Nathan's 30th

Nate officially left his 20's behind on February 3rd. I was happy to have a snow day on his birthday so I could get organized for the big party. My gratefulness wore off when I realized it would be virtually impossible to get downtown, and that most sane people were not going to drive in the weather that dropped almost two feet of snow on Denver.

We waited for two hours for a cab to show but no one wanted to brave the unplowed streets of Wash Park. I am not a big fan of driving in general, let alone driving in the snow, and the birthday boy wasn't going to drive, so I was sure that we'd miss the entire party.  We called Nathan's sister Marissa and she said she'd pick us up.  A half our later, she showed up in her Jeep and we hopped in to find his mom waiting for us.  She flew in for a birthday surprise and was miraculously able to land in the heart of the storm earlier that afternoon.

It was 7:30 when we finally go to Falling Rock, and some of our guests had beaten us there.  We scrambled to decorate and get set up, which wasn't as difficult with so many extra sets of hands.

 I think Nate had a great birthday! 25 people came to celebrate with him. The night ended with mom-in-law Diane driving us through the Taco Bell drive-thru: a sign of a good night!

My Pinterest birthday craft!

Mom to Denver

My mom visited us this weekend.  We did our best to balance some downtime with things that require more energy, like eating and shopping.

Highlights: 

Sunday morning brunch at Lucile's.  We waited an hour and a half to be seated but when they brought out piles of Louisiana comfort food, we were thankful to be so hungry.

House browsing in Stapleton.  When I was little, I used to go to open houses with my mom (is that a typical mother-daughter pastime?) All three of us went on Sunday and saw brand new houses that are about the same price as our house but three times bigger.  Selling out to suburbia may not be such a bad idea after all.

Crafts with Cathy. I love my mom's craftiness!  She taught me how to make these stars out of scrapbooking paper.  She is like the MacGyver of crafts.

Mom also helped me make peanut butter dog treats for Kiowa.  Kiowa liked them at first but now I think she realizes that I swapped her meaty Milk Bones with vegan kitchen crafts.  Next time I'll add beef broth.

I was sad to drop her off at the airport today.  She is such an amazing mama!