Weekend with the Griggs!

As I've mentioned before our good friends recently moved out to the good 'ole state of CO. We've been lucky enough to spend two excellent weekends hanging out with them and it's time to recap the good times :)

It all started with a trip to Red Rocks for an Alison Krauss concert and it.was.amazing!

he's just so photogenic

Jon being rebellious and touching the rocks. 

If you climb on them it's like 1,ooo $ fine or 180 days in jail.

It was at this point in time that the lovely men at the entrance told us we couldn't bring in our cameras... 

are you kidding me!?

So Jordan quickly sprinted the two DSLR's back to the car

but he clearly wasn't happy about it

The rest of the pics are from Amanda's point and shoot! 

getting ready for the magic to happen

Our fun little group :)

The next day we hit up some more Red Rocks a little south of Denver

It was a beautiful day to meander around garden of the gods

Amanda picked our trail for the day

I am in love with this flower... i have no idea what it is, but I love it

I love that everywhere you turn there is another huge natural creation to stare at and be in awe of.

discussing something

and Jorge lost that round :)

Then they boys had some fun

he's just so strong..

(photo by Jorge Grigg)

I'm pretty sure I could walk around here for hours and never tire of it.

It's an absolutely gorgeous place to go hiking for the day

In front of the kissing camels

a little wildlife to end the trip right :)

Every weekend I feel like we get to know CO a little bit more and feel that much more invested in our surroundings.

I really do love calling this place home and experiencing everything it has to offer!

Back to School

Obviously from the lack of blogging the past month we've had a bit of a shift in our daily schedule.

Welcome to our life...

Yes... school has started and our life has been consumed by books.

Ok... that's a little bit of a lie. We've had  A LOT of social gatherings in the past few weeks that have also been consuming a large part of our days.

It's been hard to slow down and actually share what our life has consisted of, but fortunately I finally downloaded the 500 pictures we had waiting on our camera.

So get ready for lots of blog posts to come!

but back to life on this particular study day...

We spent the day at Hudson Gardens which is next to the school.

We studied, watched some geese and wandered around the beautiful gardens.

the pumpkin field was by far my favorite

It was a beautiful day, and so lovely to spend it outside studying and just enjoying each other's company!

and as promised... more posts and pictures to come!

Alaskan Adventure: Denali Round 2

As the skies were beginning to clear we made our way to a rest stop/tourist stop I wasn't that interested in the books or post cards, but the animal antlers were calling my name...

That thing was HEAVY... and it was only one. I couldn't imagine having two and then having the neck strength to actually move.

Moose impress me.

turning into a dall sheep.

no. big. deal

The to Jon's dismay I made him get involved.

he wasn't as excited as i was.

shocking, i know.

but my niece grace was MORE than happy to oblige her crazy aunt!

Ok, see at the very top of the clouds this white peaks? 

Yeah, that's Mt.McKinley.

Apparently, we were extremely lucky to see even this much of the mountain.

Like 90% of people that go, rarely ever even see the mountain.

John (the wheezing bus driver) explained this would be our last shot of it most likely, so we took pictures like crazy. 

Oh hello mr. grizzly!

The half way stop at Wonder Lake

The siblings

Becca and two of her girls. Sophia and Grace

Moose!

Later in the afternoon the sun relay started to break out and it was gorgeous view after gorgeous view. 

So as I was taking pictures out the bus window, I snagged a glimpse of a larger snow capped mountain behind us.

I, being the nice sister I am, abruptly woke up my brother Nate asking "Nate! Is that Mt. McKinley?? Is it??"

Why yes, yes it was :)

(this is without the zoom. that mountain is still HUMONGOUS)

So despite a dismal morning and a little bit of disappointment at not seeing the mountain clearly.

I'd say we got our money shots in, and the 11 hours on the bus were MORE than worth it to see that massive, snow capped mountain!