Simply in awe..

I feel blessed beyond belief, overwhelmed with love, respect and admiration for my wonderful husband. My husband, without one selfish thought, took on an undesirable task, something that he really didn't want to do, but did it nevertheless. He did because it needed done. It wasn't glamorous, fun, or anything to boast about. Now that he's nearing the completion of it, I look back at the effort and responsibility he took upon himself, and I find myself in awe. In awe of this amazing man that I married. In awe because he never requested a thank you, he never played the martyr and he never expected anything from me in return. I'm proud to be his wife and I'm proud that he's the father of my children. He's just simply amazing, and I don't know if I say it enough.

We're having FUN!

Lately, our life has been a whirlwind of fun activities with the promise of more fun to come!

We got to go to the Rockies home opener on April 4th, and even though our team didn't walk away with a win, we had just the best time. Kevin and I have never been to opening day, and the buzz on and off the field was amazing. The weather was perfect. Our seats were perfect. Brooklyn even had a great time - her highlight: getting to see and hug (over and over again) Dinger in the third inning.

April 5th was our 5th wedding anniversary. We spent the morning (almost three hours) at an amazing swimming pool. Not only did the pool have a kiddie section, but also a kiddie butterfly slide, a waterworks area where water dumps all over you, water fountains, a lazy river, two fun two-story water slides, a family/kid hot tub and an adult hot tub. The best part was all the different sections of the pool connect so you didn't have to get out to go to another part. Brooklyn complete with her water wings, swam all on her own even in the lazy river. She became very comfortable at the pool and would head up the butterfly slide stairs by herself and then slide down and go again and again. She loved the larger slides too. Of course, Kevin and I went with her, but even we had fun on them.

After leaving the pool, we headed home for naps and showers, and then began the second part of our day - fondue time. Kevin and I love fondue and have been wanting to introduce it to Brooklyn for a long time now. We figured our anniversary would be perfect and we could take our time with it. We didn't go to a fondue restaurant, we stayed home and made our own fondue. We started with a cheddar cheese fondue dipping bread chunks and apples. Our next course, was the meat and veggie fondue. We choose to cook chicken, steak, mushrooms, squash and zucchini in the hot oil and had six different dipping sauces to accompany them. Our last course, was s'mores chocolate fondue dipping strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and angel food cake. We had to take breaks in between each course, but we all enjoyed all of them so much. Brooklyn got a real kick out of dipping into the cheese and chocolate and she loved all the sauces we had for the meat and veggie one. We watched one of her favorite movies "Enchanted" while we dipped and ate. After rolling or rather putting her into bed, Kevin and I enjoyed some alcohol-free white zinfandel while we finished watching the Rockies game on TV. It was just one of those perfect days from start to finish.

Sunday, Kevin and his friend went to the Rockies game. They had a good time, even though the team didn't win again. Brooklyn and I met Kendall (our niece) and my mother-in-law at the zoo. We spent nearly three hours walking around looking at the animals. The cutest part was when the girls held hands when they were being pushed side by side in their strollers and when they were walking hand in hand to see the next exhibit. Kendall wanted to give Brooklyn hugs and kisses all the time, but Brooklyn didn't really want a part in that. If you know Brooklyn, you know she's usually the first to put her arms around another kid, try and pick them up, caress their cheek with her hand, give them unsolicited kisses. The difference on Sunday, Kendall is a year older and Brooklyn likes to be the older kid smothering the younger kid and doesn't like it when the tables are turned. But, the times that they did hold hands or give each other a hug, it was very sweet. And, they loved watching the duckies in the pond together.

Monday brought the Pop Goes The Wiggles concert. Brooklyn and my grandma are avid watchers of The Wiggles and when news that they were coming to town broke, my grandma was all over it. She bought tickets for us to go with them to the concert. They put on a very good show, and even threw in some humor for the adults from time to time. They don't take themselves very seriously and I think that's what makes the show so good and entertaining. Brooklyn had a great time jumping and dancing to all her favorite songs. Brooklyn loved it when Jeff came out on stage and Wags the Dog too.

It was sad to say goodbye to this fun, event-filled weekend because we were looking forward to it for months. But, we do have quite a few things to look forward to in the months ahead.
• My parents are renewing the wedding vows on their 30th anniversary later this month and my sister and I are planning everything but the ceremony. We're having fun getting things together. I can't say much about it though because I don't want to spoil the surprise for them as they read my blog.
• We're going to Estes Park over Memorial Day for a wedding.
• We're going to Glenwood Springs in June for our last getaway vacation just the three of us.
• And, of course, preparing for our new bundle of joy to arrive later this year!

So blessed…

Tomorrow, Kevin and I celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary, and Saturday marks our 10th year of being a couple. We have been a part of each other’s lives now for 17 years as we started out just being elementary school classmates. We have come a long way from those days on the playground chasing each other and flirting innocently. We survived the trying high school years together, and found out more about each other during the college years. As with every relationship, we have had our ups and downs, but I can honestly say that there is no one in the world I would want to experience life with than him. He is my best friend, my partner in life, the father of my daughter and my husband.

There are so many reasons why I love and am in love with this man, but here are just a few…

-- The smile and look of awe that spread across his face the moment our daughter was born.
-- Cuddling with him in bed, sharing anecdotes about the day’s events.
-- Hearing the excitement in his voice that his sprinkler system is finally fixed after he’s been battling with it for two years.
-- The text messages he sends me while waiting on a court proceeding to take place that he’s covering for his newspaper.
-- Watching him come home after a long day at work and sit down to play with Brooklyn before he changes his clothes or does anything else.
-- His great work ethic and his steadfast desire to make his daughter proud of him.
-- The way he’ll call me and tell me how great I am, how much he loves me, what a great mom I am and then asks me if it’s alright if he goes to the Mammoth game.
-- How he crams a 5-day work-week into a 4-day work-week so he’ll have Fridays off to spend with his daughter.
-- His love of warmer weather so he can get outside and mow his lawn.
-- His willingness to help out with anything around the house from laundry to cooking to taking out the trash.
-- How he fills up the gas in my car for me after his early morning bible study.
-- Hugging him and smelling his cologne that he puts on just for me.
-- Listening to the one-sided conversation he has with his dad when they are talking about sports and the excitement in his voice.
-- How he sneaks downstairs to play football on his PlayStation if Brooklyn and I lay down for a nap together.

I am so grateful that I get to share my life with such an amazing man. I can’t believe it’s only been four years… it feels like a whole lifetime!