I have always LOVED the mountains. I remember countless family vacations for camping, hiking, fishing, & skiing in the mountains. So, everytime that I looked out the window it made me catch my breath & smile. It was a fabulous place to spend my birthday. :) It was obviously a unique one... complete with red velvet cupcakes for breakfast & elevator birthday serenades... not to mention a brand new sister.
After a morning full of fun at the hotel with all of our relatives, we grabbed a quick lunch at Taco Bell, fancied ourselves up, & took the drive to the wedding. We were all exhausted, so I was glad it was a 40 minute ride. After we arrived Darren stayed with the snoozers in the van until it was time for the Mass.
It was in a beautiful Church in Greeley with gorgeous stained glass windows.
Mom looked gorgeous & held it together amazingly well. She is so happy for Doug.
Doug & Diane were so kind by having a lot of the grandkids play a part in the wedding. Julia & Clara were the lovely candlelighters.
Joseph was an usher & got to bring in my Mom.
Maria, Veronica, & Lucy were the flower girls.
Matthias was the ringbearer.
Here comes the bride...
Fr. Jon, two other priest friends from college, & Diane's grandpa who is a permanent deacon all witnessed the ceremony. Augustine, Micheal, & Samuel were the servers.
Andrew was so honored to bring up the gifts with cousin John. This was only his second time ever & he was very focussed.
My Dad was the best man & Diane's sisters were the maids of honor. Doesn't he look handsome?
Here's our crowd! Diane puts our immediate family count up to 38!
The biggest surprise of the weekend was walking into the Church & seeing Darren's parents! They drove all the way that morning just to be part of the fun. We really enjoyed having them there.
After an amazingly restful night of sleep, we woke bright & early to more fun with cousins. The hotel set-up was cool because we could step out of our room & look over the ledge down at the lobby, glass elevator, & other floors to see who was awake. First we saw uncle Dave, then uncle Kyle, & then Teresa asked for (great) uncle Ralph. :) 
Burning a little energy before family Mass with Fr. Jon.
Here's Mom with a few of her sisters who made the trek.
Teresa loves her Godmother, Aunt Denise. After countless hugs, we were on our way home again.
We stopped in Sidney at Cabela's for lunch & "the wildlife".
It was such a fabulous trip! Welcome to the family, Diane! You're the best birthday present ever. May God bless your marriage with much joy!
My brother Doug gave us a fabulous reason to make the trek out to Colorado this weekend: his wedding. :) I'm so very happy for him & Diane! We had a great trip, too; even the drive went well. Thanks to my brother-in-law Dave's suggestion, we stopped at the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles on the way out. So cool!
But there was so much more! We saw dozens of tanks, helicopters, jeeps, ambulances, uniforms, artillery, medals, flags... you name it, they had it. Most thrilling for the kids was getting to sit in a helicopter
Rebecca delighted in collecting feathers dropped by the hundreds of geese on the nearby pond. We will definitely be stopping there again in the future!
