Our Christmas Table

I've been wanting for some time now to find the perfect decor to dress my holiday table. While this is my first year, I don't have much, but enjoyed finding my treasures while with Drew's family on Black Friday- the candle holders and tablecloths were purchased around 9am, which was hour number 6 of our shopping experience. I promise to continue this tradition and next year my table will begin to grow!! Enjoy!

Tis the Season

As we return from a wonderful Thanksgiving week with our family, we swiftly realize that the Christmas season is upon us. We spent our week working on our Christmas shopping and holiday decor, and it has truly put us in the Christmas mood.

It's been very important to Drew and me to help families in our area to have a better holiday and this season is no different. We adpoted two children from the Salvation Army and focused our shopping on them. We got a few toys, but mostly warm clothes and socks and coats for the upcoming frosty weather. It felt so good knowing that our money was going to a worth-while cause that truly makes a difference. I encourage all of you to find some way to help out your neighbors. Whether it's watching your neighbors' children while they run their holiday errands, or adding some extra canned goods to your grocery cart to drop off at your local food bank, or even adopting a family to buy gifts for. It's easy to get caught up in the commercial-ism of the holiday season, but it's easy to make a small difference for aomeone in your community.

So start your season off on the right foot and remember the true reason for the season!!!

Case Family Pictures

Drew's family was here a few weeks ago and we took the morning to get caught up on our family pictures. It was lots of fun and we got some great shots!! Thanks Scott Urban for another fantastic photo shoot!!!!

Parker, CO

So I was fortunate enough to travel to Colorado this last week to visit some of our dear friends, the Quigleys. They are there on a traveling nurses assignment at Parker Adventist Hospital. Needless to say, if you need to have a baby, go to Parker. They have the most beautiful Labor and Delivery unit. It would certainly be worth the 2 hour and 1 minute flight over.

While there, Bethany and I took her daughter, Claire, to the Denver Aquarium. What an amazing experience. I'm not sure who had more fun? Claire or me!! We got to see very big kitties (the tigers in the Rain Forest exhibit), a few more sharks than I care to remember, and the coolest looking fish I've EVER seen!!!

The true highlight of the day was the last exhibit: The Stingray Tank. It was an underwater petting zoo. The stingrays would swim up and splash along the side, making it very easy for anyone interested to reach down and PET THEM!! Need less to say, I wasn't interested. That all changed when the 15 month old baby girl I was holding reached her little hand down, touched the slimmy, squishy thing, and then let out the biggest giggle. I kind of had to after that.

We all had a wonderful time and the days just flew by. We look forward to future get-togethers...perhaps ones that don't include slimmy, squishy fish-like things.

Wedding Days

Drew and I recently attended a wedding for a friend of mine from CSI. It was at the 4th Street Gardens in Emmett, ID, and it was beautiful. I was a little nervous because the place was so small, but it was truly romantic and intimate. The family-friend who performed their ceremony was very good and I was impressed at how personal he made everything, without making it too cheesey.

My one job for this wedding was to deliver the four (yes, 4!!) wedding cakes to the reception. I've never been so nervous about anything in my life. I was more nervous about this than ANYTHING at my own wedding. Needless to say, the cakes arrived perfectly, all in one piece and with decor in the proer place. It wasn't until I was trying to show off with the last cake and took it out of the cake box to walk across the yard to put it on the cake table. I leaned down to put the cake down but didn't hold the cake any farther away from my chest. When I stood up, There was quite a bit frosting adorning my dress that I wasn't anticipating. Luckily, no one noticed the cake, but I did have a massive dark spot on my dress for the rest of the night.



BTW- this is the Calvin Kline dress I bought at Burlington Coat Factory, originally priced at $128 that I got for $34!! It was my FIRST CK anything, on sale, and it was a smaller than normal size. If that doesn't say buy the dress, I don't know what does!!!

Football

It's finally Bornco Football season and we LOVE the Broncos in the Case household. We had a party to welcome in the season and it was great. With great friends and food, we all felt it necessary to dress up for the occassion. Even Kyrie got into the blue and orange spirit of it all. We've had a great season thus far and at #8 in the BCS poles, we might have another shot at a Bowl game this winter. We'll look forward to watching the team continue in their glory and the parties that come with it!!

My sexy, pink, little (BIG) Cocktail Dress

This dress has been my prized possesion for the last five years. I received it as a gift right before I graduted from CSI. Walking across the stage to receive my degree was the first time this dress was worn. I truly felt girlie and beautiful!!

I was as excited at the chance to wear it to a bachelorette party this last Saturday night. With the Sex in the City theme, I knew my pink dress would be the perfect cocktail attire. I was running a few minutes late to my dinner but felt I could still pul it off because my outfit was ready to go. As I pulled the satiny fabric over my head, felt it slide into place, and zipped it up, I looked in the mirror to realize something was very wrong with the image I was starring at: The dress was TOO BIG!!

Most women would be thrilled to have something too big to wear, grateful that all their efforts at the gym and the dinner table had paid off, but I was beside myself. Not only did I now not have anything to wear, but the one thing I owned that truly made me feel beautiful, I could no longer wear. Please don't mistake my "heartbreak". I am so excited to go buy a new, smaller, cocktail dress, but there was certainly a moment, or two, of sadness; that a relationship was changing. A relationship not just with my wardrobe, but with the wonderful spirit that has been within me all along. I look forward to (kinda) falling out of more clothes as I continue my process, and will gladly pass along my fabricated articles to those who need them- shopping for new treasures will be just as exciting.

Come to the Banquet

Come to the Banquet is a ministry at St. Michaels' Cathedral. It began after a grant was given to the Young Adult group atthe Cathedral, Ex Nihilo. These youngs adults get other volunteers from the parish and provide a well-catered, hot meal for the area's less fortunate. Started in May of 2009, this program continues to grow and offers more meals each month. Whatever food is left over, gets packed up and sent home with the diners. We've served Italian, Chinese, BBQ, different chicken dishes, and there are always salads and home-made desserts to compliment the main entrees.

Today, we served nearly 100 brothers and sisters, of all colors, ages, and financial backgrounds. For one family, it was the first time thay had accepted a meal from a group like this, as their financial security recently got lost. The children run around the room safely and the diners enjoy conversations with the volunteers from the church. We stay open as long as people keep walking in, and the smiles that come along with the "thank yous" are just as pleasing.

I've made it my personal goal to be the one in charge of clean up. I enjoy gathering people's plates and taking the mess out from in front of them. For so long, I've been able to sit and be waited on, and it's truly a humbling pleasure to serve others in the same way. For so many of them, they've been the ones looking at the garbage with an empty stomach, and I get to make sure their bellies are full before I take care of the dirty work. I'm grateful for groups like this that truly welcome others into their homes, even when it's a home of worship. It's a wonderful way to truly preach the message of welcoming a stranger, never knowing if you might be dining in the company of Christ himself.

Our First Family Picture!

We had my family over for dinner this weekend and my dad took some pictures for us. Up until this weekend, Kyrie hadn't barked or talked at all, but she was having so much fun with everyone that her voice suddenly decided to make an appearance and we literally couldn't shut her up.

We tried to take her to the Dog Park on Sunday morning, but the combination of many other big, loud dogs freaked us all out a little bit. So we went to BSU and walked around the green belt and went down to the river. She immediately went right for the water and didn't come out. We let her off her leash (don't tell anyone) and she had a great time wandering around and seeing what kind of adventures there were to conquer. It was quite the morning.

Where is our CAMERA????

So many exciting things are happening in our lives right now and our biggest obstacle is that we don’t have a camera to document it. Somewhere in the hub-fuss of moving and everything, we’ve seriously misplaced it So, you get to read about our lives for now and in the mean time, let us know what cameras you like so that we can take your suggestions and go buy a new one.

We are in love with our new doggy and are getting to know more and more about her everyday. She’s coming out of her shell slowly but has starting wagging her behind, since she doesn’t have a tail, and is very much into licking our faces once they’re within reach. She sleeps in our room on her little bed and hasn’t asked to get up during the night once- she’s a very good girl and lets her mommy and daddy sleep all night long—we’ll see how long it lasts.

Megan got a job offer to start working at Curves for Woman on the weekends, which means she’ll be wrapping up her water aerobics classes at the end of the month. After five years of being in the pool, time to move on and try something new…perhaps tap dance lessons…

We got a DOG!!

Kyrie Case became the newest member of the Case family this afternoon. She is a pound puppy from the Boise Humaine Society. Kyrie turned 2 years old, three days ago. An Australian Shepherd, who doesn't herd, Kyrie is shy and timid, but has already decided she's going to be a Daddy's girl. She is house-trained, crate-trained, and leash-trained (HOORAY!!). We got her a bed and crate and she already seems tuckered out from a long day. A walk around her new neighborhood still awaits her tonight and then a picnic in the park tomorrow. We're very happy she chose us to be her humans and we look forward to sharing more doggy adventures in the near future.

Blog Remodel

With much thanks to a more senior blogger, I am happy to introduce my new and improved blog. Much more cute- much more me. Now I just have to figure out what my "personal blogger" did to make it look so good so that I can duplicate it on my own. So a very big thank you goes out to the tech dept in Parker, CO!!!!!

My First Blog

In keeping step with all those around me who have already entered the world of blogging, I saw it an opportunity to do the same. I don't promise to provide daily or even weekly updates of the "Lives and Times" of Megan and Drew, but an occassional (at least for now) posting might pop up now and then.

So "stay posted" for the adventures we seek and the pictures we come back with...