Sisters trip to Colorado~it's a long one.

Warning: this will be lengthy, so beware. 

Last Thursday, Trish and I flew to Denver for the beginning of our sisters trip. Debi planned this starting back in August and she made it so special for us. It was a trip for us to be there for her birthday and we loved getting to celebrate with her. When we landed and made our way to her, we found her sitting on a bench. As soon as she saw us, she screamed and jumped up really fast. It made us laugh, because such is life with Debi, who's always been known as the life of the party. We were starving, so we went to On The Border and ate an early dinner, then we went to Erika's house, where Jaret (my nephew) was waiting on us.

I promptly got right to work and started holding these little lovies. My niece Erika has TWO sets of twins. Kinsley and Kylie are three and a half, and Madi (white shirt) and Maci are almost three months. Kinsley and Kylie were a little shy with us, so though I really wanted to play with them, I ended up holding these little angels. Madi was the one sleeping on me in that top picture. We did end up going upstairs with Kins and Kylie and played with them for a bit before leaving. We headed to Debi's house for the night, where I found this cutie anxiously awaiting us.

Cowboy is one of my favorite dogs of all time. He's so beautiful and was so happy to see me, because he knows how much I love him. 

The next morning we were up bright and early enough to watch the sun rise.

One thing Colorado does best: sunrises and sunsets. Debi has this new coffee pot that makes the best lattes, so I had one to go with the sunrise. We ate a big breakfast, then got dressed and went to a pumpkin patch with Lisa, Erika and her family and Jaret. 

We went on a hayride and Kinsley finally decided to come with beside me. Would you believe the babies slept the entire time?

We bowed out a little early because we were all hot and went to Debi's house for sandwiches for lunch. That night, everyone came over for Debi's birthday dinner. We had Italian takeout from a place called Maggiano's and all the food was delicious. 

Terrible picture, great sisters.

Trish and I brought gifts for Kinsley and Kylie, but so did their GiGi (Lisa) and this picture was her gift to them. I held the babies some more, because the older two were still being shy.

Maci was passed out on her daddy, but Madi was fighting sleep really bad. She finally gave in to it, though and I couldn't stop staring at her sweet little profile. 

I spent that night with Lisa, then we got up and headed to Colorado Springs the next morning. We picked Debi and Trish up, then stopped in Manitou Springs for lunch and shopping/sightseeing.

It was a beautiful little town. We ate a yummy lunch and walked around a bit, then headed to the hotel.

This place was gorgeous. The property, the actual hotel, all the details inside and out—I've seen it once before, but had forgotten. This picture right above was in the bathroom; to give a bit of insight, those towels in the restroom are real towels with baskets underneath for them to be taken away and laundered.

Isn't this beautiful?! You can walk around that lake, or over the bridge in the middle of it. We chose the bridge, because high altitude with a mask on is no joke. 

Trish and I were sitting outside for a minute when this deer and several others just casually walked up on the sidewalk! They kept going until they reached some grass in front of the hotel. I don't know what The Broadmoor has planted to encourage deer, but it is so good to them that they're very domestic. They were hardly scared at all by people and cars.

Like I said, the details in this place are incredible.

That night for dinner we went to a steakhouse nearby called The Peppertree. It was amazing and a several hour long experience. It was back to the hotel for comfy clothes after that, we were all stuffed.

Our room had quite the view. 

We left the next day after a delicious breakfast and started the drive back to Debi's house, but we made a stop in Castle Rock to shop a bit. 

I had to lay down for the rest of the day once we got to Debi's house again—I don't know why, but my stomach bothered me so much on this trip. I think mostly it was all the eating out, which was so so good, but just something more rich than what we normally eat at home. Debi made chicken pot pie that night for dinner and it tasted so good to me. I made a note on my phone of the recipe and will be making it here for us soon.

I repacked my suitcase the next morning, then we left Debi's to go to Erika's for the day. I sat and held babies all day long and it was GLORIOUS.

I also colored with Kinsley and Kylie and had fun laughing with them. We ate dinner over there, then went to Lisa's house to watch The Voice. I spent the night over there, then Jaret drove me to the airport the next morning. It was a wonderfully fun trip and I already miss them all. As much fun as it was, there is no place quite like home and I was so glad to see all of my guys, especially my husband. I was thrilled to see his smiling face at the airport yesterday when I made my way to baggage claim. We ordered pizza for dinner last night and I unpacked and did all of my laundry. And just like that, it was like I never even left home as today was completely normal and a day spent at church for Bible study. 

Thanks for reading about our trip! Love to all. 

Life Lately

 

After today's blog post, I'll be taking a blogging break until next Thursday, most likely. I leave town tomorrow until Tuesday, then I'll have Bible study on Wednesday morning, so I'm not counting on blogging that day since I'll be in recovery mode. I'm writing this on Monday night—if it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't have a blog post for this day. 

I've had lots to keep me busy this week! Here's a little of what I've been up to.

I've been walking on our new treadmill! Hopefully I'll have done this every day this week so far, but as of Monday night, I've already walked twice in three days. The first day I walked 1.1 miles and on my second day, I walked 1.5! I'm walking at about 2.5 mph, but for the last ten minutes, I slow it down to 2.2 mph 

My shoes may not look like much, but they're really good for walking. A few months ago an Instagrammer I follow posted about these and I ordered these in February or March. I wouldn't run in them, but like I said—to walk on a treadmill, they're great. I can't wear anything with a lace anymore, because I've fractured the same bone in my left foot twice in four years. I'm rolling my eyes at my eighty year old self. These are pull on and the fabric on top is very giving. They're a great price and if you're in need of a walking shoe that is cute and supportive, here is one for you. I would say they are VERY true to size. Most shoes aren't so I sized up one half, but I shouldn't have.

My church shared a prayer resource with us on Sunday that has Scripture that we can pray over our nation in the days leading up to the election. These two images were Sunday's and Monday's. 

I had a lot to do on Monday, so I ordered my groceries for pickup between nine and ten. I met Jonah at Firestone to get his truck aligned, but when he went in to hand them the keys, the man told him that none of his technicians showed up to work that day and he didn't want to keep the truck if he couldn't promise the work would be done. Isn't that crazy?? Anyway, I sent Todd this picture, because I only paid for two loaves of bread from Kroger and this is how many they gave me. Anyone close by need some bread? We have a fifth being used in our pantry, these are all additional! 

This was me, trying to be fluent in Greek. Not really—I'll never be fluent in Greek, but I got my portion of the writing done for our next women's Bible study that we'll start in January! Never have I been so excited to finish a project and though I thought this one would be easier than our last study on Hosea, I was WRONG. I struggled more with than I did on Hosea even though I thought so differently. 

I finished my portion, then made time to read this book I started on Sunday night. I finished the first Harry Potter book and it was good, but this book is more my style. I'll continue on with the Harry Potter books, but I wanted to read this one. This is one in a series and I've got the whole series. 

On Tuesday I decided to get out and run errands. I had to go to Target and I went to get my nails done again. Mom went with me and we had lunch out; I'm glad I got to see her before I leave town Thursday. 

While at Target, I picked up myself a little snack. I've had it before, I've just never broken down and bought the makings of it before. I ate this while Todd ran on the treadmill Tuesday night. That makes me laugh at the irony. 

All I have plans for today is staying at home and making a yummy dinner tonight. I am doing all the laundry and starting the packing process for tomorrow. I have my list on my phone and it should be pretty easy to put it all together. My plan is to pack as minimally as possible and do mix and match type pieces of clothing and shoes. 

Thanks for reading my blog! I'll see you back here next week. Love to all!