Go Broncos!!! Or not

New Years weekend was filled with a lot of relaxation and getting things done. Except for Sunday, Sunday was a day we will surely never forget.

Steve got the thrill of his life and got a field pass from our realtor and good friend for the Broncos game. That means he was on the field for 1 hour before the game watching the players practice. He spoke with one of our best defensive players, Dawkins, for about 30 seconds and he got some high fives from some other players. Steve will definitely never forget this once in a life time opportunity, being right next to his favorite team while they were getting ready to play a game. After that thrill Steve settled in to his seats and watched the awful game the Broncos played. Apparently, Steve's presence did not help the Broncos at all. But, I can't say much, I was at the game also.

Several of our friends and myself went to the game as well and sat separate from Steve. Not only did we not get field passes, but we also were about 20 rows from being in the last row, furthest from the field. Never the less, it was a fantastic time, even with the embarrassing loss.

In case you are wondering, Matthew stayed home, he has yet to experience his first Broncos game. Though I know it will happen soon and will be just the beginning of his life filled with Denver Broncos football.

Sunday was bittersweet. It was more fun that I could handle, yet was very sad because the Broncos season is now over.

Thank God for a new fresh year. I am very excited and optimistic to see what will happen this year. Even if I know the Broncos will NOT win the super bowl this year.

Photography, if only I had some talent...

Katie Smith and I were inseparable. We were always together at school, at her house, at my house, in the car, at the mall, at the movie...you name it Katie and I did it together. In high school Katie was a great friend. Sure we had our fights, but most of the time we were together laughing and talking. Katie understood me like no one else did and I understood her. I remember there was this boy in high school that essentially dumped me and I felt embarrassed and stupid. The next day Katie gave me a sympathy card. It was so hysterical, it made me laugh and instantly changed my mood, she always knew exactly what to do to lift my spirit.



After high school we kept in touch, but slowly drifted apart. We lived hundreds of miles away from each other which proved to make it hard to be friends. But we always contacted each other from time to time to check in. Our connection proved to be unchanged when we both found out we were pregnant with boys that were due 3 days apart. God has a crazy way of bringing people together, doesn't he?

Katie and I all got to see each other the other night. Rhiannon, another great friend from High School and I drove to Conifer to see Katie. It was a fabulous time. Katie is an extremely talented photographer and it was such a blessing to see our boys together and for Katie to take some pictures of Matthew.

This is Thaddeus, Katie's little boy. What are they looking at? Hmmmm....

Now let me explain this next picture. Katie is working on building her photography portfolio, particularly her bridal pictures. So, she talked me in to putting on my 5 year old wedding dress and she took some pictures of me. I told her these pictures might ruin her portfolio, for I have NEVER been called photogenic, however I learned a good photographer can make anyone look good.

The Ya Ya Sisterhood

Women can be very dramatic, very petty and very psycho. I know this because I am one. (Sorry to throw us under the bus women!) With that said, women can also be supportive, loving, and tons of fun. The lateral is how I would describe all of my girlfriends. I am extremely blessed to have phenomenal women in my life. Thank you to all my girlfriends, including the ones who will get 2 margaritas at once,

the ones who will put a face mask on half their face and let me take a picture,

and the girlfriends who think it is funny, as I do, to switch name tags and make everyone at the event think we have a different name.

To those girlfriends and all my girlfriends out there. Thank you for making me laugh, keeping me grounded, showing me compassion, and giving me a part of yourselves. I am forever grateful.

Casa Bonita....again!!

On Friday we went to Casa Bonita, again. That's right, we went to the pink restaurant with a waterfall inside, a fountain out front, cheese enchiladas made out of Velveeta and bathrooms that smell like the rest area's on the side of the interstate. Steve and Matthew loved it!!!

We went there to celebrate our friend, Sean's birthday. You are probably picturing Sean as a little boy, since Casa Bonita is a place that most children request on their birthday. You are wrong, Sean is the same age as Steve and I. Steve and Sean are very good friends, they have a ton in common, one of them being they both love Casa Bonita.

Many of our friends went, even Peter, who is still on crutches.

Alaina even sang her daddy, Sean, Happy Birthday.

Alaina and Matthew stuck together like they usually do and bugged Peter and Alissa, who are total suckers and always play along with them and pay more attention to them than anyone else.

Matt and Alaina are entertained so easily.

Now, for the bad part. Half way through our Casa Bonita adventure I fell ill. All of a sudden I felt like a Greyhound bus hit me and I could barely function. After a long drive home with me holding my head out the window, I got home and proceeded to "get sick" about 5 times that night. The first time was the loveliest because I got to see this lovely food all over again.

And, yes, you are welcome for giving you that picture in your head. I know you wanted to know all the details.

After I had a rough night, Steve then "got sick" Saturday morning and proceeded to have a raging fever all day Saturday. So, Steve and I got to take care of Matthew on Saturday from our couch. We tried putting in Finding Nemo and the movie Cars to entertain him while we tried to keep from falling in the coma, we so desperately wanted to fall in to. All in all Matty did very well and Steve and I managed to get well rather quickly and some how we managed to keep from getting Matthew sick which was our main concern.

This weekend I was reminded of something that I have been told numerous times from other parents and that is that being sick while trying to take care of your kids is like a blind person trying to thread a needle. It is extremely hard and not very fun. This week, I am getting my flu shot and increasing my Vitamin C dose, let's pray for a healthy rest of the winter!! :)

Do you have a question?

Why did I take a picture of Matty standing on crutches?



Actually....Why were there crutches at our house at all?



Because that is what the emergency room gave Peter when he checked out of the hospital on Matthew's birthday.


Why did Peter go to the ER on Matthew's birthday?

To get 11 stitches in the bottom of his foot, of course.

How did Peter get a disgustingly, huge gash on the bottom of his foot while he was at a 2 year olds birthday party?

Because he jumped our fence to go in to the neighbor's yard to fetch a gigantic bouncy ball that we were playing "volleyball" with- Duh. And because when a 2 year old's birthday party ends in an ER visit, that 2 year old will forever be totally cool.

Are you sure we are allowed to go in there?

Sunday night we had a little surprise from some of our friends. They told us they had some extra tickets to the Avalanche preseason game and they wanted us to go with them. I will be honest I was not too thrilled to go, I was feeling quite lazy that day and the thought of sitting in tiny, hard seats with Matt in my lap while trying to keep Matt entertained to minimize the amount of mean looks from the people sitting around us; just did not sound like fun. Well....Steve convinced me to "chill" (He says that a lot to me, I can't imagine why?) and off we went to meet them for the game.


Well, the surprise comes now....they handed us the tickets and they were tickets for a suite. That's right a suite at the Colorado Avalanche game. A little private room. The whole wing of suites (pretty sure 'wing' is not the correct terminology) has a separate escalator that has people at the bottom of it in suits that check to make sure you are the elite and you have a suite ticket. I wasn't sure if they would let me in, since I had left my designer handbag, designer clothing, Gucci sunglasses and fur coat at home, but they actually did! And the door to the suite is locked and only our fancy tickets will unlock the door. I thought for sure my ticket was a fraud and it wouldn't unlock the door, but it actually did!





We had a suite view (get it! Play on words!! I am so clever)

I guess Steve thought we were going to a Broncos game because he wore his Broncos jersey.

I am pretty sure Matty will never be the same again. If we take him to a game in the regular seats he will scoff at the hard plastic. These seats were soft, padded, plush black leather.

And the Avalanche won. I am not much of a hockey fan, but I really do like going to sporting events, especially is they are in a suite. I can definitely get used to this. Although I won't get used to it, because it will never happen again, but I can dream.

Happy Birthday Dear Matthew, Happy Birthday to You!

Matthew was born on September 19th, 2007. Exactly 2 years later we celebrated his birth on a beautiful Saturday.

So many friends and family came out to celebrate, we felt very blessed. We played a lot of badminton and created a volleyball game involving a really big volleyball.


The only 2 kids at the party, Alaina and Matty had a great time.

Matt even tried to play Badminton.

He was very spoiled by everyone and got more presents than he could handle. Including a truck, what little boy's birthday party would be complete without a truck?

A tricycle from his grandma and grandpa.

A glove and ball to fulfill Steve's dream of him being in the Major Leagues someday.

And of course an airplane cake. Grandma made it for him, it turned out awesome- not sure how I will top this cake next year. I better start working on it now :)

Happy Birthday to my little baby, Matthew, who is not a baby anymore....tear.

Rock Band?

You're never too old to start a rock band right? Well, that's what we think, so that is exactly what we did along with our friends on Friday night.


Mark was lead guitar

Steve was on vocals, he wanted the ear piece with the microphone, he said it made him feel like Britney Spears.

Matty tried to play Bass, Alissa gave him a quick lesson.

Alissa and Steve traded lead vocals back and forth and even did many duets. Peter and Landon tried to play guitar, but Matty kept interrupting, I guess he didn't realize how important our rock band is and how serious we are about becoming rock stars.

Matt and Alaina helped Sean with his drumming skills. We are all going to hit it big some day!!

Apparently Matty thinks it is hysterical that we all think we are going to be bigger than the Rolling Stones.

Alaina is trying to stay positive and encourage us to never give up on our rock star dreams.

Where did we go Saturday Night?

Saturday night we got to go somewhere we have been wanting to go all summer. We tried to go a little while ago and failed miserably. See how happy our friend, Mark, and Matty were to finally be there!!
Matty was watching the field intently.

Us girls were enjoying a night outside with some nachos, ice cream and beer.

Have you figured it out yet???

We went to Coors Field to watch a Colorado Rockies game!!!

It was an awesome night, Matthew really enjoyed it and behaved almost perfectly. I love summertime in the rockies.

Flushing the toliet and what we did this weekend

Steve and I try to really enjoy our weekends. During the week he is working, I am working, Matty is at day care, etc, etc. we try to have fun and relax, but it is mostly full of stuff that we HAVE to do rather than stuff that we WANT to do. So when the weekends come around our goal is to do things that we WANT to do. This weekend was no exception.

On Friday night my friend, Jackie, organized a girl's night. This was a welcome night for me, I left the little boy with Steve, drove to Jackie's; ate some good food, drank an excellent drink (I will have to share this drink recipe soon, it is my new favorite!!) and had a great time with the ladies!!

Let me tell you a little something about Jackie, she is a modern Martha Stewart. She's an interior decrorator and a wedding planner. So she plans an event like nobody I have ever seen and she has an ability to make anything look beautiful. I make fun of her all the time for her attention to detail, of course I only make fun of her because I am jealous. :) Here is a picture of the girls with their place cards that Jackie made for the night. Of course I made fun of her for the place cards, but in reality they were such a cute touch to her beautifully set table.

On Saturday morning, Steve and I, and some friends went to the Western Welcoming Parade in Littleton. This was the first time we had been to the parade and I am certain it will not be our last. It was a nice way to spend a Saturday morning and a nice change of pace for us. Matthew loved sitting on his daddy's shoulders to watch the parade.

Katie, Alaina, and Jackie loved the parade....

We were all laughing pretty hard at the sign that was posted on one of the trucks in the parade, they were encouraging people to save water. The theme of the parade was "Being Green" Ummm..... I think I will go ahead and waste water, that is gross.

This reminds me of Matty's new favorite thing to do. Flush the toliet. He definetly is not "green". Wasting water by flushing the toliet is totally cool!! Right Matt.....

Weddings!!

The theme of this summer/fall is weddings. My life is full of weddings right now and has been for most of the summer, and it looks like there is no end in sight.

In July my hubby, and 2 of our friends ventured to North Carolina to visit a friend who was getting married. I had never been that far East/South in my boring life so it was rather exciting for me. It was a great small town wedding. My favorite part was the fact that the beautiful bride, Carolyn, wore a tea length dress. It was so unexpected and so sickeningly cute, I loved it!!

The weekend after our visit to North Carolina we went to yet another wedding. It was at this gorgeous ranch in Loveland. I was a little shocked when I learned that the reception would be held in a barn, but I have to say it was one of the most fun weddings I have been to, in fact I had a little too much fun as you can see here....

and here....

This is what happens when you give me a night away from my child, put all my friends and I in a room (or barn) and give us an open bar... I love weddings!!

These 2 weddings are not the end, I have more to go. My hubby's brother is getting married in September. They live in Texas and they are getting married here in Colorado. So, I have been on the phone with them, emailing them, texting them, trying to help them with all the wedding plans- it is not easy for them to plan a wedding that will be held in another state, but it is going to be another great wedding. My favorite part of planning this wedding is the bride. She is the most laid back bride in the history of the world. Seriously, if there was an award for the bride that is the least bridezilla ever, Mandy would get the award. She actually kind of freaks me out.. come on Mandy, show me your bridezilla side, I know it is hiding there somewhere.

There is another wedding that will happen in November. Our good friends are getting married and I am the maid of honor and Steve is the best man. Without sounding too cliche, I would like to say that Steve and I are truly honored to be standing up with this couple, they are the most caring, faithful friends and I am so happy they are finally getting married!!

My favorite part about this wedding, so far, is the trick the bride played on her fiance. She had him believing the dress she wanted to buy encompassed the entire wedding budget and "she just had to have it". This pic was his reaction, well not really but it could be! I just love it when the brides don't take their wedding planning too seriously.

And there is one more wedding worth mentioning. It is not until next summer, but it is going to include our wonderful friends getting married in the mountains and my cute little son will be the ring bearer. So from now until next summer I will be living in constant fear of my child ruining their ceremony :). So far my favorite part about this wedding is the engagement ring. Whenever I am around the bride I stare at her finger and drool, she thinks I have some sort of hyper salivating problem. I am not usually a materialistic girl, but this ring is so beautiful and sparkly and the diamond is so big- I cannot help myself!

Can you tell I love weddings? They represent the start of a new partnership and a new chapter. They are so beautiful, exciting, and full of hope and love. I will admit, I also love weddings because of the free food and drinks, but don't tell anybody I said that.