Family!

Family is a blessing. And we were blessed to have most of my family come for a visit! Dad and Alisha flew in Tuesday afternoon (in Dad's plane) and Mom, Mark, and Derek arrived via vehicle Thursday morning. Since it'd be hard to explain every detail, I'll outline our time together by outings and adventures.

Thursday Night: Clear Creek Hike
Derek was begging to go hiking so we decided that there was enough time to go somewhere close. Dan chose the beautiful Clear Creek area. Other than Mom and Dad getting lost (oh dear) we had a lovely time...enjoying the crisp air and the sound of hard breathing.

My beautiful mom!

This kid has way too much energy! :)

At the top!

Tired and sweaty. Derek took use of the river to cool his face off.

God's beautiful creations!

Friday: Mosquito Pass/Jeepin'Since we weren't tired enough from hiking/climbing, we headed out to try the trails by JEEP. What wasn't sore from the day before was jostled around as we bumped over rock after rock and waded through streams. But really, it was fun! The views were amazing too. The mountains have some snow right now...I think they are most majestic that way.

Park of an old mine...or something.

:) Thanks for the lift!

Saturday Morning: Flight to TellurideAt the crack of dawn, you wouldn't have found Dad, Dan, Derek, or I at our apartment. No sir, we were aboard N926JG (aka: my dad's plane) on our way to Telluride. Smooth sailing (0r should I say flying) all the way there! Maybe not so much on the way home...:(

Coach passengers

Pilot and...um...navigator.

Talk about a cool landing strip! Oh the side of a cliff?!?!?!

Grabbing a snack before going back.

A great chance to see the mountains from the air! Thanks dad!

Sunday: Church and Dinner at Dan's Folk's
After a wonderful couple of services by visiting Willis Ehnle (he also gave talks the previous evening), we enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Leman residence. Mom L. made her/dad's famous Italian Beef! Yumm. Jake's house and Grandpa and Grandma Leman also joined in the festivities.

Monday: Pho', IMAX, Museum, and Downtown!This day may have been our busiest! Dad wanted to eat somewhere "exotic" so we went to Pho' Duy II. It may have been the most interesting meal I have ever eaten. (and I've lived in Haiti!) But we really liked it! (most of us anyways. Derek and Mark weren't too keen) Dan and I are planning a return trip.

Spring rolls and fixings.That stuff in front of Dad goes in the noodle soup.
The place was Vietnamese.

Next we made it to the IMAX in time for the 1:00 showing of "Under the Sea". It was even 3D! The Museum, home to the IMAX, was having a free day so we only had to pay for the movie!

Looking spiffy!

Before Dan headed off to school, we roamed the museum. Taking in rocks and gems, sting rays, the Amazon, brain wave frequencies, just to name a few.

Bugs.

Hmm... Sisters?

Mom & Dad

We ran into some animals. Some quite friendly and full...

...and some quite vicious and hungry!

After Dan was finished at school, we took a walk on the town. Denver's downtown is really quite lovely. It was bit brisk out, but we warmed up at "HBurger". Wonderful burgers, wonderful fries.

Ride 'em cowboy!

Tuesday: Rocky Mountain National Park/Estes Park
We had rested up. So hiking we went! This time in the beautiful Estes Park area. It was stunning! The perfect amount of snow! Though unfortunately, no elk. :( After reaching Bear Lake and Nymph Lake, we wandered around the park for a while just taking it all in. We ladies wanted to scope out the shops in Estes Park and the boys, upon hearing this, opted to go Jeeping.

Grabbing a bit at MickyD's before the hike.
Ah....

See what I mean?!?!

Survivor Mark

I can't really put into words how much it meant to me to have my family come visit. Now they know where we live, what our place looks like, who are friends are, what our church is like, where we like to explore, etc. That is priceless. And so are the memories.

Colors of Fall

Having experienced all the other seasons here in Colorado, I was very excited to finally get to witness Autumn here. I'll admit, at first I was rather skeptical. The colors in the midwest are pretty amazing so I thought Colorado had a lot to compete with. Well, folks, this beautiful state sure surprised me!!! The colors are fantastic!!

Last Friday, rather last minute, Dan and I decided to go experience the changing Aspen trees first hand. Since where we wanted to go was too far to drive all in one day, Dan found a cheap hotel. He was supposed to get off at 8pm but we're so thankful he got off early: 6:30pm. So, we drove up and spent the night in Salida. The next morning, we jumped back into our faithful Jeep and hit the road.

At this point we are thinking, "Wow! This is awesome!"
If we only knew how much better it'd get!

This is where we were headed.

In Gunnison, we talked to a gentleman in the gas station who suggested an area he thought would be full of color. It ended up being the same spot Dan's parents suggested when we were asking their advice.

I've never seen such rich golds and burnt oranges!

So we're driving...trying to take it all in...

And we reach the trail head. Aspen leaves carpeted the ground. (Notice the handsome guy in the background.;)

Suddenly, this pops into view. Pretty sure I squealed in delight!
Like Dan said, how can you observe this (and all God made) and say there is no God? And how can you say that he doesn't want us to enjoy what he has so wonderfully created?!?!

Just the two of us :)

We kept trying to soak it all in, but there was just so much to see!

The Aspens looked lovely with their golden leaves contrasting their white trunks.

Once we left that particular trail, tried to cut over to Crested Butte via Jeeping trails. We never made it through (roads kept dead ending) but the ride was fun nonetheless.

We ran into several ferocious animals...a coyote...and...

some cows... :)

Did some serious jeep'n on roads so narrow we barely fit and
wended our way through some mud.

Yep, God is an amazing Artist!

We dined here; relishing some stone-brick baked pizza.

And ended the day with a sunset.

Wonderful day. Period.

Mmmm....

Looks amazing doesn't it!?!? This succulent morsel is a diet destroyer I know, but boy was it good! What is it? Jewish Baklava. Deeeeeelish. Accompanied by a strong cup of Starbucks java, and a delightful conversation with my mother-in-law, it made for quite the enjoyable morning.