Cardinals and a Crockpot

Andy's birthday was Sunday, so we celebrated with some friends while watching the Cardinal's game. We like to think that for his birthday, the Cardinal's sealed the deal and are now on their way to the Super Bowl. Absolutely unbelievable!!! Now he is working on a guy trip to Florida to watch the Super Bowl, what an experience that will be!

Not only did Andy get a Cardinal's win but he also received a crock pot for his birthday! Odd, I now agree, but at the time I thought it would be a good, needed gift. Here's my reasoning, for weeks he has commented that our 11 year old, dated looking, crock pot need to go and a new one was in order. Personally, I saw no need. I am totally content with the old crock pot because it has been good to us and it still works! So when we were getting ready for the party Saturday, he commented on the crock pot AGAIN. That afternoon I went to Target to pick-up a new one and a Wii sensor bar that we were missing. Later the night after church, I proudly carried in his new crock pot only to be stunned by the NEW crock pot already sitting on the counter. He had also gone out that day and bought a new crock pot. When he saw what I had bought, he hysterically started laughing and couldn't believe I bought him a crock pot for his birthday! I frankly couldn't believe that he didn't love the fact that I listened to his needs and bought him exactly what he asked for! I realize that a crock pot is so weird, but the man has everything! By the way, he also bought a Wii sensor bar!

So after a few tears of embarrassment, I took my crock pot and Wii sensor bar back today to Target. We will laugh for years to come about my lame gift and how we bought 2 crock pots and Wii sensor bars on the same day! We have been married so long, we are now thinking alike!

Da Girls First Suns Game

Sweetie had the opportunity to be a "High 5 Kid" at the Suns game Tuesday night. We received the call Monday night and Andy thought my reaction to letting the kids stay up really late on a school night would be NO!!! But to his surprise, my reaction was, "Of course, she'll just go in late on Wednesday!" He couldn't believe his ears but I figured that this is a once in a kid's lifetime opportunity, right?

The girls have not gone to a game yet and they were just asking if we could all go, so they were so excited. Sweetie was introduced at the beginning of the game, then she gave high 5s during the introduction of the team. We found the kids play area called the "Gorilla's Greenhouse". They had video games, lower basketball hoops, and a playground with a zip line. So if you go to the game, make sure you find the "Greenhouse", it was a great way to get the kids energy out. We had a blast!

Sweetie slept in till 9am!

Snow Trip and New Years

What a wonderful time we had up at our friend's cabin, we left the day after Christmas and returned on New Year's Day. First the Gentry's were up with us for 3 nights, we had a blast reconnecting and hanging out. The guys went quading a lot and I stayed in the cabin and hung with Jan since my foot was still in a boot. My kids enjoyed the older teenagers and ate up every minute with them, the teens probably went home for a vacation and sleep after entertaining my kids!

Then my parents and the Mutchler's came up to celebrate the new year. We went sledding with my parents and rang in the new year with the Jonas brother's while eating Carolyn's pizzookie and homemade ice cream, sooooo yummy!

On the way home we stopped by my family's cabin to check on it and it was covered with snow. The drive way was so snowed in that we couldn't even pull in!

Thanks Gentry's, Mutschler's, mom and dad for a great time and wonderful memories!

Christmas 2008

# 1 Fans

The girls love to go and watch their daddy sing, they are his #1 fans.

After a great day hanging out with Aunt Marianne at Desert Ridge, eating lunch and watching "Bedtime Stories" we made it to church early and caught some of Andy's rehearsal. The girls sat in the front row and loved cheering on their daddy. The also loved getting a kiss from him once he was done. Sweetie at first though he was too busy but then he stopped and gave them a kiss, so sweet!

Family Tradition

When I was a kid and my brother and I weren't getting along, my mom would make us sit in a chair together and hug. At first, we hated it, we did it out of obedience but by the time were were done with our hug sentence, we were laughing and having a great time. As we got older, my mom would make us play a game of word tennis with kind words to each other. So Sonny would start it out by telling me that my nose hairs were pretty then I would reply that I liked his teeth goober and so on. We would then continue on laughing and enjoying each other instead of trying to kill each other.

Well, since this experiment that my mom concocted seemed to work, I tried it on my girls today. Sweetie was not into this exercise at first but as I left them on the bed hugging (we were at a friend's cabin) I came back to find them laughing hysterically and tickling. By the end, they were friends just like Sonny and I are friends. Nothing is better than to have a sibling as your best friend. Today, Sweetie said that Cutie wasn't her best friends, that she is far above any best friend status. Now that made my heart melt!

Try this form of love and let me know how it works!

**As a disclaimer, if it doesn't work, I will not be responsible for any broken noses, hospital visits or therapy sessions!

Christmas Tea

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Today, my mom took us to a Christmas Tea at the Ritz Carlton. My cousin Meggan had heard about it from a friend and invited us to go with her and her daughter. So we got all dressed up in our Christmas outfits and went to an afternoon tea. Each of us loved it!

While we were driving there, Cutie said, "Mom, I look like a Barbie!" She was referring to her sequence dress, quite impressive to a little girl!

My girls enjoyed being by their older cousin, soaking up every minute with her. We enjoyed little sandwiches, scrumptious desserts and delightful tea, they had my favorite, while peach!

Santa came around so we caught pictures with him. Sweetie hasn't ever believed in Santa (I know future theoropy for her since we never played that game) so she sat their uninterest and Santa commented, "Hi Sweetheart, are you ignoring me?" She didn't give him the time of day! But did take a photo!

To top off the event, my mom bought all of the girls Jeoffery Bears in honor of the Tea Master, Jeoffery who hosted the tea and sang a Christmas song. This is definitely a tradition that I would love to continue and recommend to anyone! Thanks Mommy!