Colorado Trip, Part II - Denver

After leaving Colorado Springs, we made the short drive up to Denver through the rain. That's a neat part of the country up there, for sure - lots of trees, mountains, and hills, and green everywhere. Normally, we would have tried to make it all the way up to North Colorado to a town called Craig, where Stephany's grandparents live. However, they were down in Denver this particular weekend with the rest of Stephany's dad's side of the family for Jessica's (one of Stephany's cousins) high school graduation, which we also celebrated while we were there.

The first evening started out mostly with basketball. We played an old-school game of Around the World, and I think I was probably the worst one there (apparently there is no strict immediate correlation between height and basketball skill). Here is Stephany's cousin Quinton, with Uncle Jim (his dad, one of Stephany's four uncles) in the background.



Despite my terrible skill, Stephany actually captured some pretty cool shots of me throwing the ball in the general direction of the backboard. Next to me is Brandt (another cousin) and Falon, a neighborhood family friend.



And one of Steph. I think she got one or two spots ahead of me. She loves playing games with the family, almost regardless of what it is! Next to her is Uncle Paul.



And another one of me, magically flying through the air, in all my oppositeness of glory...



And this is how Stephany sunk one from way back - no kidding. It was both hilarious and impressive.



Uncle Jim, quite the baker, made a carrot cake for Stephany's birthday. It was quite fantastic.





On the right is little Sarah, the youngest of the cousins. A couple of nights later, she helped Stephany play poker. Okay, not really, but that's what Stephany told her she was doing, and it sure was cute.



Stephany displaying a piece of the delicious cake. To the right is Uncle Donnie, whose birthday we were also celebrating.



Stephany and Uncle Jim. Jim is closest in age to Stephany's dad Bob, who was the oldest of six siblings. Jim also lived with Stephany's family for a while out in Southern California when she was younger.



This was quite the typical scene in the evenings. The Sheltons are big game-players, and poker is usually the game of choice. Here is Brandt, Uncle Jim, Uncle Moe (at whose house we were staying, with his wife Gwen), Grandma & Grandpa Shelton, and Stephany. We had a lot of fun playing cards with the family - good family time.



That big stack of chips there to the right of Stephany - yeah, those were mine. :)



Here's a good pic of Stephany with her great-grandmother, "Granny." She turns 90 this year. It was good getting to spend some time with her during our visit to Denver, where she lives.



And finally, here is one of us with Grandma & Grandpa Shelton on the morning before we headed back to Albuquerque, about a six-and-a-half hour drive south. It was a nice visit.



The last time we had made it out to California and Colorado to visit Stephany's family was in July of 2007, shortly before law school started. We were really glad to have the time to make it out to see the family again before my clerkship started. It was a good vacation for us.

Nathan