Funny Videos

I LOVE watching funny home-videos and I REALLY love that we will have these to show Parker (and his future wife) someday.

Parker' 2nd haircut.  I was thinking more of a trim, but Ryan insisted on the buzz cut.  The first couple seconds of the actual haircut are hilarious.  (Boo - the file is too large.  I have to crop the video)

 

My mom got some cars out and started showing Parker how to count them.  First he would just repeat after her, and then he was doing it all on his own!  It was a proud moment for both of us ;)

Parker loves to "jump," although he can't quite get his right leg off the ground.  

Homeward Bound

We were originally planning to spend a little time in Denver on Friday, but we decided to hit the road for home so we could avoid driving all the way through the night.  We talked about our favorite parts of the trip and are so thankful to be able to spend time together as a family.  The ride home was a little tougher than the way out.  After only five hours of driving, we had already let Parker watch to shows and gave him a blow-pop. Haha. 

I had a good time texting Steph all the way home as we joked about funny things that had happened on the SERVE mission trips we'd been on when we were in high school.  That's one way to stay awake!  We made it safe and sound to German Valley by 2:45am.  Praise God!

Bergen Peak - Take 2

All week we had been feeling like failures for not making it to the top of the real Bergen Peak, so Thursday morning we set out to do just that.  First we went up to Gary and Janet Wright's home/castle in the mountains.  Janet was also a teacher in the Fellows program and happens to be our sister-in-law, Meg's mom.  Janet was the one that first told Ryan about the program and convinced him to come, although it didn't take much convincing.  We had a great time hearing about how God has been working in her life, and she loved hearing that Ryan really truly benefitted from his time in the Fellows program.

We started up the trail to Bergen Peak at about 12:00.  We thought we'd get to the top for lunch.  I started with the backpack, just so I could say I did it, but it didn't last all that long.  That thing's heavy!

Parker soaking up the Vitamin D!

We had been hiking for over an hour and we thought for sure we were getting close to the top, only to see that we were probably only half way there.  Aw man!!

We took a break for lunch and then Parker lead the hike for a while.  I would say "Hike 2-3-4" and he would reply "Toot, Toot!"  (Adapted from the book about Joshua and the walls of Jericho). He also enjoyed saying "follow daddy," "come on daddy," "aw man," and "up and down."

3 hours, 2000 feet, and about 30 switchbacks later, we finally made it to the top of Bergen Peak!!  Yay us!  We were pretty proud of ourselves.  The view was awesome.  We could see Denver and Pike's Peak, and of miles of endless mountains. 

Panoramic view of Elk Meadow from Bergen Peak - Denver in the distance.

It took us about two hours to hike down.  We were dead tired, but feelin' great!

Special Visits

Wednesday morning we took it easy and then went to Mimi's Cafe for lunch with Ed Lange.  Ed is the director of Youth Ministries at Rockland and played a significant role in Ryan's relationship with God and with me.  He is such an encouraging man, and he's the one who pushed Ryan to buy a ticket to come to Platteville to tell me he loved me shortly after I left Colorado.  Ed also came to our wedding and prayed over us during the ceremony.  He loved meeting Parker and hearing about Ryan's life as a firefighter.  On a scale of "One to Ed," he thinks we are a pretty cool ;)

We headed back to the Judge's for naptime and then went to Don and Kathleen Hollenbeck's house for supper.  Don was Ryan's mentor while he was in the Fellows program, and Ryan still contacts him regularly to ask his advice on things.  We had a great time with them!  They got out some toys for Parker to play with, and they just so happened to have a little red tractor.  Once they noticed Parker's love for tractors, Don took him for a ride on their snowblower/tractor. 

Parker also got to eat some yummy icecream.  We got a cute video of that.

God's Garden

Ryan re-named "Garden of the Gods," to "God's Garden."  It seriously is the most gorgeous place.  The whole time we were there I was thinking about Psalm 8.



Oh LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!


You have set your glory in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.


When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.


You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under theirfeet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.


LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Colorado Springs with my SBF

I finally got to see Stephanie on Monday night.  I had been SO excited to see her because it had been almost a year!  Plus she's my SBF (no one knows what that means) so any time I spend with her is the best.  We were able to chat a little bit that night, but we went to bed early so we'd be ready for our big Colorado Springs excursion.

We got to Garden of the Gods mid-morning on Tuesday.  This is probably one of the prettiest places on Earth, and it's so unique!  Plus, Pike's peak is right behind it, so it is a real feast for the eyes!

 

Parker had a fun time in the backpack and running around saying hi to different people. He started saying "set go," a lot and liked his little shadow!

After a few hours, we headed into town to the Olympic Training Center.  I had been there before with my family and was super excited to go again.  My dad, brother and I took pictures with these statues last time I was here, so I had to re-create it.



I guess I thought that since it's an Olympic year, the place would be busting with crazy-awesome athletes...you know, like Michael Phelps and Nastia Liukin.  We went on a tour and got to see some of the facilities, but we only saw fencers and wrestlers.  I left feeling so confused.  Where do the big names train?  As Steph would say "I guess we left here with more questions than answers."  We laughed a lot while we were there because we were all getting a little worn out. 


Later than night, another one of my BFF's (home edish) Erin Gehlsen, came out for supper.  The three of us girls laughed almost the entire time about things of the past.  The two of them live together and it's really cool to see God working in their lives!  Love you girls!!  Why didn't we take a picture??!!

 

Bergen Peak - Take 1

Before leaving for our trip, we purchased a Kelty 2.0 kid-carrier so we could do a lot of hiking with Parker.  We were pretty excited to look legit on the trails :)  Monday was the first day to test it out.  It was cold that morning and I did a horrible job of packing for us.  I only brought one pair of athletic pants for both Ryan and I because it was 85 degrees in Chicago the whole week before we left!  I just couldn't imagine being cold again.  "Hello...it's the Rockies..." (Name that movie).  Ryan ended up wearing shorts and getting his legs scraped up, but he was a champ.  We started out pretty far up the mountain already because we weren't sure how Parker would like the backpack.  Unfortunately, this was not an official route with a path, so we just headed up.  I was nervous the whole time because I just kept picturing us getting lost and starving to death.  We trudged through waist-high snow and eventually reached the top of something. 

Once we got there, we look around and realized we went up the wrong mountain...Oops!  It still had a great view.  Parker took a nice snooze in the backpack.

We made it back down easily (thanks to the arrows Ryan drew in the snow, haha) and took a beautiful drive through the mountains to Idaho Springs.

We went to Dan and Kathy McNeil's house for supper.  Dan is very gifted in blacksmithing and Kathy is an extremely talented artist, so they have beautiful art and creative furniture everywhere.  It's a really neat house.  While Ryan was in the fellows program, he and the others would go there every week, prepare a meal together and talk about deep stuff over dinner.  It was great catching up with them and reminiscing about Ryan's days there.  Yet another couple that had a huge impact on Ryan while he lived there.  So thankful for them!

We took these pictures on the way.  No big deal...

Our First Family Vacation!! (Days 1 and 2)

I am writing while relaxing in a gorgeous mountain home in the Rockies.  It is AWESOME out here.  Ryan and I have been wanting to come back ever since I came to visit him in 2007 while he lived here.   Before I talk about this trip, I'll have to give a little background info.  After Ryan finished college, he came out to Evergreen, CO to live with a family and be a part of the Rockland Fellows program.  He did an internship and took seminary classes through the church.  We had only been seeing each other for three weeks before he left for the year, but the long-distance relationship was going well, so I came to visit him during my Spring break.  Now we say that it is the place that "sealed the deal" for our relationship.

5 yrs ago at Hanging Lake

We left Aurora at 9:30 on Friday night and arrived around 2:00 Saturday.  The drive went pretty well, although around 3:00am I was convinced that we would never drive through the night again.  Ryan drove most of the time, but I decided I could drive for a while since he was getting pretty tired.  I got in the driver's seat at 5:00, and by 5:30 I was already telling Ryan I was tired...  Parker did such a great job!  Ryan figured out a way to turn Parker's car-seat around so it could be reclined and then he slept much better.  Once Parker was awake, he had a blast playing with a baby laptop that one of my students lent me, reading books, and playing with his firetruck.

Parker driving at the rest-stop.  You can tell he's concentrating since his tongue it out.

When we were already in Denver, we let him watch a show on the portable DVD player, but he wanted to push the buttons instead of watch ;) We are so proud of him for doing such a great job in the car!  Now I know we can do this again!

We arrived at the Judge's beautiful home around 2:00pm and hung out with them for the rest of the night.

Our bedroom for the week with GORGEOUS views!

 Sunday morning we went to Rockland and then relaxed for the afternoon.  Parker liked playing with Jon and Ty on the trampoline.  He also became minorly obsessed with "driving" their snowblower/tractor.

The Judge's left for their vacation, so it was up to us to take care of the house for the next week.  They are such generous people and Ryan and I have been very blessed by our relationship with them.

Sunday night we headed up to Dave and Corinne Wright's house. Another amazing home in the mountains.

They are an awesome and incredibly active couple that Ryan spent a lot of time with while he lived here.  While were were chatting, we saw a fox outside and made friends.  Parker kept calling it a puppy.