Congratulations!

If you are reading this than you are one of a select few.  Yippee!  Now didn't that make you feel special?!  Going private with my blog has been a tough decision.  I've honestly gone back & forth for close to a year.  Ultimately it came down to this; I want to be able to continue to blog all of our moments, with places, names, dates, etc. & feel comfortable/safe doing so.  And really this, as I've stated before, is for me & my family.  It's a sort of family journal & I want to be able to freely share & blog.  It's therapeutic .....sometimes!

BCS Championship

If you read a few posts back then you know that Judd & I were headed to Arizona for the BCS Championship game.  Ducks vs. Auburn.  If you are alive & breathing you know the Ducks didn't win.  But I would be ungrateful if I said that a Ducks win would have made the trip any more incredible.  Honestly it was fabulous!  Just Judd & I, awesome seats, great tailgating, beautiful weather.  It was a wonderful trip despite the Ducks loss.  We still love our Ducks & the opportunity to have done this trip.

Sunday

We got into Phoenix around 5ish, got our rental car (all they had left were minivans & trucks.  Yep, we drove a truck for the weekend.  A no brainer.)  Our flight was full of people heading to the game.  It was lots of fun to chat with people, hear their story on how they got their tickets, who will win the game & why, etc.  On our way to our hotel we drove by the Cardinal Stadium & decided to take a quick detour & check it out.

 This is an outdoor mall across the street from the stadium. 

 A true country hang out.  We went back by this place after the game & watched a few people ride a mechanical bull.

A huge water fountain was in the middle.

We then headed to our hotel.  We stayed at Cibola Vista in Peoria, about 20 minutes north of the stadium.

Our room had a full kitchen; fridge, microwave, dishwasher.  It was a really nice place, I would definitely stay there again.  Not that I ever will....you never know.

After dropping off luggage we headed out for some dinner.  Judd & his great driving skills somehow navigated us to an In-N-Out.  We had a wonderful conversation with some snow birds/part-timers.  They live in Massachusetts April-October then head to Glendale, AZ from October-April.  It got Judd & I thinking......we could be snowbirds once all the kids are off.  Hmmmm.

Monday

We left our room by 11 am.  We found a not too shabby parking spot for $30.  I was flabbergasted, Judd said that's a normal college game price.  OK.  We had tickets to an ESPN tailgating party that started @ 12:30. 

 This was back over at the outdoor mall.

 The tailgating party was about a 20 minute walk across the huge parking lot.

We passed the marching band that was headed into a tailgating party.

Here's the ESPN tent.  They had free food, drinks, candy.  And lots of comfy couches & tables to sit at.  Of course there were about 50 flat screens in that tent all with the pregame show on.

This was the highlight of the tailgating party for us.  This is Ty Burrel.  He plays Phil on Modern Family.  We were SO excited to see him!  He was very quiet & soft spoken.  Very nice guy!  A funny story with this picture.....After I took this picture & we were walking away Judd said "That is so cool!  I love that guy!"  There were a group of 4 guys standing right there & one of them asked if we knew who this guy was (as he pointed).  We had to say "No".  Nothing like staring at a guy who apparently is also a TV star & have to basically say I don't know who you are, dude.  Judd finally asked me to take a picture of the two of them (only because he felt bad).  I have the pic but frankly don't know who this guy is.  He is on lucky number 7 & some other show.  I kind of felt bad, but I was still so excited to see Ty Burrel that I really didn't care.

Inside the tent

The cool yellow & green M & M's with ESPN written on the yellow ones.  Very fun & festive!

On our way to our seat we found the Ducks semi & all the news vans.

 Heading down to our seats

 In our seats

 LaMichael James

 Getting all fired up

I think this is really the only time we sat during the game.

The stadium was SO loud.  We only sat for a few seconds every time they would take a time out & sometimes not even then.  We had 2 guys behind us that were Duck fans & the 2 guys next to Judd were Duck fans.  But Auburn fans were right next to me & in front of us.  They were all very nice people but I honestly have never seen so many RL polo & button up shirts, khaki pants, dresses (yes there were southern bells in dresses) & sweater vests/sets for men & women.  I have a picture on my cell phone of an older man in khaki's where one leg was orange & the other was navy.  And I saw several pairs of orange RL pants.  Eek!  Those southern folk are very formal dressers.  Aside from the tacky RL pants.

This was on one of the parking garages on our way out of the game.

Tuesday

We left our room at 11 am & decided since we had a few hours to be to the airport that we would drive around & check things out.  Thanks to our iphones we navigated very easily.  We took 101 across & down to Scottsdale.  Then past the ASU stadium

It's built in between these two rocks.  Very cool!

We then headed to the Mesa Temple.

 I was fascinated with all their citrus trees on the temple grounds.  They had orange, grapefruit, lemon & kumquat trees.  We chatted with one of the landscapers about the citrus trees & he told us to pick some fruit.  He said people do all the time & they actually encourage it so it doesn't go to waste.  We each picked an orange & that was the best orange, honestly.

 Me

 Judd

Another view of a beautiful temple on a beautiful day!

We then headed to Claim Jumper for lunch then back to the airport to head home.  On our flight home the guys who started & sing "I Love My Ducks" were on our flight.  They sang one line of "I Love My Ducks" over the PA.  They were both very hoarse & could hardly talk let alone sing.  If you don't know what I'm talking about they're on youtube.com.  Judd has a pic on his cell phone I need to download.  One of them was sitting right behind me so once we knew who he was & after his singing he told us that because of this whole "I Love My Ducks" thing his college has been paid for.  He & the other guy he was with both graduated last spring but continue to get asked back to pump up the parties & pep rallies.  He said they get $2 for every shirt that sells.  That doesn't even count the commercials or other items sold with the "I Love My Ducks" logo.  They told us that it all started as a class assignment. I told him I hope they got an "A", he just laughed.  Very cool guys!

What a fabulous trip!!

New Year's

The last few years we have rented a house in Mossy Rock, WA & spent New Year's Eve & New Year's Day (& a few other days too) with my side of the family.  Last year Danielle & Ryan were unable to make it & this year Chelsea & Adam were the ones not able to make the trip.  We don't plan on much.  Just eating, playing games, doing puzzles & hangin' out.  It was lots of fun this year!

 We love the garage full of games to entertain the kids

 Here are 9 of the 11 kids ready for dessert

 I asked for silly faces & this is what I got

 This would be a typical moment around the table.  Dad & I are doing a puzzle, Haley & Brett are building a helicopter & Mom is putting together her new day planner (I think).  And that would be Ryan exiting the table.

 This is also a frequent moment

 Adalyn, Grandpa & Cade

 I have no idea what these kids were up to.  Tyson, Savannah & Haley

 I love how Adalyn is looking at Savannah

 This part of the counter was the cereal/snack section.  This is where Luke lived.

 Matthew & Grandpa on our bun freezing walk

 The view on the walk was pretty but it was sooooo cold!

Here are the kiddos singing us songs.  If I remember right it was Christmas songs.

It never hurts to ask

About a month ago Judd was in Seattle for a meeting.  One of the VP's had flown in to speak.  After the meeting Judd approached him & asked if he could get Judd 2 tickets to the BCS game.  Allstate is one of the big sponsors.  He told him he could see what he would do & took Judd's business card.  Far fetched, right?  Judd had also asked one of the regional managers a few weeks before that time knowing that Allstate does get tickets.  He also said he'd see what he could do.

Time passes & the regional guy told him he was getting 2 tickets.  But the condition was that he (Judd) & his wife (Me) were going.  Judd was not to give these away, even to family.  Sure, yes, we're going.  He got a few more phone calls from some high up places with the same condition.  These were not to be sold or given away.  Judd & I were the 2 going.  Again, yes, we will be the ones going.  I was still a little skeptical that we would see these tickets.  But....... look what arrived via the FedEx man today

Not only are we going but we will be sitting section 110, row 14 seats 4 & 5.  We looked it up online.  Oh my goodness!!  We are 14 rows from the Ducks bench on the 40 (ish) yard line - AHHHHH!!!!   Judd is so excited I think he's wet his pants. 

Look, he's so happy he's doing one of those funny looking smile things.

On the tickets it says they are $325 a piece.  Judd looked at the row in front of us on stub hub & they were selling for $3700 a seat.  Holy cow!  No wonder Allstate wants to make sure we are going.  We could be making some fat cash if we sold them.  We are going to take a pic of us there & send it with a thank you card to that VP.  They also have a VIP card that came with them for the tailgating party at ESPN's VIP tent in the corporate village.  I have no idea what that means but I will be there!

So the flight is booked, hotel booked, rental car booked & the kiddos taken care of.  Now I just need a yellow Ducks shirt.  Quack, quack. 

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was a little weird.  We told the kids not to wake us up before 6:30.  The girls were by my bedside at 6:29.  I really didn't want to wake the boys so we took the girls down and let the boys sleep. 

 Haley got the ipod touch she has been BEGGING Santa for

Santa brought Savannah her American Girl "Julie"

I'm really glad we didn't wake the boys because they obviously needed some sleep.  Matthew got up at 8:30

Santa brought him this interactive dinosaur.  As Matthew was opening the legos the dinosaur started roaring at Matthew.  He didn't really know what to think, still a little sleepy.

Luke finally came down the stairs at 9:00 am.  SO glad I didn't get him up 2 1/2 hours earlier.

Santa brought him this very cool Buzz that talks & moves all around.

The kids bought/made gifts for each other. The bought gifts were Matthew getting Savannah a password journal & Luke got Matthew handcuffs.  He spent the majority of Christmas Day handcuffing everyone after labeling them a bad guy.  The others were made & it randomly turned out to be a year for blankets. 

Haley made Luke a Buzz fleece blanket

Savannah made Haley a fleece polka dot blanket.  And yes the girls did it ALL by themselves.  They had made these in Activity Days just a few months ago.

And I made Judd this Ohio State quilt that has been 2 years in the making.  He loves it even though he's holding it sideways in the pic.

I decided to forgo the traditional Christmas breakfast casserole.  No one was joining us for breakfast so Judd thought the kids would be fine with cereal.  I was a little sad. 

Luke was mad that I wanted him to have more than sugar for breakfast.  He's so cute when he's mad!

We were by ourselves hanging out until about 2.  My brother came for a quick 1 hour visit & then my Mom & Dad came over about 2:30.

We got a fun game called "Headbanz" from our friends the Allen's.  And it was such a fun game that I forgot to put the roast in the oven & we ended up eating our 5:30 dinner at 7:00.  My spacey-ness lately is really becoming concerning.   Judd's parents came over about 5:30.

 My Dad, Luke, Judd's Dad

We had a wonderful dinner of ham, prime rib roast, asparagus, baked potatoes, green salad & homemade rolls.  For dessert we had an angel food cake thing with cherries & pineapple - very yummy and a sour cream lemon pie from Peachtree - delicious!

 The kid table.  That's where I sat : )

The big kid table.

It was so nice to have my parents & Judd's parents over.  In our 12 years of marriage it has never been that exact situation & I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it!