Hiking Adventures

After church the Sunday before last, we convinced a few friends to join us in heading up to Boulder for a hike and it was absolutely gorgeous! Sadly, that was the last pretty day we've had in a week and a half but I digress. :) The girls decided we need to make this is monthly occasion so we will be in amazing shape by the end of the summer. Hiking 4 1/2 miles was hard!

Thanks Michelle for being historian for the day!

Where has the time gone?

Well, it's April and I managed to neglect my blog for long enough that the background expired. I think that's a sign that it needs an update!

In the last almost 4 months since I've updated (oops), we've...

celebrated CHRISTMAS,

had ANNE come visit,

hosted a fabulous SISTER WEEKEND,

turned a work trip to VEGAS into a mini-vacation,

had JLAIR come skiing,

celebrated VALENTINE'S day w/ brewery tours in Ft Collins and a fabulous meal at home,

I traveled to AUSTIN to see family & friends,

visited Alex's aunt & uncle in the SAN JUAN Islands,

MATT and some of Alex's Baylor friends came in town to ski,

Alex got a new job in Boulder that he loves (still a commute but not as bad),

we've spent lots of time exploring Denver with friends here, learned how to FaceTime family that's not as close as we'd like, and been continually amazed by how blessed we are.

Happy 2nd Anniversary!

Alex and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary in Breckenridge a few weeks ago and I'm just now getting up to posting pictures... oops. Thankfully, we celebrated early so I'm really only 5 days behind on our anniversary!

The pictures aren't the best but it was gorgeous, snowed a ton, we ate an amazing dinner at this restaurant called Hearthstone in town, explored all the cute shops/cafes, and had an incredible view of the mountains from where we stayed.

I love being married to my best friend :)

Cookie Exchange

Last night, my friend Elli and I hosted a cookie exchange at my house! We had a great turnout and TONS of sweets! (and it inspired me to decorate like crazy for Christmas-which is always a good thing!)

with my lovely husband and our tree!

the 2 hosts with abbey

next door neighbors and some Watermark guys

the Greers

alex with the almost-newlyweds

now I think I need to go for a run....

Janet and Rick take Denver

Well, seeing as my parents had a dog named Denver as newlyweds because they were SET on moving up here at some point, we've decided to slowly try and convince them it's not too late! They came up to visit and celebrate my mom's birthday almost 2 weeks ago and we had so much fun!

I forgot to take my camera with us for most of the adventures but we had a blast watching football at BWW and shopping at Park Meadows, taking the light rail downtown for H Burger and drinks, taking them to our church, heading to Idaho Springs with the Herndons to explore/eat Beaujo's Colorado pizza/try some rootbeers and beers at Tommknocker's brewery, and best of all, celebrating my mom's 55th birthday with Buca di Beppo and Gigis' cupcakes!

Here are a few pictures I stole from my mom' s iPhone from her birthday! The first few are of the walk we took near our house and then of my parents at dinner. Enjoy!

Thanks, Uncle Warren!

So for the past week and some change, I've been in the bustling metropolis of Milwaukee, Wisconsin embarking on an 8-week training program for work. Thankfully, it's only 2 weeks in the Midwest, 4 weeks at home and 2 weeks back here. I'm slightly concerned about the snowy conditions during my return trip in December... prayers would be appreciated!

This is my first experience traveling more than 48 hours for work and I must say it's been an experience. I've loved expensing nice meals out downtown (The founder of my company's name is Warren Johnson... hence the saying "Thanks Uncle Warren" was born!), being in a "walking city" during the times we actually escape the hotel, and I must say having a gym directly below me has somehow inspired me to run most mornings before work. Now, that is a FEAT! I've met alot of great people too which has been the key to bypassing home-sickness.

One particular "thanks Uncle Warren" moment occurred this weekend when the company paid for Alex to fly out to visit! We made the most of our time by traveling to Chicago! Neither of us had been and we loved it! We came home with quite a few blisters from walking around for 6+ hours but it was well worth it.

With some other JCI folks on the train

Union Station
Sears Tower

I must say I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, just eating a sandwich instead of fancy/expensive meals, doing boring household chores like laundry and just life getting back to normal. But for now, I'm enjoying the life of a traveling woman :)

These are a few of my favorite things

Fall in the Mountains

My mother-in-law's pumpkin patch

Exploring downtown Denver

...making new Colorado friends, introducing the "natives" to Yogurtland, Alex playing the piano quite a bit (stay tuned for more details!), gearing up for visitors, and starting to rack up frequent flier miles for work so we can visit our faraway friends!