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!!

Rolland's 30th Birthday Surprise Party

Well, after a lot of planning and sneaking around, we pulled it off! It started pre-Christmas with the ordering of the invitations. The day they needed to go out, I had the addressed envelopes still wet with ink, the hot glue gun sitting on the kitchen counter from gluing corks, the invites stacked and cut up pieces of ribbon all over the office when Rolland caught me off-guard by coming home from work about three hours early. In a panic, I signaled to Jeanette (his visiting mom) by crossing my eyes and mouthing "help" while simultaneously saying cheerfully, "Rolland's home early! What a nice surprise!" Jeanette keep him occupied with chit-chat while I piled everything into a small box and walk/ran it into the guest room. When he asked me what in the world I was doing with a hot-glue gun, I quickly picked up a broken magnet from the drawer and with a smile said, "Just putting this back together dear." Now for those of you who know me well, telling even the smallest of white lies is not my forte. Rolland later said he thinks after this I'm a better liar than we previously knew.  Ha!  Here are the invites to the party, info was attached to the back with the ribbon: 

The day of his big 3-0, the birthday boy, Chuck, Jeanette and I headed down to El Paseo.  His mom had helped lure him there several days earlier by telling him she'd like to go back to "that little place" where we had taken them a couple years back (The Daily Grill, since out-of-business).  In truth, we wanted to get him to beautiful little Cafe Des Beaux-Arts on El Paseo which has a great patio perfect for surprising him.  So I waited until we were at the point of no return, then got on the iphone and made the phony call to the non-existant Daily Grill.  I broke the news that we'd have to go somewhere else to a now irritated Rolland, who answered under his breath, "Why did this not get planned better before we walked out the door?"  I laughed inside... if only he knew!  We enjoyed a lovely breakfast out on the patio at Cafe Des Beaux-Arts, which Rolland picked after we "happened upon it":

 Since the staff was in on the surprise, they did a great job of turning their usual impeccably quick service into a looooong leisurely meal.  As we were waiting on the check, the Grapeline shuttle bus (see picture below)

pulled up next to the patio on El Paseo, horns-a-blaring, and out ran 10 of our closest friends, hooting and hollering, "Surprise!" and clapping away. The whole restaurant stopped and joined in on a round of "Happy Birthday" to an absolutely stunned Rolland.  Mission accomplished!

Off we went on the bus to the Temecula wine country.  We started at Weins, followed by a nice private lunch at Wilson Creek where they even brought out a little birthday cake.  We ended the day at picturesque Falkner Winery followed by our last stop at laid-back Longshadow Ranch, known for their cool chocolate cowboy boots filled with port. 

I'm so grateful to Davis and Becca from Brightwood Photography for spending all day with our rollicking crowd of aficionados (slash winos). They did a great job of capturing the day.  You can check out all the images under our pictures, but here are some of our favorites from the day:

Weekend in Vegas

Rolland and I spent this last weekend in Vegas, and it was our first trip there together. We stayed a little off the beaten path at the Silverton, which is attached to Rolland's favorite place, Bass Pro Shop. I don't think Rolland was too thrilled when our first stop was shopping for me, but soon enough we were out having fun. It was a nice change of pace to get dressed up and go to Tryst at the Wynn on Friday night. I definitely can't remember the last time we've even been out past midnight, so it was nice to get to spend some time together, boggie down on the dance floor and get to experience the excitement of the strip at night. To sit down, you had to buy a bottle at a minimum price tag of $495, and my feet were killing me in my 5" heels. At one point, I disappeared to the bathroom were I sat down for at least 5 minutes. I was up early the next day for a great Region 1 gymnastics clinic that lasted most of the day. We spent the next night in the room with room service and the Michigan game (which they lost in OT). The next day was more clinic, and then we stopped at the seafood buffet at the Rio before making the 4 hour treck home.