air force academy

we literally live 3 minutes from the north gate of the academy. & can see the stadium & the campus from our porch.

 see?

so on a sunny saturday we decided to check it out.

besides a gigantic jet on the roadside & watching a few hunky cadets on their afternoon runs, the cadet chapel was the main reason we went & it did not disappoint. totally funky & peculiar.

pretty incredible.

below the main protestant chapel is this sign:

we may or may not have made some non PC jokes about which groups the protestants consider "below" them. but then they must be better off than those not even mentioned. *cough cough*

these 3 distinct places of worship were just gorgeous.

catholic

jewish

buddhist

very unique & hallowed.
& now i know what i'm looking at when i see the spiky building in the distance. :)

garden of the gods

 back in march... what, it's still march?? oh dear. okay so a couple weeks ago when the 'rents were in town we drove the 20 minutes to our national park, the garden of the gods.

 these huge red rock & sandstone formations dot the landscape & it's really pretty incredible.

 & to think they've been hanging out for millions upon millions of years.

walking forward into the park,

 while ellers & i walked backward into the park.

it was a sunny day as usual here yet it was beyond frigid.

i was such an idiot to go coat-less. what, i think i'm hard core? cause i am not. at all. the hard core ones were biking, hiking, & climbing around in tank tops. bunch of crazies.

does anyone else have fearless kids that roam what you're sure is snake infested territory while ignoring your pleas to stay closer?

 & then have little sibs that want to follow suit?

my mamaçita caught this shot & we were totally giddy about the sunburst. you've got to always appreciate a good sunburst.

this was from my phone. dying.

due to the cold & our schedules, we just drove the main loop around a section of the park. but this area totally reminds me of a seuss world; the formations were almost cartoony.

 my cute parental units.

 & this gorgeous rock as you leave the park.


we will definitely be frequenting garden of the gods... but let's wait for some heat.

revolving door

we always seem to have a revolving door on our guest bedroom. & that dates back to before we had an actual guest room... i luuurve it!

the day after we slept in the house for the first time my little sister stephanie & austin's little brother logan came from provo to visit us!!

the day after bopi & bobby left... my mama & daddy came!!

the day after the 'rents left... some of my college girlies (ambre, jana, sophie, avree, olivia, kathleen & husband eric) came to play!! we missed you stacey & leah & jordan!

& now our guest room has a sad, eerie silence... so who's next people??

being a hater

i hate grad school. okay so maybe i am not actually in grad school. but austin is. & i am a hater.

we seem to be closer to the end here & he's been busting his hump.
trying to move into our first house, juggle a full time job, have a social/family life, enjoy our dozens of visitors, be one of the only ones in the class that is not present & not immediately following the pre-reqs can be very very challenging & discouraging. :( & stressful. plus finals suck.

boo. hopefully the next class isn't such a beast.

chief's angels

when austin's in a good mood he thinks his girls look like charlie's angels with our 3 different hair colors...

but he has always thought red heads were iffy. to be honest i think he used the word "crusty". haha

to say the least this has not changed his mind. but it's fun & different so he can deal for a bit. :)