A Play Day With Alyssa and Her Cute Girls

This past July, my good friend Alyssa (one of the Denver wives I hung out with when we lived in Colorado), and I got together with the kiddos for a fun day at the mall. We met at the South Towne Mall, since it is about halfway between my house and hers (wish we lived closer!). It was a fun day of visiting and catching up, watching the kids play and have fun together, enjoying smoothies and pretzels, and even the adventure of a few spills and fits-hey we are mommies to young children. It happens. I sure love this girl! Realizing it has been three months since our last get together makes me think we need to plan another one, and soon!

Paige and Jayden were SO cute together! They LOVED giving each other high fives and hugs! When I told Alyssa that Jayden loves giving high fives, Paige exclaimed, “He sure does!”, in the cutest, most enthusiastic, little voice I have ever heard. Alyssa is expecting her third, and her little Paige is really hoping for a baby brother. Keep your fingers crossed for her!

Paige being her little, cute, independent self, and Taylee enjoying her smoothie. Taylee dropped this smootie, and it spilled everywhere about two seconds after I snapped this picture. Alyssa left me in charge so she could take Paige to the ladies room. I think that is the last time she will ever put me in charge! ;)

One might feel bad for a little guy being surrounded by all girls, but Jayden did not seem to mind at all! Go figure!

It sure was a good day! And Alyssa, here is to another one-SOON! :)

4th of July 5k and Fireworks

Since our men had to work on the 4th of July-lame, I know-“the wives” and I signed up for and prepared for a 5k. We all went shopping together and even bought matching outfits and proudly wore the “EcoSure Wives” logos we designed with fabric paints. I may or may not have gone all out with mine (I tend to do that) and had a little too much fun with the paints. Yes, I just had to also do an 09’ on the back of mine, accented by flowers and other girly things. We had so much fun together that day and it was the best it could have been in beautiful Colorado (other than our men being away, of course). These girls are fit let me tell you, and this was an event I felt a little less than terrific in comparison, but I had fun. One day I will stick to a fitness plan for more than a week or two at a time…one day. We ended the event with a huge and goofy photo shoot and then went to breakfast together.

As much fun as I had with the girls, I was excited for my double date with Ben, Julie, and her husband Ben. We treated them to Applebee’s for dinner-it was delicious-and then headed to the grocery store to grab snacks before setting up our blanket and getting comfortable to watch the fireworks. Ben and Julie’s  puppy Brutzie even tagged along for our firework adventure. We got quite the firework show as there were about 6 other firework displays around us. From where we were, we got a panoramic view of all of them! Which honestly, was pretty terrific!

As much as I missed my family’s tradition of camping out in my Grandparent’s backyard and enjoying the Huntsville festivities, it was all-in-all a pretty good 4th of July!

Girly Stuff

Being away from my usual hairdresser back in Utah-my mom-I had to find a new one for my summer in Colorado. Lucky for me, I had my girlies! A gal in our ward worked at a salon in Boulder, so I made the drive up there and she gave me this cute cut for a very good discount. I was very appreciative to have found her and to be given such an amazing deal to go with my new amazing cut! It was refreshing to have a change, but I was hungry for even more and so were some of the other wives, so we made a day of coloring our hair.

We drove to our local Sally’s Beauty Supply to pick out our colors and then all went back to Alyssa’s to apply it. I got a deep red base color and a blonde highlighting kit, Julie got a blonde coloring kit and Alyssa got a red color kit. I colored Alyssa’s and Alyssa did mine and Julie’s. Let me tell you, that apartment was rank with those oh-so-lovely chemical smells. I am not so sure her hubby was a huge fan of that fact upon arriving home that night, but Alyssa looked fabulous with her new color and I am sure that helped ease the pain. Alyssa and I LOVED our new colors, even if I did have to give mine a second go,but Julie’s turned out a bit more orange than blonde and she ended up just coloring it back brown.

Before, coloring my hair burgundy, and then highlighting it.

Letting the highlights set in and the finished project!

I LOVED my hair! Alyssa did such an incredible job! It would have cost me about $100 to have all that done in a salon and honestly, it could not have turned out any better. It was a great day full of girly pampering, visiting, giggling, and fun!

Wild Fun at the Denver Zoo!

A couple of the wives and I decided the Denver Zoo was a MUST and set a whole day aside to go and check it out. We may be mature, married women some most of the time, but that day we might as well have been about six-yea- old, giggly, little, school girls at play. We had fun exploring and giggling and yes, we even impersonated several of the animals there, and definitely some very strange looks, but we had fun, so we didn’t care! I had so much fun with these girls and really enjoyed our mutual silliness that day. I am pretty sure we entertained one another more than we were entertained by the animals. Here is the proof of our very childish, but very fun trip to the Denver Zoo.

Some may think we are not fit to call ourselves adults, but I say why grow up when you already have to grow old? Plus, I think our kids will have the BEST Mommies EVER! Life is what you make it, and we definitely chose to make it fun that day. I sure miss these girlies and all of our fabulous adventures. Ladies, now that we are all Mommies, I think another trip to the zoo is in order with our little ones.

The Famous Candy Shoppe

It was not too far into the Summer before we wives became antsy for more adventure and experiences. So Alyssa searched in Google for “fun and free things to do in Denver”. The free Hammond’s Candy Factory tour caught her attention and a visit to the local and famous chocolate factory became top on the “must-do” list! I mean, we are women, and it is chocolate after all. Unfortunately, we were not all able to make the trip due to most of the wives also being secretaries for EcoSure and Julie had to work that day, but early in May, Alyssa, Janae and I hopped in the car, typed the address into the GPS, and we were on our way.

Let me tell you, Hammond’s Candies was a total hit with us chocolate-loving women and we had a blast! The tour was so much fun. Everything from learning about the history of the factory, to watching the candy being made, to eating the samples-definitely my FAVORITE part, and hanging out in the gift shop at the end of the tour! We had fun goofing off, giggling and taking pictures before taking our purchases and heading back to Westminster.

Chocolate, girlfriends and fun made for a GREAT day!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Summer of 2009 was full of adventures and very memorable! I enjoyed the experiences I shared with Ben, but one of the biggest reasons it was such a good experience was largely thanks to the girls I befriended during our time there. All of our husbands worked the long and insane hours that come with the territory of summer sales. I don’t know what I would have done without these girls! We had so much fun together and took advantage of many of the fun things to do in Colorado.  So, Alyssa, Julie, Janae-this is for you and dedicated to all of our wonderful memories together.

I am getting very anxious to get this blog caught up and have decided to group some of our adventures in Denver during the Summer into one post. This post will include many of the fun experiences I shared with the “EcoSure Wives”-a name we came up with for ourselves. I want to cover our “normal” activities today. I am going to save our more unique adventures that are some of the “must do’s” and “must see’s” in the Mile High City.

First up? Shopping-of course! What is a girl’s day without it? Although the trips may have been a bit more lengthy than normally fits my fancy, goofing off with these girl’s made the time fly! I have never and many girlfriends, but I must saying being able to ask advice and get opinions while shopping has its advantages. Plus, I have mentioned the Malls in Colorado are gorgeous and there are many of them? I still REALLY miss the shopping experience there, but I think Ben appreciates that I shopped less once we moved back to Utah, even if most of the Denver shopping trips were just to window shop. I must say though that the new Cherry Creek Mall in Salt Lake has a very “Colorado Mall” feel to it…uh-oh Ben!

It was really fun how quickly we clicked together. It felt like we had known each other for years! We still try to get together every now and again, but are pretty spread apart and have children now, so unfortunately it does not happen as often as I would like. We really need to get together more often though. I miss them!

We loved shopping during the morning and early afternoon and then relaxing at home enjoying a good chick flick before the boys got home late in the evening.

With the long hours, we even handled the oil changes and other maintenance for our vehicles while out and about.

Alyssa and I ended up spending a LOT of time together that Summer and got to know each other really well. I LOVE this girl! We really missed Julie when she moved back to Utah mid-summer. We were quite the trio!

Here are some pictures of a couple of the mall’s courtesy of Google. I wish I had gotten some of my own, but these will do!

Flat Irons in Broomfield, CO

Park Meadows Mall Littleton, CO

Our favorite activity (BY FAR) was lounging and swimming and playing at the pool in our complex. We spent many a day there and many hours. As proof? I , Danae, actually got tan! I know-shocker!

Laying out and soaking up some rays and then hitting the pool to cool off.

Goofing off and water aerobics…ya, we’ll call it that. Notice the maintenance guys in the hot tub? We had to wait forever for the hot tub to be ready!

Even on the chilly days, we could not help but hit the pool-even if it was freezing some days.

Water World with Alyssa and Julie!

 

We were SO excited when the hot tub was finally fixed and up and running! We had waited a while to relax in it.

Okay, actually maybe the favorite activity for fun was the pool, but the real favorite-probably had to be going to the Denver Temple once or twice a month. It was a little ways away and with the hours our husbands worked, they were never able to go. So, we ladies set days aside (because it usually was an all-day thing) and did endowments together. I LOVED attending the temple, even if it was hard to go without Ben, it was still really nice to go with “the wives”.

The trip was never complete without grabbing a treat on the way home.

The Temple Grounds were so beautiful mid-summer! We took advantage of it and had a little photo shoot.

I especially loved all the flowers!

It was such a fun Summer and I am so glad I went out of my comfort zone and got to know these awesome ladies!  It really made the adventure the BEST it could have been. It also really helped to have a group of good friend’s who understood being away from your hubby so much and living in limbo without all of your belongings. I did not always feel like I fit in with my Big Macs, fries, shakes, curves and considering I had hung out with mostly boys my entire life gave me a bit of a challenge. They were skinny and healthy and some days, it really seemed like they were perfect in a way I would never be able to compare to, but I think insecurities are just part of the territory when you are a woman.  I am so grateful for the friendship we all created and for the laughter we could always find together even on the tougher days. I can definitely say I became a fan of having girlfriends during this Summer. Honestly, it felt good to know I could, but even better to be accepted for me.