Time to Stop Avoiding

Alrighty, well I have really been avoiding the blog lately because I keep saying, Oh I need to post about Hawaii. That task just seems so daunting right now lol. We took so many pictures and did so many things that it seems like such a monster to tackle. I am not sure how I feel about tackling said monster at this point. So, instead of avoiding the blog I am just going to continue blogging. Fun things happen everyday and I miss talking with you guys! Hawaii will come, I do promise that. I am just not quite sure at what time. First thing to do is find the SD card with all the pictures. I think I might have misplaced it. Oops!

We are now into the month of October! Yay! I am so happy and ready for all of the fall weather and fashions. Not gonna lie, the more layers the better! Love it! I have made my first pumpkin chocolate chip bread of the season. So yummy! I got the recipe here. You should definitely give it a shot! It was a hit at the little friend gathering I went to as well, so it wasn’t just me munching away at this deliciousness! Are you guys excited about the changing weather as well? Or is that just a me thing?

Also, we have snowcapped mountains now! I love the Colorado mountains all year long, but they are especially beautiful when they are snowcapped. When it is sunrise, the sun reflects off of them often in pink and purple colors that just cannot be beat. Seeing the snow up there means that some of the ski mountains will be starting their season soon. That is music to my ears! We have started getting our ski gear in at work and I could not be happier. It is giving me the itch to get out there and “shred some gnar”.

Cooler weather means Faelyn and I get out a little more. It is so hard to take a husky outside when it is blazing hot. But we are now going hiking a couple times a week. That keeps him from getting destructive as is the tendency of bored huskies. I love seeing all the colors and getting a good cardio session in at the same time. You just cannot go wrong with a good hike!

Well, I’m off to enjoy this beautiful weather! Hope your fall is starting off awesome!

See ya!

July, Where Have You Gone?!

Wow, I can’t believe it is already the middle of July! I feel like I just had my birthday yesterday and it has already been over a month! What?! Work has been keeping me busy and such I guess.

To be honest, I am ready for July to be over and August lol. I am ready for the hot weather to go away! I never thought I would say that. I used to be a girl who lived for the warm weather. Then I got huskies and I got older I guess and realized it is just way too hot in the summertime. I love me some spring and fall and especially winter weather! Oh man, who is ready for ski season already?! This girl!!! I feel like I did not get to ride my skis nearly as much as I would have liked to last year.

But before this warm weather ends, I have a huge trip that I want to take first. We have huge news guys! We are going to Hawaii!!! We are going at the end of August! Its our first big trip apart from our honeymoon and without family. Its crazy! I am super excited! I’ve never been and I may not come back! Lol! Although, Colorado is amazingly beautiful! I think Hawaii is going to be super pretty too!

I got a pretty nice scrape on my knee last week mountain biking. Not going to lie I have been pretty proud of it. Lol. It just shows at least to me that I have been pushing a lot harder than I was and that is something I feel like I can be proud of. I am loving mountain biking. I think I found a good alternative during the summer months when I am not skiing. Good thing I am not going for world’s sexiest legs though lol.
😛

How is your summer going? Any big trips? Any fun stories thus far?

See ya!

Back to the Land of the living!

I’m back! I have slacked so much on this lately. I’ve really slacked on a lot besides work. I was feeling it this morning. I had been putting so much focus and thought into work and nothing else that it had really just gotten me down. I was so very aware of how much I need a work life balance. Also that I didn’t have it! Haha! But, I have come back and I promise I will do my best to be more regular on here! I have some great ideas for posts coming down the line so I can’t wait for you guys to see them!

Do you guys have something that you want to see on the blog? Or more of on the blog?

Today, on my completely free day off, I decided to go hiking. I thought I was going to go hiking in Alderfer/ Three Sisters open space park… Well then, I must have parked near a beehive because a massive amount of bees decided to chase me around the parking lot. Needless to say, that made me not want to hike there the rest of the day. So, instead we went to Red Rocks. I got some more pretty pictures. Love it! It was a nice short hike but we drove down from Evergreen along Bear Creak. The creek is usually a nice low creek. Nothing crazy. Driving alongside today, it was super high and super fast. It was white water. So ridiculous!

Anyway, there was a lot of damage done by these floods, so keep the families in your prayers that were affected by these floods!

Here is the pictures from Red Rocks:

They may a little bit blurry, but I love Red Rocks. So beautiful up there!

See ya!

P.S. This showed up in my email today. Check out this link to get the info and join the Automattic WorldWide WP 5k. I’m totally going to do it! You should join me! It’s coming up!

U- Understanding the Need to Get Away

Life can be so stinking stressful sometimes. My husband and I both work in retail and we have a huge sale coming up so the store is getting a little more stressful. I am changing departments and that requires new training and understanding of different products. Then there are so many other things pulling us in different directions too that sometimes stress just becomes overwhelming. I and I think most people tend to recuperate best when they get away. I love going away for a whole week or weekend or a couple weeks if I’m lucky. But we could even just go away for a couple of hours.

Today was such a nice day in Denver, there was no way I staying at home worrying or stressing about the amount of stuff that needed done. We went to Red Rocks Amphitheater! There is a park there with a mile and a half long trail. Perfect for my little man and I to spend the day! It got us away from home and away from the pullings of life for a couple of hours. We threw the top down on the jeep and we were on our way. It was the best way to recuperate and keep me going through this next week. So awesome! Faelyn was particularly fond of it as well. I pulled out his harness and he went crazy knowing that we were going out and going to be out for a while. We only pull out his harness when we are going to take him hiking or climbing with us. He loves it!

 

Those are just a couple of my favorite shots from today! The formations were beautiful! The weather was beautiful and only 15 minutes from my house! Love it!

Get out and Get away!

See ya!

Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Sorry its been awhile guys. I have just been super busy and reading my book has not taken first priority in life lately. I mean that is understandable right? Anyway, I did finally finish the next book last night. Obviously nothing too deep or anything. I mean how deep can you get with Pride and Prejudice mixed with zombies? There aren’t going to be any life lessons there, that’s for sure. This was definitely just a fun read.

Likes:
I love the Pride and Prejudice storyline. I have always enjoyed Jane Austen and have seen the six-hour long Pride and Prejudice from BBC as well as the Keira Knightly one. I also own both of them as well. There are times when I prefer P&P to my usual Sci-Fi or horror choices. So, the storyline is still great! The fact that they added in zombies, fuels my desire for romance as well as horror or whatever you classify zombies as. It added a nice little twist to the original storyline.

Dislikes:
The zombie bits honestly did not add as much to the storyline as I was hoping. I mean it was most of the time just a little add here and there. Nothing too dramatic. I would’ve liked more zombie bits to be quite honest. If you are going to add zombies, add zombies. If not, just forget about it.

Overall:
I loved it! It really was such a great read! Again, I love the original story line. The zombies did not take away from that at all, which was awesome. It wasn’t like they totally messed with the original, they just added in some zombies, so that was fun. I really enjoy watching the love between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth unfold. There came a point in the book where I couldn’t put the book down even though I knew what happened. I seriously read for about four hours when I got home last night from work. I just wanted to read what happened next even though I know it by heart. The fun part of reading a book after watching the movies is that you picture the movie (adding in zombies, of course) as you are reading.

The next book is: Christian Outdoor Leadership by Ashley Denton (one of our professors for our Masters program.)

In other news, I finished my pocket scarf. Pictures to come soon I promise. I took one with my phone but I need to take a picture with my camera now. Haha.

I also got accepted into Seminary for the spring! Yay! I was so excited when the admissions counselor called to tell me and then when I actually got the acceptance letter in the mail yesterday! I have been working to get this acceptance since about March so it was about time that I finally got accepted. Getting transcripts sent over to them. Them processing my application, etc. took wayyyyyy too long. But the Lord provides and I am off to get my Masters in Outdoor Leadership come Spring 2013. Whoohoo!

 

It’s Good to Be a Dog

I have really just been enjoying spending time with my little man. He is super confused with all the boxes and me scrubbing things down and just making this place back to what it was when we moved in but he has stayed fairly close to my side as I have been preparing for this move and I love that. Yesterday, we went rock climbing with a friend. (One of the last times we will get to here in PA.) We took Faelyn with us. He loved it! He was born to be on the trail with us. But, that left him super exhausted when we got home yesterday and I am pretty sure he is still catching up on some sleep today. He is the cutest thing when he sleeps. I thought I would show you so it could bring a smile to your face like it is bringing a smile to mine. 

He goes from curled up like this, to…

…completely stretched out like this several times during his sleep cycle. 
I would have to say it is one of the cutest things ever!

See ya!  

On My Mind Lately…

Today I got a wonderful letter from a friend who just arrived in another country today and will spend a year there with the International Justice Mission. She messaged me on facebook a couple days ago asking for my address, I was kind of bewildered because it had been some time since we had talked but I was glad to be catching up with her. So, needless to say, she had automatically been on my mind since I knew I was getting something in the mail from her. I had forgotten that I was following her blog and was already aware that she was going to Uganda. (Doh!) But, after reading her letter and reading her blog post about her safe arrival in Uganda, it got me thinking. 

She just moved across the world. I have been so wrapped up cleaning, and packing and repeat those steps a billion more times. I sit down for a quick pinterest break or a quick facebook stalking break. (Shhhh, don’t tell.) But other than that, I am not keeping up with anyone, I have not been reading the blogs that I follow (Sorry). Hearing from her and seeing her blog post got me out of my head today and reminded me of the reason we are moving to Denver in the first place. 

We are not just moving there because it is an awesome place to live. (Which I have heard it will be.) We are moving there to go to Seminary. Let me give you a quick little background into the dreams TJ and I have one day. We want to open up a camp. Not just your run of the mill summer camp kind of deal, but rather one that takes teenagers or whomever or longer trips into the woods or mountains or just away from the routine of life and the bonds of technology. We want people to get out of the way so that God can do what He wills and so that He can speak to us. I am sure a more traditional summer camp will be part of what we do to help get us off the ground but we have a dream to reach people and get them out of themselves. And who knows, that may extend internationally at some point. I know I would like that. 🙂 

Our ultimate goal is to serve God and give Him the glory and that is why we are going to Denver, to go to Seminary to better serve Our Father and lead others into His creation. I just need to keep that in mind while I am busy packing and cleaning and slightly stressing. 

See ya!

Monday: Weekend Update!

This past weekend was my birthday weekend! It was on Friday and my hubby had the whole day planned out. He is amazing! First he let me sleep in, which was much appreciated. 

Then we made our way to Pittsburgh. I love the city of Pittsburgh. If we were not moving to Denver here in just over two weeks, I would make us move closer to Pittsburgh. First of all, it is just a great city and it is really beautiful if you like slightly run down but making a come back kind of places. But anyway, we went to Pittsburgh to go to our favorite climbing gym. It has this massive bouldering area which is exactly the type of climbing that we love. We spent several hours in there just climbing to our hearts content. We definitely realized that we are not nearly as good of climbers as we thought. I mean we knew we were not great but I at least felt like I could be better. We are hoping that once we move to Denver, we can find a great gym to get involved in. We want to climb on a much more regular basis. 

After we were exhausted enough from climbing, we went closer to the heart of Pittsburgh and hit up the REI store and Cheesecake factory there. I could not help but being giddy while I was walking through REI because I know that I will be working there in three weeks! So excited! Just knowing that I will be working in an environment that I actually like and knowing that I get those pro deals just makes me super super excited! 
Then we hit up the Cheesecake Factory. MMMMMMM That place has delicious food. I had their chicken parm sandwich. So yummy! Yay! Then I had the Adam’s Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple cheesecake. Dude, it has butterfingers and reese’s in it. What is there not to love about that cheesecake?! 

After that, he surprised me with a trip to the Drive-in to see Madagascar 3 and Snow White and the Huntsman. Oh my word. So awesome! I love the drive-in and he could not have picked a better ending to the night! Both movies were awesome! 

Overall, I could not have had a better Birthday date day with my hubby! That led in to the rest of the weekend which was work work work work. 

Well, I am off to eat and continue packing up my house! Yay moving!

See ya!