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Because I am getting married here pretty soon (exactly one month from today!) I chose not to try out for the travel team at Rocky Mountain Rollergirls for the first half of 2012.  I figured I’d want to make sure I had plenty of time to get all of my planning done and not feel the pressure to attend all of the extra practices that being on the travel team requires.  But today I sure am second guessing my decision because 5280 Fight Club just left Denver to play at the Dust Devil Tournament in Tucson.  Luckily I can watch them play live on Derby News Network (http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com) but I will definitely be missing the competition (I LOVE tournaments! I love all of the adrenaline and I always try to watch all of the games.  Even the ones I know will be blow outs) and getting to spend time with some of my favorite people.  It’s hard to admit this, but I’ll even miss shacking up with 4 or 5 girls in one crappy hotel room where we all try to get some sleep on the tiniest double beds ever while doing our best not to disturb our bed partner.  Yeah, I’ll even miss that.

There’s a reason why I mention all of this in today’s blog post.  You see, today I am featuring some photos from my derby wife’s engagement session that took place inside the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and City Park.  I met Hannah (aka Anne Shank who will from here on out be referred to as Shank because it feels weird to call her Hannah) at the Dust Devil back in 2007.  Actually, that’s a lie.  I am sure that I met her at practice before we went to the Dust Devil Tournament.  But we didn’t get to know each other until we spent that weekend in Tucson.  I won’t go into specifics (mainly because they are a bit hazy at this point! haha) but we spent a lot of time hanging out together talking a lot of smack and drinking and by the end of the weekend, we had dubbed each other as wifey.  For those of you who want to know what the hell a derby wife is, you can see the Urban Dictionay definition here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Derby%20wife  I actually remember one of our teammates describing us as two little birds just chirping away at each other.

Fast forward a few years and Shank and I are still palling around only now we’re moving on with a new direction in life where we will actually find ourselves as someone’s real wife!

Shank and Andrew,

I am so excited for both of you.  It’s been a scary roller coaster kind of year for you and I am so glad that things are looking up:)  I am pretty sure you guys are the last people I need to say this to, but enjoy every moment together!

Love you,

Nonie (April)

I’m pretty sure this is the funniest place I’ve had the opportunity to photograph engagement photos at!

Shank used her volunteering connection to get us into the museum before opening time so we could hang with the Walruses:)

I think this one is my favorite from inside the museum:)

Shank and Andrew love their little Miniature Pinscher Ramona (who is named after Ramona Quimby which is awesome:)

That first shot is what it looked like lying under the tree when I was waiting for Shank and Andrew to meet me:)

Sigh…so romantic. And that light is lovely.

Cuddly:)

Hi Ramona!

My favorite!

Check out a gallery of my favorite engagement photos of all time HERE!