Superbowl XLII

In case you hadn't heard ...
the Superbowl is in town ...
OUR TOWN!

My claim to fame has always been that I am the same age as the Superbowl. So here we are ... a couple of XLII-year-olds!

We went down to the University of Phoenix Stadium (or if you're like me and you think that's a really stupid name, call it Cardinal Stadium), to check out the NFL Experience and the pre-game buzz in the air.Look closely to find Keaton, Kacey & Jake

My football players were thrilled to get pictures and autographs from

Luis Castillo (San Diego Chargers)

AND


DeMarcus Ware (Dallas Cowboys)

Loads of stuff ... loads of fun ... Go Gitriots!

A little bit more -

I'm not quite ready to move onto another topic. Please enjoy this sweet video.

He will be missed -

If you ever heard him speak, it was apparent that he was a man of God. I am so grateful for the service that he provided to us as a church and as an entire Nation. "We thank thee Oh God for a prophet." What a fantastic reunion is taking place right now!




"I worship the God of heaven who is my Eternal Father. I worship the Lord Jesus Christ who is my Savior and my Redeemer. I do not worship the Prophet Joseph Smith, but I reverence and love this great seer through whom the miracle of this gospel has been restored. I am now growing old, and I know that in the natural course of events before many years, I will step across the threshold to stand before my Maker and my Lord and give an accounting of my life. And I hope that I shall have the opportunity of embracing the prophet Joseph Smith and of thanking him and of speaking of my love for him."

Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley (1997) 509.

Phone Call From Husband ...

Gary: "Hey, you know Deal or No Deal?"
Me: "The TV Show?"
Gary: "Ya! I'm standing here with one of the models (long silence), Claudia (long silence). She's model #1."

Longer silence, while I'm trying to remember which one #1 is and then remembering that it doesn't matter since all of them have legs longer than my entire being AND WHY IS MY HUSBAND HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH HER?

Let me insert picture to remind us all -

Gary: "Hey what's the name of our alarm company and can you get the phone number for her?"
Me: "Um, no. She can look it up just as easily as I can."

I thought I was number one???

Girls Day Out -

One of my favorite traditions that I look forward to five times a year, is this little group of girls.

Mary Ellen, Cynthia, Karen, Val & Me

Yes, I said girls ... because when we get together, we are all young at heart. In reality, our ages range from 66 years old to a wee little 42. Several years ago (I think it's been about eight years) we served in our Relief Society Presidency together. This is usually when people begin giggling and say "You were in the Relief Society Presidency?" The answer is YES, but I was merely the secretary ... this is where people usually say "Oh, just the secretary".

For those of you who are wondering what the Relief Society is, you can look it up here. Basically, it is an organization of women that was formed in 1842 to serve and strengthen one another and is now the largest women's organization in the world. Beat that!

So anyway, these are truly four of my favorite people. We really clicked when we served together, and we are still clicking. We get together for lunch for each of our birthday's, which are perfectly spaced in January, April, August, September and December. Today ... was our January treat and we met at Applebees where we found out that the soup and salad is unlimited!

Just a few things that were heard at our little get together today -

Virgin Pina Colada - woo hoo - Vicodin - Colitis - twins - triplets - deaf - "Back rubs in the front room, turn into front rubs in the back room" - woo hoo - "I need to stand up for just a minute" - "reverence brings revelation" - Happy Birthday to you - "Make that four more French Onion Soups!" - "Don't worry about the naked part, it doesn't last too long" and one more ... woo hoo.

For those of you who could not attend, thanks for reading. For those of you who attended, thanks for attending! I can't wait until April! Does everybody have a Girl's Day tradition?

Only seven more months ...

until he's back in OUR chairs!

Mourning -

If I weren't already married to (and madly in love with) Gary, and if Heath would have asked me to marry him, I would have thought very, very hard about it.

I really, really, really, really, liked Heath Ledger.
It began for me with "Ten Things I Hate About You",

then our relationship strengthened as he proclaimed "I'm not a child!" in "The Patriot".

I was absolutely smitten with "The Four Feathers",

but the one movie that will remain in my DVD collection, on my DVR and engraved in my heart is "A Knight's Tale".

I've watched it more times than any other movie thus far ... ever.

I am very sad right now and I choose to believe that his death was a tragic accident.

Maybe Next Time ...

Well it was fun to anticipate something so exciting, but as I predicted, they decided to only invite the jealous moms to NYC. While I'm very glad that I don't fit into this category, I'm feeling a bit left out!

So let me get this straight -

I'm the good Mom who encourages growth in my children and celebrates in their success, but I was the one uninvited to the party? Gary tried to persuade me into some role playing, but I couldn't even pretend to empathize with the lingo that will take place on that stage. I can't even come close to comprehending that breed of a female ... yet they get a trip to New York? I guess they need it more than me. I'm a bit confused as I sort out my disappointment but as I imagine the things that I might have said to the bad guests, I can assure you that the segment will be much safer.

One of the best things that came with this story, was all of the comments from my readers! Where was everyone hiding before? I would LOVE to get 14+ comments on all of my posts! That would almost be as exciting as New York to me! So thanks for sharing in my exuberance and keeping my dream alive for a whole weekend. Cara did say that she would keep me in mind for future opportunities, and if my chance ever does come, I'll be sure to post all about it.

Is This For Real?

Dear Readers -

You are not going to believe this story! So this afternoon, I checked my e-mail, like I always do, and there was a note from somebody I didn't know. I almost stuck it into my junk mail file assuming that it was another great deal on Viagra, but I decided to read it. It was a letter from Cara, who works on the Mike & Juliet Show ...

In New York City!

She wrote that she read one of the posts on my blog and thought that I might be a great guest on their show! I AM SO NOT KIDDING RIGHT NOW! So we had a short conversation and now she is going to talk to her peeps and get back in touch with me on Monday (since I don't have peeps yet) and the show is on Friday ...

In New York City!

Can I just say ... only in America!

Obviously it might not actually happen, but it was exciting just to hear that someone in New York was reading my blog! I HAVE ARRIVED!

Stop, Drop & Roll -

Proof that even a marshmallow can create hazardous conditions ... if it gets hot enough ... and if it gets stuck to your face.

Poor Mason -

New Favorite Song/Least Favorite Memory

Anyone who has ever been a teenager (and I think that is most of us) will LOVE this song. Does anybody remember thinking that they weren't going to survive the heartache and stress of it all? I think I had this thought at least four times a day for most of my adolescence. It's time for me to share another embarrassing moment with my blog world ... a story that I have shared with very few people in my life.

Let's see, where to begin. It was in our OLD house on Glade, so I must have been about 14 years old when this tragedy took place. I was sitting in the front yard ... WITH A BOY! I hadn't peaked in my ugliness as of yet, and I did have a few little friends that were boys who thought I actually resembled Farrah. So it was a nice afternoon and Mark Latham came over for a "flirtvisit". Of course I couldn't give him too much flirt back since David Richards had claim on me since I was knee high to a grasshopper. But I was young so I was leaving my options open and enjoying the attention and the occasional flirtvisit.

So there we were, sitting out on the front lawn, probably talking about music or something equally as intense when I saw our mutt "Buster" come out to join us. He had something in his mouth that he was trying to devour and was flaunting it with pride. As he got closer, we became more curious as to what he had found. It looked as if he may have actually caught an animal for dinner ... gross! It didn't take too much longer before I realized how gross it really was. Buster was chewing on, and by now completely dismembering, a bloody Kotex pad.

Let's all say it together ...

OH MY GOSH!

So here I was ... fourteen-years-old, sitting on the front lawn with a cute boy, and my dog gnawing on a used sanitary napkin.

I had a choice, but the choice didn't even occur to me until I was a mature adult. I could have played dumb, giggled a lot and ignored the entire incident, OR I could tackle the dog and strip him of every last piece of that nasty trash in a very unladylike fashion. So as I mentioned, the first choice didn't even cross my mind as I leaped for the dog and began my ferocious wrestling match with Buster and his teeth. As I recall, I left no piece unclaimed. I had removed the evidence that I was actually a girl from the family pet ... and it was now in my hand ... with the boy still nearby.

To be completely honest, I don't remember anything after that. Why would I want to? Why do I even have to remember the first part?!!! I guess I have to remember it to prove to myself that I have grown up. If something like this were to happen again, surely I would react differently and be able to walk away with my chin held high, instead of grass stained. I shared this story with my class of 16 & 17 year old girls at church a few years ago, hoping to help them retain their own dignity as their own times of crises would occur. They laughed. Hopefully that's what we all learn to do as we remember the pain and tragedy of our histories .... just laugh.

After all, these were nowhere near the best years of our lives. Please go listen to this song. I dedicate it to everyone who ever was or still is a teenager.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fqtbMHfpXY

Option A & Option B

There are really two choices when it comes to Arizona winter (notice the short sleeves in both options). First, you can play outside really hard without sweating!

Leaves + cousins = LOADS o' FUN!

OR

You can stay inside and eat ice-cream and pretend you are shivering because it's nippy outside!

Life Is Good -

For those of you who don't know about the company Life Is Good ... let me introduce you!

The story in our family goes like this. Shortly after Kristi (my little sister) was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, she got one of these stickers to put on her cute car. Given all that she was about to face, I'm not sure that's the sticker I would have chosen. I probably would have gotten something along the lines of Life's a *%&##!

Long story short, it's the sticker of choice in our family now. A few years ago, several of us joined Kristi's friends on the "Kristi's Crusaders" Team in walking the Breast Cancer 3-Day. It was crazy great! When we told the Life Is Good Co. of Kristi's inspirational story, they donated our awesome shirts and our Team Captain (Lisa) had Kristi's very own signature transferred from one of her hats onto our shirts. It was a great gift and an incredible experience. To this day, I have a soft place in my heart for this company and what they represent. Such a simple phrase combined with such simple art, exudes large motivation to me, as it did Kristi.

Once you have one of these stickers placed somewhere that you see it often enough ... you actually begin to find hope in the words. You've just got to get one!

Cute Blogs -

Will someone PLEASE take a moment - or two - to give a tutorial on how to make my blog page so cute ... like this one. I don't want someone else to do it, I want to learn. I don't need it to be anything outlandish, I just want to know how to add some touches or take them away now and then.

This is one of the reasons that my hair color has changed so many times over the years ... partly because my follicles are now over four decades old and partly because I get bored of the same old thing.

Someone teach me something! Please ...

Check this out -

My cousin Amy told me about this and I think I'm going to love it and use it and therefore, blog it!

www.redplum.com

Correction -

Broken wrist, broken thumb and a broken foot. After our appointment with the Orthopedic Surgeon, we will be well on our way to meeting our 2008 deductible.

Happy New Year!