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!

13 Years

A couple weeks ago my husband asked if I would go on a date with him. I said, "Yes" and it was a good thing because he already had it all planned out. We started out at Earl's downtown, where we enjoyed a peach bellini, wine, and some pretty great food.

The great thing about sitting on the patio on 16th Street is that it makes for great people watching. Boy, were there some interesting people. There are also beautifully painted pianos all along the street for anyone to just sit down and play. The one behind me is painted like the sky. Don't mind me I'm just enjoying my fries and taking in the view or something.

We walked around a bit and then ended up here. We love taking in shows at the Denver Center for Performing Arts. We've seen quite a few now. Last year we saw Wicked and another time we saw Quilters. We kind of like seeing the less known shows, but Wicked definitely lived up to all the hype and we loved it!

This time around The Doyle and Debbie Show was the only show to see. If you're a country music fan you'll be busting a gut wacthing this one. It's a spoof on old country music duos that never worked out with a little white-trash on the side. How can you go wrong with song titles like Fat Women in Trailers or Blue Stretch Pants?

Here's my lovely date with Rockies purple on the building in the background! ;)

After the show we strolled down 16th Street again and had Vanilla Bean and Dulce de Leche cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. Oh, did I mention we hit the town to celebrate 13 years of marriage? 13! That makes me feel a little old these days.

And We’re Off

Wednesday afternoon Jared and I took off.  We didn’t go far, but we went far enough.  :) If you’ve never been to Denver, here it is.  We drove through downtown.  We passed Invesco Field.  That’s where the Broncos play. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery the more south we drove.We drove through Colorado Springs...  which meant driving past the Air Force Academy andtheir big stadium. We saw some more beautiful scenery.  Then we finally arrived in Manitou Springs at the Cliff House! Check back later for more.  Until next time…

Happy Anniversary

Jared and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on Wednesday. I didn't really want to go anywhere. At this point, with this pregnancy, by mid afternoon/evening I am out of energy. I could probably fall asleep by 8pm if I was allowed. Jared had planned this evening for weeks and made me go out. I am glad he did. We had a great time. We went out to dinner and then to the Denver Center for Performing Arts and took in the show Quilters. When Jared mentioned Quilters I actually thought he was a little crazy. Why would he want to see a show about quilts? Plus the whole place was probably going to be filled with charming, little old ladies. We could just as well go to church. When I asked him about it he said there aren't many shows on Wednesday evenings and he wanted to go to a show. The last time we went to a show was in college. We saw Les Miserables. That was great show.

Back to Quilters. We arrived at the theatre and as we were walking in there were quilts hanging from the ceiling everywhere. And, of course, there were little old ladies and their quilted purses filling the lobby. We even saw a couple we had met at our church. See? It's as I was predicting. The only thing I was wrong about was the show itself. It was a fabulous show! It was about pioneer women at the turn of the century and the history of quilts. It was quite intriguing. The singing was good too. This show went beyond my expectations. If it comes to your area you should think about seeing it. Lauren, it actually made me think of you when you told me about your quilting experience. And now I may be hooked on these shows. It may have to become a yearly thing for us. Although, I hear Wicked is supposed to be really good too. That's coming to Denver in October. Hint, hint Jared.