Trip to Colorado

At the end of January, we went out to Colorado Springs to surprise Mike & Megan. We called Meg's dad beforehand to see if they'd be around. We were a bit nervous that the secret would be let out, but they were definitely surprised!

We had so much fun! Allan and Mike played video games all week long. Allan was in heaven. Meg and I made lots of new hair bows for Lindy (see next post about one of them) and talked about how we need to live closer together so we can be crafting buddies. We also went to Meg's brother's and sister's basketball games (Mike is the asst. coach for her brother's HS team so that was even better) and played Ticket to Ride and Bohnanza (we just had to teach them!) over and over. In all the times we played, I think I only lost once, maybe twice. It was awesome! And of course, I had to do some coupon shopping out there since they doubled the value of coupons. I scored some AWESOME deals!

Lindy was SO good for the whole trip, even the long drives. We're really lucky. She loved everyone and was very social. It was a nice break for me because everyone loved her and took her so I didn't have to for the most part.

And of course, Allan and I just had to go dancing out in Denver. It was so great! We got to see our wonderful friend, Nate. We miss him so much. And Denver dancing is fantastic. I think my favorite part was when I was dancing with a guy who was really good and we were having a fantastic dance and I was feeling all cool...then my knee gave out (happens all the time - stupid joints) and I totally fell on my butt. Yeah, not so cool after that. Talk about a lesson in humility! LOL! All I could do was laugh.

We ended up staying for almost 1 1/2 weeks. It wasn't our intention, but a big storm hit. Sadly, when we left, we ended up driving in it anyway. What is normally about an 8-9 hour drive was a 13 hour drive. But we made it home safely and were happy to be able to spend so much time with them.

We played so much and had so much fun that I completely forgot to take pictures. Hey Meg, will you send me whatever pictures your family took on your phones? :)

The Gulf Coast

Allan left yesterday afternoon for his two week military training stuff. I hate this part of the year. Luckily, he took Monday off and we spent the whole day together. We went to the Gulf Coast. It was a blast! The water was so warm and the weather was perfect! There was a bit of a breeze so there were some pretty awesome waves. We loved running out into them and trying to jump over them.  We would also put our backs towards them and try not to step

forward when they hit us. We failed miserably at that part. After our eyes started stinging because of the salt in the water, we decided to build a sand castle. Allan thought it would be cool to make it in the shape of a star. This picture is of Allan starting our star sand castle.

This is me helping Allan with the castle.









TA DA! The finished "castle." Allan was so proud that he got the top of the tower in the middle to stay. The edges don't line up and so he thought it would fall but it didn't. YAY!

Allan looking all hot after sitting in the sand. I can't believe how much sand we brought home with us! I'm still finding it in the shower. 

After the beach we came home and then went out to dinner at a local BBQ place. It was a cafeteria type place but it was absolutely delicious! Allan is already talking about going back again for some good ol' Texas BBQ.

But all good things must come to an end, right? So Allan is now gone until June 20th, his birthday. At least he's not going to be gone for his whole birthday, just a part of the day. Below is a picture of my handsome hubby in his uniform. Gotta love a man in uniform!

Lots of driving but well worth it

My little (5'11") sister, Chelsea, is currently on a basketball scholarship at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO.  A few weeks ago, my family drove to Riverton, WY to see a couple of her away games. Allan ended up having drill that weekend so I went too. It was a blast! Below is my sister coming off the floor and (counterclockwise) my dad, mom and brothers, Jackon & Brock.

Then this last weekend, Valentine's weekend, was my sister's big game against the rival school. I tried to get a big group of her friends to go and surprise her, but they all bailed on me. It ended up just being Allan & me. However, my parents decided to go last minute as did Chelsea's best friend and the best friend's boyfriend. Chelsea knew that my parents & her best friend was going, but not me. I wanted it to be a surprise. And what a great surprise it was!

When Allan & I got there, my parents were at Village Inn with Chelsea so we met up with them there. When Chelsea saw me, she teared up. It was so awesome! It made the very long 9ish hour drive more than worth it! 

On our long drive, we went through the southwest corner of Nebraska. Neither Allan nor I had been there so we had to take pictures of it. See below.

While I didn't get many pictures of Chelsea playing, I did get one awesome one and saved the best for last. Below is Chelsea shooting a free throw. As you can see, she has perfect form (granted, I may be slightly biased). Just look at that follow through and arch! I love it. Oh, and she made it. :) Go Chels!

Just to follow up, Chelsea's team won all three games I've seen. They're 24-1 and are ranked 8th in the nation. I'm so proud!