TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT

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!

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!

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

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

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?