Some Thanksgiving Loveliness.

Ah, Thanksgiving.  The holiday where everyone Instagrams at least 2 of these 5 pictures: the cute baby or kid in the extended family, someone carving the turkey, their plate of food, their Christmas tree, and great Black Friday finds and/or lines. 

Everyone has their Thanksgiving traditions and favorite foods.

Well my Thanksgiving tradition got changed 3 years ago when my parents retired and moved to the Black Hills.  So now I go there instead of going to Grandma's house in my Minnesota hometown.   This year my aunt and two cousins made the 10ish hour drive out there as well. 

Family, beautiful scenery, and food?  Check.

The first morning the cousins and I hiked Lookout Mountain. It's not technically a mountain.  But it sounds more legit if you say you climbed a mountain rather than a hill, so mad props to whoever named it Lookout Mountain. 

Then we drove through Spearfish Canyon and walked down to the bottom of a waterfall. And it was snowy and beautiful and I kept singing Walking in a Winter Wonderland.  Mostly just in my head. Don't wanna be too embarrassing.

Then we went to Devil's Tower. It's so bizzare.

Here's my cute parents.
I like them.

Then we had to go say hello to the Presidents' heads.  Because when you're in the Black Hills, that's what you do.



Because it gets dark out so early now, they advertise the "Lighting of Mt. Rushmore!" in the local media.  So we went at dusk to see that.  They kept announcing the countdown until the lighting over the intercom.  So we were expecting something grandiose and "Ooohh! Ahhh!" worthy.

Nope.  They just...turned on the lights.

Oh look! We dressed up.

Headin' to the Hills for some Christmas tree hunting!!

Here's a video. 
I had one of my dad actually chopping the tree down, but long story short, you get to see this one instead.

After chopping down our tree, we stopped at Chubby Chipmunks for some truffles.  $3 each and worth every penny. I like to support local businesses. 

Especially when they have as cool of a name as Chubby Chipmunks.

Here's my little tree I got for my apartment :)

Yep, I have a blast whenever I get to come to visit my parents in Spearfish.  It's only a 6 hour car ride from Denver, so I'll be pretty sad when I move to Seattle and am ALOT further away.  But...it is what it is.

I sure do have a lot to be thankful for!

Oh, and Quincy loves being at his grandparents' house. He's the spoiled first grandchild and loves every minute of it.  He's on a diet though so was paranoid about all the apple and pumpkin pie he was eating.

I will leave you with this little slice of hedgie happiness.

10 months and 6 days in Colorado later...

I hope I did that math right.  I moved to Denver on January 5th.  So yes. I've been a Colorado resident for 10 months and 6 days.

And as I sit at my table next to a notebook with lists of what I'm going to sell, donate, bring to my parents' on Thanksgiving, send with my parents truck, and pack in my Subaru for my move to Washington in less than 2 months, I felt I needed to process what I've learned these past 10 months while doing life in Colorado, first. So here goes.

1. It hasn't been glamorous.  Not that I thought it always would be, I'm a realist.  But, I'm also an optimist (can I be both? Yes I can.)  I always try to focus on the positives.  And those positives make much better blog posts than all the negatives. So if you've read my blogs it looks like I've had the best time ever and have adjusted well to this new life of independence and basically starting over.  And it HAS been amazing.  But to be honest, (and not to be all dramatic...) my time in Colorado has also been the loneliest season in my life so far.  And that makes sense.  I left my friends and family and moved to a place where I virtually knew no one.

2. I've grown a lot.  I joined a small group Bible study and a rec league soccer team, which were both pretty out of my comfort zone at first. A.K.A, normally things I would have avoided.  The soccer was great, but the small group has really been a life changer for me--because of the friends I've made through it and also the spiritual growth that it has encouraged in my life.

I've also grown in confidence through my job especially in transitioning into my new role which has required me to lead and speak in front of volunteer groups multiple times a week. You can't be shy doing that.  Especially when you have 50 teenagers staring at/listening to you.

One of my most valuable lessons here, is that I learned for the first time in my life what it truly means to reconcile a friendship that seemed completely unfixable.  I found out recently that she was "so mad" when she first heard I was moving out here.  And I will forever be grateful for her forgiveness and friendship in my life. Although we didn't know how to exactly go about it, we kind of just jumped in, and she's again one of my closest friends.

3. I learned I can live without cable.  Really.  It's possible.  And when I watch TV, I don't like watching the History Channel or anything educational.  I'm watching the Kardashians, Gossip Girl, and although I've never really seen it...I'm sure I'd be the Honey Boo Boo watching type.

But instead I'm stalking all of you on Facebook.  Which honestly sometimes isn't much better.

4. I don't have to work so hard to fit into God's plan. What I mean by this, is I've always been afraid of making one wrong decision and then being screwed.  So, I try too hard.  I think too much. Example: I googled, researched, Facebook-stalked and went to a dozen different churches the first 7 months in Denver, before one day I woke up late and simply walked across the street from my apartment, where I found a church I absolutely love.

Good one.

I've learned if you have a sincere heart in wanting to follow Him and bring Him glory...you're not going to stray too far off the path.  Sometimes the path is a lot less complicated than we think.

Just do SOMETHING.  And He will work through it.

5. Moving is hard.  I'm obsessed with the word "adventure".  You could get me to do almost anything if you tell me "it will be an adventure!" Okay, not really, but I am seriously starstruck by adventure.  And moving to a new state is, in fact, an adventure. I've climbed a 14,000 foot mountain--that was an adventure.  I've hung out with, gone running with, gotten lost with, and laughed with new friends--those were all welcomed adventures.  And I met a guy who was here on a mission trip from Seattle and started dating him--that has also been an adventure.

But moving away from the familiar isn't the kind of adventure that is always fun.  Sometimes it has it's perks, I'll admit---like tonight, I returned my Redbox at Walgreens and I looked like a complete slob.  Sweatpants tucked into dressy boots (they were the closest shoe to the door), sweatshirt, no makeup, hair in an unattractive ballerina/librarian bun (no offense to any ballerinas or librarians--go and rock that bun with pride.)...because I knew I wasn't going to run into anyone I knew.

But there are also days when I miss my friends in Minnesota SO much I can hardly stand it.  Even then, I wouldn't care if I was sporting a ballerina bun if I ran into them at Walgreens--because they're my friends.  And I've probably seen them in worse.

There are days when I have a certain breed of identity issues--because I don't have any old, crazy fun memories at places here like I do in Minnesota.  I don't have my mom, grandma, or a close family friend's home to go to when I want a home-cooked meal.  I also don't really know any young kids here, either.

And I miss that.

But guess what? At the end of the day, it's still all worth it (cue the optimistic blog writer).  I've met some awesome people.  I've grown personally and spiritually in ways I probably don't even realize yet.

And although sometimes it's lonely, I can honestly say I'm not bored with life.  I've taken a leap of faith.  I've gotten out of my comfort zone.  And God has never left my side.  Even in the lowest, darkest times in this journey...He's always there.  He sometimes spoke through my coworkers, showed me a verse, nudged a friend to text me at just the right moment, or simply just gave me peace.  And without that I probably wouldn't have made it past February.

One thing that is pretty crazy after writing all of that, is that I'll be starting this whole process ALL over again in 2 months.  And that's sort of terrifying.

But also sort of awesome.