Memories-Jacob's Birthday and Broncos Game

Each year I give the kids a choice. They can either have a friend party or we can go do something fun together as a family.  The past couple of years Jacob has chosen the family thing, but this year he wanted to have some of his friends over to the gym to play sports.  A few days before Jacob's birthday, I was trying to square away plans for his party. Then I got this wild hair-brained idea that he and Jason should go to the Broncos preseason game against the 49ers...which just happened to be the day before his birthday.  Of course Jason was game (pun intended), but I wasn't sure how Jacob was going to feel about giving up his birthday party. That was short lived because Jacob was ecstatic to go to the game. I went to work getting them seats and parking passes. I decided to splurge and get them really good seats...like 2nd row 35 yard line-ish, behind the Broncos bench, good. I figured since they were making the trip down there, they might as well have the best experience they could.

They left early in the morning on the day of the game and got into Denver around 2:00.  Jacob's main goal was to get as many autographs as he could. Unfortunately he wasn't able to get Peyton Manning's, but he was able to get a few others.  He got quite a few signatures on "his" (he actually took one of Dallin's) hat and on his Ipod cover.

2nd row wasn't the best seats to watch the actual game, but it was perfect for the experience. Speaking of experience, I better let Jacob and Jason tell their story since they are the ones that were there.

Jacob said it was AWESOME! He's a man a few words.

Jason:
Me and Jacob left Lovell about 6:00 a.m. and got some snacks for the road. We put the back seat down and  made a bed for the trip home. Well, Jacob couldn't wait that long. Not long after leaving, he was snuggled up in the back of the suburban. Jacob would come up to the front every once in a while to check on me and then head back to his nest. You could feel the excitement as we got closer to the Stadium. (Jacob was excited too).  After making our way through traffic, we finally pulled into the parking lot and found our spot. It was 2:00 and the gates didn't open until 5. This was my first game as well so neither of us were really sure what to expect. We walked around the stadium and came to the players entrance. This was the end of the rainbow Jacob had been searching for. There were a lot of people lined up along the gate so it was hard to get too close. Then as all mothers do, a lady noticed Jacob was unable to get close enough for autographs so she took Jacob by the hand and placed him between her own 2 boys right along the fence. This was prime autograph country. The first player came by and Jacob didn't move. I asked him why, and he said he didn't know who it was. I told him just get every body to sign, and we would figure out who they were later. Jacob was able to get a lot of autographs and talk to a lot of players.

We stood there in the 95 degree heat, getting autographs, until we were pretty sure everyone had arrived. We only had about 20 min until the gates opened so we walked over to the entrance. After 10 minutes in line (felt like days), we finally entered the promise land (Sports Authority Field at Mile High). It was a rush to walk through the tunnel into the stadium. We found our seats and started trying to find players we recognized. The great thing about where we were was we were behind the Denver bench so we were able to get a lot of autographs in the stadium as well. One of the Broncos staff (not sure what his job was ) noticed Jacobs excitement and grabbed a towel off the Broncos bench (yes it had been used) and gave it to him. It still has not been washed. The game was awesome. Peyton played the whole first half and Brock was fun to watch as well. It was fun to watch the sidelines as much as it was the game. After the game we went back to get more autographs, but the players were with their families and ready to get home. We got out of the traffic of Denver and stopped for the night in Cheyenne. After a couple of hours of rest, I got up and we started home. We got home about 10:00 a.m. It was a whirlwind trip but it was a great experience and it was fun to hang out with my boy.

The day they came home was Jacob's actual birthday. Even though he was pretty tired from the game experience, he was raring and ready to open his presents.

Then because it was Sunday, we went to church, and then came home for dinner and cake and ice cream with Grandparents.

I'm sure this birthday will go down in the books as one of the best. Or it better at least. :)

I'm so thankful for my Jacob Brent. I love him so much. He is such a big help to me, and always keeps me laughing. He is successful at pretty much everything he wants to be. I'm glad he came to our family 10 years ago!