Guess what day it is!!

HUMP DAY!!!!!!!! Every Wednesday one of my co-workers comes into the office saying this, just like he is the camel on the Geico commercial! I love it, and laugh every time!

A little bit of life lately….

My attempt at running…..

If you’re wondering about my running…..yeah, it’s not going to happen right now. After a couple of runs following my train for a 5k program I began to have a lot of pain in my hips and ankles. And I’m not talking a little sore here or there, but such pain that I wanted to go to the doctor (but was too stubborn) as always to go. From my experience as a diver and gymnast, I feel like I know the difference between being sore from doing something too much or that is new, and something that is going to result in an injury/injury itself. I diagnosed myself and decided to delay the running….just for now. BUT I began using our apartment facility gym and I love it! Already I’ve spent 45 minutes each morning doing a 30 minute elliptical workout followed by strength training! I feel great! I feel sore-which is the best feeling ever! I think if I can strengthen my muscles, I WILL RUN ONE DAY! 🙂

Telli at her favorite Dog Park….

I took Telli to her favorite dog park last week-the one in Evergreen we used to always go to when we lived up there! Her nose was sniffing as we entered Evergreen, I think she could really smell the fresh mountain air! When I took off her leash, she took off in her all out happy sprint. She’d run back to me with a big smile on her face-“thanks mom for bringing me here!”

 

Look at her go! I was enjoying the beautiful scenery and the fresh air. I couldn’t help but smile the entire time I walked around on the trails. It’s one of those things in life that I don’t think we realized how lucky we were to live up there. It was so green, so fresh, and the perfect mountain temperature-not city hot! It rained the night before, so the trail had a touch of moisture, that made it the perfect hiking/dog park experience…and Telli was in heaven!

 

And this just sums up our day at the dog park! We had a fun mommy/daughter day!

 

Well I think this has already been a long enough, but I will do an update on our food lately..with an overnight oats recipe I created and love! Be sure to check back in for that one.

❤ God Bless

Kendra

 

 

 

Favorite Apps!

Good morning! I have the day off today..whoop-whoop! I enjoy my time in the morning with my cup of coffee, my blog, my dog, my bible…and sometimes spend a little too much time playing on my phone. But how can you not?!?! There are so many fun apps out there right now. I might be behind the times on some of these, but I thought it would be fun to do a recap on my favorite apps and see what your favorite apps are! It’s funny to me that you can “find an app for that.” I mean seriously, if I want a way to track something or read something, I go to the app store, type in what i’m looking for and Wa-La, there is an app for that! Let’s get started…..

What would I do without my google maps app? It get’s me EVERYWHERE and shows me where ANYTHING and EVERYTHING is located! I even use the reviews of different places occasionally to see how different businesses are!

Diptic is such a fun photo editing website! You can put pictures into different collages and add words to them! Perfect way to share pictures on Facebook and Instagram! In fact I won our office free lunch for the 4th of July! We had a decorating contest and had to send in pictures of our decorations–I enjoyed throwing all out decorations into a Diptic collage…or two…or three..to win!!!!

Pinterest-How do we plan anything without Pinterest these days! I mean we plan our weekly meals off this website, I’m planning my future house (which I probably won’t be able to afford), I plan my workouts (that I never really do after pinning),  the books I’m going to read, etc.

Map my fitness is a great app that I have had for a little while! It tracks all your walking, running and hiking and is a great source of gps for me! I love knowing how far I just went and what pace I went at!

The You version Bible App! I love this app-it’s a great way to have God’s word at my finger tips. You never know when you are going to need to reference a verse or when you just want to read God’s word at some point throughout the day!

Instagram– I am a little bit of a newbie to this one….I know, WAAAAAAy behind the times! But I love it now. It is a great way to share photos of what is keeping you busy!-I think I’m almost liking it better than Facebook!–mostly because  a lot of people post pictures of their puppies, babies, travels, etc…how can that just not make you smile!

***Follow me: klwillis85

Zillow: In the midst of searching for a home, this is a constant app I am using. As someone who still doesn’t know where I want to live, its a great resource to check general housing prices in different neighborhoods, trends on the prices, photos of homes, and quality of schools! All the research you need, already done, in one easy-to-use app. My only negative on the app, is sometimes homes are already sold, however it hasn’t been taken off the app yet.

9 News: I always need to have my local news station accessible! It’s great to get all the local updates!

Candy Crush Saga game: I initially jumped on this bandwagon pretty late as well. But then I started and became addicted to the game as you can read in this post. I have slowly begun to fall off because I get tired of playing it, and especially when I get stuck on a level for an extended period of time, I get bored with it.

Bloglovin’: I love this app to read all my favorite blogs on! Sometimes it reacts a little slow (as most of my blogs I see in my email first) before hitting blog lovin’ a couple hours later. WHat a great way to organize my favorite blogs and show the ones that I have already read!

Recently added apps

Run a 5k- I have had this app for a couple weeks as I train to become a runner…I have loved this app as a great training tool! There is a “coach” in the background that tells me when to walk and run. It also allows me to play my favorite playlist while I run-such great motivation! At the end, it will compile all my running logs so that I can compare and see myself improve! Improvement is the best motivation!

Spotify– Can you believe I just downloaded this app yesterday? Once again I thought Pandora was amazing…but spotify? I can download specific songs and create playlists! As you can see I only have the trial version for now, but know as soon as it is up, I will be purchasing the full-blown app. I love it and so far it seems to be pretty user friendly – a key to any app that interests me!

This is another game. You might know I’m a little obsessed with these little minion guys. So the fact there is a game out there specifically about them and their adventures–I’m in! I just downloaded it yesterday, and honestly it’ll probably be another free game that only lasts about a week on my phone, but for now, it’s fun…and the voices are hilarious!!

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing what my favorite apps are!

Now it’s your turn, what are your favorite apps?

****This just in for a little humor: I got this text message from my sister-in-law this morning as a conversation that was between her and my niece….

K: Mom, when you are done sleeping do you get your buggers out of your eyes?

SIL: Yes

K: I am having a hard time.

Don’t worry K, sometimes buggers are hard to get out of your eyes!!! 🙂

I laughed so hard I cried!

Good morning and Happy Wednesday!

 

Well I think it all began yesterday morning…I mean it’s great to laugh, I love to laugh, but I don’t always laugh out loud….but yesterday there was a lot of laughing out loud!! SO I hope this post inspires some laughter in your world today!

My first bit of laughter came from Amanda over at Running in Faith. I was reading through her marvelous blog  post and at the end she had a little clip with the minions off of Despicable Me. I love these guys…if they don’t make you laugh….then I don’t know. I bust out laughing every time I see them. 😉

Check it out and laugh your butt off!

And  second……

I was at work yesterday, took a little break and was checking out Facebook when I saw this video! I was sitting at my desk literally laughing out loud. Everyone in my office was asking me what I was laughing at, but I couldn’t answer anyone! I finally got control of my laughter and showed the rest of my office the video that had me rolling! I hope this video gives you a little morning laugh as well!

And then I got home last night and Telli typically snuggles with us on the couch. Last night she didn’t try to snuggle, instead she attempted to get up on a chair that leans back, is small, and a little unstable (for a dog). After five minutes of trying to get on it, she was up! But now what to do…..

 

 

She scooted her little paws around until she was facing forward and could lay down……

 

She’s not very comfortable and within 5 seconds of laying down, she climbed off the chair….SILLY GIRL!

And in honor of Wednesday….and some more laughter………

 

I hope you all have a great day that allows you to laugh a lot and put a smile on others faces!

What makes you laugh out loud? 

❤ God Bless

Farm Market fresh dinner

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous start to the week, and not a typical, dreadful Monday. I know for me it was great! If you remember, I had a three day weekend, so it was still the weekend for me! I had a lot I wanted to accomplish today, so I got my butt up bright and early to begin my fun filled day. I started my day better than ever enjoying my morning cup o’ joe and reading God’s word. That is the best way to wake up if you ask me and get your day going on a positive note. I’m going to try and be so much better at making it a habit every morning.

So the delicious recipe to share with you today is: Pappardelle’s Jalapeño Green Pasta Recipe…..but you’ll have to be patient and look for it below!

Breakfast

I made some yummy breakfast. Leftover vegetable pizza, mixed with spinach and two runny eggs cooked on top of it! I typically scramble this little concoction, however this morning I was really wanting to eat runny eggs, and with the crust of the pizza, there was plenty of bread and other deliciousness to soak it up with!

I then ran to the grocery store because I was making dinner for a dear friend of mine. She just had a baby a month ago so I made her and her husband another farmer’s market fresh meal. Wild Rice Casserole with the freshest vegetables around…..recipe will be on another post! But here’s a sneak peak at the ingredients….

After the grocery shopping, I put the casserole in the oven so I could take Telli for a walk and get in some pool time as well before delivering dinner! Look at the beautiful flowers that were in bloom near our apartment!

When I went to the pool, I was all by myself so after a little R&R with my People magazine, I got in the water for a nice swim…which turned into a water workout! I did quite a few laps back and forth of various strokes and followed it by some on the wall leg and ab work. I forgot how much I am a little water bug and enjoy exercising in the water! I was definitely tired at the end, but it was a refreshing tired!

Before heading up to my friends house, I stopped by Jamba Juice to get me a fresh fruit smoothie! It was so refreshing and good!

And now for the farmers market fresh recipe!

Pappardelle’s Jalapeño Green Pasta Recipe:

At the farmers market we had purchased delicious looking pasta (Jalapeño Green Fettucini). The lady told us the best part of their pastas is the fact that all you have to do is add fresh summer vegetables to the pasta to make a delicious summer pasta because the noodles already have enough flavor! Boy was she right! She told us to check out their website for ideas and recipes (since I’m not much of a creator in the kitchen) and we made the best recipe!! You can see it directly here off their website, or follow our version below….

Ingredients we used:

• 1 lb. Pappardelle’s Green Jalapeño Fettuccine
• 4 ears of corn, kernels shaved off (about 1-1/2 cups) – we only used 3 of the best corn in Colorado- Olathe Sweet Corn
• 2 tablespoons butter – we used coconut oil instead
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 medium zucchini, diced – I had one big one…..so that’s what we used…..
• 3 Roasted red peppers
• 1/2 cup chicken or veggie broth
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese- we didn’t add any cheese

Instructions:

1. I began by cutting up all my vegetables……I cut the corn off the ears (This was my first time and more challenging than I thought it would be!)

2. I then cut up the Zucchini (I accidentally sliced it instead of dicing it, so eventually we cut it up more when it was mixed with the other vegetables

3. I cut up the Roasted red peppers and onions

4. Once all of your vegetables are cut up and ready to go, cook the pasta in a pot of rapidly boiling salted water until it is al-dente (should be about 8-10 minutes.  When the pasta is al-dente drain it and and transfer it to a heated pasta bowl. (I didn’t know what a heated pasta bowl was, so I put it in a glass container in the sink with a lid and surrounded it in hot water. It worked great, but I would recommend putting a little bit of olive oil in it so the noodles don’t stick together)

5. After putting the pasta in to cook,  heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté until soft, about 2 minutes. Add zucchini; sauté until soft, about 2 minutes.

Nate was skillet master…….look at him go! I love when I get to cook with my hubby, we have so much fun in the kitchen together….we may or may not have done a little lady in the tramp action with the extra long noodles!….we just wanted to make sure they were al dente!

6. Add corn and roasted red peppers, sauté until corn is cooked, about 2-3 minutes. Add broth, salt and pepper. If the mixture needs more liquid, add a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water.

How good does this look?

Serve sauce over pasta……..and enjoy!

Preferably with a glass of wine…….

With a beautiful sunset to enjoy……

I hope you enjoy your evening-and have the chance to someday try this pasta! You can order it online…otherwise I at least recommend making the entire vegetable sauce over whatever noodles you prefer!! It is so delicious and fresh—especially with farmer’s market fresh produce!

What’s your favorite summer recipe? What’s your favorite meal to make when you take dinner to someone?

❤ God Bless!

Debt free and moved in!

Happy Saturday to you all! I hope you had a fabulous week and have an exciting weekend planned ahead of you! My cousin and his family are coming into town (with their little 9 month old Erin) and I couldn’t be more excited! I will recap the weekend a little later! This week has been full of busy fun and good news! We officially closed on the house we sold on Wednesday and everything went through pretty smoothly! Good news–the house is SOLD! We are DEBT FREE! We are excited to see what God has in store for us as we embark on the next phase of our life! We actually celebrated last night with a nice dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill! mmmm…..it was delicious! I enjoyed a wonderful salad followed by Grilled Asparagus, a baked sweet potato and Bison Steak! It was so good, but it was huuuuge!! I have more than half of it left for lunch today!

 

I enjoyed my wonderful dinner with a fresh glass of Pinot Grigio! It was the perfect way to celebrate Nate and I being debt free!

And I guess I will go backwards on my week, but yesterday I hosted a BBQ for one of my accounts and their members! It was fun but HOT and I smelled like a BBQ grill by the end of it! The great part, I got to finally enjoy Flip-Flop Friday! It was wonderful…. We had a giant grill, offered Brats, Hot Dogs and Hamburgers! I definitely learned how to grill! Typically Nate does all the grilling, so this was kind of a first for me! I had a blast.

   

The police department also was a sponsor at the event, so they brought their street racing car that they use at one of the local racing venues. THe allow kids aged 18-25 to go there for free on Thursdays and race their vehicles in a safe environment. How cool is that!?!?!

And even more backwards in my week, the day we closed on the house, I drove home a convertible! It was the perfect day for it and I really enjoyed the fresh mountain air….and so did Telli!

 

Love her!

And the elk came even closer than last time to say good-bye! It was a little crazy being this close to them in a convertible! 😉

   

At first I thought it was a horse, the way it was bent over eating the grass!

Well, I think that’s the recap for now! I need to be speedy in getting ready for work this morning! Have a fantastic weekend all!

❤ God Bless

 

 

Here we are!

Well we are officially moved in! Although I can’t say completely moved in. We still have a lot of boxes (stuff to be organized #1, stuff to be organized # 2, etc…) It’s crazy, I knew we had a lot of stuff, and I knew we got rid of a lot of stuff, and we put a lot of stuff in storage….BUT we still have A LOT of stuff!!! I do feel like we have done a good job of organizing most of it, but it’s the random things that an apartment just doesn’t have the nooks and crannies to store items in that a house does. So anyway, that has been the bulk of our lives the last couple of days. I do think we both are finally feeling a sense of relief of being “moved in.” We are still anxious until we are able to officially close on our house Wednesday morning. So all prayers are still being asked for until the house closes!

I will try to do a as brief as I can synopsis with pictures over the last couple of days!

We had a beautiful, HOT day to move in. I came down early to pick up the keys and unload my car while Nate helped to load the big truck! Since we hadn’t seen our apartment beforehand we weren’t quite sure how much actual space was in the apartment. We just knew the closet space was limited.

And well, the closet space was very limited…Well all my hanging clothes fit in the closet, but that was none of Nate’s hanging clothes or our jackets. Needless to say, we knew right away we were going to need to be very creative in the “storage” aspect of our apartment.

The boxes and stuff quickly unloaded, faster than what I could unpack! It got a tad-bit overwhelming because I thought things weren’t going to fit…but they do!  I love all the windows, there is so much natural light in our apartment. After some unpacking we took Telli for a walk and made our way to the hot tub to soak the back and feet! It was wonderful! And this little creature was hanging out with us!

I know it’s just a bunny. But I was so excited! IT”S SOOOOOO FLUFFY!!!!!! (despicable me reference anyone?) Anyway, I loved seeing my deer, elk and bear, but there’s something funny about the antics of a little bunny….and we have quickly learned in our couple days that Telli sure likes seeing and trying to chase the bunnies too!

Telli is doing very good! We are trying to get her on a schedule of going outside, but that is the most difficult part right now. The good thing is we are getting LOTS of exercise by walking her many times a day! I think she loves all the attention! 🙂

      

As far as meals go, it’s finally nice to have a bigger refrigerator and have fresh ingredients around! We are making meals again, which is good after a week of eating pizza, cereal, out, etc…Her is a little collage of dinner and breakfast pictures….

Tonight Nate made a delish green curry dish! Nate thought the curry was missing the flavor, but I thought it tasted fabulous!

We ate some Qdoba yesterday! I enjoyed the naked chicken fajita burrito with guacamole! mmmmm…mmmmm… good!

For breakfast recently has been eggs with avocado and a dollop of Fage yogurt along with a half of an english muffin! Such a good protein filled breakfast before a long day of work!

Although this is what it looks like, it was for dinner….Cereal with a PILE of blueberries! Blueberries were on sale at our grocery store for $1.48/pint!!!! Are you kidding me!! I bought 3 pints! Whoo-hoo!

My favorite find at our local grocery, Coconut gelato! Heck yeah!

Telli has been enjoying her new digs! She loves the patio life, the carpet all over the place and peeking out to see all the people and dogs walk by! She is such a little social-lite!

On Sunday we took a one-hour break down to the pool! This might be my favorite part of apartment living again-having access to a pool! I hope I don’t speak to fast, but it seems like our neighborhood is a lot of young business professionals which is nice down by the pool too! Everyone was minding their own place and there weren’t too many people there, on a Sunday afternoon! Whoo-hoo! New favorite hang out!

  

The sunsets here are beautiful! We have a patio that faces west towards the mountains, and have caught a couple of amazing sunsets!

Well on that note, I think it’s time for bed! I sure am enjoying this beautiful night. Can’t beat a glass of wine, Dave Barnes Pandora and sitting on the patio typing a blog post for all of you to enjoy! I am certainly blessed!

❤ God Bless

Have you ever experienced the “down-size” kind of move and had to get creative with your storage? Any tips? What quick recipes have you thrown together at night?

Candy Crush Saga

Happy Saturday to you all! I am thrilled to finally have the weekend here! Yup, I was the lucky one to work today, but we were pretty slow, so I got to leave early! Whoop-whoop! And we’re on our way to go camping! Whoop-whoop! And I’m typing my first post on my phone… Not so whoop-whoop, but we’ll see how it goes!

Welp, that may have been my first mistake… Hopefully you see the picture, and I think I published it a little early too! 😉 we are on a beautiful and long drive! At least I have a lot to keep me occupied! Candy crush saga, candy crush saga and more candy crush saga.
Have you played this game? I was completely against starting it, because according to Facebook it’s very addicting. Well after telling all my co-workers about it, and them becoming addicted to it and talking non-stop about it, I no longer had self-control. I started playing. And I can’t stop! I’ve been locked out and on the same level forever it feels like! I’m determined to pass it before we get to our campsite…but that’s not looking very promising!
Anyway, I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend and regardless what kind of fun your having we all remember the people that paid the ultimate price to give us this freedom!
I will have a recap on my way home!
❤ God Bless

Up in the air we go!!

Well, I couldn’t be more excited, I am off work, at the airport and on my way home!!!! I love trips home when I get to see family, and family time is the only thing on the agenda for the weekend. Nate and I were talking the other night about going home and I think for me its more than just seeing family, its all the nostalgia of being home.

– My parents have lived in the same house since I was born. There is something about pulling up in the driveway and opening the back door and being welcomed with open arms.
– The house smell when I walk through the door
– Going up to my old room and seeing all my pictures and things from when I was a kid.
-I just love driving through my hometown! It is such a restored, historic beautiful place
-ooo..and my favorite….all the lakes!! They just look so refreshing and bring back many memories of spending countless hours on the lake!
-And not only the lakes but the trees! They are so large and mature and in the spring, lush and green! (I’m used to Denver where most of the trees have been planted in the last 10 years)
– I love walking down my street. Its where I learned to ride my bike!
-My neighbors house, although they don’t live there anymore, I am taken back to the countless hours I spent in their backyard.
– Going to my home church on Sunday! Its where I was baptized, confirmed and married. Its where I began to have a relationship with Jesus.

What’s your favorite part about going home, besides seeing family?

And I had to share this….they are filming a Southwest Airline commercial a couple gates away from us, how cool is that!!!

I got to hear them say “action” before walking on the escalator!! I hope I see this on TV sometime!

Have you ever seen something taped live in a place your weren’t expecting it?

Have a great night, I’ll check back in soon!!

Our weekend in Beaver Creek. Part 1

So I know it’s almost the weekend, but I had such a great weekend this past weekend, I wanted to spend time on this post–so it took me a little longer than normal….and I decided to break it up into two parts.

1. Beaver Creek is our favorite ski resort in Colorado! It’s hardly ever crowded and the ski runs are great! Unfortunately we never get to relax while we ski because we are spending so much time driving back and forth to the resort. I was thrilled when I heard Caryn and Jim wanted to come out and visit, and especially when I found out they were going to stay at Beaver Creek!

If you recall I did a post on Caryn and Kendra. It’s been since my wedding, October 7, 2011, that I have seen her…that is WAY to long!  Caryn and her husband Jim flew into Vail and Nate and I drove up Friday morning to meet them and go skiing! Their room was booked at the Park Hyatt, so this was the first time that Nate and I had the opportunity to stay in the main village of Beaver Creek. It was SO much fun, and there was so much going on! We got in plenty of skiing, relaxing and catching up. We left our house around 6:45 am, because we had to make a couple stops, one of which was to The Bagelry, in Evergreen. They have the best bagel breakfast sandwiches! I had a Sun-dried tomato basil bagel with eggs, cheese and scallions.

Oh boy…..it was SO good! The roads were clear so it only took us an hour and a half to get to Beaver Creek. We arrived at the Park Hyatt, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I get it, we were at a nice hotel and bellman come to your door to assist you with your luggage, parking etc….but I’m perfectly capable of carrying my own luggage up to the room. 😉 You should have seen all the looks we got in the hallway! Oh, and before we started the walk I made the mistake of asking the bellman if I could borrow his cart. “If you want me to take your luggage up for you, you can put the items on your cart.” No thanks.

After conversing in the room for awhile we decided it was time to hit the slopes! It was a beautiful morning, and even a little warm-I had my jacket unzipped for awhile! We met Jim at the mid-mountain lodge for lunch! (He rode up the chairlift and we skied down!) It was gorgeous and relaxing  while catching the mid-day rays!

                          

After a couple more hours of skiing, we decided it was hot-tub time!

There were 5 hot-tubs, but we decided this was our favorite! I’m a fan of the rock cliff with the water fall! It was the perfect way to relax the muscles after a day of skiing! When we all pruned up and decided it was enough time  in the hot tub, we went to the fire place to make s’mores! I loved this! I have never seen this done anywhere and the Park Hyatt hit it right on the head! They had sticks, graham crackers, home-made marshmallows and chocolates! Talk about a way to get my attention! Very delicious!

Oh, and we got to sit back, relax  have a glass of wine-me, beer-for Nate, and listen to live music! (Sung both by a guitarist and the kids that wanted to sing along with him–so sweet!)

                              

For dinner we were going to go to our favorite place, The Blue Moose, for pizza….but it ended up being a 45 minute wait. Although it’s worth the wait, we were hungry, so needed to think of a plan B. The Dusty Boot was nearby and had seating in 10 minutes! We had heard great things of this restaurant bar, but had never been there.

It was a FANTASTIC choice! Everyone was happy with their choice of food! We had some buffalo wings for appetizers…they were very good after I got past the spiciness! They had a sauce that was sweet, tangy & spicy-so very good flavor! I was ecstatic to see they served their burgers with Sweet Potato fries (my favorite) so I had to order one…but I chose the option of a chicken sandwich with the burger toppings!

 

Chicken+Guacamole+Onions+Pepperjack cheese+Bacon+ sweet roll bread = Mouth watering delishisness!!!!

Oh, and after walking around awhile we of course had to stop for gelato!

Blackberry Gelato!

Nate and Jim then went to watch the remainder of the March madness games and Caryn and I headed back to the hotel. I thought it was going to be great one-on-one girl talk time…..but I did what I do best, fell asleep!

Stay tuned for part 2!

What “extra” amenities that don’t come standard have you enjoyed at a place you have stayed? Like our s’mores!

❤ God Bless

 

 

 

 

It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back…..so SHAKE HIM OFF!

Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and Easter! After such a wonderful weekend with my cousin Caryn and her husband, we enjoyed a great Easter Day! I am putting together a post, but it’s not quite done, because there was just so much awesomeness that happened with them!

EASTER- I love Easter! There are so many things that come with Easter, that just make it such a wonderful day!

1.) There’s always a wonderfully delicious brunch or dinner that takes place!

2.) It’s a time to get together with friends and family! We went over to our friends Christina and Eric’s house to enjoy dinner with our small group! We had never been to their house before, but it’s true, it was on the top of a mountain. After a 40 minute drive we started a 2 mile drive up a dirt road (good thing we had a 4WD) where I had to stop and take a picture!

Our friends Leslie and Jeremy brought their ATV’s and I had never driven one, so I HAD to try it out! It was SO MUCH FUN! Just like a snowmobile, but for summer! –Aren’t these views gorgeous!

3.) To me it’s the beginning of spring! All things are made new–The flowers bloom, the sun is out, the grass is green, the birds are singing, and I’m driving with the windows down!

4.)Church gets more packed! (Even if it’s with the Chreasters (those that only attend Christmas and Easter)) They are all hearing God’s word and hopefully getting closer to Jesus!

4.) Speaking of church, our church service was AWESOME! Our church, Red Rocks Church, typically has 7 services at 2 locations and they decided to bring everyone under 1 roof for 2 services! It was SO cool to see how many people enjoy our church as much as we do!

5.) It’s EASTER- The reminder that Jesus died to save us from our sin, then rose again to give us new life!!!!

They titled our service THE DAWN.

It was a great message! I love to dance! And my favorite time to dance is when I know it’s just me “dancing” without anything or anyone holding me down. The devil is always trying to hold me down. He comes to me through temptations, fear, uncertainty of the future, current addictions, whatever the case is-the devil is looming around somewhere. We need continually “shake him off.”

When we have a relationship with Christ, he will help to shake the devil off. He brings me hope when I have fear. He brings me comfort when I feel alone. He brings me strength when I feel weak. Jesus is constant love.  He is perfect love, and that’s what Easter is all about. God’s perfect love for each and every one of us.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Easter is the reminder that after the death there was THE DAWN. The dawn when Mary went to the tomb and Christ wasn’t there. HE IS RISEN!!!!!! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!! When Christ is in my life and your life there is always a NEW DAWN. A NEW DAY.  When we believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and we have Jesus in our heart, we know that we will not die, but have eternal life, in heaven….FOREVER!

Check out this song they sang during service:

Florence + the machine-Shake it out

I hope you all have a great Tuesday and if there is ever a time today you feel stressed, alone or fearful, look up to the Father and let him wrap his arms around you!

❤ God Bless