To say we haven’t blogged in a while is an understatement. It’s been almost 9 months, but who is counting. It has been a busy 9 months and a lot has happened in our lives. So this post is to catch you up briefly and then the next post will be covering our recent vacation to Michigan.

Okay, Ready.Set.GO.

In January, I met with the University of Denver and Micah and I decided that I would go back to school for the Spring quarter to finish my Master’s. That was a major life decision!

In January and February we both lost a grandparent. Micah’s grandfather Jack DeKorne, passed away unexpectedly. He left a wonderful legacy in the DeKorne family, which I am proud to be a part of. I lost my grandma in February unexpectedly which was also very difficult. She was a wonderful woman, who is missed dearly.

In March we went on vacation to Florida with our good friends the Pavlak’s.  We went a couple of days early to see my Uncle Brian and Aunt Amy. They live on a canal in Florida and while out kayaking, we saw a manatee!! It was because I was singing my manatee song He swam right up to us, so amazing!

After staying with my Aunt and Uncle, we headed to the other side of the state to spend the week with the Rubin Family. We had a blast on the beach with the Rubins and even more eventful nights at the Condo. They were so generous. We made memories that will last a lifetime, including a pretty amazing synchronized swimming routine

The Rubin Family!

I turned 25 in April. Yes, 25. Since I was in school and didn’t have time to celebrate, we decided to do something memorable and meaningful. Micah and I set out to raise $2,500 in 25 days for the Big 25 to bring clean water to people in India through a well mechanics program. We did it, raising $3,500! It was truly amazing, we are so blessed to know so many wonderful people who are so supportive of us. You can read more about the campaign here.

Below is an example of Micah’s brilliant graphic design work that he did for the campaign.

My last quarter of grad school actually began while we were on vacation, so I had some catching up to do! It was a busy quarter, taking 18 credit hours. Micah was an amazing, supportive husband. It was a whirlwind! I FINALLY graduated in June with my Master’s in International Administration. My mom and sister flew out and Micah threw me a party. It was such a special day, and I am so thankful to be done with school!!

Micah turned the Big 28 in May! Of course it was finals week, so once again we couldn’t really celebrate.  For his birthday I rented him a BMW bike to take up in the mountains for the day. He got to spend the day on an adventure, and I got to write papers We did celebrate once I was done with school.

Micah shot two weddings in the past 9 months! My good friend Nikki’s in Michigan and our friend James’ in Arkansas. He did a phenomenal job, of course. It was super fun! He also launched his new photography website! Sadly, it was hacked so he is currently rebuilding it, but you can still check it out here. It will be up and running again soon!

Nikki and Steve:

James and Jessa’s Wedding:

We went on a 2 week vacation in July to Michigan and Wisconsin, that will be the next post.

Since last October, Micah has been working at Apple, Valet, and doing photography. He is crazy busy, but working hard to provide for us. He is amazing and I am so thankful for his hard work and sacrifice over that last year so that I could finish school and his graciousness with me not having a job.

I am on the job search. Looking for jobs in international development, human rights, etc. We are excited for what is next!

It’s GOOD to be back!

Living in Colorado Springs, Micah grew up skiing in the Rocky Mountains. Growing up in the mid-west I lived for water-skiing. Downhill skiing is one of Micah’s favorite things to do. When my sister came to visit a two years ago he taught us and my 6-year-old nephew how to ski in the Rockies. He was very patient and loved that we were learning. Last year we didn’t ski because it was a busy winter, getting ready for the wedding. So this year, I promised Micah I would go once with him, because I knew it meant a lot.

So last week we headed up to Keystone to ski for the day. I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t enjoy doing things I am not good at. Call it what you may. If you are familiar with Colorado, you might know that Keystone has slightly steeper slopes than other mountains. The Green (easiest run) starts at the top of the mountain. Awesome. I will say however, the view from the top was breathtaking and worth every penny and second of frustration I might have had I stood at the top in awe. Then attempted to ski.

An hour and a half later we arrive at the bottom of the run. I decided it was time for hot chocolate and sent Micah to do his black diamond show off stuff, while I enjoyed the town area. I did do one more run before the day ended. I was pretty tired the second go round. Here is a glimpse into how that went…

I fall. “Micah, this is your fault!”
Micah: “No babe, it’s not.”
Me: Stuck, trying to get up. “Well its your fault you are not closer to me to help me up!”
Micah: “No, I am sorry that you are stuck though.” Then he verbally guided me through the tragic moment.

Half way down the mountain I had an attitude adjustment, and enjoyed the rest of the day. I am thankful for Micah’s patience and good attitude. All in all it was a fun day, however I will not be skiing Keystone anytime soon.

This year was our first Christmas together, if you didn’t gather that from my ever so witty title. We stayed here in Denver and had a quiet, restful, wonderful Christmas.

The month started with weekly Advent dinners at our friends house, which was extremely meaningful to truly reflect on the Christmas story. It was our first time doing it, and not worrying about travel helped us be fully present in the advent season. God did super awesome things in our hearts.

We also got our tree the beginning of December. I had always cut down the tree in Michigan with my dad and family the day after Thanksgiving. I have such fond memories of cutting down our own tree, walking forever, putting mittens on trees we liked, debating, and finally cutting down the perfect tree. I told Micah I really wanted to cut down our first Christmas tree. We found a tree farm about an hour away and decided we would make an afternoon of it. We loaded up the car with our good friends the Pavlaks and our dogs. We got to the farm, and found a tiny lot, maybe an acre, of less than impressive trees. They asked if we wanted to take the hay ride through. I was like “really?” I can walk this in approximately 30 seconds. Putting my bad attitude aside, we went out to find our trees. We found a few that would suffice, the nicest trees didn’t have tags on them, maybe they were being saved for next season. We went to cut down the trees, and they were $55! WHAT!? Yeah, 55. I don’t think we ever paid more than $20, and mind you, the trees were no taller than 5 1/2 feet. We didn’t have a choice at this point, and decided our first tree would be perfect regardless. We cut them down, had some hot chocolate, and traveled back to Denver. On the way home, Micah decided we weren’t buying ornaments for our tree, because we already spent too much. So when we returned to Denver, we got a stack of paper, went to the Pavlaks and proceeded to cut out snowflakes for our tree for the rest of the night

A few days later, Micah conceded and we bought a few more ornaments to add some color. We enjoyed the week setting up our tree, decorating, and putting up stockings while listening to Christmas music.

The Finished Product!

We love our short fat first Christmas tree!

Christmas day we woke up and baked coffee cake from scratch. Opened up stocking gifts and enjoyed Wisconsin cheese and sausage my mom had sent in a Christmas care package. We decided its a new tradition. We were overwhelmed with the generosity of people this Christmas. After opening gifts and taking a good friend to the airport we headed over to the Starr’s.

We enjoyed the afternoon with our Denver family, food, games, laughter, and fellowship. We stayed there until midnight. Thank you Starr’s for inviting us to spend Christmas with your family. It was so special for us. An amazing first Christmas!

!st annual cheesy christmas card photo shoot… Enjoy the outtakes!

As a previous post stated… we went to Wisconsin. I grew up in Wisconsin and was raised as a Packer fan. It’s almost impossible to live in Wisconsin and not be a Packer fanatic. I moved to Arizona when I was 13 but continued to follow them, even in Denver. Micah, was fortunate enough to marry into a Packer family and we have enjoyed watching them together. Part of Micah’s wedding present to me was personalized Packer jerseys with our last name on them and the year we were married.

I always dreamed of seeing the Packers play at Lambeau Field. We met Molly and Nick while watching a Packer game here in Denver. We became friends quickly, Molly provided means for my trophy wife lifestyle, see previous post. Molly and Nick invited us to come back with them for a Packer Game at Lambeau. Molly’s parents live in Green Bay and opened their home to us. My mom also recently moved back to Wisconsin. Micah and I just couldn’t refuse an offer and opportunity like this! So we went!

Might I also add that this was Micah’s FIRST time to Wisconsin… and he received the full experience!
Cows!

Polka!

Football!

A huge thanks goes out to Mom and Steve for their hospitality and love, as well as to Mr. and Mrs. Osadjan for their generosity and hospitality! It was an amazing trip and we are looking forward to our next visit. GO PACK GO!

Craziness Folks. really. really. exciting things happening! The past couple weeks we have been blessed with the opportunity to be a part of The Adventure Project. Lucky for you, they have provided a brilliant stocking stuffer/gift for Christmas!! Drum roll please…..

A Lump of COAL! be NICE and help provide families in Haiti with fuel-efficient stoves this Christmas. Read about it here.

On another note, my sister-in-law, Tricia sent us this video. It inspired me. So much goodness and truth. Think about it. Thanks Trish!!

Find out more about the Advent Conspiracy here.

Every year, near the end of September, a rather amazing thing happens here in Colorado; FALL.  Yeah, I hear it happens other places as well, but there is something almost holy about the way golden aspens shimmering in the cool mountain breeze, illuminated by the bright sun, amid a backdrop of majestic rocky mountain peaks.  Colorado is without a doubt one of the best places in the world to experience the sensory euphoria known as fall.

Perhaps a piece of my deep love for fall comes from my upbringing.  Fall was celebrated every year with a mini family vacation into the mountains where we would spend a few days exploring various roads in search of the most colorful aspen groves.  So it came as little surprise (and under a bit of suspicious motives) when my parents announced they were coming to Colorado in September to “visit the newly-weds”.

Betsy and I arrived at the airport after a wild weekend (see previous post) and welcomed mom & dad to our amazing city.  They were able to spend some time with our community here and join us for our house church gathering (my moms first time!).  But a short 24 hours later, we found ourselves cruising west directly into the mountains.

It turns out this was the weekend to visit as the aspens were in their full golden glory.  The morning was mainly spent on paved roads, enjoying the spectacular views, and occasionally exploring turnoffs and photo ops.  After a delicious lunch at a roadside burger diner, we turned our rented suzuki off the beaten path and onto a rugged trail known as Georgia pass.

We discovered a beautiful turquoise lake that served as a perfect host for a friendly stone skipping competition.  Venturing further up the pass, we stumbled upon a female moose with her two young calves grazing in a meadow (this fulfilled Betsy’s long held dream of seeing a moose in the wild)!  As we crested the top of the pass, we were greeted by a large heard of mountain goats who also had a few young ones in the pack!

It was time to descend the other side of the pass, but the road was decidedly less developed.  Despite several voices of reason (thank you ladies), we forged ahead with our trusty suzuki that has little more clearance than the average car.  But the trail proved no match for our rental as we traversed rock and stream to arrive safely on the other side in the little town of Breckenridge.  Before calling it a day, we stopped in Idaho Springs for some world famous rocky mountain pizza pies from Beau Joes Pizza.

It was an amazing trip.  Thanks Mom & Dad for coming to visit the newly-weds, we loved having you.  And I hear fall in Colorado is slated to happen again next year too!

Just wanted to let you all know we arrived in Wisconsin yesterday and will be returning to Denver on Monday.  We are currently visiting Betsy’s mom in Janesville, and will be catching the Packers game this Sunday!  We will have some pictures up soon.

This all took place a couple of weeks ago. We had planned on going on a camping trip with the Pavlaks the upcoming weekend. We had this trip planned for 6 weeks. It was the only weekend that worked for all of us. Micah’s parents were coming in town the following weekend, Sun-Wed. We had originally planned on going camping Fri-Sun but then realized we had a friend’s wedding to go to that Sat morning so we moved the camping trip to Sat-Mon. Perfect…

The Wednesday before the wedding and camping trip we were at Micah’s cousins place here in Denver, visiting with them. They mention how they are looking forward to seeing Micah’s parents this weekend… We kindly corrected them, “No, they aren’t coming until the following weekend.” They respond “No, we just talked to your mom last night, they are flying in this Sunday.” I obviously begin to panic. How could this be? I have had this marked down on the calendar for weeks! I tell Micah to immediately call his parents and get this straightened out. He returns “Yup, they fly in THIS SUNDAY.” Okay, stay calm I think. Did I mention this is the first time that Micah’s parents have come to visit us? It’s a pretty big deal.

We get in the car to head home. “Micah, you have to call Jami and tell her we can’t go camping. I am not going to call her. I can’t do it.” So Micah calls Jami, tells her the situation and we are all still determined to make camping happen. You are probably wondering HOW? It’s not possible to get the house ready, go camping, go the wedding, and pick Micah’s parents up by Sunday morning…. Here is how it went down:

Thursday: CLEAN, grocery shop for camping trip and Parents visit, oh and pack for camping

Friday: Finish packing, Finish cleaning, hit the road for camping by noon.  Get to our campsite at Rampart Reservoir by 4pm. Enjoy the lake. Take a nap. Have dinner. Start fire. Pavlaks show up at 10pm since Greg had to work Friday. Hang out around the fire. Sleep.

Saturday: Wake up at 8am. Have breakfast. Get dressed in the outhouse. 9am drive to the Springs for Jeremy Grant’s wedding. Stop at King Soopers(grocery store)  to do our hair in the bathrooms. Classy, I know. At the wedding by 11am. Enjoy an amazing ceremony. Go the reception. Have a drink. Here the toasts. See the first dance. Greet Bride and Groom. 2pm drive an hour back to campsite. Go the lake with the Pavlaks and spend the afternoon kayaking and hanging out. Enjoy another fire together. Sleep.

Sunday: Wake up at 6am. Pack up camp. Leave by 7am. Get to Denver by 8am. Shower. Unpack car. Pick up parents at 10am.

WHEW!!! I am tired all over again writing about it! More to come on the parents’ visit. Such a good time, and relaxing!!!

Lesson learned: Lets not do that again. But it was fun I hope you enjoy the wedding attire at the campground as much as we do!

It was the starter.

My honest thought when the car broke down was excitement because we have an emergency fund. While I know that many people have this fund, Micah and I never had one until reading Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, and our fund was completed last month. Thus, I was excited to have an emergency and be able to pay for it! Micah reminds me that we still had to spend money on the car…

It feels good to be a somewhat responsible adult.

ps. We read the book for pre-marital counseling and recommend it to everyone. So good!

Our Pathfinder, which was my grandfather’s, is in the shop. It wouldn’t start this weekend, so thanks to our friends and their awesome AAA, our truck was towed to our mechanic. We are pretty sure it’s the starter.  Pray that it doesn’t cost too much, and is an easy fix! I will keep you updated!

And special thanks to Ryan for letting us use his van this week!