Birthday Reflections

Today I turn 27! My twenty-sixth year was definitely an eventful one. Right around my birthday last year we found out Mike was accepted to the gunsmithing program at Trinidad State in Trinidad, Colorado. We quickly planned a trip to come visit the area and find a place to live. A month after that I was quitting my job that I had been at for the past three years and had really enjoyed. We celebrated Christmas with our family and friends and then said our good-byes. On New Years Eve Mike and I headed out to Colorado! My mom and dad came with us and helped us get settled in. While trying to figure out what I was going to do in Colorado I decided to also go back to school and study business. Mike and I started classes in January and have really enjoyed them so far. My family came to visit us for a week in March (post one, two, and three) and we got out and explored areas around us a bit and had a blast! Mike and I both got summer jobs at the local state park, which was really convenient since we only brought one car with us to Colorado. I worked in the visitor center and Mike was a seasonal park ranger. We managed to squeeze in a couple camping trips during the summer including one for Mike's birthday and another to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Near the end of August we both started classes again and by October both of our seasonal jobs had ended. Since getting our weekends back we have gone to an Oktoberfest, saw Fall leaves, and visited a pumpkin patch! There are plenty of times when I really miss home or feel like I'm missing out on being there for my friends, but I still feel wholeheartedly that this move was the right decision for us and we are having fun getting to do things we otherwise might never have gotten the opportunity to do.

I gotta say I'm pretty excited for my twenty-seventh year! We have lots of fun and exciting things planned in the next year.

- Mike's mom will be here in just 15 days!!!! It will be eleven months since we last saw her, so I can barely contain myself!
- Just a few short weeks later, Shane and Lindsey are coming for a week long visit! We plan to spend some time in Denver as well as Colorado Springs. It will be good to see some friends again.
- Mike and I will fly home to Florida with Shane and Lindsey and spend two week celebrating the holidays and soaking up time with friends and family. It will have been a year since we left!
- I'm planning to come home again in the beginning/middle of March and stay for about a month. I'm looking forward to getting to stay for an extended time and seeing friends and family again. Shawna and Adam are getting married in April, so I plan to help with whatever wedding activities I can! Mike will fly in for the wedding weekend and then we will fly back to Colorado together.
- I plan to work at the state park again this coming summer and Mike is planning on taking summer classes.
- In August we are going to Yellowstone National Park with my mom and dad. This is a trip I have been wanting to take since I was in fifth grade, so to say I'm excited is an understatement!!

Twenty-six was really good, but I'm willing to bet twenty-seven will be even better!