When I solved the riddle in Clue #1, I knew that my first destination was Questar – the company where my dad worked for over 30 years, and where a good friend of mine from law school – Cory – also worked. Four years earlier, Questar had provided the natural gas to power the Olympic Flame during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic {the “firey star for the world”} referenced in the clue. From the riddle, I knew that Cory would have the next clue.

Questar was located only a block away from my office, so I walked over there and made my way to Cory’s office, where he gave me another small envelope with the second riddle inside. This riddle had the letter “L” at the top.

I solved the riddle in Clue #2, and started to walk across downtown to the office of Kuhn, Carnes & Anderson, the boutique law firm where I worked throughout undergrad and my first year of law school. During my time there, I had the opportunity to help with preparations for a case that the attorneys argued before the Wyoming Supreme Court {the “Supreme experience” referenced in the clue}.

The next envelope was with one of the partners at the firm, and inside was the third clue, with the letter “O” at the top.

After solving Clue #3, I determined that I needed to get in my car and drive to the University of Denver {where Scott and I met}. The riddle told me that I would need to go to the Student Involvement Center in the Driscoll building {the university’s student union  with a large glass bridge – the “glass house” – spanning Evans Avenue}. This was a place where both Scott and I spent countless hours getting to know one another during college, while working for various student organizations.

The clue at DU was very had to find, because the girl that was supposed to give me the clue had gone home early {she was pregnant, nearing her due date, and not feeling well}. She had left the envelope for me in the middle of a table in her office, but her office was locked. I finally found someone willing to unlock her office and allow me to get my next clue, which was mark with the letter “V” at the top.

Clue #4 led me south of DU, to my friend Corrie’s {“corE”} office in the Tech Center {not to be confused with the Cory who gave me clue number 2}. It was now the start of rush hour, so it took me quite a while to get there, especially because of the major highway construction project on I-25, known as T-REX {the “path of the dinosaur”}.

The riddle in Clue #5 was the most difficult for me to solve. I sat in the parking lot thinking about it for quite a while before finally realizing that my next destination was to the home of my friends, Holly and Russ. Holly and I were law school classmates, but she had attended undergrad at Rice (the Owls) and her husband was an alum of Harvey Mudd (whose mascot is Wally the Wart).

Holly and Russ live in Arvada, on the north west side of Denver – in the opposite corner of the metro area from the Tech Center where I had picked up Clue 5 from Corrie, so it was quite a drive in rush hour!

Clue #6 led me to Columbine High School, which both Scott and I attended – although we didn’t know each other at the time {I graduated the year before him, and despite many mutual friends we didn’t end up meeting until college}.

From the riddle, I knew that Scott’s mom, Karen, would have my next clue when I arrived. She worked as the secretary to Columbine’s then principal, Frank DeAngelis {the “significant Italian influence”}.

It took me quite a while to drive down to Columbine on the south side of town. When I got there, Scott’s mom was waiting for me and gave me my next envelope, with the seventh clue, marked with an O.

After solving the riddle in Clue #7, I determined that my next stop would be my parent’s new house, which they were just moving in to. Fortunately, their house is not far away from Columbine. When I got there, my mom and dad acted as if they had no idea what the scavenger hunt was about or where my clue might be.

Although I had never lived at this house with my parents, I suspected the clue would be in the room referred to as “my room” because it had the furniture that was mine growing up.

When I arrived at the front door of my condo {at about 8 pm–6 hours after this all began}, there was another clue–Clue #9–sitting in the wreath on my front door.

The card inside contained instructions telling me to go inside, and that once inside I was not turn on any lights and not to open the blinds or any doors. The instructions also said that I still had work to do and that I would have to organize the stacks that I would find inside to uncover the final clue.

My heart was pounding because I knew that I had to be nearing the end of the scavenger hunt, and I highly suspected that Scott was nearby and that a proposal was impending, but I didn’t know what to expect when I opened the door.

When I got inside it was dimly lit, and there were candles everywhere! There was a single red rose on the kitchen island and a larger vase of flowers on the coffee table. There was also a big stack of presents on the coffee table.

Throughout the scavenger hunt, each clue had a letter at the top. In order the clues spelled out “I LOVE YOU!” and these same letters were capitalized on in the clue on front door.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that each present was marked with one of these letters on the top, so I arranged the presents in order, lining them up on the couch to spell out “I LOVE YOU!”

I looked around, unsure if I should open the presents, or if I was supposed to wait for Scott. But the clue said my next task should be self-explanatory, so I sat down and slowly started to unwrap the gifts… a necklace, the book “1000 Places to See Before You Die”, a season pass to the Denver Art Museum, an interior design book about lofts… pretty much all of my favorite things! Man, did this guy know me, or what?!

Eight gifts later I arrived at an envelope with a “!” on it. Inside the envelope was a card with my final instructions.

As I walked out onto the balcony Scott dropped down on to one knee {since he’d given me the camera, I felt it was only right to take a picture of the moment}.

At long last, the moment the whole day had been leading to!!! Scott asked me to marry him, and then presented me with the gorgeous ring that he had picked out!

Of course I said YES!!!! Scott then put the ring on my finger and we snapped a selfie {before selfies were even a “thing”} to commemorate the occasion!

We then went inside to toast to our engagement!

The post Our Annivesary: The Story of His Proposal appeared first on Blue i Style.

We started doing some research on boat trips in False Bay, and we quickly discovered that all of the boats that go out to view breaching behavior also have cages for getting in the water with the Great Whites. Scott was on board with this idea right away… me, not so much! I told him I would be happy to go out on the boat, but that it was unlikely I’d be getting in the water! {And unlikely, in my mind, meant – NO WAY IN H3LL!} And I continued to say that right up until the night before the boat trip…

Finally we arrived at the waters surrounding Seal Island…

…and we began to keep our eyes peeled for any shark breaches. We were there in mid-September, which is the tail end of the high season, so we were well aware that we might not get lucky enough to see a shark breach, but we actually got lucky not once, but twice. It happens so fast that it’s over before you know it, but one of the other passengers on the boat managed to somehow catch a blurry photo of the second breach on my camera {which I had handed to her so she could take photos of us once we were in the water}.

I had used SCUBA equipment once before {when I did a guided dive on the Great Barrier Reef while studying abroad in Australia during college} but it still took me a little while to get comfortable with the regulator. If you’re not an experienced diver, your brain can fight hard against you when you try to breath underwater!

Soon after, a storm started to roll in and the water got quite rough, so the boat had to head back to the harbor a bit early. But we managed to catch one last photo of Seal Island – a wedding ring selfie. You can read all about our wedding ring selfie tradition in this post.

If you’ve always wanted to cage dive with sharks – do it! And if the idea of a shark cage dive terrifies you, then you can live vicariously through the video of our experience… and maybe, just maybe, it will even change your mind. Either way, here’s what you probably really want to see… the video! {The video has no sound}

Happy Shark Week! I for one will never watch another shark documentary the same way again!

The post What It’s Like to Cage Dive With Great White Sharks appeared first on Blue i Style.

If you followed our progress throughout the One Room Challenge, then you know that the boys didn’t even know this space under the stairs existed. We previously used it to store our Christmas tree and a few other random items, so there was never a reason for the boys to be in the space, and they had never shown any curiosity or interest in what was behind the door. In order to keep the secret, we worked exclusively during nap time, after the kids were in bed, and when the grandparents could babysit.

The post Come On Feel the Noise! The Boys React to Their New Playroom appeared first on Blue i Style.

I can’t wait to put together a full trip recap post for those of you who are interested, but since I’ve been down with a stomach bug today I thought I might as well take advantage of my couch time and share another little glimpse into our travels.

Remember last month when I told you about the fun wedding ring selfie photo tradition that started on our honeymoon in Greece? Well, the tradition continued in South Africa! So without further ado, here’s a whirlwind tour of South Africa as seen though our wedding ring selfies!

The first week of our trip was spent on safari in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa. It’s spring there now, so the landscape was just starting to green up, but was still quite dry.

This is actually an idea season for a safari because there is not yet much foliage and the grasses are low, making it much easier to spot animals, and because water is in limited supply before the summer rainy season, the animals movements are a bit more predictable, making them easier to track.

On safari, there are some animals you are likely to spot daily, like zebras and giraffes, and others that you are lucky to see even once, like lions {which we were lucky to see}. Some guests told us we would tire of the zebras by the last day of our safari – but I never did. Maybe it’s just my love of black and white, but I could happily watch zebras all day long!

This game viewing vehicle even had a special seat mounted to the front for a second guide, called a spotter. The spotter is specially trained to track animals using all sorts of visual clues.

In between our twice daily game drives, we had several hours free for other excursions. We spent one early afternoon visiting a neighboring game reserve for an incredible elephant interaction experience. I’ll share the incredible story of these elephants with you in another post, but Scott and I both agreed it was one of the coolest things we’ve ever done – so it was also worthy of a ring selfie!

When our safari came to an end {tear} we drove along the Indian Ocean coast to the city of Durban. Since it was our first time seeing the Indian Ocean – you guessed it, another wedding ring selfie.

We flew from Durban to Cape Town, and quickly discovered why everyone calls Cape Town one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The weather was quite overcast a couple of the days we were there, but we did get lucky with one gorgeous, clear day, perfect for taking the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. Here’s a view from the top, looking down over the city.

Cape Town is also home to an extensive wine region {about 10 times the size of Napa Valley}. We were only able to see a bit of the Cape Winelands in the one day we had allotted, but it was amazingly beautiful and I discovered several new wines that are now on my list of favorites! If you’ve never tried Pinotage – I highly recommend it!

There you have it – a quick tour of South Africa as seen through the eyes of our wedding ring selfie tradition. As soon as we have time to go through all of our photos, I’ll be sharing a full trip report, complete with lots of animal photos and a lot more gorgeous scenery around Cape Town.

The post Rings Around South Africa appeared first on Blue i Style.

While you were seeing my blog posts about fall decor for the last couple of weeks, I was traveling through South Africa!

And now that we are home, I am so excited to finally tell you all about it!

Two weeks ago, Scott and I set off for a week long safari, followed by several days spent exploring beautiful Cape Town!

Since returning home on Saturday afternoon, we have barely scratched the surface of reviewing the thousands {and thousands} of photos that we took while in Africa, so I’ll be sharing the details of our travels in a series of blog posts over the next few weeks. There will be much better photos of the animals and landscape to come, but, for today, I wanted to give you just a quick sneak peek at the safari half of our trip.

While on safari, we went on two game drives each day – a three hour early morning drive, and a three hour late afternoon drive. Since these are the coolest times of day, they are when the animals are most active.

We were with the same guide, and the same group of eight other travelers the entire time. We got to know each other quite well and many of us became fast friends! Ironically, four of our eight safari companions were also from Denver {as were quite a few other people we met and befriended at the lodge}. We are already looking forward to a Denver-based safari reunion and photo exchange in the near future.

Our guide, Paul, was so much fun! He had just begun his job as a ranger, and we were his first ever group. But he had just completed a year worth of guide training {in addition to his related education}, so he was amazingly well informed and made it a wonderful experience for all of us.

While we did spend the majority of our time driving around in the safari vehicle, Paul was eager to get us an even closer look at some of the animals, so we did some walking as well!

I have some pretty crazy stories about some of our walking adventures, which I’ll share with you soon, but let’s just say that we later walked even closer to this cheetah, and under very different circumstances.

After our safari came to an end, we left the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa {along the north east Indian Ocean coast}, and traveled to Cape Town {on the south west Atlantic Ocean coast}. No photo sneak peeks of this part of the trip today, but let me just say that there is now no doubt in my mind why Cape Town was named the top travel destination for 2014 by the New York Times and why it is often regarded as the most beautiful city in the world!

I also thought I would use today’s post to answer a few of the questions about our trip that we’ve been asked most frequently.

How long was the flight? Getting to the safari lodge took two full days. Our flight left Denver on a Saturday at about 10 am, and didn’t arrive at the lodge until Monday morning. We flew from Denver to Washington D.C. {3 hours} where we were very rushed to make our connecting flight. We then flew from Washington/Dulles to Johannesburg, South Africa via Dakar, Senegal. It was an 8 hour flight across the Atlantic to Dakar, where the plane landed to refuel and collect a few additional passengers. We were on the ground in Dakar for about 1 hour, but we were not allowed to deplane during that time. It was, however, a good chance to stand up and stretch our legs a bit. The flight then continued on for another 8 hours across the continent of Africa, arriving at the Johannesburg airport a a little after 5 p.m. local time. For those that are counting, that means it was 17 hours on the plane from D.C. to Johannesburg! I was curious how that ranks, and it appears to be in the top 5 longest flight routes in the world {just slightly longer than LA to Sydney, Australia, which I have had the pleasure of flying}.

We spent the night at a hotel attached to the Johannesburg airport. It wasn’t much to see, but we were thrilled to be off the plane and sleeping in a real bed that night.

The following morning we boarded a very early flight on a small prop plane which took us from Johannesburg to Richards Bay {the nearest airport to our safari destination}.

When we arrived in Richards Bay {about an hour later}, we were then driven the final hour and half to reach the lodge. All in, we flew just under 10,000 miles from Denver to Richards Bay.

After the week of our safari, we then had a car transfer for the 3 hours drive from the safari lodge to Durban {South Africa’s third largest city}, where we boarded a 2.5 hour flight to Cape Town.

On paper, our return to the US took only one full day, instead of two, because we gained back 8 hours rather than losing it, and because we didn’t have to overnight at an airport hotel. But in terms of total flying time, the return trip was actually a bit longer. We flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg {2 hours}, then had a two hour layover during which we went through customs before boarding our flight from Johannesburg to D.C., again via Dakar, Senegal {17 hours}. We had a another two hour layover in D.C, {again taken up by customs procedures}, and then boarded the final leg of our flight from D.C. to Denver {4 hours}. From door to door, our return trip was 30 hours of non-stop travel. Exhausting, but so worth it!

What made you decide to go to South Africa? Going on safari is something Scott and I have always wanted to do. It was originally a trip that we wanted to take before having kids, and one we had even started to plan about five years ago. But at that time the economy was bad and we both worried about job security, so we decided it would be better to keep most of the money we had saved for the trip safely in the bank, and we instead took a much less expensive, but still amazing, trip to Costa Rica.

After Beckett was born a couple of years later, we assumed that an African safari would be far, far down the road for us. That fall, we attended an annual charity event sponsored by my law firm, where each year they auction off a all-inclusive 6-day safari. Several of my colleagues had purchased the trip at the auction in the past, and had raved it. Scott and I told ourselves each year that someday we would bid on that trip…someday! But that year, the live auction was moving along very slowly. When the safari came up for bid, the room was quiet – no one was bidding. Finally Scott and I exchanged looks and without any real discussion, we impulsively decided to make a low opening bid – certain that someone would end up outbidding us {but ok with it if they didn’t}.

For those who know us – we don’t really do anything impulsively {I’m sure that won’t surprise any of you who have read about the detail to which I plan my decorating and organizing projects}, so spontaneously deciding to bid on this trip was not like us at all. As you probably guessed, no one outbid us. We got an incredible deal and we were so excited! On the way home we decided that we would go on the trip right away, before having a second child {we were already trying for number 2, but expected it would take some time based on our prior experiences}. As it turned out, just a week later we learned that Cooper would be joining our family! That, of course, put our travel plans on hold for about two years. But we managed to make the trip a reality right at the end of the allowed time frame for the safari package.

Where were the kids while you were in Africa? Scott and I are so fortunate to have all of our parents close by, so the grandparents took turns watching our boys while we were on our South African adventure. Beckett and Cooper stayed with my parents most of the time that we were away, but spent one long weekend with Scott’s mom and another long weekend with his dad. We couldn’t possibly thank them all enough for being willing to watch the boys for such an extended period of time!

Cooper is still too young to really understand that mommy and daddy were going away for two weeks, but we explained it to both boys and told them all about where we were going. Beckett {who is now 2 and a half}, loves animals, and was so excited to hear about everything we would be seeing. He would tell everyone, “Mommy and Daddy going to Africa! They will see zebras, and lions, and giraffes, and rhinos, and cheetahs, and hippos, and sharks, and penguins.” He was disappointed to learn that we would not be seeing tigers, but after we showed him, on his globe, where tigers do live, he began telling everyone, “Mommy and Daddy not going to see tigers in Africa. Tigers live in A-gia.”

We spent a lot of time preparing the kids for our trip and making them feel a part of it – including making books with them, and putting together special gifts for them to open before we left and while we were away. I’ll share more details about all of that in the coming weeks.

We missed the boys terribly while we were away, but they loved every minute of their own vacation with their grandparents, and they even went on their own backyard safari. Thankfully Facetime allowed us to talk to the boys nearly every day. I think it really helped them to be able to see us, and I know it helped us to see their smiling faces! At times, we were even able to turn the iPad around and show them zebras or other animals wandering past the front of our tented safari camp, which they, of course, loved!!

There will be much more South Africa talk to come, but don’t worry, there will be regular blog content in between. I have some pretty exciting stuff coming up later in the week, including a fall home tour on Thursday {with links to similar home tours from dozens of other talented bloggers}. And on Friday I am participating in a DIY Halloween Costume Blog Hop with over 80 other bloggers – you won’t want to miss it!

The post I’ve Been Keeping a Secret… We’ve Been on Safari! appeared first on Blue i Style.

Photo by Technicolor Vision

Photo by Technicolor Vision

Photo by Pitter Patter Pix

In the spring of 2013, when we were expecting baby number two, Scott and I took a short babymoon to New York City. While admiring the views from the Top of the Rock, we documented the trip with a photo of our rings with the Empire State Building in the background.

Photo by Technicolor Vision

The post Rings Around the World: Our Wedding Ring Selfie Photo Tradition appeared first on Blue i Style.

Right after we got engaged, we began looking for wedding venues. We both love the city, and wanted a venue that reflected our style – modern with touches of industrial. We found exactly what we were looking for at Mile High Station, an event space in what was once the Midwest Steel and Ironworks building where, during the early 1900’s, large ship parts were built for the Navy.  Mile High Station features beautiful red brick walls, exposed steel I-beam supports, and custom industrial-style chandeliers.

Scott and I knew from the start that we wanted the majority of the wedding to black and white, with a few touches of blue, our favorite color. We even carried that color theme through to our engagement photos. We each wore a bit of blue in every photo, and then I used Photoshop to convert the photos to black and white and layered back in the blue clothing and our blue eyes. We displayed many of the engagement photos in silver frames as part of the centerpieces at the wedding.

We also used and black, white and blue engagement photo layered on top of our wedding invitation and secured it in place with a blue ribbon, which, when removed, revealed the text of the invite. {Click here to read how I later framed our invitation in a double-sided frame.}

We loved the simple, industrial style of Mile High Station, so we opted to keep the ceremony decorations to a minimum, but we did have a customized aisle runner with our names and our wedding date, which I ordered from Aisles with Style. {Click here to see how I turned this aisle runner into a pillow after the wedding}.

Of course, I also had the traditional father/daughter dance with my dad. We danced to “What a Wonderful World.”

Scott and I even carried the black and white theme through to our cake, which featured four different flavors from the always amazing Das Meyer.

This final photo was the start of a photo tradition that Scott and I have continued ever since, but I’ll share more about that in a future post.

The post An Anniversary Flashback to Our Black, White & Blue Wedding appeared first on Blue i Style.

I wanted to take a brief break from posting about projects to share a few photos from our Father’s Day weekend and tell you why my husband is a true Super Dad!

As I write, Scott is at his first day of a new job, and I couldn’t be more proud of him. Not because it’s a great job {which it is!}, but because of the reasons he went in search of this new job in the first place – to have more time to spend with the two little men who call him “dad.” He is one of the hardest working people I know, and he has the academic record and professional resume to prove it. While I know that he will teach our sons the value of hard work and dedication, he will also teach them what it means to be a good husband and a good father!

Scott and I were both fortunate to grow up with dads who were very present in our lives – who were home for dinner, who helped with homework, coached our sports, and never missed dance recitals and school plays. We have wonderful fathers, and in turn, Scott wants to be nothing less than the best father {and the best husband}!

By being unwilling to accept the expectation that success in his chosen career required him to sacrifice his family, Scott will teach our sons, by example, that success should not be defined by titles and billable hours, but rather by finding challenging and fulfilling work that allows you to be home for trips to the park and bedtime stories!

I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful husband and partner, and never more so than when I watch him with our two sons. His boys absolutely adore him, and I do, too!

Father’s Day was the perfect excuse for me to stage this adorable photo shoot, and this morning, before Scott left for the first day at his new job, I gave him a framed copy of my favorite photo to sit on his desk as a reminder of how much we appreciate him! To us, he is “Super Dad” and so much more!

The post Super Dad & His Super Boys appeared first on Blue i Style.

Photo by Technicolor Vision

Photo by Pitter Patter Pix

Photo by Technicolor Vision

Photo by Technicolor Vision

Photo by Technicolor Vision

Photo by Pitter Patter Pix

Photo by Pitter Patter Pix

The post It’s a Boy! appeared first on Blue i Style.

Photos by Technicolor Vision

I don’t know if everyone has the same experience, but it sure seems like this pregnancy has flown by compared to my first. I assume it’s because I’ve been busy chasing after a toddler rather than spending all my time focused just on the pregnancy, but I still can’t believe that we’ll soon be a family of four!

After a pretty dramatic case of pre-eclampsia that resulted in a failed induction and C-Section when Beckett was born – followed by a week long hospital stay, this pregnancy has been fairly drama-free with no signs of pre-eclampsia. But after weighing the pros and cons, we’ve decided to do a repeat C-Section and it’s scheduled for May 31st!

So keep an eye out for an update after the weekend – and forgive me if other posts are a bit slow in coming for the next couple of weeks!

The post The Big Day is Almost Here! appeared first on Blue i Style.