It's been awhile...

Lots has happened since my last post. We left OH and went to Chicago. In Chi-town we had a Vemma event that went really well, and then we played the rest of the weekend. We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo with Kali and Cooper, then to The Bean, and Navy Pier where we rode the ferris wheel and played mini golf. Sunday night and Monday night we stayed with the Sheehan's in the suburbs. We ran 10 miles on the Prairie Path on Monday morning, and then went out to tour Wheaton. We had lunch at Los Burritos and Tapitios – one of Dan's favorites from college. We spent some time with Dan's football coaches which was absolutely phenomenal.

Tuesday we headed off to CO. On our way, we stopped in Denison, IA to see my Aunt Karen, Uncle Gary, Cousin Brenda, and G-ma and G-pa. We had dinner at the pub Tuesday night – delicious prime rib! Wednesday morning we headed for CO.

When we pulled into the Springs Wednesday evening, we went straight to Dan's storage unit to drop off our adjusting stuff and put some seats back in the van. After that, we met up with some Vemma friends for sushi. Around 10pm Dan headed for the airport to pick up 2 Wheaton buddies (Todd and Jason) flying in from Chicago for the weekend. I headed to George and Betty's to crash for the night. The next day, Thursday, we decided to climb the incline again to shock our bodies into acclimation. So... Jason, Todd, Betty, Dan, and I hiked up in the middle of the afternoon – everyone did great! We grabbed Chipotle after finishing and Dan disappeared for about 4 hours. Turns out he was helping his Aunt move some stuff that he promised he would some time ago. After we all cleaned up, we went to dinner at a quaint Mexican joint down the street. The Hamstra's joined us with their 2 little ones, Tyce and Cade – too cute!

On Friday we ran some errands in the morning – went to Dick's Sporting Goods to get our official Tough Mudder Team uniforms, checked out the sale at REI, and then headed up to Breckenridge. We were starving when we got up there, so Jason, Todd, Dan, and I went to the Breck Brewery for some grub and then up to the Breck house to get settled in. George and Betty arrived shortly thereafter and we joined forces to cook a delicious pre-mudder meal – steak, sweet potatoes, asparagus, corn, bread, etc. After dinner we went to the Garvin cabin to spend a little bit of time with the rest of our mudder team and add some final touches to our uniforms.

Saturday morning we woke up early to get over to Beaver Creek. The Tough Mudder was probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It started with a 30 min hike up a black diamond ski slope, then we swam through 36 degree water, climbed over 10' walls, ran along muddy bike trails, crawled through tubes that dumped into muddy water, crawled on the rocky, muddy ground under barbed wire, hiked up more ski slopes, walked through more freezing cold water, climbed a snow hill under a cargo net, ran up a half pipe, crossed monkey bars over freezing cold water (I don't exactly have the upper body strength for monkey bars, so I pretty much swam across), and finished by running through electric wires that provided up to 10k volt shocks. The total “challenge” was 10 miles long and took our team just over 3 hours. We all completed every obstacle and we finished as a team. It was an absolute blast! The team is already talking about signing up for another one...

We grabbed sandwiches at the Smiling Moose Deli, cleaned up, and then went to the Garvin cabin to celebrate with the rest of our team.

Sunday morning we went into Frisco to rent Mountain Bikes. We were all pretty sore, but thought some activity would be beneficial. Jason, Todd, Luke (another Wheaton football alum who lives in Vail), John (one of Dan's buddies from Denver), Dan, and I went for about a 3 hour mountain bike ride (Betty joined half way through). This was only my second time out mountain biking. It was a lot better than the first; I'm starting to figure out the gears. Sunday evening we went to Empire Burger for dinner, which was delicious, then we relaxed in the hot tub for a bit before hitting the sack.

Monday morning we all woke up sore. It was Todd and Jason's last day in CO, so we decided to finish strong with white water rafting. (side note: When packing up, I went to get my fivefinger shoes from outside where they were drying since I had to wash the mud off of them, and ONE shoe had disappeared. All 5 of us searched the area for it without success. Our conclusion is that a fox or raccoon ran off with it. Huge bummer!) The river was freezing, but we had a great time rafting. We raced to get Todd and Jason to DIA for their flight; they BARELY made it! After dropping them, Dan and I met my dad for dinner at Northfield Mall. We ate bbq at Jim and Nick's and then had frozen yogurt for dessert. We stayed Monday night at George and Betty's in Colorado Springs.

Tuesday we actually laid pretty low; we organized Dan's storage unit, made another trip to REI to get me a new sleeping bag, had dinner with George and Betty, and then crashed.

Today is Wednesday and we are currently driving to Jackson Hole, WY; we are about an hour and a half out. Our plan is to camp there tonight, play a little bit tomorrow, maybe camp again tomorrow night, and then head up to Portland! We should get up to Portland sometime on Friday. My folks get into PDX on Saturday, and so do Kali and Cooper. I'm really looking forward to seeing my parents, and also spending some time with Kali, Cooper, Dane, Dave, Sarah, and Bill. :)

Sorry this one was so long, but that's pretty much the gist of what 'p squared' has been up to! Huge thanks to George and Betty for their hospitality last weekend! Not sure where we are headed after Portland – maybe Nor Cal for some more hiking, a stop at JH Ranch, and then down to San Diego? We'll see...

Praying for safe travels. Love you all! 

Almost done with storm #2...

Looks like we are about done here in Ohio.  Tomorrow we have a couple claims first thing in Dayton and then 4 up in Cleveland in the afternoon. 


My laptop died last week - blue screen and all - not good, but.... Dan got me a new Mac Book Pro as a 'bonus', so I'm back up and running! (Except for all of my pictures and music - still working on getting those off the dead dell).  


We took last weekend off and played in Ohio.  One of Dan's 'adjuster buddies', Daniel Malone, was here adjusting as well, so we went to dinner with him on friday night and then went and saw Fast Five - pretty much what you would expect from another fast and furious movie! On Saturday we went to a small, hippy town and ran through the forrest, then chilled in the park with some stir fry from the street fair, and listened to a live band. On Sunday we went to church in Cinci and then bought my new mac! :) After shopping, we went to another awesome little town and met up with 'Biker Bob'. We rented mountain bikes and followed Bob through the trees. It was my first time mountain biking and I absolutely loved every part of it.  I could use some practice - definitely not naturally a 'pro', but it was a phenomenal first experience and I can't wait to go again! Dan is really good, and dangerous, of course; it was fun to watch him doing something he loves so much.


We went to a vemma event last night near Columbus. It was really good to spend time with some of Dan's leaders and connect with some new people.


That's about all I really have to report. Thursday we might be going to the Brad Paisley/Dierks Bentley/Jerrod Niemann concert in Cinci - my fingers are crossed! :) Friday we head to Chicago for the weekend for a few Vemma events. On Monday or Tuesday we are going to start driving from Chicago to Denver.  We will be in Denver for almost a week (tough mudder adventure race), and then we are driving from Denver up to Portland for the 4th!


I'm bummed to be missing Father's Day with my dad AND my parent's 30th wedding anniversary this coming Sunday, but the good news is that Ma and Pa Peppers are meeting us in Portland the weekend before the 4th, so we can celebrate again then!


Oh, and if you are wondering what next... we're not really sure!  No more storms right now, so we're going to play and work vemma until something else comes up. Not HOPING for hurricanes or anything... but if one happens to hit, we might go help clean up! Just sayin...


Miss you all! xoxo

Maintou Springs Incline...

Just us adjusting! :)

DISPATCH PICTURES! (if you click on them, they get bigger)

Already a week into June?

Crazy how time flies!

Last Friday we worked hardcore all morning and then ran to catch our flight to Denver (and I mean literally RAN!).  Turns out the Wright Brothers Airport in Dayton is NOT the Dayton International Airport. Hmm... who knew? Anyway, we made the flight and landed in Denver shortly after 5pm. We met Andy and Chelsey right away and then headed to Red Rocks! The Dispatch concert was phenomenal - definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been to! Saturday we had a great breakfast at the Hornet where we worked for a couple hours, then we went for a 1 hour run in Wash Park - one of my favorite places in Denver. The day was gorgeous and the people of Denver were out and about playing in the sun. We were worried we would be sucking wind because of the elevation change, but it wasn't bad. Saturday night we headed back to Red Rocks for night #2 of Dispatch. This time we started a little earlier and brought a surprise for everyone... a beer pong table and pony keg. :) I met Dan's mom for the first time... then Dan and I beat her and George (Dan's step-dad) in beer pong.... only to the lose to Jen and Jeff (Dan's sister and brother-in-law) in the championship (beginners luck).  The second night of Dispatch was just as good, if not better, than the first, and we were able to hang with Dan's family, which was a lot of fun. Sunday morning we went to church with George, Betty, Jen, and Jeff, then to lunch, where Lauren (Dan's step-sister) joined. After lunch we grabbed yogurt, went to Jeff's friends graduation party, went to see Xmen, and then took Jen and Jeff to the airport. Dan and I then went downtown to check out the sidewalk chalk art and grab dinner.  We had a lot of fun just hanging, and the food was great (although the salad was about 2 bites each and the salmon was maybe 4 bites each).  Monday we woke up and spent 3 hours working on claims (at Andy's house), then headed for C-Springs. We went straight to the Manitou Springs Incline, which is right at the base of Pikes Peak. The hike is basically an exponential curve of stairsteps - it goes straight up! The view was amazing, but it was hazy due to the fires in AZ and NM. It was a perfect ending to a great trip! We showered quick at Dan's mom's house and then headed back to DIA. Our flight back was fine; we landed around midnight. Today we were right back at it - 8 claims done. This week will be busy, but we're not sure what will come next...