Sunny skies, snowy slopes

We've been in Denver now for 8 weeks, which means this contract is about 2/3 of the way done. Yikes! The good news is that the second half of any assignment I've been at seems to go by slower. I think in general, we are settled-in more, not as focused on the job aspect of it (for both of us), and are more focused on exploring and making the most of our remaining time. We've already been up to the mountains 12 times and plan on doubling that before we leave. Those are some lofty goals and sore legs! We're super thankful to be able to live here and experience Colorado in so many ways. I know that Will especially is loving this assignment. Me? I definitely love living in Denver and getting to improve on my snowboarding skills! Don't get me wrong. But my job has been a bit challenging at times. It's funny, because a lot of people ask what our favorite assignment/location has been so far. And I'd say location: San Diego. Hospital: Seattle. I just had it so good there! It's interesting working at so many different hospitals because I get to see and compare different policies and ways of doing things. Truth be told? It makes me miss my Helen DeVos team even more. Which is pretty convenient since I'd love to go back there full-time in the future.  We'll see. Speaking of the future, Will and I have some pretty amazing goals planned out for the year 2016 (oh, Happy New Year by the way!). We'd LOVE to do one more assignment after Denver. Somewhere warm, sunny, tropical, yukulele-ish... don't worry, I'll keep ya posted. ;) We will likely go home to Michigan after that assignment and do the whole "settle down" thing. Which honestly sounds pretty good... it's funny how glamorous or cool this whole travel nursing thing sounds. Which it definitely is! But you find yourself missing little things, like familiarity, community, family, a church you can be regularly involved in. Our best friends are having a baby ANY DAY NOW and it's thrilling! I'd love to actually own a couch and be able to have a  home and decorate. You know, all those domestic, boring-sounding adult things. But truly, it sound like music to our souls. And of course it doesn't mean our traveling days are over! There's a big world out there... and we still have lots to see. 
Since arriving in Denver, this is a small collection of what we've been up to:
Obviously, we've been up in the mountains a bit. And it's been incredible! I've gotten so much more comfortable snowboarding and have even made it through a few black diamonds. It's just such a  beautiful place...

My parents visited us between Christmas and New Years and we had a blast! It was fun hanging out with them and showing them around our new home.

See? Told ya we had fun.

We've loved living near our friends Justin & Jessika. Even though they're crazy ;) Ha! Oh, and our cool bro Kevin visited us, too! We heart visitors. 

#quadbabes 

Fun with Patsy! Such a fun gal pal. And a bad-A snowboarder. #goals

We spent Will's birthday weekend up in the mountains at Breckenridge with these goofs. It was pretty cool, I guess.

I definitely must say that my most favorite mountain-riding days are when it's just me and this man. He is truly amazing. He's so patient with me and shows me so much grace, even when I get really frustrated at times. He's just phenomenal. He balances me out and puts me in my place when I need it. Thank the Lord. For so many reasons.

Ahh, the mountains...  

Seven Falls 

Seven Falls

Seven Falls

Pike's Peak in all it's beautiful glory.

Denver skyline at night.

Denver sunset. Oh, hey mountains! I see you...

Flatirons in Boulder with my parents.

Denver Zoo Lights with my sweet Mama.

Snap! My Dad and Will were taking photos together all week and it was so fun
to watch them share their love of photography together.

We brought in the new Year with our awesome pals Ben and Taylor.
It's so wonderful having friends all over the country!

Ben and Taylor getting kissy-kissy, practicing for their first kiss as husband and wife, I'm sure.

Ending any year with this man makes me the luckiest girl in the world. Let's start and
end many, many more together. 

Take a hike

The past few weeks have been busy! Will got a job at a local grocery store, which was an answer to prayer, but so far it has been "blessfully inconvenient." (Does that make sense? [Is that even a word?]) It's made our spontaneous Cali adventures more difficult. You know when you ask God for something and then He gives it to you, but you want to say, "Uh, hey God, that was kind of what I asked for, but not exactly. If you could just change these details, that'd be great!" Yeah... it's like that. We've had opposite schedules much of the time and it's just not near as fun to adventure by yourself. However, we're learning to be grateful that God's provided this opportunity for him to stay busy and productive and help provide for our family. Because let's face it, life here is expensive! But you know what's free? Hiking :) Most of what we have been able to do in our recent free time has been hiking, and SoCal has some of the best hiking around! I'm so thankful to be making friends here. It's such a blessing to have community and girl time! A couple weeks ago some of us travel nurses hiked to The Devil's Punchbowl in Cedar Creek Falls. It was so beautiful! We were able to cliff jump and climb up the waterfall, too. Pure bliss.

My sister-in-crime Meg

Finally made it!

Cliff jumping! 

Climbing up the waterfall (boo drought...)

We had our first visitor here, too! Will's brother, Kevin, stayed with us this past weekend and we had a blast. It was so nice to be with family and have a sense of "home" being brought here. We did some sightseeing and, of course, more hiking.

Exploring the tide pools in Point Loma.

Cabrillo Monument at Point Loma (with a gorgeous view of downtown SD)

At the beginning of our hike to Three Sisters. If you look closely, you can see the waterfalls. Definitely the most difficult hike I've ever been on.

You know it's intense when it requires ropes. 

So worth it.

We made a stop in La Jolla to look at all the seals. It never gets old watching these cuties!

The only picture we got of all [most] of us together. Will's stepbrother, Chris, and his girlfriend Kate moved to Los Angeles recently. Having Kevin in town was the perfect excuse to get everyone together!

Until next time...