Happy (early) Birthday!!!

This past weekend we celebrated Scott's 27th birthday, even though his real birthday isn't until September 28th. Being the loving wife that I am, I thought long and hard about what I could get my wonderful husband for his birthday. Of course I came up with lots of ideas but none of them seemed right. Just after our wedding I had a "light bulb" moment and I realized that I could get my husband for his birthday. I quickly called up Tony, Scott's best friend from college who lives in Des Moines. I knew how much Scott wanted Tony to come visit again and I knew that this would be a perfect excuses to do so. Because Tony is a great friend he of course said yes! I didn't need to do much planning before hand so it was easy keeping this a secret from Scott for the past 3 months. However, the past couple of weeks had been difficult.

I told Scott that we had this big weekend planned but I wouldn't tell him anything of what we were doing. He never really guess but he kept asking questions that made it hard not to come out and tell him what we were doing. My favorite question was when Scott asked me if he could unwrap his present in public....I just smiled and said well, maybe not all of it! :-) I had a great time planning the weekend while making Scott even more confused!

Finally Friday came and I was able to give Scott his birthday present. I asked Scott to meet me for lunch downtown. Little did he know, Tony and his girlfriend Erica would also be joining us for lunch. The 3 of us walked into the restaurant, of course Scott saw Tony first since he's a 7'-0" giant! Scott was so surprised and so grateful that they had come all this way just to spend time with him. I successfully pulled of the surprise!

Friday afternoon Scott and I were both able to get off early and meet up with Tony and Erica for happy hour downtown. We enjoyed the beautiful Colorado weather while sitting on the roof top patio of one of our favorite places to hang out after work. Later that night we went to Boulder and had dinner on Pearl Street downtown. Saturday we had brunch at CB & Potts before heading to Parker for their Oktoberfest. It was a small festival but it was nice to get out of the city and be out doors on such a beautiful day (70 degrees and sunny!). That night I had arranged for us to meet up with some of our friends at our favorite restaurant in Denver, Lime. We all had dinner and went out on the town. Tony and Erica left early Sunday morning so the rest of our weekend was spent on the couch relaxing. Overall, I think I the weekend was a success! I loved surprising my husband and giving him something that I knew would make him happy!!!!

Here are a couple pictures of the weekend:





Of course Scott's real birthday isn't for another few days so we will celebrate just the two of us on his birthday. Nothing too big but I'm thinking wine, candles, the fire place on, cake and How I Meet Your Mother!?!?!? Sounds like a perfect night!

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In other life news: we are (finally) moving this weekend! After weeks of packing....I just realized that we don't have a ton of stuff, it's just taken forever since I have been the only one packing (for the most part)...we are finally able to move in to our new apartment. We are both looking forward to the change and the feeling of being "stable" for at least the next 12 months. My dearest Dad is coming out to lend us a hand on moving. We are hoping to have everything moved by the end of next weekend...we shall see if we can do that!!!

Besides moving we are looking forward to the next few weekends. We are going to the Colorado Springs airshow, to Keystone for the night while I attend a design conference there and to Vegas in November for a short weekend (I won a national scholarship to attend a national design conference there so my trip is paid for!). So yet again, we have another busy few weeks ahead of us. I will do my best with keep you all up to date with our latest adventures!!!

Love,
Heather

Mr. Awesome

I will be completely honest, there are days that I take my husband for granted. However, lately those days are very few and far between! Since Scott started taking classes this semester he hasn't been home much. And by "not much" I mean he has class Monday - Thursday nights and doesn't get home until after 8:30 most of the time. I miss coming home to him after work and tell him all about my day. I also miss our walks around the neighborhood, our nights cuddled on the couch or a spontaneous moving, wine and Chinese food evening that happens to fall on a Wednesday night! Most nights I am on my own for dinner, unless we meet up after work for a quick bit. Most nights it's Joey (the cat) and I on the couch watching any random show that I know Scott wouldn't enjoy or, on nights like tonight, it's me and a glass of wine hanging out on the computer listening to music. As much of a sacrifice this is right now, I know every night I come home to an empty house will only benefit our future together. I really wouldn't do it for anyone else! :-)

Not only do I miss my husband when I get home at night, but I miss the help around the house! I have to be one of the luckiest wives in the world because I have a husband who helps cook dinner (honestly, most nights he's home he cooks!), does the laundry (no pink shirts yet!), puts the dishes away (still working on how to properly load the dishwasher but I'll take what I can get) and likes to vacuum!!!

Basically, I married Mr. Awesome!!!

We're still trying to figure out our routine this Fall. It has been a challenge balancing work, class, household responsibilities and our relationship but I have all the confidence in the world that we will make this schedule work for us. It may take us until January when we will be faced with another (different) schedule, but we'll make it work! It's always worked out for us...why shouldn't this next step? In the meantime, we have been focusing our attention on "us" when we get time to spend together. We have a couple really good "us" weekends and we hope that they continue! Scott supported me while I was finishing up Grad school and I am happy to do the same for him!!!

Anyways, enough of how awesome my husband is! :-) Things are good here! I have been working a lot of overtime the last couple of weeks at work. We have a huge deadline on Friday so we have been working like crazy to meet it. I sure hope this only happens every 6 months or so, getting into the office at 7:00 and not leaving until 6:00 while working over lunch isn't my thing! Scott and I are moving next weekend so we have been busy packing up the apartment. We are both looking forward to moving, it's time for a change. Besides that, I have a big birthday surprise planned for Scott this weekend....he has no idea what it is and it's driving him crazy! Tune in next week to see what it was! :-)

Love,
Heather G

Home Visit

Is it funny (or a little strange) that I still consider Iowa "home" when I have lived in Colorado for the past 8 years? I have quite decided whether or not it's weird but I have a feeling that I will always call Iowa "home". Anyways, Scott and I spent Labor Day weekend back in Iowa visiting friends and family and attending a wedding. We left early Friday morning and had to drive back to Colorado early Monday but we packed as much as we could in 2 days! Like most trip back "home", we didn't see everyone we wanted to nor did we spend nearly enough time with those that we did see. We say this every time we come back, but we really need to get back to Iowa more often! :-)

Here are a few highlights from the weekend:


Scott and I visited his best friend Tony at the Altoona Fire Station (Tony is a fire fighter)



My Dad and I with his Harley



Scott and I at our friends Kyle and Erin's wedding

We really enjoyed our short vacation back to the Midwest. Our friends and family mean so much to us and we truly wish they were all closer...if only Nebraska would go away! :-) No matter how long we are away from Iowa, we will always hold it close to our hearts and always consider it our "home"!

Love,
Heather