Pikes Peak

On our cross-country drive to our new home in Arizona, we made a couple of stops to stay and visit with family and friends. One of those stops was right outside of Denver, Colorado to stay with a sweet couple who we met on our Honeymoon last year in the Bahamas.

Brad, Me, Barbara & Dave on our Sunset Cruise!

So during our day off of travel, Dave & Barbara took us around to sight see and we ended up at Pikes Peak. It's an awesome drive up to the summit at 14,110 feet... and boy could you feel the altitude. The temperature change from the base to summit was incredible... it was SO cold, and the altitude made us so dizzy (well, it did me at least!). The views were breathtaking and it was so refreshing to see snow again.. especially since it's non-existent in our town now.

I'll quit rambling... here are some pictures :) I highly recommend it!

Just after entering the gates... 

us <3

all of us, minus Dave & Barb

Glacial lake, I think?

SNOW SNOW SNOW! <3

the boys. 

again.

love this one!

ram in the gift shop!

Yosef in the gift shop!
GO APPS!

candied pecans. yummo!

panorama shot at the summit

welcome!

At the SUMMIT! BRRRRRR!
(Dave's pictures that he burnt to CD for us before we left has disappeared in the move..
if I find it I'll update with the pic of all of us. They really were there!!)

Brad & Josh being rams... they really butted heads. Ouch.

another panorama! 

America the Beautiful

mountains <3

We also went to the Garden of the Gods after Pikes Peak... however that includes more pictures, so we'll post on that later!

Also, it was a great weekend.

This past weekend I spent time with four fabulous ladies in Hickory. We got together two-ish years prior out east at Edisto Beach right after I had graduated from App. Since Brad and I are moving in LESS THAN A MONTH (ah!) we wanted to get together one last time. This time Bob & Linda were out of town, so the Thompson house hosted us for the weekend!

We started out with the classic cheese product + rotel dip, which progressively got less edible after each reheating. Also, we watched a LOT of Friends episodes. Lindsey made her mind-blowingly good brownies for us and we drank authentic Hawaiian coffee. Saturday we had lunch at Shell's. That of course included their famous cherry vanilla lemon slushie. It was too entirely cold for Hickory and we even saw snow flurries!

I thoroughly enjoy a good girls weekend, especially with this group. Jeni was in our wedding and has been a great friend even before App came into play. Ashley has the best laugh and the cutest stinkin' puppy on the planet. Amy is awkward and wordy and I love every mintue of it! Lindsey left us early, for which she won't be forgiven, but I love her a lot anyway and love the creative gifts she comes up with for her above-her-room neighbor. :)

Here are some photos to recap the weekend:

Jeni Creepin'

things

reason enough to visit Shell's: cherry vanilla lemon slushieeee

speed dump.. thank you st. stephens 

lyla being all cute

tuck

Just Because

My wonderful hubby brought me these beautiful tulips today after running some errands around town. I love how he picks out the flowers with reddish, yellowish, and orangeish tones... the colors from our wedding!

Who wouldn't love beautiful flowers (in a nice southern mason jar) on a sunny, snowy Friday?!

-D

Lookin' back now...

Two Thousand Eleven

It was a year of firsts and a year of changes! Here we go at a brief-ish (?) glimpse:

• I finished out my first year of teaching (1st grade) out in the small town of Kinston, North Carolina

• Bradford graduated from NC State AND was commissioned into the Air Force as a 2Lt the weekend of May 14th.

• Brad and I got MARRIED (!!!) on May 21, 2011

• We traveled... a lot.
• Enjoyed our honeymoon in the Bahamas!

• Greenville became a memory as we moved all of our belongings up to Boone to live with Brad's Grandmother.

• Went with our Church to Port Henry, NY on a mission trip. (met some super people!)

• Brad met my Dad's side of the family in Ohio at the Martin Family Reunion in August.

• Oscar came to live with us.

• The Air Force moved Brad's dates from October to April then back to March.
• A friend of mine and I went to Autumn at Oz out at Beech Mountain! (a first for me)
• Brad left Boone for 2 months to go work on Hurricane clean up out at the coast. (So we had many a Skype dates!)

• I got a job substituting in Watauga (not steady, but it was better than my many failed attempts at finding a place of work).
• I got a J-O-B tutoring K-5 students at a small school in Watauga.
• My niece turned 2 years old.

• My sister is having another baby! (this time a boy, due in May!)
• A wonderful trip to our nation's capitol.

• Sarah got ENGAGED!

• Celebrating our first birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years as a MARRIED COUPLE!
• McKenna called Brad "Uncle Brad" for the first time when she needed help putting her swing together. Brad was very excited!

Was everyone else's year as eventful?! :)
-D

I'm Just a Bill, Yes I'm only a Bill

I'm glad to start this off by saying Brad is home from the Hurricane clean up! In order to celebrate that and have a long weekend to ourselves, we traveled to our nation's capitol! We were able to stay with some family a few nights and at a snazzy hotel the others.

It's way too much to write, but while in the area we visited: the Kennedy Center for a performance of the Canadian Tenors, Arlington National Cemetery, Air Force Memorial, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, WWII Memorial, Holocaust Museum, White House, Saw Marine One landing with Mr. President aboard, International Spy Museum, Ford's Theatre (Where we saw a performance of the Christmas Carol!!!), The house where Lincoln died, Hard Rock Cafe (of course), Georgetown Cupcakes, took many trips on the Metro, a really sweet little Christmas Market in town, had a flat tire changed in the middle of the night in the middle of D.C. and went to the Air & Space Museum.

Whew!

Here is a small snapshot of our trip:
(Click the photos to enlarge!)

USAF Memorial

Arlington National Cemetery

Doorway in Robert E. Lee's House at Arlington.
Brad said the doorway made me look tall.
I disagree.

Changing of the Guard

Washington Monument, WWII Memorial and Dry Reflecting Pool since it's under  construction.

Lincoln Memorial

Korean War Vet Memorial

Marine One!!!!!

*Cue President's Song*

Bed where Lincoln Died

Holiday Market!!!

International Spy Museum

Georgetown Cupcakes. Haven't heard of them?
Visit their website... they ship throughout the U.S.!

Metrooo!

Our seats for the play :) Perfect view
of the stage annd of Lincoln's box seat!

After the play, Brad went to pick the car up from
the parking garage while I waited at Hard Rock.
Well, a block from the restaurant there was a really
nice nail in the road and blew the tire. Enter 24 hour
tire service in the not-so-nicest part of town. Eek!

Such a nice man we met at the National Air and Space Museum!
He was explaining all the ins and outs of the space suit to us.
He fought for our country with the Army in Vietnam as a Helicopter Pilot.
Pretty neat because they had the helicopter he flew at the museum!

Panorama of the National Air and Space Museum. This is where I took the most pictures!

On our way home we stopped to eat at a Cracker Barrel.
It's required that you play this while you wait for your food.

Thanks for reading!
-D