Trip to Texas

As a family, we took a road trip to Texas. But before we did, Grandma and Grandpa Strong came to stay with us in Colorado for a week. That's what the 1st pictures in the slideshow are of. We had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma, it was nice for them to spend some time with us and with their granddaughter. Then, the 5 of us started our journey to Texas. We all had hopes we could arrive to Round Rock, Tx in one day, but unfortunately we had a blow-out tire along the way and had to take our car to the shop for new tires. So by the time it was 9pm we were all so tired and decided to have a good night sleep at a hotel. At least we had some fun swimming in the pool before bed. The next morning we ate a delicious hot breakfast and continued on our way and arrived to our destination later that afternoon.

We spent the first several days in Round Rock staying with my sister and her family and then in Houston with my brother and his family. We had a wonderful time. Cassidy especially enjoyed getting attention from her cousins and aunts and uncles. It was so fun to watch Cassie play with her cousins.

While in Texas we enjoyed many activities such as bowling, rock climbing, water skiing at the lake, having fun in the boat, swimming, going to an Aquariam, watching white tigers play, eating good food, playing games, staying up late talking, watching movies, evening strolls around the neighborhood, playing a game of UNO that would last forever, and just enjoying the time we had together. Unfortunately we weren't able to go to the beach, the weather decided it wasn't going to work out :( But it didn't keep us from having fun! We were having such a good time the week certainly went by super fast! Thanks for everything guys we had a blast and shared some good memories!

**Lots and Lots of pictures...sorry...I even narrowed it down a lot :)**

I've been Tagged!!!

I've been tagged, thanks Sheryl. :) Sorry it has taken so long. Here's what you do... List 7 things about yourself, favorites, dislikes, silly things, etc. there are no rules just have fun. Then if you get tagged at the bottom then it's your turn. Please list the rules when you post and invite someone else to be tagged. Have fun I know I did.


1. Things I Love: My husband Derek and daughter Cassidy, I love being a wife and mommy! Playing sports like soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball, tennis, etc (basically any physical activity) :) Clean sheets, my husbands singing voice, dancing anywhere and anytime, my daughter's giggle, colors of Autumn, visiting with family, music of all cultures, Ice cream, family traditions, and romantic movies.

2. Things I Dislike: I don't always like to cook, or coming up with the plan of what's for dinner. I wish I could hire a chef and then that would be a dream come true. Derek is so nice to always say you're a good cook Angie, when you cook. Poor guy! Maybe a chef would be an answer to all of our problems. :) More dislikes, cockaroaches, dusting, heavy metal music, and when time gets away from me.

3. Daring things I've tried: Swimming with stingrays, riding in a hot air balloon, skiing down a mountain, and riding an old wooden rollercoaster. But I'm glad I did it. Who knows what's next...

4. Fun Family traditions: Making homemade gifts for each other for Christmas, taking turns planning and surprising each other for our anniversary each year, Writing letters to our Daughter Cassidy on Mother and Father's day each year (so far it's only been two), Puzzles, Puzzles, and more puzzles.

5. Most Embarrissing Moment: Mistaking someone else for my husband and patting him gently on his bottom. There was no way of getting out of that one! It's even embarrising all over again to share this information. :)

6. Places I've been since I've been married: Arizona, Nevada, California, Washington DC, Virginia, Michigan, Canada, Texas, Jamaica, Grand Caymans, Mexico, Wyoming, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, Minnesota (to adopt our baby girl), and of course Colorado. :) Still planning more adventures...

7. Future Goals: Cooking, learn the piano, speak Spanish fluently, run a marathon, conquer the fear of rollercoasters, read more books, a trip to Peru (where my mom's from), build and decorate a doll house for Cassidy.

Okay tag you're it, Jillian, and Sarah Terry! :)

Friends come to visit

Mike, Amy, and the kids came to Colorado for a family reunion and since Colorado Springs was along the way our friends were able to stay the night with us. We had fun talking and catching up with one another and celebrated Amy's birthday, then the next day we went to Garden of the Gods for a hike and picnic. It was a very hot day, but we all survived. The kids loved climbing on the rocks and walking on the trails. It was a busy day for rock climbers. After we hiked around Garden of the Gods we were getting hungry, so we took our picnic to Rock Ledge Ranch, right next to Garden of the Gods. While we were eating our sandwhiches we noticed a squirrel in the trees behind us, he seemed to be hungry too. Everyone was joking around how funny it would be if the squirrel jumped on my head. Ha! Ha! :) After lunch we had the chance to feed the ducks, watch the pigs play in the mud, walk near sheep eating grass, and enjoy the horses. Before too long, it was time for our friends to leave. We're just so glad we had the chance to spend some time together and look forward to the next time we're together. Thanks for visiting Mike and Amy, come again soon!

Camping in our Backyard

Cassidy is a little camper in training...so we decided to have a little camp out in our very own backyard. Cassidy even took interest in helping Derek with putting up the tent. She would play with the poles until they were needed. :) It was an exciting new adventure for us all. We had the chance to even watch fireworks from our tent window, since our Sky Sox baseball team had a home game across the street at the stadium. It was pretty cool. Cassidy would point to the fireworks and watch them with full concentration. We couldn't ask for a better night to camp out. Then we were able to read some stories to Cassi and play with some blocks before putting our baby girl to bed. Cassidy did so good with sleeping, she didn't even cry when we layed her down in her pack and play. And she didn't wake up until 5am. We couldn't be prouder of our little camper. Now we're ready for the big outdoors.

Play group

Cassidy had the chance to have some fun in a kiddie pool for playgroup today. She seemed to really like the giraffe, and of course the sandbox. We look forward to taking Cassidy to the beach soon, we know her little heart will be content with miles and miles of sand.

Cassidy is learning some important lessons in life...SHARING. She's pretty good at it, she will always give things to others but seems to give away what she's not interested in. Like today between a fun Bambi baby book to a Dr. Seuss book she settled to take Tyler's (only 6 months old) bambi book and give him the Dr. Seuss book (as if he can read it). We will work on that one. :)

I'm A Big Girl Now

Here are some fun things Cassidy has been up to recently...it just shows how quick time flies by when our sweet baby girl starts doing really big girl things. :) Sometimes we wish she could just take her time in growing up.

Friends

 

Cassidy had a friend over to play, little Morgan. They ate breakfast together, played with toys, went to the playground, ate lunch, had naps, and played some more ...giggling at bubbles. It was fun to watch them play. I was even able to keep up with them. :)

Happy Daddy's Day!

To celebrate Father's Day we took Derek out for dinner lastnight to Texas Roadhouse. The food was delicious but of course hanging out with daddy was better. Cassidy put on her charm like always with people who sat around us. She would smile and wave at everyone, and even giggled with a sweet lady playing peek-a-boo. But of course the best moment was when Daddy shared some lemon slices with Cassidy. It was such a sight to watch her face expressions and to watch her pucker her lips. She had quite the audience and enjoyed the attention that she couldn't resist to keep asking daddy for more tastes of lemon. Cassidy never ceases to make us laugh and love her more each day.

For Daddy's Day, we (the girls) allowed daddy to take a long, nice nap. And then had some yummy dinner and gave him our gift. It was cute - Cassidy insisted to carry Derek's big wrapped gift all by herself and hand it to him. The gift was as big as she was. It was a new pair of church shoes, yahoo! Derek was grateful since he was in dire need of new ones. Cassidy was able to also add some of her artwork on Derek's card. She's always willing to jump in and color anytime. If I allowed it I know she would use her creativity and get carried away writing on herself and everything else. :) Happy Father's Day, Daddy! We love you!

Playing in the Pool

As a family we decided to go swimming at Wilson Ranch pool. Cassidy loves playing in the water, this pool had some fun slides, a lazy river, and a water park with squirt guns and waterfalls. Cassidy would kick her legs and move her hands in the water, it seems she hasn't forgotten what she learned in her water waddles swim class. We had a blast and enjoyed soaking up the sun.

Happy Anniversary

Derek and I just celebrated our 8th year anniversary! We had a nice dinner at Johnny Carino's Restaurant, and then enjoyed a night of bowling. With just my luck, I was able to get a strike on my very first turn. It turned out I won the first game and then Derek won the second game. It has been a long time since either of us have bowled, but we sure enjoyed laughing and playing together.