Cassie's 26th Birthday!

The cane is coming out, the glasses are on and the hearing aids are turned up.  Yep, Cassie is getting old!  I knew the day would come but it just really feels like it snuck up on me.  I mean one day I was 25 years old, feeling youthful and joyful but then January 7th changed everything....It is all down  hill as they say.

Ok, so maybe a exaggerated a little bit, ok ALOT!

I had a fabulous birthday.  My amazing husband bought me the BEST present.  I Quickutz Silhouette SD machine.   This machine is a scrapbookers dream come true.  You can design, manipulate, download thousands of amazing pictures.  Here is the beauty!!!

Christmas 2009

Our trip began with a rough start.  We left on December 23rd when CO was under winter precautions, SD was under a winter storm warning and WY was in between with a winter storm advisory.  Great combination!  The usual drive time is about 7 1/2 hours, it took us almost 10 hours...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?  It was a slow drive with icy roads, blowing wind and a continuous stream of snow fall.  I could not be more grateful to make it safe and sound to the Stewart's.

December 24th we enjoyed a lunch with the Benson side at Colonial House and dinner at the Stewarts.  For our Christmas Eve dinner we stuffed ourselves with great Prime Rib and amazing side dishes (my mouth is watering all over again).  Thanks Stewarts!

Ryan, Cassie, Nick and Ben building a gingerbread house:

December 25th was filled with opening presents in the morning with the Stewarts:

And then enjoyed lunch with delicious lefsa, turkey and mashed potatoes.  All the classics!  We opened up presents and spent the rest of the time playing some games and enjoying being together.

Callan (Keila's Boyfriend) brought over his RockBand and XBox so we all, surprisingly including my parents, "rocked out."

 December 26th.  We wake up, the wind is still blowing but no snow is falling, and it is still really, really cold!  The family eats some lunch and then Ben and I start to head to Rapid City from my parents house about 20 minutes away.  We hit the road and 2 minutes later, 0.5 miles from the house, we get stuck.  So stuck my dad has to tow us out.  The poor Subaru was trying but just wasn't strong enough.  Needless to say we turned back around and spent the rest of Saturday at the Benson's.

December 27th.  The drive home wasn't too bad.  The snow wasn't blowing as hard but the roads remained icy.  Slow and steady as Ben would say.  We made it safe and sound.  It was an amazing holiday weekend that I am grateful to spend with our amazing family.  Thank you again family for being wonderful!

Western States Fire Protection Holiday Party

Who: Western States Fire Protection Holiday Party to include White Elephant Gift Exchange
When: Decemeber 12th, 2009
Where: Radisson Hotel

Our white elephant gift was a Playboy Dart Board and a Poker Chip Set (two things we DO NOT need)

The gift we went home with was an M&M dispenser and a Juicer (Yes, I agree, weird combination)

A few of our friends:

Halloween

For Halloween Ben and I decided we would carve some pumpkins.  Stenciling on the pumpkin is my new favorite!  I had always done it free hand and it would never turn out like I wanted so we "invested" in some stencils.  To NO ONES surprise, Ben went about and beyond just the Level 1 stenciling and proceeded to the "Advanced" section.  It turned out great and we had alot of fun!

My Pumpkin:

Ben's First Pumpkin:

Ben's Second Pumpkin:

Out masterpieces: