Thank you so much for visiting our blog!  We’ve moved our blog to a new URL – to continue following us, please visit us at TheLorangs.com.

Have a great day!

- Bart, Sarah, and Parker Lorang

It is nearly December and also nearly 70 degrees – while pretty much everyone I know is praying for snow, I am praying that this heat wave continues because I LOVE it! And so does Parker; we got a great hike in on the Boulder Canyon trail this weekend…see how happy he is?!

The Holidays are Here! – November 24, 2012

The Rudy is officially on guard – were just hoping Parker doesn’t mistake him for a chew toy.  The Christmas lights are up too – I’ll get some pictures up soon.  We’re looking a lot like the Griswolds’ again.

While totally unrelated to the holidays, Bart is starting to get into our wedding gifts – I think his favorite is the coffee maker from Grandma Dort.  This is partly because he can conveniently grab a cup o’ joe before work, but I think his actual favorite thing is that he can now use his FullContact mug.  My Hubs is the cutest.

CU vs. Stanford Football Game – November 3, 2012

This game was depressing to say the least, but still a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  Bart made a point to share that this is CU’s worst football season outside of its very first in 1890.  Sad story.

With this only being my second Halloween with trick-or-treaters, I still love the thrill and excitement from the kids that come to our door only to find what a good house we are – on Halloween, scoring a full-size candy bar is like winning the lottery….and most kids act accordingly.  I love it.

Parker is not nearly as excited about the holiday though.  Since we just got back from our honeymoon, we recycled a couple of old costumes.  Parker went as Ralphie the CU Buffalo with me to the office, then made a costume change to Michael Phelps for the trick-or-treaters.  He hated it, but looked absolutely adorable.

Honeymoon in Bora Bora – October 12-27, 2012

I can safely say, this was of much more excitement to Bart than the wedding – and I can sort of see why.  The wedding went by in the blink of an eye, but this lasted for two glorious weeks – I can’t say that we did much, but doing nothing is exactly what we both wanted.  There were a lot of books, massages, a few adventures, and amazing sunsets every night – we couldn’t have dreamed up a better honeymoon.  It is also worth mentioning that my amazing mother stayed up in Boulder the entire time to watch our beloved Parker – the trip was that much better knowing that our favorite little guy was having an awesome time too.

The big day finally arrived!  With just under 7 months to plan, our engagement completely flew by – which is probably a good thing because wedding planning is a bit on the stressful side.  Everything turned out perfect – the weather, foliage, decor, amazing friends and family, and most of all, we got married!  Bart and I are both so incredibly excited to be spending the rest of our lives together, and could not have wished for a better way to kick it all off.

Bachelorette Party – September 20-23, 2012

I heart my girlfriends – five of my favorites joined me for a weekend in Sonoma before the big day.  We rented an adorable house not far from the Square, then hired a driver and tour guide to take us to several vineyards.  We had an awesome time, and still made it to bed before 10pm each night – my kind of party!  We all hope to make this an annual trip – the laughter didn’t stop the entire weekend.

Denver Startup Bash – September 6, 2012

Bart played an instrumental part in throwing the Denver Startup Bash, which was Denver’s first big event to bring the start-up community together….and boy was it an event!  Bart and his team raised over $40,000 and had a great, local band perform (The Flobots!).  The party was a HUGE success and was the perfect thing to bring Denver’s tech community together.

The wedding is just one month away!  Bart and I felt it was finally time to knock out some engagement photos – since our Family Photos back in April were shot in Boulder, we decided to feature our second home, Downtown Denver, for this go-round.  Our photographer, Travis Broxton, was awesome – the pictures turned out great!

Bridal Shower – August 19, 2012

Sadly, my camera wasn’t working for my Bridal Shower, so I don’t really have any pictures.  However, the party was so, so much fun.  My amazing friends Dana and Morgen threw me a gorgeous brunch, with every detail looked after.  In addition to that, my Mom and friend Debra both came in from Phoenix for the weekend – it could not have been more perfect.  The picture below is courtesy of Michelle – my beautiful little flower girl and I. 

Most people can’t pinpoint the day that they reached National Fame, but Bart can.  Bart introduced a new company benefit on July 11, 2012 via a blog post, which went viral shortly thereafter.  So much, in fact, that Paid, Paid Vacation trumped the actual big news of that week, which was FullContact’s $7 Million of Series B Fundraising.  Within about 48 hours of the blog post, Bart was featured on dozens of media outlets including Good Morning America, Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, CNBC, Inc., The Huffington Post, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, local news stations, Yahoo’s Home Page, LinkedIn News, and many others.  Needless to say, we are all so proud of him and the rest of the FullContact team.

Maya and Ty’s First Sleepover at Castello di Lorang – July 2012

Paul and Michelle must really, really trust us, or maybe they just really, really needed a break, because they let Maya and Ty stay over one Saturday night…..two whole days off kiddo-fun!  We had lots of fun stuff planned, but I think the highlights were making smores over the campfire in our back yard and going on a fishing trip to the kids pond near our house.  Bart even took the kids on a second fishing trip all by himself – both Maya and Ty caught a crab (we think it was the same one since they were practicing catch and release fishing), which they just could not stop talking about.

Bart was a Groomsmen in the wedding of one of his oldest friends from High School, Tristan.  The wedding was at this super cute hotel in Glenwood Springs, where the wedding party took over the entire place.  It was a lot like Summer Camp for the weekend with hiking, camp fires, and long nights of drinking and dancing.  We are so excited for Tristan and Brianne – their wedding couldn’t have been more perfect!

Colorado Fragile X Elephant Rock Ride – June 3, 2012

CFX’s 3rd Annual Elephant Rock Ride Fundraiser was this month; we raised less than we wanted, but still enough to continue doing the great things that CFX does.  Parker joined the event for moral support – he had a blast!

Our Honeymoon 

Bart is much more interested in planning the honeymoon, so we have the meat of that planned as well – we’re headed to Bora Bora!  Right now we are booked at the Four Seasons Bora Bora for 10 days, but will likely add on 3 more days in Tahiti.  We’ll be headed on our ‘moon about two weeks after the wedding – just enough time to get our lives back in order so we can properly relax.  We can’t wait!

The Date is Set!

If you haven’t heard already, Bart and I have set the wedding date – the big day will be on Saturday, September 29, 2012 at the Four Seasons Resort Vail.  Invites should be going out any day, but we also have a Wedding Website with all of the important details.  We are both super excited that it has all come together, and we’re even more excited about celebrating with you!

www.bensonlorangwedding.com

Lana and Yoav’s Wedding in Milwaukee – May 26-28, 2012

Okay, okay, I totally missed the boat getting this into a May post – oops.  It was the end of May, so I feel like June is close enough.    With that said, the wedding of Lana and Yoav was one not to be missed – amazing doesn’t quite cover it.  First, have you ever been to a Russian wedding?  Me neither….but they are AWESOME!  The food (and the vodka) flows like water – it seriously just kept coming, and coming, and then coming some more.  The photo below was just the first course – there were so many more after that.  But what was particularly great was the bride and groom themselves – Lana and Yoav are both such amazing people and we could not have felt more honored to be a small part of their day….or even just spectators, really.

Just too add to what was already an awesome weekend, we also got to spend an afternoon with my brother Matt, Kim, and my nephew Logan.  I can’t believe how big he’s getting, but I suppose that is what you always say about kids, right?!  Anyway, we had a great time exploring the Milwaukee Public Museum with Logan – while you can’t actually see any butterflies, the picture below was taken in the butterfly pavilion at the museum…Logan attracted quite a few!

Well, it is about time.  After many months of searching, interviewing, and networking I finally found a position that is juuuuust right – you can call me Goldilocks.  I start my new position as Director of Customer Experience at Name.com on May 1st – obviously, my husband-to-be loves the idea of me moving into Tech, but let me assure you that this was my decision and I am thrilled about transitioning into a new industry.  That is, after all, why I went to graduate school in the first place.  I can’t wait for my new adventure – and 2012 seems to be full of them!

I have to admit that I really didn’t see this one coming.  When I got home from work, Bart said he was just getting ready to take Parker for a walk and asked if I wanted to join – since walking Parker (especially with Bart) is one of my absolute favorite activities, I obviously said yes.  As we approached the end of our street where the road turns to cobblestone and it backs up to the foothills, Bart got down on one knee in the middle of the road and asked me to marry him.  It was perfect.  :)

As for wedding details, we haven’t gotten too far on that subject yet – we’re thinking Fall 2012 and having it somewhere in the Colorado Mountains.  The niece and nephews (Maya, Ty, and Logan) will all have assignments since they are the PERFECT ages for the needed cuteness at a wedding (and they are all so stinkin’ cute!) – we’re thinking flower girl, ring bearer, and a Parker-walker.   That’s about all we’ve got so far – we’re just enjoying the moment!

Have I said how much I love these kids?!  When Michelle told Maya and Ty that my birthday was coming up, they insisted on helping pick out my present.  Apparently they are obsessed with Starbucks’ cake pops, so Maya really wanted to get me a book and supplies so I could make my very own.  Naturally, they insisted on helping me make said cake pops – I had to laugh when they suggested that they come over the next evening to make them though.

The cake pop design of choice was Pandas – kind of a complex choice for a first go, but they turned out cute.  Maya and Ty are naturals!  I also have to note that Uncle Bart bought Maya and Ty panda hats and mittens to wear while eating their panda pops – utter cuteness.  :)