A Late Birthday Celebration For My Husband

(if you didn’t read the content of that newspaper clipping you are totally missing the beginning of this blog)

We drove to Loveland first and I pulled into Dick’s.  I know this is sort of a copycat of what he did for me, but seriously, it was too good of an idea not to replicate! When we went to our very first Rockies game together, I realized how much my husband truly loves baseball. He loves baseball the way I love football, and just like Manning is “my boy”, Tulowitzki is Doug’s. So surprise number one commenced.

Then we drove on to Denver and checked into our hotel (which I pricelined and got a fabulous deal on)! We got settled in and I told Doug I was thinking about pizza and a movie, which he was totally down for.  That sort of ruined my next move because I expected him to be appalled! So I proceeded to tell him I forgot something in the car and ran out and got our dress clothes out of the trunk.  When I walked in and told him he had to change to go to where we were eating dinner, he totally guessed where I was taking him, that turd.

This is the view from our hotel room.

They thought so highly of their pillows that they gift wrapped them.

So even though he guessed it, off we went to Elway’s for his special birthday dinner. It was the best steak and prime rib either of us has ever had.  I highly recommend it next time you want to go out for a nice dinner. The booths are built up pretty high so it was the perfect intimate and romantic setting.  The food was amazing and they even surprised us with a special Happy Birthday cake for Douggie.

Every Meal There Starts With A Hot Mini-Loaf of Sourdough Bread

This fried calamari also came with tempura battered and fried mini corn and blue cheese stuffed green olives. To. Die. For.

The most giant wedge salad ever.

Doug's Prime Rib on the Left, My Sirloin on the Right and our Potatoes in the Center

This was a homemade ding dong!!! It was a total surprise to both of us, I was really pleased!

These were mini creme brulee spoons. Perfection.

After we stuffed ourselves, we went back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.  When we woke up the next day we went out for a delicious breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast restaurants in Denver.  Doug thought that the day was over but I had one more trick up my sleeve.

This was probably the best surprise of the whole weekend because he truly didn’t see it coming. We headed off for the ballpark and ended his birthday weekend in style.  I was concerned because the Rockies were off to a slow start, but we ended up winning the game 6-5 and all but one of our scores was a homerun! It turned out to be a very exciting game to watch.

On our way home, we stopped for dinner with some friends of ours and we were so excited to see everyone and catch up that I didn’t even get to take one picture!!

I know that Doug thought the weekend was a lot, probably even a little excessive, but he works so hard for our future and he deserved every second of it.  I told him next year we will probably be saving for a baby and he will be lucky to get Applebees so he might as well enjoy the lavish weekend while he can!  I hope he had as great of a time on his birthday weekend as I did. Maybe someday we will actually get to spend the real birthday together without doing a wedding! Here is to a lifetime of birthdays with the man I love!

Because I am Content

I swear I went to sleep on May 1^st and then I woke up and half of July was gone.  It went that fast. It’s amazing how life happens like that.  In the 12 weeks that I see in my rearview mirror, the blessings were abundant, and I took some advice out of my own page in life and lived so much in the moment that I don’t have many pictures to prove it. Instead, I have wonderful memories, belly laughs and words to catch you up.

The Hubs was given a great opportunity to learn the family business this summer, and while we are grateful for the opportunity, it has been very difficult to be separated from him. I make a conscience effort to thwart my complaining because I am aware there are women and families who give their husbands up for longer periods of time (and for far nobler causes) but what I have learned is that being away from his sucks. Royally.

Before he left we went to my first professional baseball game – it was such a blast.

We went to Miami to surprise our best friends. We have minimal pictures from the trip because we were too busy soaking up every second of life while we were there.

We attended my annual family reunion, which was dampened by many rain showers, but fun nonetheless.

The Hubs attended his annual Mayhem concert, and in doing so, fulfilled one of his long beloved friend traditions.

We both completed summer courses, successfully.

I take a weekly girl date (and it is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week).

I participate in a monthly book club.

I am shoving as many lunch dates in as possible while I still have the time before Fall semester resumes.

I have suffered from exhaustion, lack of sleep, emotional drainage, overpowering joy, unbelievable pleasure, and swift passing of time.  I was lamenting recently about the separation from my spouse and the swift passing of another summer when I decided to sit down on my couch and enjoy, for the first time in MONTHS, complete silence.

I have always loved a level of solitude. I also love the order, the cleanliness, the near silent sounds and the familiar peace of my own home.  It’s one of the reasons I still don’t have a child. I’m not ready for that space to be disturbed. So when I got that space back, when the chaos settled down, when my heart started beating again in time with the second hand on my clock, I took a deep breath and realized that I am absolutely content. And what’s more, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being content. I want better things for my life, but I am thankful for the things I have. Most importantly though, and above all else, I have enormous amounts of faith in what is to come.