The BehnkePack

TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT

2010-04-06T19:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, I have to admit - when Taylor Swift was coming to Denver I was pretty excited. She is Ellie's FAVORITE singer and I too am a big fan. So, good ole dad bought her tickets and put them in an Easter egg, nice! Which was perfect because we went 2 nights later. She didn't have to wait months and months and agonize over it, it was swift (no pun intended) and furious!!

We took a quick pic before heading out for dinner and a great night!

Ellie is not a rookie when it comes to concerts. She has seen Hannah Montana and The Jonas Brothers (with Taylor Swift) so I was a bit surprised that she was so anxious - she was so bugged that there were 2 other "mini concerts" before the main event. She kept saying "How come we have to watch these people, I thought we were here to see Taylor Swift?"

A new country band.....Gloriana and then Kelli Pickler from American Idol fame. They were both very good.

And then........Miss Taylor Swift...........

Can't believe my little Canon camera took such a great shot!

THEN.....she appeared in the audience and sang some songs and ended up behind us in a little stage, Ellie had a front row seat.....

THEN.....she got down and started hugging everyone - including Miss Ellie!!!! Ellie was out of her mind with excitement. Taylor even pointed at Ellie's hair and then her own - they were twins! SWEET!

And then.....it was over! But the memories will last a lifetime.

Thanks Dad for such great seats!!!!

AND, I have to say - I have a big girl crush on Taylor Swift!

LIZARDS!

2009-04-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

There really is something wrong with this sweet - blonde - blue eyed girlfriend wanting a lizard. She was so excited to take me to the REPTILE store that I didn't have the heart to tell her NO. I told her we would go on Saturday because I KNEW that Saturday was going to be a blizzard and there was no way we could drive up Broadway to the "good part of town" to check out reptiles.

Why a lizard? I keep asking Ellie that same question. She says because ever since Lambeau died she doesn't have anyone to talk to - I told her we have about 15 fish in the pond in the backyard she can talk to. That didn't suffice. She has done some rearranging in her room so she has a place to put her lizard aquarium. Yikes.

Hey guess what? The weatherman was 100% wrong - there was a light dusting that morning so it was yet another beautiful day in Coloardo to go lizard shopping! We started off at PetSmart but they had little rinky dink lizards, not the "fun ones". The "BEST" place for lizards is the Scales & Tails - wow, I couldn't wait. I blame Dan mostly for this excursion because Scales & Tails is right next door to Mikes Sportscards where Dan frequents and where he takes Ellie sometimes and of course they have to go next door to see all the reptiles that came in. I was totally suckered into this.

As we drive up Broadway towards downtown we pulled into the strip mall of Scales & Tails and let me tell you - the place was packed with people. We followed a car into the lot and as they got out I realized they too were going to Scales & Tails - all 3 burly guys with their black wife beaters on, their lowrider jean shorts adorned with tattoos and piercing - just the place for my sweet little Ellie. As we pulled in - Dan told us he would meet us inside - he was going to say HI to his friend Mike next door. Are you kidding me? Ellie and I went inside and she proceeded to show me all the snakes, monitors, igunanas, and lizards - this was NOTHING like shoe shopping! A woman was in there with her 2 children and each of them had phythons wrapped around their necks! Even the woman in her fur vest had a baby phython going down her shirt, around her neck and on her head - so very attractive! She proceeded to tell me that this one was her "baby" and she has a larger one at home that her Jack Russell Terrier needs to be worried about because eventually as it grows larger, it will try and eat it. Lovely! You know the phrase that you everyone you meet will always know something you don't know? I would say everyone at Scales & Tails knew a whole lot of things I never knew like, you only feed your pythons dead rats/mice because you don't want them to think it is OK to eat things that are living, like your kids!

Ellie had her sights on a black and gold lizard - Dan told her that if she still wanted the lizard on her 10th birthday - in June - we would consider it. Whew, I now have 2 months to talk her into something else..............like a piano!

Friends!

2009-04-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

PF Changs - Provo UT
Sherma Payne, Ferron Manwaring, Julie Clawson Manwaring, ME, Curtis Beelsey
Bart Payne, Brad Clawson and Pete & Carolyn Rossi
Curtis Beesley and his daugther Meredith

w/Julie Clawson Manwaring

Brad Clawson, Carolyn & Pete Rossi

Bart & Sherma Payne

I first intitled this "Old Friends" and then thought - maybe this wouldn't be the appropriate title but what do you call friends, some you haven't seen in 30 years? So, I skipped the "Old" and decided on just "Friends"!

While in Utah in March to have Brian's wisdom teeth removed, I was able to meet up with some friends from high school. So much fun.......some I have seen more recently, others it has been a very long time. Not to mention Bart Payne who was our seminary teacher and his wife Sherma showed up - what fun!

We laughed about fun things. Talked about politics, naturally and wondered if we should all run out and buy guns. (Guess you had to be there to appreciate the latter). It was hard to imagine that it had been decades since seeing Pete or Brad, wow!

Christmas 2008

2009-04-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

Christmas........I love everything about it. I love the colors, especially RED, I love the smells - cinnamon and pine, I love the decorations, the lights on the houses and trees and I especially love how people act around the holidays. I love to shop for the people I love and wrap the presents.... and I love how our house looks at Christmas time.

Each year we make chocolate turtles and deliver them to our neighbors. This can be a very daunting task but we prefected it this year. We generally need about 350-500 turtles and Ellie is a huge help. She arranges the pecans and I melt the caramel, the best caramel in town, and we do a mixture of light and dark chocolate. They are scrumptous! We wrap them in cellophane bags, tie ribbons and put a fun holiday greeting and Ellie and I set off in the cold the week of Christmas to deliver them. I have found that many of our neighbors hide them from their families and eat them all themselves! It is a fun tradition that we truly enjoy.

BEEEEESSSS

2008-11-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

Check it out.....Curtis Beesley!!!

He felt soooo bad for not coming to the reunion, he flew all the way over to Colorado just to see me. Well not exactly, he was in town for the BYU vs Air Force game and we met off the freeway as he and his son Carter were making their way back to the airport to return home.

We even had a brief chat with John Ballard on the phone - John and I both have freshman boys at BYU. Curtis has a daughter there too but she is a junior - it is just not cool to know ANY freshman boys so their paths would never cross.

BTW.......Happy Birthday Bees.....the big 49! Yikes, could we really be that old? Thank goodness he is waaaaay older than me! :)

I say another reunion needs to be in the works - I couldn't possibly wait another 10 years. It has been a great few month connecting with ole friends......I am game, does anyone want to plan something?

Arcadia Class Reunion of 1978

2008-10-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

It really doesn't seem possible that 30 years has passed since roaming the halls of Arcadia High School. However distant those days have become they all came flooding back when arriving in Arcadia on Friday, October 10th. It was sooo great to pull up to our hotel and see Liz and Susie out front (who by the way look like they could STILL be walking the halls of Arcadia, no way looking 30 years older!) for some "serious" shopping at the Arcadia Mall until we could barely walk.

Met up with Corrine for dinner and drinks at her parents house on Lemon Friday night. Talk about not aging in 30 years - Mary & O.C. have not changed one ounce since 1978! They are still the coolest parents and are so much fun to be around. We talked and laughed until our eyes were crossed! We were so tired but still managed to shout out names of classmates we haven't seen in 30 years while trying to fall asleep.

Saturday morning (bright and early) we had manicures and pedicures at Arcadia Nails - the biggest dive place - thought we were going somewhere completely different - not even massage chairs - my bad! However, I must say that my toes still look fab while my nail polish has been off since Sunday!

Check out the place - what a dive!!!

Green Street in Pasadena - Me, Mary, Susie, Corrine and Liz

Dianne Salads and Avocado Burgers....of course!

Back to our hotel room to get ready for the much anticipated reunion thinking how we could lose 20 lbs and a face full of wrinkles in 3 hours! Wrestling with our "spanks" to mask what we can and a tube of Youthology and we were set to go.

Cocktail party at Corrine's parents - what a great time and being able to chat with some old friends: Linda, Liz R, Chris & Mike, Sheri, Jill, Darren, Jeff, Jim N, Kelly, Ammaryl and Mark, Brad, dates and spouses - catching up, showing pictures of our kids and talking about old times - good and bad.

Mike & Chris, Linda & Jeff

Kelly, Corrine,is, Chris, Liz and Me

Jeff, Jim, Linda and Susie

Darren with Liz and Jim

Didn't we all grow up in Arcadia in the shadow of the racetrack? Then how come it took us 20 minues to find the front entrance of the Turf Club.....duh! So many good friends to meet up with: Kelli Collins (looking fab), Kelli Paulas, Dave Gex, Dave Garey, Jim Riley, Ron Cummings, Janet Petty, Chris C, Sue J, Lori R, Tammy S, Kim C, - some were even grandparents, can hardly believe that one! WHAT A BLAST!

Susie, Corrine, Me, Liz, Mary & Linda

Liz, Kelli, Sheri, Me and Corrine

Me and Ron

Liz, Chris and Mary

Sunday morning was a trip to Arcadia High School, it sure seemed smaller than I remembered!

On my flight back to Denver I couldn't help but think of all of those who were not there and will it really be another 10 years before we all hook up again? Let's hope not!

The arrival and the "room"!

2008-09-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

When we walked into Brian's dorm room - he just said: "wow" - we tried to prepare him about how small it would actually be but I don't think he quite realized until he saw it. :)
Welcome to college life. The other part of the room is a mirror image with his roommate's bed etc. I love it!

He tried to get out of this picture in the worst way - no such luck, I HAD to have it.

Riding the cougar outside the stadium.

There probably isn't much Brian loves more than football - well, maybe Chipolte, which by the way isn't anywhere close to him in Provo. He is excited about going to football games. We went to our first one on Saturday - his seat is in the second row but he feels like they aren't "loud" enough, he will work on changing that right away! Mr. School Spirit as always!

On the Road again

2008-09-03T18:01:00.001-07:00

I pulled over on the side of the highway and made Brian stand by the sign. Needless to say, he was a bit irriated that I made him get out of the car and stand by the sign. He is so thankful to have a mother with a camera in her hand at all times.....NOT!

Entering UTAH.....only about 3 hours away from BYU.

Brian to BYU

2008-09-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

We thought this day would never come! On Thursday morning, August 28th we loaded all of Brian's "stuff" and headed to BYU. Grandma and Ellie went along for the ride so there were LOTS of treats and movies to keep everyone busy.

We broke our trip up by stopping half way (about 3.5 hours) at Mesa State College in Grand Junction were many of Brian's friends are attending. We all met at Chili's and had lunch. It was GREAT to see the kids and hear about how school is going for each of them.

We hung out for an hour and 1/2 and then it was "on the road again".

Brian's graduation from ThunderRidge High School

2008-08-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

We are so proud of Brian and his accomplishments at ThunderRidge - he graduated with honors which gave him the great opportunity to go to BYU in Provo, Utah in September.
Brian's grandparents (Dan's parents) flew in from California

Walking in to the big event at Coors Amphitheatre to take his seat.

Receiving his diploma

Brian with his buddies: Justin Becker, Drew Boettcher, Bri and Zach Tiedgen

NFC Championship Game vs. Seattle Seahawks

2008-08-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

We had such a blast! We have 2 season tickets to the Packer games however, this time we bought Dan's cousins tickets so we had 5 - Scott was able to take his girlfriend Ashley - it was a day we will always remember. This is just what Packer football is all about (it also looked much colder than it was).

At dinner before the game for the customary brat dinner.

There was sooo much snow they had to plow the yard lines so the players could see where they were. Awesome!

This was the next week at the NFC Championship vs. the New York Giants - it was wicked cold. I am glad I didn't make that trip and watched it in my warm basement!