Washington DC

What an amazing trip! I had such a wonderful time, I am so thankful I took advantage of this opportunity. I had great traveling companions, my mother and Aunt Connie. We didn't have very many days, but we sure used every minute we could. We saw a great deal in our short time.
We flew in on Saturday, we stayed at the Marriott in Crystal Gate in Arlington. We were about 4 miles from downtown Washington DC, but the Metro was just a tunnel away from our hotel so we were able to get around very quickly. The Metro is very quick and efficient.
Sunday we went to a fundraiser for Terry McAuliffe who will be running for Governor in Virgina. It was at the Palm restaurant, and they hired Shawn Mullins to play some music. I got a few autographed Cd's. Hilary Clinton was to make an appearance, however she got tied up so they sent Bill, he said a few words shook our hands and was off. For this type of function, it was pretty fun. We left the Palm and headed out to do some site seeing. We caught the tail end of the concert, we heard Garth Brooks, part of Obama's speech and Beyonce.
Monday we arose early to go get our inauguration tickets. We stopped at Arlington Cemetery on the way. I had always heard the tombstones go on and on, but its something you can never imagine until you see it. Really made me realize how proud I am to be an American.
Then we were off to get our tickets, WOW what a joke that could have been. There were, what I thought at the time, so many people. Lines that wrapped around buildings everywhere. We really lucked out and got our tickets pretty quick. The rest of the day was spent site seeing. I would guess we walked at least 15 miles. We made it back to the hotel with just enough time to put on some heels and head to the Delaware Ball. The 3 of us really didn't want to go after the day we had, but cant miss an Inaugural ball, right?? Yeah, should have stayed home. Ill leave it at that!
Tuesday the day of the Inauguration! It look us almost 2 hours just to find our "Orange" line, what a joke it all was. There were more people then anybody could ever describe. We finally found our line, and after tricking hundreds of thousands of people to walk around in circles for hours, they started letting us in. We made it in, and later would find out we were very lucky to have made it in. Lots of people did not make it in. When Obama took his oath, the feeling in the air was truly amazing. I have never felt so hopeful. It almost didn't seem real, but the freezing cold air reminded us just how real it all was.. and how exciting it all was.
After the ceremony was over, we were heading over to a party a family friend was hosting and we saw Bush leaving in his helicopter. It really made my day perfect! When we got to the party, we were literally frozen. We walked in and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are sitting a foot away from me. Later Dustin Hoffman showed up, had a nice chat with him. We tried leaving the party to get back to the hotel, but the metro had been shut down and it was impossible to get a taxi or limo. Later we heard people were stuck underground in the metro stations for 3-6 hours. I have never been so thankful to be stuck in a warm townhouse with good company, appetizers and mixed drinks!
Although we had an experience most will never get to have,we did miss out on some stuff due to security for the ceremony. White house was closed, Arlington Bride was closed etc, and we didn't have time to make it to any of the museums. I am very excited to get back there with Trever when the girls are about 8 and 10 to see everything I missed.
When I got home, Maddy had learned who the new President was and was very proud to tell me all about him. She told me she was looking for me on TV, "but all those people were in the way of me finding you", dang those 2 million people my daughter wanted to see me on TV!

I have posted a lot more pictures on Flickr

Never say Never

Utes Parade

We went to the finale of the 08-09 Utes season, a parade. It was a nice way to give them a farewell for the season. Maddy was so excited when the band and cheerleaders walked by, she thinks she knows them since we see them at our tailgating lot before every game. Kennedy was miserable, but what a trooper! We deserve to be number one and I hope this is an eye opener to the BCS, their system is funky and needs to be fixed! I went to Washington DC the day following the parade, and of course I was sporting my Utes hoodie. So many people yelled and commented that Utes are number 1! I was really amazed how many people yelled or stopped me to comment about how Utes were the best team! Ok this will be my last post about the Utes until September!! GO UTES!!!

Here she comes!

Kennedy is crawling! I knew it was coming soon, as she has been doing the monkey crawl for a while. I was hoping it would take a little longer, my baby is growing up too fast! Not mention, now she is into everything.
Over the weekend she got 3 teeth in less then 24 hours. Made for a cranky day, but she was fine as long as Mommy was holding her. She now has 6 teeth total, with another 2 that will pop through any day.
Maddy is so good with Kennedy. She always asks me if something is too small to let Kennedy play with, and very good about taking stuff away from her she some how manages to find. She always wants to play, and can make her laugh at any time. She really enjoys being a big sister, and she does a great job!

Officially University of Utah day

We are number 1!! Even if not officially.
What an amazing game! It was so exciting.
So Utes made it to the Sugar bowl 12-0. They went to the game as huge underdogs, everybody (except Ute fans of course) thought it would be an embarrassing blow out. Well well well.... it was the opposite. Utes killed Alabama. We had a bunch of friends over, it was none stop cheering the whole game. 13-0!!!! Cant wait for next season

Bringing in the new year!

2009
We had a pretty calm New Years Eve, a few friends came over and we played some games. Maddy, Gavin and Dante ran around for 4 hours playing non-stop. After a freezing trip outside at midnight for some loud celebrating with pots and pans, Maddy and Gavin had wore themselves out.
Here's to a wonderful 2009!!!

Christmas 2008

What an amazing Christmas we had. We had so many blessings this year. With the horrible economic state, we were still able to have a good Christmas with no stress. Thanks to Dave Ramsey... still the best thing I ever did!! Anyways, also Trever was able to have the whole day off. When he got hired at Chevron last year they told him to expect to work every Christmas, and well just about every Holiday for the first 10 years. So I was very excited he was able to be home with us. This was the first year Maddy was really excited for Christmas. Last year she kinda understood, but not really. This year we did the count down, with a Santa beard she made at preschool. Every day for 25 days we added a cotton ball to his beard, and every day she would count how many days were left til Christmas. She still has a hard time from 16 to 17 for some reason but the rest she can count. Christmas Eve we had dinner with the neighbors, then came home for our tradition of opening PJ's. Kennedy got her first pair of big girl PJ's, 2 piece!! Well, this takes me back to Xmas eve morning. The night before Trever and I stayed up putting together a doll house that Santa would be bringing to Maddy. I had to work the next morning, so I tell him "take the box outside, I'm going to bed" he says "OK" A simple task this was. Well he got busy on the computer and forgot to take the box outside. So Xmas eve morning I go to work, and Trever and Maddy head downstairs to hook up a TV we had gotten the day before. Maddy keeps telling Trever "Wow daddy this is so neat" and he responds with I know honey, this TV is so cool". Until he gets up and realizes shes looking at the box with the picture of the doll house on it. Dork. He quickly grabs the box and says "oh that was just an old box " she says "oh but dad didn't a toy come out of it" he says "nope, just an old box". He must have pulled it off, because Christmas morning she was so excited and mentioned nothing about the box.
I was grateful my mother joined us Christmas morning. We all got a lot of neat gifts, and as it should be Kennedy enjoyed the boxes more then any of the toys! Maddy's favorite toys were her doll house, and dress up doctor stuff.
By about 8 the snow was getting pretty bad. Everyone was canceling on breakfast at my moms, which has been a tradition for as long as I can remember. I was already feeling pretty bummed we would be missing my dad and grandpa this year. Then my brother said he wasnt coming. Luckily the the roads cleared up enough, and they ended up making it. We had a delious breakfast. Later Trevers Dad, Step mom, Ty and Sara came up to the house. Had nice visit and gift exchange with them, and then just a relaxing night with the family. It was a very nice Christmas, I am very grateful. I can only hope every Christmas is as good.

2007 was a pretty bad year, I said 2008 has to be a better year. 8am on Jan 1 I was at the emergency room, Maddy had stuck a bandaid up her nose so far I couldnt get it. The billing problems that followed made me, more then crazy. Im sure the pregnancy did not help in the craziness. I started what could have been called... stalking the doctor. Hey, I got the bill down to a reasonable amount!! Craziness does payoff, sometimes. So although it was a bit of a better year. Im really hoping for a great 2009!!!

Kennedy got her second tooth, a fang. Im not sure what is wrong with my children, but they get their fang teeth so early. Maddy looked like a vampire for 6 months until her other teeth grew in. Still not really crawling, she scoots to her destination. She can stand up on her own for couple seconds, and get to a standing position with only the help of somebodies fingers. Everybody is betting she will walk before she crawls. Im begining to think they might all be right. Maddy started crawling at about 10 months, and walked about 2 weeks later. Im guessing Kennedy will do the same.