The Phillips Family

Topping off a string of weekend travel, Annie and I camped recently in Rocky Mountain National Park with friends from our church. We had been looking forward to this weekend for several months and we weren’t disappointed. RMNP is a pristine area with incredible mountains, rivers and lakes. Unfortunately certain areas have been affected by the pine beetle, specifically our camp site. Just last year the whole campground was leveled because of the dead trees. So while the grounds were somewhat barren, the views were far from it. We had a great group of friends to spend the weekend with and the perfect facilitators (the Mansfields) to take care of the details. We spent our time eating, doing a little hiking, a little fishing. It was the second time for us to use our new tent, and incredibly, our first time to ever “mate” our sleeping bags (they are both REI brand and zip together to form one large bag). I’m not sure why we didn’t try it before… luxurious!

On Saturday evening I was privileged to take a long run with Jon Graham up Loch Vale Trail. I had planned this run for weeks (months?) and it was better than I dreamed. It easily tops the list as my most memorable run ever. We started at 6:00pm with just enough light to make it up and down, and with a small thunderstorm having just blown through, the other trail users were gone. Above Alberta Falls we saw one lone flyfisherman heading down. Everything was wet and lush and it was the magical time in the evening when the light is most striking. The trail itself is pristine, heading up to Alberta Falls, then up into the valley where enormous rock cliffs provide some of the best climbing in the world. Eventually the trail cuts through dense forests on trails of cut stone and half sawn tree trunks. Coming around a bend the path dropped us alongside the quietly lapping shores of The Loch, with our final destination, the waterfall at the lip of the Lake of Glass, as a stunning backdrop. Past The Loch and just above treeline it turns to a hands and feet scramble up the side of a waterfall, where the trail essentially turns into a stream. Gaining the lip of the waterfall you suddenly find yourself in a giant basin surrounded by 13,000 foot mountains and a long view back into the valley. Jaw-dropping. It took us nearly two hours to cover the 7 miles and 2,000ft, but it flew by and faded into the background within a setting like that.

It was pure enjoyment, being physically able to move and run in such a time and place with a friend. Every turn had us smiling and uttering exclamations of amazement. The day is coming sooner than I expected where I won’t be able to do physical things like this, but I hope having done it once will be enough to sustain in me a thankful attitude towards my Maker.

“He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved…
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them…
You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
They flow between the hills;
They give drink to every animal of the field;
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works.” – from Psalm 104

I didn’t take these photos, but collected them off of flickr (key word search “loch vale” or “lake of glass.” Unfortunately I don’t remember where all of them came from, but some of the nicer ones (and many more) are from a user here (RichsPics).

So the suspense is over, we are having a girl! Yea! Here are a few photos from our ultrasound visit.

This, we are told, is the baby giving us a thumbs up. I guess she’s just letting us know things are OK down there. I also post it for all the Aggies.

And here she is stretching:

I’m trying to stay on top of this, but am already a week behind!

Last weekend Annie and I got to spend the weekend in southwest Colorado. It’s too bad that part of the state is so far away. So much to see and explore. Our good friends the McPheeters invited us down for the weekend to stay with them in their house in Pagosa Springs. We spent the time playing with the kids, biking, hiking, eating well, and generally enjoying the setting and the company. On Saturday morning I was heading out to the truck when I saw a bear in the front yard. He ran as soon as he heard me, but still exciting. We left Sunday afternoon and drove to Durango for dinner, then up towards Silverton to camp. We drove down a forest service road towards Lime Creek, where we came across a nice campground on the river. I promised Annie that if we camped this summer, I’d make sure we had a new tent, an air mattress and lots of pillows. So recently we bought them all. Cush. Not sure I can go back now.

Do you see the bear?

We made it into Silverton the next morning where I had been planning on a trail run. In a couple of weeks the Hardrock 100 will be run, starting and ending there in Silverton. The Hardrock 100 is the ultimate of trail races, a 100 mile foot race with a total elevation gain of 33,992 over the course of 48 hours. Beyond imagination tough. The race uses some obscure backcountry trails in places (and often no trails), so I thought it would be a good course to find something off of the beaten path. I decided to run the first leg of the race from Silverton to Cunningham Gulch and get a small taste. It was mainly an excuse to pore over topographical maps for days. I love maps. The trail starts in town at 9,310 and takes 4×4 roads up past several mines and an aerial tramway. Above treeline it switches to an old trail that goes over Little Giant at 13,000 and down a steep but awesome descent to Dives Basin, where Annie was to pick me up. Annie and I agreed on meeting on the other side of the ridge in 3 1/2 hours, but I was moving too slow to meet the cutoff. I decided turning around was better than creating panic, so I came back down. I was so close and a little disappointed, but maybe next time!

This is where I wanted to be (some photos from Blake Wood @ the Hardrock 100 web site):

And the awesome descent… next time!

And here are a few recent photos of Annie, the baby, and the house.

Five years ago today, I married my favorite person on the planet and became Mrs. Jeremy Phillips! One of the best parts of the day were our vows. (I can’t take credit for writing them; Jeremy first heard similar vows at a friend’s wedding.) They express exactly what I wanted to promise on our wedding day and what I continue to strive to show Jeremy. I have them framed on our bedroom dresser as a daily reminder of my commitment to my husband.

Jeremy, I am so thankful that you chose me! I am more in love with you than ever.
Happy anniversary, my love!
Annie
P.S. You are going to be the BEST daddy!

Our Marriage Vows

Jeremy: Annie, before God, our family, and friends, I promise to honor God first with my life and love for you. With Jesus Christ as my example, I choose to cherish you alone above everyone else in my life. I desire to celebrate with you when life is full of happiness and comfort you in my arms when life is full of pain. With the Holy Spirit as my guide, I promise to protect your heart from anything that would threaten our faith or our love for each other. I vow to lead you with the love and wisdom shown to me by my Lord, to provide for you emotionally, financially, and physically, to anticipate your needs and fill them, to always adore you as His precious daughter and as my beautiful wife. I will never divorce you physically or emotionally. I promise to be loyal to you, the love of my life, until I lay you in the arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Annie: Jeremy, before God, our family, and friends, I promise to honor God first with my life and my love for you. With Jesus Christ as my example, I choose to cherish you alone above every one else in my life. I desire to celebrate with you when life is full of happiness and comfort you in my arms when life is full of pain. With the Holy Spirit as my guide, I promise to protect your heart from anything that would threaten our faith or our love for each other. I vow to always respect you with my words and my actions, to provide for you emotionally, physically, and spiritually, to keep no record of wrongs, to trust your spiritual guidance in our family, to love you unconditionally as my treasure, my husband, my friend. I will not divorce you physically or emotionally. I promise to be loyal to you the love of my life until I lay you in the arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A little update from Colorado… Annie is finished with school and feeling much better physically. She is getting a bit more round, little by little. No noticeable movement from the baby yet, but the heartbeat is good and the checkups are normal. By the end of the month we will know if the baby is a boy or a girl, just in time for our 5 year anniversary. She has started going back to the farm once a week and spends the rest of the time enjoying her break from school. Work for me continues on the new Supreme Courthouse downtown, and I’ve been enjoying the warmer weather with lots of biking and some running. I try to bike to work at least a few days a week and have been spending more time mountain biking with friends.

Summer is finally here after a rather stubborn winter/spring. Today was 90+ and tomorrow is supposed to be near 100. Hopefully that kind of heat won’t last long or we will be heading for the mountains. Instead of camping several days in the rain like we did last Memorial Day weekend, this year we decided to work around the house for a few days. On Monday we did go out of town for a surprise for Annie. She is always bugging me to tour a mine (there are quite a few here) but most of them look so decrepit and tourist-trappy that I can’t bring myself to do it. So I did a little research and picked one of the better ones, the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine in Cripple Creek. This one was especially attractive because they send you down the hoistway 1,000 ft into the mine.

The hoistway was not for the claustrophobic. They crammed six of us into a space so small that I couldn’t bring my hand to my face to scratch my nose. But once we were in the mine it was well lit and more spacious. Our tour guide was a 3rd generation miner and demonstrated all of the machinery. Interestingly, 1) he had super smooth skin to the point that he looked like one of the mannequins (see below) 2) he talked 90 mph 3) and he coughed every 15 seconds or so.

After the mine we drove into Manitou Springs and I went on a run while Annie looked around town. I have disappointingly been unable to run for about a year because of some feet pain, but lately they have felt much better. I’m trying to take advantage of the window of opportunity by doing the trail running I’ve always wanted to do. One of the most well known trails in Colorado is the Barr Trail up the east face of Pikes Peak. The entire trail gains over 7,000 ft in the 12 miles to the top and is home to the Pikes Peak Ascent and Pikes Peak Marathon. I would love to run the Ascent one of these days, but for now I had a great run making it about 1/3 of the way up and turning around. Any way about it, it was a great run simply because I was able to run.

To all who have not yet heard, we are having a baby! We have anticipated and wanted this day for some time now, and are thankful it is here. We are eager to be parents, though not without some apprehension of things to come. Baby Phillips is due on November 1, which means Annie is already 15 weeks along. We have gone in for two ultrasounds, and have been amazed to see into the miraculous workings of life that are taking place. Physically she is doing well, despite having many of the typical symptoms. Only recently has she begun to physically show, looking beautiful and glowing. I think this is her calling, a mom. She is only a week away from finishing teaching for the year, at which point she will have all summer and the fall to “nest.” This summer we will busy with all the things one does to prepare, I suppose, such as painting the baby’s room and thinking of names. I am personally pulling for a girl, but I’m sure either will be just fine (this is probably just because we have more girl name ideas than boy).

Apart from the physical changes and preparation, personal reflection and spiritual preparation are also in order, as we consider who we are, what kind of parents we will be, and how we will “train a child in the way he should go.” The pregnancy has also increased my amazement of God’s creative power, which has lead to great worship. Everything from conception through development is so fragile, beautiful, and complex. We are very thankful to the Lord for His mercy.

I know that much of our family is disappointed that we will be living so far away with a new baby, so we will try to keep you posted on the blog! My parents have posted a few additional photos here.

It’s been a few months since our last post, and I’m sorry that you all got were Yip Yips and crayons. Well, maybe not too sorry. So what have we been up to? Mainly teaching and architecting, and looking forward to warm weather and longer days.

At the end of January we finally got together with our friends the McPheeters. We baked cookies together at our house with Aaron and Maris, then walked to the park together. It was a great afternoon of catching up and we look forward to more time together this summer.

A few weeks later Annie’s mom visited us, just in time for a fresh snow. She was so happy about it that she volunteered to shovel the sidewalk! I wasn’t going to argue. We drove to Rollinsville and took her snowshoeing, then up to Boulder to the Celestial Seasonings factory. For Valentine’s Day the three of us ate at the Chop House for dinner.

The following weekend Annie and I spent at Camp Elim, northwest of Colorado Springs. Our church has a strong affiliation with the camp, and a group from the “honeymooners” went to volunteer in the kitchen and with general camp maintenance for the weekend. Unfortunately I don’t have any photos, but it snowed all weekend, and was incredibly beautiful. We had our own cabin in the pines and when we weren’t cooking, cleaning, or sanding bunkbeds, we were conversing around the fireplace.

Amidst all this we’ve been doing work around the house. Our main project recently was putting new insulation in the attic, a milestone I had been working towards after months of preparation. I don’t want to have to go in that attic again. With no ladder, the journey begins on the stool, to the table, to the paint cans, then to a hoisting maneuver that I’ve become quite adept out. Our roof is very shallow, so the most difficult thing is moving from place to place. Imagine army crawling over joists, trying not to put any weight on the gyp board ceiling, dragging along a toolbag and pieces of plywood to use as a platform, snaking through foot tall joist openings, wedging yourself down into the eves, breathing 60 year old dust and insulation, all the while protecting your bald head from inch long roof nails coming through the sheathing above, traveling clear across the attic… then realizing that you forgot your screwdriver. Many times I felt like this:

(by the way, do you realize that this movie is 26 years old?!)

Phew, finished.

For those that watched Sesame Street growing up, this video will definitely look familiar. The music especially takes me way back. I loved this video, and evidently, still do!

And a bonus…