Heart,
Zoe
P.S. People in Boulder actually converse with their dogs as if they are people.
_
Monday, August 11, 2008
Zoe: "Being a mountain dog is harder than it looks."
Hi, my name is Zoe, and I'm a dog. I just want to make one thing clear for any of you who might be jealous of my life in Colorado: being a mountain dog is harder than it looks. Sure, I get to chase rabbits every morning on my walk, and I get to swim in lakes and streams all the time. I get to explore the Flatirons of Boulder and the Rocky Mountains off-leash almost every weekend. But this life is not for everyone. For example, I am currently on the 5-day Disabled List with a torn carpal pad, which I received during a hike this past Saturday up to the Royal Arch in Boulder...and my dad (Bryant) didn't even give me any beef jerky like he usually does when we go hiking. And did you know that sometimes he makes me wear a pack to carry stuff? (please refer to earlier posts for photographic evidence). Well, I would like to write more but I can only type with one paw right now as the other is bandaged. Have a nice day.
P.S. People in Boulder actually converse with their dogs as if they are people.
_
P.S. People in Boulder actually converse with their dogs as if they are people.
_
Thursday, July 31, 2008
UCYC: Part 1
I spent all of last week at UCYC (United Christian Youth Camp) in Prescott, AZ with about 80 middle school students from our church. Unfortunately, Becky was not able to go due to limitations in vacation time, but she was very cool about me leaving her for a week to hang out with our students.
It was an incredible week...except for the whole 16-hour bus-ride part. But we made the best of that by making one of our students lie down in the aisle so we would have a table for Euchre ( shown in the first picture below).
While at camp we got to do all of the classic camp activities: rock climbing, mountain biking, kayaking, paint ball, leap of faith, swimming, and tons of silly games (bumper soccer was my favorite). The best part of the week was the time we as leaders got to spend with our students building relationships and discussing the teachings for each day. It was a very meaningful week in which we got to be a part of our students growing in their faith and choosing to take God's calling to bring justice to the world more seriously. Becky and I are very excited to build on the momentum of this past week as the next school year starts for our students.
In addition to God doing some very cool things in the lives of our students, it was also one of the funniest weeks of my life. I have not laughed as much as I did this past week since college. Middle school students can be quite brilliant and hilarious and they kept all of us leaders laughing so much that several of us lost our voices.
We had one 8th grade student join us for camp who we had never met before. His name is Hal Boelts, which I decided sounded very similar to Steve Holt! from Arrested Development. I got all of our guys saying Hal Boelts! in the same manner as Steve Holt! from the show. You can see all of us in our Hal Boelts! pose in the pictures below. If you have no idea what I am talking about watch this.
Me with chest hair (real) and one of my students Chris with chest hair (fake/drawn on with marker).
One of the leaders Ryan, some of the 8th graders, and myself on feux-hawk Thursday.
The pictures below show some of the 200 middle school students at UCYC during one of the worship services.
Becky and I are so blessed to get to hang out with the students from our church and just be a part of their lives.
Stay tuned for Part 2 which should feature some hilarious videos which likely only I will be amused by.
_
It was an incredible week...except for the whole 16-hour bus-ride part. But we made the best of that by making one of our students lie down in the aisle so we would have a table for Euchre ( shown in the first picture below).
While at camp we got to do all of the classic camp activities: rock climbing, mountain biking, kayaking, paint ball, leap of faith, swimming, and tons of silly games (bumper soccer was my favorite). The best part of the week was the time we as leaders got to spend with our students building relationships and discussing the teachings for each day. It was a very meaningful week in which we got to be a part of our students growing in their faith and choosing to take God's calling to bring justice to the world more seriously. Becky and I are very excited to build on the momentum of this past week as the next school year starts for our students.
In addition to God doing some very cool things in the lives of our students, it was also one of the funniest weeks of my life. I have not laughed as much as I did this past week since college. Middle school students can be quite brilliant and hilarious and they kept all of us leaders laughing so much that several of us lost our voices.
We had one 8th grade student join us for camp who we had never met before. His name is Hal Boelts, which I decided sounded very similar to Steve Holt! from Arrested Development. I got all of our guys saying Hal Boelts! in the same manner as Steve Holt! from the show. You can see all of us in our Hal Boelts! pose in the pictures below. If you have no idea what I am talking about watch this.
Me with chest hair (real) and one of my students Chris with chest hair (fake/drawn on with marker).
One of the leaders Ryan, some of the 8th graders, and myself on feux-hawk Thursday.
The pictures below show some of the 200 middle school students at UCYC during one of the worship services.
Becky and I are so blessed to get to hang out with the students from our church and just be a part of their lives.
Stay tuned for Part 2 which should feature some hilarious videos which likely only I will be amused by.
_
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Marcus and Sarah's Wedding
On July 12th, my little brother got married! Marcus and Sarah met at Calvin and have been together for about two years now. It was great to be a part of such a happy day. Since we haven't gotten to know Sarah very well living in different states, it was so nice to be able to spend time with her and her family prior to the wedding. I forget that as I have grown-up, Marcus has as well, and he will make such a wonderful, caring husband. We're very happy for both of them, and excited as they begin their life together in Chicago.
Bryant and I before the ceremony
A small group of the Byker family
Mom and Dad on the dance floor
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Best Independence Day Ever.
We spent much of the July 4th weekend with our very good friends PJ and Kersta. We got the festivities started a bit early with a Thursday night trip to The Melting Pot for their signature "Goodnight Delight" special (this was our inspiration for Fondue Night 2007 and Fondue Night 2008).
Since we live about 40 minutes away from each other they spent the night at our place and we kicked off our 4th of July with the most patriotic breakfast I've ever had. My brilliant and hilarious wife got the idea to purchase ridiculous amounts of raspberries and blueberries and that we should then use them, along with a cake decorating device filled with home-made whipped cream, to decorate our pancakes in a patriotic fashion.
This is Becky's very impressive American Flag pancake.
PJ's blueberry star pancake.
Bryant's simple yet effective U.S.A. pancake.
Later that day we all headed down to PJ and Kersta's house in Denver. We then formed a bike gang, grabbed some firecrackers, and headed for downtown. We took a short break at Wash Park along the way and listened to a symphonic band play for a bit, and then took a very cool bike path that runs along a creek from Wash Park to downtown Denver.
The plan for the night was to hang out on the rooftop deck at Jackson's, a pub right by the stadium, where we would have a great view of the post-game fireworks, so we made our way to that area sometime during the 7th inning. While we were just hanging around in front of the stadium some random guy walks by and says "hey, you want some free tickets?" Our answer was of course yes. He only gave us three, so we bought another for $10 and all four of us headed into the stadium in time for the top of the 8th inning. They were fantastic seats.
When we walked in the Rockies were down 17-16, which as I'm sure you are aware is a ridiculous score for a baseball game. No runs were scored until the bottom of the 9th when the Rockies scored two to win the game 18-17. It was awesome - the near sellout crowd went crazy. We then had one of the best seats in the house for the best fireworks display in Denver. I hope everyone enjoyed their day off as much as we did.
_
Since we live about 40 minutes away from each other they spent the night at our place and we kicked off our 4th of July with the most patriotic breakfast I've ever had. My brilliant and hilarious wife got the idea to purchase ridiculous amounts of raspberries and blueberries and that we should then use them, along with a cake decorating device filled with home-made whipped cream, to decorate our pancakes in a patriotic fashion.
This is Becky's very impressive American Flag pancake.
PJ's blueberry star pancake.
Bryant's simple yet effective U.S.A. pancake.
Later that day we all headed down to PJ and Kersta's house in Denver. We then formed a bike gang, grabbed some firecrackers, and headed for downtown. We took a short break at Wash Park along the way and listened to a symphonic band play for a bit, and then took a very cool bike path that runs along a creek from Wash Park to downtown Denver.
The plan for the night was to hang out on the rooftop deck at Jackson's, a pub right by the stadium, where we would have a great view of the post-game fireworks, so we made our way to that area sometime during the 7th inning. While we were just hanging around in front of the stadium some random guy walks by and says "hey, you want some free tickets?" Our answer was of course yes. He only gave us three, so we bought another for $10 and all four of us headed into the stadium in time for the top of the 8th inning. They were fantastic seats.
When we walked in the Rockies were down 17-16, which as I'm sure you are aware is a ridiculous score for a baseball game. No runs were scored until the bottom of the 9th when the Rockies scored two to win the game 18-17. It was awesome - the near sellout crowd went crazy. We then had one of the best seats in the house for the best fireworks display in Denver. I hope everyone enjoyed their day off as much as we did.
_
The Rumohr Cottage
Luke's parents own an amazing cottage in Buena Vista, CO and we had the privilege of joining Luke and Lindsay and his parents there for a very relaxing weekend. Luke and Lindsay had just finished a 5-day backpacking trip with Young Life and spent a couple of days at the cottage before heading off to Idaho to see Lindsay's family. We transfered control of Charles the Dog back to the Rumohrs after hanging out with him that week.
We had been to the cottage several times before during ski season but this was our first visit in the summertime. The picture below is the view of Mt. Princeton from the back deck of the cottage - just breathtaking. One of these days we are going to hike to the top...maybe next year.
Luke apparently likes to grill with his shirt off. It was a delicious meal and Luke and I ate way too many chicken wings and brats while the ladies mostly ate more sensible things like artichokes.
After eating way too much food Luke thought it would be a good idea for us to go to the pool at Frontier Ranch Young Life camp and go down the slide. Frontier Ranch is a very cool place. Becky and I had been there several times before with the middle school students from our church for winter camp. Again, it was nice to be there in the summer when you actually want to get in the pool and the slide is on.
Here's a nice pictures of Becky sunbathing by the pool after the sun went behind the clouds.
We are always very grateful to the Rumohrs for opening up their cottage to us and making us feel at home. We hope to have the chance to go again sometime soon.
_
We had been to the cottage several times before during ski season but this was our first visit in the summertime. The picture below is the view of Mt. Princeton from the back deck of the cottage - just breathtaking. One of these days we are going to hike to the top...maybe next year.
Luke apparently likes to grill with his shirt off. It was a delicious meal and Luke and I ate way too many chicken wings and brats while the ladies mostly ate more sensible things like artichokes.
After eating way too much food Luke thought it would be a good idea for us to go to the pool at Frontier Ranch Young Life camp and go down the slide. Frontier Ranch is a very cool place. Becky and I had been there several times before with the middle school students from our church for winter camp. Again, it was nice to be there in the summer when you actually want to get in the pool and the slide is on.
Here's a nice pictures of Becky sunbathing by the pool after the sun went behind the clouds.
We are always very grateful to the Rumohrs for opening up their cottage to us and making us feel at home. We hope to have the chance to go again sometime soon.
_
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The Lost Creek Wilderness with Luke, Charles and Zoe
The week after our trip to Michigan we drove back to Colorado with Luke, one of my (Bryant's) best friends from college. We then spent three days in the Lost Creek Wilderness backpacking with our dogs, Charlie and Zoe. The picture below is of the dogs on day one, when they still had plenty of energy.
We ended up at McCurdy Park, one of the most amazing camping spots I've ever seen. It was so great we decided to just spend both nights of our trip there and decided to just do a day hike on day two. The next two pictures show some of the views from our campsite.
We had such a great time hiking and enjoying the incredible beauty of Colorado - I still can't believe I get to live here.
Here the dogs are starting to tire out a bit...
...and eventually they formed a mutiny against their owners and decided they were going to sleep instead of hike with us. (Please note: this pictures was not set up at all, they did this on their own).
In the end we covered about 24 miles in three days, had great conversation, enjoyed incredible scenery, and poor Charles left with some sort of intestinal situation which led to a nice vet bill for Luke. I hope we get the chance to do it again someday soon.
We ended up at McCurdy Park, one of the most amazing camping spots I've ever seen. It was so great we decided to just spend both nights of our trip there and decided to just do a day hike on day two. The next two pictures show some of the views from our campsite.
We had such a great time hiking and enjoying the incredible beauty of Colorado - I still can't believe I get to live here.
Here the dogs are starting to tire out a bit...
...and eventually they formed a mutiny against their owners and decided they were going to sleep instead of hike with us. (Please note: this pictures was not set up at all, they did this on their own).
In the end we covered about 24 miles in three days, had great conversation, enjoyed incredible scenery, and poor Charles left with some sort of intestinal situation which led to a nice vet bill for Luke. I hope we get the chance to do it again someday soon.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Michigan Trip Part 5: Sarah and Josh's Wedding
By far the best part of our week in Michigan was Sarah and Josh's wedding. All of the family and friends that had gathered in Holland from all over the country and the world (Switzerland and Canada were also represented) were just so full of happiness for the two of them.
As usual, the night before was the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner, which was held at Via Maria. The food was so great and a handful of family and friends offered very nice toasts to either the bride or groom, or both.
Sarah and me at the rehearsal dinner.
The wedding ceremony was so beautiful. Sarah and Josh decided to devote a significant portion of the service to worship through music. My dad gave the message which was just awesome and very personal to the two of them. My very talented Aunt Wendy wrote a song for them which she played during the lighting of the unity candle, as she had done for Becky and I when we got married. Becky and I both had the honor of standing up for them and we had such a great time being a part of the wedding party.
The new Loomis family (Grandma, Dad, Mom, Sarah, Josh, Wendy, Bryant, Becky).
After the ceremony the wedding party boarded a limo bus where we celebrated with champagne as the bus took us to the park where the pictures were taken.
As expected the reception was awesome. As I'm sure most of you are aware I love to dance, as does my sister and her many friends from Hope that were also dance majors. Needless to say the dance floor was bumpin'/rockin'/and any other silly word you can think of to insert.
In the end it was just such a great day, and everyone was just so happy for Sarah and Josh as they started their life together. Becky and I hope that someday we don't live so far apart because we really like them a lot and are very excited that Josh is now a part of the family.
As usual, the night before was the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner, which was held at Via Maria. The food was so great and a handful of family and friends offered very nice toasts to either the bride or groom, or both.
Sarah and me at the rehearsal dinner.
The wedding ceremony was so beautiful. Sarah and Josh decided to devote a significant portion of the service to worship through music. My dad gave the message which was just awesome and very personal to the two of them. My very talented Aunt Wendy wrote a song for them which she played during the lighting of the unity candle, as she had done for Becky and I when we got married. Becky and I both had the honor of standing up for them and we had such a great time being a part of the wedding party.
The new Loomis family (Grandma, Dad, Mom, Sarah, Josh, Wendy, Bryant, Becky).
After the ceremony the wedding party boarded a limo bus where we celebrated with champagne as the bus took us to the park where the pictures were taken.
As expected the reception was awesome. As I'm sure most of you are aware I love to dance, as does my sister and her many friends from Hope that were also dance majors. Needless to say the dance floor was bumpin'/rockin'/and any other silly word you can think of to insert.
In the end it was just such a great day, and everyone was just so happy for Sarah and Josh as they started their life together. Becky and I hope that someday we don't live so far apart because we really like them a lot and are very excited that Josh is now a part of the family.