Colorado Vacay: Plans A-D

Colorado was a fabbbbulous vacay! It turned out to be not even CLOSE to what we had planned (due to some major inclement weather), but it was still the bomb. We started out at Estes Park and camped out in the NONSTOP rain for about 24 hours...we then packed up our things and headed out to hike to a few different GORGEOUS lakes on our way out of the park. We decided the weather in Estes Park was NOT accommodating our plans, we we would try somewhere further south. We were hoping to spend one night with the Freedes (who were coincidentally vacationing in the same place at the same time that we were!) in their house, but due to a totally inconvenient lack of phone service on both of our parts, we were unable to communicate well enough to make that connection happen. Sad :(


So...we headed out on a 2-hour drive to Idaho Springs where we planned to make our 14er Summit Attempt the next morning. On our way to this teeny little town, the rain let up just enough to reveal the most amazing rainbow Brian and I have EVER seen! Each and every color was BLAZING with clarity, and you could see the full rainbow from one end to the other. Both ends ran straight into the ground...it was completely gorgeous and a super uplifting sight after SO much yuck-weather.

We arrived late that night to our shelter of choice, the Idaho Springs Motel. Umm...STRAIGHT out of a cheesy scary murder movie where everyone dies. Seriously...OLD. SCHOOL. Kind of gross (although nothing indoors seemed gross in comparison with our previous 36 hours). Our next door neighbors were SCREAMING profanities at each other all night long. Still...the BEST 8 hours of sleep I'd had in what seemed like an incredibly long time!

So...all fresh and rested, we headed out on Sunday morning to Echo Lake, the start of our journey to the top of Mt.Evans. The lake was beauuuutiful, the first few hours of the hike were breathtaking, the head of the sun was SUPER welcomed....and then...the nast-weather closed in on us once again. We should have known it was too good to be true. We had our big packs on because we had planned to spend the night at the treeline before getting up early Monday morning to take only our daypacks on the summit trip. Well...once we reached somewhere between 12 & 13000 feet, we found ourselves trapped in an almost-white-out. We debated whether to continue, but decided that DYING on the mountain really didn't sound that excited. We found shelter from the snow-storm under a giant boulder for a while, until it lightened up and then, disappointed, began retracing our steps back down the mountain. For the next 4 hours, we trekked our way through the rain (except for about 30 glorious minutes of sunshine) back down to Echo Lake, where our car was parked. HO. LY. CRAP. At 8:00, when we FINALLY reached the parking lot...we were both COMPLETELY exhausted, thirsty, and a strange combo of in pain & numb. Finally accepting that our plans were a no-go, we headed out of the wilderness once and for all and off to spend the rest of our vacation in civilization.In Colorado Springs, we stayed in a real hotel, ate at real restaurants, engaged in the classic tourist activities such as: mountain horseback riding, giant waterfall watching, souvenir shopping, & Old-Historic-Town strolling. It was delicious :) We even accidentally stumbled across the ORIGINAL Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory...kind cool :)

The drive home was beauuuutiful & we were sad to leave the mountains....but being back home has NEVER felt so good! We are finally staying home this weekend and I couldn't be more excited to have a weekend that does NOT involve a 4-hr drive to&from somewhere :)

Baptism

On Sunday, B and I visited Emily's church to see her get baptized!!!! Yayyyy :)))

I also got to meet Kori, who I have heard so much about. Yay for friends :)

The entire service was devoted to baptism. Apparently their preacher had delivered a super awesome message on baptism the previous week and the response was HUGE! There were at LEAST 50 people baptized that morning...and it's not even a very big congregation! We alternated between worship, and watching one person after another proclaim their faith in Jesus!! HOW could it possibly be any better that? Baptisms are always super exciting/emotional/joyful...but this Sunday was particularly riveting for me. I think I am just SO missing having a church family. I am missing being a part of a body of believers who come together to pour their hearts out to God every Sunday morning. I don't know... I was just sitting there thinking about each one of the people being baptized and how they each had to make the decision to dedicate their lives to Christ. Every single one of them was CHOOSING to make a change in his/her life...to just hand it over to God...it was CRAZY and it was AWESOME and it was EXCITING! This was just one small little church in Tyler, Texas, and 50 MORE PEOPLE joined God's kingdom in an hour! Imagine how many people are turning to God every day in all the rest of Tyler...in East Texas...in Texas....in the US in general.

I felt moved and encouraged and just REALLY excited about God after experiencing that. It was a blessing. It was awesome.

Congrats to my girl, Em...I'm EXCITED about how excited YOU are about what God's doing in your life and in your heart. And PS- those blonde locks are lookin goooood, girl :)

History in the Making

Holy. Freaking. Crap.

The US men just freaking smashed the world record for the 4x100 free relay. And the anchor swimmer pulled off a freaking amazing swim. Seriously. Even if you don't watch the Olympics or don't like swimming or whatever...WATCH IT. Ridic.


So...2 down, 6 to go for Michael Phelps. I have to admit, I said I didn't think he'd do it. Maybe 8 medals...but not 8 golds. Um...I TOTALLY wouldn't put it past him.

Craazzzyyyyyyyyy!!

And here's your olympic image (or 2) of the day :P

Summer Olympics!!

ahhh I love the summer Olympics. They've only been airing for a couple of days, and I'm already hooked alllll over again. There's nothing like watching athletes, who have trained to reach their very highest performance potential, swim/tumble/bump-set-spike for their country. It's pretty awesome.

Michael Phelps is a freak of nature. Seriously. This guy is unreal. AND...he somehow seems like a toootally and completely normal, not to mention cool, guy! He appears to have maintained his humility as well, which is pretty amazing considering that the entire country worships him. And then there's Dara Torres...holyyy.... A 41-year old ANCHORING the USA's Free Relay? Are you serious!? And she had the 2nd fastest split time of ANY OTHER SWIMMER...not just from the US, but from any other country. That's INSANE. and awesome. How can you NOT be completely enthralled by such feats?

I love the gymnastics...girls haven't started yet but I can't WAIT. I think swimming & gymnastics are prob my fav...although anytime Lebron James is on a basketball court, I'm all over it :) We have our DVR set to record any time the Olympics come on to ensure that we won't miss a thing :) YAY!

PS- Did anyone else see the Opening Ceremonies? Umm...I sooo wish I could have been there in person. China's technology is ridiculous.

I seriously want to wear red,white,blue every single day right now. I guess the Olympics totally bring out my cheesy side. What can I say? I heart the Olympics!
GO USA!!

It's Wednesday

I LOVE WEDNESDAY!!! Why? wellll....bc I LOVE "So You Think You Can Dance". Umm....Best. Show. Ever. Or...at least one of them. for realllssss...

Anywho- our cute little puppy, Kerbey Lane, is growing up!! She has officially become a woman...and a much younger age than expected (bummer). The poor little thing is going through puberty hahaha. She lays around the house all day groaning (I think she has cramps) and sleep a ton. And um...she has to wear a diaper. Hahahahha....when I came in from work today I laughed for about 30 minutes. It's the cutest/most hilarious thing ever. We just have to put up with this for a year until we can breed her with Jesse's boxer. They will make some studly little boxer babies :)

So tomorrow night I'm doing my friend Emily's hair. Sooo excited!!! I mean, of course I still color my own hair, but I haven't done anyone else's in FOREV and I miss it! So, I'm pretty stoked. I get to pretend to be a hair stylist for a day. Woo.

OH!! and Emily's getting baptized on Sunday too!! SUPERRRR cool. I'm excited that I'll ACTUALLY be here to see it! We were supposed to be leaving for Colorado on Saturday, but plans have changed at the last minute. What was going to be a 6-person trip has withered down to a 2-person trip. BUT...it will be the BOMB for sure :)

K...love you all...gotta finish watching my show and dreaming about becoming an amazing dancer when I grow up :)

Weekend of Lovvvve!! <3

Fun weekend!!

Went to the back with the Curry Fam. LOVED IT! THe sun was blazin. The fam was the bomb (as always). Super great time.

ALSO- went to Nick & Kim's wedding and reunited with some great friends. FUNNN and it was soooo exciting to see Nickster get MARRRIEEEED!

Got some okay pics from the weekend, but my mom got better ones. I'll post some of hers later. For now, mine will do :)

yay for hangin with k.pacer and kyle!

terre & coach espi getting dizzownnn :)

fun friends....BAD photographer...oops!- sorry sean!

the first kiss as MR & MRS!!!

cuties @ the awkward bride/groom table in the middle of the dancefloor...ha

me and my gurrrrrl

best man speech...SUPERRR honest and quite hilar :) oh the memories...

first dance...she's gorgeous!

sean & alexa...his new fianc...she is awesome. please move to texas :)

headin off in the limo

first night @ the beach out at waterman's...yummyyyyy

cute/hot momma :)

the boys getting their fish on

playin ball...what ELSE is there to do at the beach???

As soon as Rachey sends me her pics I'll update some more. GOSH I miss posting pics haha. Love you guys and hope you're all having a terrific week!

La-Dee-Dah

Kerbey just ate my sandwich. ANNOYING. I've been rushing around this morning because i had a few hours with no clients. Sooooo...I came home and have been getting some MUCH NEEDED chores done around the house. I planned everything perfectly to the MINUTE so that I would get the last load of laundry into the dryer, get my lunch made, & finish my assignment before I had to leave for class. Everything was going perfectly...until my not-so-cute-at-the-moment little canine struck!!

She seriously downed that baby in abour 4.5 seconds. No lie. (It MUST have been a delicious sandwich) So...I had to take the time to get her in trouble. THEN I had to take the time to make another sandwich. And by THAT time I was sweating so I had to change clothes because these are the clothes I'll be stuck in for the next 6 hours. Anywho- I'm already running late for class, so I'm just gonna wait to show up until our halfway break, at which time I can inconspicuously sneak in without anyone (particularly my professor) noticing I was late :)

In other news, Brian's 3-on-3 bball team won their championship and his full-court team has the championship on Thursday night. The final game won't be until 10:00PM if they make it that far. Um....I know I'm only 23, but I'm ALREADY too old for such a late night. Ha...most of the guys on his team are in their 30s and 40s...so I KNOW they're too old for it. We're leaving straightaway after his game to head to the Shoog and then the Curry familia is off to Galvey for the weekend!! Cannnnn't wait to see the fam OR to get some ocean in my life :0)

Oh...and the MOST exciting part about this weekend is.....

NICKYBABE IS GETTING MARRRIIIIEEEEEEDDDD!!! I'm so excited to see him in his tux...standing next to his bride :) It's crazy to even think about it. PLUS, Dane-o and Seanpack will be there too (Sean's bringing his new fiancee)....so all-in-all, I think this will be a STELLAR weekend :)

I hope everyone is doing super well. Jacci- I don't know a thing about the vaccination stuff, but I am totally learning from all of your experiences, so when B and I have a little munchkin, prepare yourself for TONS of advice-seeking phone calls :)

Hollaaaa <3

The City that Never Sleeps...

SO...last week Brian was in New York for work, and I was at home working and going to school. WOO! It was a tough week for me! I felt like I had NO time to breathe...and I missed the hub. BUT, my momma came to visit me on Wednesday afternoon, so I cancelled my afternoon clients and my Thursday late morning so we could hang out. It was a grannnnnd old time :) I have MISSED my fam! I haven't gotten to spend time with them in forev! Thanks for coming, mommy :)

On Friday morning, I flew out to NYC to meet B for the a fun little weekend getaway. We went to Central Park for loonnnng time on Friday. I'm pretty sure if I lived in NYC I would LIVE at Central Park. There were people hanging out eating ice cream, throwing the frisbee, laying out in their bikinis gettin their tan on, playing random music, painting AMAZING portraits...it was awesome and it made me MISS Austin. I never thought NYC would remind me of Austin, ha. We went to a dif museum...the Metropolitan..pretty cool. Brian loved it because he's all into that ancient history kind of stuff. We went to see Phantom of the Opera (amazing, OF course..the phantom's voice made me melt), went back to the classic Magnolia Bakery for some TREMENDOUS cupcakes, did some hard-core bartering in china-town (one of my fav parts, always) and ...drumroll please..... WENT TO A GAME @ YANKEE STADIUM!!!!

I have always been a sportsfan and one of my "list of things to do" is to attend a game at every major league baseball stadium. Well...it's kind of changed to just a few of the major stadiums...but HOW could I not attend a game at Yankee stadium with all of the historical events that have taken place there!? After this season, they're tearing it down...so this was my last chance...and B made it happen. :))))) I WAS EXCITED! It was awesome. We sat in the bleachers with a bunch of people who are there for EVERY homegame in the same spot. There was a group of about 9 old men behind us who were decked out head to toe, are all bffs, pretty much act like they're bffs with the players, and most of them had their own personal scorebook in which they kept track of every little step of the game in a perfectly flawless way. Ha...they were um...hardcore. It was a very cool environment. But I can't lie...the Yanks are the ONE TEAM that I could NOT break down and buy a t-shirt to wear to the game. NOT a Yankee fan and NEVER will be. (Unless of course...I move to NYC...sad, I know.)

Brian and I had a splendid getaway and had a super fun time just hanging out together all weekend long. I love my hubbyyyy :))) annnnd, I love NEW YORK!

OH! I broke down and bought a camera battery charger so we ACTUALLY took some pics! Please enjoy :)

Lunch @ ESPN Zone...love it.

Onnnn the subway. I love public transportation. For real. Brian doesn't totally agree with me on that one.

Sex&theCity IS good for something...they introduced me to the DELECTABLE cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery

@ The Majestic to see Phantom
How cool would it be to play a softball game in Central Park? Super cool view :)

Me: superrrrr excited to be @ Yankee Stadium! B: super excited about how much we paid for tickets ha

Yankee Stadium:

The future Yankee Stadium!

annnnd, the classic Time Square photo :)

VOTE for Riles to win an ESPY!!

CrayyyyyZEEE!!

Remember this crazy play that Riley's football team executed back in the fall? The one that got them on ESPN? Well... now it's been nominated for an ESPY for "best play" !!!!

Riles is heading out to LA this week to join people like oh, you know...Lebron James, Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods.... in filming the ESPY Awards. He and 6 of his teammates get to spend 2 days being treated like celebrities and meeting people they have looked up to and idolized for most of their lives. It's nuts! I'm super excited for him! No matter if they win or lose, I'm pretty sure this will be one of the coolest things they do in their lifetime.

HOWEVER, it wouldn't hurt to take home an ESPY :) And, YOU, my dear blogger friends, can help! Visit THIS LINK to vote for the ESPY awards. It requires you to register with espn.com, but that only takes a couple of minutes out of your life. You only have to do it the first time and then you're golden. You can vote once a day. Scroll down to "best play" and click on the TU box! NOTE: ESPN will not send you annoying emails once you register. So, no worries about that :)

Kthanksbye :)

Bradford Update

It was a good weekend. One of B's good friends (and a groomsman in our wedding!) got married at a church in The Woodlands, so we headed out that way on Friday night after work. We stayed with Schwinnybabe and had soooo much fun! I really have missed one of my FAV soccer loves :) Schwinny, JimBob (her pops), and I used to have 2 jam sessions a week on our way to soccer practice....oh, the good ol' days :)

Okay so...first of all, The Woodlands is AWESOME. It is seriously a Sugar Land clone, only a bit less crowded and SO many big beautiful trees! My kind of place :) Schwinny and her fianc, Ryan, took us out to Market Street and we just kinda chatted and hung out. Second- they have a way cool story. They met and fell HARD. They were engaged after a month and a half and will be married in less than 3 months! Pretty awesome and SO exciting! If I know anyone who is deserving of an incredible and FUN guy, it's Linz :)

The wedding was a daytime wedding...2:30 on Saturday. It was pretty, personal, and full of GIANT football-playing groomsmen. My hubling is not a fan of dancing like a goon around people he doesn't know, so there was no getting krunk on the danceflo' (unfortch). His pops was at the wedding, along with his old high school football coach, so we had a super fun time exchanging stories at the old folks' table ;) Yay for weddings :) Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Muhlbach!

Now we're back to our life in Tyler. We are seriously NEVER here on the weekends, so all I know of life in Tyler is work and school, work and school, work...Mexican food...and school. This has been a BUSY week already, but mighty productive :) I'm over halfway done with my first summer class. I'm covering for a friend at work so my already-heavy-clientload is EXTRA heavy. Kerbey has graduated to official baller-pet status. We can FINALLY take her out without her leash and she will listen like a CHAMP no matter what screaming children or yappy dog happens to tempt her otherwise. I NEVER thought I'd say this...but, LONG LIVE THE SHOCK COLLAR! (only up to level 3, though!)

Update complete. Umm...actually I'm just tired of typing. But I think that was an information overload anyway. My apologies :)

OH!..how could I forget? LOOBS IS BACK and I'm pumped :)

That's all, folks.