fourteener time!

this past weekend marty, myself, and our friends jarrid and liz headed over to minturn, colorado to backpack and summit mount of the holy cross.  after a couple hours in the truck we pulled onto the dirt road to see a huge gate blocking our drive and prohibiting us to continue.  road closed due to logging is what the sign read.  we sat there for a while in confusion and then decided where we should detour.  we drove about 30 minutes more to leadville to conquer mt. massive.  we found a great campsite right by the creek, had a good hike in and fun first night, and a good night's sleep in order to rise early and hike to the summit.  we left camp at about 7:15 and reached the summit at 11:45.  the hike was absolutely beautiful and we could not have asked for more perfect weather.  accomplishing our first fourteener felt pretty sweet and we can't wait to do another one!

the crew

mount massive 14,421 feet

 

 Mt. Massive is the second highest peak in Colorado and the third highest in the 48 states, exceeded only by California's Mt. Whitney and its near neighbor, Mt. Elbert

pretty moss and flowers as we hiked up

family of mountain goats just relaxing near the top

views from the summit... and what was even cooler about the views is that they were of our valley where we live!

we made it!

we made it and so did the puppies poco and clancy!

fourteen thousand some feet can make one a bit silly:)

green is...

our nice new lawn, plants in the rock garden, and some tasty herbs. we also have been adding some other things to our home like a screen door, some hanging flower baskets and some bushes along the front entry way. slowly but surely the landscaping is coming along.

30 isn't so bad

June 16th I turned the big 30!  Thought it was going to be yucky to turn this age, turns out... I feel pretty great!  I have accomplished a lot in my 30 years and couldn't be happier than I am right now...  I have a beautiful new house, an amazing husband of 4 years (June 21st), and I have obtained my master's degree in education and specialized in reading and literacy. 

The week of my birthday my best friend Sara and her husband Josh came to visit for the whole week.  It was so much fun!  The trip included lots of best friend time, laughing, shopping, mountain biking, games, hiking, hanging out, and my birthday party!

So... if 30 isn't so bad, hopefully I can manage 40:{

it's official...

i just sent in my program outcome essay to complete my graduate program!!!! two long years later i am finally finished.  whooohoooo for me!

our new house!

Marty and I feel extremely blessed... God has given us a great opportunity to buy a wonderful house we can call our forever home! Yes I know I am bad that I am just posting now, sorry grad school, work, and coaching track are enough to keep me busy!
Anyways...We are the proud and happy owners of a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2 car garage house in the mountains.  The house is in the area that we have hoped to live for a long time now.  Initially we began looking at this very house last June and have been trying to get it ever since.  We finally closed on February 21st so we have been here for a little over a month now.  We have an amazing realtor and friend Laura who has worked so hard to get us this house.  Marty's parents have been a big part of this journey too and have helped us in so many ways.  Thank you Laura, Mom, and Dad from the bottom of our hearts!

We are absolutely loving every aspect of owning a house vs. a condo.  Just to name a few...
1) we do not have to share walls and ceilings with anyone anymore=peace and quite
2) all the space, oh the space is so wonderful!  everything we own has it's own special place with lots of room to spare.
3) the kitchen is amazing.  i have tons of counter space to do all my cooking and baking, and super high end appliances to assist me.
4) we finally feel at home and comfortable.  we loved our condo but it was just becoming too small and not our style, we were ready for a house to have room for all our friends and family who come to visit, and to someday expand our little family:)
5) no more crazy neighbors all up in our space!

Here are some pics...

Our Home (Can you guess our spring and summer project?)

Master Suite

Dinning Room

Master Bathroom

Kitchen

Living Room (I love that the living area and kitchen are all wide open)

 

 

 

Upstairs Bonus Room (like another living room. we have big plans for this space some day)

 

There is a bedroom and the bathroom on each side of the bonus room.  We even have a movie/game closet up here too.

Laundry Room, no more stacked washer and dryer in a closet.

Rooftop views from our 2nd level deck

More views from our backyard

We look forward to the many memories we will create in our new home.  We can't wait till all of you come and visit.

dave's visit

Ok... This post is long overdue. Our friend Dave came out to visit us way back in February and he is requesting a blog post about his visit.  Apparently he does not care how many grad papers I have to write he would like me to write about him, so here you go Dave a post dedicated just to you!  We miss ya!

Dave is a friend of Marty's from back in Rogers City, MI.  Dave has been coming out to ski in Colorado since Marty moved here about 8 years ago.  Now he has to put up with me too when he comes out:)  Dave may be the greatest house guest ever... he shows up to our condo for a two week visit and there are boxes everywhere and our lives are in disarray because we were scheduled to close on our new house one of the weeks he was visiting.  Closing got pushed back till the 21st of February so Dave didn't even get to see the new house, he just had to live in the craziness of the condo for two weeks.

We had a great time skiing and hanging out with Dave.  Whenever he comes to visit he brings lots of snow.  We had quite a few powder days while he was out here, so Dave got to "shred the nar" on his new skis!  One of the weekends when Marty had a hockey game Dave and I and our friend Chris who was also visiting got a pretty awesome powder day at Highlands in Apsen.  Do you think I had the camera or flip cam...nope left them on the console in the truck cuz we were so excited to get on the mountain.  We had fresh tracks all day long.  We even got first tracks down my favorite run at the top of the Highland Bowl (have to hike about 45 minutes up a big peak).

Dave we love when you come to visit, so come back soon.  The "Dave Suite" will be ready and waiting for you in our new house.

This is your glory shot!

3 more weeks and couting!

After two long years of reading, watching videos, doing weekly discussions, and papers every weekend, oh the papers... I have 3 more weeks of graduate school!  It has been a long road, but I am really glad I decided to take on the challenge. Marty has been so supportive and has been a saint to listen to me read most of my papers before I submitted them.  Marty's encouragement throughout my whole program has been amazing, I don't know what I would do without him. I have learned a lot about teaching young children how to read and cannot wait to start applying the new things I have learned in my kindergarten classroom.  WhoooHooo, almost there!

I cannot wait to have me time!