Happy Birthday Aspen and me!

Things have been very busy as I was getting ready to fly to Florida for a celebration of events.  With Jamie's 21st and Baby Roo's announcement, it should be a great time with family.  But before I left, we celebrated a couple of birthdays of our own.  Aspen turned one on August 7th, and sticking with tradition, she had her first Guiness.  We decided not to give her a whole one as she isn't quite as big as Kodi was, so Kodi was able to celebrate the festivities as well.  It is amazing that we have had her for almost a year now, I miss the puppy stage when she was too small to eat everything in sight.  Maybe it is a yellow lab thing, but this dog canliterally eat anything you put in front of her.  She has gone through an ipod shuffle, 10 pairs of shoes, cd's, a cable cord, drywall, and an iron cord.  The list continues to grow, but hopefully will end soon.  Maybe she just has separation anxiety and will grow out of it.  

Then, Casey took off for my birthday and we had a wonderful hike and golf round.  Even though I wasn't that good, we had a great time and I hit some really good shots.  We went out to Granite City for dinner, which was absolutely delicious!  Casey had an unbelievable filet, which I of course stole bites of, and I had salmon with crab meat.  It was one of the very best meals that we have ever ha

d! Casey joined the Mug Club, which was an interesting debate as to what we thought the price was.  All in all, it was just a great time to

 spend together, and it made my 24th birthday very special.

A year went by...

It is hard to believe, but a whole year has passed since Casey and I made the big move to Minnesota. Time flies! Over the past year, we have experienced so many new and exciting things. We had a special person come with us for a brief time, which made it a little easier on weekends, but even harder to say goodbye in December. Then, winter came and we thought it would never end. I don't think it is possible for anyone to understand what negative 50 feels like until they experience it, but I tried to explain it to anyone who would listen. (A funny new bumper sticker for Minnesotans regarding global warming after this winter: "We are trying to make it warmer in Minnesota!") It was an awesome experience, many times frustrating, and new excitement living where it snows. We purchased our first home and continue to make it our own. I would say that summer came, but I don't really think that it ever did, especially since it is still only 70 degrees, but we did get many visitors which made it worthwhile. Seeing everyone makes us miss Florida, but then we have so many new stories and friends to share things with. Casey is working hard and doing well with MarineMax. He has so many ideas and I know that he will be doing great things in the near future! As for me, I am still with Target, loving it a little more everyday, and currently seeking the Pharmacy Team Lead position. While I would relocate to a different store, I have faith that the friends I have made will continue to be there for me. There are also so many exciting things coming up ahead and while I would say we can't wait, we can, because we are enjoying the moment we are living in. We look forward to having Thanksgiving at our home, the little niece or nephew in December, the wedding in February, hopefully a little one of our own in the Spring, and of course Beach Week at Crescent. This next year is going to be full of adventure!

50K...and a couple other things

So, I know it has been way too long since I have updated this thing, but I finally had a moment to write about everything I have wanted...so here it goes!

The weather is beautiful right now, so Casey and I have been trying to enjoy as much of the outdoors as we possibly can! Many days we spend working in the yard and playing fetch with the dogs. It is also nice that it doesn't get dark until 10 o'clock!! That way when we come home, there is still plenty of time to be outside. Kodi is still the big baby he has always been and tends to over heat because of his thick dark coat, so I decided to purchase him a little 10 dollar pool (which we discovered today has blown away). He was so excited and eventually Aspen even came around. I think she is more afraid of water than Kodi since we had to give her baths so often in the cold when she was a puppy since Kodi marked her every day! She kept trying to eat the shapes on the inside of the pool. But they didn't pop it, so that was impressive!
Then we had David and Danielle up for what was supposed to be a lovely visit, until they brought the rain with them! It was great to see them and catch up on life, like old times! Boy do I miss our weekly dinners Danielle! Other than the rain, it was wonderful. And just a side note, it hasn't even rained since that weekend! I can't wait to see you guys again in August!

Finally, the main purpose for this blog, the 50K. I don't think I will ever understand what possesses anyone, especially the Smith family (Pops, I blame you), to love running so much, that you want to run 31 miles. But, Casey did this past weekend. Although I didn't understand it, and had two pain in the butt dogs to take care of for 7 hours (bring on the kids, I bet it will be easier!), I was very proud of my husband when he crossed the finish line. I was there waiting and cheering him on to finish his first ultra. Even though it took him a little long than he wanted, without training, I don't think he could have asked to do much better. He was in the top 100 and I had a great time exploring the paths of the St. Croix river. It was a beautiful setting, just an extremely tough course. We were looking at the map and noticed that in a span of 3 miles, he climbed a 500 ft elevation twice and within the first 9 minutes of the race, he climbed 500 ft. On the website, they give you an elevation map and the quote says "Believe us when we tell you, it's worse than it looks!" which is rather amusing. Here are before and after pictures, I'm sure you can tell the difference...
Until next time, we hope everyone is doing well, and will try to update a little more often!

Our felon of a dog...

So many already know the story of little ol' Aspen, but for those of you who haven't, let me enlighten you. For those of you have met Aspen, you would probably agree that she is one of the laziest dogs ever. She sleeps all the time, loves to cuddle, and every once in a while gets a little hyper. Well, we were lucky enough to already have an electric fence in our yard when we purchased the house, so all we had to do was buy a couple of collars. Considering the last post, Aspen being a bad ass and all, she doesn't exactly care about the dinky ol' fence. She has come to realize that if she runs fast enough, it really doesn't hurt all that bad. Unfortunately, we have neighbors who's children are deathly afraid of dogs, and one morning, apparently Apen "attacked" her 8 year-old granddaughter. When really, the little girl was afraid, ran the opposite way, and fell down. Now, I don't have any experience with the law, but I am pretty sure using inappropriate verbage is a fraudulent accusation, and has anyone ever heard of a pur-bred lab "attacking" anything other than a bird? Our two-year old neighbor isn't even afraid of her! So, after I left for work, and Casey is about to walk out the door, he gets a pleasant visit from the police. Oh yes, the crazy African woman called the cops on Aspen! Not even Kodi! The police informed Casey that Aspen is the "aggressor" and needs to be under voice command or on a leash. This has slightly put a damper on letting the dogs run around, and I am dreading the winter, but all in all, at least we didn't have to go to court. So now the joke at work is that we have a felon dog...here is her mug shot.

We love visitors!

So I apologize for really slacking on updating the blog. We have been busy with all the visitors, and have thoroughly enjoyed their company. We first had Jamie up here, which was a wonderful surprise when she got out of the truck with Casey to surprise me. I was so excited to see her! I am disappointed we didn't take more pictures, but we loved just hanging out like old times with her. Sitting on the couch, making fun of Casey...the usual. Then, my daddy came to visit. He helped us finish the outdoor lights, put in a new kitchen sink (which is awesome!), and changed Casey's brakes. He and Casey played some horseshoes to close out the night. I loved having my dad here, but of course am sad to see him go. At least this time I know he's sneaking out tomorrow morning. That's really all that is new with our lives up here. We are settling into being married, and owning a home, which seems to be your new project every day. We are also enjoying the unbelievable weather. For the first time this year, we hit 80 degrees at around 6 this evening. The only other thing that is new is my bike!! I must admit, it is pretty kick butt. Casey brought it home last week, and surprised me. We went on a 10 mile bike ride that night, before I went to work all night!
PS....Aspen is a bad ass...for lack of better words.

Happy Earth Week!

Today is the first day of Earth Week and we just wanted to remind everyone to start making small changes each day to make a difference. Since Casey and I moved up to Minnesota, we have been trying to do our part to reduce our carbon footprint. No more plastic bottles or bags, all fluorescent light bulbs, shorter showers, we are even starting to grow our own veggies! They are starting to sprout, which we are very excited about. Unfortunately, we can only enjoy them during the summer months, but even just a few months can help. There is a great carbon footprint quiz online at: http://earthday.net/footprint. While I know everything isn't possible, it is a great wake up call, and it explains how you specifically can change some things to reverse your footprint. I love this year's Earth Day poster, as it reminds me of a Planet Earth episode where the Polar Bear could not find food because the ice was melting too early. Remember, take care of your environment, all our children have to deal with what we leave them. Now that we know the effects of our actions, we can stop and reverse them.

Interacting with the Locals

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter. Casey and I spent our first holiday as a married couple grilling burgers and playing a board game. Scrabble, in case anyone was wondering, and I, of course won, also in case anyone was wondering. The Easter bunny was very good to Casey, and even left a few treats for us to share (also known as I bought some treats for myself).
Now, for the real purpose of writing tonight's blog, Casey and I wanted to share the two significant events with the locals that we thought everyone would enjoy. As I mentioned in the previous blog, Casey and I ventured to St. Lucia, and had the opportunity to interact with the locals on two separate occasions. The first true interaction was on our taxi ride, where we saw the beautiful island of St. Lucia. On the way up the winding mountain our taxi driver pulls over to the side of the road and this is the character we met. He had a boa constrictor pinned against the mountain, and if we tipped him, we could take his picture. Well, we of course couldn't resist this picture of a thousand words. He even offered to allow us to hold the snake, but Casey had enough. Especially since he held the snake's mouth about 2 inches away from his face, arm, and leg on countless occasions.
On our last day at the resort, we ran out of cash, but still wanted a few more souvenirs. Let me preface this trade that will occur...the first day we were in St. Lucia, Casey wears his board shorts. These aren't just any board shorts, these are the "Bob Marley" board shorts that all the locals comment on. So, since we spent all our money on the horseback riding on the beach (much to Casey's enjoyment) and the taxi around the island, we needed something to barter with that they would want. We tried a bottle of the "local viagra," which was a bottle of rum that we won the night before in karaoke, but that didn't work. So, we pulled out the shorts. At first, he was a little hesitant, but in the end he couldn't resist the "Bob Marley" shorts, who? Casey was sad to part with the shorts, but it was so worth the story.