Snowy Day Miracles

I sent the following as an email the other day but since I don't have many of your email addresses I thought I'd post it here!
Hi All,
I've been receiving a ton of phone calls to check on the kids and I and our plans to fly to California today! Instead of making a ton of calls I thought I'd send a mass email!
So last night around 7pm I started to panic about the weather and our 5:30pm flight to CA for this afternoon. I thought I'd check to see if there was an earlier flight we could get on! By some miracle there was a flight with 8 seats left scheduled for 9am and by an even bigger miracle there were no change fees or charges to switch the flight! I made the change! We woke early and headed off to the airport in the ever increasing blizzard! After checking in and arriving at our gate I started to worry that we wouldn't get out and that I'd be stuck at the airport, by myself, with 4 kids, for 2 days! AND I'd miss the BYU Bowl Game I'm supposed to go to on Thursday in Las Vegas with my brother and inlaws!! Sooo, to make an already long story short, we boarded the plane, de-iced for about 45 minutes and then took off! The flight was smooth and uneventful! When we landed we were told that our flight was the last flight to leave DIA before they closed the entire airport down a nd grounded all flights! WOW!!! Another miracle! We are all so happy to be here but are sad because Adam is stuck at home! He was supposed to work today and tomorrow and then fly here on Friday but with the blizzard his office is closed and he is stuck at home all alone! :-( We wish he could've gotten out with us but he had a court date for work that he couldn't miss! Be sure to call and check on him tonight and make sure he isn't starving or lonely! Anyway, hopefully the storm will be cleared out by his flight time on Friday!
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!!
Love You All!
Marilee and kids!

An update about Adam: He is still in Denver but on his way to the airport right now. His 2:00 flight this afternoon was cancelled but he was rebooked on another airline into LAX instead of Orange County for later in the evening! Hopefully his flight will get here on time or at least sometime before Christmas!! We'll keep you posted!

Spencer's Birthday Pictures!

I learned at this party that 9 year old boys are WILD!!!! They all had fun but we were happy when 10 am Saturday Morning came!

CRAZY Week

Whoever said "It's the most wonderful time of the year" should have said "It's the most busiest time of the year!". Every year I say I'm going to simplify Christmas but somehow it never turns out that way! However, as busy as it is, I do love this time of the year!
This week has been soooooo crazy busy! It started last Sunday night when we had some friends over to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional! It is such a good way to start off December and feel the Christmas Spirit! Then on Tuesday night our ward had its Annual Relief Society Enrichment Christmas Dinner at our house. We set up the basement with tables and chairs decorated with Nativities for the centerpieces. There was enough seating for 75 people. Turned out that 67 showed up. Dinner was sooooo yummy and we had a fun time just being together. Our ward was divided last Sunday so we are no longer going to see each other very much. I LOVE our ward and am sad that we have split but as our Stake President says, dividing wards, though sad, is a good sign that the church is growing!
Early Thursday morning, Adam and I flew to Utah to attend the Marcus and Millichap Salt Lake Office Holiday Dinner! We ate at a restaurant in Park City called the Riverhorse! It was FABULOUS!!! I would reccommend it to any Park City goers! GREAT food and fun atmosphere! The SLC office is doing great and has grown in the past 4 years from 2 agents to 7!
Today we flew home from Utah and are currently hosting eight 9 year olds for Spencer's birthday party! Can we say WILD!!!!!!! The boys are having a blast! They are all so funny, competeing to be heard, trying to be funny, acting so grown up, but still being little boys! (there have been a few tears from them when something doesn't go their way). Since it's a sleep over, I will be VERY happy tomorrow morning at 9:30 when the parents come to pick up their boys!
This next week will prove to be just as busy as this one was. I'll be finishing up my Christmas shopping, shipping 2 big boxes (maybe 3) of gifts to California to await our arrival, going to Garett's preschool Christmas concert, helping to plan and run Annie's Holiday Class Party, going to our Girls Christmas Dinner/gift exchange with my girlfriends, hanging with Mindy cause she's coming in town for the dinner, attending Adam's Denver holiday Christmas Party, going to our ward Christmas party, taking our Christmas Card Family picture as well as writing the annual letter (Adam does that) and packing to get ready to head to CA. I'm tired just thinking about what lies ahead!!
I'm sure you are all just as busy we are but hope you are all surviving the season! I'll post some pictures of Spencer's party tomorrow!

Holiday Dinner Party

We had a great night with some of our friends Friday! We had a pot luck with lots of yummy food and wrapped gifts for some needy families in our community! Lots o fun!! Here are some of the pics!!

O Christmas Tree

Last week we all pitched in to help decorate the house for Christmas! The kids were so cute to watch as we opened each box of decorations! They would see some wall hanging or snow globe and excitedly exclaim "I remember this one! It's my favorite!" It was a very fun night, listening to Christmas Carols, hanging ornaments and talking about what this years' Christmas will bring! We weren't going to decorate since we'll be in California, but changed our minds when we decided to host a Holiday Dinner with our friends as well as have the Relief Society Christmas Enrichment Dinner here! We are all glad we gave in and decorated for the Holidays! There is always a wonderful feeling in the air at Christmas Time!
Adam putting the Angel on top!
Annie and Spencer helped hang ornaments! They are getting quite good at it! I have to say that letting the kids help decorate the tree has been something I have struggled with over the years! It makes me laugh to think of why I'm like that and this year I figured it out! Growing up we would get sooooo excited to help my mom decorate the tree. We would get the tree set up and the next day would plan on helping decorate after school. We would get home and it would all be done. Mom would apologetically tell us she had time and just wanted to get it done! As we got older we realized that she never intended us to help, she had a specific way of decorating and there was no way we were going to mess that up! Finally after pleading with her to let us help she decided we would have two trees. One she could decorate all by herself, in her way and the other would be the kids tree! But, as the season drew near, and the trees went up, the "kids" tree was NEVER decorated by the "kids"! Mom always did it! I must say now that I'm a parent that now I COMPLETELY understand why she didn't want us helping! Broken ornaments, bare patches on the tree, chaos of kids arms reaching all over the tree, etc. I understand it all....but this year, I decided to let it all go and let the kids help! We actually had SOOOOOO much fun and I was able to decorate the tree SOOOOOOO much faster! The kids are getting quite good at finding the right spot for each ornament! I think we may have started a new tradition!
Annie LOVES to wear the Santa hat!
Logan and G were mostly observers but enjoyed seeing the tree all lit up! Logan keeps saying "Christmas Tree" with a lisp! SOOOOOO cute!

While the Boys Slept.....

This picture is sooooo adorable of Garett and Ben! They were joint at the hip the whole week long and both crashed on Mom's bed Saturday afternoon! The best part of this little picture is that while the rest of us were literally SCREAMING OUR LUNGS OUT in the next room the boys slept straight through! Why were we screaming you ask? Well, in the last 3 seconds of the BYU/UTAH game the Cougars scored to win the game! We went NUTS!! and the boys slept! It was a GREAT win! Go Cougars!!!

Turkey Day!!

Thanksgiving Dinner was soooo yummy! Mom and Aunt Peri really out did themselves this year! We ate in Pat and Peri's backyard (eating Thanksgiving dinner outside was a first for most of us and something we all enjoyed)! Mom and Peri had a "stuffing" contest because they #1 are so competitive with each other, and #2 each have been told that their stuffing is the best! We did a blind taste test and voted. They were both sooooo yummy it was hard to choose! Mom wan by a slim margin but we all were lucky because we got two kinds of stuffing to eat! Mmmmmmm, yum!
The Contestants
The Stuffing
The Tasters
The Winner
Dinner

Toothless at Target

I am so happy to be blogging again. For some reason when I tried to post something the picture icon didn't come up and I couldn't figure out how to get it back. This afternoon when I checked, the picture icon was back so here I am! We had a great Thanksgiving Weekend in Arizona with Mom and Dad, Heather and Steve and Ryan and Nicole! Despite a little sickness (sorry again everyone), we all had a blast!

One highlight for Annie was that she lost her 2nd front top tooth the day before we left for the trip. She was trying to have it fall out at school but Sunday at dinner she took a bite and it popped out!
Mom decided that the Arizona house needed some toys for the kids to play with for entertainment so Wednesday night Nicole Dad and I took the kids to target to each choose a toy for Nana's Arizona house toy collection. It was HILARIOUS!! 3 adults and 11 children was quite the site let me tell you, but it all came off very well! We made rules of no running, yelling, arguing etc. Each child had a partner to pick toys with and they had a time limit! I said 10 minutes but Granddad thought that wasn't enough time and gave them 30 minutes!! AHHHHH! Thankfully they didn't take that long and we were out of there (paid for and everything) in about that time! The kids had fun and those toys did a great job of keeping them all entertained in the cute tiny house the 19 of us were all jammed into!
Ben and Garett
Tyler and Annie
Spencer and Justin
Marin and Brooklynn

Glenn Beck's Conversion

I have scene this video clip on a few websites. It is Glenn's conversion story to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! Pretty moving and worth the time it takes to watch it! If you don't know who Glenn Beck is check out this website http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/glenn.beck . He has a news show on CNN! You'll probably recognize him.

Rise All Loyal Cougars!!

Just to give you an idea of how much my family LOVES BYU and especially BYU FOOTBALL, my Freshman Year my dad bought me a shirt with the words to the BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY COUGAR FIGHT SONG on it! He wanted to be sure I knew the words to the song! The greatest thing about the shirt was that on the front the song was written upside down so that the person wearing it (ME) could read the words. On the back it was written right side up so people standing behind could read the words! It was hilarious and taught me the words to the song!

It has been many years since I have had much reason to sing the Cougar Fight song because the Football team has been so horrible....UNTIL NOW!! The past two weekends the Cougars played at AIR FORCE in Colorado Springs and at CSU in Fort Collins! My parents came to town and we all went to the games! The Cougs won both games, by A LOT! It was soooooo great to be able to walk back to our cars with our heads held high! I'm not sure how many times we sang the Cougar Fight Song but just to give you an idea, Spencer had it memorized by the end of the CSU game (and he didn't go to the Air Force Game which was the week before!)

Here are some pics from our fun Football Weekends! GOOOOOOOOOOOO (with your arms rolling as you would when singing pat-a-cake at the "roll it and roll it" part) COUGARS (punch your fist into the air) :-)

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Whatever you do DON"T LAUGH!!

Halloween is one of my favorite days! I don't know why. I think maybe because everyone is so nice to eachother. The anticipation of costumes, candy, parties and fun makes everyone feel good. It's the one time of year you can dress up, look crazy and even act a little crazy (on purpose or not) and no one thinks you are weird. It's the night of the year that neighbors come out and actually talk to eachother, even if its just to say, "Oh what a cute costume your daughter has on!" It's just a fun night. This year our costumes ranged from Pink Power Ranger, Darth Vader, Will Turner (from Pirates....a good story for that one to come), and Clark Kent/Batman (yes, a good story for this one too!). We took the kids to a party on Friday Night, they had the classroom parties and then of course Trick or Treating! We have a TON of candy at our house....a very dangerous time of year for Me! AHHHHH!! Anyway, the story of Will Turner is this. Spencer wanted to be Jack Sparrow. I convinced him to be Will Turner since every kid on the block was planning to be Jack Sparrow. He agreed and so I set off to find the Disney Will Turner costume. I should've have researched it a little more before convincing my 8 year old to be Will Turner because when I visited the Disney Store I was told that Disney doesn't make a Will Turner costume! "Oh Crap! Now what?" So the resourceful mom that I am, I decided to "google" it. It took me to EBAY! You can find ANYTHING on EBAY! And to my joy and elation, someone was selling a Will Turner costume. I figured it must have been one from the First Pirates of the Carribean movie, so I bought it with the "buy it now" option. When the transaction went through, I realized I paid for it in euros not dollars. Upon more investigating, I learned that it actually is a Will Turner costume from this year "Pirates" Movie and that Disney makes the costume in England, but not in the US! So as it were, Spencer ended up being Will Turner and was the ONLY kid at his school and in Spencer's words "probably in the whole United States". He was very pleased and so was I, since i'm the one who opened my big mouth about it anyway!

So the next story is about our Clark Kent/Superman/ Batman (AKA: Garett). Garett wanted to be Superman this year. So as we were looking for costumes, it turned out that every kid on the planet who wasnt' being Jack Sparrow was being Superman. But Garett still wanted to be Superman. As I went to buy the costume, I stumbled upon a "CLARK KENT" costume. It's a suit coat, dress shirt and tie, but when you open up the shirt, there is a Superman costume that comes with it. We also had to get the wig and the glasses, to make the outfit complete. Honestly, the stinkin' cutest costume I've seen in a long time! Garett totally wanted to be this for Halloween. He LOVED the costume, until we got to our Ward Halloween Party, we walk in and all the people in their efforts to oooohhhh and ahhhhhh about his costume start laughing. A natural reaction when you see it! Garett was mortified. He thought people were laughing at him because he looked funny and they didn't like his costume. I felt terrible and tried and tried to convince him they were laughing because they LOVED his costume. He eventually believed me and ended up having a great time at the party. Then the day of his class party came. As he walked into the classroom I whispered to his teacher, "Whatever you do DON't LAUGH", unfortunately, I said it too late, Garett noticed her giggling and I had to do the whole explanation all over again. Between his teacher and my, we were able to convince him that she LOVED his costume. He was awesome walking through the school for his little parade holding his shirt open so people could see his Superman Crest underneath! As the time drew near to go trick or treating that night, Garett announced to me that he was going to be Batman so people wouldn't laugh at him. Exhausted from all the parties and all the tears from people laughing at him, I decided not to fight him on it! He ended up being Batman, had just as much fun and looked just as cute...So, without any further adui (sp??) here are the Halloween pictures!

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Milestone Weekend

LOGAN GOT A BIG BOY BED!!
After talking to Julie about Brady's big boy bed transfer it got me thinking about when we should get one for Logan. I took him to his 2 year check up and was reminded by our pediatrician that he encourages the Big Boy bed when the turn 2 simply because once they can climb out, it is dangerous for them to be in a crib. I thought to myself, "Logan doesn't know how to climb out so we're good for a few more months!" Of course that was the kiss of death because that afternoon when I went into get him from is nap, he was leaning so far over the crib railing that he lost his balance and almost flipped out onto his head! That was enough for me! Off to the bed store! Well, not really. We went to Babies R Us! We haven't decided what to do with the boys for their bedroom sleeping arrangements. Should we move Logan and G in together and give Spencer his own room, or should we keep it how it is? She we get bunk beds, or twins. Spencer and Garett need new bedframes too so should we get all three boys beds at the same time or wait?? Since we are still undecided and I really am not in the mood to go mattress shopping, we decided on a $39.99 toddler bed until we decide!! Logan LOVES it and went to bed his first night PERFECTLY! I was worried about today's naptime but he did great! He picked out a few books, laid down, said goodnight, and was asleep when I checked on him 10 minutes later! He is so funny when he wakes up cause he doesn't know what to do! Come out by himself or call for me, soooo he just sits there quietly waiting for someone to come and get him. This afternoon when I walked in to see if he was awake yet, he was sitting on the end of the bed waiting for me! So far so good with the bed thing, let's hope it keeps up!A Sleeping Angel

Another milestone happened this weekend as Annie finally lost one of her front teeth! It has been hanging on for a few weeks and I've been begging Annie to let me pull it! Saturday morning it started to bleed when she was eating breakfast and she still wouldn't let me pull it! By the afternoon her gums above the tooth were red and swollen. Still, no sale! I finally got out of her why she wouldn't let me pull it! Apparantly, if you lose your tooth at school, her teacher has some cute little box she gives to the students to bring the tooth home in! She REALLY wants a box and has been holding out for school! AHHHHHH, that's why!! So, since this week is fall break, I convinced Annie there was no way the tooth would stay in there for another 8 days when school starts again, and that her other one, which is wiggly now, will be primed and ready for an "at school" pull out! She realized the wisdom in that and finally let me pull it! She looks so cute without her tooth! We are soooo lucky! We have our own real life Jack O Lantern for Halloween!

Our Little Jack O Lantern

EVERYTHING AND MORE....

Here's the Birthday Girl! Annie had a great Birthday! It started out bright and early to open presents from the family! We gave a snowboard and she was ecstatic about it! She started boarding last winter and picked it up sooooo quick! She loved it so we decided to buy her her own! We got a great deal on the board, boots and bindings at the Sports Authority Pre Season Online Sale! We even got Spencer one (he doesn't know yet so shhhhh! His birthday isn't until December so we might have to give it to him early if we head up to ski before then!) It was a sweet sale and we were able to get everything 30-50% off! After opening presents the kids headed off to school, where Annie was the BIRTHDAY GIRL! I loved going to school on my birthday! I always felt so special! After school we got ready for the party and then everyone arrived and.......

I LOVED IT!!! "Flicka" was EVERYTHING I had hoped for and more! It was soooooo good! Tim McGraw did a great job in his first starring role! It took me a minute to get used to him without his hat and goatee! He was so believable as the overprotective, rancher father! I was definately impressed! Of course my favorite scenes were the ones where he was riding his horse and the sweeping landscapes were all you could see! A man on a horse is SOOOOOO sexy! The girl who played Katie was great and a good little actress and I've always liked the girl who plays the mom (can't remember her name) Anyways, I give the movie 4 Stars and recommend it to any horse loving, Tim McGraw drooling, family show goer person out there! It is my new favorite!

Going to the movie for Annie's Birthday was definately a hit! After Pizza, Cake, Ice Cream and presents the Moms and the Girls all headed to the Theater. The movie was packed so we ended up sitting in the 2nd and 3rd rows! It ended up not being too bad though (better than the 1st row). The girls didn't mind it at all and thought it was so fun to be so close! After the movie was over all the girls kept telling Annie and I thank you. They all LOVED it and kept talking about how they cried during a particular part (don't want to ruin the movie for ya!). Annie told me she had cried too! Wow!! My baby is growing up! Everyone knows that I am a bawl baby and cry pretty much at everything--I was watching the end of the Price is Right the other day (never watch it but Logan hit the channel changer while he was watching Barney and it came on) and I cried when the person won the Showcase Showdown! Anyway, Annie has never shown any emotion other than laughter when she watches movies. Even at the saddest moments! Anyway, when she told me she cried and I saw little glistening tears, I got all emotional :-) My baby girl is growing up!! After the movie, all the girls came back to our house and Annie passed out Treat Bags and said goodbye! It was a very fun night and an easy party to plan since all the moms came! No stress of keeping track of anyone! The movie was definately what I had hoped for and to any horse lovin, Tim droolin', good movie watchin' folk...I HIGHLY recommend it!!

Our Birthday Girl

Tomorrow is Annie's 7th Birthday! I can't believe she is that old already! Where does the time go? I spent this afternoon going through pics to put together a little photo montage of her. She was such a cute, chubby little thing and has grown into a beautiful little girl! She still has a mind of her own just like she did when she was 6 months old! As hard as it may be at times to try to raise a little one who is EXACTLY like me, I wouldn't trade it for the world! Our Family would certainly not be the same with out her! Happy Birthday Baby Girl! I love you!

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Calvin Klein AD?

On Sunday afternoon we went on a hike at a near by park with some friends! The day was just too beautiful to sit home in front of the TV watching football! It took some coaxing, but I finally convinced Adam and Spencer to turn off the TV! They were so glad they did! We went with our friends, the Petry's to a trail called Deer Creek! It is only a 15 minute drive from our house! The trail goes up on the side of the mountain and loops back around! It is so pretty, and an easy trail for kids to walk along! We all had a great time! I was soooooo proud of Garett who walked (ran actually) almost the whole way (2.7 miles)! He was skipping over rocks, pointing out different trees, and commenting to us what a good hiker he is! And he really is! For a kid who would rather watch TV than do almost anything else, he was in heaven! We even passed by a horse pasture where a little horse came galloping over to see us! Garett reached out and pet him right on the nose all by himself! It was so fun to see how proud he was of himself for doing something he used to be scared to do!

Annie, our outdoors(wo)man, led the way on the trail! She took hold of our friends' dog, Scooter's leash and led him most of the way! She LOVES dogs and each year, around this time of year, she starts in on the "I want a puppy thing!". Her birthday is in a few days so she starts with that and then moves onto wanting a puppy for Christmas! We know we will probably someday have to give in to the dog thing, but I plan on holding off for as long as possible! Until then, she can have lots of practice with Scooter (and Mia, our neighbor's dog).

Spencer also loved the hike! He loves the outdoors and especially likes being outdoors with the Petry's. They are all totally into hiking, mountain biking, adventures, camping, etc. Spencer once told Tanya, "You're family is all about nature!" and they are! They are definately good for us!

Aside from Spencer, Logan enjoyed the hike the most! He got to hang out in the hiking backpack carrier the whole way on Adam's back! He loved it! The whole time pointing to trees, rocks, and the "big fRucks" he could see down below! He LOVES trucks and can't quite say it right yet. It comes out sounding VERY profane but what can ya do! We try to teach him how to say it right and he just repeats the FR sound instead of the T sound over and over again! Anyway, when we were finished hiking he got sooooo mad at us! He did NOT want to get out of the back pack! He tried to climb back in it! It was hilarious!

The picture above was taken on the hike! Bill (dad Petry) took a few shots of Adam carrying Logan! I love this one! In black and white it looks sort of magazine ad like!

Anyway, it was a great afternoon! Everytime we do something fun like this we are reminded how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful part of the country.

"CHURCH DAY"

When you ask Garett the names of the Days of the week he'll tell you "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Church Day!" It was just the other day that I realized that he doesn't know that Church Day and Sunday are one and the same! We have ALWAYS called it church day! So, now we are working on calling it Sunday, the day we go to church!
Anyway, this past "Sunday, the day we go to church" was a BEAUTIFUL Colorado Autumn Day! The tempurature was about 65 degrees F (18 degrees C for you Canadians), and there was a warm, yet crisp feel in the air! The sky was blue, no clouds at all and the beautiful fall colors were everywhere! I LOVE the Fall! It really is my favorite season! So with the beautiful day and the kids looking so handsome and beautiful, we thought it a good time to take a picture! The kids were all being so silly that it was hard to get the "perfectly posed children" picture! I'm learning that those aren't the shots I want anyway! I want the ones that show their personalities and I think I caught them in the shots below!
This was the last picture we took, just as the kids were getting ready to walk away. Notice the lean! Adam was also right behind me making funny faces and sounds so they were all giggling at him!
This is my FAVORITE shot! Spencer looking like a model (he LOVES the camera), Garett sticking his tongue out, Annie laughing while trying to stay posed, and Logan laughing his head off!
This is SOOOOOO Spencer. Hands in his pocket, a smirky grin! He is a handsome kid and he knows it too! Uh oh! Are we ever in trouble!
Annie, all smiles when the camera comes around! She too is not shy for the camera! Oh yeah, and she does have hands, she just insists on tucking them up inside her sleaves!
I love this pic of Garett. It is sooo typical of him! Shirt untucked (it did start out tucked in), with a look on his face that says, yeah? Ya wanna take my picture? Okay!!
And of course Logan! He has recently developed a strong liking to saying cheese, sticking his face out and smiling as big as he can! I love that you can see the dirt on his face in this shot! The kids ALWAYS has something on his face! Dirt, food, pen marks, bruises! Even when we have just washed his face, we'll turn around and somehow, the dirt has found him again!

My Two Loves...

I am soooooo excited! I have been looking forward to next Friday for a very long time!! Those of you who know me know that I LOVE horses! My dream is to someday live on an acreage and have my own horses! I loved them as a little girl, and though I don't have the chance to be around them very much now, I still love them. Whenever the subject of horses, cowboys, or rodeos comes up I always tell people "I was born to be a cowgirl"!

Those of you who know me, also know that I LOVE Tim McGraw. Yes, it's true! I LOVE- ED the Timmy! I have all his CD's, I've been to all his concerts that come to my town, (or other towns :-) and I am even crazy enough to be a member of his SUPER FAN CLUB!

Anyway, next week my two loves, horses and Tim, come face to face in the new movie FLICKA! I am SOOOOO excited! Tim is starring in the film as the dad! I have already decided that FLICKA is my favorite movie. Adam thinks I'm crazy since I haven't even seen the movie yet. What if it sucks! I'm confident it won't be and even if everyone else hates it, I know I will LOVE it! I can't wait! I am also pretty sure that I will see it, while in theaters at least 2, if not more, times AND I will pre-order it when it comes to DVD. Adam, I'm sure, is going to tell me I am getting my hopes up and it won't be as good as I think it will be, but oh no! It will AWESOME!!!

(In my dreams the girl on the horse is ME!!!)

Since next Friday is Annie's 7th Birthday, I suggested that for her party we go to the movie. Annie loves horses too and thought it was a great idea. I don't want to take 8 little girls to the party by myself, so Annie and I decided to have a "Mother/Daughter Movie Night Out" for her party, so all the girls and their moms are coming. It shall be GRAND! I better bring a lot of tissue to wipe the drool off of my chin!

The Theme song for the movie is the first song Tim has ever written and recorded. It's awesome and every time I hear it, I get teary!

Tim McGraw Music Video Codes

Now Playing: Tim McGraw - My Little Girl
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If you'd like to check out the movie trailer, cut and paste the link below!
http://movies.aol.com/movie/flicka/22036/trailer?ncid=AOLMOV00180000000003

WIE (pronounced We) and ME

When we were in Hawaii and were waiting for my parents to arrive on Saturday afternoon, Adam and I played Golf at the KoOlina Golf Course (of coarse, we did!!) Anyway, as we were coming off of 18, we saw these two women walking up the stairs at the clubhouse! Adam said to me, "I think that is Michelle WIE". I looked up and sure enough it was her! Now, for those of you who don't know who Michelle Wie is, she is on the LPGA. She is only 16 years old and is a phenomenal golfer. Much controversy has been created because though she has never won a major, she is ranked #2 and has even played in tournaments on the PGA tour with the men. Many golfers (especially men, I think) say, win something with the women and then maybe you can keep up with the guys! Anyway, needless to say, I was excited to have a "star-citing" and immediately went into action. I HAD to have a picture with her!! The guy working at the Cart Return told me her family is not very nice so I should avoid contact with them (the other woman walking with her up the stairs was her mother), and to talk directly to Michelle. So, I did just that! Her mom was driving her in a golf cart to the 1st tee box! I waited until the cart had stopped, walked right up and said something along the lines of "Michelle, my daughter is 6 years old, and just started golfing this year. She loves it and has even said that she wants to be a professional golfer when she grows up! (which is true, she actually told Adam she wanted to be the best golfer in the world) Could I get a picture with you so I can show it to her?" Michelle was really sweet and said yes. So, here is the picture of Michelle Wie and Me!!!

Family Birthday Week

As many of you know October is a HUGE birthday month in our family. Not just Adam and I but the extended family as well. The following family members have Birthdays this month: Me, Logan, Adam, Kelly, Annie, Justin, Ryan, Julie M., Jackson and Julie B. (Have I missed anyone?)Of the 10 listed, 4 our in my little family. A few years ago Nicole made a rule that no one was aloud to have "relations", if you will, any time in the month of January. Obviously no one followed that rule!! Sorry Nic!

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Anyway, my Birthday came first, and we were still in Hawaii. (Birthdays in Hawaii are AWESOME) The Marcus and Millichap Retreat ended on the Friday and Adam and I flew over to Oahu to meet up with Mom and Dad, who were coming to spend a week at their time share! We spent 4 nights at there and had a blast.


On my birthday the four of us woke up and headed off to a nearby Golf Course! (Yes, mom is now a golfer!) We had a fun round together(I played golf 8 of the 10 days we were there and my score is improving! Yipee!). After our round we stopped for lunch and then while dad and Adam went back out for another 18, Mom and I headed into Honolulu for some FABULOUS shopping! The Ala Moauna Mall is unbelievable. We had lots of fun birthday shopping, swimsuit shopping and buying souveniers for the kids! I don't think I have ever made it official, but my mommy is OFFICIALLY my FAVORITE shopping friend! We always have a fabulous time together. We always have, even when I was little, but now that I'm older, its even more fun! Anyway, to end my Birthday off right we all went out to dinner to "ROYS" (my favorite) and ate LOTS of yummy food!!

Logan's birthday came next. He turned 2 the day we got home. Since Adam and I were completely wasted and didn't want to have a big party and stuff, we decided to just spend the evening with the kids and have our own little party! We ate cupcakes and watched Logan open his presents. He is so cute and so grown up! He's talking a ton and we are having a hard time beleiving he is already 2!

Adam's 33rd Birthday followed 3 days after Logan's! We had a fun day of going to soccer and football games, opening gifts and then Adam and I went out for dinner and a movie! It was pretty low key, but that's what he wanted! Being home with the kids and hanging out as a family is definately Adam's favorite thing to do (except of course Golf :-)

Anyway, that was our birthday week! We are all a little older and wiser now, so let's see what this next year has to bring!

To all our fellow October Birthdays Family Members, we wish you a Happy Birthday! We Love You all!!

HAWAII

Every Fall Marcus and Millichap (the company Adam works for) has a Manager's Retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Four Seasons Hualalai Resort. Wives are invited to attend the 5 day event. While the guys are in Meetings for two of the days, the wives get to play the whole time! Words cannot express how much I absolutely LOVE this trip and this place! It is simply paradise! I look so forward to the trip, every year, and without fail, it comes and goes so quickly.


We arrive on Sunday and Monday, while the guys are in meetings, the wives (or guests) get to play. We always have a choice of three activities. Usually there is a golf or tennis lesson, an ocean activity like snorkling, boat tours, etc. and an island activity like hiking, horseback riding, etc. This year the island activity was ATV tours. Yep, four wheelin' in the mud! I chose this activity and had soooo much fun! The four wheelers were huge, the ground was soaked because of the rain they always get on that side of the island, and to say the least, we were all covered in mud by the time we got back. It was probably the best activity I've ever done while on this trip (and this was our 6th trip)!


One of the greatest highlights of the our yearly trip is being able to spend time with some of the wonderful people we had become friends with through M&M! We look so forward to hanging out with Jonathon and Jody Weiss! Jonathon has been Adam's mentor, collegue, boss and best friend for the past 9 1/2 years! Jody and I have been M&M widows together and have always gotten along so well. We miss living close to them in California and so seeing them in a Paradisical environment every year helps make up for that! We always laugh ourselves silly, talk in quiet low voices (which thinking about that right now has given me the giggles...we hunker down in our seats, lean in to the middle of the table and whisper-talk....hilarious, at least to me), and swap stories about kids, life and family! Our favorite spot is breakfast at one of the resort restaurants. This one overlooks the ocean! It is beautiful!



Another fun event they have for us while we are there is the Annual Marcus and Millichap Golf Scramble. Anyone who wants to golf is involved. They divide everyone as equally as possible according to skill level and send out foursomes all day long. At the end there is a fun awards banquet with winners getting prizes as well as "commissioner" awards for funny or unusual things that happen out on the golf course! The men go out first! The Clubhouse Restaurant overlooks the 18th fairway so it is somewhat intimidating for the women to come in after the men, who are all watching over the balcony as we tee off and come in the finish our rounds. My team this year was SOOOOOO much fun! Ali, Elizabeth, Jackie and I had a blast! We were even goofy enough to try to match outfits. Elizabeth's hat and shirt matched but she couldn't find any pink shorts or golf skirts. She felt bad about it but who cares! We still all looked the part of golfers and that's what counted most!

There was talk of us trying out another resort next year...I'm sure whatever they decide will be fabulous, but we will certainly miss Hualalai!