December and January Update

It’s been almost two months since our last update, and we will try to blog more frequently going forward. Life is great in the Mile High City . It has been a cold winter, but it is usually sunny. The winter activities are great, as there is so much to do here.

Jeana and Jake’s visit: The Gobars visited in early December, and we had a great time. Reagan and Jake went skiing at Arapahoe Basin and Breckenridge, and the ladies went shopping. We enjoyed staying in Breck for a night, as steak and beer are always a great way to end a long day of skiing.

Jeana and Page on front of Hearthstone in Breckenridge

Christmas & New Year’s weekend: The SoRell family visited for 5 days over Christmas, and it was nice to have a White Christmas. There was plenty of great food, sledding, skiing, games, and laughing. We both got plenty of cold-weather gear and skiing accessories from Santa. Page got me a sweet skiing helmet, and I got her a pink one (shockingly, the child’s small fit her). I came through with a pretty sweet Coach for Page..... like she needed another one. Being a good son, I even played poker with friends until 3:00 AM because I had to take my family to the airport at 4:00 AM. We headed to the mountains for New Year’s weekend. We stayed in a sweet house in Silverthorn, where we played games, invented games, and enjoyed the hot tub. I was involved in the invention of a new game that combines beer pong and golf. Page and I had a lot of fun skiing Keystone for the first time, until I took my worst fall so far. I initially feared a broken arm, toughed it out for 2+ weeks, and now think I have a little bone damage. I guess I will lay off my ski jumping for a while, even if it means that Jake and I will not be as successful in our “synchronized skiing” on his next trip…. Haha. I am up to 15 days of skiing, and I think Page is at 9 days.

SoRell family in Ameristar Casino in Black Hawk

Janabeth, Page and Jan in front of fireplace in Black Hawk

January: We celebrated our 4^th Anniversary on January 7^th. It coincided with Alabama/Texas title game, so we watched the game in the bar at Morton’s. I am glad to be sharing my life with Page, and she is a wonderful wife. As somewhat of an anniversary trip, we went to Las Vegas for three nights. We stayed at The Palms, and it was a blast. It was fun to walk the Strip, check out numerous casinos/resorts, gamble, watch sidewalk entertainers, and eat some world-class food: Bellagio buffet (twice), In-n-Out Burger, Pink’s Hot Dogs, and a Brazilian steakhouse. Courtney also came for a weekend visit. We had breakfast in Golden on Saturday, and the ladies dropped me off to ski at Breckenridge before they went shopping. We took Courtney to Snooze on Sunday, our favorite breakfast place. After waiting a really long time, the manager told us we would not have to pay for our food. Thus, we loaded up on burritos and pancakes….. cherry cream cheese, pineapple upside down, apple & pear w/ maple cream, and funky monkey (banana and chocolate chips). It was nice to see Courtney, as Page really misses her friends. We are heading to Houston for four nights in February over President’s Day weekend. We can’t wait to see some great friends, eat some great food, and hopefully play golf.

Big Horn Sheep

Big Horn Sheep

In front of Bellagio water show

Flamingos at the Flamingo

M&M Store

LA's famous Pinks Hot Dogs

Denver Bound

This is Reagan, reporting from the Mile High City ! It’s been a while since our last update, and we finally moved to Denver at the end of October. In short, I absolutely love it here (and I think Page is in the same boat). Jeana and Jake, along with my buddy Ethan, hosted a going away party for us. It was a great night with plenty of good food, Texas beer, and laughter. Like I said that night, the hardest part of the move was leaving behind some truly great people that we are fortunate to have as close friends.

Now, I will try to quickly detail our lives since moving to Denver . The drive went as well as possible, and it took a total of 16 hours. We were very fortunate to have the help of my parents, and Earl drove the 26” Penske truck like a seasoned pro. I felt like a kid on Christmas morning as we rolled into Denver on a typical fall day: 45 degrees, blue skies, the sun beating down, and perfect golf weather. It was sad dropping off my parents at the airport, but we headed immediately to an REI store to purchase our season ski passes. As we started stacking boxes in the garage, I immediately envisioned turning the garage into my “mancave”…. finally! Some of the highlights will be: ping pong table, TV, poker table, a punching bag, and possibly a karaoke machine.

Our place is neat, as it has three levels and two bedrooms. Page has fixed it up, and it is beginning to feel like home. The area we live in ( Tech Center ) is beautiful, with hills (can’t wait to go sledding), tress, creeks, and some good restaurants and bars. I love my job, and the people here are really friendly and fun. Here are some highlights of our time in Denver so far:

-In the past two weeks, we have gone skiing three times & I’ve played two rounds of golf.

-We’ve been to Breckenridge three times, Estes Park , Keystone, and to Boulder for the Aggie game. It was tough seeing the Aggies give away the game, but the views from the stadium are amazing.

-We’ve seen elk and buffalo on the side of the road, as we drove to Estes Park and Breck.

-As I expected, skiing is REALLY fun!! The routine goes like this: get coffee and breakfast from McDonald’s halfway to Breck, ski for a few hours, refuel with a great burger and milkshake (or a cold one), and get back to Denver in time to watch some football. Page still has her moves, and I am much better than I expected.

-The weather is amazing: it has been sunny 22 of the 23 days we’ve been here.

-Page will likely start working this week….. I knew she would find something soon, as her kindness and value is easy to spot.

-I have half-day Fridays, so I will be skiing and golfing a lot.

We are staying here for Thanksgiving, and we will probably head to Blackhawk for our feast (casino town, 45 minute drive). We should get at least two days of skiing in, head to the outlet malls in Silverthorn (within 15 minutes of 4 ski resorts) for “Black Friday”, and then partake in another Thanksgiving feast on Saturday with some longtime friends of Page’s family. We are really looking forward to Jeana and Jake’s visit in two weeks. It will be so nice to catch up with them, and I am planning on some synchronized skiing with Jake (haha). We hope to have many visitors in the coming months.

Summer Fun!

Reagan and I have been busy this summer. We took a long weekend trip with the Lankford's and Gobar's to the Frio river in Concan. We had a great time and it was nice to get away. Our cabin was brand new and very nice. Reagan liked that the "pie lady" was right across the street. The river was really low but we still were able to find a couple of good swimming spots. Reagan's mom came in town at the end of June and we celebrated Reagan's birthday with lots of good food. We spent a weekend in Dallas to attend Reagan's childhood friend Josh's wedding.

Cabin in Concan, TX

Reagan and Jake swimming in the Frio River
The LeakeyFeed Lot in Concan, TX. Famous for chicken fried steak
The guys manning the grillReagan's Birthday dinner at TokyoReagan birthday dinner with his mom and sister
Happy Birthday Reagan!
Rehearsal dinner for Josh's wedding
Wedding in Dallas

Random Pictures

JanaBeth, Russell, me, Reagan in South Padre

The SoRells

JanaBeth, me, Jan in South Padre

Reagan and me in South Padre for my birthday

My dad and I at my sister's rehearsal dinner

Jacy, me and Kyle at Jacy's rehearsal

Reagan and I at Jacy's rehearsal at the Swinging Door

Reagan and his mom at the rehearsal

Our Home

Reagan and I have lived in our apartment for about a month now. We love the apartment and the area. We are in walking distance of several really nice shopping centers and restaurants. We have enjoyed our Saturdays at the pool.

View from our balcony

View from our balcony

Pool view from our balcony

Relaxing Weekend

This weekend was nice to be home. I finally got to enjoy our new apartment. We got to hang out with some friends and Reagan's sister. I was at the pool both Saturday and Sunday and it was so relaxing. Here are some pictures from our visit to the Gobar's. Baby Ethan is getting so big.

The Proposal

No, we didn't get engaged again but Reagan got free passes for a sneak preview of the movie “The Proposal”. We went to dinner before with Kirsten and Andrew at Cafe Adobe, and we then saw the movie. I really liked the movie, but Reagan said he expected more. The movie takes place in Sitka , Alaska (though it was actually shot in Massachusetts , per a Google search), and it is a beautiful seaside village with mountains nearby. I recommend seeing it. The best part was a guy proposed before the movie started. He had made a video to show on the screen, and then he got on his knee and proposed. It was cute but I would be so embarrassed if that happened to me.