Cindy Smith Benson, CPA

SO BIG NEWS!!!!

I officially passed all parts of the CPA exam!

It was definitely the hardest exam I have ever taken. I am so glad to be done! It took a lot of dedication and motivation to study every day all day for weeks at a time. I am thrilled that it is over and hopefully will get a job and use it soon!

Videos

Me and Jonas on the kiddie slide at the beach

Belle loves Tyler's sleeping bag luckily she can have it every night right now!

playing in the water

Viv montage....a day at the park

Our trip to Tennessee and Myrtle Beach

2 weeks ago Wednesday, I flew home. I left Seattle around 11 pm and flew 1st class to Orlando....yes, I know that seems so out of the way, but it was cheaper! It was my first time flying 1st class and I must say it was wonderful! Thanks to my husband for the use of his frequent flyer miles! Needless to say since I didn't leave Seattle until 11 pm, I didn't arrive in Knoxville until Thursday afternoon. Mandy, Chris, and the boys picked me up from the airport and off to see mom we went. After seeing mom and grocery shopping for the fajitas (that Mandy and myself made that night), we visited with dad. I must say that Mandy and mom both were worried about me cooking fajitas and they turned out delicious! They have no faith in my cooking ability for some odd reason! Mamaw came down to the RV park for fajitas and it was great to spend time with her.

Friday...we went and ate breakfast with Dad and Barb. Mom and I spent a couple hours lounging in the lake and that was really nice! For dinner we celebrated with the "Friday Night Crew" and went to Blue Springs Marina for dinner and drinks. We always love seeing them and enjoy their company! After dinner we hung out with Dad and Barb until they kicked us out :(

Saturday we left for the beach. We had a great trip of family time, eating out, slides, dominoes, and being lazy! It is always great being able to spend a week with the family all together! The kiddy pool was awesome even for adults! I loved being able to slide down all of the 9 slides with the twins and with Davis!

We returned home the following Saturday. Sunday, was Dad's day and we enjoyed breakfast at Cracker Barrel, followed by visiting with memaw, then we laid around and watched a movie, and then Barbara cooked for everyone and we enjoyed our last night with Mandy, Chris, the boys, Russ, Pooh, Mom, Greg, Dad, and Barb! Thank you everyone for being available and making it easier on us to see you! We love you all and miss you very much!

Monday.....we overslept, but we did manage to make it to Nashville in time to eat lunch with Davis's brother, Daniel and his girlfriend, Kalie before heading back home to Seattle.

Thank you Dad and Barb for all of our meals and for taking us to the airport!
Thank you Greg and Mom for everything you do for us! The vacation was great and we will always be there!
Thank you Mandy and Chris for picking me up from the airport and for not being able to sleep with the computer light!!! That was a joke! We love you both!

Chris and Dave celebrating with a shot of crown

Getting kisses from Jonas

Mom with her girls and Nolan saying "Mimi, Mimi, Mimi"

Our beach picture

mom and Greg

Family

us

Thanks to uncle Russ and Pooh for finding pockets!

what do you know...mom with her girls & Nolan

Greg and I at dinner

The whole crew at Calabash

Davis and Me

Me and my beautiful mom

Nolan having ice cream

Dad with his girls

Me and Dad at the Resort

I have been wanting this picture for over a year....I finally got it

"Friday Night Crew" having a blast

on the boat

A Doggy Update/Davis Sews

Belle had her first official grooming appointment yesterday! & the groomer said she did GREAT! We were so proud. Beast is a really good dog when it comes to grooming and we are hoping to train Belle to be just as good. This is her before picture! She didn't have any eyes!

After - She can see!

She loves being under the couch and I somehow was able to capture this great picture

Beast and Belle

Getting a treat

This was her first home bath! She is so little!

a drowned rat

Davis made a homemade wallet out of magic cards and to do so he needed to learn to sew so......he learned and it was so cute! He is an amazing man/boy!

deep concentration

Time

Davis is in San Jose this week working. Tyler, the dogs, and myself are at the house. Tyler has moved in with us for a little while. He did get a job and starting working today, so maybe he will be here long term.

In other news, I booked our flights to Tennessee last night and we will be there next week. Only for a day and then we are hitting the road for Myrtle Beach with my family (& I am super PUMPED)! I was able to extend the vacation by 2 days since Tyler will be at the apartment with the dogs, which means I will get to spend a day with my daddy and a day on the lake! I have missed the lake quite a bit. It's different when you live where you can see water, but can't really use it (it's too cold)!

Also, yesterday marked our official 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY in SEATTLE! WOW! I have no idea where time goes, but it has been a great year. We have loved living in the city, loved having many visitors, loved exploring life together. We hope everything continues in the same manner except I guess Davis would prefer me to work full-time this next year.

Tyler is here!

My best friend, Tyler, has come to stay hopefully! He landed in Seattle on Tuesday after 2 weeks of traveling to different cities around the US. Martin, another friend from Tennessee, traveled with Tyler on his 2 week tour of the US and stayed with us until today, when he flew back to Chattanooga and now it is just the 3 of us. We have had a lot of fun eating, drinking, and being merry! Tyler has almost officially met all of our friends here, it didn't take a lot of time considering we only have about 15.

The vacation period is over for Tyler and now he is job hunting and hopefully going to find something that allows him to stay here for an extended period of time!

Martin, Davis, me, Tyler in front of the gum wall

getting a cream cheese hot dog....these vendors make bank at 2 am when the bars close!

Tyler, Davis, & Freddo being boys

Davis trying to open the bottle of Tequila we brought back from Cancun for Freddo. It was a very odd bottle, but we finally got some Tequila out although I am pretty sure we didn't do it correctly!

In other news, I have began the countdown until vacation with my mom, Greg, Mandy, Chris, and the nephews! I am always super excited to go on this annual vacation! I am almost as equally excited to fly into Tennessee a day early just to go out on the lake! I need at least 1 lake day! & it is a need not a want!