Sunday, June 19, 2016

Recent Happenings

Life is never dull around here, but it seems the overall pace has sped up since about mid-May. Here is a bit of an overview from the highlights in that time:

  • My dear friend, Patsy, got married! I had the pleasure of being in the wedding, so Mom and I flew out to Alabama for a few days.
  • My mom's side of the family had a fun reunion (and Jon got to come with us)! We all hung out, played games, went hiking, wading in the lake behind the huge house we stayed in, read, chatted, ate delicious meals together, lounged in the backyard hot tub....
  • Aunt Tara drove back from Utah with my parents, and she helped them start packing up and helped around while Mom prepared for and had a surgery (she seems to be recovering well, praise God).
  • Aunt Tara and I got to visit the Denver Botanic Gardens, which were incredibly beautiful, and I cannot wait to go back sometime! 
  • Jon took me on a date to Cave of the Winds, where I got to go inside on my first-ever cave tour! Jon had gotten tickets for the lantern tour of the Manitou Caverns. It was so much fun and a great day with him!
  • Jon's sister-in-law, Kayla, and I made a lovely dress/elf costume for me to wear to the Denver Comic-Con. Well... Kayla made the dress. I was more her mannequin/assistant, though I did make the shoes for my costume on my own, which was an interesting task.
  • (Surprise, surprise!) I got to go to Comic-Con with Jon, his mom, sister, and brother-in-law, and we met up with or ran into friends and coworkers while wandering around the huge convention center. The costumes and vendors and everything were cool to see, and the day overall was full of fun. I didn't quite get to see the few famous individuals I was looking out for (John Rhys-Davies, Alex Kingston, Stan Lee, John Barrowman...) but we did get to sit in on an interview with Cary Elwes (Princess Bride, etc.) which was interesting and quite funny!
  • Mom and Dad are getting ready to move into their new, longterm house and home, so Chaela and I have been trying to help a bit between work and other things, and will be helping clean their rental and with the actual move.
  • The Navigator's Global Student Program has brought all sorts of nationalities of students to work, train, and grow in their relationships with God this summer. Work has gotten so much busier because of summer guests, but also so much more interesting as my coworkers and I get to make friends with these individuals (I get to work directly with a couple young women from Kenya and Canada).
  • Jon and I will be attending two of our friends' wedding next week - I am SO excited for David and Sarah!
Finally, today is Father's Day. Don't worry, the rest of my family is sleeping, or I'd be spending time with Dad. ;) Soon we'll be off to see "Finding Dory" (Chaela's brilliant suggestion)!