When we moved to Colorado from Chicago in 2007, good pizza was hard to find. Dan made it his mission to learn to cook pizza his family would love. He spent many years experimenting with different dough recipes, trying different pans and ovens, combining different ingredients and toppings. Over the years, pizza night became a favorite family activity, often requested for birthdays, holidays, and friend gatherings. Our biggest pizza night was when we cooked 30 pizzas for the girls basketball team!

 

For many years Dan talked about building a brick oven and learning to cook wood-fired pizza. In 2025, that dream finally came true! Dan spent months researching oven designs and construction methods, calculating measurements, sketching designs, locating the materials he would need, and consulting Stacey and Molly on colors and finishes. Together, Dan and Noah spent months laying concrete, building frames, layering bricks, spreading mortar and stucco...until we could finally light the first fire!

 

Pizza night has taken on a whole new meaning -- and flavor -- with the new brick oven! Dan has enjoyed learning to cook even more than pizza. Chicken, seafood, soup, paella, vegetables -- they all taste phenomenally better when cooked with fire! Sundays have become pizza oven days, allowing us to slow down, cook with intention, and enjoy the time by the fire together.

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To see more about the construction process, check out our video on YouTube.​

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