Valentine's Day in Colorado!

I have to admit…I was terribly sad when Dave returned back to England following his trip home for training/Christmas and New Years.  Although, I have to say…I was very excited to be FINALLY purchasing bridal magazines for a reason.  At least!  I don’t have to feel like a creep, flipping through the pages awkwardly telling people “oh no, I’m not engaged…just looking for ideas” anymore.  Now when people ask (and maybe I just look friendly or excited or something because people ask me all the time!) I can tell them that yes I am engaged and we are getting married next summer.  When we first began to look at dates it was top priority that we look far enough into the future that my future husband would be back in the US when we start married life together.  I never thought I would have wanted a 19 month engagement…but with Dave living on a different continent and us wanting to do as much planning together as we can…we may need all those months!!!

As sad as I was to see my fiancé leave in January I took comfort knowing that he would be returning to the states in the beginning of February.  4 weeks…not a whole lot of time…and it went quickly!  We (his parents, Dave and myself) got to celebrate his birthday in Colorado this year.  (His birthday was in January…but better late than never!)  This was my first “family vacation” without Peter (Dave’s older brother) and I have to say…I missed him!  He couldn’t take the time off of work for the long weekend we were planning (sad face here) and I was reminded of how much I truly enjoy his company! 

I was surprised on our first night in Colorado with a sleigh ride up the mountain for dinner.  It was colder than I expected (what was I thinking…hello!  It’s Colorado!) but I was warned to dress warm (and I got to wear my cute new earmuffs!).  What a fun experience!!!  The next few days were filled with wonderful skiing, amazing food, friendly (wedding) conversations, laughter and memories.  On our first day out on the slopes I questioned Dave about a run that the lift went over.  It looked a little steep but not so steep that I didn’t think I could do it.  We looked at a map to be sure but Dave was correct…that was the black portion of a green run!  Imagine his surprise when I said…Let’s do it!  Now, I’ll remind you…up until this point I had only skied black diamonds in WI and IL…which are like icy greens in Colorado!  I’ll also point out that up until this conversation we had only been skiing the greens up at the tippy top of the mountain.  So here I am, all confident because I could ski the greens well after taking a year off from skiing, trying to convince my fiancé that I could totally manage the blacks.  Since it was relatively empty on the slopes at that point we went for it!  I remembered the fundamentals and took my time…and felt such a wonderful sense of accomplishment!!!  Dave is such a patient, tolerant man…I am truly blessed to be marrying him…because if any of you has been around a freaked out, nervous, slightly scared Katie…you can attest that it might not be the best of times! Yet at the end of it all…we were both all smiles!  (I didn’t even take my skis off and try to scoot down the mountain this time!) 

Again, it was difficult to say goodbye (on Valentine’s Day) but knowing that I would be seeing him in 6 weeks for Spring Break made it slightly easier!  We just have to take out absences from each other one day at a time and it doesn’t seem so menacing!  <3