

This past weekend we had a great time. Friday night, we went with Matt and Dianah to Manitou Springs (located very close to Colorado Springs). We stayed at the Avenue Hotel Bed & Breakfast --- this was a very neat place. It was an old Victorian looking home with many many rooms. We stayed on the top floor with adjoining rooms. That night we went for a walk through the town & found a nice place to eat.

As you all know, "Joey never met a bicycle he didn't want to ride" & this one is no exception!

I didn't know it when we made the plans to go with Matt & Dianah, but Saturday was the Emma Crawford Coffin Races. It sounded creepy to me & I wasn't sure that it was really right to attend, but really - it ended up being a good day. The story of Emma Crawford was kind interesting... It had something to do with her being buried at the top of a mountain over 100 years ago, then later growth and building required that her coffin be moved. When they moved it, they didn't bury it completely, then the rains came and her coffin came cruisin down the mountain into the town of Manitou Springs. The coffin races consisted of a team of 4 "paul bearers" & an Emma. There were about 50 teams and they had a parade first, followed by the races. We watched all of the parade & a few of the races. We were right in front and Matt noticed some children sitting behind us and we offered to have them stand in front. The two girls were too cute ... they kept getting high fives from all parade people then after their race they would tell them "good game" ... we got a kick out of it.

We spent some time enjoying the weather on the front porch of the B & B, drinking hot tea / coffee & talking. We bought things we didn't need, ate too much & enjoyed the beautiful weather. We made friends with a couple of black squirrels. I am sure that y'all have had enough of the squirrel stories, but I think Joey may be a "squirrel whisperer"!... Here is one that he was up close and personal with...

Joey took some wonderful pictures on this trip. I have got to learn how to make a slide show so that you all can see them too... but until then ... this is all you get :-)

We had a wonderful time with Matt & Dianah & we think we might try out some other B & B's every month or two!

Our Pumpkin/Squirrel saga...

A little over a week ago we told y'all about the pretty little pumpkin that I carved and about how the squirrels decided that they needed to eat it. Well, here is a picture of it before...

Like I mentioned earlier ... it only took the squirrels about a day to find the pumpkin and start eating on it. One day we came home to find the stem down on the steps to the house, about 10 feet away from the main part, then later that night, we caught the squirrel carrying the stem up into the tree... Here is a picture of that. You can barely see it, but it is in the Y of the tree.

Those little suckers are strong for their size. We decided to just let them have at it. When we went to Manitou Springs over the weekend we wondered how much of the pumpkin would be left when we returned. We came home to a half eaten pumpkin. It was dragged out to on the sidewalk. We were home for little over an hour before we caught some of our little friends getting their fill...

Since it is getting close to real winter here, we decided to let them just eat as much as they can so their bellies will be nice and full! By the way - you can click on the any of the pictures in this blog and it will bring up a bigger picture so that you can see all the details... Like in the picture below you can see that the squirrel has a little piece of pumkin in his "hand" and has is mouth wide open.

I've been tagged

I've been tagged by Bethany... I am to name 7 of my quirks...

I thought all day about this trying to figure out what my quirks are... Here they are - several of them are food related. For my family back in Pensacola - I am sure they remember all to well how picky of an eater I was growing up!

1. I put french fries in my chocolate milk shakes, I love plain lays potato chips crunched up in chocolate ice cream & finally ... I put french fries on my hamburgers (I learned all of these from my momma!!!)

2. I snap with the wrong finger. I never knew that it was wrong, but Joey pointed it out. I snap with my ring finger & he says you are supposed to use your middle finger. I was just on the phone with my momma & told her which finger I snapped with & she said "yep, that's wrong!" I never knew! :)

3. The pupil in my left eye is off center! I was born this way & no - it doesn't affect my vision.

4. At a very early age, I learned to say my alphabet backwards! ---Hazards of an only child.

5. I love brownies & I love pecans, but I do not like pecans in my brownies!

6. I will not eat anything off the bone ... No chicken, steak, ribs, pork chops.... all have to be boneless. I don't really even like knowing that it had been on a bone!

7. I have the hardest time driving home from work without calling my Momma, Grannie or Joey. I would say that 9 days out of 10, I call one of them for my drive home. I am one of those people make other people crazy - driving and talking on the cell phone!

I would love to tag some people now, but I don't really know any people on blogspot. :(

What happens in Vegas....

stays in Vegas! That's what they say, right?!!! Well -- not so much. I caught a cold in Vegas and brought it home with us. I was sick the first week we go back and Joey has been sick with it for a little over a week now. He really is in bad shape...
We have been married a little over two weeks now. Life is good. There is a subtle change now that we are married ... it is the same, but different (like Ritz bits) - it is the same, but better! :) Words cannot express.
We are still trying to figure out a way to have a little get together here in Denver before too long & we will definitely have one in Pensacola the next time we are home (unfortunately, that probably won't be until after the new year).
We love and miss all y'all in Pensacola/Milton!!!
Those of you in Denver - stop by or give us a call - we would love to hear from you!

Squirrels like pumpkins too...

I carved a pumpkin over at Dianah's on Friday. It was very cool if I do say so myself. I was very proud of it. I say WAS because some of our lovely little squirrels that we get so much joy and entertainment watching decided to EAT it!!! I carved little daisy like flowers on one side (for me) and flames on the other side (for Joey). ~Yes - I do have a picture, but it is way early right now & I do not want to disturb Joey by getting the camera out... ~ I went outside yesterday and found that a squirrel has eaten one of my flowers! There is a nice big hole there. :( I had put little round balls in the center and it was gone too! Oh well - it was cool while it lasted.

That's about it for the weekend. We were generally under the weather and just took it easy.

Our Wedding Video --- online for 3 months only!!!!

Hello everyone --- well the much anticipated internet wedding video is now available for your viewing pleasure. Please click on the link ... http://www.vivalasvegasweddings.com/lasvegaswedding-octobervideos.htm and then find our name towards the bottom (J.Hardwick) and click on it. It will take you to the video! It isn't the best quality, but I think you get the picture! It will be online for 3 whole months, so you can go back to it as often as you like to get your daily dose of joy!
Much love!!!

Chili worth Blogging about!

Hey Y'all -- well we had a nice relaxing weekend. It was very cool out - Don't think it got above 48 degrees. Definitely Fall here in Denver!!! With the busy weekend we had last weekend (getting married & all) and the busy week, we decided it was time for some down time. We didn't leave the house all weekend.(y'all quit thinking that way!) !!

Joey made some awesome chili --- I mean it was delicious!!! I made a little rice (cause that's how I like it) and cornbread. Yummy!!!

By the way --- Both the Gators and the Buccaneers won this weekend!!!!

Miss all y'all back home!!! Much love -- Joey & Lacey!

We got Married in Vegas!!!

Hello everyone... It has been a little while since we posted... As the title says -- we eloped & got married in Vegas last Saturday 10-4!!! Elvis did the honors & we drove in in a pink Caddy. Once the place gets it posted we will provide a link here so that y'all can share in our excitement. We are so excited to be husband and wife and look forward to the rest of our lives together and rockin' on the front porch in years to come!

---Here we are pre-wedding in our hotel room---

We stayed at the Stratosphere Hotel which is located at the North End of the strip. We had dinner at the Top of the World restaurant after our wedding. See photo to the right. This was some good stuff & you know Joey took a picture of it. It is on his phone right

now so I am not able to post it here! :) The view was amazing --- The Stratosphere is the tallest building this side of the Mississippi (which is hard to believe) -- the room rotated

360 degrees so we had an great view of Las Vegas and we could even see the lights of the place where we got married!

We did do a little gambling while we were there. Neither one of us is real big on it, so we didn't waste much money. Joey was better at it than me. He won 41$ on the nickle slots... here is a picture of him & his winnings :) on the left & then a picture of me not winning on the right :(

We saw many beautiful buildings, lights and custom motorcycles. There was a Bikefest in town the day we got there and Joey was in heaven seeing all of them. This was the first trip that we had taken together other than going home to Pensacola and it was absolutley wonderful. We travel well together.

Here is a picture of the Stratosphere at night & of the Freemont Street East sign -- there was a Neon meuseum here too! Also here is a picture of us being tourists (camera in hand and everything)

To all of our family and friends - we had you with us in spirit & hope you understand why we chose to elope! We love all y'all. Thanks so much for all of the well wishes we have received!!! much love!

We will post more pictures soon!!!