Christmas Trip, Part Two - England

We were lucky enough to spend ten full days (not including travel days) in England for Christmas and New Years, and had a great time catching up with everyone.  So many stories to tell, but instead, I will share our trip in photos.  I still need to get better about remembering that I actually have my camera with me, so many missed opportunities.  Next time for sure!

So... these are in a very random order, so apologies to anyone that knows this (which is everyone now - ha!)!  Blogger is not my best friend today, so that's as good as it's going to get.

We had such a great time seeing everyone, and are already looking forward to our next visit.  On a side note, anyone we saw in England (and those we didn't!), we weren't kidding about visiting us!  You are all welcome anytime!  Well, not all at once, but you know what I mean!  We hope to see you out in Colorado sometime soon!

Friendships of the 21st Century-Variety

It might seem a strange title, but I find myself wishing that nurturing friendships was a bit easier in this day and age. Remember the days when your friends lived five minutes from you (maybe even walking distance! gasp!) and you got together regularly, dare I even say, spontaneously?!  I miss those days.  

{ so many friends not represented here but I'm on the wrong computer so I don't have access to photos! }

Don't get me wrong, I am just as guilty of being "too busy" or having to "schedule" time with friends, but I often daydream about all of my friends living on the same street, stopping in for tea and a good catch-up whenever the mood strikes.  We would have BBQs every weekend, our husbands would all be best friends... Then the dream bubble bursts and I realize that people are busy.  Plain and simple.  If you want to maintain and nurture friendships, you have to coordinate schedules and find times that work well for everyone, often 2-3 weeks in advance.  

I hope to get better at this in 2014.  I hope to make an effort to be more available to my friends - both near and far! - and to always be open to making new ones.

Who's with me?  

Do you find this same struggle with your friendships?  Ahhh to go back to simpler times...

Weekend Explorers

 Is it weird that I still feel really pumped from our weekend?  Blame it on the mountain air, or some good exercise with friends, but either way, I'll take it!  

After spending a spontaneous Friday night at happy hour, enjoying great conversation with my bestie, we decided to get up Saturday morning and do a fun, new hike.  After some online research, we decided on the Beaver Brook trail in Genesee Park.  It took us about 20-25 minutes to get to, but it literally felt like we were in the middle of nowhere!  Miles from home.  It offered some beautiful scenery on our descent into the valley, and a serious (for me!) workout on the return uphill.  

On our water break, we decided to do a little impromptu family photo sesh.  Don't mind us, we just needed to make sure we got every combination of our group as we could.  And no, we weren't delirious, this was before the climb back up.

This photo gives just a little taste of the uphill trail on our return.  It also gives me away, that I was in the back the whole time! Ha! 

Don't let the beauty of the scenery fool you -- it was COLD and WINDY!  Luckily, we were moving, so we stayed pretty warm... especially on the uphill return!

After our morning hike, we found a cute little organic, family-owned cafe and bakery tucked away in a cute mountain town.  We were very pleasantly surprised at the quality of both the food and the service, and will most definitely be returning with out-of-town visitors in tow.

We then went our separate ways with our friends, and, being spontaneous, Chris and I continued our drive through the cute little mountain towns.  As we came down out of the mountains, we decided to go to the super cheap movie theater in Littleton (we weren't far away at that point!) to watch the movie Prisoners.  It was our first time at the theater, and we were very excited to find that the tickets were only $2.50!  And for a fairly new movie as well!  And even better, we have one of these theaters just down the road from our house. Score!

After the movie, we made it home and had a much-needed relaxing evening indoors.

But we didn't relax for long...  Sunday morning, we decided to set off East to explore the plains a bit.  We always seem to head to the mountains (understandably so!), but were curious what the flatter part of our new state had to offer. Turns out?  Not much!  Just lots and lots of tumbleweeds (I felt right at home!).  Don't believe me?  See for yourself!

{ pit stop. }

We finished off our Sunday with a brisk walk around the lake at dusk.  All in all?  A really great weekend with the hubs and friends!

Now we are looking forward to two long weekends in a row!  Bring on the adventures!