August in my world...

The date was set... my stuff packed and moved out of my former classroom in Claremore... my goodbyes said in Claremore to my favorite faculty... then came the hard part... parting from my precious babies at the church and leaving my family. But before I left I had a lot of packing to do... lots of boxes shipped via the postal service, lots of stuff moved into my storage, the storage all sorts of arranged and rearranged and my car loaded down, literally...

The backseat of my car (above) and my trunk (below)... all creatively packed with love by Ian and his amazing dad Rick!

Ian and I managed to find room in my little Civic for ourselves and off we went in search of the infamous yellow brick road to Aspen! Once again we found ourselves getting along nicely on the cross country trip and enjoying ourselves on the drive. Ian made sure that we didn't stop at many (if any) of the "Points of Interest" along the highway in Ks by being sure that he was the driver... punk... alas we made it to Limon in one piece...

We drove with some assistance from our newly acquired GPS that I have lovingly named Samantha Stiller (we need a good middle name that starts with O for her... suggestions?). Sammi gave us ideas for places we could stop for food, gas, lodging and even shopping! There are so many things that she provides for us in the car!!! Entertainment is another feature that she provides us. Ian has decided that he wants to create an app for the GPS that would allow it to do more than just voice recognition, but also talk back to the voice heard... wouldn't that be fun...

The gas station we stopped at... it says 24 hour fuel... but it is closed... have no fear, there is an antiquated credit card machine between the pumps to assist in fueling up when the place is closed...

Me on the road again... very happy about the car moving!!!

Once arriving in Aspen, I realized the wonderful things I had been missing out on in Oklahoma... like being able to wear JEANS and not melt in the heat... even when the temps got up to 90 and above jeans were comfortable! We have had dinner with the family, played softball with friends and had a BBQ with friends since I have been here.

Now to begin the transformation of the BACHELOR PAD to the COUPLE PAD... more details to come...

Colorado in July

My trip to Colorado has been all kinds of exciting and busy!! I arrived on the 1st with enough time to relax briefly before we ran over to the cousin's house for birthday dessert for Sheridan. The dessert and conversation were amazing and I really like Ian's cousins!

While we were relaxing on the patio before leaving for Berkley and Russell's for Sheridan's birthday party. It was warm enough to shed my jacket for a while!

Fourth of July found us in Aspen in the morning watching the parade down main street. The parade was amazing. There were motorcycles galore... a massive herd of children on decorated bicycles, firetrucks covered with kids and family members... then the most impressive part for me was when the veterans passed by. There were vets from WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Normandy Beach, Okinawa, Iraq, Afghanistan, Gulf War, and any war in between... There were HUNDREDS of veterans, in uniform, with signs denoting their particular theater/tour of duty. It was amazing the support that these men (and some women) received from the crowd that day. Having friends in the military, and that have served in the Middle East in the last 6 years of this ongoing war, it brought tears to my eyes and a chill down my skin to see all the vets. After we painted an office for a while, we came home, took a brief nap then headed to Glenwood Springs for fireworks. Above is a picture of me waiting for the fireworks to start while enjoying the Glenwood Springs Symphony.

Some of the fireworks that we were blessed with watching! I love fireworks!!! I also enjoy the amazing freedom that is signified by them on the 4th of July...

Sunday we drove to Crested Butte... we made a brief pitstop in Redstone on our way. We checked out the old coal coke pits and then attempted to drive through Marble to Crested Butte... the Marble idea went out the window when the road became muddy, bumpy, rocky and incredibl narrow. I was enjoying our offroad adventure, however, Ian was not so we turned around and decided to take the OTHER route through the Paona Reserve. That drive is amazing!!!

After walking around in Crested Butte on our way home we stopped to admire the various wildflowers that are on the side of the road. Ian got some amazing shots of the flowers and a few pictures of me in the process.

Here is one of pictures that I took while standing/sitting outside the sunroof while driving home. Ian is completely rubbing off on me... I typically don't take pictures of the sky, clouds, and scenary... but now...

And last night... he brought me flowers... He had been working in Aspen and I decided to stay home to relax... when he came home he told me to close my eyes as he walked in the door... so I closed my eyes and attempted to cover them, but he took my hands down from my eyes and put this beautiful bouquet of flowers in my hands!!!!

Just in case I haven't mentioned it lately, I love my boyfriend!!!!

A day at the Bells

A beautiful spring day at the Maroon Bells...

Hiking in the Ice Caves and Hunter Creek

This trip to Colorado has been a little more interestin than the last. The last trip was only 4 days and with so much to do and see and so little time to do it in, it is no surprise that this trip has had more adventure packed in!!! Today we went hiking at the Ice Caves between the Continental Divide and Aspen. (I will post pictures from there as soon as I can hijack Ian's mac) It was mildly sprinkling when we arrived at the trailhead to go up to the caves... it only lightly sprinkled during most of the hike, which was beautiful in itself... there was still some ice in the caves, but apparently not as much as usual at this time of the year. Ian has loads of pictures of me "playing" on the rocks with a huge grin on my face to prove that I had fun today! He had to turn around often to check on me either because I was REALLY quiet, or I was squealing and he wasn't sure if they were happy squeals or "I'm hurt" squeals.

Inside the ice cave. Check out the awesome curves!!! Ian has some other pictures that are more incredible than mine, but I don't have them yet...

Ian likes this picture, he says it is better than the one he took on his incredibly better camera than my little 5.1 megapixel... :) I'm not proud or anything... no not me...

Ian between taking pictures! Isn't he handsome?

Me and Ian in front of the cascades. Notice the color of my shirt and the lack of moisture... see below for the after shot only 45 minutes later!!!

Hunter Creek in Aspen, Colorado. Here is a view of the "creek" looking up the creek... not exactly MY definition of a creek, but hey, who asked me?

Me and Ian together looking up the creek... yes, I am sopping wet... yes I am hiking in 50 degree weather in the rain... and yes... I am still smiling...

New blog title...

Well family and friends... it is official... I AM MOVING to COLORADO!!!! I was offered a job in the Basalt/Carbondale school districts, just north of Aspen!! I am MOVING to the ROCKY MOUNTAINS!!!! I am beyond excited...

I will post pictures, update my blog and pictures and give more details soon!!

Rocky Mountain High...

I am home from my (too short) trip to Basalt, Colorado to see Ian... the absolute LOVE of my life! I left last Thursday on that jet plane to Denver, a little nervous about what was going to happen that weekend... nervous about maneuvering through Denver Int'l Airport on my own... nervous about seeing him again... I honestly have no idea why I was nervous about seeing him, but I was! I just had this fear that he would see me differently in Colorado than he did when he was home in March. The drive from Denver to Basalt was beyond pretty, well at least what I saw, apparently I slept through the prettiest part of the drive! But by the time we got to his apartment most of my nerves had settled, at least I thought they had, he tells a different story!

That night we just hung out at his place, enjoyed being together after not getting to spend too much time together while he was in Tulsa. It was great to be able to just be together with no worries about timelines and deadlines! Friday he took me through Snowmass and into Aspen where we walked around for a bit. Saturday we drove up to the lake that is near his apartment. I think it is Lake Ruedi??? We saw some elk, some mountain goats, some deer, and lots of awesome scenery. Sunday we ventured out and walked down to the river that runs behind his apartment. It was a little chilly on Sunday and I didn't have anything remotely warm in my suitcase... Very early Monday morning (like 1:30 am) Ian directed my attention to the window where it was SNOWING outside!!! Imagine my excitement to SEE SNOW in the middle of April!!! Monday morning found me outside taking pictures of the beautiful snow that covered the area before we drove to Denver to put me back on that jet plane for Tulsa. :(

My departure from Denver was quite an emotional rollercoaster that is for sure! It all started when we got to the airport at 4:30 for my 5:25 flight. He took my suitcase out of the back of his Jeep and leaned in to give me a hug... I had told myself that I wasn't going to cry, yea right... that was wishful thinking!!! As he is telling me that he already misses me and that he loves me and all sorts of other sweet things, the tears start rolling down my cheeks... I make it into the airport at 4:40 only to realize that there are 2 agents working the 4 checkin stations... my plane boards in 15 minutes... at 4:50 I am making my way toward the security area with cell phone to my ear calling Sasha for emergency rescuing if needed. 4:59 going through Security, someone was looking out for me because a new line was opened when I needed it most! I arrived at the VERY LAST terminal at the VERY LAST gate at exactly 5:05 and we started boarding our plane at 5:06... yea... Can I say thank you to my guardian angel enough????

Here are a few of the pictures from the trip, I will post more as I get them. Ian is slowly sending them to me daily from his camera!!!!

These are the three little rocks that we found that looked cool when we went to the river. We also thought that the big rock was neat. It was my idea to take the picture of our "Rock Family."

One of my favorite pictures of us so far. I am hoping that there will be plenty more pictures of us in the future!

Ok this is OFFICIALLY my FAVORITEST (yes Annie I said FAVORITEST) picture yet!!