Broncos Anniversary!

My husband knows my love language...BRONCOS.  This year was our 7th wedding anniversary, and anyone who knows anything about the Broncos knows that John Elway was number 7, so naturally I was going to make a big deal about this particular milestone.  But he was way ahead of me.  When the NFL released the 2014 schedule, he let me know that he was planning for us to fly to Denver for the season opener against the Colts which just happened to fall on our anniversary weekend.  Happy Elway anniversary to us.  He arranged the whole thing.

This was my mantra the weeks leading up to the trip!

We had to fly out super early - so these sweet girls were awake for breakfast at about 5:15am (they are usually pretty good sleeping in kids...our normal wake up time is around 7:30 or 8:00).  It's funny, because Evelyn is usually the "morning person" of the two...but clearly she is not excited to be up yet in this picture!

Lilly crashed out on the flight to Houston

I celebrated the first time in 3 years that I have been able to read a real book on a plane

We had some donuts and ran off some energy running on the moving walkway for a while during our layover in Houston

My Mom picked us up at the airport, dropped us off downtown, then took the girls home with her for the weekend.  I'm not sure that they even missed us.  It's funny how disconnected you feel when you are away from your kids...this was the first night we have been away from Lilly, and the first time Evelyn has had a night away from us other than the one night we stayed in the hospital when Lilly was born.  It was weird - but good weird.

We had an awesome run along the Cherry Creek trails downtown, then had dinner at The Rio before heading to the Rockies game.  As you can see from the picture below, the Rockies tickets were really hard to come by.  We actually got Club level seats for pretty cheap, which ended up being a good thing because it was drizzly/rainy for the first part of the game.

It was a nice surprise to see the Pride of the Rockies playing the national anthem at the game!

(I played in the Pride when I was at UNC as an undergrad!)

Like I said...I don't think the girls missed us much...Mommy and Daddy don't let me crawl on the table like this...

On Saturday, we got up and had a nice workout followed by a yummy brunch.  We opted for a big brunch because we knew we were having dinner early, so we could just skip lunch.  From there we headed to Elitches (or Six Flags Elitch Gardens...).  I had a headache, so it actually wasn't nearly the fun I was remembering it being.  Either that or I'm getting old and throwing yourself around on roller coasters isn't as entertaining.  I kept thinking about my Grammie, who rode them well into her 70s!

We rode all of the main rides - it actually kind of stunk that I was feeling crummy because the lines were virtually non-existent and the weather was amazing - but we left shortly after lunchtime.  Instead of walking back to our hotel (~2 miles), we rented some bikes!  It wasn't exactly the smartest choice we made, riding downtown with no helmets, but it was fun!

Meanwhile in Wray, the cousins were having some lunch (thanks, Mike & Aug!)

After we got back to our hotel, I decided to take a nap and hopefully shake off the lingering headache I had (of course, I had none of my headache oils with me!).  Fortunately it worked and I felt a ton better for our night out!
Our official anniversary dinner was at Elway's (where else?) - it was pretty much life changing.

After dinner, we went to a movie (probably our first together in about 6 months...we have GOT to get out of Texas and closer to free babysitters ;-)) - we saw When the Game Stands Tall, which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

Sunday morning, I got up early to get a long run in.  I am going to run a half marathon in San Antonio in December, and while my training hasn't officially started, I have been putting in some good base miles...and let's face it - I was in Colorado where the humidity isn't 97% with 90* at 6am.  It was pretty much amazing...about 65* with maybe 30% humidity.  Sigh...again, we have GOT to get out of Texas!

Some sights along my (7 mile...of course!) run that morning...

After my run, we had another brunch date at another amazing restaurant that I could eat a bunch of not healthy food and not feel guilty because I had just ran 7 miles.  I run so I can eat, really.  We tried to get a late check out at our hotel, but they were not able to give us one, so we opted to go see another movie while we waited for my Mom and Dad to come pick us up (they were going to the game with us, while my sister and her husband watched our kids...again, thanks Mike & Aug!).  We got back to the hotel right in just about perfect timing to meet them and head to the stadium.

This really might be my favorite place in the world.  Except my bed.  If I could move my bed to here, that would be my favorite place in the world.

We took in a lot of the pre-game festivities outside of the stadium - including tailgating with Mitch Unrein's family for a little while (my parents know his uncle) and watching Julius Thomas' Dad do the Electric Slide.
We also caught the Stampede - a drum and bugle corps at Broncos games that a few of my old marching band friends play in. The second from the left is a good friend who I have kept in touch with - and because my family will mention it, if I don't...in the interest of full disclosure, it's an ex-boyfriend from college - my Dad was loving the awkwardness of that!  We both have strong, godly marriages with beautiful children, so it was cool to see him again (next time, can Liz come, too?!). 

We got to pose in front of John's Ring of Fame statue while watching several of the players arrive

Thanks for dinner last night, John!

1-2-3 BRONCOS!

Seriously.  I love this - my husband rules.

(and thanks, Mom & Dad, for having awesome tickets!)

And here's the icing on the cake...Dan did THIS at halftime!

He told me I needed to stay in my seat at halftime and was videoing some ridiculous dog who was catching frisbees as the halftime show.  Lillian loves puppies, so he used that as his excuse....then he totally missed the first time the message came on the board because he was videoing the ridiculous dog who was catching frisbees as the halftime show.  I saw my name first, and was able to read it before it scrolled to the next message, and was like - hey, that's us!  :-)

Final Score - BRONCOS WIN!

We drove back to Wray with my parents after the game - about a 2.5 hour drive, so it was a late night.  Because we knew it was going to be after midnight when we got to Wray to reunite with the girls, we opted not to have to be up at 5am to head to the airport for an early flight.  Instead, we watched the girls play with their cousins and watched our wedding video since it was our actual anniversary.  And, of course, the weather was amazing - so they actually got to play outside!

Evelyn was loving riding a 'big girl' bike (she's never been able to reach the pedals!)

She clearly has zero issues with low perceived competence as well...

After lunch, we headed to the airport.  Seriously, though, thank you Grammie (my Mom) for the 3 trips you took to Denver in 4 days.  We had no troubles getting through security in Denver and had time to grab some dinner before boarding.  The girls did awesome traveling!

All you need is a bagel wrapper to entertain a one-year old for a good 10 minutes on the flight

The ease in traveling ended during our layover in Houston.  We were supposed to have a quick 45 minute layover, which was good because we were at normal bedtime time.  Our girls will let us push them a little, but usually within about an hour of 8:30ish, they are done.  We should have been taking off in Houston around 9:15...or we could be delayed until 10:30.  Lilly was screaming, Evelyn peed her pants (yep, in the airport chair...think about that the next time you sit down in one of those...at least it was leather - and I sprayed it with On Guard).  Of course, I had planned a neat little trip home with zero troubles, so I didn't pack extra clothes.  Evelyn got to finish the flight home in her shirt and one of Lillian's diapers.  Mom of the Year.  Fortunately when we actually got on the airplane, Lilly crashed and Evelyn pretty much rested on my lap for the 45 minute flight.  I'm sure the people in the gate area were loving that they had the pleasure of flying with us that evening.  I also may, or may not, have tried to get coffee at Peet's and they told me they were closed at 8:55 (when the sign said 9:00), which resulted in my emailing Peet's Customer Service resulting in them sending me a free travel mug and (I'm told) a free coffee next time we fly through Houston.  We'll see if they remember that in November!

It was such a great trip though.  This man knows me well....Colorado, seeing (most of) my family, Broncos - those were all amazing.  But spending time with him was my favorite.  I love our family, and I love that we get to walk this life together.  Happy Elway anniversary, Dan!  You are my favorite today, tomorrow, and always.