Coming Home

I've been collecting these boxes since August!

Who knows what it is about Colorado.  When I first moved to Denver it was July 1, 2002.  I was 22 and for the most part moved on a whim.  I would tell people and still tell people that "it's close to home but away from home".  And when you are 22 the last place you want to be is where you grew up.  So I jetted off to Denver, 450 miles away from my parents house.  There was one small moment in time when I thought about leaving Denver the 13 years I lived there.  I knew I didn't want to go back to Albuquerque, but didn't know where to go, so I stayed in Denver.  Leaving Denver 19 months ago was probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do.  But knew it had to be done.  And never did I think that after we left would we be back.
Well we are coming back!  I'm super excited and nervous.  This move has been a long time coming. I've been thinking about moving almost daily since Chris came home and told me that he no longer had his job at the hospital here, which was back in August.  Because I'm such a planner I immediately thought of the next big holiday: Christmas.  And I would ask myself, I wonder where we are going to be for Christmas?  Then when Christmas came and went I focused on the next big deadline: our lease expiration.  Our lease expired at the end of April.  I would wonder what will come first?: Moving or our lease expiring?  With no real job prospect for Chris I soon realized that our lease would be expiring before any big move.  And since the lease was the only thing keeping us here I immediately thought: Lets just move back to Denver.  Which is what we are doing.  It's been a LOT of back and forth for Chris and I, but we finally have things set in stone.  We are buying a house in Thornton that is a very similar layout to our previous house and close on June 30th!
It's all very overwhelming because never did I think we end up where we left.
When we visited Colorado last month driving over the state line and into Colorado I got so emotional.  I felt home.  I felt this is where I'm suppose to be.  We looked at houses while we were there but didn't make an offer.  I left Colorado devastated.  Planning yet another version of my life.  Once Chris and I got on the same page we decided to put an offer an a house that we saw while we were there.  Which in all honesty tells me something was meant to be with this house, because after being on the market for almost 3 weeks it was still available (in the Denver market houses are usually only on the market for about a week).  And that is the house we are buying!
It's crazy that we left Colorado as a family of 3 and are now moving back as a family of 4.  What I'm most looking forward to in all of this is not moving again.  I'm not one to move around, and this unstability has not been good for me.  My mental and emotional self are not good right now, and have been in the worse shape they have ever been in.  I'm looking forward to just feeling settled and getting a routine.  It'll be a welcome change because I haven't really felt settled since August.
For the time being Chris will still be traveling back and forth to Sacramento for work, but we definitely have a goal to get him home and living with us full time!  But at least this way he only has to drive 30 minutes to the airport (compared to 90 minutes to drive to El Paso) and will have a non-stop flight.
I myself will also have to go back to work, and I have some things up and coming in that department too!  For now I'm working on all the logistics of this move.  First is finding a good moving company because I don't want to experience what we experienced last time!  So if you have any recommendations: please share!

Denver Trip

City Park

Alice, Marty, Helena, Mary, and Bennett

Marty, Chris, and Bennett

Add caption

The week after Easter we went to Denver.  The trip was multi-purposeful, and we had a great time.  I loved being back in Denver and experiencing it with my kids!  We got family pictures taken, Bennett's smash cake pictures, Bennett baptized, my in-laws came into town for the occasion, Chris and I had a date night out to one of our favorite Denver restaurants, we had play dates with Grayson and Dahlia, and we even shopped for a house!

We drove up the Wednesday after Easter, I found a really nice townhome on HomeAway.com and got everything unloaded, which took forever.  Thankfully the house had a lot of baby proofing items since Bennett started walking the beginning of April.  I had made a menu and grocery list prior to the trip so I went to the store to stalk up on everything.  I also stop by my friend Andrea's house and met her daughter Dahlia for the first time and picked up some toys and books that she graciously let us borrow while we were in town.  We got Tokyo Joe's for dinner and got the kids town for the night.
Thursday morning we went down to City Park for pictures.  There was a breeze that made it a little cool, but we got some great pictures!  We got lunch at Cafe Rio, then got the kids down for a nap while Chris and I did some house shopping.  That evening I planned a special date night for Chris and I to Guard and Grace, probably our most favorite restaurant downtown.  It was amazing.  Friday we met Andrea, Grayson, and Dahlia at Monkey Bizness to play around.  All the kids had a blast!  Grayson and Helena played so well together.  It was so nice to just hangout.  Friday afternoon Chris's Mom, Dad, and sister came into town.  I made dinner at the house and we all just hung out.  Sunday morning we went to church and Bennett got baptized.  It was amazing to be back with my church family.  Seeing Pastor Ken and the whole church was just a feeling of being home.  Seeing Bennett be baptized was such a blessing.  Pastor Ken made mention what we talked about while he was guiding us before he married us.  He remembered me mentioned that if Chris and I had kids I would bring them back here for him to baptize.  I was so impressed that he remembered something that I had mentioned almost 5 years ago!  After church everyone came back to the house where I had an amazing cinnamon french toast cooking in the crockpot.  The house was a very happy chaos with Grayson and Helena running around, and Dahlia and Bennett trying to keep up!  My cousin Cheryl came down from Fort Collins, and our amazing babysitter Chendra was also in attendance for Bennett's big day!  That afternoon Chris and I did some more house shopping.  Early Monday morning I drove Chris to the airport for him to fly back to Northern California.  Monday morning we had another playdate with Grayson and Dahlia at a local park.  Both kids loved the park!  Then we drove back to Albuquerque.
The trip was full!  I wish I had taken more pictures!  It was so great for my in-laws to make the drive to meet us there and I'm so thankful for my mom who did so much!  ...she watched the kids and so much more!

where to start?

Big pumpkins!

My world

She's growing up!

fun at the park

i'm not too sure where to begin.  i have so much going on in my mind.  if i'm random and all over the place, i apologize in advance. 
our last full week in Denver has officially come to a close, and in my blogging mind i keep going back to a simpler time before i knew we would move.
at the end of september (right after we were in ABQ and Alamogordo {what's the abbreviation for Alamogordo?}) my mom and aunt deanna came up for a visit, for my aunt deanna to celebrate her birthday with her daughter; my cousin that lives in fort collins. 
we had a super fun time at a nursery down in Littleton where there was a big pumpkin contest.  these pumpkins were huge!  everyone had a great time. 
during that weekend we celebrated Chris' birthday, and i feel so bad, but i can't really remember what we did to celebrate.  this is the mush going on in my head.  i know majority of the time i want time to go fast and speed up to the next "big" thing that i'm anticipating.  lately i've been praying that the days slow down.

our house got under contract in less than 3 days.  we went on the market last friday (10/16) afternoon, and were under contract by monday afternoon.  we got 3 offers, two above asking price.  the inspection is tomorrow.  i'm telling myself that this all part of His plan, to show me that this is where we are suppose to go.  that had this happened 3 years ago, we wouldn't have been able to make it work because the market 3 years ago wasn't what it is today.  the fact that the selling of our house has been somewhat easy and non-stressful, is a sign that all the pieces are falling where they are suppose to. everything just seems surreal.  in the middle of all of this i still need to blog about the rest of Ocotober happenings:
Going back to ABQ for the Balloon Fiesta
Marty and Mary's visit and the Denver Zoo
Chendra babysitting: what will be our last date night.  Movie: Bridge of Spies and dinner: Rock Bottom.
Hanging out with Sarah Z and her kiddos
Swimming with  Sarah D and her little boy
Getting in play dates with Andrea and Grayson
Chopping off my hair
Having my parents come visit and family pictures
Dinner with Chris' old co-workers
What will most likely be our last Broomfield United Methodist Church service
Lastly, what was suppose to be the now postponed Janet Jackson concert

Stay tuned, hopefully I'll get to all of that!

So Excited!

Larimer Square - Downtown Denver

Civic Center building - Denver, CO

Empire State Building - NYC

HA!

I'm so excited for tomorrow!  The Broncos are going to the Super Bowl!  I'm definitely what I would call a band wagon fan.  I didn't really get into the Broncos or football until I moved here.  Prior to living here I never really followed the NFL.  I would definitely watch the Super Bowl, but the Denver Broncos are the first team I feel invested in.  I remember the first home Bronco game after I moved here.  It was August 2002, and I drove down to the stadium prior to the game, just to see it fill up with people.  At the time the stadium was Invesco Field at Mile High.  The stadium is located right off of I-25 and Colfax, in the heart of Denver.  I drove down with all the Bronco fans, and I called my mom with chills being so excited to just be near all the energy coming off of the stadium.  At that moment my loyalty to the Broncos definitely increased. 
Since then I've gone to a total of 1 preseason game, and 4 regular season games.  And like the energy from just driving by the game day field, seeing a game live is such an event!  I love any event  live, but Denver Bronco football live is just amazing.  From the sky divers landing in the stadium,  to yelling "IN-COM-PLETE" every time the opposing team throws an incomplete pass, it's just so much fun.  And well if the game is fun, entertaining, and ends with a win, that's the icing on the cake!
I've definitely become a much more invested fan since meeting Chris.  He's been a loyal Bronco fan since the John Elway days.  He's taught me so much about the game, and with my new knowledge it makes watching the games so much better. 
And now we're going to the most watched sporting event in the world: THE SUPER BOWL!!!!  It feels very reminiscent to when the Colorado Rockies went to the World Series in 2007.  The energy throughout the city is intense.   Everyone is showing their team spirit.  You seen orange and blue and "Go Broncos" signs everywhere.  It's pretty much all you hear about on the news.  It's definitely the main topic on my Facebook wall.  The main topic of discussion is "the big game".  It's so exciting.  Bronco fever is everywhere.
I am by no means a professional sports person, but I of course do have my thoughts on tomorrow's game.  We're going up against the number one defense, with our number one offense.  It'll be an entertaining game, for sure.  I predict it'll start out with a couple of 4 and out's from both sides, until a good rhythm gets established.  So I think the beginning might be a little boring, before the true excitement starts late in the 1st quarter, 2nd quarter at the latest.  I hope that we get on the scoreboard first, but I'm not too positive either way.  But I think once a team as points on the board, is when the true momentum will really pick up.  I think the Broncos are a more seasoned team.  We have more seasoned players compared to Seattle.  I think for both sides this is a positive and a negative.  Peyton Manning is a quarterback through in through.  He expects his offense to protect him, and in his mind his one and only job is to throw the ball.  He is your textbook quarterback.  I think this is good, because he will get the job done, and will get it done well.  However, there are times when a quarterback does need to run with the ball.  This is where having a seasoned quarterback that is prone to injury hurts us.  Peyton has no desire to run with the ball.  Fine, that's not his job I get it.  However this is a pro for Seattle.  Their QB will run with the ball if need be.  But at the same time, I think he runs with the ball a little too much.  I think he needs to work on the basic foundation of what a good quarterback should do: throw the ball.  Peyton uses his whole entire team: pro.  The other dude tries to make it a one man show: con.  You can't win a Super Bowl by yourself.  I've hardly spent anytime watching the Seahawks this season, this is just my extremely small observation watching the small glimpse of their last playoff game against the 49ers.  So take what I say about them with a grain of salt. 
Another hurdle I think the Broncos will have, is that the Broncos get cocky.  And well, that's just unattractive.  I think that's why we lost the 3 games that we lost this season.  We were cocky, went in with the expectation that we would win and we didn't put our all into the game.  The other team prepared better, and wanted to prove that they could bet us.  They played better, and it was too late for us to come back.  So the other team ended up being the better team, and won.  I think for the most part we are favored for tomorrows game, I just really hope we don't go into thinking "We've got this in the bag."  Tomorrow's game won't be easy, and I think we have a lot to prove before we can rise up and declare being the number one team in the NFL. 
Regardless of what happens I'm truly proud to be a Denver Bronco fan, and I think going to this event has done a lot of positive things for our city.  Of course, I hope we pull a big fat W at the end of this, but if not, the team itself as done a ton of growing in the 2 short season's we've had Peyton as our QB.  I know there will definitely be some growth come our next QB, and hopefully we'll establish the growth back to the top because being part of a Super Bowl bound team is a helluva a lot of fun!

GO BRONCOS!!!

The Stockings are Hung...and it's cold

 So if you haven't heard, it's been super cold here.  We've been below freezing since Wednesday, and don't expect to get above freezing until Thursday of next week.  I don't like it. 

In other news, we've put up all of our Christmas decorations.  I loved seeing our new house transformed into the holiday spirit!

It was great putting up decorations with Chris.  Even though we won't be here for the actual Christmas holiday, it's also so heartwarming and special to snuggle up and just light the Christmas tree.

Double Date Weekend

We told all of our extended family about Baby Sweat the first weekend of November.  My mom was thrilled to announce that she was going to become a grandmother!!   …a little side story, back in May when my parents came to visit I had many conversations with my mom about the fact that Chris and I were trying to get pregnant, and the whole “Trying to Conceive” community that I found.  She was beyond joyous at just the thought of us having a baby that she started chanting: “I’m gonna say it, I’m gonna say it….I’m gonna be a Grandma!”  It was so cute, but I was quick to point out that nothing was happening yet…  Like I’ve said previously, I seriously thought it was going to take a long, hard struggle to conceive.

We also saw my parents a lot over the summer, between their trips here, and our trip to NM in June, I was hoping that timing would work out to tell my parents in person.  But unfortunately that didn’t happen.

Anyways, my mom and her sisters (there are 4 local, and 1 in RI {total of 6 sisters}) plan many sisterly get togethers throughout the year, and my mom had hoped that she could plan a gathering for this special announcement.  But my Aunt Patti who is a brand new grandmother herself was in Nashville with her daughter Nikki and her grandson that was born on 9/25. 

So instead that weekend my mom just called of her sisters and told all of them the news that way.

Then the weekend after when my Aunt Patti was back in town, all the local sisters got together for my mom to celebrate and my Aunt Patti to share stories of baby Luke. 

From there my Aunt Michelle asked if my mom would like to travel up to Denver the following weekend for a last minute trip.  My mom of course, jumped at the chance.

So this past Thursday evening my mom and Aunt Michelle arrived.  They both got the special treat to come with us Friday morning to a last minute ultrasound appointment.  The week prior I had off/on light spotting.  I was concerned, called the nurse and we got a ultrasound scheduled! 

Baby is fine, and was confidentially told that some bleeding is completely normal.  Thankfully all as been good since Sunday!

I was so happy that my mom and Aunt Michelle got to see the baby move around and wave!

After the doctor we had a nice breakfast, followed by lots of baby shopping.  My mom – love her! is ready to fill the baby room with all of its furniture.  She’s ready to spoil this little grand baby of hers.  But I’m just not ready for that.  I would prefer to wait until March before we-or my mom rather, start going crazy with big purchase items.

But we had fun shopping around, looking at all of the stuff.  There is so much stuff!

For dinner that night we took my Aunt Michelle out to Colt and Gray.  It was a special dinner to celebrate my Aunt Michelle’s birthday! 

On Saturday morning we headed downtown to participate in the lottery for “The Book ofMormon”.  Chris and I had purchased tickets many many months ago, but were hoping we could get my mom and aunt in for the show.  Aunt Michelle was a lucky winner (out of 12)!!!  She was able to buy two FRONT Row seats for $50!  She graciously traded our tickets, so we got to seat front and center!  The show was amazing!  Soooo funny!  It’s of course, about Mormon’s.  The story is of two Missionaries sent on their two year mission to Africa.  The scary, poor, portion of Africa.  One Elder is the perfect Mormon who dreamed and prayed of being sent to Orlando on his mission.  Another Elder is the goofy, relaxed Mormon who goes along very happy go lucky.  Needless to say, perfect Mormon is a bit annoyed with happy go lucky Mormon.  After seeing someone get shot perfect Mormon gives up and leaves the Missionary.  Happy go lucky Mormon finds a group of Africans that will listen to him and about The Book of Mormon.  But Happy go lucky Mormon didn’t really pay attention during his training, so he basically tells these hilarious stories to keep the Africans engaged in his story telling.  Which results in all of the Africans wanting to be baptized.  This is a huge accomplishment, and a head Mormon guy comes to Africa to congratulate the Missionaries.  Meanwhile Perfect Mormon has “the horrible hell dream” and decides to come back.  Once the head Mormon guy is there, the Africans decide to put on a play of what they’ve been taught.  Which is very funny, and super inappropriate, and probably nothing like what really is in The Book of Mormon.  Needless to say, head Mormon guy is appalled and leaves disgusted. 

In a word=Hilarious! 

After the show we headed to Tag for another fabulous dinner.  I chose Tag because I got a Living Social deal, and it was so much fun to include my mom and aunt.

Sunday was another super busy day.  We started at church, then to breakfast.  Followed by another trip downtown for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  These were last minute tickets that I got from work!  I’ve always wanted to see TSO, and it was a great show!  After the show we hurried home to watch the Bronco game!

Overall jam-packed but we all had a great time! 

I’m beyond thankful for my mom and Aunt, as they treated us most of the time, and it was great to get in some quality time with family.

Catch Up: September 2013

September was a pretty low key month.  Started out the month with Labor day weekend, which was nice to have that extra day off after my parents left at the end of August. 

In mid-September my friend Kim was in town.  Kim is someone that I categorize as one of my good Facebook friends.  Which might seem weird to say, but if it weren’t for this crazy social media site we wouldn’t really be “friends”.  I met Kim in the summer of 2009, when my HS friend Vanessa and her came up to Denver for a concert at Red Rocks.  They had a little BBQ get together that I was invited to, mainly to catch up with Vanessa, as she was the only one I knew.  And there I was introduced to her friend Kim.  When trying to think of a word that describes my friend Kim, the main word that pops out is: friendly.  She’s just so nice, and social, and beautiful.  Very warming.  From there we became Facebook friends.  Over the past few years she’s moved from Albuquerque, to Portland, gotten married, and had a baby.  I saw most of this unfold during my not so hot single years, and often I would email her with congratulations and advice.  I remember one time specifically asking her: “You’re always going out, what do you?  How do you meet people?”  Knowing that we were in the same age group, and also knowing that as you get older it’s harder to meet friends, but she was always posting pictures out and about having a good time, and I wanted to know what her secret was.  Simply, she stated: I don’t say no.  If someone asks me to do something, I say yes.  Seems simple, and ever since then that always stuck with me.  And why I clung onto my gym friends once I finally got out of my “funk”.  When she moved to Portland I inquired about the move, and she told me of her love story with her now husband.  That left me hopeful that I too possibly one day would find my prince.  Then shortly after she got married, she emailed me announcing that she was “with child” a through in through honeymoon baby!!!  I was immediately excited for her, and knew she would make a great mom.  Then I met Chris.  I remember emailing her my special news, and she was so happy for me!  I felt so lucky to have this friend to share my “happily ever after with”.  Anyways, the internet is just great for keeping in touch, and I’m happy to have this unique friendship with Kim.  We’ve definitely shared our growing up stories (over the past few years anyways).  So at the beginning of September when she messaged me and all of her Denver based friends that she was coming into town, and was planning a get together I was super excited.  Not only to see her face to face again, but to have her meet Chris.  It was great to connect with her again, and although the group was big, she made time to talk with Chris and I which I truly appreciated.  Another thing that Kim is great at is taking pictures.  She makes it easy for you to keep up with her life, because she always posts these outrageous status updates on her FB and always updates the latest happenings and events with current pictures.  That’s another reason I was so excited when she told me she was pregnant, because I knew she would take us on her journey of motherhood with pictures!  And I always appreciate pictures!  She’s witty and funny, and she REALLY needs to start a blog!  Anyways, it was just great to see her, and I always love reading what she posts, or our own private emails.  She’s someone I’m glad I met.

the beautiful Kim and I

Chris bonding with Denali

 A big event occurred on September 26^th: Chris’ 34^th Birthday!  The day itself was pretty low key, but we did got to breakfast together in the morning, then celebrated the following Friday night with a dinner downtown at Vesta Dipping Grill.  This is actually one of my favorite restaurants, but we had a gift card to use, so that’s where we went.  As usual we had a great meal celebrating my husband!

the super hot birthday boy

Denver's Race for the Cure

The last Sunday of the month was Denver’s Race for the Cure 5k.  As always I as super excited for this race, and for Chris to experience it with me.  The morning was magical, and emotional.  I just love this race for so many reasons.  We mostly walked with a few jogging spots.  Afterwards we walked around all the vendors and enjoyed the atmosphere.

September was also the month when I decided to start blogging again.  I’m so glad that I did.  I’ve definitely missed it, and it feels great to be back.  To document and remember the important things going on, regardless if they are good or bad.  Overall I feel great, and am in a happy place! 

Catch Up: August 2013

We were back up and running in August!  The beginning of the month started with a visit from my mom and my Aunt Deanna.  My cousin Cheryl had stayed with us back in June for a week in the hopes of finding a job in the Denver or Fort Collins area, and she found a job in Fort Collins.  So her mom and my mom helped move her stuff from Albuquerque to her new place in Colorado!  It’s great having my cousin so close!  So the first weekend of the month we traveled up to Fort Collins and helped unload.  We also spent that first weekend celebrating my friend Andrea’s birthday!  Overall so much fun!

The following weekend we went to Balistreri Winery.  A local winery that we got a gift card to as part of our wedding gift.  We had a great time tasting wines, and having great conversation.

We have wine in our wine rack!

 In the middle of the month Chris and I were somewhat irresponsible adults and traveled to Las Vegas for a night.  As you know  I love to travel, and I usually plan my year of trips before the new year even starts.  Married life is obviously different.  Not too say that I don’t love being married I do, but my singleton of just jetting off to see my friends and family (think my yearly trips to RI and FL) have come to a screeching halt since I met Chris.  I had voiced to him since the beginning of the year my want to plan a trip.  To go somewhere, see something.  This was many a conversation during my therapy sessions from the beginning of the year.  And then Chris lost his job.  So I just dealt with the fact that traveling was going to happen in 2013 (and a trip to NM doesn’t count).  Then Chris planned this trip to Vegas.  I was thrilled.  We were only there for a night, but we made the most of it!  We stayed at Nobu (a hotel inside Caesar’s Palace, a hotel I’ve always wanted to stay at), had some delicious food, hung out at the pool, and went to go see Penn and Teller!  It was a super fun trip, and it was really special since Chris and I were able to make our own memories of being in the city together. 

 At the end of the month, my parents were back up for another visit!  This was HUGE!  In the past my dad has only visited Denver every summer (excluding the summer of 2011, when he had his hip  replaced).  Then last year he was only here for a day: the day I got married, even after asking him multiple times to come out two days before the wedding to get to know my in-laws.  So the fact that it was my Dad’s idea to come up to Denver for a second time in a 2 month period was pretty impressive.  I give all credit to Chris.  Chris and my dad have the best son/father-in-law relationship I could ever ask for.  I’ll also give some credit to baseball, because like the trip in July this trip was also centered around a Colorado Rockies baseball game.  We also squeezed in a pre-season Bronco game!  It was great to have some more time with my parents, and to see the growing relationship they have with Chris.  Plus my dad gets my butt back in the gym, since this is pretty much his only daily activity, he plans his whole day around the gym.  So we went to the gym pretty much every day when they visited in July and August.

Otis checking out the new front storm door

When they were here in July I had mentioned things I wanted to get done around the house.  One project was getting a screen door for the sliding back door, and a screen storm door for the front door.  I love the fresh air (in the fall and spring), and without those doors we would have to leave the doors shut all the time.  Chris and I had originally planned to budget for this project in July, but that obviously didn’t happen.  So when my parents came up in August and we didn’t have the doors, my dad surprised me by taking Chris to Lowe’s to purchase a screen door and storm door for our house!  We now have the doors installed and I love them!  Denali also specifically loves them because of the extra sunlight the open doors create!  This time of year it has been perfect to leave the doors open and let the fresh air in!     

I have some highlights from September and then we’ll be all caught up!

Catch Up: July 2013

July was a pretty low key month.  We went to a couple of Rockies games through the courtesy of my work and friends.  One of the games was the one before the 4th of July so we got a good dose of fireworks.

Our first trip to the pool!

3rd of July fireworks!

my friends new baby: Lincoln

my first time making brussel sprouts: SO good!

One activity that has made a big impact on Chris and I this summer is church.  We've been going to the Sunday night service at 505!  It's a much more intimate service, not so "serious" and really laid back.  One of the reasons I love it is because it's in the chapel, which is where we got married.  It's just beautiful.
Over the summer our relationship with God has truly grown.  We've started praying together, and reading daily verses in the bible.  It has truly been a blessing.  There are some aspects of the morning service that I miss, but this service works for us if we have something going on in the mornings or decide to sleep in.
This makes me think about my relationship with God.  How He knows our ebbs and flows before we do. He knows when we'll be strong and weak.  And He's always there for us.  He knows the path that we are on, and He will protect us.  It's a very overwhelming feeling.  But the true blessing is the feeling of being comforted.  Knowing that when you put your trust in Him, everything really will be ok.  Better than ok.   

Just a cute picture

 Another of our date nights was a date in Denver, that included tickets to the Botanical Gardens.  We had a great time walking around and looking at all of the pretty flowers.

Catch Up: May 2013

May was another fun month.  We started out the month with a visit from my parents.  This was the first trip my dad had taken to come visit since I’ve met Chris (excluding the wedding, but my dad was only in town for the actual day of the wedding, so that doesn’t count).  So it was great to have both of my parents here and in our element.  I can’t remember how long they were here, but it was pretty rainy during their visit.  The purpose of the trip was a Rockies vs Yankees baseball game.   Which unfortunately was a dud, because there was a 3 hour rain delay and my dad got a sore throat. 

We did have a great dinner at Linger, which I’m so happy my parents enjoyed!  They left the Saturday before Mother’s Day, and that morning we went to Sassafras, which was a great breakfast place before heading to the airport

At the rainy Rockies game

 On Mother’s Day I picked up my friend Andrea for the Mother’s Day 5k at City Park.  This was the 4^th time of done this race, and I truly enjoy it because I know exactly what to expect. This was Andrea’s first competitive race and we both had a great time.  If I recall we had good weather, and the atmosphere of this race is always nice. 

Mother's Day 5k

 We had a fun night out in the middle of the month with one of Chris’ old co-workers Matt and his wife Karen.  We’ve gone out on a handful of double dates, and they are a super fun couple.  We went to eat at the EDGE and then to see Ron White.  Chris actually introduced me to Ron White who’s a comedian when we first started dating.  We had a great seats, and it was super funny show!

Chris & I waiting for Ron White

Denali playing with catnip that my MIL found in our backyard!  The cats love it!!!

 Over Memorial Day weekend Chris’ parents were in town.  Mary my MIL has a super green thumb, so her and Chris went crazy in our backyard.  We got a ton of plants, herbs, and a whole new garden going in our 3 gardening pods on the side of the house.  I myself don’t have a green thumb whatsoever, but I did plant some pretty things in one of our planters in the front of the house.  We had some nice meals, and we took them to the improve comedy show at Impulse Theater which is always fun.

Chris & Mary shopping the plants

This is my contribution

Getting ready to do some major gardening!