an update

so...it's been a few days since i've really written. my stepmom, bette, came in thursday evening and spent the weekend with us. we enjoyed her visit so much and got a chance to do some new things. we even took a few pictures! on friday, we drove into the mountains and saw the ever-so-famous red rock amphitheater, which is a place where lots of famous people perform amazing concerts!

we also got to go bowling, which was a lot of fun. ryan jokes around about minoring in bowling during his freshman year of college... of course, he didn't actually-but he played enough during that year that he might as well have declared it a major!! and you can tell when you bowl with him...he's pretty darn good. bette told me that you are actually supposed to bowl at least your weight in order to count it as a good game... of course, i did every time-95!! *wink wink* ryan, on the other hand, actually did-203!!
my inspirational bowling ball:



the other fun thing we did this weekend was that we went to the cherry creek arts festival! there were all kinds of amazing arts around-from pottery to photography, and everything in between. there was a booth where you could spin to win a prize from the colorado ballet and/or colorado symphony. i was hesitant to try it out, because i figured i would end up winning tickets to the ballet (and the only ballet i would even dare see is one my sister is in)...but, i just couldn't pass up the chance to spin and win! and, as it turns out...i spun and..


...won tickets to the symphony-which is really, really sweet!! =)
dustin and his girlfriend brooke met up with us at the fair and we enjoyed some delicious culinary treats:




and that was that...
i have been milling something over in my head the past few days...actually since our hike this past weekend. i've been thinking about this great song "joy in the journey" that pretty much just talks about the joy that is our's for the taking in this life we live. as we were hiking the other day, i was thinking about how uncommon it is for me to just enjoy walking through the woods. usually, i'm all about where we are going and simply getting there...the walk to and fro isn't the fun part for me. but, it's nice sometimes to just enjoy a slow pace, taking time to see all the beautiful things going on around me. i got some neat pictures of butterflies and flowers, which i probably wouldn't have even noticed had i been set on the journey of making it from one place to the next... i think a lot of times life is like that for me... i'm just trying to get through work, or through my jog with ryan, or through my quite time...through life, instead of enjoying the journey, the process along the way. ryan and i have been quite anxious of late, trying to figure out just what it is that God has for us here. is it exactly what we came here for or is it maybe a little different? has He gotten us here just to change things up a little bit? answers, answers, we want answers! and we are getting them quite slowly... but, i feel like maybe we just need to enjoy the journey right now. and, so we are! but that doesn't mean we aren't still sad and a little homesick. i think it's possible to be both!