Happy Birthday Brookie!

9/04/90 - Brooke Annamarie was born at 5:53 am. I was put on bedrest at 17 weeks with her. I lived in Flagstaff and was air-evaced to Good Sam hospital for pre-term labor on June 26, 1990. One of the hottest days ever recorded in Phx...122 degrees! The airplane door opened and they pulled the gurney out and I remember the heat was so intense I felt like I couldn't breathe! My grandparents lived in Cave Creek, so once I was stable I was released in their care and lived with them for 2 months until I was far enough along to go back up to Flagstaff. My grandpa drove me once a week to Good Sam for a checkup and ultrasound. At 36 weeks my mom came and drove me back to Flagstaff.

At 38 weeks, Monday September 3rd, Labor Day, I remember we had a great barbecue and then went to the mall to walk around and induce labor. Later that day I was feeling contractions but nothing really painful. I called the Dr. and my dad went to play basketball. My mom kept saying "you better not go. What if she's in labor" and he kept saying that I wasn't and that the baby wasn't coming and I was fine. The Dr. said to head to the hospital...I was in labor and admitted! The whole family came down. My poor brothers and sisters waited a long time and nothing happened. I labored all night, pushed for 2 hours, and she was finally born at 5:53 in the morning. My parents were so good and right there with me. My dad would wipe my forehead and my mom would fan me. That was the only thing that kept me from getting sick! She was 7 lbs 10 oz and had a head of black curly hair. The nurses loved playing with it and she had a new style every time they brought her to me!

She was spoiled rotten from my brothers and sisters. Her feet never touched the ground! All she had to do when they picked her up was point her finger and they would follow it until they figured out what she wanted! HA

Life was never boring with Brooke. She tested us to the limit every time. Always pushed as far as she could. She is smart, outgoing, LOUD, funny, beautiful, a great mom, helpful dughter, loving sister when she wants to be (HA), creative, great sewer, talented, and a good person. I love that you always put Mark's toys together and help him with his Legos. I'm so proud of you and the woman you've become. So proud that you did well in school and now have a wonderul job that you love! I love you Brooke. I can't believe you are now 20 years old, a wife and a mommy!

Today was the first day of practice! When I signed Mark up this year I made sure he was not on the same team as last year. Mark was great as wide receiver,made many touchdowns and was one of the fastest ones. Towards the end of the season he got "bored" and goofed off a few times which made his coach mad. So for the last 2-3 games the coach played him very little. Also, the coach and his assistant played their sons the entire game. He put them both offense and defense. They were 6 years old, let them all play! This year I signed him up and let the chips fall where they may. Imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail from a guy in our ward who was the coach! And his assistant is also in our ward. And the practices are at the park in our neighborhood right across the street from our house! WooHoo

His team is the Arizona Cardinals. The coach wants them all to have nick names, so Mark chose "Crusher"!

I really hope Mark can be more focused this year. He has great speed, but can get distracted easily. I find that funny because he can sit and play Legos and build just about anything for hours. But when it comes to football he can get side tracked! Coach had them do sprints and looks like he's still pretty fast. Need to get him his cleats so he can have better traction. Here's to a good football season. I LOVE IT!

Stay off the roads!

A few weeks ago I took Kendall to get her license. She was nervous as heck! Since she's getting Tony's jeep she took the test in that. There's no way I was having her take her test in the Excursion! She got up to the 3 point turn, and had to do it twice! HA She hit the cone! The lady told her to pull to the side and someone would be with her for the driving part of the test. Well, Kendall must have been too close to the curb, because when she put it in drive, she popped the curb! Lady looked at her and said "You popped the curb, that's an automatic fail" Geez, who doesn't do that once in a while! Kendall was fine though, she was still smiling and didn't let it get her down. I was happy becuase it gave her 2 more weeks to practice driving which she needed!

Last Monday Kendall had an appointment with the Orthodontist in my mom's dental office. He gave us a greate discount because my mom works there! She got her braces put on, then we headed straight to the DMV to get her license. It was great because kids were in school and there was NO line! She didn't have to re-do the 3 point turn, so the lady got in and off they went. It was a very short drive. I was prepared to wait when I saw the jeep come back into the parking lot and my heart sank. I thought for sure she failed again. I went out to the car, and there she was with a big smile on her face!!! SHE DID IT! She went to bed that night in so much pain because her teeth started to hurt.

The next morning I was fully prepared for her to ask to stay home...nope, as in much pain as she was in she wanted to DRIVE to school! HAHA The excitement of driving overpowered the pain of her teeth. I took her Jamba Juice for lunch since she couldn't eat anything. She went to cheer that night and one of the flyers came down wrong and scraped her face...which cut up her cheek on the inside from the braces. The next morning she did stay home because she hurt so bad. We pumped her full of Tylenol and Ibuprofine for about 4 days. I think her first meal where she could chew was on Friday. I've never had braces, so I couldn't empathize, but I knew her teeth would hurt and felt so bad for her. Funny, she's the only person I know who was excited to get braces. Can't wait to see the end result. Love you Kendall, I'm so proud of you!

Baseboards

So we bought this house as a foreclosure, pulled out all the carpet, picked new cartpet, got the whole inside painted, and picked out beautfiul Travertine tile. Tony spent hours putting the tile in. He would come here after work and lay tile until almost midnigt! After all the stuff we did to this house, we ran out of money for baseboards. Then Tony left for Afghanistan almost a year later. He kept saying that he would do it until finally, almost 3 years later we decided to have my brother do it.

Sherman and I went to Lowe's to pick out baseboards and corners. I'm sure I wasn't much help because I just kept saying "I don't know, what do you think?" Until I finally told him to just pick what he liked. He has good taste anyway and I totally trust his judgement. He builds the most beautiful things, has an eye for good decorating, and can do just about anything. Not to mention he's a Highway Patrolman. We decided on the 5" baseboards and I am so glad we did. He came the first day and got a lot done. He came the next day pulled out the old baseboards in the bathroom and finished. All that needed to be done was painting. He did that pretty quickly too!

Here are some before and after picutres. I don't know why we didn't do this 3 years ago, but I sure love the way it finishes the house and makes Tony's tile work pop! Thanks Sherman, I really appreciate your hard work and time! Love you!

Shout-out to Tony

I just had to blog about my wonderful husband. The Lord really blessed me when he sent Tony my way. Every year before school starts Tony gives the kids a Father's blessing to help them throughout the school year. Since Tony is in Afghanistan, I asked my dad if he would do it. We told Tony what time so we could skype him in. So on Sunday night we went over to my parents, my dad changed into his Sunday clothes and we called Tony on skype. His picture pulled up and there he was sitting on his bed rocking back and forth waiting for us in his white shirt and tie! He totally dressed for the occasion! My eyes teared up, he is such an awesome guy! I love that he showed everyone how important it was that he was there and dresed up even though he was far away. It also shows how much he is trying to be a part of things as much as he can.

For our anniversary, he made a sweet post on FaceBook "Nineteen years of bliss have passed and now we start our 20th year of marriage together. My wife is the best All others marvel at my good fortune, and despair.... For alas, that which is mine is beyond their grasp. I LOVE YOU, GORGEOUS" That just melted my heart! He is truly a great person. He always puts me and my needs above his. I just thank my Heavenly Father all the time for sending him to me when I needed him. The Lord sent him to me at the right time. We are very opposite, but compliment eachother well. I'm moody and I can get depressed. But he is always up beat, glass is half full, life is good, let it roll off your back, don't stress, we'll be fine kind of guy. He makes me smile and laugh daily. And I truly mean daily! That is the main reason I fell in love with him...he makes me laugh. I used to say it was like living with a Hallmark card! Thank you Tony for being the person you are. I love you so much!

Happy Anniversary

On August 10th, we celebrated 19 years of marriage! WOW! I've been married almost half my life!!

Tony is still in Afghanistan so we were unable to celebrate together. I didn't know what to send him since he doesn't need or want anything over there. So I created a book for him from Snapfish. I titled it "Our Family Vacations" and created a sort of scrap book of all the vacations we've been on when he comes home from Afghanistan. I thought it might have been cheesy, but he of course said he loved it! He received it while at work and started looking through it, but had to put it away because he started to tear up! Such a sentimental dude, I love him!

I woke up to an e-mail from him which was titled "Anniversary" and he included 3 songs to start playing which reminded him of me/us. The first one was "Love helps those" by Paul Overstreet. That was actually going to be our wedding song because of the last verse. He also included 2 other songs that we never really listened to, but now have new meaning to him from being gone. So sweet!

Then Brooke and Ava walked in the door and there was a bag from Coach, with a box tied with a bow from Coach and inside was a dust bag with my beautiful bling-cher-here I come- purse!!! Tony, you rock! I absolutely love this purse! He had been plotting with Brooke to get me this and she bought it for him. Actually she called around and there was only 1 left in all of AZ, and it was at the Chandler mall. Brooke went and talked them into holding it for 3 days until Tony could get the money to her without me knowing. They will only hold it for 2, but when Brooke told them it was for my anniversary and that Tony was in Afghanistan...the lady held it for her! At one point she called Brooke because another lady came in and she knew they had the purse because she had another store call. When the lady told her it was being held...she offered $500!!! Wow! these purses have been flying out the doors! Then later that day I received the most beautiful bouquet of flowers! Tony done good this year, and he wasn't even here! HAHA

Thank you for marrying me 19 years ago babbuh! Thank you for wanting me and loving me and putting up with me. I am so grateful for all that you do, and how you always put me first. I am so grateful for the sacrifice you are making for our family by working over in Afghanistan. Yes, the money is good, but we miss you terribly. I love you so much it hurts...more than the day we married!

Vegas Baby - 40th birthday

***Disclaimer: No I am not a natural blonde! As you can see my family is all brunette, but I was blonde as a kid and had highlights first put in my hair at 13, thanks to my Aunt Michelle. I haven't stopped coloring my hair since. Now it masks the grey!

As per my previous entry, Tony gave me 4 tickets to see Cher in Vegas for my birthday. So the week before we left, my mom, sisters and I all got pedicures so we could have pretty toes for Cher!

I got off early on Friday, loaded the car and headed to my mom's house. I pulled up honking excited to go and as I got my luggage out to put in my mom's car the garage shut! What the heck? So I walked in the front door and there was my mom and sisters in CHER shirts!!!! My sister made them for all of us and mine had "birthday girl" on the back! AWESOME surprise! Thanks Sarah, I totaly loved it! We got in my mom's car and headed out of town! We went through Laughlin to avoid the damn which has high traffic due to the holiday and the new bridge isn't completed yet. Cher was blaring and we were all singing. Funny when the older songs came on and there's my mom at the wheel singing her heart out and the rest of us just sitting there!

We pulled into the Golden Nugget and checked in. Wow, that place is nice! The rooms are beautiful and the pool rocks! There's a shark tank in the middle of the pool and the water slide goes through it! We changed and headed to Fremont street. All the times I've been there I've never gone to Fremont street. That was cool with all the vendors, painters, sculptors, "dancers" and "ladies of the night"! HA It was the Summer of 70's and the ceiling was showing KISS. Sure wish it was the Summer of 80's! We decided to get food and headed to a great little grill that was open late. We saw some young girl picking up an old, ugly biker dude...she succeeded and a drunk lady sitting behind Sarah. She could hardly sit in her chair! We headed to bed to rest for our big day.

Saturday morning started with room service and chocolate covered strawberries with a birthday wish for me. The food was wonderful and we shared it all. We headed to the strip and parked at Treasure Island. We all stopped at the TI Bling store and started trying on jewelry. My mom started talking to the owner and it turns out he lives in Scottsdale and travels to Vegas to run the store. He was cool. And the jewelry was fun! We went to the Wynn. That's one of the hotels I've never been to before. Just gorgeous inside. We went to the Venetian and walked the canal shops. I started to get sick and shakey so I got an awesome rubin sandwich from a deli and my mom and sisters got frozen yogurt. I don't know how they do it but they ate that a lot on this trip...as their meal! I have to have substance. We walked along heading to Paris and stopped at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville so I could get Tony a gift. Found my mom and sisters lounging in the coolest chairs. It was so hot I was sweating, or least it was hot to me. I couldn't seem to cool off. We got to Paris and stopped at every crepe and pastry shop in there! They ooed and ahhed and I sat and fanned myself! We crossed over and went through the Forum shops in Ceasar's palace to head back to the car. We found the coolest store. I forgot the name but my sister called it build-a-bear for women. You have shoes made especially for you and you can watch them in the front window being made. You pick a heel/sole. Then a strap from the wall, and then a buckle. It was pretty cool. I would say they start at about $100 and go up. We went through the Mirage took the tram to TI and got in the car to head back and get ready. Once we got to our hotel we decided to eat dinner first at the buffet. It was seafood night, my poor mom, but she was able to get good prime rib. All you can eat crab legs baby!

We headed back to the room and got side tracked with all the bling shoes and shirts in one of the stores. So we all went around the store trying on shoe after shoe after shoe. I started to feel sick so I headed back to the room. When they got back I was still in the bathroom! I started working on getting ready with a queasiness in my stomach. I didn't know how I was going to make it through the show. MY weekend, MY night, MY show and here I was SICK! I was frustrated and made and angry! We decide to take a taxi and it was all I could do from getting sick in the cab. He dropped us off and I headed straight to the bathroom while my mom and sisters headed to the show. Once I was able to get going I headed to the Coliseum. I started walking in and saw all of her costumes in glass cases and went for my camera and couldn't fnd it! Panic! I started sweating, hyperventilating, stomach was upset again and the tears came. I quickly texted my sister that I couldn't find my camera and headed in. I gave my ticket to a lady and with tears in my eyes she showed me my seat. I was trying so hard to hold them back! I got there and my family wasn't there! I was alone! I was scared! I was mad! I was sick! I was CRYING! I got a text from Megan asking where I was and told her I was seated. Apparently they were waiting out front for me and I didn't even see them! They were so sweet - they were trying to see if we could go to a later show since I was so sick! Once they got my text they came in, my mom hugged me and the tears came! Are you kidding me? MY NIGHT and I'm sick from being sick and sick because I can't find my camera. Either I left it in the taxi or in the bathroom stall. I kept re-playing the whole ride here and everything after in my head. Did I or did I not have the camera with me? Was it in the hotel? Once the show started I tried to calm down and enjoy it. As my mom said for the next 90 minutes enjoy the show and not think about it. So I did. I only had to excuse myself once! YEAH ME! The poor guy next to me, I kept trying to get him to dance and clap and sing. He was very accomodating! Cher rocked! Her costumes rocked! She had just turned 64! The seats were amazing, Tony and my mom did a great job. I got goose bumps at one point thinking what a great surprise this was from Tony and that I was actually there seeing Cher!

After the show we took pictures and went to the shop. I got an awesome t-shirt and we all got matching key rings that we put on our purses. I can't describe what it was like to be there. I texted a big thank you to Tony and he called us. We all yelled "All hail Tony" as per his wishes! HAHA He couldn't stop laughing and telling me how excited he was for me. He was genuinely happy that I could be there, I love how much he loves me!

We then headed to see the fountains at Bellagio. I sat on the wall back by the street because my feet and back were hurting. They were gorgeous as always and the last one we saw was "Time to say goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli...the song my grandma requested to play at her funeral, and it was! I got off the wall and found a cockroach crawling up my thigh!!!! I hopped down and had the shivers the rest of the night, checking my hair, my purse, my back...grossed me out! We saw the atrium inside the Bellagio, that is always a sight to see. Everything made out of live planst and flowers. There was a store in there with the world's largest chocolate fountain coming out of the ceiling going down through the floor. We found a monorail/tram that took us down to the Monte Carlo. My mom has been talking about the Cupcakery since beore we left. So we knew we had to get her there. She LOVES cake and cupcakes so this was the place for her. Wouldn't you know it, we got there and it was closed! So sorry mom! We decided to head back to the room. Every hotel we went to had a huge line for taxis. So we decided to just hang out at Ceasar's and wait in line...for 45 mintues! But it was so fun to people watch. The clothes some of the girls were wearing...no need to elaborate there! There was one guy sitting by a fountain drunk as ever and trying to sleep. He kept falling way over and we thought he'd fall in the water! It was great entertainment! We got back to the room about 1:45 and fell into bed! What a great night!

And the best part...I walked in the room and there was my camera on the floor! Thank you for small blessings!

After 6 hours of sleep I was woken up by a phone call from Brooke asking about Mark's church clothes! C'mon, seriously? Why would you call me at 8 on my vacation? Then a text from Tony "bomb went off outside the front gates, but everyone is accounted for" Then another text from Kendall, "Morning mommy"! UGH Cell phones are a necessary evil! I couldn't get back to sleep so I decided to just get up and get ready. I was tired and dragging! I could already feel the headache. There was no Dr. Pepper at all in the whole of Vegas! Mr. Pibb does not cut it! I needed something to drink! We got downstairs, got fruit and a croissant from Starbucks and got in the car. Luckily we weren't out of the parking garage yet when Megan and I realized we didn't have our pillows! AAAHHHH I have a foam pillow I take everywhere, those are the best pillows ever, and pricey. I wasn't about to leave it.

Pillows in hand, we got back in the car and headed to the World of M&M's. On our way Sarah stuck her head out the sunroof and yelled "happy birthday Amy", and some guy yelled back "AMY"!! haha I've been to the M&M store many times and it never gets old...except for the $12.99/lb price! But it's fun to get everyone their favorite colors. We headed to the coke factory. Not what it used to be. Years ago you could ride the elevator in the huge coke bottle and walk into memorabilia, old sets, posters, watch old commercials, see how coke was started and try every coke you wanted from around the world. It was a lot of fun. Now the top section is closed and you only see the 2 floors of the store. I got Kendall a 6 pack of coke in the old fashioned glass bottles. We headed out of town, ate at In-N-Out and got home about 7:00. It was an awesome trip! I loved being with my mom and sisters, more than I anticipated. I really got to know my sisters better and it was fun all of us just being "people" instead of mothers and wives. Thanks so much Tony for the most wonderful surprise. Thanks mom for taking care of the rest, it was a blast being with you guys!