Winter Wonderland and Cassity Galema's Birthday

Last week, we got our first REAL snow of the winter (we've only had ice, rain, and a little bit of snow). This was the picturesque scene I awoke to on Wednesday (at 3pm...I'd worked the night before). BEAUTIFUL!










Saturday was Cassity Galema's fifth birthday! She had a "Little Mermaid" party. (Apparently in the original planning stages, Cassity wanted everyone to wear their bathing suits to the party...you can see that idea was strongly vetoed.)






This next picture is classic...Adam (her Dad) had just wheeled in her brand new Barbie bicycle.

I think she was excited/surprised...


Jared enjoyed the Barbie bicycle as well. :)

Benny's 30th Birthday

January 3rd was Benny's 30th birthday! Since you only turn 30 once, and because Benny's my most favorite person in the world, I tried to make this day extra special. He slept in, and he knows on his birthday to stay in bed until I come and get him. When I did, he sat down to the breakfast table where three boxes were waiting for him. I couldn't wait for him to eat first, so he opened the presents. The first box had a Detroit Redwings t-shirt, and the second box had two tickets to a Redwings game. Benny has always wanted to go to a hockey game, and he became a Redwings fan in college, thanks to teammate Derreck Spires. I got a hold of Derreck in September, and he helped me choose which game to buy tickets for. (We'll be going in February...) The third box contained at least 30 cards and letters from Benny's friends and family. (I had emailed folks a couple of weeks in advance).

Next, we relaxed, went to the gym together, and then went to see the movie "Yes Man." (very funny)

After the movie, we went to dinner. We always go out to eat for our birthdays, so I had made reservations at Champps in Indianapolis. But, Benny didn't know that a bunch of other people would be waiting to hang out with him, too!

(He tells me he was surprised)



Benny and I, at Champps


And here are the folks who joined us!!

Kirsten, Wendy, Coach, Benny, Adam, Leslie


Leta, Larry, Kyle, Allison, JP, and John (some of Benny's family from Lafayette)


Joshua, Josiah, Abigail, Tim, Elizabeth, Eric, Laura, Pat, and Kathy (more of Benny's family from Lafayette)


The Daugherty Family: Jess, Travis and Aden



Me and Aden...can you even HANDLE those big, blue eyes?!


After dinner, Benny let me give him a relaxing "foot treatment."

I think he had a pretty good day, and I definitely had a blast spoiling the most amazing husband in the world.

Christmas!

This year we stayed in Indiana for Christmas, and had a wonderful time with Benny's family.

The Sunday night before Christmas, we picked up Benny's older brother Shaun, who lives in Phoenix, from the airport. We got to spend the day with him here in Anderson before Benny brought him up to Lafayette on Monday night for the Purdue basketball game.


Benny and Shaun, making Christmas cookies at our apartment.


I had to work on Tuesday and Wednesday (Christmas Eve) nights, so we waited to go to Lafayette until Thursday afternoon. Benny and I opened our Christmas presents for each other and from my family on Christmas Eve. Our apartment is a little smaller than our house, so we weren't able to use our normal 6-foot tree. But, we did find this little 4-foot tree at Meijer that ended up looking pretty funny with all of the presents around it...

We liked it though...



Thursday evening, we spent some time with Benny's Mom's side of the family. We had a great meal together and loved the great conversations and had a blast playing with the kids.

Benny with Elizabeth and Abigail. (Two of Benny's cousin Laura's kids)



The Jonas family, playing Catchphrase.



Benny wrestling with Laura's boys, Joshua and Josiah. Notice that he's in complete control of BOTH of them...one with his legs, and the other with his arms. I was exhausted just watching.



Being silly at TJ Maxx. We are so good at looking hot...



Okay, the next section of this post will take a while to explain, but it was probably the highlight of the trip, so hang in there! :)

One evening, we decided to play Yahtzee with Kyle, Larry and Leta (Benny's younger brother, his Dad, and his Dad's wife.) Larry had never played Yahtzee, so the first game was spent making sure he knew all of the rules. Yahtzee has always been a relatively calm game, but the second game got a little interesting...

Midway through the game, Larry rolled a Yahtzee (all five dice are the same number). Benny always yells YAHTZEE in a really funny way when anyone gets one, so this time was no different, except he thought Larry needed to run a lap around the table to commemorate his very first Yahtzee ever. He did so with pride. (No photo of this event.)

A little while later, he was getting ready to roll ANOTHER Yahtzee, and Benny decided if he got it, he would need to run a lap around the table sucking his thumb. Well...he got it...




(A little extra victory dancing...)




A few minutes after that, Larry was getting ready to roll his THIRD Yahtzee. Benny decided he'd have to do his legendary "two ball trick" if he got this one. (Leta had never been introduced to this infamous Larry trick, and if you've ever seen it, you can truly appreciate this!) Needless to say, he got the third Yahtzee...

(Part One of the trick)


(Part two of the trick.)


A couple of rounds later, Larry was about to roll his FOURTH Yahtzee. Because this is practically UNHEARD of in this dice-rolling game, Benny went all out on his celebration idea...Larry should streak around the outside of the house. When the fifth dice was the same as all of the other ones, Benny and Larry ran yelling to the front door, but at the last minute, Larry said, "I can't run outside naked!" and Benny, always with a quick response, said "Just take off your shirt!" And he did...

(It was raining outside, by the way)


I can honestly say that I have NEVER laughed so hard during a game of Yahtzee, and there will probably never be another game like it.


(Larry's score card.)




On Monday (the 29th), we met up with Benny's mom for lunch. We went to Potbellys, a sandwich place in West Lafayette. It's probably one of my favorite places to eat, and we HAVE to go there every time we're in town.




Well, that was our Christmas break in a nutshell. We hope that you had a fabulous time celebrating our Savior's birth with your friends and family!

Thanksgiving Break

Benny and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! We not only had the opportunity to spend some time with our families (something we haven't been able to do for Thanksgiving since we've been married), but we were also able to meet up with a couple of friends! Thursday, we traveled to Lafayette and first met up with Benny's Mom for a couple of hours before having dinner with Benny's Dad, his wife Leta, and Kyle (Benny's younger brother). We left Friday for St. Louis to spend some time with my family and on the way, we were able to meet up with some friends from Louisiana. The Burnetts were heading back to Ruston from Chicago where they had spent the week, so we met them for lunch in Mattoon, IL at the I-57, I-70 intersection. We had a great time hanging out with my family on Friday night, and then had to come back to Indiana on Saturday because I was on call at work. But, on our way out of St. Louis, we called Ben Ambuehl (very close friend of Benny's) who happened to be with family in Edwardsville (just outside of St. Louis), so we were able to have lunch with Ben and his family as well! It was a very quick two day trip, but so great to see BOTH of our families AND some unexpected friends as well.


Benny and Kathy (his Mom)


Me and Kathy


With the Burnetts (Wade, Amy and Taylor)


Benny and BA with a case of the infamous "Ski" soda...

Aden Daugherty

Last Friday, Benny and I got to spend the evening with Aden Daugherty. (Jess and Travis' little boy) We LOVED babysitting him, and can't wait to do it again soon!

Aden at the park.


Aden with Benny in a little playhouse.


We couldn't believe how well Aden could climb! (Don't worry Jess...Benny had a good hold on him the whole time!)


Me and Aden on the playground set.


Aden loves playing with balls!


Look at that precious sleepy face...this was right before we put him to bed.

Last 2008 AU Soccer Game

November 1st was the season-ending game for the AU soccer team. They had a tough loss that day, but definitely made a lot of positive strides to improve the program throughout the season.


Go AU!


I'm very blessed to have a husband who, even after a yucky game, is still very fun to be around. Here he is playing around with Madison Fridley. (the head coach's daughter)


With Mason Fridley. Benny and Mason have a very special relationship. Benny was there when Mason was born, (or right after...he wasn't in the delivery room! :) and they've been good buddies ever since (we celebrated Mason's 8th birthday today!)


Now, Benny and Coach Fridley are heavy into recruiting...traveling to surrounding cities and states looking for players for next year!

Halloween

Benny and I spent Halloween with the Galemas, Jonathan Lustig, and Rebecca and Audrey Woodward. We had a blast trick-or-treating with the kiddos and then sitting out on the Galema's driveway passing out candy and enjoying the beautiful fall evening.


Benny and me, wearing my "costume." (I found those antennas in the driveway and put them on for the picture.)


Benny with Cassity the Ballerina and Jared the UPS Man.


Audrey and Jared, enjoying the "punkins."


Audrey...I think my favorite part of her outfit were the pink sneakers and the ponytail. Good additions, Rebecca!