I am spending it tucked in my house with the love of my life. Usually we spend Christmas Eve with Matt's family down in Canon City, then Christmas morning we wake up early and drive 2 hours up to Loveland to spend Christmas day with my parents. But like I said this year was a whole new experience. In previous posts I mentioned Matt would be on call and we would have to work around his schedule. Matt can't be more then 15-20mins from Colorado Springs, just in case he gets a call and he needs to go to it. So we could not spend Christmas Eve down in Canon City, and defiantly couldn't drive to Loveland today to spend Christmas up there. So this year, my parents drove down Christmas Eve to spend it with us. They came over yesterday and we had a little dinner at IHOP. Then of course Matt gets a call and we had to drop him off at home. So my parents and I drove around looking at Christmas lights. Then today after staying in a hotel room my parents called and wanted to meet at IHOP again for breakfast. It was a fun experience to have breakfast on Christmas morning at IHOP. Then we came home and had a very nice afternoon opening presents and playing with our new toys.
I started making dinner around 1:00. We had a pork roast glazed in Catalina dressing, with potatoes, carrots and onions next to it. Then along with the regular green been casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing and sweet potatoes. I decided to throw in a few new dishes. So I made a corn & broccoli cheese casserole and a cranberry sipper, which was cooked in a crock pot for 2 1/2 hours. It tasted just like a cider almost, but cranberry. Everything turned out absolutely wonderful. I felt like a queen eating all that food. Then my favorite was my dessert. I made a pumpkin pecan cheesecake. It turned out amazing.
It's funny how he would sneak up to the front just to talk to me, and our manager would keep yelling at him to get back to work. We would pass little notes back and forth to each other with the stupidest things on them. Those were such fun times. Look how young Matt looks in that picture, it's hilarious. I also remember trying to sneak kisses in the back store room, or break room. Hehe!
Before I could even kneel down next to it, it started crying and whimpering. I looked at him with big ol' eyes. And in my head I'm thinking "My mom is going to kill me!!" So a little black nose pushed open the lid of the box and a German shepherd came bouncing out. The cutest little puppy I had ever seen in my life. At first I wanted to name him Brody, I always wanted a German shepherd named Brody. But the next morning we drove into town to have breakfast at Burger King. That's where we thought of the name Indiana.
My savings went quickly with no money coming in, and 3 months had passed and I was running on empty. About that time Matt had mentioned that he needed some time to himself, and needed to sort out his feelings. I was heart broken, how could he bring me here and then decide that I wasn't worth keeping around anymore? I reluctantly gave in and packed up everything I owned, including Indiana, and drove back home to Loveland. When I made it to Loveland, it was almost like Matt had disappeared. I attempted to call him several times and he never returned my calls. I basically gave up on Matt, and I went back to work at Petsmart. I tried to eventually move on with my life.
I felt so good to see him again and be with him. After that job, he worked somewhere in Canon City, and so him and I would meet in Colorado Springs almost every single weekend. We would do all the touristy things, like Seven Falls, The Zoo, Garden of the Gods, and Manitou. He'd take me out to dinner at nice restruants and buy me little gifts. I remember this one time I came down, we went to the mall he bought me this skirt and blouse, and told me to wear it to dinner. It was so romantic to get all gussied up just to go to dinner. 
So I quit my job in Loveland and moved to Colorado Springs for Matt. And we moved into our little apartment. Matt beat around the bush for awhile and wouldn't move in with me right away. He said he didn't want to give up his bachlorism with Dan at their place. Call me crazy but I waited for him. He finally came around and moved in with me. We loved our little apartment, but 2 dogs and one bedroom apartment just was too small for us.
The dogs loved the big back yard so they could run. Matt had a garage and I had my little office. Things on Cedar Street were pretty quiet. We got sick of paying rent and started to look for our own home to buy. 
12/26/08 and the bidding for it ended on 12/27/08 - it was a HUD home. We put in a full offer bid and found out a few days later our bid had been excepted! There we were "HOME OWNERS!" We moved in February 19, 2004. The first couple months were the best, we tore down walls, painted walls, redid, removed, and remodeled everything in that house. The house is cute now, but you should have seen it when we moved in. The lady that owned the house before us, had like 17 pets! Yikes!
I have wanted to do that for 4 years! So he hung up those and I decorated the front porch with some garland and bows. Our house is so adorable when it's all decked out. Then we have these snowflake lights that fade in and out and we hung those along our fence line.
The house looks rather festive I must say. Then we were done outside and decided why stop there tonight, and we went ahead and got the tree all up. It's so cute, Matt found a set of bubble lights and put those on the tree. I never had bubble lights growing up, but they are pretty darn cool. It's always fun to get the Christmas tree out. It's like this moment in time where the house feels so warm and Matt and I are helping each other decorate the tree with lights and ornaments. We have this ornament on our tree that says "Our First Christmas Together - 2002" That was the first year we shared a Christmas together at our old place on Cedar Street. How fun to sit back and look at the memories we have created together. There will be an ornament added next year, Newlyweds 2009! Can't wait to pick that one out! After the tree was finished I wanted to try and get a picture of my dogs in front of it. Like children ya know! That was a disaster. I did end up getting this funny picture.
I don't know what it is! I have never been in an accident, never slid off the road, nothing! I just can't get over the fear of driving on icy roads. I will look out the window at work all afternoon, planning my route home, should I take this way and avoid the traffic, or take this way, it may be more icy. I make myself sick! To make it worse, there is this huge hill on my way to work! Last year I tried to stop at the top and look both ways before turning, but I slid all the way down the hill. Lucky for me there was no traffic coming on the road at the bottom of the hill! 
The thing probably weighs about 1000lbs, haha! And to make things worse, I think it still has the stock tires on it. They are so bald it's not even funny! Today I checked my tracks in the snow and they were just flat, no tread! So I bit the bullet and bought new tires today. They wont be in until 12/13, so I am praying for no more snow storms! Hopefully this will help me get through this winter ok! Other than that, I think the snow is gorgeous! (To look at!) Haha!! :)
I want her to know that I will be there for her no matter what. I am a great friend and will never let her down. I will make sure and be there for her if she ever needs me. And if she ever needs to talk, she can call me, midnight if she needs to. I can't wait until she moves back closer. I have a feeling there will be alot of fun times! I think it's so great that we are both born under the gemini zodiac, cause that practically makes us sisters. And if I could draw up or make the perfect sister, it would be you Ruthie. Sorry if that was alittle too mushy. I am just so excited about the last couple months and the new relationships I am developing with Matt's family. I always had a relationship with them, but lately they feel like they are getting deeper, like they are my very own family. 
Cloey is my little play mate, she's always up for a game of catch or a good walk. And then there's Vinny, my little cuddler. I can't sleep with out him next to me. He's always there to watch a movie and keep me warm. Together they make our house a home, everyday I come home and they are so excited to see me. It's like I had been gone an eternity. Their tails wag when they are happy they cry when they're upset. If only humans were this easy to read. I love my dogs, I am so thankful for everyday I get to be with them.
If I get a crazy idea, he's already on board waiting for me. He never laughs at my ideas for the future. He shares the same views on many things that I do. There are days when we are laughing so hard, and I thank god I found someone that can make me laugh the way he does. When I get off work, and I am driving home I wish my car could fly cause I can't wait to walk in the door and see him. I call him everyday just to talk, and we talk for like 15mins, you'd think we hadn't talked in days. There is always something to be said between us. When I have some good news, I can't wait two seconds to tell him. I love buying him little surprises, just so I can see him smile. He makes all my dreams come true. He's never going to disapoint me with anything he does. He's caring and compassionet, he's sensative and loving. He's strong and handsome. He takes time on me and takes care of me. I love Matt so much.
I ran outside with my camera to take a picture of the snow and all I could think about was how thankful I was for Matt. So I wrote our intials in the snow. I showed Matt my art and he smiled. I look forward to so many nights like tonight. Days filled with laughter and memories, and Matt by my side. The years will bring us different things, kids, new home, new stories and new memories, but one thing will never change. I will always be thankful I stumbled across Matt. He's changed my life forever and I will forever be thankful for that.
So he explains some of the history and what we might expecet to see on our tour. He first takes us into the ballroom. Which is where F.O. Stanley's wife Flora is said to play the piano and some nights, like the night Stephen King spent the night, there is said to be
a party going on with dancing etc. But in reality no one is there..I dont think I caught anything in my pictures of the ballroom. And We did not really have any weird feelings in this room either. From here we went to the most famous room at the hotel. Room 217. Which 
is said to be haunted by Ms Williams, which was a caretaker at the hotel back in the day. She died in that room from a brain anurism and is said to haunt the room. If she likes you she will help you out, by unpacking your luggage and putting in the dresser, or 
making you a hot bath. If she doesn't like you, she will do things to make you leave. Like if you set your alarm, she will unplug it and move it across the room, she will turn the TV on in your room to channel 42 which is a nonstop showing of the movie "The Shining" and she will shake the bed etc. But the maids have said if you dont make the bed just right, and go to clean the bathroom, you will come back and all the covers will be on the floor. They say Jim Carey stayed in that room while filming Dumb and Dumber. And checked in at 5pm and checked out at 11pm. And still to this day wont talk about what happened in that room. This is also the room Stephen King stayed in. 
This is the bathroom where he saw the young woman, and went to kiss her and she turned into an old nasty woman. That was Ms Williams. This was all in the movie "The Shining". I took several pictures in this room and did not catch anything. But I had a really faint feeling in this room. My legs were weak like I wanted to fall over. From here we went back down the hallway to the stairway. Which went to the 3rd and 4th floors. The tour guide said this stairway is said to be a vortex for the spirts. People will stand in this stairwell and will get nose bleeds, cry, faint, etc. I felt really sick when I stood here for too long. Here 
is a picture looking up the staircase. We didn't catch anything looking up. My brother did see shadows on the ceiling of the 3rd level and there was no one walking there. And Matt was video taping and his camera was going in and out of focus alot. When we got 
to the 4th level I felt a lot better. I looked over and took a picture looking down the stairway back to the 2nd level we were on and caught this orb. You may need to click on the picture to make it bigger. So now we were on the 4th floor which is said to be haunted by Lord Earl Dunraven. He is the man that orginally owned the land and sold it so F.O. Stanley. Lord Earl Dunraven liked the 4th floor because that is where all the young nannies would hang out. The odd number rooms on the 4th floor were nannies and even were the children. 
They say that Lord Earl Dunraven can be a little flirt. And likes to run his fingers through womans hair, or touch them. If you stay in an odd number room on the 4th floor. He will knock things off tables in the room, just so you can pick them up. Then he will pinch your butt. If you're a woman of course. There was an episode of Ghost Hunters, where the filmed at the Stanley Hotel live on Halloween night. The guys stayed in room 409 which is the nannies break room. Which they have now made into a hotel room. There is a closet in this room, and on the show the door would keep opening up. And then a glass shaddered in the room. They had it on film. So anyways. We were walking down the hall to go see this room. Matt and I were at the end of pack and he was holding his video camera and I was looking into room while the tour guide spoke. 
Just then I felt a finger run right under my right butt cheek. I turned around and there was no one there. My first thought was Matt...why are you doing that? So I said to Matt "Did you just touch my butt?" He looked at me, and turned white. He said "NO!" I couldn't believe how real it felt. I could have sworn Matt did it. But his left hand was holding the video camera!! So my brother told the group "We just had an experiance!" and I told the group what had just happened. And the tour guide said "Great, you can be my volunteer!" So he put me in THAT CLOSET!! He said woman will go in there and have their belts undone or fingers in their hair or some kind of touch. First I get in there and it's pitch black, I opened the door right away. And the tour guide shut it again. I stood in complete darkness, knowing there was about 2-3ft of space behind me that could soon be occupied by Lord Earl Dunraven. I stood there and stood there, seemed like hours went by. I felt someone behind me, and what felt like very faint fingers on my hips. Could have been my imagination. But I had to get out of there. Then my mom went in there. She didn't feel anything. That was probably the most scared I have ever been in my life. This part of the hallway also had stairs which led to the bell tower. The kids would sneek up there while the nannies were on break and ring the bell. 
And sometimes the kids would fall off the roof. This is why so many spirits of children haunt the 4th floor. They say between 2-3am you can hear kids running up and down the hall playing. But on this part of the tour while Matt was video taping, you can hear the bell in the bell tower ringing. In real life we did not hear this bell. The tour guide didn't mention it, nothing. So we are still trying to get in touch with someone at the Stanley to find out if the bell in bell tower really rings. We then continued down the hall to where all the even numbered rooms were (the children). The tour guide sent the 4 kids in our group to sit on a couch down the hall. 
And told us to snap pictures like crazy. He said sometimes you can get more kids in the picture then there really are down there, creepy. So anyways, I started to take a few pics and my camera started flashing low battery. There is no way it could have been a low battery because I charged them that morning. And all the pics I took turned out really blurry and weird. You may need to click on it to see. One lady in the group got an orb in her picture while taking pics down the hall. But I didn't catch anything. After this part of the tour, we went back down to the lobby. My batteries were fine.. and then we went into the basement. Which has underground tunnels. He said a lady in a previous tour group took a pic down one of the tunnels and had a man with a chisel staring back at her. I caught this orb down the tunnel. 
The tour guide said many spirits are said to haunt the basement. Because the rock the hotel sits on. I can't remember all of it but something about limestone and granite. Something about the limestone absorbes emotion, and the granite absorbs feelings. The tour guide said alot of stuff happens in the basement. He has had his shoe laces tied together while giving the tour, and then he went to walk and tripped. So now he triple knots his shoes. We didn't really have any feelings or anything in the basement. But I probably wouldn't want to be down there alone. I also caught this orb on the other side that tunnel in the previous pic. So after this the tour sadly came to an end. 
Would I say the Stanley Hotel is haunted? Yes I would definantly say it was haunted. I am also wanting to go on that tour again and again now that I know what to look for. Matt also got the buisness card of the tour guide to set up a private tour. Yikes, I dont know. Matt now wants to stay at the Stanley Hotel for a night. I dont know I might end up staying the night in the car. But we will see what happens with that. All in all we ended the day with a stroll down the main drag in Estes Park and got cookies. What a fun day we had.
