Colorado 2014

Colorado is always so beautiful and this year was no exception. 

It was also really nice and cool, a wonderful change from 90 degree South Florida. 

One of our first days we were able to go to dinner with friends of ours who just moved there. 

We went to this really weird burger place, it was great!

We spent the rest of the trip hanging out and hiking. 

We also spent a day in Breckenridge, which was one of the things I wanted to do the most!

 

So beautiful!

 
Our first hike of the trip, the tree house.


Of course I had to spend time snuggling this cute 5 month old!
Love my niece!


One of my favorite nights!
Most people went to a play, but we stayed back.
We spent most of the time playing with this cutie!
He loved popping the bubbles Riley was blowing for him.
I was so impressed with how they sat on the grass!


SO much joy!

 

She had so much fun with this dollar store kite!

Summer Days

This summer was one of the craziest, busiest ones I can remember. 

I was so thankful that we both had the time off that we could do all these wonderful things. 

Our July:

1. 4th of July was spent BBQing and hanging out at the pool with the family.

2. Julia and Robbie's Wedding.
The following day we spent an extremely short, whirlwind weekend celebrating my best friends wedding in Colorado. It was absolutely gorgeous.

3. I had my first experience with jury duty.
Thankfully there were too many jurors and I got to go home almost immediately!

 

4. 7/11

 

5. Orlando Weekend

One of Kyle's best friends came down from Iowa to visit. 

So we made the trip up there to see them. 

The last time we saw them, his wife was 6 months pregnant. 

When we saw them this summer, they had a 4 month old. 

 

 

 

 

  Of course, no Orlando trip is complete without a stop at Harry Potter World. 

6. Boender Annual Colorado Trip.

The following weekend, it was back to Colorado for a week long stay.

 

Totally met Clark Duke on the way home!

7. This cutie turned 1!

As you can see, July was insanely busy, but full of wonderful memories.  

Blogger 411!

 I know I'm a few days late jumping on the band wagon, but it's such a great idea I just had to share!

1. How long have you been blogging? And what got you started on blogging? Has your blog changed?
I've done different sorts of blogs off and on since high school. I started using blogger during our engagement in 2011, but this specific blog has only been around for a few months. I started blogging for a few reasons. One, I like the idea of being able to express myself and talk about whatever was going on in my life. Two, I like keeping up with family and friends who are far away. Three, I really like meeting people who are in similar places of life as myself. I think my blog has always been a little bit of whatever interests me in the moment. Grated as my stage of life has changed so has the blog. I've gone from dating, engaged, to a newlywed.

2. Did you go to college? If so where, and what did you study?

I went to both undergrad and grad school at the University of Florida. I just graduated with a masters in Early Childhood Education. Go Gators!

3. Where have you traveled?
My parents instilled a love a missions in me from a young age, so I've been all over the place. I've been to Haiti, Costa Rica, Guatemala, DC, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and probably other states thanks to family road trips I was forced on as a child!

4. If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you would buy?
Truthfully, I would pay off all our students loans first. Then the new car :)
 
5. What are your 3 biggest pet peeves?

Umm... 
1. Nail filing! It's like nails on a chalkboard for me.
2. People who don't listen 
(Kyle is forever saying I never told him things after insisting he was listening while I was talking)
3. The trash overflowing and people still stuffing it

6. What is your favorite movie?
This changes constantly! I wouldn't say I had one right now. In the past it's been The Swan Princess, Meet the Robinsons, Grease, Dirty Dancing, Gone With the Wind, Practical Magic, etc.
 
7. What is your drink of choice; wine, beer, or liquor. Or Water, Soda, Tea?
Tea. I could live on tea.
 
8. What is something you enjoy to do when you have me time?
Take a bath and read
 
9. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, which store would it be?
Probably J. Crew. I adore their clothes, but never ever buy them unless I find them at a consignment shop. (I'm crazy cheap people)
More realistically I would end up somewhere like Old Navy or Target.
 
10. Share with us an embarrassing moment of your past? Or present.
In all honesty I don't embarrass too easily. This might have something to do with being a teacher.
The story I always tell, that was totally embarrassing at the time, was when I slid on my butt straight down a flight of muddy rain soaked stairs in front of my entire youth group. I then had to get on the bus and have the youth minister open up the luggage compartment so I could change. In all honesty probably no one else remembers this. It doesn't even phase me anymore...

11. What day would you love to relive again?
I feel like I'd rather relive a bunch of moments rather than days. Kyle and I have had some great times just the two of us that went by way too fast. Such as, watching the sunrise after prom, walking on the beach at night eating ice cream, Kyle proposing. (Maybe we should just go to the beach at night again)
 
12. If your life was turned into a movie... what actor would play you?
If we're going for looks, probably Miley Cyrus. I seriously get her all the time, especially when I had longer hair and aviators.

 
13. What are the jobs you had in high school/college/the early years?
In college, I worked at Campus Copy, Fax, and Pack. Plus my multitude of internships. In high school I worked at PacSun.
14. Show us a picture from high school or college.

January '05 The same trip I met Kyle

Summer '05 Camp Counseling

15. If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?
Europe for sure!
 
16. Show us the most current picture of you or you, or your family, or anything of meaning to you.

Colorado Vacation (Kyle and family, always the best)

17. Where do you see your life 5 years from now?
Working, Kyle done with school and working, in our own home, and hopefully two children. But mostly, just happy!

ERMAHGERSH! Boender Annual Adventure!

My Brother-in-Law is currently obsessed with these memes

After hearing my husband talk about his family's Colorado vacation every summer I was super excited to officially be allowed to come too! We stayed at a ranch about an hour and a half north west of Colorado Springs. While we were there we spent time catching butterflies and bugs (Kyle's grandparents own a place called Butterfly World in South Florida) as well as doing some touristy things. 

Sadly, I've always gotten horribly motion sick. Even with medication I tend to have my eyes shut with earphones in my ears so I don't have to concentrate on anything. So travel was rough. One thing I didn't mention, every so often when my motion sickness mixes with overheating and altitude change I black out. As in I can't see anything, voices sound super far away, standing makes me want to puke, and I loose all color in my face making me look like a corpse. Thankfully after a few minutes of cool air and sitting I'm completely back to normal. This has happened to me a total of three times in my life, so I never even thought about it, until we got to our gate in Colorado. What a way to start vacation, freaking out the entire extended family! Thank goodness for a wonderful man who not only had heard my story about the last time this happened, but is always willing to take care of me. 

After the airport, the rest of the trip was wonderful. I got tons of sleep thanks to travel sickness medicine and car rides! 

1// On the plane to Colorado 2// Our Cousin was in the same sorority as me, but at a different school. Phi Lamb is everywhere 3// 4 story tree house 4// We caught a bunny on the hike 5// Neighbors own Llama, they wander across the roads. 6// Butterfly catching at Cripple Creek 7// Hole in the rock at Cripple Creek 8// Glow stick party! 9// Royal Gorge 10// Railroad ride at the gorge 11// Rollercoaster ride at Breckenridge 12// Elevenmile Canyon, it was gorgeous there 13// BIL before going in the icy water 14// Kyle and I at the Canyon 15// Feeding chipmunks out of our hands at lunch 16// Goodbye Colorado! View from the dining hall.

We're Back!

Colorado is absolutely stunning!

I feel so out of the loop after being gone for two weeks!

During that time we had minimal internet and no laptops! So I felt like i missed out on a lot. Luckily, I was still able to keep up with blogs on my phone. However, once we got to Colorado, posting was impossible. We got back last night and I've been playing catch up ever since. I didn't have cell phone service while we were gone. During that time we were trying to finalize our condo and I had to send out resumes. Sometimes I feel like I need a vacation from my vacations! 

Today was spent running lots of errands and trying to unpack and get the house all cleaned. After two weeks of no dishes, meal planning, cooking, or cleaning it's super hard to get motivated. It is nice to get back to our routine and just be us again.