Our fruit trees have started to bloom and the sweet smell of new blossoms are filling the air.  It is a true indication that spring is here.  The warm sun and fresh air only confirm this discovery.  I am so excited for this new season.  I am waiting with anticipation of all the wonderful changes in our life.  This is going to be a great spring!

   

Fun had by All

Recently we have been enjoying hanging out with some sweet friends.  Friday, March 30 I went to a new wine bar called Four Leaves with a group of friends.  Actually, there is a group of us that try and get together every Friday night.  Typically it is hosted at someones home, but on this night we went out the  town.  A gentleman from our group was playing music at the wine bar.  We enjoyed tasting yummy wines and listening to the great music that filled the air. 

The Girls: Erin, ME, & Sarah

Dear Friends: Ryan & Erin

Dear Friends: Mike & Sarah

Oh Saturday was great!  I got up went on a nice hike with my good friend Erin.  It was a perfect morning for a hike, a cool yet sunny morning.  Nick had gotten up early and went into Durango to enjoy breakfast with some friends.  Later that morning we met up and went on a long walk, returning movies to our little library, bought milk at the grocery store, and stooped by the bakery for a donut.  After that we came home made macaroni & cheese and plopped on the couch to watched a movie.  Delightful!

RELAX!!

This weekend was just as eventful!  On Friday we attended a Good Friday Service at our church in Durango, it was awesome.  Saturday night we had a delicious family dinner.  Nick's mom Alexis, Nick's brother Neil, and Neil's girlfriend Cassie all attended.  We had big juicy steaks, shrimp scampi, sweet potato fries, and dessert - pecan pie.  See I told you it was delicious!  Oh I forgot to mention that the newest member of our family was also there - Winston the new three old puppy. 

On Sunday afternoon we went over to our friend's house, Mike & Sarah, for Easter Dinner.  It was a yummy pot-luck dinner, with good conversation, and great company.  The ladies were at the dinner table talking about shopping, while the men were in the living room talking about hunting.  So very appropriate!!  Happy Easter - we hope all our friends and family had a great Easter as well.   

The Girls

The Gentlemen

Fun-Filled Events

Nick and I have had some fun the last couple of weekends.  I did not capture the moments on camera, but I figure I would share the different fun events in our life.  Nick celebrated his 27th Birthday on March 19.  We had a celebratory weekend and went out to dinner at Cuckoo's, a YUMMY chicken wing restaurant.  Yes, you order and eat different flavored chicken wings for dinner, they are not appetizers.  It is one of our favorite spots!  After dinner we moved to a more elegant setting to enjoy Nick's favorite dessert, chocolate mousse cake, and a glass of wine at The Palace Restaurant.  It was a pleasant evening!  On his birthday we both left work early to go to a matinee movie.  It was a spontaneous choice, thankfully we both have nice employers.  Below are some older snapshots of the Birthday Boy! 

The following weekend I went to see the Hunger Games movie on Opening Night (Friday) with my wonderful Bayfield Book Club.  Saturday Nick and I enjoyed a Date Morning, walking to a local breakfast restaurant and splitting a delicious breakfast burrito.  We both went separate ways in the afternoon.  Nick went to the mountains with some friends, while I went out to delightful lunch at Kennebec Cafe with a dear girlfriend.  Not to mention that on Sunday we hung out with some good friends and enjoy the new frozen yogurt shop in town.  It was busy yet fun-filled weekend for the Caricos.  We hope you have been enjoying the sweet events with family and friends in your life as well!!

Things that Make Us Smile

So I posted our cute home in Bayfield, CO, which now gives you some context of this post.  We have a rather large lot for living in-town with lots of fruit trees: apple, pear, plum, cherry, apricot, and peach.  So you can imagine that our yard is very popular for wildlife as well, especially deer.  We have multiple families of deer that parade through our yard regularly.  Seeing them make us smile, every time.  The deer might be grazing, napping, resting, fighting, or passing through our yard on any given day.  So I thought I would share some photos of our DEAR neighbors.  Enjoy!

This fawn was taking a nap just outside our dinning room window.  You have to admit this is pretty cute, he is fast asleep, dreaming sweet dreams. 

Nap Time - Spring 2011

We have named this monster deer Samson, a trophy buck that taunts Nick regularly.  Everyone in Bayfield knows this deer and let me tell you, he owns the town.  In fact the other day he just strut across the street, demanding traffic stop for him - right in front of our car.  Nick was drooling.  He is stunning!

Meet Samson - a trophy deer that loves to tease Nick.

These two bucks were fighting for girls - all day!  I was working from home and you could hear their antlers clash periodically throughout the day.  This was late afternoon, and they were tired.  At this time they are retreating to their corner of the yard, only to fight again in a few minutes.  I took this photo from our upstairs bathroom.   

Fighting for girl - why do men  do that!

It was late morning when I glanced out the window to see these two resting in the sun yesterday.  I opened my dinning room window and took a quick snapshot. 

Taken yesterday from our dinning room window.

This was the only area in our yard where the snow had melted, and these deer were enjoying it.  At one time there was six of them laying on this small patch of grass.  This photo was taken from our front door.   

Four deer sunbathing in winter.

Our HOME

Ok I am making this easy, but I truly want to start blogging again.  It is funny how BLOGGING is an accepted and known word in the American vocabulary now. Not much has changed in the mission of the Carico Blog – a place to share the candid moments and events in life!  So here are the current events of the Caricos…enjoy!!

We moved!!  We are no longer in the country with dial-up Internet, cows in our yard, or a LONG snowy driveway.  We live in the CUTE community of Bayfield about 20 miles east of Durango.  I personally love it!  It is a small agricultural community that values family, but has the amenities that make you feel connected.  It is a good fit for my country boy hubby and this city girl.  Anyway, we live in a wonderful home right downtown Bayfield.  It was by God’s grace that we were able to live in such a wonderful home, and we count our blessing.  So I thought I would show our newish home first - we have lived here for 1.5 years.

Our House on the Hill

Garage - aka Nick's Roofing Shop

The End of the Driveway and the Start of Downtown Bayfield

 

Country Love

Valentines Day - the day of love.  What portrays a deeper love than going to the Ducks Unlimited Banquet with your hunting husband.  That is exactly what we did this year, and truth be told it was a blast!  On February 13^th we had a good group of friend come down from Denver to celebrate, which made the whole weekend memorable. 

Taylor, Heather and Nathan made the trip down on Friday.  After we all got settled into the condo that afternoon we met up with Neil, and went out to dinner at a local restaurant called Ken & Sues.  Later that evening we went to the Wild Horse to country dance.  I still need some practice, but I am getting better at the two-step.  For a hip-hop lov’in city girl I have to say I am rather proud of my progressing two-step skills.

We all had a rather lazy Saturday morning, enjoying a fabulous breakfast and our pajamas.  After our wonderful morning we all suited up and purchased all the necessary items to shoot some skeet – clay pigeons.  You have to imagine this scene…three girls, none of us have used a shotgun before and honestly two of us are rather girly and somewhat timid when it comes to guns.  However, we all had a blast!  Taylor was a little Annie Oakley, and Heather and I were just laughing have a great time as we continued to miss target after target.  I think it is safe to say that the boys – Nick, Neil and Nathan had a good time too.

Well Saturday evening was the main event of the weekend, the Ducks Unlimited Banquet.  The event was hosted at the Sky Ute Casino.  We all got dressed up for an evening of country (redneck) elegance.  There was a silent auction, raffle drawings, tasty dinner, and a live auction as well.  The hot item of the evening was the Pick of the Litter raffle – if you win, you get to pick any item from the live auction before the event started.  Nathan and Heather won!  It was a toss up between the hunting Labrador puppy and a shotgun.  To our surprise and Nathan’s joy, Heather chose the shotgun.

Sadly our dear friends left on Sunday morning, not before a yummy breakfast at Carver’s Restaurant.  I have to say that we had a great Valentines Day week!  

White Out!

Durango has gotten so much snow in the last month that even this Colorado girl is amazed!  It seems that we get one snow storm after another.  Big snowflakes seem to come out of the sky, and I just watch as the snow continues to accumulate in our long driveway and in the field outside our window.  There is a frosty bite in the air that makes the early mornings chilly, and our frost covered windows give us a good indication that winter is still here.  The snow covered mountains are beautiful, but I am ready for sunny warm days.