yes, indeed I am still alive!

Wow I am horrible at keeping this updated! Sorry!

Sadie was a ladybug for Halloween!

Ok so let's talk about what has been happening around here. Last week I was so happy to go on a last-minute cruise with Nicole, her mom Kellie, and her friend Gale. It was so fun! Originally when Nicole asked me about it a few months ago, it looked impossible. Then, because of yet another delay in our store opening, I was able to go. It was the most relaxing 5 days I have had in a long time, and it was so great to spend some much needed "girl" time with my friends!! :)

I am very excited for this weekend. Russ and Rita, Landon, and Jenae are coming out here for Thanksgiving! They will only be here for a few short days, but I am sure we will have lots of fun. They will be meeting Sadie for the first time and even though Landon acts tough, I'm sure he will love her so much!! haha Russ met her a few weeks ago, and now when I talk to them he asks how is "Grand-doggy" is doing! I'm gonna have to watch Jenae, she will probably try to take her home. I'm going to be on the lookout!! ;)

In other news, (I know, I'm a dork) we are FINALLY opening our store next week! Can I get an amen?! We are having our Friends & Family Night on Monday, and then opening for business on Tuesday. I'm excited that we can stop talking about when we're going to open and actually be open. I am just anxious to get the first few weeks over and done with so I can stop worrying. I know, you're shocked.

So if you think I've done a bad job so far at keeping my blog updated so far, its only gonna get worse! Unless of course I sneak online at work and tell you all of the wonderful things happening in my life at Jimmy John's...a.k.a. "The Slavehouse" as Jason and I have already named it.

I would love to hear from you! I will still check my email everyday, and I would love to hear about what's going on....I will need the break I'm sure!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall is Here!

The weather is gloomy and cold today, something that I'm not familiar with anymore after moving to Colorado. ;) I love the weather here, but today I feel like cuddling up with a good book and logging in for a quick blog.

This coming weekend my mom and grandparents, along with two of my favorite aunts are making the long road trip out to Denver! They are renting a minivan and driving across the country to stay with us for a few days. Needless to say, I am so very excited!! We are going to relax and go out to eat, probably make the trip up to Estes Park to see the beautiful mountains, and laugh our heads off at the many stupid comments that will be made during the week! We have stashed our fridge with diet coke (yuck) for the Troyer sisters, and trying to think of some fun things we could do.

We also found out this week that Jason's parents and his brother and sister our going to come out and spend Thanksgiving here with us! We are looking forward to seeing them again, and we're glad it worked out. :)

Also, right after my family leaves my BFF Kara is going to spend the first weekend in October with us! She is using her Fall break from Purdue to fly out and visit Denver for the first time. I am so happy that she is coming!! She has been with me since Kindergarten, and I am truly blessed by her friendship. So we have a busy yet exciting few months ahead of us! And hopefully our restaurant gets open pretty soon, we are getting restless; however, we are using the time well! I am so excited about all of our "visitors" in the next few weeks!

Recently

Our trip to Indiana was a successful one! We drove a few extra hours on our way out, and stopped in Wichita to visit the Hesston guys. The extra time spent driving was well worth it! We are looking forward to seeing them again this fall when the store opens.

On our way home through Nebraska, we picked up our new Sadie girl, and oh boy is she a cutie! Her adorableness makes it hard to get mad at her, but we are trying to be tough. :) She slept through the night her first night here, but last night she cried for hours and hours, and we got little sleep (gosh, I already feel like a mom). She plays hard and sleeps hard...Jason says her battery runs out fast. Obviously, like most puppies, she is NOT a fan of being left alone, and she's a big whiner when we leave her in her room when we're home. But, she is alot of fun, and so far, no regrets!

Last night we had a couples event at our church and I'm happy to announce that we have plans tomorrow night with some new friends!!! This may not seem like a big deal to those of you back home, but we are desperate to make friends! So last night was really encouraging, and hopefully through them we can meet more couples from our church.

That's all I have for now, I'd love to hear from you guys, email me anytime!

Sadie

Big news! Jason finally caved and let me get a puppy!! :) She's not here yet, but Sadie is coming in 2 weeks. She is a 7 week old Maltese/Shih tzu mix, and she is adorable! She will only be 7 pounds full grown....perfect for us. I found her from a breeder in Nebraska, and we are picking her up on our way home from Indiana. Since this is my first puppy that I have to train, we think it would be cool to train her to use a litter box since she is so small. If you have done this, or know anyone who has, I would love advice!

So other than trying to get our house and lives ready for Sadie, nothing else new is going on with us. Jason's birthday is Wednesday and he wants to go to Dave & Busters.....which means we'll probably be there for HOURS Wednesday night! We are excited to go back to Indiana next week, and I have a busy week of work ahead of me. Should make the time go fast!

So I haven't kept up on my blog as much as I thought I would...so here goes! Jason and I are planning on going home to Indiana for a week before Labor Day and I'm really excited about that. It's kind of our replacement for Thanksgiving, since we are pretty sure we won't make it home in November. Hopefully by then we'll have the store up and successful, and we'll be way too busy! :) Our goal is to work super hard so that we can definitely come home for Christmas.

The Cubs' games last weekend were very fun, even though they got killed in the 3rd game. We decided not to go to the 4th game because it was so hot on Sunday. At least half of the fans were dressed in Cubs' stuff, so I had nothing to worry about! We did get harassed though by random ignorant and drunk people. Jason was pretty proud of himself for getting "free" parking every night, which consisted of us walking 5 miles through the hood, but overall, it was an awesome weekend! :)

Our excitement this week revolved around planting three trees in the backyard, and watching our grass finally start filling in (sounds fun, right?!) But as new homeowners, even the littlest things are exciting! We have pressure to make it look good....Grandma and Grandpa Troyer are coming in a few weeks, and everyone in my family knows how much they like nice yards! I told Jase, "the clock is ticking....they'll be here in 4 weeks!" haha

Oh, and we found a new church last Sunday that we really liked. It's called Flatirons Community Church, about 20 minutes from our house. It seems like they have a lot of ways to get involved with other couples our age, and it would be so great to finally meet some quality friends! We are definitely going back this weekend, and we're really excited to get involved.

Other than that, nothing else is new. Keep me updated with emails! I love hearing from you guys :)

Thankful

Today was another beautiful day in Denver! I am so excited for the weekend! The one and only Chicago Cubs are coming to the mile high city for a 4 game series with the Rockies!! We have tickets for Thursday and Friday..oh yah!! We tried to get Russell to come out and join us, but he is a busy man! :) Maybe next year!

The only little concern I have is the fact that we are all-out supporting the Cubbies; I'm wearing my Kerry Wood jersey and Cubs hat, and Jason's supporting Prior. I do have faith in my Cubs, but they absolutely CANNOT get toasted!!! If so, we will be harassed the entire way out of Coors Field to our car, many many blocks away! To some of our friends that love to give us a hard time about our team (Danielle A.-supporter of the evil Cardinals & Nathanael-who has no reason to hate) this may seem like I have doubt about the turnout. Believe what you want, I know the truth! :)

Onto more important subjects, I just want to mention how blessed I feel to have the close group of friends that I do. I spent some time on the phone today with a friend I haven't talked to in awhile, and I can't help but give God the glory for the way He has remained with us all. Only through Him could we continue to strengthen our friendships, even though there are many miles between us. I love talking to my friends and realizing that no matter how long we go between visits and conversations, we always catch up right where we left off. While we may feel occasionally that our future plans are unknown, God is busy protecting and providing for us exactly what we need, and in some cases, what we need is each other. For this, I am truly thankful.

Greetings from Colorado!

So I woke up this morning, and as usual, headed for the computer. Now that I've moved so far away, in addition to phone calls to Indiana, I check my email and Facebook daily to stay updated on my friends and siblings. I came across Kindra's blog, and I thought to myself, wow, I should blog too. That way (if anyone cares) I can keep my friends up-to-date on my life too!

Anyway, we have lived in Colorado for two months now, and I am thoroughly enjoying it! Of course, I miss my family and friends SO much, but I really do believe that this is going to be a wonderful experience for Jason and I. Already, we are getting closer to each other. I guess having no friends in a new town will do that for you! Before we moved, I talked to others about relocating, and always they would tell me, "oh it was so wonderful for my husband and I...we had to rely on each other so much that it strengthened our marriage." And I would agree and roll my eyes secretly, but they were right....

So to update everyone on my status...last week I started a new job as a hostess at this cute little restaurant, nine75. I'm working here for a few months until we get our Jimmy John's opened. Which leads me into that subject-our original goal was to have the store opened by the end of August. Obviously that is not happening. Jason is working very hard from home everyday to get it going, but when you constantly have to rely on other people, things don't always happen as quickly or smoothly as we wish they would. So, our new goal is to have it opened by the beginning of October. Ugh. Lots of work starting a business!! So in the meantime, I am working at nine75, and we are enjoying our time together exploring Denver and the beautiful mountains!

Speaking of the mountains...we went camping on Sunday (much to my disappointment). I was really and completely dreading the experience, and now that I look back on it, I can't help but laugh. Even though we had to hike 8 miles (and to those of you in IN, that may not seem like a lot...but 8 miles in the mountains will leave your legs shaky and your butt begging you to stop!) it was overall an OK time! Of course, Jason was determined to hike to the VERY top of Mount Evans, and my complaining did not change his mind. I eventually shut up, and once my attitude changed, we had fun. When we reached the top (about 12,000 ft) it immediately started raining. Of course. So it rained the whole night and I thought our tent was going to blow away. I was determined that a bear would find us and attack Jason, leaving me on top of a mountain to defend myself. Needless to say, that didn't happen, and we made it home safely yesterday. Jase kept telling me that I was going to feel a huge sense of accomplishment when we reached the bottom, and as much as I hate to say this, he was right! It felt good to conquer so many fears in 2 days! The whole way down I was singing Matt Redman songs to keep my mind off of moutain lions and bears, but in the end it was a good experience!!

I'll try to stay current with my blogs, and if you're reading this, I'd love to hear from you!