V-Day Grant a Starr

Dain sent me flowers ... Then Emi and I ran a 5K together

This is Emi with her friend Kim who was at the race

I forgot to take a pix of me so I took a pix of my #!!!

The crowd before the race started. From Commonwealth Elementary to Sugar Land Memorial Park, around back to the school. The day was beautiful!

After the race, Emi stayed behind to help clean up (for JHS service hours) and I went to get a nice pedi. We finished the day by going to see a chick flick. The boys were gone so Emi was my date. It was a great day!

Twas the night before V-Day

And Lelani was at the range shooting at a bad guy ....


since Dain left for Utah to teach skiing over the long weekend .... So I'm treating myself!

Cowboy Boots

I have been wanting a pair of cowboy boots since moving to Texas. Every year, we go to Rodeo with clients and such and I want to look like a hot cowgirl. :-)

So I went shopping and found these great Lucchese boots! I love them! They are SO comfy and look very cute on.

Family Fun

Some of the fun times together:

My Birthday-Finally!

This is our delicious cake. Alyssa had a strawberry and sprinkles cake back in Utah.



This is one of the many times we ate out. We ate out a ton. Bad, bad, bad. lol We really had a good time! The best part was having Alyssa show up as a surprise on Friday night!!! Next, I'm posting the funny pictures we took plus a couple of videos.

Beautiful Flowers

I have received so many flowers these past two weeks ... I received these today:

I received these the day before my anniversary.

I received two of these. One on the 15th, for our anniversary. The other one a few days ago.

Let me explain what is going on. Dain always sends me flowers for our anniversary and then for my birthday. They are a whole ten days apart (I know, great planning). Well, the flower company is doing business with the radio station. Last year, when they started doing business together, they asked him for our "special dates". And this year, they sent flowers both dates. The one before our anniversary to both of us and the tulips today for my birthday on Sunday. The roses a few days ago were to say "welcome" to the new contract for this year. lol So I'm surrounded by flowers!!!! He officially gave me red roses on the day of our anniversary. His were long stemmed and beautiful. When the second set came, I put some in our bathroom and the rest I mixed in with the old ones. The second set were short stemmed. Hey, I'm not complaining.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

Over the years ...





Today is our 9th anniversary. I love you Sweetie!!!

P90X Core Synergistics

So for Christmas I received the P90X workouts. I had been dying to try them. I'm now doing week 2 and THEY ROCK! I'm so excited. I have noticed a difference right away. My body is sore in a different area every day. The workouts are made to challenge a different set of muscles with each workout and thus helping you get stronger and not hit a plateau. I can tell that having done a lot of power yoga helped me as well. So here's to a better, stronger and more fit 2009!!!!

Family Time

Little by little, I'm finishing our Utah trip. I didn't realize we did so much! We were lucky to spend time with both sides of the family. The Pickett's and the Craig's. It was wonderful!!!!

Homeless Shelter

One of our Christmas traditions is to go to the Homeless Shelter in SLC to help out. We were there on the second day of our trip. Dain had been going there for years when I met him. He went with the radio station. They broadcast from there and ask for donations. It was like a family reunion since Dain used to sit on their board of directors. Great tradition!

Skiing Rocks

So here are a few snapshots of us skiing. I took more video than pictures. I'll put them on youtube and link them as they're pretty large files.

The whole famdamly! We had so much fun and skiied SO hard ... Emi was our ripper this year. Now that they're older and can keep up with us, we get to hit the good runs. Emi discovered powder skiing so we were off piste most of the time. Lots of fun! Dain is in his ski instructor uniform here. He taught several days.

In this picture, Dain was blocking Alyssa so I asked him to lean back. Alyssa thought that meant her too. It turned out pretty funny.

Christian is smack in the middle in the white helmet. He was the only one on a board this year. None of us even took our boards up.

Aly cheesing it for the camera.

Emi, Dain and Christian in the chair in front of us. This is the Snake Creek lift at Brighton.

Christmas Ducks

We rented this awesome house that had a deck over a stream in the backyard. The stream was full of ducks!!! Emi played outside and made a snowman too.

Spam Christmas Catch Up

Phew! being gone for two weeks is hard to catch up on!!! So I'm starting with our early Christmas in Sugar Land before our trip. We opened presents on the 21st before leaving later that day for Utah .... It was a lot of fun! Dain bought matching Spam tops for everyone.




Phew! being gone for two weeks is hard to catch up on!!! So I'm starting with our early Christmas in Sugar Land before our trip. We opened presents on the 21st before leaving later that day for Utah .... It was a lot of fun! Dain bought matching Spam tops for everyone.

2008 -- What a Year!

Christmas from years past:



As 2008 draws to a close, I reflect on all the things that happened to our family. Alyssa is doing well in college, Christian is in his last year of high school and Emi is getting ready to move into high school. We have been incredibly blessed with wonderful experiences, freaky storms, and loving friends and family.

We will be gone for the next couple of weeks or so. I will not be posting to the blog. I set up the mobile blog option so maybe I should try it ... We'll see if it works or not or if I even remember to do it!

I'm excited to go skiing, see family, go to my office holiday party, ski, see friends, ski, eat yummy foods and last but not least, ski. :-) This year we rented a house instead of two hotel suites and I'm happy about that. It will be nice to be together in a house over the holidays. Being in two separate suites wasn't the same though the kids enjoyed the freedom. lol

So MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Jon Schmidt Concert Part 2

Dain sent these to me from his phone. This is Jon practicing for tonight. Tonight and Saturday, the concerts are at Kingsbury Hall at the U of U campus.

Another picture from the practice. I won't get actual pictures since Dain will be playing. This is the first year I don't get to see the concert! Sad.

Jon Schmidt

Dain is in Utah doing his annual Jon Schmidt concert trip. This year, it's one trip instead of two since Jon put all concerts into one week. Much easier for us! He just sent me this picture he took with his phone. He's at the drums and you can see Jon (right) and Steve (left) as they practice for tonight's show in Ogden. Friday and Saturday, the show is in SLC.

Wish I could be there ....

By the way, those good looking drums belong to Dain's brother Jon (yes, same spelling as Jon Schmidt). THANKS JON!!!! :-) There was not way to take Dain's drums from Texas. lol

Jacket

Christian finally got his letterman's jacket and he's beyond excited!

Notice the "Utahman". It's from the U of U fight song by the same name.

Grateful

(Thank You in Chinese)

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I am SO grateful for everything in my life. I'm the luckiest girl alive. I have a beautiful, healthy family. I'm grateful for the good and the bad, because they have shaped me into the person I am today. I'm grateful for my experiences and my inner strength. I'm grateful for the opportunity to live in Texas. Not having mountains and snow around was a tough transition for our active family. It has taught me to reach outside of my comfort zone.

I'm grateful that Alyssa has a place to spend TG. She's not coming home this year and that's hard for me. She will be with family and that's comforting.

I'm grateful for everyone who has been kind to my family and me (especially my kids). I love the diversity and variety in Texas. It's awesome.

I'm grateful for my own business. I love the independence and having something that is mine. I love to work! And owning my business allows me to work around my family and personal needs. I like being the boss. HEE HEE HEE

I love making the Thanksgiving meal. All of it. Turkey, ham, potatoes, veggies, rolls, pies, all of it.

Gratitude rocks!!! It's the best feeling in the world.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And thank you for being who you are.

Christian Recital

Christian wrote this song for Alyssa when she left for college and chose to perform it at his recital last week.

Heart Attack

I went to Idaho last weekend to visit my dad who suffered a heart attack the week before. He was rushed to the hospital where they did angioplasty. The doctor said this type of heart attack is called the widow maker as most victims die within two hours. He was lucky to get there quickly. I spent two days in Idaho before going to Utah.

With my mom. She didn't want to be in the picture because it was early in the morning and she wasn't dressed for the day.

With my dad! He looks well in this picture but he could only walk a few steps and he would be out of breath. The scary thing about his heart attack is that he had no warning: his blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar have always been within normal limits. This is a wake up call to all of us to get our butts in shape!!