Colorado {One of my Happy Places}

Jeff and I just returned from a week in Ft. Collins, Colorado.  Every other year, we go out there for our staff conference with Cru.  Over 6000 of our staff/missionaries go and it is a wonderful work environment:).  We get to hear from some great speakers who encourage, challenge, and motivate us in ministry.  We also get to hear from some of our national and local leaders.  It's always fun to hear what the Lord is doing around the world through Cru.  We have been on staff for 11 years and I am always amazed at this conference at all the places our organization is and all that it does through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Our little slice of the pie here at Alabama has been and still is such a blessing for us to be a part of.  We love seeing God change college students lives with His gospel!  It is just such a blessing to be a missionary in Tuscaloosa both in vocation and just in life:).

In addition to our meetings, we got to enjoy amazing food and fellowship with other staff friends.  Ft. Collins has the coolest downtown and some of the best restaurants.  We thoroughly enjoyed eating pretty much every meal out.  And, I really was able to stick to my clean eating besides a few times where I indulged in my favorite pizza ever!

The best part of last week was that we got to go alone.  Our parents gave us a wonderful gift in taking care of our wild bunch.  My parents had the first part of the week and Jeff's parents had the second half.  I'm almost positive they will never say yes to doing something like this again though! HAHA!  They had an interesting week full of high fever, bike wreck, stray kitten showing up and staying, lost tooth, rash breakout, late bedtimes, early wakeups, and much much more.  I think it felt like things went crazy when we left, but we realized that nope...that is just our normal.  Life with 4 children is never boring and never really that easy...especially if you aren't used to the craziness!  Anyway, we are soooo indebted and thankful to our rock star parents who took care of our crew so well! 

It was honestly the BEST WEEK.  I got time to myself (even went and got a pedi/mani), time with my husband, and time with great friends...most of which centered around amazing food:)!  It was the perfect time away and now we come home rejuvenated and ready to start a new school year!

Here are some pics from the week (all from my phone and instagram)...

 

 

bowling with some friends

I worked out some at the CSU rec center!

We stayed with Paige and her family.  She is one of our involved students at Bama and we love her!  Summer nights in Colorado are so nice and cool.  We enjoyed sitting on their patio one night by the fire just chatting! 

 

sunset at Horsetooth Reservoir