Well, we have made it to Kansas and are spending the next weeks planing and getting ready for our wedding! It is a big change from being on the road, but we are enjoying our time with family, friends, and each other under a roof:)
Prior to heading back to Kansas, we spent a week in Colorado Springs climbing and hanging out with our crew! It was a blast getting caught up with friends. While we have been on the road, lots of changes happened in the springs. New businesses sprouted up and old ones shut down. We also had fun climbing at Pure Bouldering Gym with TJ and Zach set boulder problems one day. Our friend Mareshah, who is our hardcore mountaineer buddy, even came inside on a bad weather day and climbed inside. It is a great place to relax and climb with friends!
I also got to catch up with Libby and see her finished backyard. She built retaining walls and reshaped the entire space on her own! Libby is amazing and I had a blast spending time with her! I even got caught up on all the new music I have been missing out on!
Leaving NICU nursing for this past six months has been hard because I miss seeing the babies and their families. While we were in Colorado, I got to catch up with a few of my little graduates and it was a really fun time!! Jay and Lizzy are both getting so big and their families are just amazing! I am so thankful I got to see them while we were here! Can't wait to see how much you both grow:)
Zach and I got a few days of climbing in while we were in Colorado. We spent one day at Thunder Ridge with an awesome group. I lead a few traditional pitches and Zach put up a really fun 10c. We all wore ourselves out and still had to do the long hike out. Luckily, we all survived:) It was a really fun day!
In the middle of the week, TJ and his friend, Mel, met us to climb in Eleven Mile Canyon. I lead a few climbs I never would have tried before and we all really enjoyed being out and enjoying the canyon.
Shelf Road is a climbing area south of Colorado Springs and we spent a lot of time there when we lived in the Springs. It was a lot of fun to go back and try hard on climbs we had done before. Shanese and I worked on leading "Tractatus" (5.11a). I fell one time each time I tried the climb. It was sad not to get to the top without falling, but I was super excited to see my progress. Last time, I fell multiple times and was not anywhere close. Shanese was able to send it and looked super strong on the climb. So fun to climb with friends!
Shanese was our hostess and let us sleep inside the entire time we were there:) We enjoyed beating Mortal Combat on her Playstation 3, as well as finding a new game called "LittleBig Planet." It was a fun game we could all play together. It's goofy and made us laugh a lot!
After an awesome week in the Springs, we made the drive to Kansas! I had my wedding dress fitting April 6th and enjoyed seeing what an awesome job Alisha had done on my Grandmother's dress. It is beautiful and I am so excited about wearing it May 9th!!
Since that day, we have been getting all of our ducks in a row for the wedding. Our goal is to keep it small and simple. I have learned so much about budgeting and spending over the last six months, so I have been trying to keep up with my budgeting. It has been fun as well as stressful at times, but I think it is all going to come together and be a really fun event! My main goal is to marry my best friend, so that one should be pretty easy:)
Tonight we went to watch "Inspired to Ride" at the Murdock Theater in Wichita. It was a Bike/Walk Wichita Event my Uncle Barry and Aunt Nancy helped organize and it was fantastic! The film was inspiring and reminded me why we are on this adventure! I'm so excited to be living our own adventure and going for it. Even though we don't always know where we are headed, its nice to know I'm headed there with Zach. We can take on new challenges and dreams as they come. Excited to see what we come up with next...possibly a climbing/bike tour combo:)
