My Fairy Tale

Today's post was going to be a running entry until the weekend happened to me. A weekend that I feel like was a dream and I have found myself now awake back to the Monday blues of swim practice, grocery shopping, and kid's fighting. Did it really happen? Yes, I  have the pictures and a ring on my finger to prove it! Seriously, sometimes a girl has just got to brag.

My husband has had this weekend blocked off for about 2 months now with no hints as to what was in store. I just knew that I was not allowed to take any shifts at to work, didn't have to plan meals, didn't have to think one bit about errands or real life. I just wasn't supposed to think about it! Friday night at 10pm, my mother in law walked in (from Minnesota-surprise!....I might have cleaned the bathrooms had I known). Joel had flown her in to watch the kids and dogs for the weekend so we could....could do I don't know but I was getting pretty excited!!  We hopped in the car Saturday morning after being I told I did not need to pack, and I did not need to do my hair or make-up (I still didn't believe him and put some make up on). An hour later we pulled up to The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa in downtown Denver, an historical high-end luxury hotel built in 1892. Just walking into this hotel felt like we were walking into a movie. It had the doormen decked out in fancy coats, the lobby was beautifully decorated for Christmas with white lights and a champagne tower, and a cascading staircase. Joel said "this is how the other half lives". He then promptly dropped me off at the spa with a "have fun and see you in a few fours!". OK! I had a massage, a mani-pedi, and my hair and make-up done. I was then handed a room key (after the lady told me she had worked here for 4 years and never seen anything like what my husband is doing....they are worth waiting for ladies!).

Me heading up to the room after my spa day!

This is what I found waiting for me in our room (minus Joel). An outfit complete with tights, boots, earrings, perfume, and instructions to meet him at the bottom of the staircase in the lobby at 6:30pm. and yes, the dress fit! I descended the staircase feeling like Julia Roberts, finding Joel beaming from ear to ear. He gave me beautiful necklace with was my engagement ring reset in a pendant. This did seem a little fishy to me....I am missing a ring as this point but was on such a cloud nine...who cares!?! 

We then went san enjoyed drinks and appetizers at the hotel tavern after taking some pictures in the amazing hotel lobby, and then moved on to a fancy pants restaurant The Palace Arms.

Honestly, I ate the best food I have ever had in my life with the best service, in the most romantic setting. The chef brought us "Amuse" and champagne on the house. They laid our napkins in our laps and brought us different wines to try with our food (which literally melted in our mouths). Then Joel got down on one knee and "proposed" to me again. I said yes!

Joel and I got engaged in college and married straight after. We didn't have a lot of money and I know  my engagement ring stretched him to the max, even at its size of 1/3 carat. I  have never felt the need to have a bigger diamond. It is not something I have asked for over and over again. But in his mind, he said it was something he always had planned from the day he bought me an engagement ring...to one day upgrade. His proposal also got a little screwed up as an wonderfully planned romantic gesture went a little wrong and he ended up proposing to me in a rest stop in West Virginia (the ring was literally on the back of a toilet after scavenger hunt in the rest stop). Its a long story but I would have said yes to him anywhere! So now we have another proposal story :).  No one in the hotel could believe that we had been married 13 years, had 4 kids, and it was no special occasion. I am really just that lucky!!! 

We stayed the night at The Brown Palace. Joel had new pajamas and slippers for me, plus a new outfit for the next morning. The next day included sleeping in, brunch, shopping, and the movies. It was so hard to go home! I am so blessed with such a thoughtful husband and to be madly in love still after 13 years. Thank you Joel for the magical weekend that we can hold close to our hearts forever. 

You are my hero!

Tales of October

I know a lot of you are waiting for me to post pictures of our new house but here is the reason why you haven't seen any yet. It truly has been constant chaos since the day we moved in with no end in site. I kept telling myself it would all be together by the end of October but here we are in November now! I have to say it does look a little better than this at the moment (but not much). We still have no furniture on the main floor and no kitchen counters, which means no sink and no dishwasher, which means we are still eating out a lot. There always seems to be some delay: we ran out of painter's tape, a part was left off the order, a change in the counter template, the tile is on back order, and of course another run to Home Depot for some forgotten thing. There are truly some people at Home Depot who know us by name and the kids groan every time we pull into the parking lot. I will just cling to the hope that maybe (maybe) by Christmas??

 But life still goes on and Anna (who promised to stay 5 forever) turned 9 on October 27th. Anna has had no problems making BFFs here in Colorado and was ecstatic to invite friends Emma and Hannah out to see Dolphin Take 2 and then back to our house for pizza and cupcakes. Yes, we had to go store bought this year as we had no working oven at this point in the month. Anna was all smiles anyways! 

Since we couldn't make her dinner of choice, on her actual birthday she got to chose the restaurant to eat at and enjoyed all eyes on her as she walked in with balloons and flowers! We are pretty sure she had a pretty fantastic birthday! 

 The sugar rush continued as her birthday gets smashed together with Halloween. The kids went easy on us this year with their costume desires. Asher is Percy Jackson. He is absolutely obsessed with Percy Jackson and has devoured all of Rick Riordan's books. It is hard to believe that this boy never liked reading...we just had to find what he was actually interested in (such a blessing to see his love for books now!). Josie is a unicorn...her obsession at the moment and was the only costume we had to buy! Of course we had a plethora of VT cheerleader costumes for Anna to chose from (seriously one for every age she has been), and Jesse wanted to be a spy (suits his nickname of stealth boy perfectly). Our neighborhood was the bomb of neighborhoods to go trick or treating in and was a wonderful time chatting with some of our neighbors. Now we are still trying to get through all the candy! They wake up in the morning and say "Can I have a piece of candy?". 

 I may have not been able to put up any fall decor in our rehab house, but we still did pumpkins! I swear Anna's face looks like this every year when it comes time for pumpkins.

 The boys have no problems!

Jesse's mummy

 Then a time change was sprung on us. With that, the house chaos, and Joel traveling for work for the first time, this past week has left us all dragging. This is Josie asleep on the bleachers during one of the kid's swim practices. Life is so hard!

 And since 4 kids, 1 dog, and a house in rehab isn't enough for me I had to get a new dog! Actually, Joel and I together decided to add this darling to our family weeks ago. Meet Phoebe, my future trail dog. Running on the trails in Colorado has left me quite uneasy when I am alone and for peace of mind and safety, this was the result. I can't rely on Finn to save me from a mountain lion!

We were really worried about Finn taking to Phoebe but so far they seem to be getting along great!

All in all October has been a truly hard month but filled with many blessings. We are trying to take time to enjoy these moments and know that we have years and years and years to enjoy this house. What is a few months in rehab in the grand scheme of things. Joel actually said to me last week "I m loving my job" and that is such a huge answer to prayer, and a testimony of God leading us on this journey. His blessings abound.