Updates and Life Turned Upside down

Ok. I haven't posted in a LONG time. There have been lots of changes in our world that I've been totally consumed with! I took a new job as the WOCN at Children's Colorado! It's going to be a BIG job to fill but I am so excited! I have been pretty busy in finishing up school to become certified. I have passed my finals, am finishing my clinicals next week, and will sit for the certification exam sometime in the next month! What did I learn from all this work? I LOVE Wound and Ostomy nursing...but I didn't love going back to school! It's just not as fun without football games, track meets, sleezy mart, the Cali house, and late night watch parties of The Office.

Grant's had a lot going on too. He has accepted a new position within his company as a national rep!! This is great for us. He is so excited! But what's not so great? He is doing training in Milwaukee for the next 8-12 weeks, traveling back and forth from Denver weekly.  So you might be hearing from me a lot more in the next few months since I'm not cooking and entertaining a husband as much. :)

We also had to find a new church, as Watermark Denver decided to close their doors. It has been a bit of a rollercoaster with that news - since a lot of why we came here was to be a part of that church, but God always has a plan. Park Church Denver is in our neighborhood and the perfect fit for us. They have been such a great find and it's so nice to jump back into community with other believers. They are also very service oriented and theologically sound - two things pretty hard to find in Denver we've found. We are so thankful to have them to help us through all the madness we've had going on!

So here's some pics for all that's been going on aside from our crazy second start with jobs and church! We might be busy with work, but in Colorado, there's a new adventure every weekend awaiting us!

We went to the US pro cycling challenge that ended in downtown Denver! Rode our bikes down to watch the finish and enjoy all the festivities for the day! There were live concerts, a big bazaar with tents and tents of vendors, and about a million people there!

We went camping in Aspen with some friends from our new church! It was FREEZING and rained a bit, but we still had a great time!

We hiked Saturday up at Maroon Bells. IT WAS GORGEOUS!

It reminded me why I love living here!

Sage immediately went for the water and took a swim. She was literally shivering it was so cold!

Since Sage is such a swimmer, we took her swimming at the "Dogapoolooza" in our neighborhood!

People seriously treat their dogs like kids here! I think we are guilty of falling into that pattern as well. :) It was PACKED! 

She swam for 45 minutes straight and wouldn't get out! 

My favorite was the Lifeguard for the dogs! Haha!

We also went home for Labor Day and I got to see my girls! I miss them so much.

 Not only that, I got to see Cherry too! 

She is in town from Asia to have her second little one. :) Can't wait to meet him!

And of course - We have been trying out our green thumbs! Our garden is doing amazing! Which is impressive since I haven't been great at watering or weeding it.

We have tomatoes....

Carrots...

TONS of grapes...

Cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, and jalapenos...

And I've been trying tons of new recipes to use them all!!

We are having one heck of an adventure here. 

But we would love to have family and friends come share the adventure with us!

 Love you all and miss you Texans!

Music Sings to my Soul

It's been a rough couple of months for the Martins. With trials, tornadoes, and torment. And a very rough month for the Usrys. With losses of loved ones. And a huge struggle for Grant and I to be here, helpless in Denver amidst it all, traveling back and forth the best we can on a very limited budget. I sometimes feel stuck in the middle of all these emotions. Emotions about life, about jobs, about Denver, about family, about illness.  Lately I find myself treading water often, trying desperately not to drown.


I find God has always spoken to me best through song. I feel him the most in music, whether it be instrumental, Christian, or secular. He speaks to my soul through the lyrics, sometimes even more than through His word. Here's some lyrics that have been good to me this week, and some pleasant reminders that we don't have to swim alone.


STORM
How long have I
been in this storm?
So overwhelmed by the ocean's shapeless form.
Water's getting harder to tread
with these waves crashing over my head

If I could just see You
everything will be alright
If I'd see You
the storminess will turn to light

and I will walk on water
and You will catch me if I fall
and I will get lost into your eyes
and everything will be alright
and everything will be alright

I know you didn't
bring me out here to drown
so why am I 10 feet under and upside down?
Barely surviving has become my purpose
cause I'm so used to living underneath the surface.

If I could just see you
everything will be alright
If I see you
the storminess will turn to light

and I will walk on water
and you will catch me if I fall
and I will get lost into your eyes
and everything will be alright 

I know everything is alright
Everything's alright 
-Lifehouse




AFTER THE STORM
And after the storm,
I run and run as the rains come
And I look up, I look up,
on my knees and out of luck,
I look up.

Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won't rot, No I won't rot
Not this mind and not this heart,
I won't rot.

And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we live for.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

And now I cling to what I knew
I saw exactly what was true
But oh no more.
That's why I hold,
That's why I hold with all I have.
That's why I hold.

I will die alone and be left there.
Well I guess I'll just go home,
And God knows where.
Because death is just so full and mine so small.
I'm scared of what's behind and what's before.

And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

-Mumford and Sons


IT IS WELL
When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
What ever my lot you have taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul

Though the devil will ruin, though trials may come
Let this blessed assurance control
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate
And He shed His own blood for my soul

It is well, with my soul
It is well, it is well with my soul

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought
My sin not in part but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul

It is well, with my soul
It is well, it is well with my soul

And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight
And the clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend
Even so, it is well with my soul


It's been awhile since I've experienced death. Now that I live in Denver and work outpatient I don't see it regularly. In my job at Children's Dallas, I experienced it first hand too many times in children way too young. It's difficult to watch. Difficult to experience. Full of struggle and pain. Something you never forget if you've seen it. But one thing I must say about death. Every time I've witnessed a patient or loved one take their last breath, it's a firm reminder that the afterlife is real. That there is more than this cruel, unfair, messy world. When you see a person pass away, you see their body become instantly just a vessel. The spirit within it is gone. It becomes instantly cold, stiff, colorless. Spiritless. And I am reminded of Jesus' words so long ago:


"Truly Truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come to judgement. He has passed out of death into life." -John 5:24


Witnessing death on yesterday was witnessing a passing into life. Butch is rejoicing with angels right now. And we rejoice with him. 

The Russells Come to Town!

Best week of summer yet! Nate and Andrea came up to stay for an entire 7 days! We had a blast showing them downtown Denver, the Highlands, the Arkansas river, and the mountains!

We spent the first half of the week hanging in Denver, showed off downtown one night, biked to the Highlands for dinner and drinks, hung out on Tennyson street and Berkeley lake, and a visit to Boulder. I tried to convince Andrea to visit Lakeside Amusement Park while they were here, but no such luck on that one!

The second half of the week was more adventurous/strenuous! We camped out on Turquoise Lake in Leadville. A campsite at 11,000 feet elevation that sits right on a beautiful HUGE lake with a great view of the mountains. It was a bit cold at night, but we all survived, toes intact and everything. :) It was quite cozy sleeping all 5 of us and the dog in one big tent. I was actually quite warm sleeping, and would have slept well if it weren't for my snoring hubby who I kept having to nudge so as not to disturb the other 4 sleepers!

Mac and Cheese and Smores for dinner!

The beautiful Turquoise lake.

Yes, that is our pup swimming in the background! Crazy dog. The water was FREEZING!

On Thursday, we went White Water Rafting on the Arkansas River. I must admit...I was super nervous about this. I am not a fan of water, especially not 50 degree water, and everyone keeps saying the river is so high and dangerous right now due to snow runoff. Andrea and I both were a bit freaked out! Typical with this group that we would be the only worried ones. But turns out it was totally doable. We picked a class 3-class 4 part of the river and had a great time! No one fell out of the boat and we hit some really great rapids intermixed with some down time as well to offset the craziness. I may have been the only one on the water in a wetsuit in July, but I have no shame. It was a great decision for me as those rapids were COLD!

Browns Canyon - Arkansas River

Notice Grant is showing off for the camera man and Andrea's eyes are closed!

Only my husband...a lot of paddling help he was. He was too concerned with the 

camera man that the rest of us were oblivious to. 

But I think the best story of all was hiking the Fourteener. Poor Andrea. We may never get her on a mountain again after this one. It was her first big hike ever and not that great of an experience. We decided to hike Mount Sherman as it was only a half hour drive from the campsite and a fairly easy hike per 14ner.com. If this was easy, I'd like to see hard!! Problem was, we took our time getting to the hike. We woke up around 7:45, cooked eggs over the fire, packed up, dropped off a car, and didn't hit the mountain until around 11am. For those of you experienced mountain hikers, this is too late in the day to start typically due to afternoon rain storms. We were hoping we were fine though due to sunny skies and no sight of rain clouds. So up we went. The mountain was pretty dang rocky. I guess when I think mountain, I think pine trees and meadows, not steep rocks all the way up. The bottom had streams and meadows and was beautiful! 

But about a mile in, it was straight rocks the rest of the way. 

An hour and a half into the hike, the rainclouds started rolling in. We let the boys go on ahead in hopes they would reach the top before the rain. 

The one thing I did know about hiking Fourteeners, you don't want to be at the top during a lightening, thundering rainstorm. It's really dangerous since you are the only tall thing at the top - no trees or poles to attract the lightening. Which we learned first hand. After lots of hesitation about 80% of the way up, with the boys nowhere in sight, we decided we could try and make it up to the top prior to the rains coming. 

We were wrong. 

When we approached the last ridge with maybe 100 yards to go, the rain started. Not just rain - loud thunder and dark clouds. It was time to turn around. So we did. But perhaps we were a bit late. As we started our way down, moving rather quickly,  we started feeling electricity like I've never felt before. It started with our shirts and rain jackets making a buzzing sound when we moved them - like static electricity when you fail to use a dryer sheet. Then the rocks we were climbing started buzzing. And finally, a few minutes later, every time I put my hand on a rock for balance or took a step, I'd feel little static shocks. FREAKED US OUT. So at this point we weren't just hiking - we were RUNNING down the mountain. As were several other people. We were passed by three grown men running their way down as well. 

But our husbands? Where were they? Why eating a turkey sandwich and taking pictures at the top of course. In the sleeting rain and thunder. Per Grant, they felt the static electricity and figured "it was normal". 

After lots of prayer, a few good falls, and possibly a few tears, we made it safely low enough that we were out of the storm. The boys eventually made it down as well, unscathed thank God! No one was struck by lightening but after searching online when we got home, we did confirm that the static electricity and little shocks were the electricity gathering to generate lightening. Crazy!

We probably gave the Russells more of a Colorado experience than they were hoping for, but we were so glad they came! I'm not sure it was all that convincing for them to move here as I'd hoped though. 

Well, maybe Nate was convinced...Andrea was just cold, or is that - "I'm the opposite of hot" in order to refrain from saying cold - right A? :)

Golden Gate Canyon Getaway!

Wow! My blogs have gotten few and far between. Taking 12 hours of masters courses in 3 months time will do that to ya! But this last weekend, Grant and I took a mini trip to Golden Gate Canyon State Park for a camping getaway. Our first camping trip in CO! We quickly learned to camp somewhere in Colorado, you better book it weeks out. Apparently it's a popular weekend pastime. :) When Grant called on Thursday, everything in the park was booked! Everything! But fortunately, we were able to snag the last campsite at a "first come first serve" site outside of the park. So camping we went!

Saturday morning, after setting up camp (or I should say Grant setting up camp!), we went on a short hike at Cold Springs. I must admit. The sign at the bottom of the Vista hike might have freaked me out....

Grant of course, was not phased. He didn't think it necessary to take Sage back to camp, even though it said not to take pets on the hike, and his argument was "we could fight off a mountain lion - just not a bear". Guess we lived though - even made it to the top!

Sunday was our mountain biking day. We headed to check out Golden Gate Canyon State Park, explored the beautiful creeks and fishing holes, did some short hiking trails, and then loaded up the bikes to hit the mountain. What we learned, the hard way, is that trails in the mountains marked as "Difficult" are in fact - Difficult! The seven mile loop we thought we could tackle was quite deceiving. It looked so great to start - dirt paths through open fields of wild flowers with an occasional tree root or rocky path. 

What we learned, about two miles in, was that once into the mountains on a "difficult" bike run, the dirt paths disappear! In fact, the path in general was hard to distinguish in some parts. Made me laugh. Seriously, creeks to cross, steep inclines and declines, completely rocky, parts that were difficult enough to push my bike up or carry it across. I can't imagine how someone stays on their bike to do it! I think we probably biked 4 of the 7 miles - it's very possible I got a harder workout walking my bike up the 3 miles of rocky inclines than riding those other 4 miles! It definitely pushed my limits. I fell three times, Grant had two awesome spills as well. Might have feared for my life riding down a few of those declines, but we lived! Mark it off the bucket list! I guess my new goal should be before we move out of Colorado, I'm able to ride that entire course. It's unlikely that will ever happen....but good goal to push towards!

Here's some of the pics I took in between riding and walking our bikes:

Great trip all in all! Lot of outdoorsy fun and I was amazed at my talented campfire cooking hubby! His camping stove was out of propane, so we got innovative. Gluten free mac and cheese with ground beef for dinner. Eggs and coffee for breakfast. All made over an open fire by my red headed hunk. Talk about granola! :)

Can't wait for the next camping trip! 

Two days of camping with BrittLit and the Russells next weekend! Hooray!

The Historic Lakeside

So I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but we live in Berkeley, about 6 blocks from an old amusement park called Lakeside. I recently learned the history on Lakeside, and Elitch Gardens (the big Six Flags owned amusement park in downtown Denver) as well - thanks to Wikipedia, my neighbors, and a few cheesy amusement park lovers' websites. I have been fascinated with this park since we moved here. I love things with history, and I love cheesy things, and I am "that girl" that would enjoy Six Flags or the Texas fair whether I'd go once a year or weekly. SO - In celebration of being finished with my Wound and Skin class and with being half way through school on Tuesday, Grant, Britt, and I walked over (yes - we walked. It's like that close to us) to check out Lakeside for ourselves. Finally!!

This place is incredible. In many descriptions of the word. Every time I drive by, no matter what day of the week, the parking lot is full. And yet, every time I drive by, I think to myself, that roller coaster could fall over on me any minute if I sit at this red light for too long on Sheridan! The rail on one side is broken, it's old and wooden, and probably makes a little too much noise!

You can tell it used to be amazing, and after doing some research, I found out it really did. Lakeside was build in 1908, as a competition to Elitch Gardens (which was literally down the street until the 1980s). It was originally called White City, thanks to it's over 100,000 lights within the park, a big accomplishment in the early 1900s. They also had some of the earliest American roller coasters (which we rode I'm afraid to say!), a skiboat show on the lake, a beach and swimming area, and a casino theater with plays, shows, and carnival games. It was the place to be! When built, according to our Denver friends, it blew Elitch out of the water, nearly putting them out of business. Elitch was quite rundown and in the 1980s, bought by Six Flags, torn down in it's original location down the street from us, and rebuilt downtown into a huge, typical Six Flags like amusement park. Elitch's original carousel now stands as a gazebo in a small park on 38th street, with all new development around it and no sign that a theme park ever existed there. Meanwhile, Lakeside continued to run as a family owned sensation, never really rebuilding if something died, and looking like it did in the early 1900s.

This is definitely the kind of place that locals would never go, unless you have small children to entertain or are a certain demographic, and a place that people like me think is amazing. Original ticket booths still stand and you buy tickets for each ride, or you can buy a wrist band allowing access to all rides for 13 dollars. Haha! We rode rides such as the Cyclone, a 100 year old roller coaster looking exactly like it did in the 1918 picture I found (it's probably good I didn't look that up until AFTER visiting the park). Another old one was the Chipmunk, the only ride that I thought I actually might die during. This was another 100 year old ride still controlled by levers to start and stop it (which a 16 year old was controlling - scary), that looks like a giant erector set. Every turn I thought we actually might roll off the side and fall. There were no seat belts or safety bars to hold us in, and I'm pretty sure I was hysterically screaming and cursing intermittently until it we were safe again at the end of the ride. Grant however, who loves life threatening activities, rode it a second time, while Brittany and I stayed safely on the ground and prayed for his safety. I will probably never do that one again - but I will say it was quite a rush. We also did some cheesy old rides - like the airplane ride, the go carts, and a quite scary tower drop. They have bumper boats and bumper cars, mini golf, a funhouse maze, and an entire kiddy land full of mini rides. The thing I loved about this place was they still have the old signs and original, now dead, rides standing, just not running. The signs for the boat show and original seating still surrounded the lake. The original ferris wheel in the middle of the park, now with no cars and not functioning, still towers above. The casino theater still lights up in front, now no longer providing shows and instead used as storage. This park, if updated, could probably be really nice (not to mention safer!), but then again, if updated, it probably wouldn't be worth blogging about. And it definitely wouldn't be rich in history like it is today. I loved it.

If you are ever in Denver and want a fun, cheap, nostalgic experience, come to Lakeside! We'll join you! Just without the Chipmunk ride maybe....

Here's some pics old (courtesy of Denver Public Library online) and new of the amazing park:

Lakeside Amusement park in 1918

Lakeside Tower in 2011

Cyclone Coaster 1940

Us on the Cyclone 2011!

View from the Dog Park at Berkeley lake (across the street) of the Cyclone

Picture from 1910 of Lakeside

The Airplane Ride 2011

Britt and me on the Airplane ride. G is behind us if you look closely! 

This thing was faster and scarier than we thought it'd be!

Lakside lake (Lake Rhoda) in early 1900s

View of the lake in 2011 from atop the Cyclone coaster

Lakeside Amusement park 1920

A very old, slightly scary water fountain!

Airplane ride with original sign

Wild Chipmunk - it really was wild

View of the wild chipmunk. I couldn't take any pics while on the ride. 

I was praying too hard and screaming!