Weekend in Colorado, Part 2

My camera batteries died toward the end of the trip, so I had to have Claire forward me these last photos from her camera. I have an old school digital with batteries. Bummer.

Anyway...

We hooked up with R and Claire Friday night and headed straight to the mall to catch Jimmy Bond in Quantum of Solace. It was just fair. We headed back to the Comfort Inn to sleep again and then we got going the next morning, heading to the Air Force Academy to see their museum, store and campus. We were invited to a tailgate party with some of R and Claire's friends from their home town and enjoyed some good dogs and brauts on the grill. Then is was off to the game which I described earlier.

After the game we went to the Broadmoor resort. Wow. It is the classiest place I've been to. Rick and I spend a night there when were we on our honeymoon almost 30 years ago and then again when I was expecting Andy while he was attending a conference. It is an amazing five star resort and we enjoyed a hot chocolate there before heading to eat dinner at a more affordable place - the Olive Garden.

Sunday we got up and headed to church. After going to two buildings, we finally found a ward that started at 9:00 so that we could catch sacrament meeting before heading home. Claire and R took off for their five hour drive and we started our nine hour drive. We had some good chats with Dave and Courtney while driving home and really enjoyed spending time with them and with R and Claire. The weather was nice the whole weekend (except for a little snow storm we got in while driving there Thursday night at the top of the Eisenhower tunnel area) and we had a wonderful weekend. We also ran in to Rick's cousin Tim Ping who lives outside Denver and it was so nice to see him, his wife LouAnn and their some Graham. They also have a daughter named Claire, who is younger than our Claire. I wonder where they got the idea for the name :)

Bring it!

Can you say OBSESSION? Hahahaha! Check out this video!

Get ready.
Here it comes.
We've got our reserved seat tickets. Do you?

Christmas music

When do you start listening to Christmas music?

Our local radio stations FM 100 and FM 106.5 have been playing Christmas music since the day after Halloween - 24/7. I can't stand it. Seriously, I just boycott those stations. It's way too early for my taste! Of course I have a husband who won't even "allow" Christmas music played in the house until after Thanksgiving and I must admit that I agree with him there. His thinking is that the month of November should be for Thanksgiving and that we shouldn't just gloss over it on our way to Christmas. I will admit that I have listened to a few songs on the sly, but I have yet to put in a CD and listen to the whole thing. But I am getting excited to listen to Christmas music, in it's own appointed time - which in our house comes the day after Thanksgiving and not one minute sooner!

Here is my personal favorite list:

• Josh Groban - NOEL - if you don't have this CD, you really should add it to your collection, it's amazing!
• James Taylor at Christmas - new last year and very good
• Kurt Bestor - all of his CDs are amazing
• Martina McBride - White Christmas - Love it!
• Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Sing Choir of Angels - a beautiful collection of Christmas carols
• The Messiah in it's entirety, our version is by the MTC and orchestra
• Mannheim Steamroller - All their CDs are wonderful for background, get in the Christmas mood type music
• Sing-a-long-with Mitch - a classic in our family that really brings back great memories of childhood

Other classics like the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby

What are some of your favorites?

The FUNNIEST video ever!

Weekend in Colorado

We had a fun adventure in Colorado last weekend. Rick and I drove over last Thursday and arrived in time to pick Dave and Courtney up from the airport. It took us about 7 1/2 hours to drive over and they decided to fly so they could attend their classes that day before leaving. We stayed in Denver that night and got up ready to see the city.



Here is a shot outside the state capitol building in Denver.














Dave and Courtney inside the rotunda of the capitol. They are such a cute couple, if I do say so myself! We had such a good time with them and enjoyed many great conversations.

Inside the Brown Palace Hotel. This is the hotel where we stayed on our honeymoon over 29 years ago. It is a beautiful, stately five star hotel and we loved seeing it again. This is the stained glass ceiling in the lobby. While we were on our honeymoon, we visited Denver, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs and Boulder. This trip we got to see two of the four cities and enjoyed remembering our honeymoon adventure to Colorado.

This is the stadium (Invesco Field) where President- elect Obama gave his acceptance speech after being nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

The posers outside the Brown Palace with a very cold cowboy.














A beautiful church across the street. Denver has some amazing architecture and old buildings that have been beautifully restored. It has a wonderful downtown area.

































We're still going strong after all these years of beginning life together and spending our first night at the Brown Palace!














Looking around downtown Denver.














The mile high marker outside the capitol building.














This was a very interesting display we came across in the capitol showing things from Mongolia, of all places. It was very interesting to see.














Go MONGOLIA!



















Woot woot for Ulaanbaartar! Andy's home away from home!















Before the BYU-Air Force football game, all the cadets came out on the field dressed in uniform. It was a magnificent sight. It makes you really proud to be an American. The Air Force Academy is a very classy place and all their people were so kind and professional. The people in the stadium take presenting the colors of our flag very seriously and it was completely quiet for the flag and the National anthem. We didn't get flipped off or sworn at once! In fact, fellow tailgaters were very helpful and kind to us. Those same courtesies won't be be extended this weekend when BYU plays the evil alleged University of Utah (.....how ironic is that?)




























We spotted our friend Tie Tie Phillie (not his real name) on the field during the game! He is an equipment manager for the BYU football team. He is the one right in the middle of the picture just to the right of the group of football players. GO TY!














Here he is retrieving the kicking tee after another kick off. It was fun to see him in action! He's the one in the dark blue suit (not the kicker in uniform on the field...hahaha) BYU beat Air Force by the score of 38-24. The Cougs are now 10-1 on the year.














We got A LOT of good shopping in on Friday afternoon. We went to these HUGE outlet malls called the Castle Rock outlets and used our friends and family discount card given to us by Claire. We made a haul and got a bunch of good stuff and a lot of Christmas shopping done. Our truck (oops I meant trunk) was stuffed to capacity and we barely made it home.














*****More pictures to come with R and Claire. They came to Denver on Friday night and we continued our fun weekend with them through Sunday*****