I'm an Official Coloradoan..

I've done a few fun and different things since moving to Colorado. Here is my update on them! I was able to do a session at the Denver temple a few weeks ago. Beautiful, very peaceful, as the temple always is. I've always been blessed to live so close to the temple, and I'm very grateful I have it here in Colorado.
This was a picture I took at the temple. I loved these flowers for some reason!

I've been doing some temporary work and there is a cool place across the street called Tony's. It's a market that sells yummy food. I could spend hours in there browsing and tasting. We ate lunch there the other day, and it sure was yummy!
My cousin Jared was in town last weekend for his work, and we were able to meet up, have some dinner, and chat. It was great to see him for a few hours, it had been a while since we had! We ate at Old Chicago, a yummy pizza place that has the best chicken cordon bleu stromboli I have ever had!

My old roommate and close friend Meggan was in town a month ago, staying with Brady and Kristy. We went to a beautiful place called Garden of the Gods. It is a bunch of red rock formations. I loved it! Here's a few photos from it:
I LOVE when I see trees standing alone. This one is a great example of that. For some reason, I always feel like I am like those trees at times.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go on a Colorado adventure with some people in my ward, so I took it! After all, I'm here for an adventure, right?! We went camping at Broken Bear, a campsite about 2 hours outside of Denver, and got up at 5:30 AM (SICK) for a day of hiking. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I mean, I like to hike, I've hiked a few places, growing up with my dad who loves to hike, and a few on my own living in Logan. But I had never experienced a hike like this. It was Mt. Bierstadt, named after a 19th century photographer. It's known as a 14er, meaning a mountain that is 14,000 feet above sea level. It started out not too bad, with BEAUTIFUL scenery. There was quite a bit of people out hiking. I have never seen more dogs hiking a mountain than I had this one. People in Colorado love their pets! I guess it's the closest 14er to Denver, and an easier one compared to the other 14ers. It started to get really tough at the uphill parts, and the last mile or so was pure rocks. I literally was crawling up the mountain at the end, bouldering rocks that were a lot bigger than I was. I just wanted to get to the top. There were a few times when I just wanted to stop, give up. But I knew that I would be so proud of myself if I could make it to the top. I finally did! It was an amazing view, I can't even describe how cool a feeling it was. There was paper at the top for you to sign your name and where you were from. There were people from all over! There was even a guy from Colombia that we talked to for a second. The weather was starting to look like a storm was coming in, so we headed down. That was probably the hardest for me. Once again, I was literally crawling down the rocks. It banged up my knees, my whole body basically. I was so thankful to get back to the car. But it was such a cool experience to look back and see the mountain I had just hiked. I couldn't walk the rest of the night and I am very sore today, but I'm glad I did it. I was talking to a girl here about it, and she told me that because I did a 14er, I am now an official Coloradoan. I like that!
I decided this past week to make a list of the ten top things I want to do while I'm in Colorado and do 1 or 2 a month. There's so much to do and see here! One more cool thing that has happened here that I have never experienced: We were at church today, and I was up on the stand, fulfilling my calling as ward organist, playing some prelude music, when the bishop announced over the pulpit that there was a gas leak in the primary room and church was canceled for the day and we needed to leave immediately. We were all like, "What the heck?" we stood around chatting for a few minutes until a guy literally had to herd us out of the chapel. Crazy huh?!
the top of the summit. I forgot to mention we did hike through snow, and it snowed for a little bit on the hike. It was slippery at a few spots!

the rocks I had to climb to get to the top. Can you see the person in the lower left? Yeah, the rocks were HUGE!

Jessica looking out over the top of the summit. It was so beautiful, and so cool to be on top of this mountain, surrounded by more mountains and nature.

Jessica and Nathan, prehike. It was so cold!
Jessica and I at the top. Cool view, huh?!
Hanging out at the top.