Our Colorado Trip

So, Sonya posted on her blog before I did about Courtney and I's trip to Colorado. I'm not going to repeat pictures and info that Sonya posted so check them out here. We had visited them right after they moved in last August when they had very little furniture. It was so fun to see all their new furniture in place and all the decorating done. I loved what they did to decorate the office/extra bedroom. The basket of goodies was a special surprise! They made us feel so welcome. They had shopped for us and had so many meals already prepared. I was impressed! Matt and Sonya made some salsa to go with the fajitas. Very good!!

This is their view of the mountains from their deck off of their living room. The weather was beautiful while we were there. Mainly in the 60's and sunny. We had the windows open just about every day.

Courtney's 21st birthday occurred while we were there. Nicole has just awakened her with a birthday phone call in this photo.

Matt and Sonya left Courtney some goodies.

Courtney spent the days while Matt and Sonya were at work doing school work. Some days she was more motivated than others.

One day she spent most of the day at Agia Sophia, with a white chocolate peppermint mocha latte. It's a unique coffee shop in Old Colorado Springs. They have some beautiful lifestyle portraits on display there as well. I can only dream of taking portraits like those!

We met Matt and Sonya after work one night so Courtney could practice using a snowboard on the Wii. Sonya took us on a tour of the facilities and we got to meet a lot of the people they work with.

We went out for dinner afterwards and returned to their apartment in separate cars. Matt and Courtney rode together. Sonya and I got caught up talking, so they were waiting for us outside when we got there. I guess we had the keys. Not the greatest pictures, but I love them anyway. They were researching computers I think. Matt is planning ahead for the day he can buy a new one.

Sonya checking out which snowboarding paraphernalia she would wear.

A view from the back seat of the car as we were driving up to Ski Cooper.

Matt had checked out a lot of places to ski ahead of time. He found this small place that was pretty inexpensive and very friendly. It turned out to be the perfect place for Courtney's first time snowboarding.

Everyone standing and smiling BEFORE any falls.

Matt was so patient teaching Courtney the moves.

Taking a break at the lodge. I must say, I was disappointed in the lodge. I was expecting a roaring fireplace like you see in the movies! They would have to have spent a lot more for those type of facilities though.

Courtney on her feet coming down the mountain. Courtney figured she would have her share of falls, so rented a helmet. A really good choice in my opinion.

Matt coming down one of the bigger slopes. Look at that view!

Sonya showing us how it's done.

They were done snowboarding around 4 pm, so we stopped in Vail, Colorado on our way to Denver. It was fun to walk around, look in the shops and eat some pizza. We also rode up the mountain in their gondola's. You can see the yellow lights from town behind Matt and Sonya. One nice thing in Vail - the parking and the Gondola were free after 4 pm.

We had some snow on the way to Denver, which made the drive a little stressful for awhile. Thankfully it didn't last too long.

On Saturday we went shopping and toured The Brown Palace. A very cool place. This is the ceiling of the hotel. They said there is a glass dome over it to protect the stained glass from the elements.

As Sonya mentioned, she and Matt got stuck in the elevator. They were very quick to respond to this situation and get the doors open.

The first very happy passenger exiting the elevator.

On Sunday, after going to church, we just hung out at the apartment. We watched the Spurs, watched a movie, Matt built a fire (we had to have the door open because it got too hot) and played Euchre. A very relaxing day.

If you were at Matt and Sonya's wedding you will understand the significance of these two photos. Do you remember what they said?

Do I need to remind you? Matt said that he knew Sonya was the girl for him because she liked the red and purple Skittles and he liked the yellow and green. I had to take the photos when I saw how they divided up the Skittles without even thinking about it.

We had a great time visiting with them and are so thankful we were able to spend the week there. Sonya got up very early Monday morning to take us to the airport for our flight back.

Be sure to check Sonya's blog for additional photos and details.