Just a disclaimer before I begin, I’m typing this with very tired, half-opened eyes, so bear (bare? bair.. bairre… whatever!) with me through any grammatical or spelling errors! XO Okay. So. One of Tyler’s best friends got married over the weekend in Estes Park, Colorado. We didn’t have to get to Estes Park until Thursday, but since we love Denver so much and love visiting his family there, we decided to make a week-long trip out of it and left Sunday!
Ty’s bff, Jeff, was already in Colorado for a ski trip so he swooped us at the airport and we all stayed at Aunt Maudie’s for the week in Highlands Ranch. We had three days to kill and although we had just been here for Thanksgiving, this actually felt like a real vacation – no agenda, no set plans, just taking each day as it came.
We did a little exploring downtown and worked out, but a majority of the time was spent hanging at the house. We just love it there, the Owens are such a warm and fun family that there’s really no reason to ever leave the home! Not to mention, their house is AMAZING and even has a decked out basement with everything you could ever imagine, including a wine cellar.
On our second night in, we went over to Tyler’s cousin’s home only a few miles away from Aunt Maudies. They live in what they call ‘backcountry’. Again, another amazing neighborhood filled with custom homes and so much free land and space for hiking and outdoor exercises. We had Qdoba catered and watched the KU game (the Owens are diehards/graduates). Tyler went out with some of the boys that night to an old bar they’d always hit when living in Denver for summer ball. I went home with Aunt Maudie and we worked on my and Ty’s wedding registry hehe.
These were the Buffalo Chicken and Balsamic Arugula flatbreads AM made for us Wednesday night when the rest of the wedding party started trickling into town. We had the groom and some other groomsmen over for dinner as well. I got a ton of questions about the arugula flatbread so as soon as I get the recipe, I’ll post it!
That night, the bride and her maids were having a shower over at the MOH’s house which was only a few minutes from AM’s (AM = Aunt Maudie). After they finished, they still had tons of food and drinks so I along with the rest of the male wedding party cruised over and finished the night off with them!
Thursday morning, we left for Estes Park. It’s only about an hour and a half north of Highlands Ranch. It was an easy drive too – nothing windy nor annoying like the Big Bear drive. We totally wanted to play tourists so we stopped by the city entrance sign and took some photos. My goodness was it beautiful! Oh and fun fact, Estes Park is the city where The Shining (at The Stanley Hotel) and Dumb and Dumber were filmed!
While the wedding party went to the venue to set up decorations and run through rehearsal, Emily (Jeff’s date) and I hung out at the hotel and got ready for the rehearsal dinner! The dinner took place at a lodge overlooking the lake. It was absolutely beautiful!
Friday was the wedding day! So, how insane is this. Thursday’s weather sat at a tolerable 47 degrees. Saturday’s weather would hit around 36 degrees. Well, Friday’s weather was 21 with wind chill! Why is that relevant? Well, the ceremony was outside! We definitely froze our tails off but it was such a pretty ceremony – it totally made sense why the bride wanted it outdoors! Luckily, we only had to be outside for about 35 minutes as the cocktail hour and reception were held indoors!
It was definitely a wild night and so much fun being able to let loose with everyone. Most of our friends that were there are in our wedding as well as Ty’s groomsmen so it was almost like a precursor to our own big upcoming day! We left the venue to head back at around 9:45. We ordered Dominos and inhaled all the pizzas at the bar downstairs. I had never so shamelessly devoured pizza and cinnamon knots, but I didn’t regret one bite of any of it 🙂
Saturday morning we packed up pretty early and left back for Denver. The morning sunrise was breathtaking as we don’t typically get these mornings in SoCal. We settled back at AM’s and ran a few errands with her before we had to leave for the airport. We also hit Daniel’s Park which is just a few miles up from AM’s neighborhood. It’s pretty much a high peak that overlooks miles and miles of Colorado. I wish I took photos! I don’t know why I didn’t. I only had video that I posted to my Instastory. I think I was hungover from all the pizza I had the night before 😛
We got to the airport at around 4pm and had some dinner before we had to take off. It was definitely a huge bummer. I’ve grown to love Denver so much and well, Tyler had been in love since the day he lived there for the summer back in college. He’s talked about maybe moving here some point in time. I definitely wouldn’t mind haha but we’ll see. That’s a huge stretch especially considering we aren’t sure of our next steps. If not move here, definitely a vacation home up in Steamboat or Vail!