We are officially "those people"

We hate ourselves for this a little bit too. Yes, we put a coat on our dog AND boots. In case you are wondering, we are actually aware that Seger is not a human (although these photos and Seger would both beg to differ). 

We need to defend ourselves a little bit here. Seger has really short hair and gets very cold on her walks. She shivers and won't put her paws down in the snow. We really didn't want it to come to this, but it has. We took Seger snowshoeing today at Guanella Pass with Marcus's Dad.  Seger LOVED it!  She was bounding through the snow and she actually liked wearing her boots once she realized that they kept her feet warm.  It was an awesome day- 4 miles round trip, pretty quick and easy.  

The Newest Rasmussen!

Here is our new dog, Seger. She is a 2 year old Vizsla mix from the Humane Society. She is VERY sweet! We love her.

The Real Deal

Here's a few shots of our Christmas Wonderland. Not as impressive as before, I think, but still pretty nifty.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

Marcus shot a quick video of our Christmas lights. You'll need to turn the sound up for this one. Let us know what you think.

Deck the Halls!

The last two days have been an absolute blast!  We've been busy decorating our house for the holidays for the first time ever.  It was so fun to put Christmas lights on our very own house for the first time.  We bought an artificial tree last year on a day after Christmas sale and a bunch of Christmas ornaments.  We went to Lowes yesterday on Black Friday and we were able to buy exterior lights for our house because they were 25% off.  

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays...

We are so excited to only have ONE more day of work this week!  I am really looking forward to going to Loveland to see my family for Thanksgiving.  We are in great need of a get away.  I don't think it matters how old you are, there is nothing like going home- especially after you've been away.  I am looking forward to going home and relaxing, playing rummy, doing some puzzles, playing some board games, and watching some Christmas movies.  It is great to go home; it is the one place where you will always be a little kid.  :)  36 hours to go!

Funny Pictures!

My nephews are in town staying with us.  This afternoon Michael and I were playing around with Photobooth on my computer.  His pictures turned out pretty funny.  :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Happy Halloween!!

For Halloween, Marcus and I were bikers. I think we had different interpretations of what that was...

We spent Halloween at our friend, Russell's house. We teach with Russell and he lives in a neighborhood zoned to our school. Whenever a student came that we knew, he handed out little tubes of toothpaste. At the end of the night, he this drawn on the end of his driveway. :) Too funny!

We are very excited and stressed out about this upcoming week. We were off of work last week for Fall Break. It was very relaxing- we cleaned the garage, watched movies, graded, slept in, and worked out. It was some much needed down time! This week we both get observed by our Assistant Principal and we are starting a new unit/book, which is always stressful. On Tuesday, Joe and Mandi (Beth's brother and sister-in-law) move back from Australia. Then, Friday-Sunday Ryan, Claire, & family (Beth's brother, sister-in-law, and 2 nephews) are staying with us. I guess we need to babyproof the house. :) I am so excited to see my brothers and their families! This will be the first time we've all been together in over a year.

Bathroom Remodel

The Scramble

We (mostly Marcus) have been busting our butts to get the house together for Evelyn's visit in two weeks. We really want to have our guest bedroom and bathroom finished (which means we will actually need to install the toilet that currently sits in the middle of the bedroom floor). Marcus bought the countertop for the bathroom this week, grouted and sealed the bathroom floor, installed the shower fixtures- he has been working so hard and it looks great!

We are hoping to crank a bunch of stuff out this weekend. We have three sets of curtains to hang and Marcus is hoping to get his workshop all set up in the garage.

School has been crazy. I am currently taking 3 classes on top of teaching. I am going to be missing work on Monday to go to a conference. I am also a club advisor this year. I am heading up our NJHS (National Junior Honor Society) club which will be VERY time-consuming. I am also doing a very nerdy book club for the Twilight books. I had a ton of kids reading it that are extremely excited about my club. We are going to play games and talk about the book and then go to the movie when it comes out.

Needless to say, we are both beside ourselves with excitement for Fall Break (October 25-September 2). We are hoping to relax, catch up on grading, and redo the kitchen. Sounds relaxing, huh? :)

Pictures Finally!

New House Paint.  We thought we were getting a grey color, but we were very surprised by the blue.  Believe it or not, it was the best color option our HOA had to offer.  We will take it though, anything is better than peeling!  :)

Side after

Preping the house.  Marcus and I spent all of Friday just preping-scraping, priming, caulking, and replacing trim boards with dry rot.

Our back"yard" lacks grass and is completely overgrown with weeds.  These little burs were all over all of us.

Dry Rot

Side Before

Back before

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait...

Hey there! We are absolutely SWAMPED with schoolwork this week. We have taken pictures of the house and we got about 80% of it painted in one weekend. We haven't had a spare minute to finish painting or to post pictures on our blog. We are really sorry!

Work is going really well this year. We are both finding it to be so much easier than it was last year. We had midterms due last week, and it is a very busy time of year. We are both anxiously awaiting our next break (Fall Break) which is the last week of October.

Last weekend we went to Rocky Mountain National Park and camped at a really cool campsite outside of Estes. It was so nice to get away and go to our annual elk viewing. :) We played dominoes and built a fire and Marcus made a very bold cooking move- French Dip Sandwiches while camping. They actually turned out pretty good- the bread got a little burnt, but it was mostly good. We have pictures of last weekend we will post as well.

Sorry about the music videos this week (I'm sure you all were curious). We needed to use them for a lesson we did on American music revolutions. We will post pictures as soon as we get a chance!

New Family Room!

New living room furniture!  We bought a new couch and loveseat, partially with a gift card from Marcus' dad.

Shower Surround!

Marcus working hard on the shower surround.  This section took a lot of tough tile cuts.  Not fun.

Bathroom Remodel, part duex

New Tile, Old Paint

Ungrouted tile, but with paint color

Still a little more tiling to do...  :)

We are very excited to get our air ducts/furnance/AC unit cleaned on Friday so we finally use our AC.  

The Best Summer Ever

What Does A Pirate Tile With? HARRRDIBOARD!

We are nerds!  Here are the latest photos!

Before the Hardiboard, with Kilz

After, with Hardiboard, not yet screwed down

Waldman and I worked too hard, and passed out on the floor to Arrested Development on the laptop.

The old countertop

Marcus sawing off the ledge

We made it cleaner than it appears here.  We are tiling this to match the rest of the bathroom.

Before...

After, painted the trim color

The "Red Room" is starting to come together.

The view as you enter the front door.  Beth painted the window and distressed it. 

Here's a table we bought on Craigslist.  Beth refinished it (surprise surprise).  The guys who did our hardwoods gave us some pointers and some supplies. 

Since our A/C is out of commission right now, we bought this lovely fan for the family room.

Bathroom Remodel

It was 95 degrees in our house the day he tore this down.  

So it's been a while since we posted last.  We are finally feeling motivated to work again (we definitely hit a lag the last two weeks).  We've been moving over our furniture from our apartment, touching up the paint, installing a ceiling fan- the list goes on.  GOOD NEWS:  Our dishwasher FINALLY works!  I am so glad I don't have to waste time washing dishes by hand anymore.  

Marcus started our bathroom remodel yesterday.  It was pretty funny to watch him attack the tile with the hammer.  Waldman helped too.