Christian Senior Presentation

Christian and his best friend, Matt.

School fight song.

Dain and Christian. Yes, I took the picture and it's blurry.


The CHS Marching Band had their last football game for the year last week. During halftime, all members of the band who are seniors were invited to stand in front. The parents were invited to come down to the field and to pin a flower on their kid's uniform. It was SO touching. I'm glad I was wearing sunglasses. I was choking back the tears. UGH. Why do kids need to grow up?? I want them to be little again. But only when I'm in the mood for it, not forever. LOL

Galveston -- Still a Mess

Drove down to Galveston a couple of weeks ago to see what was left ... and it's still a war zone though parts of the city are open again. Here are a few of the tons of pictures I took. There are still big boats on the side of the road, nowhere close to the ocean!

Jewel

We got to meet Jewel last night at a up close and personal concert put on by Dain's radio station. It was at George Historical Ranch. The setting was so cool. She played from the front porch of an old pioneer home. We sat on bales of hay with a bonfire behind us where the kids got to make s'mores. The evening was cool. It was perfect!

Air Show

We went to the Houston Air Show. After watching the planes do their stuff, we went to the Army tent to compete. We did rock climbing and push up contest among other things. Then Emi stopped by the Marine tent and won doing the hanging test!


Me, reaching the top of the wall.

Emi, hanging tough. She always does well in this test!

Christian!

Dain was the official photographer (with his phone). :-)

Paint Party!

Aly and her roommates at Utah State BEFORE the paint party:

AFTER the paint party:

This is Aly's roommate Carli. Aly and Carli were best friends in elementary school and met up again after all these years.

Our dog Dax

This is Dax. He is a rescue dog so we're not exactly sure how old he is but the vet estimated anywhere from 15-16 years old or even older. Pretty old in dog years!!! He's always been incredibly scared of storms. Thunder drove him crazy and he would jump into the shower and shiver. Now he is deaf. A few minutes ago, thunder hit close to our home and he just sat there like nothing happened. That's the good thing about growing old, I guess.

House of Blues

Dain and I were invited to the grand opening of the House of Blues in Houston. It was great!! We got there and there was a long line around the block. And this was by invitation only. It didn't take long to get in. They closed the restaurant and set up check in stations where we presented our ID and received "VIP" badges. Then we went upstairs to the club level, to the different rooms (depending on membership), ate fabulous food and talked to people we knew.

Then we got to see some concerts. There were some bands including the group that does the Sunday Gospel Brunch followed by the Blues Brothers. It was Dan Ackroyd and Jim Belushi. We were feet from the stage. They were sweating like crazy. It was fun to see them so close.

Jessica Simpson

Got to meet Jessica Simpson yesterday. Very nice girl. Very ditsy. :-)

Snowbird Oktoberfest

The morning of my parent's anniversary party, I went to Snowbird to see the fall colors. I went with Alyssa, my brother Andy, and my nephew Allen (he is Paul's oldest). We also caught a bit of Oktoberfest. It was BEAUTIFUL! I love fall in Utah.


Alyssa and Allen


Me, Alyssa, Allen, Andy. We took that short traverse hike to the overview.


Andy told me what these leaves were but I can't remember ... so pretty!


We had planned to go up on the tram but just missed it ... and we couldn't take the next one as we had a short time before having to go get ready for the party.

My trip to Sacramento

This is me doing the presentation in Sacramento. There were 3 of us flown in by American Express. Gina owns spas in New York, I'm in the middle, and Cynthia owns an RFID company in Austin.


The 3 of us with the lady from Amex.


The California State Capitol. Very pretty.


Ahhhnold's Office.


These cops were happy to have their picture taken ... I think. LOL

My Family

This is how we look when we're acting "normal".
Mom and Dad in front. The kids are sitting from oldest to youngest. Middle row: I'm the oldest, then Paul in the middle, then Andy. Back row: Next is Lee on the left, then Angenette, and last but not least, my baby brother Ryan (Ladies: he's single!).


Wild and crazy siblings ... Lee's true personality comes out.


My parents didn't know we were pulling faces .. They were like "what????" HA HA HA

Home Sweet Chocolate Home

Got home last night from my trip to California/Utah. Dain surprised me with a yummy brownie cake!! He made two layers of brownie with homemade dark chocolate frosting. YUUUUMMMMM It's delish. I'm so spoiled ... THANKS SWEETIE!!

I will post pix from my trip later.

Happy!

Tonight, happiness is having an In-n-Out Burger, Animal Style. I'm in Sacramento. I paid a bell boy to run and grab me one. Now, I'm headed out to meet the crew for dinner. :-)

I'm out of here!

Count Me In and American Expressed have invited me to speak at a conference in Sacramento. I'm leaving tomorrow (Wednesday), speaking at the conference on Thursday, and then I'm headed to Utah. I will spend Friday with my employees at my office. I'm interviewing for a new office manager.



And Saturday, it's off to a family party (my parent's 45th wedding anniversary--that's their wedding day) and then to Snowbird for Oktoberfest.

HOW AWESOME IS THAT???!!! I'm psyched! AND I get to spend this time with Alyssa.

Service

Saturday, we received a call that we should wear our work clothes to church and be ready to go do some work. It was odd showing up on Sunday wearing jeans and a t-shirt.


We ended up going to the home of an older member who had a big tree down in her yard plus debris everywhere. Emi and I raked!


Christian went with the big, strong men to help with the trees.

It was very rewarding!!!! I LOVE service projects.

After Ike

Here are some pictures from after the storm. As you can see, we lost our fence around the back and the one to our neighbors. It's like one big, happy backyard! Now we have to take our dog out on a leash. Otherwise, the pool was full of leaves and such. Lots of cleaning and lots of gratitude for having been spared the worst.

Ike Eve

Our good friends, the Wards, invited us to dinner at their house the night before Ike. It was very windy and the kids had so much fun. Thanks Mark & Angie!!! Sadly, Dain was already at the station, busy at work, broadcasting to the city.

No, Angie and I did not wear matching MASH shirts on purpose.

Ready for Y-IKE!!!!

We removed the fan blades so the wind doesn't catch them!


Put all the patio furniture in the garage. One drawback: that glass door on the side of the garage (you can see it on the left of this pix). Hope it doesn't break. All my outdoor plants are there too!


We filled up two 55 gal barrels with water and a touch of bleach. Delish!

1969 ...

Look at this fun picture!!! That's me in front, in the light blue dress. My mom is holding my sister Lee. My dad looks so young!!! (and thin) hee hee hee In front are two of my three brothers: Paul to the right and Andy in the middle. Check out those shorts!!! BWA HA HA HA This is probably around 1969??? That makes my mom a whole 25 years old and my dad 29. Babies! Two kids came later: Angenette in 1975 and Ryan in 1980.

Ike--We're Staying Put

This is as of 9/11
This is as of 9/9

Just stole both pix from my friend Jenny's blog (Mahalo!!!). You can see where it's headed and where we are ... We're on the "dirty" side of the storm meaning more winds and rain. So far, we're choosing to stay. We're prepared with food, water, batteries, etc. Let's pray it keeps turning west!!!!!

A Baby!!

Dain and I went to dinner with my cousin, Mike and his wife, Shelley. We always have a blast with them, laughing till our tummies hurt. They're expecting their first baby!!! So I took a picture of them. Look at the sign they're holding ...

Marching Band!

It's marching band season!! Christian is already nostalgic that this is his last high school marching season. I think the most positive aspect of moving to Houston (for Christian) was his marching band. He loves it. He has made great friends and it has been a great experience for him.

Here are pictures from him first game. Go Rangers!

No Gustav

Phew!! Gustav didn't come this way. Now, there are several other storms in the Caribbean and the Atlantic that could come this way ... I guess it's good to be prepared.