Birthday Celebration Begins

This weekend I celebrated my birthday with Chris since he will be gone next weekend, which is when my birthday actually is.  No surprise that he was scheduled to leave for training just a few days before my birthday...the Army has always had impeccable timing with things like that.  So Saturday he had me open my gift, which my friend Megan secretly gathered info as to which color I wanted.  Not too long ago on my blog I mentioned wanting one of these, and now I have one. Let the baking begin!  Just in time for the holidays :)



Then we headed off for a two hour horseback ride through the Garden of the Gods.  I love horses and horseback riding, I however never get around to going so I was super excited to go do this.  My horses name was Pearl and she enjoyed moving at a quick pace.  It was a beautiful ride, definitely the way to see and experience the Garden of the Gods.  And I must say I feel like a more experienced rider after going up and down rock formations on horseback.  It was exciting and a little scary at times.  But Pearl did a great job at keeping her footing and staying on track.  We only had one "incident".  They tell you to keep a one horse distance in between you and the horse in front of you, well my dear Pearl had no interest in moving slow whereas Chris's horse Socks had no desire to go faster then a stroll.  At one point while going up a hill Socks stopped and began to back up, he ended up backing up into Pearl.  He then kicked at Pearl, who jumped and turned around and began to run down the hill.  Luckily I pulled back on the rains quickly and steadied/calmed her.  All were ok, but it was definitely an interesting moment in the ride.  I really enjoyed myself though and would love to go back and do it again, and think those of you who are lucky enough to have access to the Garden of the Gods should take advantage of it.  We used the Academy Riding Stables . It's a great memory to have!

That evening we went to dinner at Mackenzie's Chophouse in downtown CO Springs. IT was delicious!  We started out by ordering the Artichoke dip which was served in a warm bread bowl along with chips, and veggies.  It was one of the best artichoke dips I have ever had, and I loove artichoke dips.  For dinner I had bacon wrapped filet mignon, and Chris has a super thick new york strip. Very good steaks. By the time dessert came, we both knew we were eating too much but couldn't resist.  I of course had creme brulee and he had cheesecake.  There dessert menu was very impressive.  Complete with desserts, dessert martini's, coffee'sm whiskeys, scotch's, and a full cigar list.  We both decided we should return for dessert and drinks sometime!  I definitely recommend trying Mackenzie's Chophouse if you're ever in CO Springs (don't bring your kids though, definitely for a date night out!)

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key, hanging out and enjoying each others company.  We did go to American Furniture to look for an entryway table.  I saw one and absolutely fell in love with it.  I am not so sure it would have been something Chris would have picked without me there, but I am glad he liked it as well and bought it.

It was a great weekend and am so happy we got to spend it together before his month away.  Now hears to hoping the next few weeks go quickly and I stay busy to pass time!