from us to you

Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains He shall break, for the slave is our brother,

and in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweets hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Tonight, my prayer for everyone reading this is that you may know the Hope you have in a Savior who loves you and is soon returning to make all things new.

From our family to you, have a very Merry Christmas!

sweeeetest video ever

girls got skillllss

I know that the five of you who read my blog also read my best friends blog. BUT, just in case I get a random wanderer on here, I wanted to share with you her blog and business page.

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the beautiful Tiffany Valdez. Wife, Mother, and crazy talented graphic designer!

Tiffany designed all of our INCREDIBLE printed goods from our wedding. The invites, program fans and even the little honey jar labels. She has done several other weddings as well.  

Along with weddings, she also designs suuuuuper cool birthday invites, Christmas cards, birth announcements, save the dates... basically ANY of your paper needs, she can supply : ) On top of having a super quality product, she is just a great woman! This business makes it possible for her to be home with her sweet little boy and all the other little ninos to come in the future.

So, next time you are in the market for some paper goods. Remember See The Skyline!

Here are links to all of her pages.

blog

etsy shop

facebook page

Happy Weekend everyone!

tis' the season

Christmas season has BEGUN. Tuesday night, Nate and I started putting up our decorations! Being that our apartment is a teeeeeeny tiny little treasure, finding a place for the tree was quite the predicament. We also realized at almost 9pm that we left our tree lights in Illinois. So, we took a late night trip to Target... looked down every Christmas decor aisle, had a long, serious debate on whether to choose white or big bulb colored lights. We decided since the tree is teeny along with our home that the colored lights would be a bit much. But when we have a house and the LUXURY of getting a real tree, oooh boy will we get the big bulb colored lights! For some reason, the two apartments that we have lived in have had specific rules in the lease agreement against live Christmas trees?! What in the world could be harmful about a glorious live evergreen?! Oh well! We still need to add the ornaments, but since I had a few extra moments this evening I thought I would share some snapshots of the Parker Christmas Wonderland : )

Tomorrow is fridaaay and I am so looking forward to this weekend! Crafting with a sweet friend after work, going to STEAK N' SHAKE with our fellow midwestern-ers (YES, it's true... the very FIRST Colorado Steak n' Shake just opened!!), work Christmas party aaaaaaand hitting the slopes on Sunday before Church. God is SO gracious and my heart feels so thankful for the blessing that this season of life has been. 

Have a good weekend!!

marcel part deux

"All he cares about are treats and snoozin..."

I apologize for my very long absence. I am working on a mega post from a camping trip we took a few months ago. I want to TRY and post at least once a week. Sorry to all the friends and family that I gave this link to telling you that you could see what we're up to. I've done a terrible job.

In short, life has been beyond wonderful. The transition out here has been so smooth and easy and we are genuinely loving every minute of it! We have been blessed with a wonderful church and community which has been so good for our hearts! We are definitely feeling more and more settled here. Lately we have been spending time in the mountains working on my snowboarding skills. My husband has got to be THE MOST patient (and selfless) man in the entire world. He has spent his first two days helping me learn instead of doing all the crazy things I know he is capable of doing on that snowboard. Nate, you're the greatest.

We have had LOTS of precious visitors as well! The Valdez' (or Valdezes?), my Momma, the Goodmans and the Caplingers even stopped in on their way to Portland! AND this week Nate's Mom and sisters are coming! I love that our home is so centrally located. It means LOTS of visitors! And we LOVE IT! So, this is an official invitation to anyone reading this to come visit us!

That's all for now! More to come!


Love, Nate and Alex

9/13/86: a very happy day

Out of all the extravagant eateries in the Denver metropolitan area, my husband chose a burger joint. (We aren't that into fancy food) It was delicious, AND he got a free dreamsicle birthday shake. 

We went snowboard shopping afterwards with gift cards/money he got from family and then came home for cake. We usually don't buy birthday gifts, but since 25 is sort of a milestone, I surprised him (with a TON of help from our friend Kelly) and got him a longboard! He was so surprised and so excited. We walked/longboarded to the grocery store to get milk just so he could try it out. 

I love him SOOOO much. I can't believe he is 25! We started dating when he was 20! That seems like ages ago. 25 seems so adultish. I still feel like we are 13 year olds playing house. 

So here's to the gracious, rugged, talented, brilliant, humble, tender hearted, manly, hott, patient man of my stinking dreams. Happy Birthday to YOU!

love on the walls

I know I have been absent for like a month. FORGIVE ME! I started my new job, flew home for a friends wedding, had my bff visit from cali.. so life has been a bit crazy! But, I am determined to blog more because I have so much to share! Lots of photos and thoughts to come! As a quick little update, I thought I would share our newest addition to our little home.

I fell in love with this print and this print from Urban Outfitters. But, the frugality in me refused to pay $24 for a stinking pretty piece of paper. BUT, when Tiff was here we randomly ended up in Papyrus, and they had the same EXACT prints for $4.99!! hollllla!!! We framed them in two dark wood ikea frames and I think they turned out pretty good!

And here's a few other snapshots from today. Our typical unmade bed, my handsome sleepy husband, and my favorite succulent and favorite candle.

Have a very happy weekend everyone! I hope to share a few posts next week.

love, the parkers

Reason #1296542 why we want a bulldog

source

licks

The other night, Nate and I went to an ice cream shop in our neighborhood called Licks. I seriously need to cool it on my ice cream intake as of lately. There are like 23423 ice cream shops within two minutes of us. Custard, frozen yogurt, hard scoop... every kind! I looooove it way too much! I, as always, panicked with the vast amount of flavors and after three samples (yes, I am THAT girl) I opted for the birthday cake flavor. It was alright, I felt a bit rushed by the cashier so I just picked one. Oh well, good thing it's right by our house and I can try all the other glorious flavors. Tonight my WONDERFUL Tara comes home from Europe. FINALLY! I need some girl time... way too much time with all boys lately.

Hope your week has been good. Tomorrow is FRIDAY!

love, the parkers

tuesday snapshots

I LOVE our new little home.

Sooon, I will post pictures of it. Just haven't gotten to it!

Enjoy your Wednesday!!

girlfrands

I miss these girls SO MUCH! We took these pics the night

before Nate and I left for Colorado. I don't think we got one picture

where all of us look normal. Oh well! I am so thankful for these girls!

Joelley, Robs and Jos... I LOVE YOU!!

thrifty success

Nate and I have been looking for a dining room table since we moved here. We have a teeny little spot to put one in our kitchen... so we need to find a small two person table. So Friday, while Nate was helping a friend roof his house, I set out to find one.

Getting there was a task in itself... this city driving is soooo different! I never have any idea where I am going. haha. Luckily, I have a husband who is seriously a GENIUS when it comes to maps, streets, directions! So, good thing we ended up together! I went to a couple thrift stores and unfortunately had no luck finding what I set out to find... However, I found some other goodies. One of my more successful thrifting days!

I am not usually one to post outfit photos. One, because I feel silly doing it and two, I am no fashion expert. BUT, I am so proud of my finds... I thought I would share!

1. Gap jean jacket that fits me PERFECTLY $4

2. Awesome skirt that I wish you could see better. It is a ton of different colors all woven together! And its stretchy and super comfy! $3

3. This awesome fishy dress $4 (in case you were wondering, that is why I am awkwardly holding up the number 4)

4. The find I am most proud of. I was wandering around looking for belts and I stumbled upon the men's shoe section and found these beauties with Nate's name written all over them! Black Chaco sandals that fit him PERFECTLY! They look brand new and retail at $95 and I got them for a sweeeeet $6.99

I LOOOOOVE finding good deals! Hopefully next we will find a kitchen table : ) In other news.... Nate got the job I mentioned in my last post! AND, I went in for an interview on Friday morning and they offered me the job right there on the spot! So, Nate will be working as a cabinet builder and I was offered a job at a middle school in a reading intervention classroom. God is so faithful!! Welp, I am off to be productive. Nate started his new job today and I don't start mine until the end of August... soooo I will have lots of free time on my hands over the next few weeks.

Have a GOOD week!

bed dreamss

Nate and I need a bed. We currently have our box springs and mattress just sitting on the floor. Classy, I know. We need to find one with the perfect height to go under our bay window. So, this is our dream bed. I want Nate to build it for us. Maybe sooooon!

a little updation

Hello from CO. I am sitting here in our WONDERFUL new apartment all by my lonesome while Nate is out interviewing for a new job! This job would be awesome for him to get because it is literally two minutes from our apartment! We have been praying that one of us get a job super close to our home so that one of us would be able to ride our bikes to work and be able to live on one car until we save save save and buy a nice new car. So we shall see.

I am loving the simplicity that life has been since moving here. We are getting to spend SO MUCH time together! We have only been living here a few weeks and we have already had six visitors! We are so blessed! I took photos of all the visits, but my camera is in the car with Nate so I will post them later. Yesterday we spent the day in Boulder with some friends from Teen Mania who are thinking of moving here. Such a cool city! We are so thankful to be here! It is SUCH a ridiculously beautiful state and the weather is to die for! We have had our windows open non-stop since we moved here.

Over the weekend, Nate and I visited TheWall house of prayer which is part of Every Home For Christ. It is SUCH an incredible ministry! We got to hear teaching on the theology of night and day prayer and it was so intense! Nate and I are going to spend the next few weeks going back over the notes and studying it for ourselves because it was so much to take in. My SWEET PRECIOUS friend Courtney Gorman is working with the ministry there and it is SO incredible to see her walking out in her calling. She is such an anointed woman! I will share more on this visit later because Nate just got home (see him in the background on the phone) and we are going to spend the day in the mountains!

love, the parkers

new home, new time zone, new season

Greetings Friends! So much to update everyone on that I DON'T even know where to begin. We packed up our life in a huge white budget truck and left Illinois on June 31st. (Sidenote: If you are moving DO NOT USE BUDGET.. worst, most STRESSFUL experience I have ever encountered) My wonderful, generous, precious parents came with us. We arrived in Denver on July 1st and moved into our apartment.

We spent a couple days in Denver and then drove to Jackson, WY for the 4th of July. It was SO beautiful there and the fireworks were unbelievable! The entire show was literally a bunch of grand finales! So impressive! It was such a relaxing week.. we hiked, went bike riding, visited Yellowstone (A man got attacked by a bear like 10 miles from where we were hiking the next day!) I have 452340598 photos from the trip. But here are a few:

Hottie in the Tetons

Bike ride with the most breathtaking scenery!

Yellowstone spillway

BUFFALO galore

Yellowstone

My parents headed back home last Saturday (lots of tears). Nate and I have been getting settled. Moving is such an intense, stressful process! I cannot imagine moving with an entire family! Our apartment is mostly settled. I will post pictures of our wonderful new apartment soon! We are so thankful to be here! This has been a dream of ours since we were dating so it is so exciting to actually be here. We have been spending lots of time with our PRECIOUS friends Tara and Brandon. They have been the biggest help and we could not have done it without them! They have been so helpful, welcoming, and generous with their time! I am so excited that they are our new neighbors! We have also spent lots of time with the infamous KELLY LUND! Nate and I love Kelly so much and are so happy to be living life with him and his beautiful woman! Having such gooood friends here has already made this move so much sweeter.

Lots more to update on. But I just wanted to give a little update. I am going to TRY to update this more to keep family and friends posted on our new adventure. Nate and I are so thankful to have such supportive friends and family! You are all missed SO MUCH! We are so excited to see what God has for us in this new season of life. If you think of us, pray for us! That we would find good jobs, a good bible-based church (We are missing our Journey Belleville family SO MUCH), and that I wouldn't miss home too much : ( Above all, our prayer is that we would continue to seek Him and His will for our lives. I already can see that this is going to be such an incredible season of depending on God and looking to Him for direction and guidance. He is SUCH good father and cares so much for His children!

Have a wonderful day!

love, the parkers