Brooke and Jared

Road Trip Buddies!
Nate and I had the awesome opportunity to go on a road trip 2 weeks ago to the Grand Canyon with our best buds Brooke and Jared! What started forming as an idea about 6 months ago finally became reality as we packed the car (which miraculously, all of our stuff for 4 people fit in 1 car!) and headed out Tuesday morning.

Brooke and I could hardly believe the trip was here, as we had been texting each other the days leading up to the trip and the excitement had been building.
The 6 day trip route included stops in Moab, Lake Powell, Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, and Durango. It was such a beautiful time of year to go, as the leaves were changing in the mountains, and fall weather was in the air.

One of our highlights of the trip was a hike on Wednesday morning to Morning Glory Bridge in Moab.  The hike was at the base of a small canyon, with a small stream wending it's way along the trail. It was about an hour hike in to get to the natural rock bride. There was a actually a group of people learning how to repel off the bridge when we got there!

After Moab, we drove to Lake Powell and spent 2 nights there. In addition to admiring the beauty of the lake and the ingenuity of the Glen Canyon Dam, we managed to find some adventure of our own. :) We discovered a chain of delicious Mexican Restaurants (Fiesta Mexicana), spent the evenings playing fun card games (Nertz and Hand & Foot), and managed to get our car stuck while "off-roading it" on one of the sandy beaches of Lake Powell. Luckily we were able to push the car out just enough to get it going again and Jared floored it out of there with the three of us running, whooping, and hollering next to him as we were free again! Good driving Jared! Unfortunately we did not get any footage of this stunt. Looking back, it definitely would've been YouTube worthy. :)

After packing up and leaving Lake Powell, we headed out for the Grand Canyon! We arrived on Friday close to noon. They had gotten some snow the night before, but it had mostly melted by the time we got there. There were still some low, lingering clouds that seemed to be meandering their way through the canyon itself. They made for some cool pictures.(If you look closely, you can see the hint of a rainbow in this picture.)

Nate and Jared enjoyed making me very nervous by climbing out to precarious vantage points at the various lookouts of the canyon's rim.

Standing there at the canyon's edge, looking out at the vastness of it all, makes you feel so many things at once; small next to the greatness of the canyon, awed at its beauty, and an amazing sense of reverence for God and His creation.

What a beautiful destination!!

After leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove to Flagstaff where we stayed the night and then started making our way back to Denver the next morning. After going through the Four Corners, we spent the last night of our trip in Durango, where we found a neat little Italian restaurant called "Mama's Boy"  and then enjoyed talking and hanging out at the hot tub back at the hotel. On the way out of Durango the next morning, we were greeted with another beautiful fall landscape as we made our way to Wolf Creek Pass.

As we started to make our way up the pass, we stopped for one last photo opportunity.

We made it back to Denver around 6:00 Sunday night. I think my favorite part of the trip was just getting away for a few days to relax with best friends and being inspired again by God's beauty. It reminded me to get out of the city every once in a while and immerse myself in nature. To take time to reflect on where I'm at in life and where I strive to be. To think about the really important things and have deep conversations. Tony Robins says "relationships magnify the human experience" and he is so right. I thank God every day for the blessing of Nate and how we get to experience life together. And I think God for the gift of Brooke. How she inspires me to better myself and for our thought provoking, fun, and interesting conversations. And I thank God for Jared who supports Brooke and shares life with her. There's nothing better than going through life with the ones you love!! Thanks Brooke and Jared for such a fun trip! Let's start planning our next one!! :)
Love,
Andrea

Nate

This blog wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, babe. In fact, I wouldn’t be where I am today without you. When I know that you believe in me, it’s one of the best feelings in the whole world. So I’m going to brag on you a little (or a lot), and you will probably pop up frequently in my posts.

Nate has always been the supportive type. For years I have been talking about how I want to write a book someday. It’s kind of wishful thinking, but for some reason I’ve always wanted to do it. Nate is always open to hearing my ideas and he is a good listener, so my book topic has come up often over the course of the years we’ve been together. And now, it almost feels like our book because he is in on the dream too. And that’s one of the things I love about him - how what is important to me also becomes important to him. 

(Someday we'll write that book!)

Thanks for believing in me and for reading my blog everyday.

I love you so much!  You change me for the better everyday!!  S'agapo.

Andrea