Saturday, March 30, 2013

Wilson Phillips - My sister is the best gift giver...

So as you may recall, last year my dear sister gave me Bret Michaels tickets for his show in Shawnee which is where I discovered you could pay to meet him, which led to my incredible night with Bret last summer that included a smooch with the hot old rockstar.  Thank you sister for fully igniting the Bret flame.  My husband loves that I am obsessed with another man.  Moving on, this year Marissa sends me a text message that my Friday night is hers.  Followed by a clue the day before my birthday:  "5 ladies. 1 short, 1 blonde, 1 fat, 1 tall, 1 with a big smile.  You will have to hold on for more day for the final clue."  At first read, stumped.  Second read, "hold on for one more day"...OMG WILSON PHILLIPS!!!  5 ladies... blonde, fat, tall = WP, short is me, and big smile is my gorgeous sister excited by giving me this surprise!!  I figured it out and was BEYOND pumped.  But I had no idea what was in store for me...


Back story:  my sister reminded me last night of how my mom used to put the Wilson Phillips cd in when we were young, and we would clean house to it.  Belting the lyrics to "Impulsive", "Release Me", and most importantly "Hold On."  The 3 of us love them.  Somehow I am the lucky one and ended up with the cd... probably stole it when I started driving.  In case you need a reminder, the cover looks like this.


Freakin' awesome.  They don't look like this anymore... well, awkward Wendy is still pretty hot, as you'll see soon wearing a sheer shirt after giving birth to 4 kids!  Chyna has long hair and traded in the ripped jeans for some shiny leather pants.  Carnie, as we all know, has lots of ups and downs with her weight and after getting a round of applause for how good she looked, proceeded to moon us with her pink panties and black hose within the first 5 minutes of the show.  What the heck?  This night is going to be awesome.  So they may not look exactly the same, but they still sound the same - incredible.  Love their harmonies.  They sang their hits, their parents hits, and some covers, and talked in between songs  A LOT.  But we liked it.



Now to my favorite part.  "Do we have any ladies out there that would like to join us on stage for some dancing?!"  Ummm, Wilson Phillips, do you know me?!?!?  OF COURSE I WOULD.  My sister and I start obnoxiously shouting that it's my birthday and to pick me, but then all these women start rushing the stage.  Well shoot, I'm going too!!!!  I asked Marissa to come with me.  Her response:  "No, I have to record you!"  Well, duh.  So as the ladies are congregating at the bottom of the stage, letting Chyna give them a hand to climb up, I bypass the large group and head to the other side of the stage where no one is yet and secure prime dancing area.  "Dancing Queen" is the song, and I got a taste of my past-performer-dreams and loved. every. minute.  See me in action!  I'm the one doing more than a step clap.  Well, some of the time.  I get really good about 30 seconds in. Ha!


So while I'm having the time of my life during "Dancing Queen", Carnie looks over at one point and we make eye contact.  She winks at me, I wink back, and keep dancing.  Fast forward to the end of the song and here comes Carnie.  She passes right by me and I'm thinking it's time for us all to get off the stage.  Boy was I mistaken!  She grabs a tambourine, gives it to me with a big smile, and stands next to me.  OMG.  I AM ON STAGE WITH A TAMBOURINE AT A WILSON PHILLIPS CONCERT.  See for yourself.



On cloud 9.  For sure.  I wait while others say hello to Carnie to give her back the tambourine and she says "Thank you!  That was so much fun!" to which I probably muffled my words but thanked her, told her I loved her, and told her I love watching her on The Talk (CBS daytime talk show that she guest hosts sometimes...for all of you non-work-at-home moms out there).  She said "awww thank you so much!  I love it over there, great people!"  Walking off stage, I don't think my smile could have been any bigger.  That was freaking amazing.

Marissa and I have an "omg that was the coolest thing ever" moment before I head to the bathroom.  Standing in line for the bathroom, a woman says "oh my gosh I saw you up there with a tambourine (imitating me hitting it on my hip) and you were awesome!"  Why, thanks lady my mom's age in the bathroom at a Wilson Phillips concert!  Also when we were walking out after the concert was over, this older man stops me and says "You looked like you were having a blast up there!  Really fun to watch!"  I am officially a Wilson Phillips concert celebrity.  Thank you very much.

I'll conclude this post with some awesome WP harmonies in "Release Me" and my sis and I belting out the best song of the night, "Hold On."  Also proof of why my performer-dreams were that of only becoming a back-up dancer at the very best.



What a fun night.  Incredible.  I love you Marissa!!!!  Thank you so much for making #27 one of the most memorable birthdays ever!!!!!!!

Birthdays are Better with Haven!

My birthday was on Thursday and I didn't have any big plans for the day itself.  End of the year pom banquet that night (so fun and emotional as always!), but nothing to do during the day.  So I decided to take Haven to LaFortune Park for a morning at the playground!  You'd think this is more of a gift to her, but I had such a blast watching her have so much fun.  She was fearless, going up to one of the tallest slides by herself and going down with no hesitation.  She ran up and down the ramp, climbed through tunnels, rode the little horse, and went down lots of different "ta-das" (slides) - all with a huge smile on her face and lots of giggles!  I got lots of kisses too which I like to think was because of my birthday, but I think it was a thank you for the park morning! :)  We had starbucks birthday cake pops (my favorite!) on the car ride home and she helped mix some cupcake batter before naptime.  Moral of the story:  birthdays pre-Haven were kinda boring, but now I'll always have the best company to celebrate my special day!  Thanks baby girl!








All those smiles but I couldn't get a posed one!  Ha!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Spring Break: Sedona, AZ - The Last Part!

We were pretty exhausted from that hike and different people started going home over the next couple days, so we did some low-key activities - more scenic views from the chapel on the hill and some shopping and eating in town.  Russell and I managed to do some exploring of our own while Grandma and Poppy babysat for us as well.  Haven finally adjusted to the 2 hour time difference for the last couple days and then it was time to come home! Ha!  Oh well, we had a blast!!!  Thanks again to Grandma and Poppy for such a wonderful trip!!!


Inside the chapel


A bunch of tries, but we got 1 cheese!



A little xylophone action in town!

"Gammaw comin?!" - Phrase of the trip!



Her reaction to tasting a lemon! ha!


Where's Waldo?  I mean, Russell?


My daredevil husband...sigh.



Spring Break: Sedona, AZ Part 3

Lots of parts to these Spring Break posts!  The next day we went on a hike to something called the Devil's Bridge.  You'll see why it's called that down below.  The kids went with us and did really well!  Once it started getting steep, Haven stayed back with Poppy and ended up taking a nap on their walk back to the car. :)  The rest of us (including sweet Garner passed out on Uncle Ben's back - troopers, both of them!) made our way to the Devil's Bridge and enjoyed some magnificent views along the way!

I love her so much.  Cheese!

Coming towards me for a hug...so happy to be outside!

Now that's how you hike!



Pistols Firing!!!  Out of nowhere she started doing it.  Again, love her.

Getting tired!


Grandma's a champ.

As you may notice, I never really lead the way. Ha!

So pretty!  Not there yet though!




A quick break and he decides to rock climb...

And finally the Devil's Bridge!  I was uneasy about it, but it wasn't so bad!

We made it out alive! :)



Spring Break: Sedona, AZ Part 2

The next day was golf!  I wasn't going to play, but swung the club a few times at the driving range before we started and impressed myself!  Ha!  Maybe I'll play next time. :)  But the weather was gorgeous, the scenery fantastic, and I enjoyed the time with my hubby and the fam!