The Independence Day Cup

Happy 4th of July to everyone!

This morning I got to be a part of what I 

think is a rather hilarious tradition. For the last several years, on the morning of July 4th, a group of English guys square off against a group of Americans in a pickup soccer match here in Boulder. 

This year I was invited to participate.

The funny part of this story is that I ended up playing for the Brits, as they were a bit short on players this year. This was much to the dismay of Becky who is now fearful our house may be hit with fireworks tonight in response to my traitorous actions. I figured it was semi-legit since my ancestor Joseph Loomis came over hear from England about 12 generations ago.

Either way, in the end, the Americans were victorious 3-2, to which my response is that I threw the game in favor of my countrymen. It really was a win-win situation for me.

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An Amazing Reunion

...as always, way behind.

A couple of weekends ago Becky and I got to be a part of a reunion of sorts of most of my closest friends from college and their families. It was absolutely amazing to be together with everyone again. The last time this whole group of guys was together was actually for our wedding over four years ago. The families travelled from California, Maryland, and Michigan to meet up in Colorado, which conveniently is where we live.

We all stayed at the Rumohr cottage in Buena Vista which is about 3 hours west of Denver and is surrounded by incredible views of several 14ers. During out time at the cottage we hiked, played frisbee golf, ate great food, and just had a great time hanging out.

We took this picture prior to our hike. From left to right: Luke, Lindsay, Joel, Me, Noel, Matt (w/ 1-yr-old Leah on his back), Eli, and almost 3-yr-old Emma.

The view of 14er Mt. Princeton from the hike.

This is the view from the cottage back deck. (Me, Becky, Eli, Matt, Lindsay, Luke, Sarah, Joel, Heidi, Noel).

A stunningly handsome group of friends. We all lived together at various times throughout college and met on the 3rd floor of Durfee as freshmen.

I am very blessed to have such amazing friends, even though we are spread out all over the country. I hope we are able to do something like this soon, and that next time Ryan & Amber can join us (they were busy having a baby).

Many thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Rumohr for allowing us the use of your beautiful place!

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A Night on the Town

This past Saturday Becky and I had an incredible night in downtown Denver. As a bonus from her boss Becky had been given two tickets to the theatre event of our choice. We chose to see Rent at the very impressive Buell Theatre. Prior to the show we ate one of the best dinners we've ever had at Elway's Steakhouse with the anniversary gift my parents had recently given to us. It was a great night.

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A work of art

This work of art is called Justice.

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The Best Memorial Day Ever.

Behind as usual...

Our Memorial Day weekend was quite epic. As I'm sure all of you that read this blog are aware, our very close friends Tim & Rachel, and PJ & Kersta both moved away from us within in the past year. We visited Tim & Rachel in Dallas back in January but hadn't seen PJ & Kersta since they moved in November. We were all reunited at our place for an incredible weekend of fun and hilarity.

Along with the other 8th grade volunteer leaders at our church, Becky and I planned a big graduation party for our students from church for the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Almost as a joke I called Tim and suggested that him and Rachel come out to see their old students at the graduation party. He called back 10 minutes later and said they were coming. A couple of days before the weekend PJ & Kersta decided last minute that they were going to make the 13 hour drive from Tucson to join us in Colorado, and surprise Tim with their arrival early Saturday morning.

That Saturday morning Tim had gone out to the store and when he returned PJ answered the door...


That night Tim & Rachel took us out to eat at their favorite place downtown Denver.


On our way out from dinner Tim thought that Lowell would fit perfectly between these two mailboxes we walked by. He was right. As you can see Lowell is a very cool kid.


On Sunday we spent some time at the Boulder Creek Festival.


As you can see in the above picture, our friend's families have grown since we all lived in Colorado together, which Tim & Rachel adding Lowell to the family, and PJ & Kersta adding Sawyer the dog to their family.

We had such a fantastic weekend with our amazing friends, and it of course made us all wish we didn't live so far apart. We look forward to hopefully doing it again soon.

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Justin's wedding

This post is a bit overdue as Justin got married two weekends ago...but Becky and I got dressed up so figured we should put up some pictures. I had the honor of being a part of the wedding and we both had such a great time.


Immediately following the wedding the entire wedding party and their dates boarded a party bus and just rode around for awhile celebrating until we arrived at the Bob in downtown Grand Rapids for the reception.

Here some of the groomsmen are caught in a candid moment during a session with the photographer. And by candid I mean posed.


Justin and me at the reception. He was a happy man.


In addition to the wedding festivities Becky and I were also able to fit in some time with friends and family. It was a very rushed but fun weekend as it always is when we are able to make it back to Michigan.

Congrats to Justin and Krista! Hope we get to see you again soon.

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Justin's bachelor festivities

This past weekend I went to Michigan to be a part of celebrating one of my closest friend's final weekends as a bachelor. Justin and I have been good friends since we met in Colorado. Despite the fact that he went to Hope, and went to high school with Becky, we didn't meet until we both lived in Boulder. Over the years I've gotten to know some of his closest friends and always enjoy my time with them.

We headed up to the best man's grandfather's cabin near Caberfae. The cabin is surrounded on three sides by the Pine River...just an amazing place.


The next day we took a canoe trip down the Pine River. There were a lot of hilarious things that happened, but this video was definitely the most entertaining:



The whole crew at the end of the canoe trip.


In addition to hanging out with Justin and his friends I also got to see Luke (a close college friend) and my sister and brother-in-law. It was a short but very fun trip. I look forward to seeing everyone again in a few weeks for the wedding.

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