Birthdays & Bucket Lists

Hi Friends,

Thought I would pop in on this Friday with a #FBF to a couple of weekends ago!
Apologies ahead of time for the lack of photos. I'm becoming a pretty terrible blogger. What I lack in pictures from this trip I make up for in memories and the joy of living unplugged for the weekend.

Well, off we go!

It was the hubby's birthday last month and we celebrated in Silverton, CO.

Hubby is a pretty good skier from what I can pick up on. I've never actually seen him ski as we only snowboard together, and he doesn't really toot his own horn. But from what I can gather, the man can ski! The man also likes things that are challenging and things that are typically harder to achieve unless you have training for or some serious connections. So when I ask him things like "what can I get you for your birthday?" I get a big fat nothing because realistically we can't make it happen.

For a couple of years now he has been talking about skiing Silverton Mountain, however. For those of you who don't know, Silverton Mountain is considered double black back country skiing. People like Shawn White dedicate a winter to the mountain to train for the Olympics (true story). It is required to have an avalanche kit and most of the season you need a guide. Imagine my lack of enthusiasm when he first told me. He got a big fat "NO!" from me.

Well, fast forward about a year or so and he brings it back up in the context of a bucket list. Whomp Whomp! Lucky for him, I can't say no to bucket lists. My philosophy is if you have a dream, make it happen. Don't let life get in the way and prohibit you from getting those checked off your list. So friends, what did I do? I bought him a ticket to Silverton Mountain, invited my in-laws to go along for the ride and took a road trip so Hubby and his dad could ski that mountain.

They survived! Better than that, they both came walking back to the car grinning ear to ear...and dog tired! Success! Happy Birthday my love!

It was a quick weekend, but it was well worth it to see their faces and hear their stories! Plus I got some quality time in with my mother-in-law.

If you find yourself in Silverton looking for a place to stay, I highly recommend the Alma House. We have stayed in several B&B's and have adored them all and the people that run them. But friends, the sweet couple that run this B&B (recently took over) know hospitality! Mrs. Betty and Al make you at home during your stay. Without a doubt, we had the best experience we've ever had staying anywhere because of their service. They were phenomenal.

Well friends, that concludes our trip to Silverton this go-around. Hope you all have a great weekend!
 

#FBF Manitou Springs, Colorado + Snowmobiling

Well hello friends! I know, I know- I have been pretty awful at updating this space with adventures lately. I'm hoping for that to change in the near future when life settles a bit. We are currently in a very big season of CHANGE. There's no better way to describe it. We have had lots of changes in the last few month's that have brought us to new journeys ahead and has kept our time pretty occupied as we navigate through them all.

All of the changes probably warrant a blog post in and of itself, but I will save that for another day. Today I thought I would rekindle my love of the #FBF posts and bring us back to the holidays.

The hubby and I were fortunate to sneak in a little getaway after Christmas where we headed off to Manitou Springs, Colorado. We spent the week in a sweet Bed & Breakfast right there at the start of town.

 

I had been to the area before, but pre-hubby so we got to experience a lot of new things. First up: Pike's Peak.



We drove Pike's Peak up as far as we could along the winding road. It was closed at the very top due to windy conditions, which if you look VERY closely in the above picture, that white stuff in the sky above the mountain is snow dust.

We were a bit bummed we couldn't make it all the way up. We'd love to return someday in the summer to get the full experience!

Next up was Snowmobiling! This had been something both of us had been wanting to do for a while and seemed like the perfect time to get it crossed off the list. So. Much. Fun! The prices were really reasonable, we had a great guide and were able to do a mix of follow the leader and basically joy ride in the middle of a huge meadow.






For dinner we stopped at the Airplane Restaurant, which is exactly what it sounds like. It was one of the best flights I think I've taken! Certainly the best airplane food I've ever eaten! ;)



We also decided to go crazy and tackle the Manitou Springs Incline. I'm not really sure what we were thinking...it was HARD...but the thrill at the top knowing we made it was just as worth I knew it would be. So, yes, I think I would do it again. Next time in the summer though when there's no snow on the back trail. That was a whole other story.





Later, we decided to check out Cave of the Winds. It was definitely worth it if your there, just to get a feel for and explore all of the different things nature has to offer in the area. We've done Carlsbad Canyons in New Mexico before which are pretty impressive, so these ones were pretty small by comparison but a cool story nonetheless.



The views of the town at night though were pretty stunning.



Finally, before we headed out of town we couldn't leave without making a pit stop at Garden of the Gods. I had been once before, but it was hubby's first time seeing them. It's such a wonder to me how we have some of the beauty we have in this world-this place being one of them.



Well...that's a wrap, friends! Next time you're in the area be sure to stop by Manitou Springs, it's a quaint little town with lots to explore and just enough relaxation.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Snowboarding at Wolf Creek

Hello Friends!

I hope you are all having a lovely Tuesday. This week we are refreshed after a little getaway to Pagosa Springs, Colorado for some snowboarding at Wolf Creek.



This trip was my first opportunity to break-in my new snowboard! I'm still learning the whole snowboarding thing since we only get up to the slopes once or twice a year together, but I always enjoy it. Baby steps is progress nonetheless.



This weekend proved a little interesting as I had never boarded in powder before. I have only ever experienced icier conditions so I was having to learn a whole new way of boarding. Thank goodness I had at least progressed as much as I have, otherwise I think it would have made for a pretty rough day. My calves were already killing me just a few hours in! The ski area was absolutely beautiful though and I really do enjoy the sport!



It snowed literally all day long and we probably got somewhere between 4-6 inches while we were there, which also made for the first time I had experienced snow while I was boarding as well...a lot of firsts this trip :)



After a day on the slopes we went into town for a bit just to get our fill of our love for Pagosa before heading back to the hubby's grandparents house. We popped into the Pagosa Baking Co. as has become tradition to get something warm to drink. They make some great homemade dark hot chocolate that I highly recommend and their cookies are also delicious!

We then headed back to meet back up with the family and the pups and were treated to sights like these:



We are so grateful for Troy's grandparents entertaining them while we spent the day out. The pups adore Grandma and Grandpa and absolutely LOVE their home. Izzy could spend all day outside if she could summer or winter. She loves the tall grass of the warmer months and hops in the snow piles during the cooler months. She is such a joy to watch in her element- I may be biased, but she's just the cutest.



We enjoyed a relaxing night of Mexican Train where I WON for the first time ever and then headed back home the following morning.

Izzy was cracking us up yet again with her travel antics. I caught her once chilling like this (pictured below) and another time caught her snoring. It's rough being a pup I tell you...Oh that girl!



That pretty much wraps up the weekend. It was short and sweet but a trip to Pagosa is always a good idea.

Enjoy the rest of your week friends. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday week/weekend and are able to spend it all with loved ones.

Life Lately

Hello Friends! Long time no chat- and a very happy Friday while we're at it!

Life lately has been a little chaotic with a lot going on so we've been working on trying to slow things waay down. Since summer hit I'm pretty sure we were booked almost solid every weekend and our weeks quickly became jam packed as well. This girl was getting pretty exhausted over here and was in need for a much needed break.

While our schedule is still pretty full during the weeks, we have finally managed to reach a point where we have our weekends back and let me tell you, it has been glorious! The hubby and I were talking the other day and have come to an agreement (where reminders I'm sure will need to be had on my part) that a major goal for next year is to lighten our load as much as possible and take things easy.

I adore traveling-always will, and I'm pretty sure I have won the hubby over on this as well, but I'm realizing more and more that I treasure the moments of just being in one spot and living. Admittedly, I am terrible at this, but it's something I'm hoping to work on. As such, we have one major trip on the docket for next year, but other than that, be prepared to see a lot more of happenings and adventures around-H O M E.

Though I have been M.I.A. from this space we have still had some mini adventures, but have been trying to embrace more of the every day moments over here. A negative side affect to this is I have been horrible at capturing it through pictures. Below is a very mini photo dump of what I have been able to capture of what we've been up to over the last month.



A dear friend of mine was in town for work and we were lucky enough to get to spend some time with her. We tried out a couple of new-to-us restaurants that were delicious and went on a little hike in the Sandia Mountains to the Kiwanis Cabin. I have done this walk many times and still love the sites.

Fall finally decided to show up and then about a week later so did winter :)Early November we went to St. James Tea Room, one of my favorite things to do, and had tea with all of the women in my lovely family. I wish we had thought to take a picture of our group, but this is all I came away with. Thanksgiving break was a dream. We stayed home all weekend and just relaxed. One of the afternoons after the Hubby was teaching the seester and I how to drive stick (I'm making progress!) we took a little drive out to Ojito Wilderness. The views have yet to disappoint out there.I have made it a tradition for us to decorate the house for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving (not a day before). Christmas is my favorite holiday so I try to make sure we do it up in style. This year we kicked off the season with decorations, Christmas music, cookies, homemade hot chocolate and Miracle on 34th Street. I think we did it right :).
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Until next time....

#FBF Re-cap: Petrified National Forest + Flagstaff

Happy Friday folks! So, we meet again. Today's #FBF features a couple of national parks and a walking tour of Flagstaff.

I have been to Flagstaff a few times now and I'm not sure why I like it so much. It's a small little college town nestled in the Arizona mountains and I find it adorable. Earlier this year the hubby was traveling a lot for work so not only was I down my traveling buddy I was also getting pretty stir crazy.



As I was brainstorming how to fix this problem I decided a road trip needed to happen and it worked out that one of my sisters-in-law was able to come with me. Actually as I type this, I'm reminded another road trip is in order with all of my sisters-in-law (ladies, we need to get on that!)...anyway, it was decided that we'd take a day trip to Flagstaff and stop at the Petrified National Forest/Painted Desert on the way.



I had been to both national parks before as a kid, but they weren't at all like I remembered them. Not a bad thing, just different. It's interesting to go back to a place you only have a childhood memory of and see how differently you view things as a child. We stopped and explored for a bit, went on a mini hike and had a picnic, then went onward to Flagstaff.



Flagstaff felt quick. We didn't want to get back home super late so dinner didn't happen, which I think is part of its charm. It has a fun nightlife feel to the town, so we missed out a little, but we really weren't hungry and were ready to head back.



However, while we were there we stopped at a couple of coffee shops, both charming with great atmosphere's. I can't speak to the coffee, but the chai I had was yummy. We explored and walked the town stopping in shops, checking out some antique stores and hunting down all of the building murals-they had some pretty impressive artwork.





 

The time flew by, but it was the perfect dose of getaway and change of scenery I was needing and I thoroughly enjoyed some quality time with my sister-in-law and had wonderful conversations.
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What's your favorite thing to do when exploring small towns? 

Birthday Celebrations + H A L L O W E E N

Hi friends! I thought I'd pop in for a quick weekend recap.

As I mentioned for last week's #FBF post, I turned 30 over the weekend. It also happened to be my "golden birthday" (turning 30 on the 30th).

I have to apologize in advance, this post is word heavy because I really tried not to be attached to my phone during the weekend. Bummer side to that is I have very little pictures to show for it.

I first have to thank my family and friends so very much for all of the love shown to me over the weekend. It was definitely a birthday to remember!

It started off on Saturday with some quality time spent with the hubby where we walked and window shopped in Nob Hill. We don't get up there nearly enough and had fun discovering some neat places I never even knew existed.



We stopped in for dessert at Rudeboy Cookies, which was delicious! Next we met with the girl who would do my first henna tattoo. I have this thing about tattoos where sometimes I think I would really want one, but always chicken out. Then, the hubby is also not particularly crazy about them either-as in, not at all-so there's that. But as an alternative, to get me the next best thing the hubs came up with scheduling me a henna appointment. He's not really a gift giver by nature, but the man is so great at gift ideas!



After my henna was complete we headed home but first stopped to grab a movie. I thought things were a bit suspicious with the hubs texting almost the entire evening, but figured it was too late for anything different, plus we had just picked up the movie.

We arrive home (where I find my dad's truck parked-but just figured my mom had stopped by to drop something off), head inside where I am surprised with a beautifully decorated home complete with gold ribbon, black and gold lantern balls hanging from the ceiling and lit candles everywhere. Next thing I know family and friends are popping out everywhere! While I have to admit, I expected some sort of celebration for my birthday considering the conversations my sis and the hubby had been having, I was not expecting it to happen that evening. While so many contributed their time, cooking skills and beautiful words, love and presence to help make that evening incredibly special, I know that the majority of all of that planning fell to my dear sissie pants who completely went above and beyond. I wish I had adequate words to explain how grateful I am for her sweetness and exhaustive effort, but all I have is that I was incredibly moved. It was a lovely evening and thank all those who were able to spend it with me!

On my actual birthday the sis had another almost full day itinerary planned out for me starting at Stone Age Climbing Gym with my mom and sisters-in-law, then off to Albuquerque Baths for some R&R and lastly to the Melting Pot for some yummy fondue where we joined by the hubs!

We had gorgeous weather over the weekend so we rounded out the day with a treasure hunt with the hubby looking for geo-cache's and then finally watched that movie we picked up as a diversion to my surprise party! It was a lovely weekend all around and I went to bed Sunday evening incredibly grateful and completely filled with joy.

For Halloween we decided last minute that we wanted to dress up to add some fun to the mix and headed over to my parents for some soup and game night! Many laughs were had and capped the weekend off perfectly.

Did you dress up for Halloween?

Turning 30

Today, I am going to deviate from the usual #FBF post...after this weekend I will have officially changed decades, friends!

I'm still deciding exactly how I feel about that, so call me a work in progress, but I have to stop and think about how blessed I am to have reached 30 in the first place. A dear friend of mine who constantly speaks wisdom into my life recently told me a story about aging that really struck a chord with me and has me doing some reflecting.

In our culture, by the vast majority of people, getting older isn't really viewed as a positive thing. I feel like once you reach a certain age (different for everyone) when birthday's come around you almost dread them, complain about them, avoid them, don't speak of them, rack up an insane amount of beauty products to hide any traces of aging and then your age becomes something many shy away from admitting to.

But friends, we are lucky! We should really be celebrating in gratefulness that we made it to another year! We should be embracing it and living in the now, enjoying those around us and soaking it all in. There are so many beautiful souls out there that never had the chance to make it to their next year. What others would give to be able to have the physical presence of their loved one near no matter the age...and yet we cringe at the thought of another year older.

So I have vowed to myself that no matter how I feel about it, I will fully embrace turning 30. As I sit here typing this post, reflecting, I am incredibly grateful that I can say I have made it one more year. I get to celebrate turning 30 this weekend. I am humbled for the life I have lived so far, the adventures I have been fortunate to take, the world I have been able to see and the many beautiful people I have met along the way.

So friends- all I have to say is next time you find yourself thinking some of these same things, stop for a second and remember that you get to age one more time. You get to live one more day. Live each day to its fullest and love those around you.

Cheers!