Valentine's Day in LOVEland, Colorado

My parents came up for a visit last week and we spent part of the time just chilling and some of the time being tourists.  I showed them around Parker, showed them the area around where Mark lived before we moved into the house, and went to Golden to the Coors brewery.  Mom and Dad have traveled around here for years and in fact my Dad was in the service and spent 2 years in this area.  Of course so much has changed since he was here but it was fun to listen to the stories he told about his adventures.  But they had never taken the tour of the Coors brewery so since Mark had a half-day at work on Friday, we drove downtown and picked him up and headed West.

We got there a little after lunchtime so of course we had to stop and get something to eat!  We found a great pizza place called Woody's to eat at.  

After we finished our meal we headed over to the brewery and took a quick tour. The tasting room is always full but since it was a Friday afternoon the place was packed with the college students who go there for their 3 free beers!  What a way to kick off the weekend, huh?

Friday night we had made reservations to celebrate Valentine's Day early to avoid the crowds on Saturday.  Mom and Dad said Greek food sounded good to them so we took them to Yanni's.  We had a great meal, great service and great company.  

Mark has been under the weather with a sinus infection these past few weeks so some of the plans that we had made to go sight-seeing were put on hold.  One of the things we had planned on doing was going to the International Ice Sculpting contest in Breckenridge, CO.  Unfortunately, the weekends that were open to the public were the two weekends that Mark felt the worst so we didn't make it this year. But I happened to find out that Loveland, Co was having their annual ice sculpting contest on Saturday so we all made the hour trip North to see what it was all about.  

Loveland put on a very nice festival.  The sculptors had been busy by the time we got there so we only saw mostly finished work but a few were still doing their finishing touches on their creations. It was fun to see how they took an 8-9 foot block of compacted snow and turned it into art. Here are some of our favorites.

They had regular judges that evaluated the work but they also let the public vote on their favorite sculpture.  We liked the gargoyle looking one and it actually won 1st place for the People's Choice award.

In the middle of this little bitty town in Colorado we found a pretty danged good Cajun food restaurant. It was mid-afternoon and we were all a little hungry and thirsty so we we went in and had cups of gumbo, beer and beignets.  All super yum-O!

The festival also had street vendors, food trucks, bands, a lighted parade,  and fireworks at dusk.  They also lit the sculptures up after dark.  We had already left by the time they did the parade, the fireworks and had put the lights on the sculptures but I found some pictures online that show how pretty they are after dark.

After a great day we were rewarded with one of the most amazing sunsets we have seen in a long time. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day spent with the ones that I love (minus Henley and Delaney).

Catching Up

Okay obviously I have been slacking in my blogging and I'm going to do a quick update to get me back on track and to stop procrastinating.  

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Brady with Mark's parents.  On Tuesday before Thanksgiving we flew into Dallas, drove to Stephenville and had a quick lunch with Henley and Katherine Day (who has moved there) before heading out to Brady with Henley in tow. Henley's boyfriend Blaine met us in Brady and spent the holiday with us as well. (We opted to fly in early because we didn't want to have to deal with the Wednesday crush of humanity at the airport)  We had a very nice, relaxing trip and we were glad that we were able to spend the holiday with his parents.  His sister Kelly, her hubby Reggie and their daughter Hannah joined us on Friday evening so we were able to spend a little time with them before we left on Saturday.  

On Saturday, we drove back to Dallas to fly back to Denver and were able to meet up with Joyce and Paul who were visiting Megan in Ft Worth.  We were dying for some good Mexican food so we all met up in Fort Worth at Joe T. Garcia's and ate till we almost popped.  Katherine was able to join us again which was a nice surprise for Joyce and Paul since they hadn't seen her since she moved to Stephenville.  It was too short of a visit but sure beats not seeing them at all.  

At Joe T Garcia's 

 So after we got back to Denver we decided to do the touristy stuff that everyone needs to do the first year that you live in a new area.  So we went downtown to look at the Christmas lights and saw the Christmas parade.  

 Henley came home from college the 10th of December for Christmas break.  My friend Polly came for a weeks visit right after Thanksgiving and we did a bunch of going-going-going while she was here.  We did Golden, Vail, 16th Street mall, Colorado Springs and did a bunch of shopping too.  

Delaney came to Denver on the 19th and spent until the 28th with us.  Mark had taken some vacation time around the holidays so we 4 did several trips to see the sights while they were here.  One of the places we went was Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  

We spent the day hiking the trails and soaking up the sun.  It was a balmy 55 degrees the day we were there and we couldn't have asked for better weather.

One of the other days we went to Red Rocks Amphitheater and went ice skating on Evergreen Lake.

Red Rocks Amphitheater

 Evergreen Lake Lodge

Evergreen Lake

Mom, Dad, Rob, Zoe, August and Zach (Delaney's boyfriend) all arrived on the 23rd so we had a full house Christmas and through the weekend.  Rob and the kids had to leave on Saturday.  

While Mom, Dad, Zach and Delaney were still here, we were able to do some fun touristy things.  We went to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and saw the facilities as well as the famous chapel.  It really is quite impressive.  There was a wedding scheduled that afternoon so we only were able to see it for just a short time but we were glad we were able to see it. 

One of the neatest things we did while they were here was we went to see the Cartier exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.  The jewels, jewelry, accessories, watches, etc. were beyond description and we were so happy we took the time to go see it. 

Delaney and Zach had to leave on the 28th to get back to work.  Mom and Dad ended up leaving on the 28th as well because we were expecting heavy snow and bad weather for the upcoming week and they wanted to get back to The Ranch before it all hit.  So by noon Sunday, things were pretty quiet around our house again. 


The rodeo came to Denver the first week of January and every year they have a parade to kick off the festivities.  Mark told me to come downtown to see it and believe it or not, they herded about 75 head of longhorn cattle down the streets just like they have since the rodeo started.  It was an odd sight to say the least. 

My friend Joyce came to visit me last week!  I was so happy that she was able to come see me and do some sightseeing while she was here.  Unfortunately, we had some bad weather but she has promised to come back and see some more things the next time around. 


And we have a new family member!  Meet Peanut.  Henley adopted him right after Christmas break.  He is a german shepherd/blue heeler mix and he is quite adorable if I do say so myself.