The Reason We Went To Colorado, India's Wedding!

After our fun day in Fort Collins, Jeremy and I drove back to Broomfield where we showered and put on our fancy wedding clothes.  We then drove a few miles to a place called the Chateau for the wedding of my friend India.  I first met India in the dorm my first year away.  She lived across the hall from me and we instantly became friends.  I was living with a girl named Martha who was from San Diego.  She was so so nice and absolutely a ball to be around.  The only problem with Martha was that she had this boyfriend back in San Diego that she missed terribly.  She missed him so much in fact that she flew home one weekend and never came back.  You wouldn't think this would be a big deal except that she never told her parents she left Colorado and was living with HIM just miles from her parents. I feel really bad about this now but every time her parents would call the dorm room looking for her, I would have to tell them she was out.  I would then call her in San Diego and tell her to call home.  It was terrible of me I know and I really do regret that I did this.  Can you believe she left her car and everything?  Crazy story right??!! So India and I became friends and the following year her little sister Brett moved in with me and my suite mate Tasha.  After a year of dorm living we were way to cool to stay with all the Freshmen and decided to get an apartment. Living in an apartment with India, Brett and Tasha was the experience of a lifetime.  We had way too much fun together!  Oh could I tell you stories...but I won't...cause they are not appropriate!! 

So we get to the Chateau and find our seats.  The music starts and here comes the wedding party down the isle.  The guests stand up with their cameras and start snapping pictures left and right.  Here comes my friend India and as she is walking down the isle the guests are saying things like, "uh huh", "that's right", "you go girl"""giiirrrrlfriend!" "mmmmmm."  They were laughing the whole time she was walking down the isle.  Then the ceremony starts and the Pastor is giving the sermon and the guests start in again, "Praise the Lord!" "Amen!" "That's Right!" "Uh Huh!" Jeremy and I were DYING!  It was so relaxed and fun!  The reception was equally entertaining.  We sat at a table with all of India's childhood neighbor friends.  It was so fun talking with them and getting to know all the people who were there to celebrate.  The night was one to remember...let me tell you!  I totally enjoyed seeing India and her sister Brett.  Although I didn't get to hang out with them and catch up, it was fun seeing them both.  I love these girls and miss them tons!  I'm so happy I got to go to India's wedding

This is India's little sister Brett who was also one of my room mates.  She is the funniest person you will ever meet, trust me!!  She has more tattoos then anyone I know and hasn't cut her hair in 10 years, that's right people...10YEARS!!  She is a 6th, 7th and 8th, grade teacher and I can only imagine how much the kiddos adore her! 

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Saturday morning we headed up to Fort Collins, home to the Colorado State Rams.  My old stomping grounds in 1994, 1995, and 1996. In case you are wondering why I chose to go to Colorado State the story goes like this:  I was in a really bad place in life.  I hated that I was going to Mesa Community College.  Jeremy and I had broken up and he was going to ASU.  I was living at home and just down.  I went to the bookstore one day and bought this HUGE book of colleges.  I started flipping through it and highlighting all the places that I had been as a kid.  Some of the places included Texas, Utah, Colorado and California.  I then called all of the places I thought it would be fun to live and had them send me applications (No Internet at the time!) One day I received a letter of acceptance from Colorado State University in Fort Collins Colorado.  I had never been to Fort Collins nor did I know a single person there. Since it was the first place that accepted me, I decided I was gonna go...for 1 semester.  My Dad came home from work one night and ever so calmly I asked him, "Hey Dad, what are you doing in January?" "Can you drive me to Colorado, I'm gonna go to school there." Without hesitation he said he would take me, he must have know how down I was! So one day in January 1994, my Mom and Dad drove me to Fort Collins Colorado, dropped me off and went home.  My Mom told me later she cried the whole way home thinking that if someone were to kidnap me no one would even know I was gone cause no one even knew I was there. I didn't know a single sole!  Remember, this was before cell phones so phone calls home only happened on Sunday's. Fast forward 14 years... 

 As we drove into town I was getting excited but nothing looked familiar.  My little college town was now HUGE.  As we passed a Super Target, JoAnn Fabrics, and Michaels I began to feel a bit sad that none of it looked as how I remembered.  Since we had no idea where we were going we just kept driving toward the mountains.  As we drove Jeremy kept asking, "Does any of this look familiar?" None of it did.  None of the streets rang a bell, none of the gas stations jogged a memory, NOTHING!  Jeremy was getting a bit irritated with me cause we had tickets to the CSU/UNLV football game and we were running a little late.  Eventually we ran into a street called College and whatta ya know...There was MY college!  I remembered where the bookstore was so we ran in and grabbed some CSU shirts to wear to the big game.  We then headed over to The Pickle Barrel for a Funky Punky sandwich.  I'm pretty sure this cute little sandwich shop is where I began the process of gaining the Freshman 15 my first year away from home.  

After a quick lunch we headed to the stadium to watch the football game.  As we pulled up to the stadium I thought Jeremy was gonna die.  The CSU football stadium is much like that of the Mountain View Toro stadium except that you park in a grass field.  He couldn't believe that the stadium was so small for a college football team.  We watched the game and laughed at the announcer and vinyl signs taped to the stadium fence.  Since the CSU Rams were killing UNLV, we left and headed back to the campus so I could look around.  Something to note in all this is that the year after I graduated, the Poudre Dam broke and flooded the city of Fort Collins.  Because of this, much of the school had to be rebuilt.  I felt bad that not much of it looked as I had remembered.

We stopped by my old dorm room and even my apartment.  The city has grown so so much, it was way different then I thought it would be but those two places still looked the same.  It was so fun being back in Fort Collins.  It has been 14 years since I graduated but much of what I did and learned there is still fresh in my mind.  I miss lots about being in college but most of it I am happy to leave behind.  Jeremy was a good sport as I showed him all the places I used to hang out. I loved going to Colorado State and feel so lucky that my parents gave me the opportunity to go away to college. Oh and by the way...that one semester away turned into the best 2 1/2 years of my life!

Corbet Hall F302 is where I spent my first year away from home.  I loved living there and met many great friends while there.

After Corbett Hall I moved into this super nice apartment with 3 of my friends from the dorm. It was called Rams Village West. We each had our own room but shared a double bathroom.  I looooved living here because these apartments were fairly new which meant they were really clean.

As we were driving around the campus I heard this really loud noise that sounded waaaaay too familiar.  I look over and see the train that comes right through the campus. 

It is a huge, long train and it blows it's horn for about 30 minutes straight to warn you that it has arrived. This train would make you late for class if you didn't time your walk just right.  

Stay tuned for tomorrows post about my roommates wedding...I promise you won't wanna miss it!

First Stop, Estes Park

Do you remember in the last post how I told you I made Jeremy book us separate flights for our trip to Denver?  Well after we checked our luggage in (on our separate flights) we said good bye and headed to our gates.  The Southwest Airlines man politely told me that my flight would be delayed at least an hour due to a hydraulic leak on the plane.  What the Heck!! All I could think of was, "There is know way I am getting on a plane that is headed to the hanger to be worked on!" I frantically called Jeremy and headed over to his gate (which happened to be on the other side of the airport).  I got there just as he was boarding and somehow ended up flying stand bye on his flight.  I literally was sick to my stomach the whole flight!  I kept thinking, "This is a sign, this is how we are going to go down together and our kids are going to be parent less and my house is a mess cause we had to be at the airport at 6:00 in the morning! I have laundry all over the place and no one will even be able to find our will!" My mind was racing. Well, the plane didn't go down and we made it safely but ended up spending about 2 hours at the Denver International Airport waiting on my luggage that was on the other flight that was totally delayed! We laughed and joked about it (funny how we can joke about it AFTER we had arrived safely!) When the luggage finally arrived we jumped in our rental car and headed to Broomfield where we were staying.  

We checked in, changed clothes and drove into Boulder (which was about 10 minutes) away for dinner.  We had a great dinner but didn't really know what to do from there.  We had lots of ideas but without any crying kids to determine our evening, we walked around and saw a little of Boulder.  It was beautiful, however since we were in Buffalo country and it was parent's weekend at the University, we decided to head to our hotel room and call it a night! We did end up back in Boulder on Sunday also but spent most of our day walking down beautiful Pearl Street with the rest of the town.  Boulder was so awesome!  There was snow on the Rocky Mountains and fall leaves everywhere around us. I  love Colorado!

On Friday morning we rolled out of bed (remember, no kids to wake us up at the crack of dawn!) and headed up to Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Forest.  The last time I was in Estes Park was Mother's Day 1996 when my parents came out to Colorado for my graduation.  As we pulled into town, this big guy was standing on the side of the road.  I really thought Jeremy was gonna cry!  He took about 800 pictures including this one:

I'm so thankful he didn't have his gun or we'd be trying to figure our how to get an elk on the airplane back to Arizona! We walked up and down Main Street in Estes Park and at lunch at a place called Wapiti.  Do you even know what a Wapiti is?  Science lesson for the day:  Wapiti:  The white coloring on an Elk's rump.  There you have it, everything you've always wanted to know about an elk but were afraid to ask! After lunch we headed to the best ice cream shop in town called Laura's.  Here is just a small sample of what was going on there!  

After filling up on the best homemade ice cream ever, we jumped back in our really cool rental car and headed up to the Rocky Mountain National Forest.  After a $20.00 admission, we took off up the mountain to look for wildlife.  We saw another elk and some very pretty views but that was about it. It was well worth the money!  After our day in Estes park, we went back to Broomfield, changed our clothes, and headed to downtown Denver.  Let me just tell you...downtown Denver ROCKS!  It is so pretty and so happening!  There were people walking all around enjoying the weather and nightlife.  We at dinner at this awesome restaurant called Vesta.  It was dang good!  We then walked a few blocks to Larimer Square.  I fell in love with this block of downtown.  There were white lights hanging across all the streets and trees.  Every restaurant in Larimer Square was packed with people dining outside.  The shopping was incredible, Oh I was so happy being there! 

Larimer Square.

So as you can see we had a great first day in Colorado!  We missed our kids terribly but were enjoying our time together.  Up next...Fort Collins baby!!

The Rocky Mountains

Over fall break, Jeremy and I did something we haven't done since we had kids.  We left our four kids with Sugar and flew to Denver for my college roommates wedding. Not to worry though, they were at Sugar's cabin with the other 13 kids and their parents! I was beyond stressed about this trip.  Actually stressed is a polite way of saying it.  If you ask Jeremy, he might call my feelings about leaving our four kids for four days ummmm....unhealthy, neurotic, absurd, flat our CRAZY!! Since we've never left all our kids for more then a night, I was freeeeeking out!! I made my poor husband book us separate flights both there and back.  Our will was checked to make sure everything was in line.  We had a notary stamp papers that gave my Mom the right to treat our precious darlings (you know, in case one of them fell and broke an arm or something!) I was stressed.  Ok I know you're laughing at me right now and even calling me some of those weird names my husband called my but seriously stop and think what would have happened if our plane would have gone down with both Jeremy and I on it.  Not only would it be super sad for my kiddos, but holy cow...can you even imagine how it would impact my Mom's life, my brother's life, my in-laws?  Have any of you seen the movie with Katherine Heigle called Life As We Know It?  That's all I could think of when thinking about this trip.  Anyhow, we both survived the plane ride and our kids survived without us (how dare they?) Sugar was super tired by Sunday night but she too survived.  Denver was beyond beautiful and I am convinced more then ever that we should be living there instead of here.  My roommates wedding was awesome as was my trip up to Fort Collins where I spent 3 years of my college life. Stay tuned for all the details on how we spent our 4 days in Colorado without our kids!!

This is what I left Sugar with...Ledger, in all his 3 year old, strong personality temper tantrum!

And this...Miss B and her runny nose, goose egg as I'm walking out the door forehead! 

Bye Bye Beach Towels!

Can you believe we just finished fall swim lessons last night?  The championship meet was at Moon Valley Country Club and boy was it a good one! Brody chose to swim butterfly, backstroke and the 100 IM.  Case chose butterfly, breaststroke and the 50 freestyle. Brody ended up with 3 medals, a third place in butterfly,  fourth place in backstroke and a fifth place for the 100 IM. Case got a fifth place medal in butterfly and a sixth in breaststroke.  He would have medaled in the 50 free but had a 45 second conversation with Jeremy after the first 25 (darn water in the goggles!) It was a great way to end the fall swim season.  So for now we say good bye to the beach towels until April! Way to go boys!

Brody on his last lap of his 100IM

Yep!  We are those parents!

Poor Case, he got water in his goggles and it totally threw him off during his 50 Freestyle.  I still think he did SUPER!

Since it was freezing cold, we were glad Sugar was there to keep us all warm!

"Swimmers take your mark..." Case tends to go up instead of out on his dive!

Jeremy was right there helping the boys get across the pool!

Nice stream line Bro-Dog!

I'm so proud of this boy!  He works hard and swims hard!

"Hey Brody, where is that third medal you won?"

Hooray for me for getting the boys to swim lessons EVERY day after school!  I definitely deserve these medals...maybe!