Thanks so much for your helpful replies.

We haven't decided exactly when we are going to go on our trip but probaly sometime this year.

It looks like for our purposes, the CO nonstop is the best option. It's nonstop, and when you are traveling with kids that's a big thing.

(Oh, forgot to mention, we will be using miles to buy a 3rd ticket, however our traveling companion has status on just about everyone except US Airways. So that has nothing to do with it. It looks like there are some reasonable awards for the CO non stop on the dates we are looking at)

Glad that's a good option.