New Years Eve - Food - Fun - Games & Surprises!

So for this New Years not only did we have awesome company, (Brett & Sherri), but we actually had plans as well! We had played with the idea of going out to dinner, but figured out that would be a long time to have a babysitter so we decided to order in Chinese! My kids had been begging for it ever since Brett & Sherri came into town. They must have my taste in food, because Chinese is my favorite too, so I was all for it! Earlier in the day, Karen asked what we were doing for dinner saying that they might BBQ. When I mentioned Chinese, she said "ooh, that's sounds even better". Later I talked to Kara and mentioned that we were ordering "Lucky House" and then she was in on the game as well. One thing led to another and we all ended up a G-Y's house for a "Chinese New Year Feast" ha/ha. (By the way thanks Karen for hosting at a last minutes notice)

It was great food as always, and the kids had a blast playing, dressing up and being creative as they always do.


After that we took the kids home and left them in great hands with Andrea, Kara's sister, and headed over to Pace's house for hangin' and games. This is the first time in a long time we were not with our kids for New Years. It was a lot of fun, but a little weird. I felt a little better when I heard what a good time they had with Andrea playing games, drinking Martinellis, etc.


We had a fun time at the Pace's. It is always fun hanging with friends and playing games and it was even more special to have Brett and Sherri with us. They fit in perfectly and everyone really enjoyed them. We broke Sherri into her second game of Ticket to Ride. There were two games going on- with lots of laughter going, catching the intrigue of all. Brian, Brett and a few of the other guys mostly mingled (i think- we were playing a game so I am not totally sure). I know there was a little friendly tapping going on as well. I swear sometimes they act like they are 12...what can you do? When it came time for the count down we all gathered in the family room with our Martinellis and popping cranberries.- Happy New Year! What an opportunity to celebrate the coming of what it going to be a great year (I decided) with family and friends!

Now this next part is not something that I am extremely proud of, but I want you to hear it from me first, because I know sometimes when other people tell stories they can be a little over exaggerated.... So after the ball drops there is always music and bands playing. Well, Black Eyed Peas happened to be on playing Boom Boom Pow. I really enjoy that song, especially the good beat. So I was just kind of swaying around to the beat. Everyone was still kind of standing around so I went to put my arm around Brian and sort of "Boogie Woogie" behind him (his back was to me)- I did out of precautionary measure look over and see that Brett was standing by his wife Sherri, because I have on occasion accidentally mistaken Brett for Brian (they are twins after all). Anyway, seeing that I was safe it wasn't Brett, I started to wrap my arm around Brian and dance up behind him. I was watching the tv as I did this and then as I looked up toward Brian... I realized the person I started wrapping my arm around to "boogie" with was not in fact Brian, but our friend Alex. I was so startled that I screamed and jumped back (which unfortunately drew everyone's attention) I'm not sure if it was all the soda I drank, the jumping back or the nerves, but I had to run to the bathroom. I was laughing so hard out of pure humiliation that I thought I might pee my pants (fyi- I made it to the bathroom!) As I came back in the room, needless to say the laughter had not stopped. The problem was if I hadn't screamed, not very many people would have realized what happened, but I was so shocked that it was just my reaction. I cam back to find Alex was quite proud and sure that it was just his pure animal magnetism. (O.K. ?!?- j/k Alex) Come to find out Brian had been sitting on the couch and was nowhere near me at the time. Not only that but my friend Karen, Alex's wife, was standing slightly behind me watching the whole thing wondering what in the world I was doing. If nothing else- it made for a truly memorable night. One of Brett's final comments was "It was kind of nice to see it happen to someone besides me" - Thanks Brett. Happy New Year to you all and may your New Year be full of surprises too!

SYTYCD Tour- Season 5

Fall has always been one of my favorite times of the year, but over the last three years I have had something extra to look forward to. The So You Think You Can Dance Tours.

This year we did our traditional dinner at PF Changs in Sacramento, it was pretty yummy and without Ben there eating with us, it was pretty inexpensive too. (j/k Ben- well sort of).

In front of PF Changs- Me, Mimi, Megan, Karen, Jen, Kara & Sarah - we missed you Holly!
After dinner we headed over to Arco Arena for the show.

Of course I love the show but it is even more exciting to see these people move in person. I said it last year, but it seems even more true this time, that I can hardly believe they can move thier bodies like that. Especially this season with Phillip, the popper. WOW! And of course the only thing better than watching the show is doing it with great friends! Including my Mom! She's a die hard like me and I love it!

I totally thouroughly enjoyed it! It was fun, inspiring, and entertaining. What more could you ask for?

Yep- I wussed out!

So I had gone back and forth so much about cutting off my hair, because I was sick of it being in a pony tail everyday. I made my appointment ready to go drastic with only a few lingering comments holding me back. (Mainly Annie's!) When I got to the salon, Amy, my hairdresser, said this (she is my same age and has long hair too) " You have the rest of your life to have short hair. Not very many women can pull off long hair after 40 and if you tried to grow it out after this short a cut, you would be about 36 by the time you got it to the length it is now." That was roughly the comment that my friend Annie had said, which had really stuck with me.
So that was it. I decided not to cut it off just yet. If I really can't stand it I can always go back and cut it when I am more confident!-

Thanks for all the support and kind comments! I am very grateful to have friends who care!

Before -------- ------- After

When Husbands Are Away, The Wives Will Play

Brian and his friend Ryan headed up to my Dad’s house last night to stay the night so they could go dirt biking up in Arnold today. They were meeting up with Alex this morning, who was already up in Yosemite with his family. So last night, to start off my husbandless time, I got together with my friend Kara, who’s husband was off golfing. We decided to get together to swim and BBQ at her Mom’s house. Her husband was on call for work.

We let the kids swim for awhile, and then they discovered some of Sue’s, Kara’s Mom’s toys. It started with a pink mini quad. Colby was instantly obsessed. He also had some sort of fascination with some kid size flippers. He can be really random. Anyway the kids all rode the little pink quad until it died, and I mead dead as a door nail. We knew it was shot when Colby started asking for us to push him. These spoiled kids don’t even know what it’s like to have to make toys move on their own.

We had a yummy BBQ with some nice flame broiled hamburgers and hot dogs, fruit and a great pasta salad. (by the way I want that recipe Kara) Then Kara brought out the big Barbie jeep. The kids played around in the yard on the slip and slide and the jeep until it was time to shower up.

Luckily the Winter’s have an outside bathroom with a shower. I was going to quickly throw the kids in and shower them so I could just take them home and put them in bed. It was a great idea until we were about half way done and found out that the water heater was only meant for a one man shower. Jade got a nice hot shower, Cambrie has a mostly hot shower, Hailey felt the warm water, and Colby had a pure ice bath and screamed through the whole thing. We did learn a lesson however… next time put everyone in the shower at once turn on the water, get wet, turn off the water, wash, turn the water back on and rinse everyone. That or just go inside and use the bath there! Now we know! It was a fun time and a great to have friends to share it with. After I got home and put the kids in bed, Kara came over and we watched “Bride Wars”. It was a story about best friends and it really made me grateful for the wonderful friends that I have!! We even watched a few clips from this season of “So You Think You Can Dance”! I am so excited!
Then today we wanted to have as much fun as the boys so we headed down to Evan’s house to play. We made a quick stop at Costco for lunch plus a few items, where Karen and her kids caught up with us to head to Evan’s as well. I love having friends whose husbands play with mine! When we first got there the kids headed straight for the pool. Due to the fact that I brought everything but the kitchen sink; I had to make a few trips back to my car, one of which was for Colby’s life jacket. As I came into the backyard with the life jacket in hand I can see Colby headed down the pool steps. Before I could even yell his name he was under water. I b-lined for the steps, reached in and pulled him out. His poor little eyes were peeled wide open and he was just looking up in a panic. He was kicking some but it didn’t help much. His arms were just reaching up. It was the saddest thing I have ever seen. I know this is a little sick, but I almost wish I had a picture of it. He was really only under for a couple seconds, but it was an ohhhh moment. After that he didn’t fight me to much on wearing a life vest, although he ended up wearing Abby’s suit vest which was pink with blue flowers because he liked it better. I think it was easier for him to move around in. Luckily the inside was blue, so we turned it inside out so it didn’t look quite so girly. Not that he even cared.

For the remainder of the day we basically sent the kids out to play while we caught up on our blogging. Karen brought her computer, but it never quite made it out of the bag. Liz and I were practically glued to our chairs, almost literally for Liz. She had shorts on so just about every time she got up from her chair she had a leg peel! We watched the kids play and have a good time as we did what we enjoyed doing, working/ blogging on the computers. We set out a bunch of snacks and fruit ahead of time and figured when they were hungry they could graze. (and not bother us). It worked pretty well until the afternoon started to wind down. Then we held them off for as long as we could by giving them sporadic finger fulls of chocolate chips if they would ask nicely and smile for the camera. After awhile I noticed it had been a little bit since I had been pestered by Colby. Curious where he disappeared to, I called out for him. He was quickly by my side with a big red grin on his face. Some of the kids had found a stash of Red Vines. I guess I learned that if you don't help them, they will help themselves! It really was a fun couple of days! Except for Colby almost drowning of course!

What was I thinking?

Before I left for our Utah/ Idaho trip I told a fellow instructor that I would sub her classes for her on Tuesday since I was coming back on monday and she would still be out of town. After being on vacation for just over 2 weeks, not having exercised anything but my hand to mouth, I was a little nervous about pulling off two classes in one day. Not just any two classes either. It was Body Pump and Turbo Kick, which happen to be the two classes that can kick my butt the most! Then I had to teach my own step class Wed. morning. I feel like I barely made it through the second class on Tues. and Wed. morning when I tried to get out of bed, it was almost a no go. My quads just about gave out. Every step down the stairs was a painful one! I hate squats and horse stance cross punches! Luckily adrenaline kicked in about a quarter way through my step class and I somehow finished, showered and made it home. Today… I could not move. When I attempted to walk, I felt like both legs were broken and I was walking in straight leg braces. It was ridiculous! Why do we do these things to ourselves? I know that beauty is pain, but I know I didn’t loose the 5 lbs. I gained while in Idaho from just these 3 classes! So was it worth it? What was I thinking?!?!?!

Subway Days

Who doesn’t love Subway right?!? One day after going to the gym, I really wanted a subway sandwich. So to justify my craving and in the name of healthy living I thought it might be a good idea to walk to Subway. Then I could justify loading my sandwich with all the things I like! I talked to my friends Karen and Kara about walking to subway together, because they go to the gym with me too – (Plus it was closer to walk to subway from their houses anyway)! They were game… literally! Karen made the fun suggestion to walk to get the sandwiches and then walk back to her house to play games. More specifically to play “Ticket to Ride”. What can we say… the game is addicting! It must be because we keep playing even though we know Karen always wins! (ha/ha) All it took was once and we were hooked! Each week our group seemed to get larger and larger. Now it is commonly known that Wednesday’s are subway game days. We make sure we schedule shopping, doctors appointments and other “non-essential” activities around our Wednesday afternoons! Priorities right?!?

Mimi's Birthday!

I'm beginning to think that I love other people's birthday's almost as much as my own. Today was Mimi McCain's birthday and for her birthday she wanted to do a girls night of dinner and a movie. I wondered if she understood that was a present for us all! Thanks Mimi! Anyway we went to dinner at the "Sushi Garden". For those who know me this is the last place you would think me to eat, but they had some great non-fishy food as well. I decided that tempura vegetables are my absolute favorite! I tried a California roll, which I was told had no fish in it. It was the worst tasting thing I have ever tasted!! After Kara and Sabrina tried it they agreed that it was pretty bad, and then everyone at the table collectively decided I needed to try one of their rolls, so I would know that not all rolls taste that bad. Only one major problem... they all had fish in them. They insisted that the one I tried tasted more like nasty fish than any of the rolls they ordered. So here I am __ years old and still succumbing to peer pressure. (J/K) - I was a little curious, but not enough to actually eat one. After a few moments, ok maybe minutes, I decided to try it. There was one called a Tiger roll that had a sweet and sour taste with a kick. I scrapped off the orange fish eggs as best I could... I still have my limits, and carefully dipped the tiger roll into the sauce and placed the whole bite in my mouth at once. According to other's accounts of the situation my face made a pretty intense grimace, which sent Mimi in search of her camera, which made me chew even faster, but in the end it was not so bad. I DID IT. I AT A TIGER ROLL FROM A SUSHI BAR!! " I must yell it from the top of someplace very high" (name that movie)-- Anyway all in all it was a fun dinner!

Then to top it off we all went and met up with more friends at the movies to see " Confessions of a Shopaholic". It was a really cute movie. A little predictable but cute and it actually had a great moral to the story! I love a good girls night out! Thanks again Mimi for sharing your special day with all of us!! I hope you had a great birthday!

Didn't Want You To Be Too Comfortable

So one evening after dinner Brian was laying on the couch relaxing and having the girls rub his feet. (He's training them!) I decided I wanted a piece of the action so I went over and laid on Brian and put my feet up to get in on the deal. Colby immediately decided he wanted in on it as well, not really knowing the purpose, and not caring either way. So he insistantly climbed up and twisted his way into position. Then he kicked back and relaxed. I couldn't quite say the same for me and even less so for Brian. That's our Colby making himself comfortable. Please don't worry about the rest of us. ha/ha

OUR BACHELOR NIGHTS!!

So while I will take just about any excuse to get together with the girls, there is a legitimate group who are bachelor fans. As for me I like the show depending on who the bachelor is. This season is Jason, the reject from the last bachelorette. Opps did I say reject, you know what I mean. (ha/ha) He wasn't my favorite but he has grown on me a little. What has really made it so enjoyable it the fun we have getting together to watch it. It is a great group of girls who fortunately or unfortunately always seem to bring amazingly good food. (I have had to restart my diet almost weekly thanks to them!) The door is always open to any fan of the bachelor or of just getting together. Luckily I pretty well fall into both categories. Mostly because I love hashing out someone else's drama besides my own! I figure if they do and say dumb things I have every right to talk about them, because they choose to do it on national t.v. Anyway I love our bachelor nights and I think we have decided that the bachelor season will go on year round this time. Whether the t.v. is on or not, all we need is good friends and good food, (it could be healthy by the way) and we will always have a bachelor night!!

I made a costume!!

This year the girls started with a theme in mind for thier costumes. From the beginning Jade knew she wanted to be Padame from Star Wars and Cambrie was set on being Princess Leia. Hailey started out wanting to be Princess Leia as well, then she wanted to be Padame, then I showed her a Super Girl costume that I borrowed from a friend, and she was sold. (especially since her birthday party this year was a super girl theme) Originally they wanted to make Colby a wookie, but when Hailey broke the theme, which I was almost grateful for, Colby was allowed to be what ever he wanted.- Which in the end was a Dog, because that's what a friend of mine had on hand. But he did have the sound down perfectly. Still Jade and Cambrie were absolute on what they wanted. Luckily I found a Padame costume at Toys R Us, but there was no decent Princess Leia costume to be found. The night before our ward trunk or treat, I was at a loss for Cambrie and started asking her what else she would like to be. With a sad look on her sweet little face she said " I guess I could be something else."

That was it. I would be making a Princess Leia costume. - oh no- the sewing machine was coming out. Well actually mine stayed packed away and I went over to my friend Karen's house to use hers. It wasn't buried quite as deep as mine was. Karen also had experience making hoods, which was one of Cambrie's favorite parts of the costume, so I knew I would be needing help!! With a quick trip to JoAnn's for some fabric, I was off to meet up with Karen. We grabbed some dessert first at Applebee's where I sketched out what I thought I wanted to do on a scrap paper, and we tried to figure out the best and easiest way to make the dress. I didn't have a pattern of course, that would have been to easy. I almost never do things the easy way. So we head back to Karen's and started laying out the fabric. We used one of Emily's (Karen's daughter Cambrie's age) dresses to sort of trace. After a few interesting cuts, I decided to just start sewing and see what happened. As I got started sewing, Karen started on the hood- I tried to describe the type of hood that I was hoping for... I kept telling her it would be cool if it was one of those big plush hoods. For some reason I kept using the word plush, which to me meant one that billows down and is really full at the bottom, to Karen it meant something more along the lines of softness. At the time which was already fairly late in the evening I couldn't find any other word to describe it. Finally after searching for every synonim for plush to get my point across, she crossed over to the "dark side" and saw the vision I had in my head. So as far as late night projects go, which is usually have cocked and with much laughter, we actually were doing pretty well. Although at my first attempt at sewing a sleeve on I sewed it on inside out, but what's a sewing project without a little seam ripping? I did in the end get it sewed on correctly, and I was so proud... I SEWED A SLEEVE!! Yes this was a first for me. You can call me super mom. Anyway last but not least was the best part of the whole costume "The Hood". Karen had folded and pleated and done all kinds of things that had me confused and lost. When it was all pinned together and ready to sew onto the dress, I carefully took the hood. It was like handing a new born baby to it's mother for the first time. I was careful and unsure, but so excited. (I know, all this over a hood... but yes, it was like a right of passage for me!) Anyway, on a wing and a prayer I somehow sewed the hood with all it's pleats and gathers to the dress and... Tada!!!! I made her Princess Leia costume. Granted we finished it about 3:00 in the morning, but hey it was done!! Not only that but since her hair is still pretty short I got some brown yarn and made her some serious Leia buns. The next morning when I showed her the dress, her face lit up!! "You made me a Princess Leia dress, Mom?" It was all worth it for that!!!

One Of The Best Nights Ever!!!

Ok- so anyone who knows me knows about my passion for dance. So no surprise that So You Think You Can Dance is one of my favorite shows! So on this awesome evening I had the opportunity to go with some friends to see the SYTYCD tour concert. It was so much fun! We started out the evening with dinner in Sacramento at PF Changs. The food was great! Then we headed over to the concert. It was myself, Karen Garcia-Young, Sabrina Bunney, Jen Miyakawa, Holly Kroutil and of course our token male- Ben Kroutil. We teased him all night about being the only guy to come to a dance show, but we all know he had a blast and was just as passionate about the show as the rest of us were, if not more. The show was amazing! They did all the dances I had hoped for. It is still amazing to me to watch them on tv and then see them in person, that their bodies really can move that way. I was in awe. It was funny,entertaining, intense, and 4real! I really enjoyed having friends to go and share this awesome time with. This is definitely a tradition!! All of us already have decided that we will be doing this again next season. One of the things that totally topped off the evening was Karen's driving. We were all very impressed with her aggressiveness at getting us out of the parking lot. Someone made a comment about her moving into a slightly open space. Not only did she move into the space, she took it by storm it and cut off a few dozers along the way. We all proudly cheered her on! (Hey who isn't for getting home a little earlier) Over all it was the most fun I have had in a long time! Maybe since the last SYTYCD concert. (j/k)- well maybe.

Farewell to another Friend

Why are so many of my friend moving away? When we moved to California, Brian told me we would be out of here in 2 years, and not to get to comfortable. Well here we are 7 1/2 years later. We would always tell people we were moving back to Idaho, and yet as time has passed, we have stayed and our friends have gone. Luckily we still have some wonderful friends who have decided to stick around for a little longer. I'm not sure though, if they hang out with us to long they may end up moving too.

Anyway one of my good friends Liz Evans, (a cute blonde-mentioned many other times throughout my blog) is moving to Arizona. Why Arizona you say? Well, that is the question of the month? What happened to Oakdale Liz? That would be much easier to visit. Anyway she will be greatly missed by many. A few of us got together to have one last Applebee's blondie with her and visit before she left. It was a great evening! Thanks Liz for being such a great friend to so many. You will be greatly missed, but we wish you and your family the best in Arizona.

What a Wonderful Day!

Why is it that the older you get the less special your birthday is. I think it should be the other way around. Thanks to my family and some great friends, I had an awesome birthday!! I started off the morning on a jog/walk with my friend Liz- we took the kids garage selling, where they thought it was the coolest thing ever to be able to buy things they wanted for quarters. Then after I came home and showered, my friends Becca and Sarah picked me up and took me to get a pedicure. It's always more fun to go with friends. Becca wanted to do that for me for my birthday, she rocks!!

Then after the pedicure, non of us were ready to head home, so we decided to go get some lunch at Strings. (great little Italian place in modesto) It was a delicious meal of course and when I had completely stuffed myself, enjoying every last bite, the owner of the restaurant came over to our table and asked if it was my birthday. Looking slightly bewildered (because I had been with Becca and Sarah the whole time and I knew they didn't say anything about it being my birthday) I answered yes. He then asked how old I was, to which I replied "Do I have to answer that?" And he said "Yes". So a little baffled I told him, then he pulled out the restaurant's dessert menu and said " Here pick anything you want, it's on me"- O.k.... how cool is that?!? So when our waitress came back we asked her what was the best and she recommended the brownie lasagna. You could get a small order or a large, she recommended the large since the boss was paying for it. So of course we went for the large, after all there were three of us to share it right? When the dessert came out, it was HUGE!!! It was two "rich" brownies layered in the middle with vanilla ice cream drizzled with raspberry sauce, whip cream and nuts. My description does the dessert absolutely no justice. It was huge and divine!!! Even with all three of us working on it, we still couldn't quite finish the whole thing. (If you know me that is a big surprise!) As we ate it, I kept asking Sarah and Becca how they told them that it was my birthday, but they just kept claiming that they hadn't. Finally as we were leaving I wanted to say thank you for the dessert, and out of curiosity I had to ask how he knew it was my birthday. I was sure that he would rat out Becca or Sarah, but instead he said that he happened to be clearing the table behind us when he heard Becca tell me that she wasn't going to let me pay on my birthday. - O.k. how cool is that?!? Yummy!

My day continued on wonderfully as I spent some time with my family and got another "precious moment"... literally. I love the precious moments figurines and I have collected a few of them since we've been married. All gifts from Brian of course. So for my birthday he gave me one called "A prince of a guy". It was meant to represent Colby- my little prince. I loved it! Of course I always love anything thoughtful like that! Then to top off my day Brian had our friends the Evans over and made a tri-tip dinner and Liz brought salad and rolls. I didn't have to do anything, and it was great!! Liz gave me a new little swim suit, she is always trying to keep me up on the latest and greatest. I had lots of great calls from friends and family which all helped lead up to an absolute wonderful day!