we're home!

after 23 days and 22 nights,

4500 miles on the highway,

and countless beautiful moments

we are h.o.m.e.

...our trip looked like this...

-camped 2 nights in southern Colorado-

-camped 2 nights at the Grand Canyon-

-spent 1 night/18 hours in Las Vegas-

-spent 1 night with Rob's parents/1day at the beach with Rob's family-

-spent 2 nights/1 day in Bakersfield visiting family/friends/memory lane for Rob-

-camped 1 night in Sequoia National Park-

-camped 2 nights in Yosemite National Park-

-stayed 1 night in Monterey, CA/drove down Hwy 1 (Pacific Coast Hwy)-

-stayed 3 nights with friends in San Luis Obispo, CA-

-celebrated the wedding of Kenny+Seleena-

-stayed 1 night in St. George, UT-

-stayed 3 nights in Denver with friends-

-stayed 1 night in Ft. Collins, CO with my dear, sweet friend-

-stayed 2 nights in Holyoke, CO to celebrate the marriage of Brent+Brittany-

and then we were home. 

and it was good. :)

good to be gone.

good to be together.

good to be home. 

good to have space.

goodness all around. 

I am eager to share stories, 

pictures, 

and lessons from the road.

but, did I mention that our basement imploded/flooded while we were gone?

yeah. somewhere between Utah and Colorado that happened.

so, I'll get to those pictures and photos eventually. 

I'll probably use editing pictures and posting blogs as a *healthy* avoidance of the millions of other things I need to get done. 

can't wait to share more soon!

until then

I should work on unpacking this mess. 

love, 

E

 

summer recap #4: apartment perks

one of the best perks of living in an apartment
is having a pool.
and our apartment has THREE (1 is indoor).

so while the fam was in town
we took a dip in the pool.



mackoy LOVES his papa.
in fact, that statement does not really capture
the extent to which mackoy prefers papa
over the rest of us.

at one point dad (papa) was holding mackoy
and I swam up behind them and put my hands on dad's back,
and mackoy whined and pushed me away.

don't worry,
I reminded him that he was my papa first. :)
no really, I did.

this daddy's girl still has her place, right?

p.s. yes, you are seeing that correctly. my dad got in the pool fully clothed.
polo shirt, hat, and all. dove right in.
only my dad. gotta love him.
well, you don't have to...but I sure do! :)

summer recap #2: salida/crestone

last spring rob talked me into training for a 10k.
the furthest i had ever ran up to that point was 3 miles.
in college.

we settled on running a 10K in Salida during the
FibArk whitewater festival.

liz, the other autism teacher at rob's school, ran too!

not only was it a great place to meet our goal of running a 10k,
it was the perfect opportunity to get out of the city for the weekend.

which is good for this country girl's soul.
so good.

we stayed the weekend in Crestone.
nestled against the Sangre de Cristos Mountains (blood of Christ)
in a beautiful, charming casita (little house).

the casita belongs to my mom's best friend from high school.
her talented husband built the ENTIRE thing by himself.
wow.
i loved everything about it.
but my favorites were in the kitchen.

the old farmhouse sink.
blue spanish tiles.
handmade wood island.
copper pots hanging.
(copper reminds me of my mom's kitchen growing up)
wood beams.
and these doors.

these incredible blue doors.
old doors, painted and distressed.
my favorite shade of blue.
love!


we could literally walk out the front door and start hiking.
so that's exactly what we did sunday morning.



it was perfect.
the other day I looked back in my journal from the entry i wrote that weekend.
it started with...

"my soul is at rest. it took about 24 hours after escaping the city
to finally feel like my mind was clear and my spirit still..."

tracee and jim,
thank you for opening up your beautiful home.
it has become one of my favorite places.
you both have incredible taste and amazing talent.
thanks for sharing with us.
love,
erica and rob

summer recap #1: manitou springs

i'm going to do a series of summer posts.

we had a crazy, busy summer.
full of wonderful things,
just very full.

we started the summer off by celebrating
3 years of marriage
in manitou springs.

our first night we went to a melodrama/dinner theatre
i was really skeptical to start.
but it ended up being very funny and entertaining.
i laughed a lot.


we walked around downtown manitou.
swam and read by the pool.
hiked around Garden of the Gods.

haha. oh, robby. he's so hardcore :)
we were both really sunburned.
the hats were necessary.

on our way back to denver
we stopped at the castle rock outlets :)
a great way to start of the summer!
and celebrate 3 years with my incredible hubby.
blessed!

my favorite month

March is my favorite month.
and yet I haven't even blogged ONE TIME this entire month.

kinda pathetic.
scratch that.
it's okay that I haven't posted.
i don't really have an excuse.
i just haven't.
and that is okay.
right?
:)

(I decided to give up GUILT for lent this year.
along with desserts & sweets
I realized that I begin a lot of phrases with "I should..."
and sometimes I need to just let myself be
can anyone else relate?)

anyway, I decided to break my fast this morning.
and to quickly summarize why I love March:

my birthday! celebrated #27 this year.

the beginning of spring. ahhhh, sunshine and warmer weather. it is good for my soul.

lent. a season of preparing my heart and mind for Easter and the celebration of Jesus conquering death so that I could live. what ways to you practice lent?

spring break. which I no longer have, but I still appreciate for my husband's sake :).
this is one of those times when i think I should have been a high school English teacher. oh well.

March Madness! we have watched a.lot.of.basketball. my bracket is TERRIBLE this year and K-state broke my heart a little, but that games have been fun to watch. I'm just getting a little burned out of the TV being on. There is only 7 more games. And then we'll have to wait 7 more months for them to begin again. :)

and a special thing about this March,
is that we get to go to CALIFORNIA!
We haven't seen Rob's family since Thanksgiving.
It has been FAR too long and I can't wait to
meet little Hudson Haude,
wrestle with Jakers,
watch Gabriella and Melonie's first soccer game,
and spend hours laughing, crafting, talking, shopping,
and GOING TO DISNEY :)
I can't believe I almost forgot that we get to go to Disney!

Rob leaves Monday.
His dad will be there for two weeks,
on leave from Afghanistan.
I fly out Wednesday evening after work.
it will be so wonderful.
i dread how short it will feel,
but am thankful for time we do get.

i can't wait!

ringing in the new year

we got all "gussied up,"
went to the Oakley Country Club,
and danced the night away.



a local cover band, Aces and Eights,
played some of my country favorites,
and we boot-scooted-and-boogied
our way into 2011.


Rob said the next morning:
"That was probably the most fun I've had on a New Years."
he was a 2-steppin' fool.
i was very impressed!

who said Western Kansas wasn't fun!?!?

campfire evenings

camping is not camping without fire.

amerie, dianne and i have been hiking/camping together now for four years.
every year my job is to start the fire.

this year i drove up a day later than the others because of work
so they ate microwavable meals and didn't have a fire

it is good to know that people need me :)
here are my feet warming by my work of art
i take pride in my fire building abilities.
so keep your comments to yourself!


dianne and tiffany enjoying the fire.
don't let the look on dianne's face deceive you. she liked it.

our meals consisted of burgers and bbq chicken.
as always, cooking over the fire was an experience.
the chicken got a little burned.
the beans were either boiling hot or cold.
our face hairs were singed from leaning too close.
we didn't have the most appropriate utensils for cooking over a fire
but with my mad problem-solving skills, we made do....
yes, that is a towel wrapped around my arm and a small fork in my hand.
hey. it got the job done. no one starved.
see. Am is enjoying her veggie burger.
cutting it up into tiny little pieces.
eating it bite. by bite.
by little, tiny bite.
that's how she rolls. :)
i love you, Am.

and no campfire meal is complete without s'mores.
the first night we went through one entire bag of mallows.
i'm blaming it mostly on Amerie.
i lost count when she passed 20.
the second night Amerie and I were alone....
and we consumed HALF of another bag.
disgusting?
nah!

i just couldn't get enough.
i even combined my love of choc. covered strawberries with my love of s'mores.
a.maze.ing.
seriously. you have to try it.
you know you want to!
my mouth is watering. literally. watering.
maybe i'll dream about it tonight?
that might be as close as I should get to a bag of mallows for awhile.

the mountains

Denver is known for being a city of transplanted citizens.
people move from all over the country
just to live near the Rockies.

i count myself blessed to be one of those people.
especially on a hot summer day
when i'm HOT and SWEATY and HOT
and only a couple hours away from sweet relief.

we don't make it up to mountains as often as we would like.
but this past weekend, i made my escape.

to Estes Park:
Gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park

where i met up with three friends from high school.
well, from PRE-school actually
but who is counting the years :)

we spent a couple nights at the local KOA
and all day Saturday hiking

you can almost SEE the silence in this picture.
i l.o.v.e.d. that.

we hiked UP for three hours.
and then the path and trees
opened up into




it was beautiful.
and worth the grueling hike.

we ate lunch


and crawled out onto some boulders where we could nap in the sun
i wanted to get to this one
but we all know how i feel about water creatures.
we're not bff's.

so i settled for a much smaller boulder that was closer to shore.
i fell asleep listening to nothing but the water lapping up against the side of the rock
and it was glorious.

there was a mountain stream emptying into the lake
i was determined to get some good pictures
which required me crawling through some crass and flowers.
after i snapped the photo,
i noticed that i was surrounded by butterflies

they were ALL over.
sucking the nectar
so they were peaceful and still.
sigh.
it was great.

God's handiwork was all around me
and i couldn't help but admire it all.

i found myself meditating on all the tiny details of nature
and how God knows ME and all the details of my life
in the exact same way.

incredible.

with all the changes of the past few months:
school ending. friends moving. new job. church.
especially church.

with all those changes,
it was good for me to remember how much God knows.
and cares.
and loves.

remembering that brings me peace.
and on most days, i can not have too much peace.

can you relate?

can you hear my soul resting
as you read this post?

i feel at rest all over again as I look at the pictures
and remember the day.

i hope that in some way you can rest for a few minutes, too.

tabor tots

in college, people lovingly called students whose parents attended tabor
"tabor tots"
not sure why.
i wasn't one of them.

a few weeks ago i posted about a friends getaway we had in the mountains.
with tabor couples.
you can read about it here.
it was decided that next year, the trip would include children.
children who could one day become "tots."

layne and staci have a precious little girl, Taylin, who will be 2 yrs in November.
she'll be really fun next year at the lake :)

Lee and Sara Jo are expecting their first little one in just ONE MONTH!
Doesn't she look great?
The Waldrons are really special to us, and we can't wait to meet little Bean!!!

and the Garcia family!
John and Shayley are expecting their first soon, too!
They are such a great couple and they will be such wonderful parents!

so many babies!!!
and they weren't the only ones expecting on our little trip....


caleb asked me to take this picture "of the Mason family"
and right as I clicked the button, he said "all three of us!"

they had been holding out on us all weekend!!!
we'd been talking about pregnancy and babies all day!
I had even asked Arika when they wanted to have kids.
ha!
the timing was perfect! it was great to catch it all on film.
the guys were all so excited for caleb.
call me cheesy---but this is such a beautiful picture of friendship.

who is next?


the greenhaws?
they have been married the longest...


the schenks?


or will it be us?
:)
all bets are on....feel free to wager.

it will be fun to see all the little "tots" grow!