colorado day 3: colorado springs and tumbling river

When Zach and I woke up Monday morning neither of us could move very well. I guess it makes since considering our bodies had hiked 13 miles the last two days and we weren't exactly used to that much exercise :) We were planning on a lot driving this day and not much walking so it worked out pretty well.

Colorado Springs was an hour and a half south of where we were staying and has a lot of things to see so we spent the majority of the day there. Our first stop was the Air Force Academy. Zach's cousin Caleb is a graduate of their and now flies fighter jets, plus, it has a beautiful campus and an amazing Chapel as well.

Growing up in Alabama it was cool to see a statue dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen all the way in Colorado.


The stain glass was gorgeous and the colors just brilliant when the sun came through.

Next stop was the Garden of the Gods. It is a red rock formation made of sand stone and was donated to the city of colorado springs in the early 1900's to be a free park for the public. It had started to rain right as we got there and I had somehow forgotten my rain jacket at the hotel. My sweet husband let me borrow his while he just got wet. We would have liked to hang around here longer but it was cold, wet, windy and slippery so we saw what we could and got back in the car.

My poor exhausted and sore body had enough by the end of this destination so I fell asleep while Zach drove to the Pike's Peak entrance. We were planning on driving to the top but when we got there we found out it was $15 a person, an hour and a half drive one way, and the top was closed due to a hail storm so I went back to sleep while Zach figured out what we were going to do next. I woke up sometime after sitting in a shopping center while Zach went out and took some pictures. It had cleared up some and he had a good view so there ya go! When he got back in the car we just happened to be next door to the Focus on the Family headquarters so we went to their welcome center.

Zach's brothers and sisters listened to a radio show when they were growing up called Adventures in Odyssey that is produced by Focus on the Family. They downstairs of their welcome center is a huge museum/playground for this show. We went and had ice cream in Whit's End and walked around the bottom while Zach attempted to explain to me what I was seeing. Since I'm sure he's going to buy all the CD's for our kids when they're old enough I'll have full knowledge whenever we go back to visit with the kids!

Our last event of the day was driving down to Tumbling River Ranch in Grant, CO where Katie and Jered have been working the last few months. They had invited us to come out and tour the ranch and have dinner as guests. We weren't really sure what to expect since the only ranch either of us have seen are in movies. It was quiet, relaxing, quaint and full of mountain atmosphere. Katie showed us around and explained everything they do on a daily/weekly basis. We bought souvenirs from the trading post, borrowed boots from the barn and ate ribs, potatoes, cowboy beans and smore's outside next to a fire. VERY COOL!

We said our final goodbyes to them until they come home in October and drove the dark mountain roads back to our hotel to get a good nights sleep before our last day in the west!

colorado day 2: rocky mountain national park

I loved every second (ok well most seconds) of our trip, but Sunday was BY FAR my favorite day! The weather was nice and cool without a trace of humidity. The sky was a beautiful blue with just enough puffy white clouds to make Zach picture happy. But best of all it was our day with Zach's sister Katie and her husband Jered. YAY! They are the reason we convinced ourselves that we just NEEDED to go to Colorado. They have been working on a ranch since mid May and we took it upon ourselves to go to fill their need for friends and family. Such a sacrifice ;)

The Mckennas made it to the hotel about 8 and we headed straight to Estes Park and the entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park for a full day of hiking.


There are TONS of pictures from today and I'm sharing a teensy portion but it's still a lot so I'll just narrate so that you can see a little of what we saw. The park just happened to be free the day we went but was PACKED so we parked in a park and ride lot and took a shuttle to the trailhead for Bear Lake. It was a 256 ft hike (walk) so we started there and kept going.

Our hike was basically a tour of lakes one just as beautiful or more than the next. This is Nymph Lake. It was covered in huge lily pads and our imaginations pictured fairies skittering from one to the other just as I'm sure the namers of the lake did as well.

Dream Lake was next. The trails were much easier this day and much cooler as well.

We reached Laka Hiayaha by noonish and stopped there to eat lunch. This was one of my favorite spots we saw. It's a lake surrounded by mountains and directly behind us was a glacier. There was no real path to it, just a lot of big BIG rocks surrounding and we had to climb over them until we found one we wanted to turn into our picnic table. The temperature dropped a lot while we were there and for a burning hot georgia/alabama girl it felt AMAZING!!

Just G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S!

After lunch we started the hike back down but on a different trail headed to Mills Lake. Zach and Jered felt it necessary to climb almost every rock we came to. Pretty sure that's a guy thing!

I on the other hand felt perfectly fine in my hiker'ish' gear staying on the trial and take pictures of the crazy ppl :)

This is favorite spot number too. Lake Hiayaha was awesome because you felt enclosed by the mountains and hidden away. Mills Lake was just breathtakingly beautiful! The lake was full of calm and peace and there was a great view of Long's Peak and Glacier Gorge. We met two people there were were hiking up to camp for the night at Glacier Gorge which they said is the most difficult permit to get in the whole park. Only one tent is allowed there per night and they open up for new reservations March 1st but by March 2nd they're all gone. He'd been trying for 3 years to get one.

We rested here for quite a long time soaking our worn feet in the freezing cold lake, stealing drift wood from the bottom :) and being chased by chipmunks.
Zach and Jered walked across the fallen trees to the other side on top of the cliffs. Can you see them? Look closely.
See I told you they were there. Amazing how tiny they look compared to the massiveness of the surroundings.
It was tough to get up and start the way back knowing it will be along time before we see this place again, but we finally did it. On the way back we passed Alberta Falls.

We ended this day taking Katie and Jered to dinner in Boulder and then going to Crepe a la Carte for dessert where we lingered for awhile to talk/share/laugh/etc. They are some of our favorite people to have conversation with and we made the most of the time together.

GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT DAY!!

colorado day 1: plane, boulder and the flat irons

We woke up at 3:30 a.m., double checked all of our stuff and headed to the airport. After a long wait in check in, a longer wait in security, a desperation run through concourse D to our gate minutes before they were about to close the doors, and a 2 1/2 hour flight we landed in Denver at 7:28 Mountain time :)

We picked up our rental car and headed straight into Boulder. It was absolutely amazing how far you could see in front of you. Denver is absolutely flat with very few trees to block the view so all you can see are mountains in the distance that just get larger and larger as you drive towards them. We started our day at the farmer's market held every wednesday and saturday. This was actually my first ever farmer's market and I loved it. Piles of flowers, fruit, vegetables, homemade goodies were everywhere. There was one booth of all freshly made breads with the biggest croissants I have ever seen. Both our mouths were watering!

Next we walked down Pearle Street Mall and caught a street performance. I was highly entertained by this guy though he made me so nervous I kept hiding my eyes! We noticed a few others but honestly this guy was the best of the lot.

The whole time we were walking I would catch a glimpse of a GIGANTIC ROCK just past my right shoulder. It didn't take long before we couldn't stand it anymore and we HAD to go check out the Rockies first hand! So after lunch since we still had two hours before we could check into our hotel we drove up to Chautaqua Park where the Flatirons are located. We decided to go ahead a do a little hiking which turned into a 5 mile 'moderate' hike past the flatirons and up to the royal arches which gave you an awesome view of boulder.

After our hike we were exhausted so we drove to our hotel, checked in and collapsed in bed. Somehow we dragged ourselves up long enough to eat dinner, buy contact solution and make it back to our bed and asleep by 8 that night. It had been a L.O.N.G day!

embrace the camera: reunited

It's 10:08 pm...way past the time other embracers have embraced the camera. I thought all week about how cute my post would be this week. Zach and I had been away from the boys for 5 days and I just knew they'd be so excited to see us and that their little faces would just light up and that I wanted to capture that look. We met my parents halfway between conyers and enterprise in the great city of auburn (war eagle!) and Zach sat with camera ready as I opened the car door. Connor promptly burst into tears and Micah (having been asleep) rubbed his eyes for the first ten minutes and barely said a word let alone gave us a smile. The one picture I got was Connor clinging to my neck with a truly PITIFUL look on his face so I just decided to not worry about posting up. However as I sat here in my quiet home with my babies back and sleeping peacefully in their beds thinking about all things that enter your brain when you finally have time to sit and think I gained some clarity (kinda). Embracing is embracing no matter how perfect it didn't go. I didn't love my boys any less for not giving me the reaction I wanted I just held on to them and loved them with all the love I had to give. This thought road then led me to how my Amazing Heavenly Father loves me with all the love he has to give regardless of my reaction in the situations He presents. Heavy (yet beautiful) stuff!! With that I share with you my embrace this week. This picture has truly taught me more than any other one I've posted.

head on over for more perfect or not so perfect pictures

sunday song

Zach and I are sitting in a hotel in Colorado right now. I blogged very little last week because I was getting ready for the trip and because I was still feeling the fear of being away and wasn't ready to write about it but since it was basically one of the only things occupying my brain it was difficult to write about other things instead. While we are both wishing we could be at CCC to hear sermon #2 about God's glory today we get to sit in the midst of a place that SCREAMS God is AWESOMELY CREATIVE and to Him be ALL the glory! I am so excited to sit, walk, relish Rocky Mountain National Park and concentrate on who put it there for us to see.

Glory to God Forever

Before the world was made
Before you spoke it to be
You were the king of kings
Yeah you were yeah you were
And now you`re reigning still
Enthroned above all things
Angels and saints cry out
We join them as we sing

Chorus
Glory to god
Glory to god
Glory to god forever (repeat)

Creator god you gave
Me breath so i could praise
Your great and matchless name
All my days all my days
So let my whole life be
A blazing offering
A life that shouts and sings
The greatness of our king

Bridge
Take my life and let it be
All for you and for your glory
Take my life and let it be yours