Parental Visit

My wonderful parents came to visit a few weekends back for a couple of days.  I love when they come!!  Hiking was definantly on the agenda for the weekend so we went to Cheyenne Mountain and Green Mountain Falls.  What amazing views!!!  They would have been more aggressive hikers if it wasn't for there oxygen depleted daughter!  The hiking and spending time together was great!  Love you mom and dad!!!

And after a hard day of hiking, this is the best part!!

Fishing in March

Can I just begin by saying March is not the best weather to be sitting in, reading a book and watching your husband fish in.  I am sure most intelligent people know this but the loving wife that I am decided honey needed some "outdoorsy" fun so I lovingly said, "Why dont we go fishing."  In CO Springs that day the weather was beautiful, approximately, 60 degrees.  The weather in the Rocky Mountains, at a high elevation, with open priarie, winds gusting, it was approximately 32 degrees and windchill I have no clue, but COLD.  Obviously, big difference!  So freezing Cassie proudly watched as Ben caught a minnow (ok, maybe a little bigger, but I swear, not much) and the minnows brother.  So needless to say the long johns, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, winter jacket, thin gloves, thick gloves, neck warmer, hood from the sweatshirt, hat, hood from the winter jacket and jeans were not keeping this girl warm.....

We lasted about 2 hour and even Ben said, "wow, it is really cold out here."

Yeah, I noticed!!  Haha!!

Kitchen Sink

We updated our kitchen sink to this beautiful composite granite with an arched (I wanted this so bad) kitchen faucet.

Here is the new sink with an attachment for the cutting board:

What is so great is it is one big sink, no middle divider!  I would highly recommend this because all your skillets and pots can fit in it without a problem.  LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

Florida Trip 2010

What: A much needed vacation

Where:  Cocoa Beach, FL
~ Beach House

When: January 23-30, 2010

Who: Ben's parents, our brother and sister-in-law and our beautiful nephews

Activities: Kennedy Space Center, Disney World, Beach, Boat ride in the ocean

Ryan Surfing (on the fake wave =)

Playing at the beach!

Building sand castles

Riding our bikes to the Pier (much more difficult than I thought)

Disney World ~ Magic Kingdom

Look at Minnie and Mickey behind us

Ryan and Aunt Cassie being excited for Disney!

Sitting on the toasty warm bench!

Day at the zoo feeding the animals!  Love the giraffes look!

Ryan and I talking about life

Feeding the birds.  After Nick found out that mommy wasn't getting hurt he was so excited!

Fishing in the ocean and catching a few too!

We took a boat tour to see the dolphins in their enviroment.  This one came so close...it was amazing.  I love dolphins so much!  I got all choked up about =)

SCARY!!!

I was trying not to get attacked while Ben took this picture!

Beautiful sunset

Kennedy Space Center

Watching an AWESOME 3-D Movie

The beach house

Ryan and Ben in front of Ron Jon Surf Shop

A wonderful trip with a wonderful family!

New Workout Regimen

Ben and I have decided to be pro active and get healthy (before the baby's start coming, hopefully sooner than later).  The DVD program we are doing is P90X.  It is almost like a personal trainer at home that kicks your butt.  We have completed two days and are both suffering, our legs, arms, chest, back, places we didnt believe could hurt...HURT!!!!  Lean and tone is our goal...Wish us luck, we only have 88 more days =)

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: