Blogger App May Bring Me Back To Blog Town

With my computer moved to my work office and a delightful yet inquisitive toddler who has yet to develop an understanding of mommy-alone time, blogging has gone to the way side. But today during one of those much-appreciated nap times I stumbled upon this blogger app. My hope is that maybe, just maybe, this can get me back on the blogging track.

While writing this, little bug made a break for the non-baby-proofed kitchen and brought me a cup. She's now pulling at my hands to play, so let's just say... It's a start! :-)

Back To Blogging!

Yeah!  The computer's back up and working, after having BOTH my work and our home PCs die in the same week some time ago.  We got lucky and recovered all the information from the two, but I've officially learned my lesson and invested in an external hard drive.  I'm happy to say that after a few months, things are starting to slow down, and I'm adjusting to a new schedule and a new routine. Time to get back into blogger-ville, so to start, here is an updated belly shot I took as I walked out the door this morning. I'm now at about 7 1/2 months, so the belly's growing every day!

Happy 4th of July

Don't you just love this holiday? It makes me really miss growing up in Spokane and heading out to the lake for fireworks. Today we'll be road-trippin' it to my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Keven's before we continue on to Oregon to visit my parents for about a week. We should see tons of fireworks on the drive to Lancaster tonight.

Here's one of my favorite patriotic moments; I bet a lot of you remember this too. I just love how she makes us believe that she's singing full out, when really she is being so reserved in the beginning. Then "And the rocket's red glare" comes and she starts really belting it out, with a knowing smile after the line. Love it. Do you have a favorite patriotic moment, or a favorite song for the 4th of July? If so, what it is?

Camping Trip To Lake Arrowhead, Part Two

In keeping with my love for cooking, we planned a great menu for our trip:

Light Arrival Dinner:

Cheesy Campfire Dip with Veggies and Grilled Garlic Baguette Slices (in the family cookbook)

Breakfast:

Aunt Cindy's Ziploc Omlettes (yes, it really works), Toast, French Pressed Coffee and OJ

Dinner:

Burgers with Crockpot Peach Cobbler for Dessert

The party planner in me is coming out, and I'm going to try to organize a first annual "Camping Cook-Off" competition-slash-fun getaway weekend with friends.  Everyone would get assigned a different meal, and then we'd judge them on creativity, taste and presentation.  The winner will get a goudy trophy and bragging rights for the next year, and all of us will get to enjoy a fun weekend with good friends and great food.  Sounds like fun to me!  It's just an idea right now, but I hope it works out for August!!

Camping Trip To Lake Arrowhead, Part One

A few weeks ago, the whole fam packed up the truck and headed to beautiful Lake Arrowhead for a couple days of camping.  Dallas saw us packing up, and wanted to make certain that we didn't leave her behind:

Rolland was able to get three days off during the week to go.  It worked out perfectly since by avoiding the weekend rush, the normally full-to-capacity campsite was relatively empty.

The next day we headed out to Lake Gregory for the day.

Bo especially enjoyed the lake:

 We also made a GREAT camping menu... but that's another blog post I'll save for "Camping Trip To Lake Arrowhead, Part Two"!

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day is the special day in which the entire nations says to its fathers, "Thank you for all the important contributions you are making."  Thanks to all the wonderful Dads in our lives!  Check out some of our favorite posts from the Inspiration Page on some pretty remarkable fathers, you won't regret taking the time:

Dick & Rick Hoyt

Patrick Henry Hughes

Happy Birthday Peggy!

Today is my lovely Mother-In-Law's birthday, and does she ever look great!

She said on Facebook that her co-worker's were helping her count down the days!

Wishing you all great things in this upcoming year, and hope this day will bring you an extra share of all that makes you happiest.

Updates From April: Stagecoach

Rolland and I LOVE when Stagecoach, a country music festival held just a couple blocks from our house at the Empire Polo Field, rolls into town.  Stagecoach rolls through town right after Coachella Fest with a killer line-up of country super stars, and we always have a great time.  This year we went on Sunday, thanks once again to the backstage passes we got from Chris and Janelle (thanks guys!).

We tailgated in the back of the Chevy during Heidi Newfield:

...then headed in for Jason Aldean.  As we were walking in, he played one of our FAVORITE songs, Big Green Tracker. 

I have been loving the song's lyrics because of late Rolland and I have been cutting out the fancy vacations and pricey dinners in an attempt to keep it simpler.  I love the lyric, "as long as I'm with you, it really don't matter." (Love my husband if you can't tell.)  I love She's Country too.

We spent some time backstage...

 

I was so excited about getting to see country icons Brooks & Dunn, who are retiring this year. 

If you are a country fan, make sure to tune into CBS for their "Last Rodeo" tribute concert tonight.  Towards the end of the night we made our way into the crowd to see from the front...

The night ended with Toby Keith.  We love country and we LOVE STAGECOACH!!

Happy Birthday Jeanette!

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday, so I asked Rolland to write a couple sentences for the blog on why she is so special.  Here's what he wrote:

"She is ALWAYS there for me and loves me no matter what. She is

selfless. I mostly appreciate my mom's unwavering faith in me."

Happy Birthday from us, Jeanette! 

We hope you have a GREAT day and an even better year.

 

My first Coachella Fest

Coachella Fest is a music festival held at the Empire Polo Club only a couple miles from our house with attendance of upwards of 75,000 a day.

  I know when it's coming each year without looking at a calendar because our small town traffic instantly turns to a bothersome standstill and the person in front of you is driving a car with "COACHELLA OR BUST" written on the windows...

plus Jay-Z is making the windows of our house vibrate, which is keeping me up:

This is the one thing that I have never been able to get tickets for, as it's just too popular.  Rolland has never wanted to go, saying it's just too "out there" for him.  I don't know what he means???

So this year, thanks to Janelle (who is soley responsible for all the good tickets I've been getting of late), I finally got my chance!

Janelle had VIP backstage passes, and I have never seen so many celebrities in my life.  It was very exciting.  We saw around 15 in total, included Kate Hudson, Ann Hathaway, Abbie Cornish (the girl that plays Christie Roberts, the blonde American, in one of our favorite movies A Good Year), Kate Bosworth:

Plus the very cute Desperate Housewives actor Jesse Metcalf:

We had a VERY fun time!

Congratulations to Monique!!

Mo sent a text after saying, "Hard work does pay off..." Does it ever... what an accomplishment!

Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike



Gymnastics Videos on Gymnastike

Nike Women's Marathon: PART THREE

  There is something to be said for accomplishing a goal that really makes you stretch, reach past your limits and discover through some sweat and hard work what you're really made of.  There aren't so many opportunities in life to really see what you have inside you when you dig deep.  And I believe that for me, the times I have really grown the most is when I am, frankly, in over-my-head.

But I believe He's blessed us all with more strength than we can even know, and the only way to start to get in touch with that is to occasionally go past our self-imposed limits.

So my motivation for entering this lottery is that I want to see what I can do when I go past what is comfortable and to what is possible. 

And yes, Mom and Grandma, I will buy a new pair of running shoes.

“Anything is possible if a person believes.”

- Mark 9:23 (NLT)

Nike Women's Marathon: PART TWO

Oh Mariah.  You know me all too well.  There we were, sitting at lunch a few weeks ago during my Arizona visit when it came up.  A half marathon.  See cough, cough, hold back sarcasm and nod in agreement from previous post.  Mariah was instantly on to me.  Having been my friend for many years, she instantly sensed my push back.

She though for a second, stewing, and then said something like, "You know we could try to do the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco.  But there's a lottery to get in, you know..."

She paused, and knew she had me.  Then, the 10 little words that changed everything:

"...because they give you a Tiffany's necklace at the finish."

I smiled.  Well played Mariah.  Well played.  "Actually..." I broke out laughing, "I'm pretty sure now that I think about it that I actually CAN do it after all!"

And that's how it started.  We entered the lottery last Monday, and if we are lucky enough to be choosen in the random drawing, we will join 20,000 other ladies through Union Square to raise funds and awareness for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

There is a big expo around Union Square before, rumored to have massages and manicures abound.  The race itself is said to be challenging but scenic, with lots of fun entertainment and encouragement, alongside women-centered stations such as "The Chocolate Mile" where you're given free chocolate from Godiva.  Twist my arm.  I can run up a hill for some chocolate.

The race is obviously targeted towards the ladies

but the guy's aren't left out.  It's said to be about 80/20 women to men. 

And if you make it through you get a custom-designed Tiffany's finisher necklace:

Tiffany's signature little blue boxes are stacked on silver platters and hunky Firefighters in tuxedos hand you your necklace upon crossing the finish line.

 

It will take awhile to see if we even get it, but for the first time, I am pretty darn excited about a very, very long run.  And by excited I mean terrified, but in an excited way.

It also helps that it's for a good cause.

So in the end it's the blue box that got me to sign up, but it's not my only motivation.  I'll talk about that in my next blog entry.  Keep an eye out for my next post, Nike Women's Marathon: PART THREE.  Until then, thanks for reading.

Nike Women's Marathon: PART ONE

Wow, what a scary post.  Never in a million years would I believe that I would so much as whisper the word M-A-R-A-T-H-O-N.  OK, well it's a half marathon.  But let's face it, half of 26 miles is still no simple task.  That's right friends and families, Mariah has triumphed. 

When she signed up for her first marathon in Carlsbad, she tried to hook me in to the torment that is distance running with her to no avail.  Undeterred, she trained and finished HER first half marathon:

Now don't get me wrong, I like to run.  In the same way I like broccoli.  Not a yummy cheese and broccoli casserole or something exciting like that.  I'm talking about when you steam broccoli, add no butter or salt and fill half your plate with the stuff because you know it's good for you.  Similarly, I know running is good for me.  I pretty much get my cardio out of the way like I choke down my broccoli: it's not really that bad and afterward I feel really great about myself. 

The thing is, sports normally come pretty easy for me.  Running has just never felt easy like the other sports, quite the opposite.  I remember going out for every sport as a youngster - baseball, soccer, gymnastics, tennis and LOVING it.  But I still remember the day in fourth grade my friends talked me in to trying out for the cross country team.  I went the first day and about half way through I wanted to fall over and take a nap, told my friends they were out of their minds and vowed to never return again. 

Now at 30, my total distain of running has subsided to a much more tolerable mild distain for running.  I've also noticed that my positivity towards running seems to rise in exact proportion to the falling rate of my adult metabolism.  Nothing gets you feeling healthier, faster than running if you do it safely.  Every women I see who is in great shape inevitably spits out the same story:  "I love to run!  Ohhh, you have to start doing marathons.  They're the BEST, you'll love them!!"  Cough, cough, choke back sarcasm, smile and nod in agreement.  Truth is, I want to be like these women.  But it is major work for me.  Mariah, never one to turn away from challenge, is always there to keep me motivated, as evidence by the contents of a package sent from her back in December: 

  

I've tried to tell Mariah gently that the whole half-marathon thing is definitely a dream goal, but that I just can't imagine any thing, not a-n-y thing that could get me to shuffle 13.1 miles to a finish line.

I couldn't imagine any thing that could convince me to shuffle 13.1 miles to a finish line. 

But Mariah could.

Stay tuned for the next post entitled Nike Women's Marathon: PART TWO.

And don't cheat by googling it!

Fashion Week and BNP Paribas Open

March is the MOST beautiful month, and to top it off, there is tons to do this time of year in the desert.  Being locals, we tend to get lots of complimentary tickets to events through work or friends, so attending some of the popular spring events is becoming a tradition.

March 18th we hit the BNP Paribas Open on Rolland's day off.  It was a pretty warm day in the 80s, so we lathered on the sunscreen and soaked in some rays at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden .  Having been to this event each year, you would think that I would have learned a thing or two about tennis, but you would be WRONG!  This year, however, Rolland took some time to explain the rules to me so I was able to follow the quarterfinals between Ljubicic and Monaco.  We had a great time hanging out!

Then on March 24th my friend Janelle had a couple tickets to El Paseo Fashion Week.  We met up with her friends ahead of time at the cutest little patio restaurant inside La Quinta Resort called Twenty6.  It was quaint and picturesque, a little hidden gem that not a lot of locals seem to know about.  I've already taken Rolland there since and I can see it becoming one of our favorite hangouts for a quick bite.  Next stop was to another place I'd never been, a little wine bar call Enoteca inside of Mama's Gina's.  We split a beet salad which was great, and cheap!  Our concierge at Marriott used to rave about the food at Mama Gina's, but I had always thought it was super pricey and only for the most special of occasions. I had no idea they had such great priced bar food during their ALL day happy hour seven days a week.  Another great spot!  After that, it was around the corner to the Fashion Week tent where we watched a few designer's present fashion from "around-the-world" (the theme of the evening).  Fun night, a big thanks to Janelle!

Updates From March: Arizona

March started with a trip to Arizona to be with Grandma during her recent surgery.  Despite being there for something other than just fun, I still ended up having a great visit.  On Monday, Grandma took me out to Mexican with some of my Grandpa Vehling's twin relatives, Bill and Bob Franklin, who I've never met.  They were great fun and shared some amusing stories that left me smiling.  Poor Grandma was under doctors orders to not eat a thing, so she had to watch while we all chowed down on chips and salsa and Margaritas.  I let you in on a little secret though, she did sneak in one glass of wine, assuring us it was ok since she was allowed to have "clear liquids"!

As most of our family already knows, Grandma was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer in the summer of 2008, a scary time for us all.  One of the reliefs we had was her doctor, Dr. Roberts, who is simply stated one of God's finest.  He spent so much time with her and with the family, explaining her next steps and taking time above and beyond the norm (especially now-a-days) to answer our questions.  To make him even extra special in our eyes, my Grandma underwent kidney surgery to remove the tumor under Dr. Roberts' hand and is now completely cancer free.  As we waited in Pre-Op for this surgery, we noticed Dr. Roberts (who was not involved in this situation) walk in to the waiting room and address his surgery-patient's family with the same care and personability he showed towards us.  Amazingly, after he finished debriefing the family across the way, he walked over, sat next to Grandma and asked by name, "Now Pat, why are you here today?  Everything ok?"  I was FLOORED that this doctor remembered my Grandma by name.  He even remembered me as her granddaughter and that I had worked in hospitality.  Now if we could all do our jobs that well, and treat each other with such kindness, the world would be such a great place.  In the meantime, I'll stand in awe of Dr. Roberts and try to learn from his example.

The doctors and nurses laughed as Grandma reminded them that she would also be needing a tummy tuck, with a wink.  Anita also aiding in lightening the mood when she brought this book into the back room for group discussion: 

The doctors did mention that Grandma's colon resection surgery would result in a loss of 10-15 pounds.  There were no takers to switch places with her.  The surgery was very successful, and in typical Grandma fashion, she is recovering well and already bored of being ordered to sit around and do nothing.

While out in Arizona I was also able to see former bridesmaid Mariah, who is going to be getting a special shout-out next week on the blog. 

I also had a quick chance to stop by North Valley Gymnastics, where I got to see some old coaching friends and even bumped into some gymnasts I used to coach. Last stop for this trip was Oasis Gymnastics, where I was thrilled to see Janine Thompson, a role model of a coach and owner who taught me just about everything I know about gymnastics during my first year at Flames, and Bekah Gher, another favorite gymnast of the past who now trains with Janine and will be attending Boise State next year.

Bekah was our first kid to make a TOPs National Team, was a Region 1 team member at Level 9 Nationals and was in the first group we had that tested Elite, I believe all by about 13 years old:

  

Boise State is coached by Patty and Neil Resnick.  I am so excited for Bekah to get to train under my gymnastics mentor and all-time favorite coach, Patty Resnick.  She is simply the best.  Congrats to Bekah, and to Oasis for getting her there!

Big Bear Ski Trip

Last weekend, Rolland and I were happy to be invited to Big Bear, about an hour and a half away, for our good friend Nick's big 3-0 ski trip and birthday weekend.  There were three couples in total, and they found a cozy little cabin to stay at called Gypsies In The Palace:

  The first day, all the beginner skiers (including Rolland) hit the slopes and did a great job staying mostly upright.  I, however, took a couple nasty tumbles after I tried my hand at the beginner rail, similar to this one:

After I jumped sideways onto the rail, my feet swept out from under me and the side of my hamstring landed right on the metal edge.  It hurt pretty bad, which I quickly contributed to wimpiness due in part to my recent 30th birthday.  I told myself that I am not that old, and should be able to handle a little fall.  So I did it again.  Same result, but with a pretty good reaction from the nearby chair lift riders.  Think the reaction made after a bad fall while watching America's Funniest Home Videos.  Third time was a charm, but the first two falls were enough to leave an 5" in diameter black-and-blue reminder that I'm not as young as I used to be.  Ouch!

  Day two, Rolland and I went up with Nick and Brett.  Rolland skied a half day, did great and then promptly hit the lodge to hang out while we finished out the day.  Day three was just the die-hards - Me, Brett and Nick. 

We skied a powder-filled half day, ending with a really fun unmarked run down the mountain through the trees.  The whole group finished out the trip at a downtown Big Bear Mexican restaurant and talked about how it was such a GREAT weekend before heading back from the snow to our 70 degree weather and palm trees.  What an enjoyable time! Be sure to check out all the pictures from the trip. Thank you Nick and Jessica!!