One REALLY Busy Weekend!

Two Royal's games, one baby shower, one 4-mile race to the Plaza, and zero energy on Monday morning! :) That's what this past weekend entailed as we experienced seemingly as much activity in a 48-hour period as any two people ever should. It started Saturday morning with a very nice baby shower for a couple that attends our church. They had some great food and it was all around a fun event (sorry, no pics from that). Then, just a few hours later we packed up the car and headed out to Kauffman Stadium to watch the Royals take on the Detroit Tigers. We had to get there REALLY early because it was replica jersey giveaway night! It wasn't all that bad though because the extra time before the game gave us a chance to check out all of the new features at the ballpark. The Royals had $250 million worth of upgrades and renovations completed in the off-season, and the stadium looks AMAZING! It's definitely a whole new place. :) The Heine's and the Larson's both came to the game with us as well as our friends, the Bakers. Besides the fact that the boys in blue lost 9-1, it was a great time. Check out some of the pics below.

The view from behind the fountains in right field - you can now walk around the entire stadium for the first time ever.

True Royals fans through and through. :)

Now on to Sunday's activities. It started at about 6:00 AM - we had to get up to run in the Trolley Run. This was our third consecutive year running this 4-miler that goes from the Waldo area to the Plaza. It is always a lot of fun because the course is very easy to run. There are almost zero uphill sections and it makes for a fast race. Plus there is always close to 7,500 people who participate each year which always makes for a great atmosphere. This year, the Larson clan joined us for the race for the first time. John ran with Jessica and Kim, Lisa and Dalton all walked the course. It was a great time!

John and Jessica after the race.

With a quick turnaround at home, Jess and I headed back to Kauffman for yet another Royals game! I had won a pair of tickets in a raffle at work, and they were probably the best seats we have ever had at a baseball game. These tickets also got us access to the brand new Diamond Club which we visited during the game for some food. :)

Sportin' our jerseys we got from Saturday's game.

The AWESOME view from our seats on Sunday!

We had a great weekend, but were certainly exhausted by everything. The fun doesn't stop either...we have quite an exciting week coming up - more about that soon! :) Oh, I almost forgot! Here's a couple pics of our puppies. They make us laugh at some point every single day!

Bella still thinks she is a lap dog - even at 50 pounds!! Ouch!

Aren't they cute!

Spring Cleaning

Can you have Spring Cleaning when it is 30 degrees outside and snowing??? Jason and I decided to take advantage of the bad weather and stay inside all day. We slept in and spent the early afternoon cleaning. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but it was very much needed and we now feel very productive! Our closets are now spotless, carpet is vacuumed, garage is organized, and the laundry is done. Tonight we are going to watch the NCAA basketball games and order pizza. Not bad for a snow day!

Our new ride!

So here it is. The new Heine-mobile! We were so excited to get this 2008 Honda Civic. Truth be told, we actually purchased it before we went to the auto show, but thought it would be fun anyway to put up those pics first. :) We got a great deal on this car, and it is loaded with cool features. It has leather interior, sun roof, and a navigation system just to name a few. Our main objective was to find something with four doors and I personally wanted something with a manual transmission. I'd say we got exactly what we were hoping for! We've had it for about 3 weeks now and at this point there are really no complaints. It was previously owned, so that helped us get a steal on the price. But it's still just like new and will hopefully last us a very long time. I had been driving my Honda Accord for the last five and a half years or so and it was great. I'm sure we will have this one much longer than that. Speaking of the Accord - we've sold it to Jess' sister, Brittany, who is up in Philadelphia...hope you enjoy it Brit!

We bought a new car...

...This past weekend, Jess and I took a trip (made the 25 minute drive dowtown...) to the 2009 Kansas City International Auto Show to check out the latest and greatest in the world of automobiles. This is the second year in a row that we have attended the show (mainly because I beg her to PLEASE let me go see all of the "cool" cars) and we really enjoyed it. We've recently been in the market to upgrade my set of wheels and this would be the perfect place to see every kind of car out there all at once! My brother Jeff also went came along this year to dream big with me. :)

We saw everything at the show from the Kia Rio to a pair of Maclaren Mercedes SLR 500's with a price tag of $495,000 on them --- EACH! We had a lot of fun getting inside all of the different vehicles and imagining what it would be like driving them. We also made sure to bring our camera along to take pics of our favorites. Take a look - see if you can guess what we've ended up with...

Is it a Dodge Ram pickup truck that I need to feel manly driving down the road?

Maybe Jess has something more "family friendly" in mind - like this Acura RDX...

I'm still thinking that a sedan is the way to go, and I really liked this Acura TSX.

Then again something really fast and fun would be AWESOME! This is the Infiniti G37-S.

Who are we kidding though - Jess has always really wanted this Range Rover.

...and if I could have absolutely any car on the planet - it would, hands down, be the Ferrari F430 - Not a faster, meaner, more eye-catching machine on the road. :)

We really have gotten a new car, but you'll have to check back in a couple days to see what it is.

Ski/Snowboard Trip!

This past weekend (Valentine's Day included) we took a very spontaneous trip to Colorado for a couple days on the slopes. I (Jason) literally put together plans at work on Friday, and we were on the road Saturday morning. We went skiing at a smaller ski area near Boulder, CO called Eldora Mountain Resort. It was so much fun! Jess was skiing and I was trying my hat at snowboarding for just the third time ever. We were on the powder for a full two days and needless to say we were very sore and exhausted for the trip home. Check out some of the action photos below. :)

Is it just me or do I look like I could be kidnapping Jess??

Jess was carving up that powder.

The weather was good, but still needed to bundle up!

I only had a few minor wipeouts on the snowboard...

...but I like to think I did a good job of at least looking the part. ;)

Baby Shower!!!

This past weekend, Kali Buchanan, Lauren Cunningham and I had the privlege of throwing a baby shower for our dear friends Chris and Allison French. It was a full house, we had about 15 couples come over to our house for an afternoon of games, food, and presents! I think the pictures explain it best!

The men played a game to see who could drink 6 ounces out of a baby bottle the quickest. Jason tried hard, but he was not the winner!

Have you ever heard of the dirty diaper game? We filled 4 diapers with different melted candy bars. Each team had to guess what candy bar filled the diaper by smell or any other method!

Chris and Allison also recieved some amazing gifts!

Starting my new job!

Hi everyone - sorry again for such a delay, but things have just been slightly crazy around our place with the Christmas season in full swing. This blogging idea is a lot harder to keep up with than either of us thought it would be.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a little bit about the recent changes in my life. Back on December 1, I started a new job. I now work for Benefit Trust Company which is located in Overland Park. I spent nearly three full years at State Street, but the long drive everyday and lack of a place for me to move up, pushed me to look elsewhere to advance my career. Benefit Trust actually purchased a division of State Street over the summer, and that is the group I work in. Three weeks in, and I am feeling really comfortable with what I am doing. The company is really small - only 30 employees or so - but I definitely feel welcomed and hope to be able to contribute a lot of good ideas. The best part of the job is the fact that it only takes me about 15-20 minutes to get here! That's less than half the drive I had before. :)

Jess and I promise to get some pics up of our Christmas decorations and gift opening activities in the very near future. We also want to wish all of you a merry Christmas, and we pray if you are traveling, that you are staying safe and warm!

-Jason