A Story of Husband Listening ~ Vida Bonita

Early last fall I made up my mind that after the year that 2013 was and upon completing my comprehensive exams, whether I passed or not, I was going to hit the mountains for a weekend and just get away. I was going to take a few days to myself ( with my husband of course). I spent so much of 2013 being "on" that I needed something to look forward to where I could turn everything "off" and give my undivided attention to my husband and enjoy doing one of my very most favorite things to do.

I told Matt over and over that I intended to go on this trip but I didn't think he was taking me very seriously. I knew he wasn't really interested in skiing but I was and I thought he could give it a shot anyway for my benefit because I worked my little behind off for the last year and all I wanted was to go skiing. I still didn't think he was taking me very seriously.

Well Christmas rolled around and I hadn't gotten to booking the trip yet but I knew that I needed to or the season was going to get away from us and then another year would go by without me hitting the slopes and I would be a sad girl. I opened one of my Christmas presents and in the box was a ski jacket. And at the bottom was an itinerary for an upcoming trip skiing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited AND impressed because my husband is a very smart individual. First, he totally got credit for an awesome Christmas present for something we were going to do anyway. Full credit all the way. He listened. He took initiative. He SURPRISED me (I am rarely surprised). AND, he booked the trip for February 14-17. This had nothing to do with Valentines Day, but he had the Friday off from work and the Monday due to President's day so he didn't have to take any vacation, but he STILL got Valentine's Day credit. What a smarty pants.

Fortunately Southwest has a direct flight to Denver so it was a quick trip over so we wouldn't lose a day of our long weekend traveling.

To celebrate the holiday I got a cute little donut from Dunkin' Donuts. We grabbed a shuttle to Breckenridge since it's a pretty walking friendly town and we saved money by not renting a car.

We had the cutest tiny little ski in/ski out condo.

And it had a MURPHY BED! Tell me you haven't always since childhood wanted to sleep on a Murphy bed?? It was actually really comfortable too.

And if you know Matt and I at all, you know that our first stop was the Breckenridge Brewery.

And while everyone was posting about their flowers, I was enjoying a moderately priced bottle of wine and chocolates from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Shanna for the win!

We sat at the bar at a restaurant called the "Whale's Tale." We had buffalo calamari. What a great idea. It wasn't the most romantic Valentine's Day dinner but I looked over at Matt and told him there wasn't anywhere else I would rather be. Ever since our first Valentine's Day when he bought me a counterfeit North Face jacket of Ebay that had to be returned because the sizes were crazy (and embarrassingly WAY TOO SMALL) we haven't really been big on Valentine's day. Remember, the dates of this trip were coincidence.

We had a Moscow Mule that the restaurant seemed to be famous for I guess due to the copper cups. Turns out neither of is a fan of ginger beer but when in... Breckenridge...

I'd like to point out these mittens that I wore all weekend that my Grandy made. Way to go Grandy! I appreciate you even if I don't call often enough!

The next morning I was SO Excited to get on the slopes. Here's my snow bunny attire. It had been 8 years since I had skied to I figured if I wasn't going to be any good, at least I could look good under my 18 layers while I was at it.

After paying a ridiculous fee for the ski lift (I mean, c'mon...) I gave Matt some lessons. Danielle and I had taken lessons back when we first started skiing and we got bored and quit so I decided just to teach Matt myself. Plus I didn't think we should pay even more money after the crazy lift fees.

So after practicing the putting on the skis, learning the pizza maneuver, and going down a few what seemed like 1 degree inclines we went on the little bunny lift where you put the pole between your legs and it drags you (I can't think of a more eloquent way to describe this).

It turns out, Matt isn't a skier.

But he tried. He just didn't like it.

So I did some runs by myself. I discovered that since I'm still in my 20s and able, skiing was sort of like riding a bike. It came pretty natural to me again. Plus, I don't spend a lot of time on slopes that require me to stare death in the face.

After about 6 hours we were spent (Matt had already resolved he was done and started the beer drinking at the bottom). We had some pizza and went to a bar where I found a Stoney LaRue sticker. My kind of place!!

Day 2. More skiing attire.

Now that Matt has seen what skiing is all about, he's going to love it.

False.

We did take a fun risk-free gondola ride. Isn't he handsome with is beard?

And then I spent the rest of the date skiing by myself. I really wish Matt would have enjoyed it so we could do it together, but I had fun anyway. The slopes were GREAT. Gosh I love skiing.

We found another bar and hung out before dinner. Matt was telling me that he didn't understand why I wasn't more of an athlete in high school because I have good reflexes and hand eye coordination. I told him about how I just wasn't that interested and wasn't dedicated enough to any one sport to ever be very good. I also didn't develop an enjoyment for running until graduate school. I told him a story about how despite not being very athletic the only sport I ever actually quit in my life was basketball. I did not even begin to understand the rules. My coach put me in for one game. My teammate threw me the ball from the side. I caught it. Looked up and said, "Now what?" I realized then that despite being a decent free throw shooter, the whole pressure of the "rules" was too much for me. Then I schooled Matt at an arcade free-throw game.

On one of our bus rides we discovered an opportunity for a "starlight dinner" where they took you on a sled up the mountain to a restaurant where the ski lift operates during the day. It sounded like a one of a kind experience so we went for it.

It snowed so much! Isn't Matt handsome?

We had a really nice time just visiting and enjoying a bottle of wine. This was also the most expensive meal I have ever eaten in my life. I also learned that I don't like rack of lamb. All in all it was a fun experience and we will just have to justify it by calling it a 2013 + passing comps + Matt's good review at work celebration dinner.

The next day we were set to leave but had some time to enjoy town. We went to Crepes A La Cart which was a pretty touristy thing to do, but was also really delicious. Now I want to make crepes. Who wants to come over and be my guinea pig? Any takers??

We wandered around and picked up a few souvenirs. I wanted to get a picture of us with the mountains in the back ground. An important part of the trip for me was when I took the time to look around at the beautiful and majestic scenery and thank God for all of the blessings of the last year. It was a tough year and a big year but we came out on top after a lot of prayer. I was grateful to be able to see such sights. I was grateful for the thrill of skiing. I was grateful for a husband who would take me to do such a thing even when he didn't have any interest in the sport. I was grateful for being able to take four days off and ignore work and just be.

We grabbed the shuttle back to the airport. We were pretty wiped out so we listened to music and just hung out before our plane. Matt looks annoyed but he really just wasn't paying attention and I just thought he looked really handsome with his beard.