Full Speed Ahead!

This past week has been a blur.

My mom flew in from Michigan.

We cleaned house...

Grocery shopped multiple times...

and prepared things, decorations, and food for my cousin's party.

My cousin graduated from H.S. this past weekend.

We celebrated her graduating with a big party!

Over the weekend we cooked food, ate food...

and then ate even more food.

The place looked amazing for her party.

My cousin had bunches of flowers, cards, and gifts.

Most importantly,

everyone was there to

celebrate her achievements!

In the fall, my cousin heads off to Washington for college!

I am so looking forward to hearing about her adventures in school.

Congratulations Nicolette!

Everyone is incredibly proud of you.

Unpredictable By the Day

The snow has been never-ending in Colorado lately. The area has already seen almost twice the average snow fall typical for the month of May. The Denver area gets rain and storms, and in the foothills we get lots of that fluffy white stuff. Yesterday we accumulated probably almost 3 inches of snow, and this was by 3pm. Lately, the meteorologists have underestimated the frequency of our snows. Snow apparently has a mind of its own and can be very unpredictable.

My aunt just bought some flowers to decorate for my cousin's graduation this weekend, and we had to bring them all inside. Poor, pretty little flowers. It's way too cold for them to be outside. I'm pretty sure that it's way too cold outside for me too. However I am sure that we, me and the flowers, will manage to survive this wintery May weather.

Every once in a while we heard thunder rumbling in the distance. When there was a big lightning strike we saw the foggy sky light up for a brief moment. Thunder snow is amazing! My mom, who is here from Michigan, and I sat on the covered porch and listened to the weather for a little while. It was pretty amazing. Since she has been here we've seen rain, hail, snow, and sun. You just never know what you're going to get! Colorado has been quite the mixed bag of weather these days.

Even the cats stopped to smell the flowers during this snow storm of ours. Twister thought the flowers were for him. Little did he know, they're actually for my cousin's graduation. Silly cat. Good thing the snow didn't bother him too much. He hibernated in my aunt's room on and off all day, but every once in a while he did stop to smell the flowers in the living room. Flowers inside the house really brightened up the dreary day here in Colorado.

The snow will probably melt in a day, and it will be like we never had any snow in the first place. Funny how quickly the snow disappears in the hot Colorado sun. The meteorologists might give us an idea of the forecast, but it seems to vary from their plan quite often lately. I'm learning not to rely on the forecast very often. High expectations only create disappointment when things don't go the way you would like.

I snapped a few pictures of the snow and realized that it was really beautiful outside. The clouds always make for great photos. The diffused light makes things much easier to photograph, because you see things without harsh shadows that too much sun creates. One thing predictable about the weather is that my photos will not turn out overexposed, and I'm thankful for that!

What are you thankful for in this unpredictable life?

Steady As She Goes

Slow and steady wins the race, right? At least that's the lesson we learned from The Tortoise and The Hare. But sometimes I find myself wanting to race for the finish line so that I can "get there faster". Then I remember a quote reminding us that life is about the journey and not the destination. It's not the finish line that matters, it's how we get there. More importantly, we need to learn and grow along the way. There isn't always one path to the finish line, but we must work for our goals.

image via Pinterest

Sometimes I forget that moving forward is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. I need to stop thinking I can take this giant leap to get where I am going. All of the steps in between build us up to who we are, and without them we're missing something.

image via Pinterest

Thank you to those who
commented on yesterday's blog post 

image via Pinterest

I was overwhelmed with the kindness you all offered to me. Sometimes I feel really undeserving, because I feel that maybe it's not fair to complain or express struggles in life. That's life at times though. Thank you all for offering kind words and advice for getting through tough times. We all deserve kindness and love in our lives, and I think as a blogger it's our responsibility to lift people up when they need it. Again thank you all for the kind works and love you sent my way. (:

Slow and steady. Day by day. We'll make it through.


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I also really want to say a big thank you to all of you who follow this blog!

I just made it past the 100 follower mark, and I am so thankful for all of you. When I first started blogging, I had no idea that you could even follow a blog. Blogging was a mystery to me. Over time I have found some wonderful blogs out there, and I'm really thankful that you have found me too!

Our Situation aka Constant Uncertainty

I'm currently so stressed out that we still have no idea when we are moving to Florida. After my husband finishes his flight simulator training for his new job, he has to complete IOE (Initial Operating Experience) in an aircraft. We still have no clue where or when that will take place. I am sort of freaking out here. The previous sentence is probably the understatement of the year.

We cannot make plans for moving, reserve a U-Haul truck, look for housing, or basically do anything to prepare us for this move to Florida yet. Please tell us something already! Waiting and patience are definitely not my strengths at the moment. You would think I'd be used to the uncertainty of the airline industry by now. I love me some stability in life, and that is one thing we have almost zero of right now.

My husband still "lives" in a crashpad in Nevada. I still "live" with my family in Colorado. We both still sleep on air mattresses like we have been for the past month. I really wish I could pretend that sleeping on an air mattress for that long is fun. Apparently my make believe skills are lacking with "old age".

At least my husband lives in a nice crashpad. If there is such a thing as a nice crashpad. When we drove out to Nevada and moved his things into the house, I had some serious deja vu. For good reason. The house my husband rents a room in is the same exact floor plan that my friends from college lived in years ago. I had stayed with my friends while visiting Las Vegas, so I showed my husband around his own crash pad when we arrived in Nevada. Funny how things work sometimes.

I am so proud of my husband for working incredibly hard! He is doing a whole lot of studying, memorizing, and practicing. The flight simulator training has been going well for him, and his simulator check ride is next week! I know he'll do great, because he is the best pilot ever! Even though he's been gone for a while now, the time has gone fairly quickly.

Now if we just had some idea of when we can move to Florida! (:

Oh Dam It: Our Tour of the Hoover Dam

My husband and I are becoming "that couple". We like touring historic sites, and we kind of sort of enjoy learning together. Touring the Hoover Dam last week was most definitely our cup of tea, and I have pictures to prove it. Warning: this post has a lot of dam(n) photos.

Come along with me on a tour!

After the Desperado roller coaster fiasco, we headed for the Hoover Dam with our minds set on taking one of the two tours they offer. We opted for the shorter of the two, because the hour long tour was 3 times as much money. We're sort of cheap frugal like that. We also thought we would probably be back some day, when we have more money to spare, and take the longer tour.

Before taking the dam tour, we spent some time walking around the sculptures that grace the side of the dam road. (Feel free to giggle when I say the word "dam" in front of another word. Almost everyone on the tour giggled at one point or another). Yeah, we're mature around these parts.

While on the tour, one guide told us the temperature was about 104 degrees that afternoon. Not to mention, there was some pretty stifling humidity in the air due to all of that amazing water. That water can be very powerful! Pun intended. We were warned not to visit in July and August. I could only imagine we would melt into the concrete during those months, and there is a lot of concrete at the Hoover Dam!

After browsing the statues, we hurried into the air conditioned visitor's center for our tour. It began with a short video covering some history of the dam construction, and then about 20 of us were shuffled onto an oversized elevator. The ride down into the bowels of the Hoover Dam lasted for about 90 seconds. It was a claustrophobic's nightmare. Good thing we're not claustrophobic! (:

We learned a lot about the construction of the Hoover Dam, water rights between states, amounts of electricity the generators produce, and what happens to the water after it creates power. Don't worry, it's just returned to the river below the dam. Pretty painless for the water, I believe.

Part of the tour had us in a room over one of the two diversion tunnels created during construction of the dam. In the picture above, the tour guide is basically pointing at our location. Let me tell you, the vibration of the floor due to the gushing water under our feet was a little unnerving considering we were about 550 feet below Lake Mead. Even better news, the dam is almost as thick as it is tall. I might not be claustrophobic, but I do have a little thing about drowning. I think that growing up watching the Poseidon Adventure messed with my head a little. Good news though, we survived the diversion tunnel room!

After making it out alive leaving the diversion tunnel, we hopped on the elevator to visit the "power plant" part of the Hoover Dam. This is where the magic happens folks! The power of gravity and water is unleashed on these poor unsuspecting generators. It was incredible standing in one of the two generator rooms, because the power generated by the Hoover Dam gives millions of people the ability to lighten things up a bit.

What would we do without electricity?

It is seriously amazing what a powerful river, massive amounts of concrete and hard work, some crazy amazing turbines, and lots of tiny electrons can do. Okay, maybe I oversimplified that a bit, but I like it that way. Just go with it.

After learning far too many numbers and watts, we climbed the stairs to the observation deck overlooking the dam. It was still 1009 degrees outside, so we didn't stay long. Just long enough for me to snap a picture of the cluster of power lines that carry power away from the dam.

After leaving the Hoover Dam, we both decided that we needed to walk across the bypass bridge that was recently completed. The Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, next to the Hoover Dam, was another amazing feat of concrete and construction. You can drive across the bridge, but we opted for the good old fashioned foot method. I also wanted to take a few pictures.

The roadway is almost 1,000 feet above the river.
Walking across the bridge may not be a great idea for those afraid of heights.
Don't look down!

If you visit the dam, I suggest taking some time
to walk across this incredible structure.

The wind practically blew us away, but the views from the bridge were incredible! Look to the left and you see Nevada. Look to the right and you see Arizona. The Hoover Dam almost looked small from atop the bridge. It was fun watching the boats cruise around Lake Mead too, and I think maybe some day it would be fun to get out there on a boat!

The bridge is a bit of a walk from the parking lot but worth it. Touring the Hoover Dam and walking across the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge were a great way to spend the day!

After a long and tough day on a dam(n) tour, we stopped in a small town near the dam called Boulder City. We happened to stumble across a little local brewery called the Boulder Dam Brewing Company, and of course we could not pass up a tasty local brew. The beer was much better than the food, but they were tapped out of a few beers so we didn't get a big selection. It was a nice way to cool down a bit after a hot afternoon at the Hoover Dam.

The Hoover Dam was everything we expected and more. The whole thing was a little hard to comprehend, because the dam creates amazing amounts of electricity. We were bombarded with so many numbers, but just being there was unbelievable.

I hope there weren't too many dam(n) pictures for you to handle.

If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me through the tour!

This week is crazy busy for me, so I can almost promise you the rest of my posts won't be nearly this lengthy. I love you for reading my sometimes tiring blog posts! Have a wonderful day blog friends.

Sunny Days

I actually woke up to sunshine this morning, but the weather in Colorado lately has not been very Colorado-like at all. The weather has actually felt more Michigan-like than anything. My home state of Michigan is usually the cloudy and cold that has been Colorado as of late. Needless to say, I am ready for some sunshine!

My mom recently flew in from Michigan, and she wants to go back home because it was much nicer there! She is shocked at our snow and clouds, because she was expecting sun and heat. Me too.

In the past week it snowed at least 4, it might have been 5, times, and I think I saw the sun for about 2.5 hours in the last 7 days. Seriously. Not cool, Colorado. Not. Cool.

This is what it looked like last week. It has since melted, but it's supposed to get cold again this week.

Last week I spent some time visiting my husband in Las Vegas, because my husband is still there training for his job. He's been there over a month now, and I have been missing him like crazy. The time apart, even though I'm having a tough time with it now, will be worth it. My husband's new job will have him home every night, and I am looking forward to more time together.

For now, I enjoy visiting him in Las Vegas, because it means I get to escape the Colorado snow and clouds.

Here are a few of pictures from Nevada, and I hope they make you feel warm inside. I know that I could use some warm sun right now.

After not much longer we'll be moving to Florida! I recently read online that the area where we're moving holds a record for most sunny days in a row at 700-something days. Needless to say, I am thrilled to be moving somewhere so sunny and warm!

I hope everyone is having a lovely spring!

Has the weather been nice to you?