Year in Review

~We welcomed our first nephew, little Eli, into the family

~Our wedding pictures were featured on 2 different wedding websites!

~Ben started working for All State and commutes down to Colorado Springs. Every day.

~We were pretty active this year. Ben did the Boulder tri series and the Rock ‘n Roll marathon. I did the half. We now have a goal of running one race a month for a year. We have 3 down, 9 more to go!

~We went on some great snowshoe trips, several beautiful hikes and had a fun camping trip

~Melissa and I have had some great, quality sister time! I think I’m making up for all the years they lived in Cali. A few highlights were shopping trips, the Royal Gorge train ride, baseball and football games, and just nights spent in

~I got a promotion at work!

~My father in law completed infusion treatments for cancer

~We went on a couple of great trips- we road tripped out to Michigan to visit some friends and we went to Vegas for an extra long weekend

~I went to the inaugural US Pro Cycling Tour and got to see many of the world’s top cyclist live and up close. It was a blast!

~We now have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, and she’s a beast! We got the Explorer after the mean, green machine was totaled not even a mile from our house

~Ben surprised me with a trip to Steamboat for my birthday

~We celebrated our first anniversary in Golden

~My dad was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery mid December. Praise the Lord he is now cancer free!

2011. it’s been a very fun, very busy year!

Things I Love Lately

~Christmas lights. Especially when they’re neatly wrapped around trees. Those are the best!

~Corporate Christmas gifts. Chocolate covered strawberries? Cinnamon pecan coffee cake? Harry and David’s tower? Yes, please!!

~Creating new traditions with Ben

~The movie Ratatouille

~Castle Rock outlets

~Family time

~Getting Christmas cards in the mail

~Freshly painted nails

~My new Coach purse. Ben totally shocked my socks off by getting me one for Christmas. I love it!

~Running in the snow. There’s something so calm and peaceful about it. Plus, it makes me feel really tough!

~Williams Sonoma buttered pecan quick bread. Pretty much anything from Williams Sonoma is delicious

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was full on Christmas festivities! Friday afternoon we had my company Christmas lunch over at McCormick's Fish House. That night Ben and I headed over to the Botanic Gardens at Chatfield to check out their trail of lights. It was freezing but we had a good time

Hooray Porter Hospital! This is where my dad had his cancer surgery earlier in the week. They took great care of him!

They had several old tractors on display that they decorated with lights

Saturday morning Ben and I got up and ran the Christmas Carol Classic race over at City Park. The carolers and having Santa meet you at the finish line really helped get you in the Christmas spirit

I felt like this caroling group came right out of a movie

Snowy City Park race day morning

That night we went to the Avs game for Ben's company party. It was a great game and the Avs ended up winning 2-1

Christmas with the Fam

Christmas with my family came early this year! We had such a wonderful evening grabbing dinner, going to zoo lights, opening presents, watching Christmas movies, and playing games.

Ben and I in front of our tree before heading over to my parent's

Earlier in the day I said i was most excited about just spending time together. Well, i got my wish! My dad, sister, Ben, and I crammed into the back seat so we could all ride in one car. It was definitely nice and cozy!



At the Zoo lights

The ice sculpture. We actually chatted with the guy who was carving for awhile. And learned all sorts of things about carving ice!

Family Shot!

This tree was by far my favorite. The lights would alternate colors.

I love him.

Group shot in front of my parent's tree

All of the presents! Every year my parent's say they're going to scale back, but every year the pile looks the same

Casey and Ben with their stockings

My sister with her awesome Beiber gear. Over Thanksgiving we told my grandma that my sister really likes the Beibes. Well, grandma surprised her with stuff that every 12 year old girl (or 12 year old at heart) would want!

My grandma surprised me with a new apron and a cake pops book! There's a lot of cute, new decorating ideas in there

My dad with a blanket one of my sister's volunteers made for him.

It was a great day!

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

No matter what you do in life, don't just be a spectator, be a player. Anyone can watch from the sidelines. Choose to become the hero that you want to be.
~Mark G. Collis

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom- Christmas Edition

"Christmas gift suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.

To an opponent, tolerance.

To a friend, your heart.

To a customer, service.

To all, charity.

To every child, a good example.

To yourself, respect."

~Oren Arnold

Things I Love Lately

~Getting to spend time with extended family

~My aunt Julie's banana cake

~Setting new running goals

~David Crowder Band Christmas album. I'm not a fan of Christmas music, but i actually really like this album!

~Dolvett from the Biggest Loser

~Having my house decorated for Christmas. Ben convinced me to put up our decorations before Thanksgiving this year (which I'm usually totally against!) But, i love the way our house looks. I'm still figuring out what to do with our big shelf this year, but as soon as i do, i'll post pictures

~Christmas gift shopping

~Movie nights on the couch

~Hot apple cider

~Veggie Shmear on turkey sandwiches

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

~John Lennon

Happy Thanksgiving

We headed back to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving this year. This was the first time we made the trip back since Ben proposed two years ago. It was great to spend the long weekend with family.

I wish I would have taken a picture of the food spread we had this year. My grandma made 2 turkeys and a ham. There were mounds of mashed potatoes, a table full of casseroles and salads. Another table with deviled eggs and veggies. And a whole separate table full of desserts! It was all so delicious and we ate WAY too much!

On Friday we ran a Turkey Trot in downtown Tulsa. My dad ran with us! It was my dad's first road race in at least 10 years. He did awesome!

Ben, my dad, and I at the start line

After the Turkey Trot, we went to the Tulsa vs. Houston football game. At the time, Houston was the #7 ranked team in the country. The first half of the game was great! Unfortunately TU fell apart in the second half and got beat pretty bad. But, we had a fun time and we had good seats!

Ben and I enjoying the game

We hit up Coney I-Lander- a must when visiting Tulsa. It's a hole-in-the-wall hot-dog joint that is SO good!

With our delicious dogs

Our last night, we went to look at the Christmas light display over at Rhema Bible College. The display has over 2 million lights and 90,000 of those lights are synchronized to music. It's pretty awesome! A great way to get into the Christmas spirit!

Viva Las Vegas

Ben has been doing such a great job at work that he won a trip to Las Vegas! We got to stay at the Wynn, which was gorgeous! I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I really didn't think about it!

The Wynn- we were on the 51st floor

One of my favorite parts about the hotel were all of the fresh flowers. They were everywhere!!

This is the lobby. The balls hanging off the trees are fresh flowers. It was so pretty at night since all of the trees are wrapped in lights.

These amazing orchid displays were everywhere!!

Our first morning we grabbed some breakfast at Hash House A Go Go. It's so delicious!

Ben, Brynn, and I so excited to be Vegas!

We walked the strip and went down to the MGM to see their lions. They were pretty boring since they were sleeping, but i thought it was cute how their legs were all snuggled up together

All State had dinner functions for us the first 2 nights. The first night they had dinner set up by 2 of the pools and had dueling pianos as entertainment. The second night, we were in a ball room and they had a band there. The food was really good and the entertainment was great!

Ben and I getting ready to head out for dinner

A mini desert platter!

Later that night we went to the Cirque de Soleil show Beatles Love at the Mirage.

Love the Eiffel Tower! Especially when it's all lit up at night. Reminds me of the real thing

The last night there we hit up the Bellagio to catch the water show. I really think i could spend all night just watching those fountains!

Brynn, Ben, and I. I think more people made comments or talked to Ben because of that ridiculous Husker hat!

oh, I love it!!

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Dream big, but allow yourself the opportunity to start small, and have your share of struggles in the beginning. The world's great composers weren't writing symphonies the day they first sat at a piano.

Kevin O'Rourke

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Believe that you're young enough, old enough, strong enough, and so to accomplish everything you want to do. Don't let worn out beliefs stop you from moving beyond yourself.

~John Bingham

Pumpkin Carvin'

Ben and I had a fun night carving the pumpkins we picked out from pumpkin patch

This picture reminds of something my dad would do

The finished products!