Thanksgiving 2015

We said YES

Delaney is Engaged!!

For those of you who have known us for any length of time know that Delaney and Zack have been dating for 8 years.  Yes, believe it or not it has been 8 years!  Of course they have talked about getting married off and on for a few years but since Zack is in Physical Therapy school, we figured it wouldn't happen for a while.  Boy did Zack throw us a curve ball!

On Saturday, September 14th, he texted me and asked if Mark and I were busy and could we FaceTime with him.  This didn't seem terribly odd because we have done this before and so we spent a little time chit chatting about the Horns, school, and life in general.  Zack seemed a little distracted but I chalked that up to him getting ready for his tests the following week.  Then, out of the blue, he asked us if he could have Delaney's hand in marriage.  I think I didn't breathe for about 10 seconds and then I started crying.  Yup, I did the "girl thing".  Mark was caught off guard too and he said the only thing he could think of to say:"Can I sleep on it"?  Zack said that he had spent hours thinking of all of the questions that Mark could possibly ask him.  And he said that he had a good answer for just about anything that Mark threw at him.  But he said he had absolutely no answer for what Mark had just asked him so he said, "Ummm…Ya I guess"!  Of course that broke the tension and of course we said "YES".

Zack said that he had hoped to ask us in person when we went to Stephenville for Henley's Parent's Weekend but that he could never get us alone long enough to ask us.  (Imagine that!) So even though it wasn't the most traditional way of him asking us it worked out perfectly.  We had absolutely no hesitation whatsoever in welcoming him into our family because we have known him for so long and we already know so much about him.  We have known that Delaney loves this man and wants to spend her life with him.  Through the years we have come to know almost everything there is to know about him; his character, his compassion, his patience, his faith, his determination, and most important... his unconditional love for our daughter.  It also helps that he comes from one the most wonderful families we have known.  They love our sweet girl and are as happy about this engagement as we are.

I would tell you all about how Zack asked her to marry him but I think that it is best that I let you read Delaney's version of the special day.  So here it is:

The Proposal

"He has made everything beautiful in His time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." 

Ecclesiastes 3:11

       November 14, 2015 was the day that our lives began and ended all at once; it was the end of our separate lives and the beginning of our lives together. The whole process started about two years ago according to my sister and 3 weeks ago according to Zack. My wonderful fiancé had asked my sister Henley about two years ago to spend the rest of his life with me and from that day she has been waiting patiently (if you know Henley you know she is as patient and subtle as a gnat) for him to ask my parents, which leads us to when Zack called and asked my parents for permission to marry me three weeks ago. I'll let you choose which started it all ;)

*The following events were told to me by Zack after I interrogated him about how he managed to surprise me after 8 years*

 

Fall 2015

     Zack knew that getting to Denver to ask my parents in person without me catching on would be impossible, he is soooo correct in that, so he was forced into the modern age of FaceTime. Once he asked my parents my mom immediately bursted into tears while my dad sat and lowered his head, then raised his head and said,"Can I sleep on it? ...  just kidding I had to give you a hard time in some way." Of course he chose this moment to pull the "Dad Card" and cash in all the times that he had not given Zack a hard time when we first started dating; my dad then teased that there were no "give backs" which Zack gladly accepted ;)

     The next few weeks were spent looking at rings online; Zack knew that he liked settings with halos and that I wanted something that looked unique, so he searched until he found a few that he liked enough to go see them in person. To get a woman's perspective Zack was sneaky enough to get his mom into town, under my radar, with the cover of overdue license plates. So with that is what he went in looking for. They went to a few stores and looked at selections that matched the pictures he had and the description that he gave, but nothing was "the ring." After walking out of the second store  they went into at The Domain, Zack told his mom that since they were out there he wanted to just go look in Tiffany's to see what they had. *I would have told him to turn around*

     The two of them walked into Tiffany's and were greeted by Clinton, or my forever friend as I now refer to him, and shown two rings that fit Zack's wants. He took a look at both and instantly knew that "This was the ring." Being the best confidant ever , seriously, Tammy suggested lunch before purchasing and to come back if he still felt as strongly. Zack said it took about 20 minutes for him to walk back in to pick up the symbol of our future. The next steps were to plan the day.

The Plan.

     Most of you know that Zack in currently a student studying for his doctorate in physical therapy, so his time is very limited. What some of you probably do not know is that he has class every other weekend all day long, which gives him even less time ESPECIALLY around finals. He knew that his finals would start the week right after thanksgiving, which coincides perfectly with our anniversary. Over the years we also decided to stop giving each other presents for our anniversary, and go to a nice dinner instead. This being the norm, I did not think much of him asking me to celebrate our anniversary the last weekend before he turned into a hermit. I accepted the invitation to dinner and it all started to fall into place.

The place: Steiner Ranch Steakhouse, Austin, Texas

     This steakhouse has held most of the important dates now that I look back on it. A couple of Zack's birthdays including his 21st birthday, and both of our graduation dinners in the past 5 years. I had previously told him that I would like to go back to even just drink wine by the fire pit. Zack knew that he would have to keep the day as normal as possible or I would catch on, so for me to have suggested this must have made it felt like the stars were aligning for him. 

The plan: Get a yes!

     Zack's plan was to arrive early at the restaurant and have them seat us near the fire pit to drink wine and enjoy the beautiful weather of the hill country. While we waited for our table to be ready he would tell me that he got me a present even though he knew he was not supposed to, and give me a small gift sack. I would roll my eyes as usual and start to open the present only to find a little blue box with a little white bow, knowing what was about to happen I would start to cry as he took the box out of my hand and got down on one knee. He would ask me to marry him and Henley would be in the background to capture our special moment and be a part of the celebration.

The Reality.

     November 14, 2015, the day started like our usual Saturdays do, Costco and Starbucks! After snapping pictures of our infamous red cups and stocking up at Costco, we made lunch and watched the Longhorn... lose. A completely normal Saturday right?!?... I know Longhorn fans, it's been tough! After the game I decided to start getting cleaned up so that we could be ready to go at 4pm. I did the normal girl routine of shower/hair/make up and then changed into my favorite emerald dress- one that I have not had a good enough excuse to wear yet because it was too nice to wear just out and about. Flash forward to Zack getting ready...OKAY CONFESSION TIME! Up until Saturday I had thought (like any girl after 8 years going on nice dates) that this could be THE date night. I quickly put that out of my mind once Mr "I love to wear suits and look nice" told me he did not know what to wear and that he needed help. I helped him pick out a nice button down and slacks that matched the dressiness of my outfit for the night and we headed out the door- me completely convinced that I was once again crazy and he was NOT proposing.

     While on the way to the restaurant I am riding as usual, singing along and making interpretive dances to the music while on snapchat, and Zack is quiet while his phone is blowing up in his pocket. With him in a group chat with his classmates I chalked it up to that but asked if I needed to text anyone for him to get them to stop. He said no and just kept driving to the restaurant; on the other line was my sister who was frantically trying to tell him that all his plans were about to take a major twist and that she was working really hard to make sure that things worked out-- you are the best Henley! 

The place: Steiner Ranch Steakhouse, Austin, Texas

     As we walked into the restaurant we check in at the receptionist and made our way to the bar to get our wine while Zack stepped away to call my sister back- he told me he had to go to the bathroom. Once he returned to the table the manager came over and introduced himself and asked how our evening has been so far, I never thought anything into this because they were a little slow and the staff has ALWAYS been exceptionally friendly. As we sat there talking to him I noticed that the band was taking their equipment down and tearing down their set due to the rain that had started. The manager told us that we looked very nice and asked if we were celebrating anything, I responded with, "Our 8th anniversary!" and quickly asked if the patio was still open, a girl has her priorities(!) We were told that if  we did not mind a little rain we could go out until they completely closed the patio. We both agreed it was okay and started out the door.              

  

The plan: Get a yes!

     As I walked out the door headed to the fire pit Zack quickly redirects me down the ramp instead of the stairs and tells me "No! Delaney this way!" I turn and follow, thinking he is completely crazy and thinking that "There are two ways down to the stupid fire pit." Noticing that the chairs had been pushed out of the rain near the pit, I decided that I did not want to move the chairs back and forth and suggested that we go sit over at the little tables overlooking the lake. Zack knowing that if he tried to get anything back to his original plan would tip me off so he went along and started to think. About the time we go to sit and enjoy our wine the manager comes to check on us and make sure we were not getting to wet, and then asked if we wanted a picture. ---I wish I would have seen Zack's face at this point because I am sure there were daggers in his eyes as his original plans had been completely derailed at this point--- I quickly accepted and asked Zack for his phone to take the picture. As I unlocked his phone and got it to the camera app to set the manager up for the picture, my sweet soon-to-be fiancé has to quietly tear into the gift sack, unwrap the ring box, and make it to my side by the time I turned to take the picture with him. I thought that he was going to come and stand on the right hand side of me like he usually does, but instead he dropped to one knee.  I instantly said, "O-mi-gosh" knowing what would be the next words spoken. He smiled up at me and asked, "Will you marry me?" I bent down giving him a kiss and told him, "Of course I will!"

     The next thing I hear is, "Awe yay!" I knew that voice! I turned to see my sister there smiling. I shrieked and ran over to greet her, leaving Zack---with the ring--- standing shaking his head and smiling. The manager q
uickly announced to the small group of people that had gathered on the patio with us, "Don't worry y'all she said yes!" It hit me instantly that I had just left my new fiancé waiting for me to place the ring on my finger--- guess as Brad Paisley says, "He will always be waiting on a woman" hahaha! Zack replaced the ring I have worn for years, with a diamond ring more beautiful than I ever imagined. 

     To this point I had not cried... If you know me you are probably just as baffled as I was! Do not worry, those came moments after when a woman approached with champagne and said, "Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Roberts." We spent the next 3 hours having dinner with Henley and her boyfriend Blaine laughing and enjoying the most perfect evenings of our lives, starting our "Road to Roberts."

Tri-Lakes

Yesterday was gorgeous!  We had warm temps, no snow, and an afternoon to go do something.
Someone had told us that the Tri-Lakes area is a nice place to go for a quick day trip so yesterday afternoon we decided to go take a look at them.  It's only about 25-ish miles from here and we knew where it was because we have driven by it several times going up and down I-25 on our travels to other places.

Tri-Lakes has three small towns that make up the area: Monument, Palmer Lake and Woodmoor.  And each of the towns has a lake: Monument Lake, Palmer Lake and Lake Woodmoor.  The first lake we went to was Palmer Lake.  It was pretty small and very crowded.  That didn't surprise us too much because it was a Sunday and it was a beautiful day. There were lots of people fishing on the banks so I suppose it is a good place to catch dinner.

The next lake we went to was Lake Woodmoor.  

The last one we went to was Monument Lake.  It is the biggest of the three.

All three towns were pretty small but all of them had several restaurants, cafes and small hotels in each of them that cater to the tourists that come through. It was a enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.

Washington DC

Mark:  I have another convention that I need to go to.  It's in DC..wanna go? 

           *Sounds of rustling in the closet*
           *Me appearing at the door to the garage, luggage in hand*

 Me:"I'm packed.  When do we leave"?

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

Two trips in two weeks?  Okay so I can get used to following Mark to these national conventions that he has been to lately.  We have got to go to some cool places.  This week we were in Washington DC.  We flew in on Saturday- totally missing the game where our Longhorns BEAT the sooners. We didn't find out about that WONDERFUL bit of news until after we landed because the wifi on the plane wasn't working and we couldn't get any updates at 30,000 ft. 

We stayed at the Gaylord National which is about 10 miles south of the Mall but it is like its own mini-city in that area. 

Gaylord at National Harbor

Inside of the Gaylord

Sculpture in the sand

We didn't get into DC until almost 6 and even though it wasn't "our" dinner time we decided to find a place nearby to eat at.   We had about 30 restaurants in a 10 block area to choose from; all of which were great places to eat at.  We ended up eating outdoors, on the Potomac River at McCormick and Schmicks.  The weather was perfect so we were able to enjoy the sunset while eating dinner.  But believe me, the minute the sun went down we were ready to head back to the hotel.  The wind coming off of the river cooled things down in a hurry!

"Downtown"area by the Gaylord

National Harbor

On Sunday, Mark checked into the convention and had a quick meeting but was done by 9 am.  So we Uber-ed it downtown and spent almost 5 hours at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. 

Smithsonian Castle

Air and Space Museum

Mark by the Gemini IV Capsule

After a quick bite from a Roach Coach on the Mall, we went to the Natural History Museum and spent another 4 hours there before they kicked us out.  All of the Smithsonian Museums are so big that you could easily spend 2 full days going through each one of them if you stopped and read all of the information by the displays they have.  Mark was in hog heaven in the Air and Space museum and I could have spent all day looking at the gorgeous gems in the Natural History museum. 

Natural History Museum

Mark in a Megalodon's Jaws

The Hope Diamond

 I had to take another look at the Hope Diamond but Mark wasn't impressed with it at all.  Go figure! About a month ago, Delaney was in DC visiting Zach's sister, Allison (who lives there).  Delaney suggested that we try Hill County BBQ for dinner if we had the chance and as it turned out, we were very close to the restaurant when we finished touring the museums for the day.  And that's where we went. Okay...talk about yummy!

Ordering line at Hill Country BBQ

Monday morning was business as usual for me- online classes and Mark had meetings almost all day.  I took the opportunity to go on a nice long walk along the Potomac in the afternoon.  In fact, unlike Atlanta, we had the BEST weather ever so I took advantage of it and did a nice long walk everyday. One of the vendors took us out to eat at which was another fine meal.  Tuesday was the same: Mark in meetings, me taking care of my classes and dinner out again with a vendor at McCormick and Schmicks again.

Wednesday, Mark had morning meetings and he got to hear Condi Rice speak for the closing of the convention.  Mark has always been a fan of hers but after hearing her talk, he walked away with a whole new respect for her.  He said she was impressive.  I'm sad I didn't get to hear her speak but I was busy with my classes during that time.  That afternoon we went to Mount Vernon.  We had first thought we would take a water taxi from our hotel there, but Mark got out of his meetings later than he had thought so we Uber-ed it there instead. 

Mount Vernon from the back

View of Mount Vernon as visitors back-in-the-day would have seen coming in by horseback or carriage

Wash house and Guest house

Stables

Mount Vernon from the Potomac River side

On the grounds at Mount Vernon

Slave quarters at Mount Vernon

George Washington's metal and ivory dentures

Gosh, Mount Vernon was really beautiful.  I guess I thought it was going to be another Colonial house but I was SO wrong.  The grounds and the house are impressive.  I didn't realize how many acres old George Washington had acquired and farmed until we were on the premises. 

We stayed until they kicked us out and once again headed back to the hotel.  We had heard that the guacamole at Rosa Mexicano at the National Harbor was "the best" so we went there for dinner with low expectations for good Mexican food.  Well, we were pleasantly surprised.  It's funny because we have not found any decent Mexican food in Denver and we actually found a pretty good place in of all places...DC!

After my office hours on Thursday we spent the day being tourists again. We met Zach's sister, Allison, for lunch which was a real treat for us.  Of course she has been to almost every restaurant in the downtown DC area so we told her to pick any place to eat at.  She took us to Founding Farmers Restaurant.  It was good to catch up with her and see a friendly face from Texas!  

Mark, Allison and Me

We saw Ford's theater, The Museum of American History and surprise surprise, we got kicked out of the Holocaust Museum at closing.  (That seems to be a theme with us this trip)  We enjoyed all of the places we saw but were kind of disappointed that the American History museum had over half of the exhibit spaces closed for "renovations on the exhibits". 

Museum of American History
Probably one of the most boring buildings in DC

Holocaust Museum

 We spent the early evening walking around in the downtown area and finally decided on dinner at Tadich's.  The waiter told us that the original one is in San Francisco and that this one has only been open since the previous Wednesday night so we may have one up on Allison!

Friday we had to leave to head back to Denver.  We had a late afternoon flight so we Uber-ed it across the Potomac and spent the day in Old Town Alexandria Virginia.  It really is a charming area but we both agreed that row house living would NOT be for us! 

Row houses in Alexandria 

Paddle wheel boat on the Potomac River

Pier at Alexandria

Streets of Alexandira

City Hall in Alexandria

Main Street in Alexandria

More stores in Alexandria

We really enjoyed the time that we got to spend in DC and as we always say, this is another place we are going to come back to "once we retire".