Estes Park, Colorado

For the New Year, I joined my brother, his wife, and her parents up in Estes Park. I love a trip to the mountains! It was really nice to be able to spend time relaxing and playing games in the lodge with the Stuarts.  : )  They often go up to the YMCA in Estes for Christmas. This national park is where Lenny and Lexey were supposed to get married when there was massive flooding in Fall of 2013, which canceled those plans. Their wedding was still fabulous -- and impressively re-planned within less than 24 hours!! I really enjoyed being able to see the wedding venue this time -- a beautiful outdoor chapel (and at this point, it was covered in a blanket of white). Koura (Lenny's dog) and the Stuart's cat, Vito, also joined for the time in the mountains!

Lenny, Lexey, Ken, and Koura outside for a walk in the sunny cold.

Koura LOVES this place!

The chapel  : )

Perrrrfection.  : )

ROAD TRIP -- Florida to Coloradooo

From our time in Florida for Christmas, Lenny and I then drove allll the way back to Denver with his dog, Koura! It was quite the road trip. Lenny was "all business" as I said along the way -- making it the 30 hours of drive time in just TWO DAYS. It was a fun trip with lots of laughs, music, and listening to the entire first season of the Serial podcast on NPR. We also drove through the middle of the major ice storm in Texas. (Yikes! Turns out that there were hurricanes very nearby to where we stayed overnight. Thankfully, our trip was smooth and safe.)

Mmmmhmmmmmm. We stopped for an amazingly delicious and BIG barbecue lunch!

Ice covered everything in Texas!

All trees were coated in ice.

Even the gas pumps were coated in ice!

Frozen receipt on the gas station's machine:

Our last night of driving... getting there, getting there!