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