Turkey Day 2010

Thanksgiving Weekend Highlights:

*Delicious food and plentiful leftovers.

*Rella

*Rella

*Rella

*Special dates with Aunt Kelty to the craft store and pet store x2, yep twice!

The girls are still talking my ear off about how they were able to hold
nearly every animal in that entire store.

Kelt, I'm kind of wondering just how you made that possible now that I think about it?

* A post feast live performance of "The First Thanksgiving"

by Kelty and Duane.

*Late night parent conversation and games. Duane enlightened us on perhaps every 
ground breaking technological advance on the planet, really quite astounding.

*An all out mid-day production complete with make-up, costumes and four impressive actors. 

Kelty was the master mind behind this memory making event. She doubled as the make-up artist, which was quite possibly the girls favorite part of the entire weekend.

Duane morphed into whatever character the girls deemed appropriate at any given moment. 

He sported costumes such as the Belle dress seem above. 

I award you with "Team Player of the Year" Duane.

I assumed my position behind the camera and kept the tape rolling. It was hilarious!

Unfortunately Cody was at work and not only missed out on this production, but also somehow managed to escape from the camera the entire weekend.

*Gathering to watch videos and see pictures from the Johnson's trip to London.

*Kelty attending my Body Pump class and afterward participating in a 

pretty darn awesome hip hop class together.

*Outfitting our home inside and out for Christmas!

A big thanks to the Johnson Family for making the trek to be with us on

Thanksgiving. We love you and your sweet baby too!

Looking back on Turkey Days past.

2007

2009

Less Time, More Thanks

The days of having time to post Thanksgiving tributes like THIS in 2007 seem a far distant, 

however,

the blessings I feel gratitude for only continue to multiply!

Seen here are a few of the most precious and beautiful blessings

in my life this Thanksgiving season.

My ever so talented friend Charlotte
was an absolute gem and took these fantastic pictures for our family.

More to come!

Aren't they  like completely adorable...or is it just me?

Looking forward to a feast with THESE fun family members tomorrow!

May we share in The Spirit of Thanksgiving daily

and

always remember that we each have the power within our magnificent minds 

to create a

 positive and fulfilling life journey.

Liberation

Here is my new fall color.

Here is an old blow dryer contraption that made me crack up.

Here is one of the many air dry hair do's I've been sporting since I tucked my blow dryer
away several months ago. It's liberating ladies!

HERE is something much more inspiring than my hair...

AND

here is my mother at age 18 in London.

 What a babe and I'm confident that she did NOT use a blow dryer!

Happy Sunday!

Her Vacation

We are not the only ones who went on vacation...Aspen thought she did too!

She spent the week being the center of attention with friends who LOVE her,

dress-up clothes, an assortment of baby dolls and nightly bath time fun.

Leslie made Aspen special birthday cupcakes and presented her
with darling new PJ's for her birthday. Aspen was also able
to participate in daddy-daughter pizza night with Adam and the girls!

Not only did Leslie go above and beyond for us during our trip,
but she has helped us out countless times!

I vividly recall dropping tiny baby Aspen off, in an exhausted stupor, at her home
and then rushing to my home for a nap while Avery was at pre-school.

Just two days ago Leslie stopped by with her girls and wisked mine away for some bike
riding time, which allowed Cody and I to clean the cars and
windex the house windows.

Thank you thank you thank you Leslie, Adam & girls
for being Aspen's family while we were away!

Kentucky

I was in HERE during the two days prior to our Disney vacation for the
annual 
Innovative Instructor Weekend.

Instructors traveled from 6 states, where our clubs are located,

to attend this intense 3 day training.

It's a time for instructors to improve, to learn from the presenting master instructors, 

to get new ideas and to be inspired.

Our Bellevue location is inspiring in itself. 

Glass walls encircle the group X room and the club is located right 

above a beautiful flowing river.

This year I was able to be a presenter! 

I had a blast, although I'll admit that 

teaching 45 experienced instructors feels just a tad nerve racking.

I certainly do not qualify to be numbered as one of the "master instructors," 

but I am looking forward to presenting again next year!

Courses were offered in the spinning studio, pool, yoga studio,  

group X room 

and classroom locations simultaneously.

It was a sweaty, sore and satisfying time for all!

SO Proud!

I just found out that my brother has been accepted to the 

Executive MBA program 

at

OXFORD!

It seems that the more challenging a goal

is to achieve the more determined Arian is to achieve it.
Oh I am just so proud of you!

Arian and Jill have always made it a priority to spend time with family,
even during hectic life phases and we love them for that.

Here are a few pictures of some of their visits to Ohio. 

We applaud both Arian and Jill

on this most recent accomplishment

and

we wish you both long suffering and patience 

and you endure the upcoming two years!

It certainly won't be easy, but it will be worth it.

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Kelty and Duane also just 

arrived home from England!

Check out some of their travels HERE.

Days 4, 5 & 6

Day 4 began early in the morning. 

We wanted to make sure to get into all of the shows and 

on all of the rides at Hollywood Studios...and we did.

 

Every night before going to bed Cody and I 

reviewed our action plan for the following day, 

but Avery wanted to scope 

out the map just in case.

(Riding to the theme park)
First stop of the day was the Tower of Terror;
and as you know we did that 5 times!

Then is was off to the new Toy Story Mania ride.
Thank goodness we rushed to the fast pass line as soon as we entered the park, they sold out of fast passes shortly after opening.

Our Favorite 4 Shows:

1)Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage

2) Voyage of the Little Mermaid
(no pictures of this one, flash prohibited)

(We ate lunch with the characters HERE)

3) Lights, Motor, Action

Extreme Stunt Show.

This show was amazing! You need to click on the link above to see some of the pictures. I was so enthralled in the show I failed to take any pictures aside from this one of the love bug.

4) Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.

I was happy for the male member of our family that we 

could attend a few non-princess events this day!

We scored front row seats for the lively mid-day

Block Party Bash.

 

This parade / interactive song and dance event 

was a rip roarin' good time!

The girls were able to dance with characters and

hula hoop along the parade route.

Moving on.

Day 5 was spent at Disney's Animal Kingdom and

we had a blast!

The Festival of the Lion King 

and

Finding Nemo the Musical,
were both quite spectacular!

We were very impressed with the quality of these productions.
The costumes, set pieces/props and actors were all as top notch as any  Broadway show I've ever seen.

Check out the above links for pictures from these shows.

The Kilimanjaro Safari featured these African animals:

• Antelope
• Baboon
• Black rhino
• Cheetah
• Crocodile
• Elephant
• Flamingo
• Gazelle
• Giraffe
• Hippopotamus
• Lion
• Okapis
• Ostrich
• Warthog
• White rhino
• Wildebeest
• Zebra

Surprisingly enough the Animal Kingdom also boasted it's share of rides for kids of all ages.

THIS Dinosaur ride was very bumpy, VERY 

scary and very loud.

Although the girls were game for another ride on it, 

their mother was not.

However THIS ride was so fun!

Between fast passes and parent swap passes we went on it 4 or 5 times.

Avery was too short to go on it, however she was quite content watching riders plummet down a big drop and scream really loud 

from the observation area.

We revisited the Magic Kingdom on our 6th and final day.

We rode on all of our favorites again and were able to visit shows and go on a few rides we had not been able to get to on the first day.

I was excited that "It's a Small World" re-opened that day...

even though I feel asleep during the ride.

A big thanks to my sweet cheeks who worked 

many late night and overnight extra shifts to make this
"Dream Come True" for our little princesses!

We made lots of fun family memories that will live on.