things that made me happy this weekend

1. Having nothing to do Saturday morning except workout.

2. Getting a big "HI!" and a hug from Addie.

3. Talking to my mom on the phone about their trip and the Tigers whomping on the White Sox in Chicago.

4. Coffee in the park with Lori and Jay.

5. A Sunday afternoon snooze.

6. Browsing Target and finding a cute bracelet in the Dollar section.

7. Heading outside right now to eat Mexican and sit by the fire with the "upper dwellers".

Longs Peak . . . the hardest climb of my life

On Saturday morning, Jay and I spontaneously decided to drive to CO and climb Longs Peak with our friend Adam.

We left our pups (Chango) behind, loaded up the car and drove the 7 hours to Denver. We stayed with Adam and his wife Jes in their new house.

Sunday morning, after 3 and a half hours of sleep, we woke up at 1am to drive to the mountain. The first 3 hours of the climb were in darkness (except for the light of the moon), and by the time the sun rose we were over half way there.

(Sunrise from the mountain side)

(Pic above: the flash was a bit blinding)

(Hiking at Sunrise)

(Longs Peak from halfway up the mountain)

(the "Privys", aka mountain side outhouses)

We climbed and climbed, and huffed and puffed in the thin air. Seven hours later, we had finally reached the summit. It was only then that we realized that we had to do the whole thing in reverse. This climb was the most grueling thing I have ever put my body through.

(The Boulder Field)

(Climbing through the Boulder field)

(How we felt after climbing through the Boulder field)

(Kissing at the Keyhole)

(Traversing the Narrows)

(Signing the Register at the Summit)(At the Summit)

It took us 13 hours start to finish, but we made it!

I may never climb Longs again, but at least I can say that I did it.

5 good things. . .

After having a truly rough day at work, I decided to challenge myself to think of 5 good things from the day. So here they are.

1) A picnic in the park with all the Hermans (minus Ben Davy) to start to say good-bye to Melissa.

2) Hopping and lunging down the hallway with one of my students after he insisted his feet were stuck to the floor.

3) Loving my husband and embracing his present obsession with Harry Potter. (He is on book 7, so who can blame him).

4) Receiving a big hug from Addison before she went to bed.

5) Talking with my new sister-in-law, Amy, during Dear Herman practice.

The new Mr. and Mrs Taylor

Saturday was a day of celebration because Ben and Amy got hitched. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but please enjoy the ones that I did manage to snap.

We have moved . . . again

We are back in Lincoln and back in Ben and Crystal's basement. It took several days to unpack. Some of it was fun, seeing all of the things that we left behind when we went to Mexico. There was also a lot of "Why in the world did we keep that?!?"The furniture is different and several things are painted different colors then when we lived here before. I like this. This is a new season and I am glad that our surroundings (somewhat) reflect that.

Here are some pics:

In the midst of the moving process . . . not very happy.

Notice the new carpet. . .

and the new shelf.

This is what happens when. . .

This is what happens when you mix a natural performer, a jukebox, and a late night.

Enjoy.

Round and round we go

It is hard to believe that we have been back in the states for a month and a half already. In that time we have circled the state of Michigan a few times visiting friends and family.

One of the more special trips happened a little over a week ago when we went to my family's house in Sutton's Bay. My whole family was there - which was a rare treat - and we spent the weekend playing outdoors and eating some fantastic food.

We did this same trip a year ago and it was fun to see how, in a year, we grew from this:

to this: