CaseyAndKelly.Com

I don’t feel like I’ve been able to catch up at all this month. It seems to be one thing after another going on.

Joe arrived at DIA on Thursday afternoon to spend the weekend with us. As luck would have it, he forgot his cell phone in his car so there was no way to communicate where we all were. After driving around the airport for half an hour, I ended up searching inside and bouncing between three different levels before coincidentally passing Joe on th escalators. Once we were back in the car, we were on our way to the Great American Beer Fest. There were over 4,000 brewers from around the country on site and more bad beers than good. We had a great time even with the lack of food. Now was beer fest veterans, we’ll be wearing our pretzel necklaces next time! We made it home (sober, they were only 1 oz. samplings), let the kids out, and found some food at Old Chicago’s before turning in for the night.

Friday, we met up with my parents for lunch at Panera before heading up to Pikes Peak. The highway to Pikes Peak takes a lot longer than it looks and anything I could do to describe it would not do it justice, check out the pics for proof. We made it back home just in time to get changed before dinner at The Sunbird. While the view was pretty awesome (however, only second best of the day), the food was medicore and way over priced for what it was. Next time, we’ll be going with something a little easier to get to and with guaranteed good food. Nevertheless, we had a great time and my 25th was definitely an unforgettable birthday!

I sent Joe a link before he came out here of Yard House (the place we went with John & Alison in Phoenix). We dropped the kids off with my parents for the day because we were originally planning on going to the Coors tour too (although that didn’t end up happening). I entered in the address of the Yard House before we drove up there and when I did, the same address came up three times – Denver, Lakewood, and Golden. I went ahead and put in Denver because how many of the exact address could there be. We followed the directions downtown and after parallel parking, feeding the meter, and walking three blocks we finally realized that we were at 1450 Colfax. I thought maybe I had maybe forgotten to enter in a zero in the address (the right address was 14500 Colfax), however, somehow I did enter it right. So I changed the city to Lakewood and we ended up further west but not nearly far enough and not at the restaurant. I changed it to Golden and finally we were heading further west again. I ended up calling the restaurant just to verify and the city actually *is* in Lakewood but apparently right on the border of Golden. Ugh, so annoying we ended up downtown originally and we could have taken the business loop around the city and have been there pretty fast. After finally making it to the Yard House, we didn’t feel like waiting or walking around anymore and opted to come back home, grill some steaks, and watch 28 Weeks Later.

Sunday we ate brunch at Mimi’s before taking Joe back to the airport. It was 78 the day he arrived and we hit snow going over Monument Pass. Typical Colorado weather for ya. After all of the driving, we ended up staying home and catching up on TiVo for the rest of the night.

Monday I got bamboozled into going to the Rockies/Diamondbacks game with the rest of the family.  It was Game 4 of the National League Championship and the Rockies ended up winning!  I’m was only excited because they were the home team, I’m not much of a baseball fan but had a lot better time than I thought I would and was shocked to find out that it was 2 by the time I got home.

I’ve been working part-time for the company a friend works for so that explains the delay in posting. I’ve been trying to get in some missed hours since we’ve been so busy lately. Its been a busy month but we’ve been having a lot of fun hopefully we can rest up before our next trip!

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Casey and I spent just got back Monday night from spending the weekend in Phoenix with John and Alison! We had so much fun but are still trying to catch up with life now that we’re back. We flew out Friday around noon and grabbed lunch at In ‘N Out before heading back to the house. We hung out for awhile and let the food settle before going to happy hour at the Yard House which has hands down the best happy hour. Ever. They also have 100 beers on tap, no joke. We were originally going to go bowling on base after dinner but because we went to happy hour league play was still in session so we debated to see ‘The Kingdom’ but ended up deciding against that too since it would have most likely put us all to sleep. In the end, we went back to the house and played Guitar Hero on Xbox and Trivial Pursuit, before watching ‘The Big Lebowski’.

Saturday we went to lunch at Paradise Bakery and it was so yummy. I ordered a full Greek salad and it was the size of a bowl of salad adequate enough to feed 4. They weren’t joking about the size of it.   When we came back to the house after lunch, the boys played more Xbox and Alison and I went to the BX.  While we were there there was a huge ordeal where I bought a Yankee candle and that particular flavor (Casey’s favorite, pumpkin pie) was supposed to be 25% and that being the sole reason I would go on vacation and buy a candle I could otherwise buy at home.  Well as were walkign back to the car I noticed they didn’t give us the discount so we went back inside and on the way to customer service I grabbed the sign saying the discounted price.  There was no one waiting in front of us, although all of the cashiers appeared to be busy, we still ended up waiting about 5 minutes.  When they finally called our number, Alison was in the middle of explaining the situation when this chick walked up and was like I was 51 (the number before ours).  We’re like well they called the number and you didn’t come up here and she’s like I was trying to get up here (she was walking around outside the waiting area apparently) and just stood there until we let her get her spot back in line.  Ugh, then she was only making a credit card payment which I don’t understand why she couldn’t just (a) make it online or (b) mail it like a normal person.  So when we get up there again, the cashier was like oh this is the price from September its not good anymore and I told her it was on a sign, there was more than one of them and that I wanted it for this price because that’s what it said.  Alison suggested she take down the signs to avoid this situation again since she seemed so beside herself over the pricing error.  And of course, the cashier would be training someone else so it took even longer.  Then after being up there for 15 minutes to get a simple refund back they start asking for all of Alison’s personal information (since it was her ID and credit cards) from SSN to phone number.  Totally more information than they should have and then were like ok first we refund and then we sell it back again at the discounted price.  Seeing that this was going to be a mess and that Alison and I had just discussed earlier in the day about how annoying it was to make returns and how they make sure they get their money right away when we buy something but then they take forever to give us our money back when we return something, I was just fed up and said forget it I don’t even want the candle anymore.  So then they say its going to take a void (most likely meaning waiting for a manager) so we were just frustrated and ready to go and it seemed easier to buy the candle anyway.  Ugh such a mess, totally not a fun part of the trip.  When we got back (while the boys were still playing Xbox) we planned where to eat at in Tempe where we would be for the night. We ate at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant and the food here was just so good we ordered two appetizers (one of them being a brick of feta with ouzo poured over it and set on fire – flaming feta!) and then two HUGE sampler meal plates. The weather was just ideal while we were down there and didn’t get above 90 so we ended up sitting outside to eat dinner and then at Starbucks too before waiting for the Big Bang to open. The Big Bang is a dueling piano bar where the crowd sings along to the music. When we first tried to go in we were the only people there yet (thus the coffee) but as it got later the place got so packed it was standing room only. Casey and I are piano bar virgins and had so much fun we would definitely go again!

Sunday we went shopping in Chandler (another Phoenix suburb)! We had lunch at Rubio’s when we got to the mall – can you tell that Casey and I miss L.A. eateries?! I managed to find quite a bit of cute stuff for fall and winter at The Gap. Now that my buyers remorse has subsided I can begin to enjoy my purchases! We spent a few hours at the mall before getting a Boba Tea for the drive home. When we got back to the house, the boys again sat and played Xbox while Alison and I played Trivial Pursuit. At about 7 we headed out to the Tokoyo Room for some tasty sushi. It was so good! There was so much good and spicy sushi on the menu we were in heaven! We all even ended up trying sea urchin which I do not recommend. It tasted like sea water and had the consistency of runny cream cheese. Not something I’ll ever try again! After dinner we watched Planet Earth in HD while playing Taboo before heading off to bed.

Monday before we left for the airport we went to the Maui Grille for breakfast. Obviously by the name the place has Hawaiian flare and even serves spam – ick. Although none of us ordered the spam or Macadamia nut pancakes (although they sounded quite tasty) it was all really good and very filling. The perfect thing to hold us over through our flight home. Our flight was supposed to depart at 2:45 but we didn’t even start boarding until after 3 because one of the crew members was late and had a 45 minute window to get there. I would think that would be a pretty serious infraction for someone on a flight that would have the schedules of a whole plane depending on him. As with most flights today, they ended up asking for volunteers to take a later flight and receive a free ticket anywhere they flew. Now when we first heard this we seriously started considering voluntarily bumping ourselves because a round trip ticket to Europe would have been worth the two extra hours in the airport. Unfortunately when they made the announcement again they stressed it was only CONUS so there was no way we were volunteering – we had babies to get back to! We had such a great time in Phoenix and hope we’ll be able to go back again while John and Alison are still living down there!

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So Kelly is looking for some feedback on where to go for her birthday this year. Going to have a large group (8-ish). You decide.

Steaksmith – http://www.steaksmith.com/menu.htm

The Sunbird – http://www.thesunbird.com/

Biaggi’s – http://www.biaggis.com/coloradosprings.htm

How can it be October already? Where has the year gone? Christmas decorations are already being displayed in stores along with the Halloween costumes.Friday we went over to James & Nicole’s for some tasty ranch chicken but the rest of the weekend has been pretty uneventful. We spent most of this past weekend just working around the house. Casey and I managed to get most of the new outlets and face plates installed, the bulbs planted in the front yard, and other areas re-mulched. Casey also installed another flag holder on the front of the house so that we can fly our Broncos flag *and* our U.S. flag. Even though we were displaying our team spirit, the Broncos managed to lose to the Colts (as expected).

We did a bit of TV and movie watching this weekend. Saturday night we watched Grindhouse: Death Proof (the Quentin Tarrantino half) and despite a few laughs, were pretty disappointed with the movie. Smallville was pretty good but with all of the buildup about Clark flying, I’m wondering when its finally going to happen. Las Vegas did not disappoint, although I’m still a little bummed that Ed and Mary will no longer be on the show. I was really hoping they were going to kill Edie off on Desperate Housewives. She serves no purpose and only recently are they trying to create one by putting her between Gabby and Carlos. We’ve been hearing some mixed reviews about Private Practice and Reaper so we may or may not try adding those to our lineups. We’re watching ‘We are Marshall’ right now while How I Met Your Mother is recording. We’re going to give HIMYM another shot and hopefully after that we’ll be able to squeeze CSI: Miami in before bed.

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Easily the best Bud Light commercial ever…. no really!   Find more here.

Since I have been in training I have had to be in the office every day for the last week and some change.  I didn’t realize how expensive actually being at work really was, without going out to eat every day and coffee etc.  I’m looking forward to being able to sit at my home office desk again on Friday.

Over the last few weeks I have been having some numbness in my left hand, in my ring and little finger.  They have a severe lack of sensitivity, similar to them being very cold.  So Kelly made me a Dr. appointment for next week to get it looked at.  Hopefully its nothing to serious, but James has me all freaked out  with talk of carpal tunnel syndrome.  How will I ever play Guitar Hero ever again 🙂

Its starting to get cold on this side of the mountains, so this weekend I really need to drain my sprinkler system.  It was only 47 when I left the house this morning, according to the thermometer in the FX.  Its going to freeze very soon.  Hopefully my new grass seed has enough time to take hold, although I’m not certain I did enough tilling of the soil to mix up the wood mulch.  I guess we will see in a week or so, but we have been watering the piss out of it.

I meant to pick up Hellgate: London this weekend and get into the beta, but Best Buy wasn’t carrying it, so I need to order it online soon.  If I turn out to really like it I may pick up a new video card for my desktop, James tells me I can get an 8800 for fairly cheap.  Then again Kelly and I have quite a few trips planned in the near future Phoenix, Dominican Republic, Vegas etc… so I probably need to save the money, we will see.

Ok back to class, damn I’m bored.

Inspired by Robin, I’ve decided to post our (lengthy) list of shows we’ll be watching this season.

Sunday

• Desperate Housewives

• Family Guy

Monday

• How I Met Your Mother (trying it at Alison’s insistence that it’s a great show 😉

• Heroes (we haven’t even caught up on season 1 yet but are still going to to record because we’ve heard good things)

• CSI: Miami

• Samantha Who (It doesn’t start til 10/15 and we really don’t need any more shows but I do love Christina Applegate so it’s a possibility.)

Tuesday

• House

• Nip/Tuck (premiers 10/30)

Wednesday

• LOST (Why oh why are they making us wait until February?)

• Kitchen Nightmares

• South Park

• Bionic Woman (Casey wants to try)

• Pushing Daisies (I want to try)

Thursday

• Survivor: China

• Smallville

• My Name is Earl

• CSI

• Grey’s Anatomy

Friday

• Las Vegas

• Women’s Murder Club (premiers 10/12 – my birthday – going to try since its based on the James Patterson books that I like)

We left our house at 6am yesterday to drop the kids off at my parents and wait for Chick Fil-A to open for breakfast, before leaving for Sara’s 30th Birthday party. We ended up making it to Sara’s new house in a little over 5 hours. Its exactly half way between Casey’s parents and ours which made it a very manageable day drive. We were happy we could make it out there (Kansas) for the party and get to see baby Laney for the first time. Laney is such a sweet and easy baby that I threatened to take her home with us. But don’t get any ideas about us having babies in the near future. We had a really great time and were able to spend seven hours with Sara before heading back home and picking up the kids at midnight.

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We woke up this morning around 9 and after checking our respective emails, we started straight away working outside. Casey mowed the backyard while I weeded out the dog run. Since the weather was breezy and not too hot (about 80) we ended up pulling out the dog run and after making a trip to Lowe’s for supplies and Grandma’s for a Rototiller, we got to work. Already our yard seems bigger with all of the unused space from the dog run seeded with grass. The only before picture of the dog run we have is from December when we saw the house before moving in so I’ll post that pic with the rest of them. Tomorrow, I have to get to work planting bulbs around the tree in the front yard and transplanting some plants. If we have the time and energy, our next project will be removing our old deck and installing a composite deck (that will last forever) in its place, but that might be a job for next spring.

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The Broncos were not in fighting form this weekend. I TiVo’ed the game but after seeing the score online inadvertently, we didn’t even bother watching. The Chiefs, however, did eek out a win this week. I guess we should take what we can get. After our busy day neither of us felt like cooking and we’ve been seeing commercials for Pizza Hut’s new pizza strips with dippy sauces so we opted for that. Pass on this pizza, the sauces (ranch, marinara, and garlic) aren’t that great. The ranch is hot (ick), the marinara is the same sauce as on the pizza, and the garlic is just nasty and doesn’t compare with Papa John’s. Oh well, at least I didn’t have to cook.

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Is this week over yet? I have been on-call since last Friday, as well as being in RISS training all week. Kelly and I are driving to Sara’s house near Russell, KS on Saturday for her 30th birthday party, so not really going to be able to rest until Sunday. So one day off then another week of training. This last week I have spent more time at the office then I have in a few months. I really take working from home for granted.

My one year anniversary at HP is coming up soon. Its been a lot better since James has come onboard, but it still seems that there are a few of us that seem to do most of the work. Timecards were due yesterday and today our manager sent out the overall hours report for everyone on the team, according to the sheet the 6 of us are putting in the hours of 8.7 people… this means we are all working way to much. And the sad thing is this has been going on for months and months. Although I anticipate things to start to slow down as the holiday season starts to move in.

Joe is coming out soon and we will be attending the Great American Beer Festival. I’m really looking forward to that as its been awhile since Joe has come out last. We purchased a new bed since he was out last so he won’t be sleeping on the couch bed. Maybe we can go get a kegerator while he is here as well, as that is something we have been looking forward to getting.

I have rededicated myself to completing my MCSE before the end of the year. I need to complete my MCSE 2000 before the tests expire in early next year, t hen complete my 2003 upgrade tests. Its just tough to focus because when I stop working I just like to sit and concentrate on breathing enough that I don’t die.

Ok need to wrap this up so we can finish watching Survivor then head to bed, we have a great deal of server maintenance to do tomorrow evening so its going to be a long day. Maybe I can convince our ADM to buy a beer or two for us following the maintenance.

Stoli had a day filled with a lot of her favorite things and one of her least favorite things…a bath. When Daddy came home, Stoli and Daddy went for a ride to Chick Fil-A for dinner and her very own kids meal. Nana, Papa Jim, Grandma, and Grandpa all came over for presents and cake and lots of attention! Stoli and Dude are now both passed out right now from all of the food and excitement and we’re waiting for Kitchen Nightmares to come on. Enjoy the pics!

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