Like It's My Birthday!!

Aly is such an amazing friend! She hosted my birthday party! Not only were we able to chill at her place after the concert, but she made some yummy brownies! Lots of ice cream, too!

We're Gonna Party...

A few more pictures of OneRepublic on stage.





We were at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Arizona.

It's My Birthday...

I wanted to do something memorable for my big birthday this year, so a group of us went to the OneRepublic concert.

From left to right, we have Grant, Emily, Andrea, Aly, and then me! The second picture feature's Aly's fiance, Thomas! Sorry, Aly, I had to post it...you're just going to have to work on trying to get him to pose more appropriately. :)

The concert opened with the Daylights and Josh Kelley. I found out I did know a song Josh Kelley sang..."Amazing." You can barely see him there with his guitar in the third picture. He was definitely entertaining with his genre of music...not necessarily my type, but fun nonetheless!

Then OneRepublic took the stage. At first, I questioned whether or not I'd like them, but then the music seemed to get better and better! He did a couple of cover songs. (One reminded me of Christi...He sang Rianna's "Umbrella," which was appropriate for the weather. Even a few audience members had props for the show!) Two of their songs are popular on the radio, "Apologize" and "Stop and Stare."

Thanks everyone for coming...it was such a fun night...even though it was tough to stand all evening!

Sorry about the pics, I still haven't been able to figure out how to work the camera in this type of lighting.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was such a fun day! I woke up and got to work, and my co-workers celebrated my birthday by decorating my cubicle and getting me an ice cream cake! It was so nice of them!

Then, after work, I met up with Aunt Margaret and Ariel for a Valentine's Day concert with the Dutton Family! It was a pleasant surprise to hear that Janet, my mom's cousin, was coming along!

Neither Janet nor I have never heard of the Dutton's, but they are well known in Branson, MO where they perform every summer. During the winter, they're back in Arizona entertaining everyone throughout the valley.
It was one high-energy, fun show! I would recommend it to anyone. The Dutton's are a big family with lots of talent. They even made it to the top 10 on America's Got Talent...a television show. They all play many instruments...with mainly a lot of fiddlin' going on! Since it was Valentine's day, all the ladies in the audience were given carnations to take home. That was sweet!

After the show, we went back to the Ricks' home for some ice cream and cookies. I found out Janet's trying to move back here from Idaho. Hopefully, she'll be able to get a job out here soon so she can be here with her family!

Girls Night Out

Last friday night, it was "Girls Night Out"!! Actually...one boy snuck in (Cassie and Jeanette's friend, Austin). We all went out to eat at a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant next to the movie theater...where we saw the movie, 27 Dresses. A highlight of my evening was gettting a student-priced ticket!! That's right! I'm back in school. I just started up a computer programming class called php. I know, I'm crazy! But, I only had to pay $7 at the movies!

Anyway, we all had a fun time being together and enjoying each other's company and watching a cute movie!

Super Tuesday

Since I am registered as a Republican, I had the chance to vote on Super Tuesday in Arizona! Check out the official sticker of completion!

I, personally, didn't have a candidate in mind who I really wanted to vote for in the 2008 Presidential Primaries. None of them sounded much better than the other. But, I wanted my vote to go down in history. I voted for a Mormon.

I had 3 main choices: 1. McCain, our Episcopalian AZ Senator, 2. Romney, a Mormon businessman, and 3. Huckabee, a Baptist pastor. Both Romney and Huckabee are former governors.

I had a strong gut feeling McCain would win Arizona's vote since he represents our state. I was right, later that evening, McCain won AZ.

Sadly, Romney dropped out of the race. At this rate it appears McCain will be the Republican candidate for the 2008 Presidential elections.

FYI: The democratic candidates have made this election more interesting. Clinton (a woman)and Obama (an African American man) are the choices.

Family Home Evening

Tonight we had such a fun FHE. We went to an assisted living place in Chandler to go play BINGO with the residents! I was able to be blessed to play along-side of Geneva Thornton (to my right in the pink) and Eunice (Euni) Pozycki (to my left).

This was the first time Euni had ever played BINGO. Can you believe that? Not only that, but she won the first BINGO round of the night! I felt the luck and told Geneva she would be next. Guess what?! She was! She won the second round! We were on fire!

They were a couple of funny women! I had so much fun getting to know them. They were feisty! Euni was so silly talking about all the young men...they've never seen so many good looking young men! She later told me that I should stick with this church group to find a man because they are better than those off the streets! I found out that Geneva was from St. Louis and Euni was born in Chicago but lived in Kansas City, Missouri. Yeah, we were all Missouri girls! I knew I felt a connection with them! Later on Geneva showed me her apartment and all her paintings. She is an amazing artist! I was so impressed! Both of them were so sweet and really appreciated our group coming out to visit.

Mia's First Gingerbread House

For my birthday, mom had gotten me this great gingerbread house kit. Of course the only person in the whole world I would want to have help me build it would be Mia! So the two of us worked hard to put it together before I had to take off back to Arizona. Mia did such a great job! After it was built, nana made sure she knew she could eat it up piece by piece!

Just for history's sake...February 3, 2008 was Superbowl Sunday. It was hosted in Glendale, Arizona. (I chose to get away for the weekend, but flew back when the Superbowl just started up.) My friend, Cassie, picked me up from the airport. The highway was so empty because of the game!! (It was so great!) Later on, we went to a Superbowl party comprising of a handful of fun girls! Never have I gone to watch football with all girls before. A first for everything! After the game, we got our groove on and learned a few dance moves! Lots of fun!

Cara's and My Birthday!

Since I was in Utah for Tanner's birthday (Thursday), we thought it would be appropriate to also celebrate our birthdays on Groundhog day (Saturday). By the way, I didn't hear if the groundhog saw his shadow or not. For the first year ever, I hope he did! (Since I'm living in Arizona!) On February 15, I will be turning 29 and February 18, Cara will be 28! Wow, we're definitely getting up there!

We went for the double doozie chocolate chip cookie cake from Sam's club. This was my first, and man was it sweet! I've never seen so much frosting! It was good, but next time I think a regular cookie cake would suffice.

Thanks for the wonderful birthday! I love my family so much! I'm so glad we were all together to celebrate birthdays and enjoy each other's company. Until next year!

Mia and Her Polar Bears

Meema and Grandpa not only spoiled Tanner for his 1st birthday, but Mia, too! She couldn't stop giggling the moment she heard the noises made by the momma polar bear to the baby polar bear. It sounds like they're kissing! So silly! Mia held on to her bears practically the whole time I was there visiting. What more could anyone ask for? Mia is one good hugger!

Tanner's 1st Birthday!

Tanner has officially turned 1! January 31st is his birthday. I was able to fly to Utah to celebrate! I'm so glad I was there for his big day!

Funny story: Cara and Mia had picked a Diego cake for Tanner's birthday. The cake was placed on the island in the kitchen until the party was to start. Graham stayed home from work and was down in the basement hanging doors. (We're finishing the basement.) He came up once while Cara and I were busy playing the Nintendo Wii and asked us where Mia was. Cara just assumed she was in her room playing. After a few minutes, Graham yelled for us to come and see what she was up to. Mia had pulled up her chair to the sink and had foamy soap all over the counter, sink, and her arms. I've never seen a little girl have so many bubbles all over the place! We thought that wasn't too bad of her to get into, but then Cara thought we should check the cake...Mia had stuck her fingers throughout the frosting of the cake! We looked back at her and saw that she had green/blue all around the perimeter of her mouth! That little squirt was trying to hide her evidence! How smart is she! I couldn't believe her...she was washing herself up after making a mess. If you want to check out the damage to the cake, Cara has it on her blog "Degns of our Lives." From that point on, the cake was placed on top of the refrigerator.

When it was time for the birthday party, Mia was a big help and blew out the candle. Tanner was a little hesitant at first getting into his cake. He started off just eating the frosting, particularly the orange trim (Again, you can view his personal smash cake on Cara's blog.). Once he had a bite of the chocolate cake, the rest was history! He had so much fun making a huge mess! Let's just say I was glad I wasn't the mommy that had to take care of this disaster!