Colorado Springs!

We left for Colorado Springs last Sunday and that afternoon in Iowa we encountered the same weather system that devastated Joplin MO. We saw an extremely ominous looking sky ahead and as we drove into it, we were suddenly pelted by golf ball size hail. Mr. Right pulled over under an overpass to try to protect the car a little bit while we were rocked by winds that scared the daylights out of all of us. (Lori was with us and took some pictures just to show that she wasn't as scared as I was.) We came out of that storm with some new nicks in the windshield but as we heard the reports from Joplin coming in, we realized how lucky we were.

Colorado Springs had their share of bad weather too. We got up Tuesday morning to what looked like snow all over the place but on closer inspection, we saw that it was hail.

It would be hard to describe how excited we were to get here. It had been a long, long time since we'd seen this son. We'd last seen him about fifteen months ago about a month before he was deployed to Iraq. Although we were lucky to be able to communicate with him while he was there, nothing compares to having him on his home turf and actually spending time with him and his wonderful family in person.

We've been so busy. Every night has included a gourmet meal prepared by our son who is a barbeque master extraordinaire. The first night we had brats that were cooked in an apple and cabbage kraut. They were so perfect that even Mr. Right loved them and he detests sauerkraut. But it would be impossible not to love brats that are thoroughly cooked yet so juicy and flavorful that you couldn't get enough.

Tuesday night was delicious grilled salmon. Wow! I had no idea salmon could be so fabulous and the grilled asparagus was to die for.

Wednesday night we had porterhouse steaks and I have NEVER had a more perfectly grilled steak in my life.

Last night the grilled ribs were incredible.

Here's what I take from all this. Dan spent a lot of time in Iraq looking forward to being home and able to grill again AND I need to learn to cook as well as my son.

My other thought: How could I have neglected taking pictures of these amazing meals so that I could post them with this story.

There's lots more going on here besides cooking and eating too.

On Tuesday we visited the Pioneer Museum in Colorado Springs where we were able to take some really fun pictures.

Wednesday morning I got to attend Tessa's dance class which was beautiful and heartwarming and sometimes made tears in my eyes. During the free style especially, she seemed so filled with joy just to be performing.

And Wednesday afternoon, I was a ride-along on Dan and Mr. Right's golf outing. Now you might think that would be boring, but I got to take some great pictures in some amazing settings and, while we were out there, the Air Force entertained us with an airshow celebrating the graduation of their cadets to Air Force officers.

Yesterday we attended and celebrated Evan's 8th Grade Graduation where we started to realize just how quickly our Evan is growing up.

There will be lots more news from out here because Dan and Teresa seemed to have almost every moment planned with awesome activities. But before I close I have to mention two things.

One: Chewy. He's so cute and foolish.

And two: The big, surprise activity for Tuesday is that we get to attend Dan's promotion ceremony to Lieutenant Colonel - something we didn't expect to happen until August. So we're thrilled to announce that as of June 1st, both our sons will be Lieutenant Colonels. (The only thing that could be better is if Dave's ceremony could be stateside too.)

So that's it from Colorado for now. But there's more coming - I promise!