Beautiful Colorado

Ed has been working non stop since he's gotten to his new unit, I mean going to work before Layla and I wake up and coming home after we're asleep. We feel lucky when we're able to spend the weekend together since that's the only time we actually see each other. We're taking extra advantage of these times together also because guess who is deploying again in June? Yup, Ed is gearing up for deployment #3 this coming summer. So bummed since we just got back together but I guess that's just the Army life. Hopefully after this deployment, we'll get him for at least two years before he has to go back. Nothing is for sure but we're crossing our fingers. Anyway, back to our day. Last night Ed told me he had the whole day planned for us. Garden of the Gods in the morning, lunch, shopping, and then the Air Force vs. Utah football game in the evening. He is such a good planner, don't you think?

One of the coolest things we saw today were deers in some one's front yard! I'm sure we looked like the biggest tourists ever, stopping in the middle of the street to take a picture of wild deer in some one's front yard but hey, it was so cool. I basically could have reached out my arm and touched them, they were so close. Growing up in the desert, I'm used to running into snakes and scorpions, not deer! I heard about Garden of the Gods even before we got to Colorado and have been wanting to check it out since we got here so I was super excited we were able to go today. Plus, it's only about 15 minutes away. It was GORGEOUS! These pictures just don't do it justice, the rocks were this beautiful shade of red and the formations were just amazing. Layla had fun collecting rocks and pine cones and putting them in Daddy's pocket (which were bulging at the seams by the time we were all done) and petting the 87536023486 dogs we saw. We spent a couple hours there, just walking around and enjoying the beauty. The weather outside was a perfect 66 degrees and we just had such a great time. After some lunch and shopping at the mall, we headed to the Air Force Academy for a tailgate party before the game. We got there a couple of hours early and I was worried we would be bored waiting for the game to start but because Ed's unit was the guest of honor at the game, they had so many activities set up. It was so much fun! We got our faces painted, Ed and Layla got Air Force tattoos, and Layla got to go Trunk or Treating. Layla rode a horse. We met the cheerleaders and got to take pictures with them (Layla's goal in life at the moment is to become a cheerleader so she was amazed by them)! We met a Falcon, an Ice Cream, and a cow (the Ice Cream is Ed's new best friend, they bonded over being unappreciated). And we cheered on the Air Force while Ed drank his free beer (guess who was super excited about that?). Then it was time for the game to start! We read our ticket wrong and ended up going in through the wrong gate so we had to walk a mile across to find where we were sitting. It was actually pretty neat though because as we were walking to our seats, there was the players tunnel with all the Air Force cadets running out into the field. There were people surrounding them and throwing money down to them so Layla got to throw a dollar over to them too. I wish I would have gotten a picture of it, it was so cool to see. We got to our seats just in time to see the band and cadets performing the Presentation of Colors. Then there was an aircraft that dropped 6 parachuters out onto the field. And lets not forget the 4 F-18's that flew overhead. After that it was finally GAME TIME! It was so much fun to watch a college football game, it was our first. Layla even had a great time cheering for the Air Force. Being there, surrounded by Air Force, really made Ed and I think of my Grandpa, he would have loved to hear all about it. We sat right behind the cadets and the funniest thing was, whenever the team did something really good, they started throwing cheese (you know, individual slices of cheese wrapped in plastic) every where. I mean, at one point all I could see in front of me was orange. It was so funny and Layla kept saying "why are they throwing cheese? I want cheese, I love cheese!" She's so cute! It started getting really cold though so we left after half time. Does anyone want to guess the two things we did as soon as we got home? 1. I googled why the cadets threw cheese, and 2. We went back to hating the Air Force. GO ARMY!