So I'm sitting in an amazing retro chair in my room, catching up on some missed favorite tv shows, and enjoying leftover stuffing from tonight's Thanksgiving dinner while relishing in the events of the night. Tonight was our Thanksgiving dinner for our kids, teens, and their families. As the evening was nearing we were setting things up, assigning jobs to volunteers, and so much more. Families started arriving, people were talking, finding places to sit, it was a flutter of noise and excitement. As I was walking around making sure everything was going to be okay, I started hugging on kids and talking to families. My teens started to arrive and I got to hug on them and give them a hard time, then they were saving me a seat. As the night progressed and the more I got to play with the kids and hang out with the teens. Even as we were cleaning up and taking people home, one of the teen boys stuck around to help us. He was so willing to do whatever was needed, loaded and unloaded cars, cleaned, took trash out, he was so helpful! After all of his help without even being asked, I decided to treat him to a drink from Sonic, we stopped for gas on the way, and he pumped it for me, then hung out at the building while I finished up some things by myself. As I was driving home I was thinking back over the night, all the families, the kids, the teens, my adopted little brother, and I've decided I'm falling head over heals in love with them all and my life right now!!
And if life wasn't good enough due to the above, my family will be arriving in around 36 hours!! I am so pumped for Saturday night when they arrive, and the week I get to spend with them!!! But for now I'm heading to bed, still have a few more Thanksgiving events and outreaches over the next few days!!!
Muchos love!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
I Missed A Step...
So it was pointed out to me that in my last post I said I would put up some pictures and of course, I spaced and forgot too! So without further ado, here are the pictures that I promised you last time.
Sitting on a fallen log at part of the falls.
A shot of Adams Falls, I wish this picture could do it justice.
A shot from a gorgeous meadow, I wish you all could see this first hand.
The newsletter is finally out and our holiday season is in full swing. Times are busy, but I'll try and update soon! And my wonderful family will be joining me next Saturday!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!
Muchos love!
A few of the teens bowling.
Sitting on a fallen log at part of the falls.
A shot of Adams Falls, I wish this picture could do it justice.
A shot from a gorgeous meadow, I wish you all could see this first hand.
A quaint little bridge that takes you to and from the trails.
Grand Lake
On the deck of the cabin we stayed at, my teens are a little goofy, I love them!!!
The newsletter is finally out and our holiday season is in full swing. Times are busy, but I'll try and update soon! And my wonderful family will be joining me next Saturday!!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!
Muchos love!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Quite the Adventure!!
So we took our teens to the mountains like I said in a previous post, and of course in true Dena fashion, I totally forgot to pack what everyone else deems shoes. And I have never been more thankful for someone have the same shoe size as me, without the tennis shoes she let me borrow, I would have missed out on one of the most breath taking experiences of my life. But before I talk about that let me fill you in on the rest of the weekend.
One of our volunteers opened up her lake house in Granby, CO which is at Grand Lake, in/near Rocky Mountain National Park, not sure if it is by it or in it. We took 9 teens, 6 guys, 3 girls. Carol loaded up 4 of the boys in her car and headed out while Deb and I finished packing up the food and loaded up the minivan we use for our food bank. After some very creative packing that I learned from my wonderful father, we were picking up one of the girls and hitting the road, hoping to beat the rush hour traffic. As we were pulling out of her neighborhood I noticed the gauges flipping out and the van was overheating. After talking to my amazing and all knowing Padre, we headed back to ROP and were scrambling to find away to get 7 of us into the mountains, the van was out of commission. After several calls and trying to stay calm, we found a suburban and hit the road about 2 hours behind schedule, which shouldn't surprise me, I never make a trip to the lake on schedule. The drive was long, filled with "Are we there yet?", "Are we lost?", and "How much longer?" After finally arriving we threw together some pizzas (Mom's recipe, they are a HUGE hit!) and hung out. After an exhausting day we tried to get the teens to wind down, if Deb and I only knew what we were in for. At one point when I was getting on to the boys, I saw out of the corner of my eye, 2 were doing chin-ups from the rafters of the basement. After taking 1 step to go upstairs and head back to bed I heard some loud thuds, turned and they were having a massive pillow fight, this was after several times of getting on to them, and it was 3 something in the morning. Crawling back into bed, Deb and I started laughing at how ridiculous everything was, then I heard what sounded like someone trying to tear down the house. I went down into the basement and they were having yet another pillow fight, I separated them and had hit my point of being done. Deb and I were still somewhat laughing at everything going on when I heard them one more time, at this point I was going to hurt someone. When I walked out one of my guys looked at me, instantly pointed to the door, and informed me of the huge raccoon that was scratching the door, I started cracking up and went back to bed. The next day snowed non-stop, so our plans to hike got changed to bowling and games at the cabin, which was perfect. I got to bond more with 2 of the girls I've been mentoring and got to know one of the teen boys, who I've now adopted as my little brother, he's precious, I'm attached. That night, Carol and her husband took us to "Spook Hill" which turned out to be a random and weird graveyard. It was funny to watch them all get freaked out, and I thought I was safe walking at the end of the pack back to the cars, with 2 of the girls when the next thing I know I'm basically on the ground letting out the loudest shrill ever due to one of the boys sneaking behind me and scaring the absolute tar out of me, needless to say everyone is still laughing about it. The next morning was a little clearer and we jumped on the opportunity to take the teens on the hike to Adams Falls, a set of waterfalls not to far up into the mountains.
The walk was absolutely gorgeous, the snow that was randomly on the ground, the combination of green, orange, red, and brown, made the walk incredible. About 4 minutes into the hike you could hear the water rushing, I was so pumped to see the waterfalls, no longer focusing on how cold I was or annoyed by hiking. And that is when I saw it, snow, snow falling all around me, and instead of me being frustrated about my hair, or the idea of getting wet, I embraced it and it was wonderful. Then we got to the Falls, they were some of the most beautiful things I've seen. We decided to hike a little bit more to a meadow, it was phenomenal, the views were so incredible, I couldn't take enough pictures and I can't wait to hike again. So I leave you with the best of the tons of pictures I took during the hike and weekend.
Muchos love!!
One of our volunteers opened up her lake house in Granby, CO which is at Grand Lake, in/near Rocky Mountain National Park, not sure if it is by it or in it. We took 9 teens, 6 guys, 3 girls. Carol loaded up 4 of the boys in her car and headed out while Deb and I finished packing up the food and loaded up the minivan we use for our food bank. After some very creative packing that I learned from my wonderful father, we were picking up one of the girls and hitting the road, hoping to beat the rush hour traffic. As we were pulling out of her neighborhood I noticed the gauges flipping out and the van was overheating. After talking to my amazing and all knowing Padre, we headed back to ROP and were scrambling to find away to get 7 of us into the mountains, the van was out of commission. After several calls and trying to stay calm, we found a suburban and hit the road about 2 hours behind schedule, which shouldn't surprise me, I never make a trip to the lake on schedule. The drive was long, filled with "Are we there yet?", "Are we lost?", and "How much longer?" After finally arriving we threw together some pizzas (Mom's recipe, they are a HUGE hit!) and hung out. After an exhausting day we tried to get the teens to wind down, if Deb and I only knew what we were in for. At one point when I was getting on to the boys, I saw out of the corner of my eye, 2 were doing chin-ups from the rafters of the basement. After taking 1 step to go upstairs and head back to bed I heard some loud thuds, turned and they were having a massive pillow fight, this was after several times of getting on to them, and it was 3 something in the morning. Crawling back into bed, Deb and I started laughing at how ridiculous everything was, then I heard what sounded like someone trying to tear down the house. I went down into the basement and they were having yet another pillow fight, I separated them and had hit my point of being done. Deb and I were still somewhat laughing at everything going on when I heard them one more time, at this point I was going to hurt someone. When I walked out one of my guys looked at me, instantly pointed to the door, and informed me of the huge raccoon that was scratching the door, I started cracking up and went back to bed. The next day snowed non-stop, so our plans to hike got changed to bowling and games at the cabin, which was perfect. I got to bond more with 2 of the girls I've been mentoring and got to know one of the teen boys, who I've now adopted as my little brother, he's precious, I'm attached. That night, Carol and her husband took us to "Spook Hill" which turned out to be a random and weird graveyard. It was funny to watch them all get freaked out, and I thought I was safe walking at the end of the pack back to the cars, with 2 of the girls when the next thing I know I'm basically on the ground letting out the loudest shrill ever due to one of the boys sneaking behind me and scaring the absolute tar out of me, needless to say everyone is still laughing about it. The next morning was a little clearer and we jumped on the opportunity to take the teens on the hike to Adams Falls, a set of waterfalls not to far up into the mountains.
The walk was absolutely gorgeous, the snow that was randomly on the ground, the combination of green, orange, red, and brown, made the walk incredible. About 4 minutes into the hike you could hear the water rushing, I was so pumped to see the waterfalls, no longer focusing on how cold I was or annoyed by hiking. And that is when I saw it, snow, snow falling all around me, and instead of me being frustrated about my hair, or the idea of getting wet, I embraced it and it was wonderful. Then we got to the Falls, they were some of the most beautiful things I've seen. We decided to hike a little bit more to a meadow, it was phenomenal, the views were so incredible, I couldn't take enough pictures and I can't wait to hike again. So I leave you with the best of the tons of pictures I took during the hike and weekend.
Muchos love!!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Let it Snow...
So it snowed...A LOT! Well my version of a lot, everyone here has told me to get prepared that this is just the start. Prepared is what I thought I was, I had my Ugg Boots, a scarf, gloves, a pair of closed toed shoes...gasp I know, me in something other than flip flops. But alas, I was not even close to prepared for the snow that would come. It started on Tuesday night, I had the closed toed shoes with me, and let's just say they absolutely suck for any type of moisture, by the end of the night, I was walking barefoot because I was better off without them on then I was with them on.
The next morning we had tons of snow, and closed down for the day. I worked from home and didn't leave the house until the evening. I walked out to my car in the snow boots, sweats, a hoodie, and my gloves. As I was cleaning the foot of snow off of my car, I realized the items I had weren't going to cut it, especially if this is going to be the norm over the next few months. My hands were freezing and wet because I was using them to clean off the snow, I had no snow brush, just an ice scrapper. The snow was deeper then my boots, so snow had fallen down in them leaving my feet cold and wet, and let's just say a hoodie and sweats aren't that warm during a snow storm in Denver. Once I got the car cleaned off and was attempting to warm up I started to stress about driving on the roads. Everyone here had told me how hard it was going to be, and let's just say, that's something that they were definitely wrong about. Driving was a cinch, I've established once you've driven on several inches of solid ice, you can pretty much drive on anything.
Thursday we had even more snow, and I decided that I wasn't going out, my car was even more buried then the day before. However, Luke came and rescued me and we went and grabbed dinner and enjoyed an evening of Family Guy (a promise I made to him that I would watch at least one season, it wasn't half bad, I laughed occasionally.) Friday it had started to clear off and it's been great ever since, today it was in the 50's and it felt wonderful. So I took the opportunity to get better prepared for my first "real winter". I now am the proud owner of two beanies, some ear warmers, a better pair of gloves, a better scarf, a snow brush, and all weather wind shield wipers. Now all I need is a good winter coat (I can't believe I'm getting a coat, I hate coats), and a pair of longer snow boots (hint, hint Mom (: found a pair of tall gray Uggs, just saying...)
So I'm excited and definitely better prepared for the next snow storm, right now it's Denver-1, Dena-0, but little do they know, how well prepared I am now! But luckily I just watched the weather and why we do have some cold fronts coming in later this week, they are dry cold fronts which means I'm smiling!!
Look for another update really soon, almost done with my newsletter and then I will post about our adventure in the mountains last weekend with the teens. And hopefully I'll have some pictures to post too!
Muchos love!!
The next morning we had tons of snow, and closed down for the day. I worked from home and didn't leave the house until the evening. I walked out to my car in the snow boots, sweats, a hoodie, and my gloves. As I was cleaning the foot of snow off of my car, I realized the items I had weren't going to cut it, especially if this is going to be the norm over the next few months. My hands were freezing and wet because I was using them to clean off the snow, I had no snow brush, just an ice scrapper. The snow was deeper then my boots, so snow had fallen down in them leaving my feet cold and wet, and let's just say a hoodie and sweats aren't that warm during a snow storm in Denver. Once I got the car cleaned off and was attempting to warm up I started to stress about driving on the roads. Everyone here had told me how hard it was going to be, and let's just say, that's something that they were definitely wrong about. Driving was a cinch, I've established once you've driven on several inches of solid ice, you can pretty much drive on anything.
Thursday we had even more snow, and I decided that I wasn't going out, my car was even more buried then the day before. However, Luke came and rescued me and we went and grabbed dinner and enjoyed an evening of Family Guy (a promise I made to him that I would watch at least one season, it wasn't half bad, I laughed occasionally.) Friday it had started to clear off and it's been great ever since, today it was in the 50's and it felt wonderful. So I took the opportunity to get better prepared for my first "real winter". I now am the proud owner of two beanies, some ear warmers, a better pair of gloves, a better scarf, a snow brush, and all weather wind shield wipers. Now all I need is a good winter coat (I can't believe I'm getting a coat, I hate coats), and a pair of longer snow boots (hint, hint Mom (: found a pair of tall gray Uggs, just saying...)
So I'm excited and definitely better prepared for the next snow storm, right now it's Denver-1, Dena-0, but little do they know, how well prepared I am now! But luckily I just watched the weather and why we do have some cold fronts coming in later this week, they are dry cold fronts which means I'm smiling!!
Look for another update really soon, almost done with my newsletter and then I will post about our adventure in the mountains last weekend with the teens. And hopefully I'll have some pictures to post too!
Muchos love!!
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