Snowy and Cold Football

It felt like winter arrived early and stayed late. It came fiercely and stuck around for days. The first snow of the season is always fun and exciting. The kids love to get outside as soon as they can and then I don't see them for hours.

     

Once the snow melted we thought things were back to normal again, but no, another storm was already on the way again.

     

This snow and cold made this football season almost unbearable, except that every game we went to was exciting, fun, and it ended with the Broncos winning! We also got to our seats and were greeted with orange mustaches in our cupholders during the Bengals game. We were told that by wearing the mustaches we broke a world record for the most people wearing false mustaches or something weird like that.

Brock Osweiler was our quarterback for all of the games we attended this past regular season. He was a fun to watch and moved around a little bit better than Peyton Manning. Not only was it a cold football season for us, but all of the regular season games that we attended were night games and games that went into overtime. Ugh!! We beat the Bengals. Yay! Hot chocolate was a warm consolation when Michaela and I were on a mission to find some cupcakes. Hey, we found each other at the game though we were two sections away from each other, so I guess we were 1 for 2.  Walking around during the game helped keep us warm and had us back in our seats in time to witness the game winning touchdown for the Broncos against the Patriots. It was such a satisfying win because of all the controversy surrounding the Patriots and all of their cheating. Savoring the win against Patriots was wonderful, but we had our eye set on the real prize which first meant playoffs. It was finally playoff time and tailgate time! Not only was it playoffs, but we got to go during the day. It felt a little warmer and the vodka helped with that too, I'm sure. Playoff time meant Peyton Manning was back! Everyone was excited. There weren't many dirty, yellow towels as there normally is in the crowd during a game versus the Steelers. I can't say that it was a pretty win or an easy win, but it was a win nonetheless. That win meant that the Broncos were moving on to the AFC Championship game!

             

 The entire city of Denver was excited for this game. Not only was it a rematch from earlier in the season, but a win meant a trip to the Super Bowl. The Broncos defense came out strong, especially against Tom Brady. They pretty much won the game for the Broncos. This was most definitely not a good game for Tom Brady or the Patriots. I think the Broncos sacked him four or six times. But hey, it was a win for the Broncos and that meant SUPER BOWL bound!! Confetti was strewn all over the field. Some of it even made it to our seats. My Lutheran Stud couldn't resist and he picked up a piece of it and now carries it in his wallet. Can you say, "Crazy?" Just kidding, babe! Love you. ;) We stayed for the trophy celebration along with about 70,000 other people and it was insane and surreal. Super Bowl here we come, or rather here comes the Broncos!

Fifteen Years

June was seriously insane! With baseball, packing a house, closing on a house, moving, and an upcoming Catechism retreat I didn't think we'd have time to do anything fun and exciting for our anniversary, but my awesome Lutheran Stud had other plans.

We actually took off, in the middle of crazy, for the mountains. 

Guess what? In the middle of June there was still snow at higher elevations.

We landed in Aspen for a few days. It was such a fun little town. We walked all over town. The weather couldn't have been any nicer.

My bucket list has the Maroon Bells on it because I've heard how beautiful it is and it did not disappoint.  We caught a bus in town that took us right up to the Maroon Bells area and then we decided to do a little hiking.

The trail was beautiful, full of Aspen trees and green leaves. There were also waterfalls everywhere with super fast flowing water. The water run-off from the snowy mountains was quite a rush.

Here's a view of the Maroon Bells. 

After our fun hike we got cleaned up and headed out to dinner.

Jimmy Bodega's was pretty great. The food was fabulous as was the atmosphere. We sat outside and had so much fun people watching. Who knew cocktail sauce could look so good smeared on a plate?

After talking to several people around town we decided to do one last hike before heading home. This was a steep hike, but it lead us to be able to view the entire town from high above. The view was definitely worth it for the difficult, but satisfying hike.

Fifteen years and counting. I wouldn't want to spend it with anyone else. I love you, Jared!

Baseball, Baseball, and More Baseball

I don't know about you, but we received a lot of rain in April and May causing a crazy baseball season for us.

With 5 children playing baseball, a lot of rain meant a lot of make-up games for us and even a few doubleheaders. In the month of June we lived at the baseball field. Our calendar was filled with baseball for 22 straight days. The season began without games on Sunday and as we neared the end of the season we were running straight from church to the ball field. It was crazy, but crazy fun too!

Sometimes we even had two games going at the same time, and I'd run back and forth trying to catch everyone bat or field the ball.

The weather did get better and who can complain when you're watching baseball and you have a view of the mountains in the background? It makes you slow down a little and appreciate the beautiful scenery that God has created for us.

Because we love baseball so much one team just wasn't enough for  Thomas. It just so happened that some dear friends of ours were playing in a tournament near our house and they were short a few players. They asked Thomas to join them and he had a blast! With a few more games on the schedule Thomas ended up moving in with them for a few days. These boys are like long lost brothers. They know how to get into a lot of trouble together.

Since Thomas got to go home with his buddies they kidnapped Rachel (and Rebecca) too! It was only slightly quieter in our home for those few days. ;)

Since Little League baseball wasn't enough for us we hit up a Rockies' game with our St. Louis Cardinal loving friends.

The outcome was fabulous considering I went to the game with very low expectations. I mean come on, the Rockies were near the bottom of the barrel in baseball and the Cardinals were probably going to go to the playoffs again.

Guess what? The Rockies won! It was a great game if I do say so myself. 

What made the game even better was that we got to hang out with our sweet friends at the same time. It will definitely be a memorable game for years to come. I'll never let you forget it, Mandy. ;)

After the Valentine's Day Party

Wow! It's been over 2 months since I've blogged anything. Thank you for your kind comments and emails about my lack of blogging. Hopefully, I can get you caught up on what's been going on around here. 

The last half of February took a cold turn right after David completed level 8, Rachel level 6, and Anna level 2 in the Catechism memory program at church. We found ourselves with quite a bit of snow causing us to hit the slopes and do a little sledding. We even convinced one of our church members to join us after he plowed our driveway. We're so spoiled! The cold weather didn't stop us from heading out to see the Glass Slipper at the Buell theater. It was the perfect Valentine's day with another couple to boot!

The Zoo in January

It had been over a year since we had seen Mimi and Papa, so way back in January, they came to visit. It was such a beautiful day outside that we decided to take them to the zoo. Would you believe it if I told you just a few days earlier we had snow on the ground?

It looks like the brown bears just finished lunch and were taking an afternoon nap.

The gorillas were pretty entertaining that day, walking around near the windows.

We always enjoy the Gibbons when we visit. They do amazing acrobatic stunts, at least in my view, when they're swinging from the ropes or branches.

The rhinos were a big hit with the spectators.

They now share their home with the elephants for our easier viewing pleasure. Since moving to this space it seems like they are more active when we visit.

Check out these crazy animals that climb logs. They don't even cage these guys up. They seem to roam free all over the zoo!

The tricks that these elephants perform are always fun to watch and the facts we learn about them are pretty amazing.

Who needs a penny when you can stamp it with a zoo logo.

Anna wanted to take off and find the giraffes, so she and I snuck away while the others were were perusing the hyenas and foxes.

Then we came across the zebras.

The zebras were putting on a show for us without any coaxing.

Smile for the camera!

Once I tried to get the lion to smile with Mimi and Rachel he turned away. He wasn't having any of it.