www.TheEndOfTheVacation.com

So the vacation is over.

But what a whirlwind it has been since I last posted.

Thursday, Joe and Rochelle came to help us unpack. They were later than planned so we got a bit of unpacking done ourselves. They were such a big help! By about 2:30ish or so we had the cubes empty and gave the boys a rest while Rochelle and I kept unpacking and decorating as we went! We had pizza for lunch and then took a break and drove up the closest mountain. We ended up in a little town in the mountain called Evergreen. We pretty much just drove through enjoying the sights, but the town was especially cute. For such a small town we were humoured by the fact that there was a Staples in the town. We came back down to "ground level" which is still a mile above sea level, and stopped back at our apartment for a bit, before heading into down town Denver. They took us out to a restaurant called "d Bar Desserts". We were spoiled with Food Network approved food and dessert! yum!!! We rushed back home hoping to make it back in time to enjoy the indoor hot tub our apartment supplies us but they close at 10 and we just didn't have enough time! We ended up talking for several hours, putting up pictures and they left around 1am.

the bedroom - I'm going to paint part of the walls green!

The wood- burning fireplace! Can't wait to get that baby going....

Top of the big Dresser - next to the makeshift desk!

The bookshelves - all but 2 shelves set up!

The new gorgeous sleeper - sectional couch!

Half of the Kitchen!! All our pretty black and silver appliances!

For more pictures of our apartment --> click here

Friday, we were up early for New Student Orientation. 8:30am we were sitting in the chapel of Denver Seminary... listening to speaker after speaker give details on everything you could ever need to know about being a Student. One of the Philosophy professors spoke about how electronics can hinder our lives...he did give them some credit, but his point was that most electronics are used to keep us from being bored, yet we are called to fulfill the great commission and with such a task at hand how could we ever be bored?! He also said that sabbath is important, but I thought he had a good point.

Lunch we separated into all the different programs, so Nick at with all the M. Div. (Master's of Divinity) new students and I went to lunch with the PiM3 (Partner's in Ministy) group. My group is all the wives, of the students... it's a group put together to help us support our husbands as they go through the grueling process of an M. Div, and also to help us learn to be a partner in their ministry. I have already met a few girls that I'm excited about getting to know more. It was interesting... once I get my work schedule figured out I'll figure out which night I can go to bible study. We're going through the book High Call High Privilege. (A pastor's wife is a great juggler, managing numerous responsibilities simultaneously. But take it from this clergy spouse of 38 years---God, spiritual health, and family must come first . . . or there will be trouble. To prevent any hardships, MacDonald offers more practical wisdom in this revised and updated edition of her classic book!)

We stopped at Staples on the way home to look at desks, but still didn't feel like we needed to spend money on that, but have done a significant amount of looking and feel prepared when we are ready to buy. We came home and I kept on unpacking and re-arranging. We got home and I called the leasing office with a few more random questions, one of which asking if they had an arrival time figured out yet on the washer and dryer... they said they were here and ours was the next to be installed so that was exciting. However after getting them in and installing them, the dryer was missing the part that sends the lint and moisture up through the wall to who know's where and they were all out of them in their maintenance garage, so we had to wait til morning. 


Saturday began, excitedly awaiting our couch's arrival and the part for the dryer. The dryer part was supposed to be here around 10 and the couch anytime between 11:15 and 1:45. Well the couch arrived at 10:30 and the dryer part arrived around 11:30 (I've since done 4 loads of laundry). Crazy how that happens. I barely got to enjoy the couch after showing it off a bit, before heading out to Colorado Springs to hang out with Joe and Rochelle again. They had big plans. Before we left, I totally spray painted the brown bread box black so it now matches our kitchen! 


We arrive in CO Spgs, (which is what the signs say.... but people call it "the Springs"), and took Nick to his first experience at a Sonic. Then we headed out to Garden of the God's, which is sooo beautiful and we will probably take everyone there to visit who comes to visit us. We climbed all over 1 section of the Garden, we had a blast, especially Nick!  

Yep, that's the Garden of the God's

Balanced Rock

"Don't worry Nick,  I got this!" - Britt

Our best picture here yet!

To view more pictures ----> click here

After stopping in a cute town called Manitou for warm beverages (I had a white hot chocolate... yum), we then spent the night at their place, eating pasta and watching random TV shows, taking a trip to a Scrapbook store which Rochelle's mom and sis, that I've had a giftcard for since last Christmas (bought a new scrapbook to "archive" all these experiences), but I had a huge head ache so I fell asleep quickly. This morning we went to their church and then to the grocery store to buy meat to grill for lunch. After lunch we took off again up into the mountains with hopes of seeing a castle (we ended up having to to our next destination the wrong way so we didn't get to see the castle) and to a resevoir (the road was closed off so we couldn't goo hike around it like we hoped) and to Woodland park. We took a rod there called Rampart's Range and I don't recommend anyone without 4 wheel drive to go on. It was all switch backs up the side of the mountain to the top and then back down into the park!  Let me just tell you we saw some gorgeous sites. Once we got into the park we saw a heard of Elk... probably 50+ of them! That was cool! 

High..... that's the Garden of the God's down their on the left-ish

Higher!!! Pictures don't do justice

This picture has all the Elk!

To view more pictures ---> click here

Tomorrow Nick starts class. He has 3 classes and chapel. I start work on Tuesday, but tomorrow I am going to drive there to see how the drive is, and such. Real life begins tomorrow.


I still have several projects to work on for the apartment such as: a valance for the living room curtains, paint the bedroom (the paint go put at the back of the cube so we couldn't paint before our stuff arrived like I'd planned), paint the closet doors, put the TV on the bracket above the fireplace (bracket arrives in a day or 2), buy and organize a desk, buy kitchen chairs, re-cover pillows that came with couch because they're brown and red - yuk! and hang the rest of my pictures in the living room!

Off to fold laundry!