Yes my Papa is 87 years old and yes he still dances with us crazy kids.
Round 2.
It's safe to say that we know how to do weddings.
We ate, we laughed, we danced (a lot), got a little too excited about glowsticks, and loved every second of it. There is just something about the dance parties that this insane family of mine can throw that beats any others.
Congratulations to my cousins Tyson, Adam and our newest additions to the family. We love you!
There is something about being away in the woods with no phone reception, no need for time, no company other than the ones you love most, and no heat except the fire that you built yourself (besides the heat in your motor home *caugh caugh).
Yellowstone was one of my favorite parts of our whole vacation. We didn't have any places we needed to be or anything we really needed to worry about. We simply got a break in between destinations, weddings, parties, and cities, to relax and enjoy each others company.
We spent hours, ten to be exact, driving around the hundreds of miles that is Yellowstone National Park to see as much as we possibly could, and I would say we were quite successful.
Between the bison, coyotes, antelope, elk, geysers (one of which decided to spray us in all of it's sulfer smelling glory), waterfalls, trees, lakes, and mountains, it is hard not to be thankful for the beauty that God has blessed us with. I am convinced it is a pretty generous gift.
(AKA my new favorite city), where we managed to stay plenty busy.
We awed over Nolan's cuteness,
Spent hours shopping and sight seeing downtown,
Relaxed on our hotel's rooftop pool that overlooked downtown,
Spontaneously went to a Datsik concert, which was interesting to say the least,
Then ate yummy food and did weird things at the Taste of Colorado, which are kind of my families favorite things to do.
So after convincing my parents in the third grade that I would live in Colorado when I 'grew up' (never having been), it was no surprise to me that I loved this place. I decided that if Bend and Portland decided to have a baby it would probably be Denver, and I don't really know what would be better than that.
What do you get when you combine a pretty awesome family, a glowing amphitheatre placed on the outskirts of a perfect city, and one of your favorite bands performing better than you could have ever imagined? One of the best nights of your life probably.
It was our first night in Denver and definitely one of my favorites. The venue was just as beautiful as everyone told me it would be, and the band was better than I could have ever imagined.
Between the power that came behind each word sang, every strum of a guitar, and each minute the sun was setting, it was by far the best concert I have ever been to and a night I plan on remembering forever.
"Plant your hope with good seeds
Don't cover yourself in Thistle and Weeds"
-Mumford & Sons
-KatieRose
Monday, September 3, 2012
Guest Post
Overwhelmed with Love.
I love the
feeling of being overwhelmed with love – especially for Sam.
[I'm sure you guessed he's the guy in these pictures with me]
I can't
think for a second what my life would be like without him. I love that I fit so
perfectly in his hugs and that he knows the person I am so well. As I go through
these emotions, sometimes, well most times, to tears, I realize that this passion, this feeling
of overwhelming love is how Jesus feels for us…times
infinity. And it’s what He deserves in return. My cousin and his wife are
amazing followers of Christ and one day last summer over coffee, I showed them
the picture of the painting of Jesus that that eight-year-old girl did
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49wut32Cguw…check this out if you haven’t.) His
wife, nearly in tears, looked at the photo and kissed it and said, I love you!
I love you! I love you! Thank you!!! Our conversation continued and I have not
put a lot of that into that moment until today. I realized that her outburst of
love towards Jesus is something someone who is overwhelmed with love for her Savior would do.
I
am reminded of Christ’s overwhelming love for us, so much that we have done
nothing to deserve it, yet, He willingly supplies an endless amount, saved our
souls, and promised to never give up or leave us.
Maybe
it is the girl in her twenties thing to be obsessed with love…but you know what
I think? I think God is obsessed with love. The words love or
loved are in the bible 408 times. (I counted…not. I googled it) Then, in
Matthew 22: 36-40, Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to LOVE your
God with all your heart and soul and mind, and to secondly, LOVE your neighbor.
The
Lord is coocoo for love and I am so thankful He is! I consider myself someone
who loves to love…but who wouldn’t? My issue falls to this: with all the
amazing things that God does for me, for the immensely blessed life I live, why
do I find it so hard to love the Lord with my whole heart, soul and mind? With
His track record, it would seem to be the easiet thing in the world…yet, I seem
to always fall short…thankfully, God loved us SO much that he even warned us of
that too…{Romans 3:23} So all we can do is love and love and love and eventually, it will be easier and easier to hold true to Matthew 22:36-40.
God’s
love is so large, magnificent, brilliant, outstanding, that we can’t even
imagine it, so I believe the Lord gave us partners, family, friends and most of
all, those we consider "not-friends", to demonstrate our God-given ability to love and love as
closely as Jesus did.
How
lucky are we to have the ability to be filled with such an amazing emotion
while still on earth!! Our God is one loving Dad of the universe.
- Laurel Welborn
P.S. Thank you so much Katie for letting me guest post on your adorable blog! One day, a blog of mine will show up. Thank you for being such an amazing friend to me these last few years!
