Happy New Year

Okay, so for the two of you who still read our blog... we're back! And our new year's resolution is to update our blog more frequently. Well, we had an eventful fall. Paul got through another semester of seminary... only one to go! We are both excited and anxious to see where God leads us next.

Let us catch you up on a few things that have been happening for us. Abby has been enjoying her job. I don't think she'll ever tire of helping the elderly! We've been enjoying Colorado and missing home. We had several opportunities to enjoy beautiful creation... driving over mountain passes, spending time with friends in the mountians, enjoying the unique colors of gold the aspens bring with fall, and hiking on some of the nearby trails. We've also enjoyed several visitors, and we will welcome more if you want to come. Time is running out!!! :)

We've been keeping active at church. Paul sang and played djembe for the worship team when they held a concert in a local park. He even broke out his acting skills for a skit at church! We've been blessed to be involved in two home groups through church. They are very different from one another, and we learn alot and are blessed by the people in both.

We just got back from an all-too-short visit to Iowa to see family over Christmas. It was great to see everyone, including the three infant nieces on Paul's side of the family, and the newly born niece on Abby's side, who is the first of our nieces and nephews on that side of the family. It was great to spend time relaxing away from the intense schedules we had been "enjoying" before we left. Abby in particular was thoroughly blessed and refreshed by her first extended break from work.

Paul continues to work at Lowe's, and will be spending plently of his winter break studying as he prepares for his comprehensive exams at the end of February, and for a class he is going to be teaching at church in March/April. Happy New Year to all!

Abby's friend from Luther College, Jenny, and her husband, Joe, stayed with us for a night in October and had breakfast with us before they continued to CO Springs to see Jenny's family.

We spent a weekend with close seminary friends up at a condo in Silverthorne for a quick getaway from Denver.

Abby's mom came to visit in October. They had a lot of quality girl time together while Paul was busy studying.

Beautiful fall colors!

At Hudson Gardens located right next to the seminary.

Abby's PT friends, Sara and Tanya came from Iowa for a weekend visit. Paul was amazed that they were able to talk constantly for about 72 hours!

We stayed here for Thanksgiving and were blessed to get together with several friends on campus who were also spending Thanksgiving in Denver.

We made our first turkey together...a success!

Opening presents from Abby's side. Notice the box that says "sort of breakable" for the old dishes thrown in to add weight to the gift. Thanks to Abby's clever mother!

At Paul's family Christmas.

Paul with niece, Brittney, waiting anxiously to open gifts.

Formal Christmas 2008 picture

Paul attempting to read to niece, Cassidy.

Summer Summary

Hello all. Its been some time since we last posted (again). We have had quite a fun-filled summer. Here's the quick summary. In June Abby's family came out to visit and we spent a few days up in the Breckenridge and Winter Park areas riding trains, shopping, hiking, and sightseeing. We also went to a Rockies game.

Getting ready to shop in Breckenridge

At the Continental Divide

Leadville Train

Paul and Dad working many long hours on this puzzle back where we stayed.

Winter Park Ski Resort

We went back to Iowa over the fourth of July weekend for Paul's younger brother's wedding, for which Paul played his trombone. It was a quick trip, but it was great to see some family, albeit for a short time, and the Iowa landscape again. We are also happy to report that we finally made it round trip between Iowa and Colorado without a breakdown - all it took was a new car!

Abby teaching neice Alyssa how to tie bows on the chairs to help decorate

All of our neices and our ONE nephew.

Before the wedding

Paul played next to his brother, Matt, in the brass quintet

The happy couple

We celebrated our birthdays after that. Paul is now 28 and Abby 26. We combined our celebration dinner and went to Olive Garden.

In August we went back to Iowa again for Abby's cousin's wedding, in which Abby was a bridesmaid. Again, it was a quick trip, and we wished we could have seen family more. We enjoyed staying with Abby's grandparents and Abby was able to even get away with some of the girls from her mom's side of the family for a quick afternoon. Paul got to visit some college friends in the area while back. We also got to see a lot of cute babies! Paul finally got to meet the Mulligan twins, who are very happy, giggly, fun babies. We also saw Paul's friends Lindsay & Zack's son Ethan and Paul's niece, Gracie, when we stopped for the night in Omaha at Bess and Bob's home. It was incredibly hard to leave so many people we love so much.

Cousin Melissa helping Abby with her nails for the wedding
Abby's mom's side of the family having some girl time
The beautiful bride, the bride's sister in law, and cousin Abby
She was GORGEOUS!
What a fun day!

We spent our 2 year anniversary in the car driving west back to Colorado. YAY!!!... well, at least we were with eachother ;-) We are planning to get away this weekend to officially celebrate...as if driving through Nebraska wasn't enough!?!?

We have been taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University through our church this summer on Tuesday nights. We have enjoyed both his humor and his stories of insight and practical wisdom on how to be financially successful - getting out of debt and building wealth, and giving like no one else. Its been a great help to us, and we highly reccommend it to anyone!

Paul also finished summer Greek, and is now staring down the barrell of another school year. He has one more year to go, and will be graduating (Lord willing) next May. No, we don't know exactly what we're doing after that, but God will let us know in his good time.

So, thats the summer summary from the Hoveys.

Remember the Hoveys?

Sorry its been so long since we've last posted. I'll try to catch you up on the life of the Hovey's as quick as possible. Since March we've had a variety of events happen in our lives. Abby and I sang in the Easter choir at our church. We made a trip to Breckenridge to sight-see in the beginning of April (they still had Christmas decorations up, but it was still snowy, so it fit the scene). We also got to go to a Denver Brass concert, which was a treat for me, since it was the first brass concert I've been to since leaving UNI.

Breckenridge
Breckenridge

Breckenridge

Mid April Abby and I bought a new car! We purchased a 2008 Toyota Camry. Abby has been enjoying it to drive to work in during the week. The MPG is great. It is red and will be a good car for road trips later this summer.

Abby's cousin Laura came out to visit at the end of April. They went to Rocky Mountain National Park, Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater, and did some shopping together. We all went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as well.

Museum of Nature and Science
Museum of Nature and Science

Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park

Abby surprised her family by coming home to visit Mother's Day weekend. She got to see some of her in-laws and a lot of her family, and Stephen and Carrie's (who were in our wedding party) twins. I was unfortunately left behind studying for finals that weekend. I finished finals and played my trombone at Denver Seminary's graduation ceremony.

Some of our favorite neices!

Paul's parents and his oldest brother's family

Stephen and Carrie and their precious twins!

Paul studying for finals...

This summer I am taking Greek I and Greek II, though I am only auditing, which means that I sit in on class, but don't have to turn in assignments or take exams. That also means I won't recieve a grade for it either. Greek will be very beneficial for me since I want to end up in a church where I can do some preaching, even though it is not actually a part of my degree program. Otherwise I have just picked up some more hours at Lowe's for the summer months. Abby continues to work, enjoying her time helping people to heal and stay active, though if her commute were a little shorter she wouldn't mind.

We're looking forward to Abby's family coming to visit next week. We'll also be coming back to Iowa in July and August for family weddings. My little brother is getting married in July and Abby's cousin Laura is getting married in August. So we have a couple road trips to make!

Visitors from Home

We have been blessed to have people from home come out to visit us in the past month. As our previous post said, Chris was here for a weekend. He went to class with Paul, and got to meet with Paul's philosophy professor, Dr. Doug Groothuis (Grote-hIce). Paul and Chris also played guitar together, some video games, enjoyed some 70 degree Colorado weather, which was followed the next day by 30 degree weather (go figure). We also ate bison burgers, went to hike in Waterton Canyon (where we saw bighorn sheep AND our neighbors who live across the hall) and went to chapel on campus. Abby was able to spend some time with us too. She spoiled the boys with lots of good cookin' and sweets. It was sad to see him go.

Paul and Chris at the Columbine Memorial

Chris, Paul and Abby at our Apartment

But we didn't have much time to wait before our next Iowa guests came out. Abby's parents, Dennis and Melanie, were out last week and we did a little bit of everything with them as well. Abby and her parents went to downtown Littleton while Paul was at work on Saturday. We all went to church and then to the Castlerock outlet mall, where the ladies shopped while the men sat in the food court and studied. Dennis and Melanie got to visit Life Care Centers of Aurora, the facility where Abby works. We had ice cream cake in honor of Dennis' birthday (just a little late). Since Paul had midterms last week he spent a lot of time in the library, but thats okay because Dennis and Melanie did too, enjoying the quiet, studious atmosphere. Melanie went to a quilting shop, and the two of them also got to visit the Columbine Memorial. Otherwise the three of them went to Waterton Canyon and checked out some other things in town while Paul was studying. They also did a good job spoiling us. They left Thursday night. Amtrak was a little behind schedule, but they made it home okay Friday afternoon.

Dennis with his ice cream birthday cake from Coldstone. What a set of lungs!

Dennis at Waterton Canyon on the South Platte River

I think he's ready for a swim! But your guess could be as good as mine.

Melanie at the quilt shop

Dennis and Melanie getting on the light rail to head to Union Station. We miss you!!

Paul is on spring break now, which means trying to catch up on reading and trying to get ahead on papers. In reality its only a break from class, not homework. Abby has transitioned to outpatient therapy at work (she is still with the same company, just in a different role), which she has been enjoying. We're both looking forward to singing in the Easter choir this Sunday at church, and time celebrating the resurrection of Christ with people on campus with fellowship and food. We both have said that we will miss being at home with family on Easter Sunday. We miss everyone back home! Which is a great segue to reminding people that we are still open to visitors coming out!

Exciting updates!

Much has happened since we last posted. For those of you who don't already know, Abby has passed her boards and is now a fully licensed physical therapist! God was gracious and gave her plenty of focus and good memory. The glory is all the more his since Abby only got 2 1/2 hours of sleep the night before a 5 hour test! But she had peace in her heart and did very well. We're all very proud of her great accomplishment. Don't ever expect her to go to school again, at least any time soon! You can call her "Dr. Hovey" if you want. She likes "Abby" better.

Paul has started up another semester of classes, and is already on his fifth week of school. He is taking a New Testament survey course, two ethics courses and Introduction to Logic. He is still working at Lowe's on the weekends.

In spite of the start of another semester, we've been able to do a lot more socializing with people we've been getting to know, especially since Abby is free from studying. Its been good to make some more personal connections, and invite people over that have hosted us before.

Paul's sister, Elizabeth, had a baby girl on February 21st, Gracelyn Jordyn Guinn. Everything went smoothly and they are now home from the hospital. Congrats Bess & Bob! Of course grandma and grandpa rushed out to Omaha to greet their new grandchild. We can't wait to meet her!

This weekend we are looking forward to having our first out-of-town visitor of the year. Chris, who was Paul's best man, will be out for the weekend. And, another invite for all of you, if anyone wants to come out (as if I have to say "if"), let us know and we'll get some plans in place! Keep in mind that Paul graduates in May 2009, so you may lose your reason to visit Colorado quicker than you think! In the meantime, Chris is the sole benefactor of our possessions in our will. And yes, that includes our fine antique cars that we drive! Especially noteworthy in our collection is the automatic starter on the '89 Buick LaSabre. Yeah, I thought you'd start drooling! Anyhow, enjoy some pictures from our life!

Our apartment became a temporary beauty salon!
Paul & Annaka... chillin'
From our hike in Waterton Canyon
On the South Platte River
The two of us in the canyon enjoying 60 degree weather in February.