#VivaLaSandmeier2016

It's hard to believe that Brandon and I said our "I do's" three whole years ago! It doesn't seem like it has been that long, yet at the same time it feels like we've been married forever. (Just to clarify, I don't mean that in a snarky way -- I mean it as "How has it only been 3 years when we've lived in 4 different places, have a toddler, different jobs, taken so many vacations, etc.) Anyway, to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary, we decided to take a trip to Cancun for 4 glorious nights of all-inclusive heaven!

We ate (and ate and ate and ate).

We drank (and drank and drank and drank).

We napped.

We slept in.

We laid by the beach and tanned/read.

It was absolutely GLORIOUS!

This was actually my first trip out of the country, so I wasn't sure what to expect... Customs in Mexico was a bit of a pain (loooooooong lines), but everything else was absolutely perfect. We stayed at the Sun Palace and I cannot recommend it enough. Not only is it all-inclusive, but it's also adult and couples only, which made the experience so much quieter and calmer. And the staff? Nicest. people. ever.

Anyway, I have so many memories and stories I want to document, so please bear with me and my photo/story dump:

Our room... If I had to live there, I wouldn't be mad...

The view from our balcony... we slept with the door open every night so we could hear the ocean. 

On our first night, we were just plain tired and went to our room after dinner at the Mexican restaurant, ordered room service, and watched the Avs game (which ironically was the only thing we could find in English!).

Enjoying the beach on our anniversary :)

Brandon and I both gained at least 5 lbs. in 4 days... no joke. I have been on a major sugar detox since arriving home.

Couples massage at the spa = unreal. 

I had a few too many fruity drinks and vaguely remember this picture or this show. 

When we walked onto the beach Wednesday morning, we were waved over by a man in a tent asking us if we'd like to go parasailing (which in hindsight was probably a huge red flag, but we didn't think much of it). Since we didn't go on any tours, we decided "why not?" and handed our money to the gentleman -- it all went downhill from there. I naively thought I could bring my phone with me (so the men on the boat could take pictures for us), but realized that was a huge mistake as soon as we got on the jet ski and felt the waves crashing angrily against us. I asked the man we gave our money to if he wouldn't mind holding my phone (jet ski guy was in a hurry and wasn't about to let us off) and panicked when I saw him take it and set it on another jet ski. I tried not to think too much about it and just enjoy the experience, which worked... until the jet ski flipped over and sent Brandon, the driver, and me into the ocean. (I was probably under water for 4 seconds, but all I could think about was how the jet ski was probably floating right over us and how we wouldn't be able to come up for air and would drown, leaving poor Jackson without his parents. Overly dramatic? Nah.) Thanks to our somewhat trusty life vests, we weren't underwater for too long and were quickly pulled onto the speedboat. As we sat on the boat drying off and awaiting our turn, I began feeling nauseous... I typically don't get any sort of motion sickness, but I was DEFINITELY feeling it today. It was finally our turn to get strapped in and shoved out, so I said a quick prayer and off we went. It was a very beautiful view and felt surreal to actually be parasailing in Mexico... but as I gazed down at the crashing waves below us, I felt more and more sick. What was supposed to be this romantic moment with my husband quickly came to an end as I began gagging/heaving over the Gulf of Mexico. After (what felt like) 4 hours, we were finally brought back to the boat and our parasailing adventure came to an end. Fortunately the jet ski ride back to the beach went a lot more smoothly and we were greeted by our shoes and my perfectly dry, perfectly working phone. #neveragain

This is how our evenings were spent -- massive amounts of room service and Netflix.

Friday evening.

This was definitely one of the most fun, relaxing, and memorable trips I have ever been on and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to do this with my husband. But as much fun as the trip was, it sure felt good to get home to this little cutie (who spent the week with his awesome grandparents and Uncle Joe -- thank you guys again for everything you did!!!):

Stratequate

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE my job?

Oh, only a million times, you say?

Well, I'm going to say it again!

I get to work part-time from home, write, AND meet all kinds of awesome people from the area -- what's not to love (aside from the internet trolls, of course)?! One more thing to add to the list? My awesome, awesome bosses sent all of the writers to Vegas for a meeting!

WHAT?!

It was a short Wednesday-Friday trip, but it was so nice to get away with Brandon for a few nights and meet my bosses/co-workers.

Our meeting/accommodations were all at the Stratosphere, which none of us had ever been to and weren't terribly impressed with... however, from the look/sound of things, Brandon and I lucked out to have a fairly clean room without any bugs :/ Anyway, the term coined from the trip was "Stratequate" (Stratosphere + adequate).

On Wednesday evening, we spent most of our time at the Level 107 lounge, where we all visited, chatted, drank a little too much, and enjoyed the amazing views of the Strip. Since Jackson had a hard time sleeping the night before, Brandon and I were both exhausted and decided to turn in after our group dinner at the Stratosphere's Italian restaurant.

A few of the first arrival's mandatory prom picture. 

I talk to this girl several times a week, so it was great to finally meet her!

More writers making their way to the lounge!

VEGS!

Thursday morning was our writer's breakfast/meeting on the 104th floor, which was extremely informative and exciting -- it's so cool to hear about the impact of our work and where it is headed in person (vs. over email). After the meeting, Brandon and I decided to do a little shopping/gambling and started heading south on the strip, where we spent the majority of our time playing the penny slots at Circus Circus before it was time to get ready for our group dinner. 

Craziest. Thing. Ever.

Our catered group dinner was supposed to be held again on the 104th floor (amazing views, btw), so we all met up there, sat around visiting and drinking wine, and were then interrupted by fire alarms and a recording telling us there was an emergency situation being investigated. The same exact thing happened during breakfast and the waiters reassured us that it happens all the time, so we just went about visiting. 20 minutes later, the alarm and emergency recording FINALLY ceased, and a recorded woman's voice came over the intercom repeatedly telling us the situation was handled and to go about our business. After 5 minutes of that, it was once again quiet, but the lights continued to flash. 

By this time, everyone had empty stomachs and a pretty good wine buzz (since the alarm was going, the elevators were halted and several members of our party were stranded on the ground floor), and they finally decided to go ahead and begin serving the salad. Right as everyone began to eat, a security guard came running into our room telling us we needed to evacuate immediately. 

Umm, what?! 

A few of the guys (including my husband) ran to grab the remaining bottles of wine (which we were told was a big no) and we were lectured on the elevator about actually obeying alarms and evacuating when they go off... even though the waiters told us not to worry because it happens all the time.

We later found out that there was some sort of a leak upstairs, but we were all starving and wound up eating once again at the Stratosphere's Italian restaurant.. After dinner, half of our party headed to the Strip, and several of us met in the casino bar to chat for a bit before heading to our rooms.

Right before we were evacuated (the orb-ish looking thing in front of us is one of the lights from the alarm). 

On Friday morning, Brandon and I slowly rolled out of bed, got ready, checked out, and headed to the stratequate buffet on the ground floor (actually, I kid about it being stratequate -- it was actually pretty tasty!). Since we had a ton of time to kill before our 5:30 flight, we played the penny slots, walked a ways down the Strip, shopped, and rested before heading to the airport. 

When in Vegas, you eat ALL the breakfast foods. 

Our time in Vegas was definitely fun and memorable, but I was so glad to get home to our little guy, who had been hanging out with grammy and grandpa during our trip!

This trip reminded me of just how blessed I am to live in such a beautiful state, work for such an awesome company, and have such amazing parents who were willing to watch our little goober for us for two nights (he was very good for them, in case you were wondering).

Until next time, Vegas! 

Nana Visits the Mile High City

A few weeks ago, we had the great pleasure of hosting Mamma Nancy (my MIL) for a few days!

Nancy arrived Sunday afternoon while Brandon was still at work, so we talked and got all caught up while Jax napped. Once Brandon was home, we had dinner, made a GT's ice cream run, and all went to bed!

It didn't take Jax long to decide that Nana is his BFF!

Since Brandon was able to take Monday off from work, we decided to do the tourist thing and take Nancy downtown to walk around, shop, and have lunch (since she'd only been to Denver one other time). Upon arriving downtown, we surprised my Aunt Nancy at her office and headed to lunch at Sam's No. 3, which we all HIGHLY recommend. After lunch, my aunt had to head back to work, but was kind enough to loan us her Botanic Gardens pass. Long story short, we didn't stay very long (we were all exhausted) and decided to head back to the house to kick back and visit. #bestchoiceever Later that evening, I whipped up some of my "famous" Italian Nachos for supper and we all turned into bed early. 

Lunch with the Nancy's! 

The corpse flower had lost its stench (and ridiculously long line) by the time we visited the Gardens.

Brandon had to go back to work on Tuesday, so Nancy, Jax, and I packed up the car and headed west to visit him/show Nancy around his office. Brandon seriously works for the coolest, most family centered company I have ever encountered, so we were all welcomed with open arms and given a tour around the building -- what goes on at that company is all over my head (I am not tech-y whatsoever), but it's neat to hear about how important Brandon's job is when it comes to the internet.

After lunch and naps, it was time to get our toes done -- I always forget how wonderful and relaxing it is to have someone rub your feet and paint your nails; if I could do that once a week, I would never be stressed again! Anyway, Brandon was still at work when we went to the salon, so Jax came with us and was SO good (minus him accidentally dropping a bottle a nail polish when I wasn't looking) sitting quietly on my lap, playing on the tablet, and eating fruit snacks while I closed my eyes and relaxed. Ahhhhhh....

Fun Size Brandon working hard! :)

Nancy left early, early the next morning... we were so sad to see her leave and we can't wait to see her again!! We absolutely love living in Colorado, but it sure is difficult not being able to see Brandon's side of the family as often as we used to. I guess that means we have to start planning even more trips to Kansas?? :) Until next time, Mamma Nanc!

Spontaneity at its Finest

Last Wednesday, the most spontaneous thing ever happened...

To give you a brief synopsis, we're in the process of weaning Jax (for real this time), so as I rubbed his back to get him to nap, I logged into Facebook and discovered that Frontier Airlines was doing a special $1 flash ticket sale to select cities. Half joking, I sent the link to Brandon (who was working), asked him if he was up for a weekend trip to Texas (he works 4 10-hour days, Sunday-Wednesday), and less than 18 hours later, we landed at Houston's George Bush International Airport!

I can't count the number of times Brandon and I looked at each other during the trip and said "This is so crazy; I can't believe we're here!" -- it was seriously the most fun and spontaneous thing we have ever done and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to go!

Jackson made a bunch of friends on the shuttle to the airport!

Welcome to Texas!

I'd never been to Texas before and Brandon had only been to Dallas during short layovers, so we weren't sure what to do/expect, but the three of us had the best time! Before we left, Brandon booked a car and a room at the Omni Houston Hotel, but those were the only certainties of our trip... the rest we decided to play by ear. 

After checking in to the hotel, we made a quick Walgreens run (to pick up water, snacks, and meds for my sinus infection :/), picked up a Papa John's pizza, and then relaxed the rest of the night in our beautiful room. It wasn't a very eventful first evening in Houston, but we were all exhausted and wanted nothing more to sleep and relax. 

Jax pretty much adored the hotel lobby -- there were giant fish to feed, glass elevators to ride, and automatic doors to open!

We flew all the way to Texas to sit in a hotel room and eat the same exact pizza we have almost every week :D

Thank you God for this sweet and happy little boy!

Friday morning, we tried out a little breakfast restaurant called the Pecan Creek Grille and made a quick Kroger run before heading south to the Johnson Space Center -- if you are ever in the area, you HAVE to check it out!!! We all had a blast learning, exploring, and playing around the highly interactive grounds -- there is even an awesome hands-on room for kids, which was a hit with our busy toddler. After several hours at the Center, we picked up some Cane's chicken and headed back to our room for the night.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was watching Jax interact with other kids -- I lost count of the number of toddlers he ran up to and hugged and/or kissed!

After enjoying another delicious breakfast at Pecan Creek Grille on Saturday morning, we decided to take advantage of a 2 for 1 Groupon we found to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. After spending nearly two hours at the Museum, we were all exhausted and wanted nothing more than to eat lots of food, lay down, and not move for the rest of the evening -- and that's exactly what we did! By the way, Gil's Barbecue in west Houston is where it's at! 

Jax and I went and found the pool while daddy got ready Saturday morning.

Everything's bigger in Texas!

The Natural History Museum was just okay... we decided that if you've seen one, you've seen them all (it was basically the same as Denver). 

Our little Jackson was completely tuckered out by Sunday and actually napped on me at the airport and slept the entire plane ride (which means I got to take a nap too)! We all had such a good time and I feel so incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to vacation with my two favorite guys. Keep those deals coming, Frontier -- we'll keep buying! 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this was both Brandon's and my (and obviously Jax's) first trip to Texas and we were both so impressed with the state and the good, salt-of-the-earth people. That being said, I wanted to share Brandon's thoughts on the state, as we share the same exact sentiment.

My short time spent in Texas really has shown me how great this state really is. Everyone always talks about how great Texas is, how everything is bigger in Texas, and that southern hospitality. Other than the last couple of days, I've never really spent much time in Texas other than just driving through or waiting for a connecting flight at DFW and have never really had that Texas experience.

While in Houston for a short trip, I was here during the ceremonies for Deputy Sheriff Darren Goforth who was killed while refueling his patrol car. I've always heard how patriotic people in Texas are, but before this trip, I really had no idea. While here I saw the entire community come together during this sad time. Neighborhoods had blue ribbons tied around trees, cars had a blue line across the back windshield, nearly every yard and business flew the American flag, citizens all throughout the area wore blue, and the news stations all took time to not only remember the fallen officer but to remind citizens to pay tribute as well.

It saddens me to say that back home I would never see something like this. Yes it would be agreed that this is a tragic and senseless loss, but the news and Facebook would be flooded with people talking about what he may have done to "deserve" this, how gun control needs to be addressed, or something about racism. Though there are issues in our nation that need to be addressed, I heard nothing of the sort while here and it's admirable to see a community put all that aside for a moment so they could take time to celebrate and remember the life of someone who's passed. As Jon Stewart said, "You can truly grieve for every officer who’s been lost in the line of duty in this country, and still be troubled by cases of police overreach. Those two ideas are not mutually exclusive. You can have great regard for law enforcement and still want them to be held to high standards.” Though there are corrupt officers out there, the actions of a few do not reflect the whole. Deputy Goforth was a man putting gas in his car when someone decided to end his life.

Though I am not a Texan, what I have seen and experienced here in Houston from its community has made me proud to be an American. It has made me feel that maybe some day I could move here and call Texas home but I'm not sure about its humidity yet. It's absolutely brutal!

We love you, Texas! Can't wait to visit again!!

It Is a Pretty "Grand" Lake...

Two weeks ago, our little family of three took our first ever vacation (with just the three of us, that is) and it couldn't have gone any better!

My Aunt Millie has a gorgeous cabin up in Grand Lake, which we FINALLY decided to take advantage of. The drive from Denver to Grand Lake is maybe 2 hours and 15 minutes -- I can't count the number of times Brandon and I looked at each other and asked "why didn't we do this sooner?" We arrived in GL late Thursday afternoon and got settled into the cabin before heading into town to enjoy dinner and drinks at the Sagebrush, run around the playground with Jackson, and indulge in some delicious homemade ice cream at one of the local creameries.

We pack lightly. 

The cabin has the coolest loft area with twin beds for the kids -- Jax wasn't too sure what to think.. Maybe next time!

If you ever visit Grand Lake, you MUST go to Sagebrush (Jackson got a kick out of throwing peanut shells on the floor) -- SO good!

All tuckered out after a fun day of traveling and exploring!

We woke up early Friday morning and ate a big breakfast (prepared by Brandon) before heading out to Granby Lake to try our luck at fishing. Brandon tested the waters for nearly 2 hours and didn't get a single nibble, but we still had a fun time enjoying the quiet and watching Jax throw rocks into the water. Friday afternoon consisted mostly of resting, writing (for me), and eating way too much yummy food. 

He LOVES the mountains!

Jackson was taking selfies as Brandon buckled him into his car seat.

The infamous "dad is wiping my nose" selfie. 

These two melt my heart.

It doesn't get better than having a hot guy cook for you.

Made from scratch chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn -- OMG SO DELISH!

Pure heaven.

Saturday morning was spent mostly cleaning and eating another huge breakfast (thanks babe!) -- around nap time, we started to head back down the mountain, making a pit stop in Idaho Springs for Brandon & Jackson's first Beau Jo's pizza. 

I thought for sure that Jax would nap the entire way home, but he kept himself occupied with a good book and a few of his cars :)

He had a blast on vacation but was sure excited to come home and see his friends again!

Some of my favorite childhood memories took place at the cabin and I'm so excited to be able to share this special place with my own family! Our first vacation with just the three of us was a smashing success and I can't wait to return to the mountains again (hopefully) very soon! 

Final, mushy thought: I feel so incredibly blessed to call Colorado my "home" -- this state really has the best of everything with its beautiful cities, majestic mountains, and rolling plains. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss Kansas, but I guess Colorado is just as pretty :)