I Confess

I have a confession to make. I have been avoiding my blog like the plague. This is entirely due to the fact that I want to post about all kinds of random things but have been feeling like I can't post about anything new until I catch up on vacation posts (which are both daunting and overwhelming). So since almost all of my few followers are friends with me on facebook and have already seen my 6,000 vacation pictures, I am going to ask that you forgive me but I am stopping the vacay posts.

On another note entirely I have been loving so many healthful things lately!
-Last Friday Zach and I rode about 10 miles on the Cardinal Greenway and made the trip to Hunnicutts (a local gem) and back
-We have started playing tennis/disc golf/going for walks quite a bit more
-I have positively cleaned up at the Farmer's Market the past couple of Saturdays with everything from banana peppers to juicy peaches to candy onions to red potatoes
-I have become a regular once more at our Y's Saturday morning strength training classes
-I am stoked to take Zach to his first Core Blast class tonight!
-I am also thoroughly enjoying making my weekly menus.

Here's what's on the menu this week...
Monday- red potatoes, Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu, Mixed veggies
Tuesday- buttered green beans (fresh beans of course), cranberry dijon pork roast, fruit
Wednesday- Ravioli and cheese bake, salad, fruit
Thursday- grilled veggies, orange roughy Italiano
Friday- lemon couscous, corn on the cob, baked chicken breasts


JORDAN

Day Four Contd.

Day Four Sunday Contd.: After our picnic lunch we headed into Arches National Park. I love Arches. Such beautiful colors, interesting formations and plenty of rock to climb on! :) We got to see Balancing Rock, the Three Gossips, the North and South windows and Double Arch. From a distance the arches don't look very large, but when you get up close man are they impressive. We climbed all over most of them (we being mostly Zach and I) and we would get as high up as we could climb and have the most incredible views. You can see for miles and miles and my favorite part is being able to see snow-capped mountains as the backdrop for these desert formations. So surreal.

The North Window from far off

Balancing Rock

Double Arch

Looking up underneath Double Arch

After a day of exploring the Arches we checked into a hotel in Moab, Utah and rested for a bit. Then we all went to dinner at the Moab Brewery and went back into the park. This time we did an extremely strenuous hike to catch the sunset at Delicate Arch. It is the most popular spot in the park to watch the sun set because as it goes down Delicate Arch takes on the most fiery red color. It was a really beautiful spot and completely worth the tough hike!

Petroglyphs we saw on the way to Delicate Arch

Barely starting our hike and seeing all those people up ahead made us realize just HOW FAR we had to go

Delicate Arch getting fiery red

Zach and I under the arch

The view of the mountains from the Arch

JORDAN

Days Three and Four

Continuing on in the thread of vacation posts...


Day Three Saturday: We had great morning on this day having breakfast and a lot of laughs. After a late start and a workout we got ready and went into Idaho Springs to eat at Beau Jo's. Let me say, NO ONE does pizza like Beau Jo's. It is such an incredible place in a gorgeous setting surrounded by the Rocky Mountains.

No worries, we shared :)

After Beau Jo's we all packed up and got ready to head out of Denver but first Mom and I went to The Shoppe. It's an adorable little cupcake place and we got cupcakes for everyone.

Mom with the miniature cupcakes we bought for everyone

in The Shoppe

 Then all of us (me, Zach, Mom, Dad, Greg and Dan) all left Denver on our way to Utah. We stopped for dinner in Glenwood Springs.

The majestic Rockies on our drive

Mom and Dad at dinner

We made it as far as Grand Junction and then stopped there for the night.

A beautiful sunset on our drive with a jet stream through it

Day Four Sunday: This morning we got up and drove into Utah. Our first stop was at a neat picnic area right outside Arches Natl. Park that had a very cool bridge. We always eat lunch out of our cooler when we are visiting parks.

Okay, guess I should have called this Day Three and PART of Day Four. Whew! This is more work than I thought it would be so this is all for today. Next Up: Day Four contd. and Day Five!


JORDAN

Current Life and a Bit of Vacation!

Several things making me a happy girl right now...
1. Having my refrigerator/pantry finally re-stocked with lots of healthy food
2. Finally getting back into a routine at the gym!
3. Having a planned menu for my entire week of amazing things to cook
4. Pretty much anything and everything about my incredible husband
5. The multiple fun and successful parties of this past weekend (which included Christine who got to come visit for a whole four days!!!!)
6. The Bachelorette is on tonight (everyone is allowed a guilty pleasure :) )
7. The fact that I got to spend literally all day laying by the pool on Saturday and I plan on doing that multiple times this summer!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend because mine was pretty stellar. We had a completely random impromptu party that turned out to be one of the best ones we have had in a long time! I got to enjoy a lot of time with my BFF including brunch, pool time, camera shopping, and just hanging out catching up. Now I am taking on this week with a lot of confidence and can honestly say I am PUMPED to hit the gym after work!

Now, I need to start tackling the big task of vacation posts. Where better to start than...the beginning!

Day one Thursday: This was a total driving day. We took off from Muncie around 3:30 in the afternoon and headed West. We stopped in St. Louis for dinner and discovered the oh-so-awesome St. Louis Union Station where Zach had his first experience eating at a Hard Rock Cafe. We had a great little stopover there before heading on.

Our view from dinner

Officially vacation :)

We continued driving, through the night, so I guess that turns this into...

Day two Friday: We arrived at my Uncle Greg's house in Denver, CO a little after 8am and positively crashed. After only an hour sleeping though we had a surprise. My mom and dad were supposed to be leaving for Denver this Friday night so we weren't expecting to see them until Saturday, then suddenly they are waking us up to say hello! I was so confused I sat up and said "What day is this!?!?!" Ha! They had been keeping it a secret for months that they were going to fly instead of drive and they had wanted to beat us there but we were too fast. After we caught up on a little sleep we went to lunch with Mom and Dad at the Cherry Cricket (actually one of our travel channel places, but that is for another post!).

 After lunch we all hung around outside Greg and Dan's (including their sweet dog Dexter)

Then went to dinner at El Diablo and to an art walk. The art walk was very...interesting. Haha! Some of the art was really cool while some was just plain weird. We had a good time though and it was an excellent place for people watching!

Colorful flags at the art walk

Some of the interesting "art"

My mama and I

Well, I can tell this is going to take a while since I only did TWO days today. But never fear, it will all get posted! Stay tuned for days three and four tomorrow!



JORDAN

Deepest Apologies

Hello my lovely blogging world! I know I have been completely remiss lately, but with a fabulous 16 day vacation topped off by my three year wedding anniversary can you blame me? The good news is I am back and ready to share! I promise that I will get around to posting some vacation pictures and stories, but I can't promise that it won't take a bit of time. We had an absolutely incredible trip and got to pick up so many new states (The World Travelers page has been updated). As much as I needed and enjoyed time off though, I am ready to get back into a routine. Whenever my daily routine is broken even for a short period of time I realize just how much I rely on it. Not to say I am boring and set in my ways- I am very spontaneous (at least I think so) but I see how crucial certain parts of my routine are to being financially on top of things, physically fit and active, healthy, organized, etc. So for those reasons it is good to be home but I would be lying if I said I wasn't already greatly looking forward to the next trip! There are so many wonderful adventures and things to do that we have planned between now and then that I refuse to be accused of wishing time away.

On another note entirely, yesterday Zach and I hit the three year mark! We have now been together for 8 years and married for 3. I am so, so grateful to be married to such an amazing man. Zach is the sweetest, most kind-hearted guy I know. He does so much for me, I know that he would literally do anything I asked of him. He is the perfect complement to me in so many ways, more than I could list. There is nothing like the feeling of being so loved and so secure in that love. Too often I forget how lucky I am and I have to work everyday not to take this great guy for granted. I pray that we have many, MANY years ahead of us!

JORDAN