eye candy... colorado road trip 2009

0ur trip to colorado and back included travel through california, nevada, arizona, utah, colorado, and new mexico. josh and i both agreed that utah hit a homerun when it came to overall beauty, but we also fell in love with the gorgeous sites of colorado and arizona. getting out and hitting the open road for a week was relaxing, exciting, inspiring, and amazing. with a few stops at national parks (bryce canyon, grand canyon, zion, and arches) and a few drives through national forests and landmarks (fishlake, pikes, moab, and the rocky mountains), we were constantly reminded of the endless beauty intentionally created by God. after every turn, and up ahead each mile, another gorge, valley, mountain, hill, canyon, river, or lake would appear. the green trees were greener than usual, the yellow leaves were bright yellow, and the sky-spanning rainbows were clearer from end to end than ever before. i don’t know if our eye for landscape was a little sharper, as the focus of our trip to go out and “see” all the incredible sights, or if it truly was that gorgeous… either way, we so enjoyed the driving and the sightseeing, that i can only hope that some of these pictures give the sights we saw half the credit they deserve.

@ arches national park

@ the grand canyon

arizona

colorado

mountain towns in colorado

the colorado river drive

our tunnel ;-)

leaving colorado

Don't forget to pack the dog!

Traveling with a dog is, well, different, than traveling without a dog. HOWEVER, it is SO MUCH FUN! We took June to Colorado with us this past week, and that lucky dog hit 6 states in 8 days! She absolutely loves car rides, and I think she really enjoyed being with Josh and I 24/7. Here's some advice for those that plan to road trip with a dog (we learned a lot and thought we'd share):

1) Definitely get a pet friendly hotel. They may charge a few bucks to have your pup there, but I couldn't imaging trying to sneak a dog into a hotel room.
2) Get two beds in the room. Your puppy can enjoy the other (shhhhh)...
3) Two words: Poop Bags
4) Bring something from home. June really stuck to her routine of "going to her bed" as soon as she realized where we put it. I think it helped keep things consistent.
5) Leave LOTS of space in the car. June had a place to sleep, along with a few areas she could walk around in, if she needed to stretch out. It really kept her from going stir crazy--she lasted about 12 hours a day in the car!
6) Water, water, water, especially in high altitude areas! This pup definitely got a little spoiled this week, but it's a one time thing...

It's Sola Time!

Josh and I took this past week off to hit the road for a few hours (40+ hours, actually) to go visit our friends in Colorado. Kristy, her husband, JJ, and their two boys, Braylon (2 1/2) and Jaxten (1) moved to Fountain, Colorado in July. JJ has been stationed at Fort Carson, just outside of Colorado Springs, and the Sola Family has really made a nice life for themselves out there. Kristy is pregnant with baby #3 (a girl, this time), so we thought we'd go say hi and spend a week in the life of the Sola Family prior to the chaos of the 3rd little one! Actually...we can't wait to meet her!
We spent the week playing with the boys, hanging out with Kristy and JJ, catching up on life, hitting local hot spots and parks, going out for some yummy food, and enjoying the cool Colorado air. June came with us, so the boys had a new friend to play with for a week. Braylon thought it was so cool to have a "Fruff Fruff" live with him for a week, but he was pretty sad to see her go. As a matter of fact, he was sad to have to go to sleep at night, and on various occassions woke up during the night looking/crying for the dog. So cute, but I hope he's adjusted okay since we left.

Jaxy & BrayPlaying around with Mom!Check out this crew!Josh and Bray playing Monkeys! Big bro feeding little bro some ice cream! Little man. Such a sweetie.Tackle time! Jaxy: quite the book worm! Sweet family! Bye guys--thank you so much!