Happy Easter!

I am always surprised how excited the kids are to color eggs. For Miss Blake to give up a Saturday night to stay home with the family and create thier masterpieces, it must be pretty important to her. The Easter bunny came and hid thier colorful creations. Conan, the cat, found most of them. Our house sounded like a fooseball table this morning.

Lordy! Lordy! Look who's . . .

The math adds up, but it just can't be true. I am officially 40!

My nephew, JD, told Samantha, "Aunt Berta doesn't look like she could be 40 years old! It must be all that beauty queen make-up she wears!" Bring on the beauty queen make-up, I say!

I had a great day and was showered with lots of love and lots of birthday wishes. I am truly blessed. Last night, Clay, the kids, and I went to the Boulder Dinner Theater and saw a production of Chicago. It was a very nice evening.

I'm thinking I'll drag this celebration out for a few more days. ;o)

Do you think he likes his new home?

I came home for lunch today and this is what I saw. I'm thinking he is comfortable with his new home. ;o)

Wild Pig Hunt in Oklahoma!

Clay and Evan drove to Oklahoma while we were in Dallas. They met up with some of Clay's buddies from high school, Jeff Puckett and Charlie Abel. This is a picture of Evan in the blind. I hear they had a blast. Evan told me "what happens in hunting camp stays in hunting camp", so I don't have much information. Clay came home with a pig and Evan came home with more information about Clay's high school days than I care for him to know. :o) They are talking about another hunt over Spring Break, but we'll see.

Dallas Performance

We returned from Dallas with a third place finish and we are thrilled!!!! First place went to last year's World Champions and second place went to Top Gun, World Champions for the previous years before. Both of these gyms are crowd favorites and we were right up there with them. I was very proud.

Saturday's performance was a nail biter. One of our flyers went down in the first 30 seconds of the routine and dislocated her elbow. The routine was stopped and she was taken away by ambulance. The team had to rally and perform again with a twenty minute prep time. They came out and did incredible. Sunday, they came out and performed another fantastic routine

Cheer Central Suns Documentary 2008-2009

Last year, one of Miss Blake's teammates' sister did a documentary on the All Star Cheerleading experience as an assignment at CU. She followed Miss Blake's team for a couple of months and put the following you-tube videos together. You can see Miss Blake here and there and then there is my proudest moment in Part 5 when she states how she is going to "pee her pants." Also, in Part 5, there is an injury of her teammate, Mackenzie. This is not my Mackenzie.

I enjoyed this documentary because it does a great job showing the committment these kids have to their team and to this sport.

Again, this was last year's team. They ended up 10th in the World at the World Championships.

To view the videos, highlight the green link below. After viewing, arrow back to select the next part. Part 6 is not working, after 5 view the videos on the screen on the right to see if Part 6 is there.

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paB3cAdiNOA

Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMmkyiSgveM

Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUbB1Gs2RuY

Part 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb1PkW6uCHs

Part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwrNxzPcoyQ

Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-U_w9skshl

Medical School? NOT! ;o)

Miss Blake is taking an anatomy class this semester. Her class was truly lucky enough to go to a cadaver laboratory and dissect real human cadavers! WOW! What an opportunity!!!! They even watched a live surgery of someone having a disc replaced in their lower back. Upon returning from this fantastic trip, she says, "Well, that was disgusting! I certainly know I don't want to go into the medical field." Well, I can't say I blame her. I get grossed out when someone leaves their slobbery toothbrush on my desk. Ewwww!

Cheersport in Atlanta!

We returned from Atlanta with a bid to the World Championships! We leave to compete at the NCA Nationals in Dallas next week.

Off to Atlanta!!!

We are packing our bags and heading off to Atlanta this Thursday. Miss Blake will compete late Saturday night and late Sunday night. Their team is competing for a bid to the World Championships. The bids are difficult to get but I really believe they have a shot. This year, her team is in the Senior Unlimited Co-Ed Division. This means there are more than 13 boys on the team ~ 23 to be exact (13 girls). It is an entirely different dynamic with this many boys on the team, but this is the division that everyone wants to watch. The Cheersport competition in Atlanta is the biggest national competition of the year. I think I heard over 900 teams compete over the weekend.

They competed in Atlanta last year and did earn their bid at this venue. I loved Atlanta and am excited to go back. Fried green tomatoes ~ here I come!

No phones in the car, please!

I made an effort to see the Oprah show on texting and driving because the little girl who was killed here in Fort Collins was one of our patients at ToothZone. I was in tears the entire program. With a sixteen year old and a husband managing a large company, this hit too close to home. Any phone call, any text, can wait for you to get to your destination. I have asked, begged and pleaded for everyone in our family to not use the phone while driving. Period! Please do so as well. One instance of not paying attention could be the difference of life and death. Please take 40 minutes to watch this program and pass it on.

http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Watch-the-Full-Hour-Americas-New-Deadly-Obsession-Video

Ready for Spring!

Evan got a new driver for Christmas and we have been anxious to try it out. Problem is, the weather has been far too wintery for the snow to melt. The sun came out today so we braved the snow and enjoyed hitting a couple of buckets of balls. Spring can't come soon enough.

Welcome Conan!

Well, I couldn't go another day without a kitty in the house. We had gone into the Humane Society a few times, but no kitty ever really stood out. We went into Pet Smart to look at their adoptable kittys and there he was ... a four year old sweet tabby cat, Conan! I brought him home yesterday and Moose was thrilled! He acted like this kitty was just for him! So far, Conan has adjusted to his new home really well. He is so cuddly and loves to be around people. He has beautiful green eyes and big white paws which he uses to knead on whoever's attention he wants including Moose!

Traveling Man

So since the beginning of the year, Clay has been to California, Las Vegas, Wyoming, and Detroit. Holy Cow! You'd think I'd have married a pilot! Good news, though, he will travel for business to Atlanta when Blake and I are there for her National CheerSport competition in February. Pathetic that we need to leave the state to see the man! SHEESH! xo The picture is from last summer, but I needed one to remember what he looks like. ;o)

Miss Blake's skills

I am having a great time putting a montage together of all of Miss Blake's skills for her quest for a college scholarship. Here is a short video of just one of her jump sequences. She has been chosen as point jumper, front and center, in her routine this year. That means she is pretty darn impressive!

Evan's first Elk!

Well, news from Chaffee County is that Evan got his first kill. I just got the copy of the picture on my email without details. I will post more as I have the information. I did crop the photo to rid of some of the gore. xo

. . . He shot her at 175 yards and hit her on the first shot in the liver. He shot three more times to make sure she did not run off. They will return to Salida next weekend to butcher her and bring her home. Big thanks to Uncle Kenny for his guide services and to Aunt Sammy for the hospitality! xo

Christmas day in Salida!

So we wake up to see what's in our stockings, shower, and load up the car to drive to Salida to see my family. Even though it sounds like an inconvenience, I truly love the drive with the kids close and cell phone service lacking. We arrived at my sister Sam's to a house full. As I was introducing Blake's friend, Sam, to all of my family, the reality of it sank in and I had to giggle. My mom was there with her husband, Fred. My dad was there with his wife, Peggy. My sister, Niki's dad, Rod, was there, too. Grandma and Papa Turner were there visiting with us all. I would really like to see a Christmas card next year with Mom, her husband, and her two ex-husbands ~ this is our life. Fortunately, the big D doesn't tear this family apart, it brings us all together for the holidays. xo

The boys woke early the next morning to hunt for Evan's cow elk. No luck on day one, but they stayed behind in Chaffee County and the girls and I returned back to the city. I am hoping the next post is about Evan's big kill. Cross your fingers.

Christmas Eve at our house!

It's become a tradition to have a BUNCO tournament at our house on Christmas Eve. Clay's family comes over and they play to win ~ especially Camie's family! ;o) We play four rounds and at the end pick a winner, a loser, one with the most BUNCOs and a traveling BUNCO. This is a great time. Everyone plays and you get to chat with someone new every round. We also started a "white elephant" Gift Card exchange which is really a lot of fun. It's always a hoot when Granddad ends up with the Victoria's Secret GC or Shanna with Cabela's! We played 'til late in the evening, Santa came, and Evan anxiously woke us all to see what Santa brought for Christmas morning. Who needs sleep? It's Christmas!

Our family was also blessed to have Blake's friend, Samantha join us for the holidays. We all love Sam and enjoy having her as a part of our family.

OUCH!!!

Snow and below freezing temperatures have caused icy road conditions in town. Miss Blake has gotten a good taste of winter driving. Unfortunately, a curb jumped out and smacked right into her wheel on the way home from school. Bummer!

My civic duty.

I just completed my seven day obligation of jury duty today. I served as a jury member for a triple murder/attempted murder trial here in Fort Collins. The case was centered around meth. What a sad, sad, sad world just right around the corner in my home town. We, the jury, agreed upon the verdict of guilty of all counts. I believe 100% in our decision, but my heart is heavy from the weight of the decision.

Pay attention to your kids and their friends, and love them. Then, love them some more, and love them even more after that.

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20091208/NEWS01/912080322

Parties, parties, parties. . .

We went to Dr. Kent's Christmas party this weekend and will have Atlas's in two weeks. Kent also puts together a party for all of the employee's children as well as a cocktail hour, after-hours, the night before Christmas Eve.