Denver, sweet Denver

For my birthday this year, I booked a ticket to spend a long weekend in Denver with my cousin (and bff) Shayla.  We both needed a weekend to play, and the cheapest tickets were to Denver, CO for both of us. We flew in Friday morning, spent the morning getting the rental car, checked into our hotel, and catching up. We got a killer deal from Hotwire, so we stayed at Crowne Plaza right off the 16th street mall in downtown Denver. I may or may not have accidentally fallen asleep while Shayla caught up on work or played on Pinterest. In my defense I had slept 2 hours between getting all my work done and packed the night before and when the shuttle came at four to pick me up.  After that we went to The Cheesecake Factory with money from my mom for dinner. We wandered down to The Tattered Cover Bookstore, and spent several hours meandering through the shelves of new and used books.  By this time we had digested dinner, so we stopped in at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for dessert.  A quick stop at CVS for hot chocolate packets, granola bars, and water then back to our hotel.  Shayla introduced me to Downton Abbey, then off to sleepland we did go.

Saturday morning Shayla did the responsible thing after eating cheesecake and chocolate and went down to the gym to workout.  I, on the other hand, took a long hot bath.  And it was marvelous.  We then spent the rest of the morning at the temple.  the Denver temple is so beautiful and it was such a gorgeous day. One of the sisters in the temple told us there was a Deseret Book with a Lion House Pantry in it, so we went there for lunch and rolls.  Shayla also got some Raspberry Honey Butter - yum!

This is my new birthday outfit that I bought with money from Ralph and Jan - LOVE IT!

After the temple, we stopped in a Target and shopped the clearance sections.  I got a new sweater, shirt, and bought Jojo and Christian some shoes.  Shayla bought me some new jeans for my birthday - she's so nice! After Target, we headed back to our hotel, then off to Barnes and Noble.  (We love books!) For dinner we went to Johnny Rocket's with smiley face ketchup. Then, we may or may not have bought more chocolate at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. (It's on our way home, yo.) More Downton Abbey, and night night.

Sunday we attended sacrament meeting in a three story building.  It was an interesting testimony meeting and included the phrase, "and my man George Strait, he helps me shake it." We appreciated the kindness of the bishop introducing himself to us. After church we went to the Denver Art Museum. When asking our concierge at the hotel about it, he said, among other things, "I don't know, it's supposed to have no 360 degree angles." Thanks! I loved the couches, which looked tilted from behind.

We made postcards at the museum for the kiddos - Jocelyn got a buffalo eating toast from me  - Shayla made Paul a train that was actually cool and artistic. 

As you can see, there are no 360 or 90 degree angles on this building.  

This was Shayla's favorite sculpture!

 There is just something about being with someone who has known you since you were born, laughs at all your jokes, and you can be completely yourself with that makes for a stress-free and relaxing vacation. It made the 15 hours spent at the Denver Airport (3 hour delay), in the air, and at the DFW airport (4 hours waiting for Jared so he didn't have to wake up Paul at 3 am) after the vacation was over all worth it.  Thanks Jared and Cory for letting us go and keeping it all under control at home!