Tyler. 30 years.

My man turned 30 years old on March 18th!  He finally caught up to me. :)  March was a big month...Eva turned one and Tyler turned 30 three days later.  We didn't do any big party on his actual birthday, as it was on a Monday and it was sandwiched between two trips (he has been traveling a ton...more on that later).  But, what he didn't know was that I had a big party planned for him later on in the month (it was a surprise and we totally got him! it was such a fun night!).

This guy means the world to me.  He is one amazing guy.  I am seriously a lucky girl.  I love his passion for life, how he can always make people laugh, his dreams, his love for God, his passion for helping others, how he is an incredible daddy, and the list could go on and on. 

We went bowling that night, just us 4.  It was so much fun!  Cruz hadn't been in a long time, and he absolutely loved it.  He took his game very seriously.

Sidenote...why do birthdays wear me out so much?  I feel like the whole month of March was spent in birthday mode.  I was exhausted after they were over...the surprise party for Tyler stressed me out!  I wanted it to be a surprise so badly and was soooo nervous about it!  Thank goodness it worked. :)

colorado

Tyler and I  were able to get away for a little 2 night/3 day vacation a couple of weeks ago.  It was lovely.  We hadn't really had a vacation the whole summer and weren't sure if we were going to be able to make one happen at all, but we did!  Tyler actually took a week off of work.  We went to McCook for a few days first (pics to come) and then we took off for our little getaway to Estes.  Tyler's parents were so nice and let us borrow their 4-wheelers for the trip.  We went 4-wheeling everyday and loved it.  We fell in love with 4-wheeling in the mountains during our first trip to Colorado together back in 2006.  We have gone a number of times since then. 

(A huge thank you to Tyler's Mom and Dad for keeping our kids as well!  You guys are such a blessing - thank you!)

We got to Estes a little later than we wanted, but that didn't stop us from unloading the 4-wheelers and checking out some trails!  We were greeted by snow in some spots. 

I never get tired of seeing these mountains.  I'm so glad Colorado is so close...it really is an easy trip for us.  Tyler and I were talking about how familiar the Estes area is becoming.  It's kind of fun to get to know an area so well.  We would like to explore other areas as well, but for quick trips Estes is perfect.

SO good to spend this time together.

Tyler's photo of the Rockies.

Out to eat the first night...shrimp enchiladas and a margarita.  Yum. :)

Getting ready to head out on day 2!

It was a beautiful day!  The high was 62 that day.

This was one of the easier trails...there were all kinds.

We experienced this quite often...gates keeping us from where we wanted to go.

We found an awesome app for our phones that had gps and showed us all of the trails.  It was really nice because it would track our path as we went.  I get nervous about getting lost, so it helped me not freak out. :)  Though I did still have some nervous moments.  I'm thankful Tyler put up with me.  If he had his way, he'd be out in the boonies with a tent on the back of his ATV. 

 

What a beautiful view.

We stopped to eat lunch in this spot.  Awesome view.

Looking out over Estes.

We went to the famous Stanley Hotel on Halloween night!  We both had never been there before, so we thought it was the perfect night to go.  We were bummed that the tour was sold out (we had called ahead of time and asked if we needed to reserve tickets and they said no...but then when we got there they were sold out).  Oh well.  We still explored the area a bit.

Tyler's instagram picture...:)  We watched The Shining in our cabin after dinner.

Ha!

Downtown Estes on Halloween night.  Everyone goes trick-or-treating on the main street where all the shops are instead of going from house to house.  It was pretty cute to see all the locals dressed up.  The shop owners closed down their shops and stood in the doorways with candy (and caramel apples! yum!). 

Our room at the Fawn Valley Inn.  October is the perfect time to go to Colorado...one of the reasons being is that you can get great pricing on hotels since it is the off season.  We got a great deal at this place and I thought our room was just perfect!

Getting ready for the 3rd day of 4-wheeling.  A latte + a Red Bull. :)

Another gate!

Another awesome view on Storm Mountain.

It was fun having the snow on parts of the trails...

I sure do love this guy! 

A stop at Chick-fil-A in Loveland.  The same day Omaha opened two stores of their own!

father's day 2012...

....or daddy's day, like we prefer to call it around here.  we had a fun day celebrating tyler.  what an awesome daddy he is to our kids!  seriously.  our kids are so blessed to have him.  eva doesn't know it yet, but she's starting to realize it...they've bonded over the past month or so.  she can't help but smile when her daddy talks to her in his funny baby voice. and cruz thinks his daddy is pretty awesome...he loves to help him with all of his projects and thinks his daddy can fix anything. 

one of my most favorite things ever: watching tyler play with our kids.  i can't help but smile. :)

cornhole!

Cruz worked hard and made a chain for daddy...on each piece of paper we wrote down something that cruz loved about his daddy.  a few of my favorites: "i like when you take me to home depot"..."i like your ears"..."i like wrestling with you"..."i like mowing with you"...etc. :)

 my instagram pic of the day!

i had to post this one, too.

i know it's a little blurry...but this picture is one of my favorites. tyler texted me this picture one morning. i was already at work and he was getting cruz ready to take to the babysitter. he is such a good daddy to cruz...they have so much fun together.

love, love, love these boys.

my boys.

have i mentioned that these two boys have stolen my heart?

i can't believe i'm so lucky.

they make me smile each and every day.

and they make me so very happy.

aren't they adorable in their hunting gear? they were headed out to go hunt rabbits. :)

happy birthday dear husband.

march 18th. tyler's 28th bday!

happy birthday to the love of my life and my best friend.

i met tyler when he was 18...and now he is turning 28. it will be ten years that we have known each other in august. so thankful we met that day in the stanford 5 dorm hallway.

cruz got daddy a hat for his birthday. i thought for sure he was going to tell tyler what it was before tyler opened it. he was so excited about it!

we'll be going out with friends on sunday....and in the meantime we will be doing little things to celebrate all weekend long.

we love birthdays.

my man.

This is us on our date - celebrating 6 years of marriage!

6 years? Really? Wow.

I love this man more now than ever. I can't imagine my life without him. I love going through life with him by my side. He has taught me so much and has given me so much joy.

I love that he can make me laugh harder than anyone.

I love that he pushes me out of my comfort zone.

I love that he is a man of God.

I love that he is the leader of our home.

I love that he is such a hard worker.

I love that he is a great daddy.

I love that he sees me for who I am, and loves me despite of seeing the ugly things.

We had a great date night on January 28th (3 weeks after our anniversary!). My Mom and Dad kept Cruz for night (thank you so much!), and we went out with some good friends to Midtown Crossing. I had never been there, so it was great to eat at Crave and explore some of the shops. We even went to Delice...the coffee shop that used to be downtown. I used to go there all of the time during college. After hanging out at Midtown Crossing, Tyler and I headed to our hotel downtown. I love date nights. It was a nice little getaway!

PS - I had to throw this in here...January 8th, 2005. A great day.