Garden of the Gods

If you read my post about things I was excited to explore out here in Colorado, then you know that I couldn't wait to check out some of the scenery! On my list of parks I couldn't wait to see was Garden of the Gods, a National Natural Landmark that's located right here in Colorado Springs. During my Newcomer's Orientation, our instructor drove us through the park. After that I couldn't wait to go back and take Connor along because I knew he'd love it too! So last Sunday, we went out there and even took Ivy with us!

Garden of the Gods is a collection of red rock formations that occupies 1334.64 acres of land. There are paved and unpaved hiking paths that surround the incredible sandstone formations and provide an awesome view of Pikes Peak.  The Garden even has a cool history. The park was given to the city in 1909 by the children of Charles Elliot Perkins. He wanted the park to kept forever open and free to the public. Coolest thing? You can even rock climb some of the formations, as long as you have the right permits.

I tried to take a ton of pictures to capture how cool Garden of the Gods is, but it's easily 100 times more beautiful than what I shot.

We will definitely be going back and doing some more exploring out there. If you ever find yourself in the Springs, this is something you cannot miss! What are some of your favorite natural landmarks?

Until next time,
Brandt

Home

Okay. I'm FINALLY going to share the apartment with you. It's still not complete. We still need to decorate walls.  The guest room/office/extra bedroom isn't finished yet. There are still somethings that need to be put away or taken care of. BUT everything is unpacked and this place is starting to look good.

So without further adieu, here are some pictures of our apartment!

I definitely want to do more with our little balcony!

Okay, so the bathroom was pretty awkward to capture.

My favorite areas are definitely the living room, the kitchen, and our bedroom. That's majority of the apartment (lol). Somehow I left out this awesome wall we have with maps on it where we mark where we've been. Whoops. Anyway, we still have a ton of walls to decorate. Majority of the picture frames are also empty, or still have stock photos in them. I'll do my best to work on that now that everything is out of boxes.

UPDATE: Since these pictures have been taken, we've added some fresh flowers to the place; and we found a much better place for the dog's kennel.

There ya have it! Our new home in Colorado! Any ideas for our blank walls? Looking at these pictures and think something would look really good? Let me know!

Until next time,
Brandt

Going to the Dogs

Our lives are about to go to the dogs. Well, more like to one dog. WE GOT A PUPPY! Here's a little bit about our precious addition, Ivy May Shepard.

Name: Ivy

Nicknames: Pupper, puppy, nugget, Ivy May, Little Girl

Birthday: November 2015 (estimated); adopted on March 19, 2016

Age: 4 months

Breed: Great Dane/Labrador (best guess from the vet) aka she's going to be huge

Loves: running around, watching cars, laying in the grass, making friends, chewing on her bone, belly rubs, sleeping, and playing in the snow

Dislikes: the stairs, vacuum cleaners, the blender, her leash, and motorcycles

Needless to say, we're obsessed. She's such a sweet and adorable little girl. We've only had her for about a week, but she's already almost 100% housebroken. Not sure if she's done with teething yet, but hopefully there's not too much of that left to go through.

I'll leave you with some pictures of our little ball of sass.

The day we adopted her! She was napping.

Until next time,
Brandt