The Breer Family

People ask me all the time "What is Crossfit?". Well here you go.

2011-11-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

Disneyland Halloween 2011

2011-11-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

Look out Disney, the Breer's have arrived. Thanks to Eric we got a free trip to Disneyland. Or should I say, thanks Cashman!

Checking in to the Paradise Pier Hotel.

Breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen

Look out!!! Austin's behind the wheel!

It's parade time!

Yes they charge an outrageous price for the hat, but I think it was worth it. :-)

Disneyland rakes in the dough. They close the park and have special tickets to get back in. Everyone gets to dress up and trick or treat.

The lake at Disneyland was all fogged up for a spooky effect. It was very cool!

If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere....

2011-06-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my wonderful Mother and Father, I had the trip of a lifetime. My parents took my sister and I to New York!

Below is a picture of our first night there.Breakfast on our first morning in Manhattan with my beautiful mother and sister.Rockefeller Plaza!!!The Today Show!30 Rockefeller Plaza. Waiting for lunch with Liz Lemmon. :-)Welcome to the Top fo the Rock!Hello New York!!!!My sister checking out the view.I smell a Christmas card photo for my parents to send out...My parents about to stroll right by Radio City Music Hall. Home of the Rockettes!!No trip would be complete without a tour through Central Park. So pretty!You might recognize the buildings in the background from Gostbusters. Our tour through Central Park on a cycle rickshaw...Our lovely dinner before the big show. Saw Cindy Crawford at dinner..My one request was that we see Wicked. It was AMAZING!! 7th row from stage. Dead center!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom and Dad!!!The view from the Lounge in our Hotel. Meh.....Donna and I enjoying the open top bus tour in the rain.My dad enjoyed it as well, but without the pretty parka.Our 1st stop on the tour was the church at Ground Zero.Next stop Battery Park. Hard to tell, but that is the Statue of Liberty in the fog.Of course we had to stop at Tiffany & Co. in New York.Models are always asking to have their picture taken with me. Geez...Coffee in Greenwich Village. Yum...Donna watching the Mavericks game in the middle of Time Square. By the look on her face, they were losing at this time.Took a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry. Hello Statue of Liberty.My parents look like they are enjoyingWe all took a horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park. So picturesque!Thanks again Mom and Dad. I will never forget this!

A day at the zoo

2011-02-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

This weekend for Eric's birthday, I suprised the family by taking them on a little adventure. I drove them 90 miles North to a little place called Roos-n-more. This out of the way zoo is home to exotic animals. I must say this was well worth the drive. The boys had a blast!

This is a Bear Cat named Frito. Aptly names becuase he smells like corn chips. The boys fell in love with this baby otter.
Josh holding the baby otter and a monkey!

What a long strange trip it's been

2010-11-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

Let's just say this past weekend was the busiest weve had in a while. Instead of writing blogs on each individual event, I am going to write one long blog. Let's start with Friday, Octber 29th shall we. I stayed home from work with the boys since there was no school in observance of Nevada Day. Yes, that's a true holiday here in the state of Nevada and yes, it falls right around Halloween. Lucky us! Anyway, the day was spent running errands and then dropping off the kids with their Nana and Papa so that Eric and I could attend a costume party. Here are a few photos from the party.
The next morning the 30th, with only 4 1/2 hours of sleep, Josh had his final T-ball game at 8 a.m. Right after Josh's game, Austin had a tournament game at 10:00 againts the team that all the other basball teams wanted to see defeated. This game turned into a yelling match/I thought the other coach was going to punch our coach. Needless to say the game stopped for a good 15 minutes while arguing ensued and the President and Vice President of the league had to come out onto the field and break it up. We ended up losing the game by 1! Lucky for us it was double elimination and that was our first loss. Sucky for us, we had to play this team again come Monday. More on that later.After the game was the Closing Ceremonies for the Little League (Not for Austin's team at least, but again, more on that later). Closing Ceremonies is where all of the teams form T-ball to AAA line up and get called out one by one to accept their Medal. As you can imagine, this was a loooong process. We didn't get home until about 2:00. At 5:00 we were expected over to our wonderful friends block party. This was so much fun. The kids had a blast. The fire department came out and the kids got to go inside. Later the police came and the kids got to play in the police car. The next day was Halloween. We spent the day putting the final touches on our Halloween decorations. That night we went trick-or-treating with the kids as Nana and Papa stayed and passed out candy. Our house is always a big hit and the perfect photo op for scared kids and parents that force their kids to stand there while they take their picture. We had friends from other neighborhood drive in just to see our house. Austin was so proud to show it off to his friends. While all of these festivities were going on, Josh had become more and more sick with a runny nose. That night, he woke up complaining that his ear hurt. School was closed on Monday so Eric took Josh down to the minute clinic to get him checked out. The doc told Eric that one ear was full of puss and prescribed drops, while the other contained something green and looked like plastic. You heard me. Plastic. Greeaaattt!!!! She scraped and scraped and couldn't get whatever it was out and said Eric needed to take him to his pediatrian. So off they go to the pediatrian only to once again not be able to get this mysterious object out of his ear. The pediatritian had to refer him to an ENT. Once again, off they go to yet another doctors office. The ENT had no problem pulling out the piece of latex balloon that was stuck in his ear. I'll repeat that in case you missed it. A PIECE OF LATEX BALLOON. But wait! There's more. After cleaning out the OTHER ear that was full of puss AND after further examination the ENT found that he had a pop-corn kernal lodged in his other ear. Yep. A pop-corn kernal. Must have been some party right? A balloon in one ear and pop-corn in the other. Anyway, Josh had to be strapped down to the table as a large man held his head. The doctor was unable to get the kernal out and Josh had had about enough. The doctor told my husband they would have to come back the next morning so that Josh could be put under and they would surgically remove the kernal.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Austin had the Championship Game to play. Because the Saturday game was such a fiasco, the league brought out two umpires. So before the game, the two umpires, the President, the new President that takes over in the Spring, the Vice President and the head coaches for each team are huddled on the field discussing the rules. The coaches were told that if there were any outbursts from coaches, parents, or players that they would step in and forfeit the game. The reason for all the contraversy is due to the fact that the Rookies Division has several different rules than regular baseball, and these rules always cause problems.
The game started out great. We were winning 4 to 2 going into the 4th inning. Suddenly, things started to fall apart. The other teams kids got some sort of adrenaline rush and were hitting every ball out to the fence pratically. However, the rule is, once the ball reaches the infield, the play is dead. Well, the umpires must not have heard this rule becuase the other team kept running their kids and scoring even once the ball had reached the infield. After about the 4th time this occured, Eric lost it.
Eric is the dugout coach. Not the head coach, the dug out coach. Eric starting screaming at the Umpire out in the field. They ignored Eric. The next thing I know, Eric is running out onto the field yelling that they are not playing by the rules. The Umpire finally sent one of the other teams kids back to 2nd base, but the damage had been done. The new President came down and kicked Eric out of the game. I didn't keep score after that. We lost. Parents were coming up to me after the game saying they were happy Eric did what he did. The other team took advantage and it wasn't fair at all. Oh well, 2nd place isn't bad at all and I am so proud of Austin.Now back to Josh. The next morning at 6 a.m. Josh and Eric were to report for surgery. The surgery went well and they arrived home around 8 a.m. with kernal in tow.
I don't think Josh will ever stick anything in his ears again. At least he better not.

.

Honorary Observer

2010-10-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

Working for an insurance broker sure does have it's perks. That's not something you hear very often. But sure as heck, it's true. I have been invited by Humana to be an Honorary Observer at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Golf Open!!! What that means is, I get paired up with a PGA pro and get to stand inside the rope and walk the course with them. I am beyond excited! I just received the following E-mail:

Dear Dana Breer,

Congratulations on receiving one of the Honorary Observer positions for the 2010 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open! You will be receiving your Honorary Observer package in the mail which includes a shirt, hat, a week long clubhouse credential, and a parking pass.

Thursday, October 21st is your designated observance day. Please make sure you are on site for the 11:10am meeting that will take place at the TPC Summerlin Country Club back patio underneath the white tent. At this meeting you will receive instructions from a PGA TOUR staff member and on-course credentials. Cell phone’s are not allowed inside the tournament but they can be checked at the front gate.

The following link will direct you to a short Honorary Observer training video. We ask that you please view the video prior to your observance day. Please feel free to contact me with any questions and we look forward to seeing you on the course!mms://svrstream.pgatourhq.com/Honorary_Observer_Training_Video.wmv

I won't know until that day who I get paired up with, but you never know, my next blog might be titled "Golf with Tiger".

The Night Before Kindergarten

2010-08-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Let the countdown begin. Ten more days and my 5 year old will be in Kindergarden. That's right, you heard me. KIN DER GAR TEN. My youngest. My baby!

We have a book that was given to us by my oldest son's Kindergarten teacher appropriately titled, "The Night Before Kindergarden". For some strange reason, I thought it would be a good idea to start reading this to Josh. You know, to get him excited for the big K. Well I should have known better. The same thing happened when I read this book to Austin. Or should I say, EVERYTIME I read this book to Austin. Halfway through the book, my voice starts to quiver. Trying to regain composure only makes it worse. The tears begin streaming down my face. All the while I am doing my darndest not to let Josh see me cry.
For any normal human being, this book would have no effect. But NOOOO not me. I'm a blubbering mess.

Stupid book!

Cousin's Camp 2010

2010-07-06T12:57:00.001-07:00

As I stated in last year's Fourth of July post, it's become a tradition for our family to head up to Parowan, Utah for Cousin's Camp. We are not related to anyone at Cousin's Camp, but the lovely Harris family opens their doors and invites us in. We have such a wonderful time and this year was no exception. We drove in Thursday night and the boys leaped out of bed Friday morning. First item on their agenda, a hike of course! And they knew just who to ask. Here is Phyllis and the boys ready for their hike.

And here they are on their way back.This is the life. The view off the back porch of the "old cabin" And here is a photo of the back of the "old cabin" which goes by "The Big House". For the life of me I can't figure out why they call it that.
My wonderful neighbor Glynis Harris
And here we see Eric, obviously cheating in a game of Uno with a 5 year old.The beautiful ladies of Cousin's Camp. Phyllis, Me, Glynis, Camille and Mary
One of the traditions at cousin's Camp is movie night. Eric set up his DJ system on the North lawn. In this picture, the men are trying to figure out how to get the projector to work. As you can see, they all had their own opinion on the matter. Unfortunately, not one of them had a resolution and outdoor movie night was cancelled. Oh well, maybe next year.
The sign speaks for itself
Joshy has his game face on while Austin and Madi size each other up.
The kids watching Jim as he demonstrates the next competition.
Josh and David, neck and neck.
Joshy pulls ahead for the win!!!

PHOTO FINISH! Even with Jadah's arm stretched out, Austin crossed the finish line first to take the win.I'm pretty sure you can figure this event out. And yes, he caught it. Austin, Josh, Eagleton and Jerry. We decided to call Josh and Jerry "Thing One" and "Thing Two" since they look so much alike.Austin and Madison. The two 8 year olds of the bunch. Eric and I relaxing on the swing. The temperature never went above 90 degrees, Ahhhh!Waiting for the Parowan fireworks to begin

This year, we ventured off the compound and took a little trip to Yankee Meadows

Eric showing the kids how to fish with a Barbie fishing pole. Madi was finally able to wrestle her Barbie fishing pole out of Eric's hands and give it a try.

Eric got it in his head that he could cross this log. See for yourself!

See you all next year!!!

Disneyland 2010

2010-06-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

For Austin's 8th birthday we headed on out to the happiest place on earth, also know as the Magical Kingdom; or if you must, Disneyland. We had so much fun and the boys rode everthing from Space Mountain to It's a Small World.

As we drove into Anaheim the first night, we decided to stop in to Downtown Disney for dinner.

Yes, Woody is made out of legos!!

The Lego store was a big hit in Downtown Disney. After a good nights sleep (Thanks Aunt Judy and Uncle Bud) we raced to Disneyland to have an exciting fun filled day!In line for the haunted mansion. Our second ride for the day. Awwww. Gotta love Tiger.
Target practice.

Star ToursBuzz Light year. Always a favorite ride for the boys.
The trip wouldn't be complete without a stop into the Mad Hatter
The tea cups are a staple at Disneland and you will see that I was noticably absent from that ride. Spinning around in circles is not my thing.

Crossfit seems to be paying off.....I think?

Our trip would not be complete without seeing Mickey Mouse! My boys and dynamite. Hmmm....
The Jungle Crusie was one of Josh's favorite rides.

The new and improved "It's a Small World After All".
Minnie is my favorite!

We got to go on every ride we wanted to go on. By the end of the night we were drained. The below video pretty much sums it up.

Press the arrow button to play.

Crossfit Challenge

2010-06-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Update on my Crossfit March fitness challenge. I lost 6 pounds and 5% body fat, plus inches all over. Now comes the hard part.... Keeping it that way.

The Bad News Bulldogs Take Second Place!

2010-06-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

Our team did it! We took second place in the championship. Not too bad for a team that had kids running away from the ball at our first couple of practices. As one coach said, "I didn't even think we were going to win any games let alone make it to the championship."

Makes it all worth while after, eating, sleeping and breathing baseball for the last 3 1/2 months. I have to say I am so proud of these kids and how far they have come. One player asked my husband if he was going to coach Fall ball. My husband said, "Do you want me to?" to which the player replied, "YES!" Well that is still up for debate. Eric gets burned out at the end of season and says he does not want to coach, but I know that will change once he has a few months off and registration for Fall ball start in August.

Here are some highlights from the season...

AND OF COURSE HERE ARE SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM JOSH'S T-BALL SEASON.

GO RED BIRDS!!!!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY JOSHY!!!

2010-03-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

My baby is 5! I can't believe it. This Saturday we celebrated Josh's birthday with his friends from school at Mini Grand Prix. Let's just say he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

PRESS THE AAROW BUTTON TO WATCH THE VIDEO CLIP!!!

One last trip around the track!

We ended the day with a trip to Monster Jam to see the Monster Truck show!

Nothing quite like a Monster Truck show that's for sure...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH! WE LOVE YOU!!!

FA- also known as Food Annomious

2010-03-22T20:05:00.001-07:00

I had my weight and body fat taken on Monday and I weighed in at 134 Lbs. My goal is to get to 124 or even better 120. Eating healthy and logging what I eat everyday has begun.
I've decided that being on a diet, or rather, eating healthy as my trainers like to say (call it what you will, it still bites), is like being in AA. Hi, my name is Dana and I'm a foodaholic. Except, instead of taking it one day at a time, I have to take it one meal at a time. The excitement of "eathing healthy" wore off on day 3.
Only 59 more days to go, but who's counting.

Let the Fitness/Diet Challenge Begin!

2010-03-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

I am addicted to Crossfit. You can talk all you want about being in shape until you do a CrossFit work out. A lot of people ask me what CrossFit is. CrossFit is a strength and conditioning system built on constantly varied, if not randomized, functional movements executed at high intensity. Or as I like to tell people, a high intensity workout as fast as you can do it. The majority of our workouts are for time. Some workouts I can do in 5 minutes. Others, again depending on the workout, could take me 20 minutes or more.

Here are some examples of my workouts:

200 Meter Run

15 Dumb Bell Front Squats (30 Lbs)

200 Meter Run

30 Dumb Bell Front Squats (30 Lbs)

200 Meter Run

45 Dumb Bell Front Squats (30 Lbs)

200 Meter Run

30 Dumb Bell Front Squats (30 Lbs)

200 Meter Run

15 Dumb Bell Front Squats (30 lbs)
My Time 12:48

Another workout:

“GET SOME”
400 Meter Run

20 Box Jumps (20 inch box)

Jump Rope (500 Singles)

15 Push Press (55 Lbs)

15 Thrusters (55 Lbs)

15 Wall Balls (14 Lb ball)

Hand Stand Pushup Hold (70 Seconds)

20 Burpees

80 Squats

65 Sit-ups

40 push-ups (with bands)
My Time: 23:44

Notice the difference in times.

CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide. But don't let that scare you. Anyone can do it! The Crossfit program contains three essential elements:

1. Functional Movements

2. Intensity

3. Variance

Crossfits goal is to create "the quintessential athlete".

The mindset at the start of each workout, or in Crossfit terms the "WOD" (Workout of the Day), is to be stronger, move faster, more efficiently, with better form than ever. Its hard, fun, exciting, challenging, and will push you to be your absolute best!

With that, my wonderful trainers at Kaizen Crossfit have decided to do a March "Metamorphis" Madness. On Monday, March 22nd we will be weighed in, measured and have our body fat taken.

THE GOAL: This is designed to promote good nutritional eating habits in support of better human performance and healthy changes in body measurements. Promote better awareness of healthy nutrition and healthy food choices. As well as, have fun and win!!

The Challenge will last 9 weeks. At the end of the Challenge on May 22nd, measurements for performance and body statistic will be taken again. Consistent participation in weekly WOD's is key to promote performance and body measurement changes.

I decided to blog about this so that it forces me to stick to this challenge. WOD's are one thing, changing my eating habits is another. I will blog my starting weight and measurments next week and will periodically blog about my progress. Until then, I think I'll go eat a cheeseburger.

www.kaizencrossfit.com

The Power of Chocolate

2010-02-23T17:35:00.000-08:00

My 4 year old has a sweet tooth. He could eat candy morning, noon and night. His preschool teacher mentioned yesterday that she was teaching the kids how to tie their shoes so to please bring them in shoes with laces. Today, she told the kids that if they learned to tie their shoes they would get a candy bar. Wouldn't you know it, my kid was so determined to get that candy bar he learned in one day how to tie his own shoes and came home with a candy bar. This kid never ceases to amaze me.

My 7 year old is a Genius!

2010-01-12T14:40:00.000-08:00

The other night I was on the computer when my 7 year old comes over and says, "I think you're smarter than dad." With a smile on my face I reply, "I think you're right."

2009: A Year in Review

2010-01-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

Is it just me, or did 2009 go by really fast? I mean like lighting fast. Is that a sign of age? When I look back and reflect on my life in 2009,..... I can't remember a darn thing. Just kidding, but it is a little fuzzy. It's as if all those brain cells I killed in college are really starting to show their effect. But I digress. To make me feel better, I decided to go back through some photos over the past year to help me remember what exactly it is I did with my life in 2009. Here are some highlights. One thing's for sure, if I wasn't at home or at work, I was here. Kazien Crossfit. My home away from home.
Eric had another birthday. 36 and counting.We took a trip to Zion with Eric's parents and stayed at a Bed & Breakfast. Thanks Annie and Steve!

We bowled.

Austin lost a tooth. And then proceeded to loose 4 more over the year.

Joshy had a Pirate party for his 4th Birthday. ARRRG!!

The Easter Bunny came.

The boys played baseball in the Spring.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day.

We swam and played in our pool. What?
Okay, so only the boys played in the pool.
I had a few nights out with just the girls.

Austin had a laser tag party for his 7th Birthday.

We took a family trip to Scottsdale for my conference.
We went fishing for fathers day.

We had the best time in Parowan for the 4th of July.

We took the boys down to the strip for a little frozen hot chocolate. If you haven't had the frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity's, you have not lived.

I took a girls trip to San Francisco with some of my best friends. Girlapalooza IV

I saw Brittney Spears in Concert. I got to see Beyonce do a video shoot for her new DVD at the Encore hotel. I saw Nickelback in concert.
Eric and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Awww.

Austin played fall baseball and Eric was head coach. This pretty much consumed our lives for 3 months, so at least I know what I did in August, September and October. Austin started 2nd grade. Eric and I took a trip up to Reno for Homecoming and my Pi Phi reunion. WOLF PACK! Took the kids Trick or Treating with the neighbors. Had a snow day at Mt. Charleston. Had a wonderful Christmas Eve with these fine folks. Love you Mom & Dad. Simply. Having. A wonderful Christmas time. Santa came!Pigs in a blanket. A Christmas morning tradition that my father in law loves.

I helped DJ Love spin some tunes at a dear friends New Year's Eve party. Rang in the new year with great friends.

That's just a quick snap shot of my life in 2009. Wow! I guess I did do a lot. My new years resloution for 2010 is to live life to the fullest, take it all in, and try to remember as much as possible. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The Christmas 15

2009-12-22T16:21:00.001-08:00

At the rate I'm going I am going to gain 15 lbs and this is the reason why.

Carriers and clients send us this crap and I can't help but eat it. If you notice in the bottom left hand corner of the picture Delta Dental was nice enough to include tooth brushes with their chocolate. Why not just forgo the chocolate and send the tooth brushes all by their lonesome? Curse you Delta Dental and every other carrier that sent us junk!!! My thighs hate you for it!

THANKSGIVING, TEXAS STYLE

2009-12-05T14:39:00.000-08:00

There is just something about Thanksgiving. I love it! Turkey, cranberries, stuffing, yams, YUM, YUM, YUM!!! And of course, family. This year we headed to Texas. Thanks Mom & Dad! I love Texas. I consider it my home away from home. My kids were sooo excited and my little Joshy asked everyday when we were going to "that far away place". It was so great to see my family.

Eric and I on our Thanksgiving bike ride.

I've never seen a pink bike look so manly. :-) Cute girls!!! I couldn't ask for a better sister Awww. I love my dad!
Sidney loves her some turkey.
My little freshman in college
Joshy loves his cousin Sam.
My Cousin Kit. She's pretty awesome.
The Cousins. (Carol, Donna, Riley, Dana, Kit...not pictured, Jack)
Dad and Uncle Wayne watching Bill deep fry the Turkey.
Cousin Carol, Cousin Riley, Me, Carol's husband Mike, Aunt Milly

SIBLINGS: Aunt Milly, Aunt Elaine & Dad
Time to carve the turkey!!!!
The kid table.

The Williamson Family photo.

Joshy and his cousin Summer enjoying a malt.

Time for the Breer Family Christmas card photo op!

The boys hanging out with Sam before we leave. It's because of THIS, that Joshy asked Santa for a dog!
And we're off......
Bye Texas. Until next time.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T11:28:00.001-08:00

The Mad Scientist!!

Skeleton (In case you could't figure that out on your own)

Scar Face

3rd Place. We'll take it.

2009-10-15T22:33:00.000-07:00

BULLDOGS

Austin's baseball team took 3rd place out of 10 teams this Fall ball season!!! We were ranked 5th going into the tournament.

What's even more spectatular is that Eric was the head coach and I was the dugout coach. Eric has never been a baseball coach before nor had he ever played baseball as a kid.

Not only was I dugout coach but I also became score keeper. Let me just tell you that keeping score for baseball has got to be one of THE hardest sports to keep score in. Being a spectator all these years I thought, they run home, they score a point. How hard could that be right? WRONG! There is so much more too it than that. I had to teach myself how to keep score and the score book reads like it's in Chineese. Having to keep track of who's on what base and who ran home in addition to keeping a bunch of 7 year olds from climbing the fence and trying to punch each other in their cups. It's not an easy task and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But in the end, I will have to say I really enjoyed myself and will really miss these kids.

We had a great season and I am so proud of our team.

Austin as Catcher was able to distract some of the hitters and strike them out.

These two boys are Austin's best friends and happen to play for the team we beat.
Sweet Victory.

Kaizen Crossfit

2009-09-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

WUSSIES NEED NOT APPLY!!

10 YEARS

2009-08-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

My husband and I just celebrated our 10 year anniverssary! On August 14, 1999 we were married at the top of the Rivera Hotel. And NO, Elvis did not perform the ceremony! (Although I could have sworn I saw him mingling in the crowd. I mean, come on. You all know he's still alive right?) Anyway, back to the point. I can't believe it has been 10 years. I don't feel 10 years older. Maybe 5, but certainly not 10. Yet, a lot has happened in 10 years. I've had 6 jobs, two homes, and two handsome boys. Wow! Where does the time go?

We celebrated this wonderous occasion with a "staycation" (you know, where you don't actually leave the city you live in to have a vacation). Thanks to friends in the"biz", I was able to get a awesome Panoramic Suite at the Encore Hotel for HALF the price. We enjoyed a relaxing day at the pool, a wonderful dinner at Sinatra, and time alone with my "Bubba". (Yes, that is what I call my husband and yes I like using "" & ( ) today). It was so nice to get away with just the two of us.

Above, is a picture from the Encore Web site. Below is a picture of our actual room.

Anniversary dinner at Sinatra

Fun in the sun!

Even if it was for just one night, it was time well spent.

I love you Bubba!!!

Of all places

2009-07-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

Every Monday on my route from daycare to work, I pass a storage facility. Big deal right. Well, I'll have you know that this facility has a small marquee out front and every week they dole out some sort of word to the wise or funny message. Strange that this comes from a storage facility, but none the less, I look forward to the new message every week. This weeks message:

Never be afraid to try something new. An amateur built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

Well said storage facility. Well said.

TO FRIEND OR NOT TO FRIEND

2009-07-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

About 8 months ago, I decided to join the rest of the world and sign up for Facebook. For the few of you that don't know (that would be you mom and dad), facebook is a social site that connects people with long lost friends, current friends, family, co-workers, and the occasional stalker that sat next to you in 3rd period math class in high school.

My friends and I have had many a debate about accepting or declining a friend request. A friend request (again this is for you mom and dad) is where someone sends you a request to be your friend. You hold the almighty power to either accept or decline them as your friend. If you choose to accept, they now have access to what they call your profile page where they can see your photos, send you private messages or write on your "wall" as they call it, for all your other friends to see.

A few month ago I received a friend request from someone I didn't know. I was able to see that we had several friends in common. I sent a private message to one of our mutal friends to ask who this person was (my memory is shot and I can't remeber all 550 students from my graduation class). My friend responded, "I have no idea, I just saw that Matt was friends with him so I accpeted." Well I'm no follower! And so I decline this person.

When I told my freind that I did this, she gave me this look as if she felt sorry for the guy. Mind you, they have no way of knowing that you declined them. It's not like they receive a Dear John letter or anything, there is just simply no response.

Now just because you accept someone as your friend, doesn't mean you're stuck with them. You can actually go in and delete them. This may seem mean, but lets just say you decided to accept the stalker that sat next to you in 3rd period math class, only to be inindated with random and incoherent status updates about his pet iguana named Sinner and how he has a mole that resembles Abraham Lincoln. DELETE, DELETE, DELETE!

Well last night I proved my point that you really don't want to be friends with people you don't know. I received a friend request again from someone I didn't know or remember. When I pulled up her profile picture I was shocked. Then when I checked her employer I found out that she was a prostitute that is now writing a book. This would explain her profile picture. Insert your own image here.

So the moral of the story.....Keep your friends close and decline all the rest.

PAROWAN

2009-07-06T20:34:00.001-07:00

It has become a tradition for our family to head up to the small town of Parowan, Utah for the 4th of July holiday. Our next door neighbor's parents have a "cabin" there. It's not really a cabin. It's a beautiful house that they have remodeled with the best granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances that money can buy. Not to mention a tennis court, jacuzzi and a view that goes on forever. But for all intended purposes, we refer to it as, "the cabin". In total, there were 12 adults, 4 Twenty somethings, 2 teenie boppers, 4 kids, 2 toddlers and 2 babies. They have named this annual trip "Cousins Camp". There were games to be played and prizes to be won. The kids had a blast going non-stop from dawn till dark. Seriously! It doesn't get dark there until 10:00.

On the morning of fourth of July the town of Parowan sets off a cannon (or dynamite, who the hell knows) about 12 times at the crack of dawn. Oh how we love that they do that. All part of that small town charm. OR...... just a way to have a little fun by scaring the crap out of anyone who happens to be asleep at 5 in the morning. You be the judge.

That morning, 12 of us set out on a hike up the mountain behind the house, but I had to turn back with the two 4 year olds because they got tired quick. Austin stayed with the bunch and two 1/2 hours later they came trudging back, head to toe dripping in sweat. Thank God for the tired 4 year olds! When I asked Austin what his favorite part about the trip was, he said it was the hiking. Who knew my son was a mountaineer!

That night the Parowan fire department headed out to the fair grounds to set off fireworks. It just so happens that the fair grounds are right below the elevated property of the Harris's. We set out our chairs on their beautiful lawn and watched the awesome fireworks that seemed as if they were being set off just for us. Ahhhhh, the good life.
This is the view from the deck at the "old cabin" which is just two houses down from the "new cabin". The new owners allowed us to stay here since they have only been to this magnificent house 3 times in 5 years.
The downstairs game room at the "old cabin". My kids really had to rough it.

Austin showing off for the two teenie boppers. Our next door neighbor, Aidan, and her friend.
This is the road up to the cabin.

Some of the view from the Mt. behind the cabin.

This is Maddie. She's 7 and although it doesn't look like it in this picture, Josh really did like her and was her shadow for most of the time.

Did I mention that in addition to all the people, there were 5 large dogs with us as well. This is JJ. He is one of our neighbors dogs and Josh's buddy.

The 1st event was the bubble competition. Video below.

The guys made tacos for dinner one night. YUM!!!

Next game on deck, the tennis ball round up. That little Maddie is a force to be reckoned with and I may have had to send out a little interference there at the end. JUST KIDDING! I had nothing to do with it. Two toddlers got in her way. She was totally robbed and my son took home the gold. I tried to post a video of it but it won't download. Darn it!

listening to the directions to the tennis ball relay (or not listening by the looks of it). On this team, Josh, Austin and Briana...aka, The Dream Team. And Yes, they won.

Awww! So cute right!!!

The last competition was the chalk art event. Each child got a square to draw their creation. Once again the Breer name will go down in history as Austin annihiliated the competiton in this event. Kidding, kidding. But no really, he did win.

I wasn't lying! See for yourself in the video below.

A big Thanks to the Harris Family for their generous hospitality. I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!!

Scottsdale

2009-06-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

My conference went well and the kids had a blast out by the pool for 3 days.

Joshy in Rambo mode.

This was the view from our room!

The slide at the Westin in Scottsdale

This is what I do

2009-06-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

I owe it to my trainer. He got me in the best shape of my life before I had kids. I got within 4 lbs of my original weight after I had Austin, thanks to him. With child number two it has been a slow process, but I only have myself to blame as I can't get in to the gym as much as I would like, but I am working on it. I've known him since high school and he has trained me for 9 years now. He calls me all the time to tell me to put down the donut. I am proud to say I've watched his success rise and he has now opened his own gym, Kaizen Crossfit. Today he was featured on Channel 3.

http://www.kvbc.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=3875198&at1=News&h1=News

Manager's Conference

2009-05-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

In T minus 7 days we will be here at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Since getting a promotion last year, I now get to attend the annual Managers Conference. The whole family will come with and they will be camped out by the pool for 3 whole days.

I can't wait!

Home Run!!!

2009-05-17T10:32:00.001-07:00

My son hits a home run and then gets mowed down by his own coach. What the heck!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Joshy!!!

2009-04-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

2009-02-25T18:11:00.001-08:00

Okay so this was too funny for me not to blog about. Today I pick my 3 year old up from daycare and this was our conversation.

Josh: Mom!

Me: Yes.

Josh: Tomorrow is picture day so Ms. CC says you have to dress me up.

Me: You got it.

Josh: Um....how bout a chicken?

Conversations with a 3 year old

2009-02-24T18:02:00.000-08:00

On the drive home today from day care my three year old and I had a nice conversation.

Josh: Mom?
Me: Yes.
Josh: Is the tooth fairy real or fake?
Me: Real.
Josh: Does she fly?
Me: Yep!
Josh: You put your teeth under your pillow and then she takes it and leaves money.
Me: That's right!

Pause.....

Josh: Mom?
Me: Yes.
Josh: We don't have long necks.
Me: ...
Josh: We don't have long necks like dinosaurs.
Me: That's right, we sure don't.

Pause.....

Josh: Mom?
Me: Yes.
Josh: I love you.

I wish all my conversations could be like this.

Dinner and a show for only $20

2009-01-28T21:08:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, I got to do something I never thought I would get to do in a million years. It was so great, I figured I would blog about it.

Harry Connick Jr. & I sang Happy Birthday to Steve Wynn. I know what you're thinking. Riiiiiiiggggtttt, nice dream you had there. But I kid you not, this was no dream. I actually got to sing Happy Birthday to Steve Wynn along side musician/actor/grammy award winner, Harry Connick Jr. Okay yes, there may have been five hundred other people singing along with us and I wasn't exaclty next to Harry, but none the less, it did happen. How you ask did I get so lucky?? Last Friday night my dear, dear, friend Nicole sends me a text that read, "Hey...What are you doing tomorrow night? We are going to harry connick jr. / Steve Wynn's birthday concert at Wynn and we have one extra ticket." HECK YEAH!!!!!

Fast forward to Saturday night. In my black strapless cocktail dress, we head into the corridor of the new Danny Gans theatre at the Wynn Hotel. On either side of the 3 doors entering the corridor, were cocktail waitresses each holding a tray of either red wine, white wine, or champaign. I grabbed a glass of champagne feeling ever so chic. As we walked through the doors, there were even more cocktail waitresses lining the walls on either side of the corrider with more red wine, white wine and champagne. Steve sure knows how to take care of his guests that's for sure.

We enter the theatre and find our seats. This was a small theatre and there wasn't a bad seat in the house. Our seats were a little more than halfway back from the stage, but we were dead center. After about 20 minutes the muky mucks start to arrive. Celebrity's of all sorts were there. From Siegfried and Roy, Neil Diamond, & Danny Gans to Tony Robbins (motivational speaker), Randy Jackson (American Idol Judge) and James Carville (Political consultant).

Once they were all seated, Mrs. Wynn came out to welcome all of Steve's friends and family. MEEEEE!!! A friend of Steve Wynns? Who would have thought. Next, the curtins rise and there before our eyes is an orchestra on stage with Harry. (from now on I am going to refer to him as Harry, since after all we are both friends of Steve Wynn). Not only is Harry a great singer, but he is very witty and does a great impersonation of Steve Wynn. He recalled his dinner the night before saying, "Last night, I sat between Donald Trump and Steve Wynn at dinner. I already have enough issues with insecurity. It was a tough night for me."

As the concert came to an end, Harry asked that they bring up the lights a little and that we all sing Happy Birthday to Steve. Sure, why not! It was quite surreal.

After the concert there was a party for Steve Wynn. Now Steve and I aren't really that close, so I did not merit an invite to that. However, my friend was comped dinner at the Country club which is an extremly nice restaurant in the Wynn. The food was amazing and it was just the icing on the cake to such a wonderful evening.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

2008-12-15T18:17:00.000-08:00

Las Vegas is known for it's "Dry Heat". What that really means is, your lucky if the soles of your shoes don't melt on the asphalt. Or have a layer of your skin ripped from your body as you peel yourself off the leather seats in your car. When you breath it's like inhaling hot lava (okay, okay, so I may have exaggerated a little, but you get the point.).

On the flip side, during the winter months it CAN get really cold and on a rare occasion (and I mean like never), it will in fact snow in the desert. When it does, it is quite beautiful and the kids have a blast. My husband and our youngest stayed home today and made a snow man.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

Instead of hovering around the kitchen for hours while my husband sits on the couch and watches football, we decided to pack up and go to San Diego for Thanksgiving. My sister and her family and my parents all converged on the city with imported vegitation. It was quite lovely. We hung out at the Wild Animal Park, took family photos at the beach for our upcoming Christmas cards and had Thanksgiving dinner that served up not only great food, but the best view money can buy. (Trust me, we paid for it). This restaruant sits right on the beach and looks out over the ocean. Since it was Thanksgiving, I felt it would be blasphemy not to order the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. But I'll tell you this looked nothing like the dinner I make.

The Marine Room in La Jolla is top notch and I definately plan on going again should the opportunity present itself.

THE WILD ANIMAL PARK

My kids can hold a bird.....

I can hold a bird.....

Even my sister and nephew can hold a bird....

My husband......not so much.

Photo shoot in La Jolla

The Marine Room in La Jolla

34

2008-11-23T19:30:00.000-08:00

I turned 34 on Thursday. I'm okay with it. I think 35 might freak me out though. I asked my 3 year old if he was going to sing me Happy Birthday. He said after we had cupcakes he would. Ahhh to be 3 again.

1st graders talk about politics during recess

2008-11-04T20:17:00.001-08:00

I picked my 6 year old up from school yesterday and this was our conversation. Out of the blue my son says:

Austin: Mom, I need you to vote for John McCain since I can't vote.
Me: Oh really. Why do you want me to vote for John McCain?
Austin: Because Barrack Obama smoked when he was 4.

And there you have it.

HAPPY HAUNTING

2008-11-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

I must say Halloween has become a favorite holiday in our house. Christmas is still my favorite, but Halloween is a close second. I never thought I would be "that" house. When I say "that" house, I mean the house that all the kids talk about just before and just after Halloween. I can still recall my own conversations as a kid. "Okay, so like we totally have to go to the scary house first." And our conversation after the scary house. "Oh my god, that was like totally awesome!"

What? I grew up in the 80's. That's how we talked.

As you can see, this all stems from my childhood. Growing up, every Halloween there was a house up the street that would go to the extreme and decorate the entry way to their home as a haunted mansion. Kids would come from all over. There was always a line that streamed half way down the block. Once in the door, the lady of the home dressed in her best Morticia Adams coustume, would walk the group into the home. My teeny bopper friends and I would giggle in nervous anticipation. At the end of a long decorated hallway was the zombie guy. Have you ever watched Scooby Doo? Almost every episode has a zombie/monster man with white hair, pale face and black cape. That was this guy. He would sit at the end of this hallway with his legs crossed ever so casually with a bowl of candy sitting on a table next to him. My annoyingly giggly friends and I would slowly approach him and the teasing bowl of candy. As we would reach for the candy he would lurch forward and we would run screaming for the door. As we learned in past years, the louder you screamed, the farther he chased you. I swear he chased us a half a mile one Halloween.
Those were the best Halloween memories.

Now that we have two boys, we have really gotten into the act. This year, I must say, was our best yet. We had a skeleton cemetary theme. We had our Haunted Cemetary sign out front, with two large skeleton torches on either side of the gate that leads into our courtyard. That alone sent several kids running in the opposite direction. Once in the gate our courtyard was transformed into a ghostly scary cemetary with tombstones, a gost that actually glides above your head, scary music from my husbands DJ system, strobe lights, fog and a huge hidden cloaked skeleton with white hair that you don't see until you get up to the front door. Several kids cried, and some where even dragged kicking and screaming by their parents up to the door. Ahhh good times.

My oldest really got into the act. He would get on the microphone, peer out the window, wait until kids would have to walk through our black hanging string and then he would scream. Not one person didn't jump or scream and my six year old quite enjoyed it.

My favorite part of the night, was having the teeny boppers tell me, "Your house is so sick! We love it." In 80's terminology that would mean "totally rad"'

Check out the large skeleton peering down from the upstairs window. Yes, that is my husband with green hair. Thanks Eric, for making our cemetary come to life.....literally.

The Clone Trooper and the Astronaut

Kids say the darndest things

2008-09-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

My six year old said, "Man, my foot sure is lazy."
Translation: His foot was asleep.

The Sleep Over

2008-09-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

My oldest son, the first grader, had his very first sleep over last weekend. We have been having a lot of firsts with him lately. I was amazed to see how he interacts with his best buddy. For the most part, I was taken aback by how they speak to each other. These are 6 year old little boys, and they call each other "Dude"! "Come on Dude! Were going to play with swords!" "Awesome, Dude." Then there is the elongated, "Duuuuuuuudddee". Then Austin would forget who he was talking to and call me dude. I quickly reminded him that I was not his dude.

I was a little nervous as the other childs parents really gave no insturctions when they dropped him off. Does their son have to go to bed by a certain time? Are their any movies he is not allowed to watch? Is he even allowed to watch T.V? So what did I do, I let them stay up until 11:00 and I let them watch Spider Man. It's not like it was a school night or anything and Spider Man is a PG movie.....I think? I did ask this little boy if he had ever seen Spider Man, to which he replied, "yes, once." My child has seen this move at least 500 times.

The next day when his mother arrived, she asked what time they got up. When I said 8:00 I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. She said that he usually wakes up around 6. I told her that as long as I was up, they could stay up. That way, they would sleep in a little longer. She said she would have to try that next time. Not sure if she really meant that or if she was trying to mask her disapproval.

Anyway, they both had a blast and I somehow managed to survive. Boys have a lot of energy and I was exhausted by the end of it. Like, totally dude.

The Tooth Fairy will be visiting our house tonight!!!

2008-09-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

Austin just lost his first tooth.

*Disclamer- The string tied to the door was my son's idea. He saw this on America's Funniest Home Videos and would not have it done any other way. No children were harmed in this video. :-)

I survived!

2008-08-25T19:43:00.001-07:00

In case you were wondering, I made it through the day without crying. I wanted to. I really did, and I almost did, but I was able to blink the liquid back into my eyes and breathing heavily (picture Lamaz breathing) really helped. Austin's teacher caught me doing that and it was a little embarissing, but I'm sure she's used to it. Right?
Three of my co-workers rushed into my office when I arrived into work to make sure I was okay. It almost felt as if they had practiced some run through drill of my arrival the way they swooped in like they did. "Okay people this is the real deal! Places everyone, places." I wouldn't put it past them to arrage for one of them to have a brown paper bag conveniently on hand should I suddenly start to hyperventilate.
My son really enjoyed his first day of school. The only negative thing he said was that lunch was too short and one of the kids cried in his class all morning. His teacher said there's always one. You could say the same about the parents.

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN

2008-08-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

My six year old will be starting 1st grade in eights days. That's right, eight days!! You could say i'm just a little freaked out about it. Let's just falsh back to a year ago shall we.......

Both of my children attend a private school/daycare and have been for two years. The school takes children from age 6 weeks to Kindergarden. Since my youngest attends this school as well, I figured why not have one more year of dropping them off at the same place instead of having my oldest attend Kindergarden at the public school by our house.

A few weeks before the start of Kindergarden, the school held orientation. The parents were introduced to the three Kindergarden teachers and were informed of the class structure. During the orientation, one of the Kindergarden teachers read us all a book called "The night before Kindergarden". I started crying half way through the story. What on earth? This was a childrens book for gods sake. This should have been my first clue of what was to come. After orientation they gave all the parent a packet and it just so happend that in the packet was this book.

That following week, I would read that story to my son everynight to get him excited about Kindergarden. Again, I would start to cry half way through. My son thought I was nuts.

The day finally came. We drove to shcool and I was fine. I took pictures of my little Kindegardner next to his friends and a few with his new Kindergarden teacher. I could feel my eyes starting to well up with tears. Where was this coming from? I felt a little embaressed about my blubbering so I gave him a big hug and a kiss and wished him well on his first day. As I started my drive to work, I completely and utterly lost it. I couldn't control the tears. The flood gates had opened and I was just overwhealmed with emotion. Needles to say, I cried the whole way to work. Once at work I sat in the car until I could pull myself together. What on earth was wrong with me! My son had been attending this school for two years already and was there during the summer! It was just like anyother day I dropped him off. Once I realzied how ridiculous I was being, I was able to stop crying and head into work.

I get into my office and have some risidual sniffles from all the crying that had taken place. My co-worker........my young, sweet, innocent and unsuspecting coworker walks into my office and chrips, "Are you sick?" Oh no, here it comes. I start to fan my face as if that would help to keep the tears from shooting out my eyes like torpedos. I can feel the beads of sweat starting to accumulate on my brow. My face flushed. I can't speak. There's a lump in my throat the size of a grape fruit. I can see the horror overcome her young face. I can read her thoughts, had someone died? I knew she was sorry she asked that simple question. I fan my face even faster and am finally able to muster the word "Kindergarden!" At that moment, I roared into laughter. My co-worker still standing in my doorway, dumfounded. I think for a brief moment she thought I needed to be comitted. I am finally able to stop laughing long enough to explain that it was my oldest's first day of Kindergarden. Relief rolls across her face.

If I was able to breakdown when he had attended that school for 2 years already, I shudder to think of how I will be on the first day of 1st grade at an entirely new school.
I think I'll warn my co-workers ahead of time.

A Quote from England's Prime Minister, Tony Blair

2008-08-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

'A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in.. And how many want out.'

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.

Quote of the Day

2008-08-04T15:12:00.001-07:00

For those of you who don't know, "The Office" is one of my favorite primetime shows. Since I work in the health insurance industry, I found the following quote hilarious.

-Dwight, on choosing an office health care plan
"Apparently, some of you are upset with my plan. So I want everyone to write down any diseases you have that you might want covered and I'll see what I can do...make it anonymous and put it in my in-box....Or don't write it down at all, and it won't be covered. Sound fair? Yes."

Mama's Boy

2008-07-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

My three year old is such a mama's boy. What three year old isn't right? My husband tells me that our little Joshy tells him on a regular basis how much he loves me. My husbands reaction, "What am I, chop liver?"
Anyway, case in point. As I arrive home from work today, I ask Josh how his day at school was since this week is pirate week at daycare and they get to dress like pirates all week.

Me: Did you have a good day at school.
Joshy: Yeah
Me: Do you like your pirate outfit?
Joshy: Yeah. You put it on me. I love you all the time mom.

He just melts my heart.

2008-06-17T21:18:00.000-07:00

Roadtrip to Disneyland: $200

4 Tickets into Disneyland: $372

Pictures with Mickey: $35

Having to go number two on the way home in the middle of nowhere while your older brother sits in the car laughing hysterically: PRICELESS

Graduation

2008-05-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

Graduation is a right of passage. It represents leaving adolesence behind and forging ahead into the unknown realm of adulthood. Unless of course your 6 and just graduated from Kindergarten. Yesterday, my soon to be 6 year old graduated from Kindergarten.
I never had a Kindergarten graduation, but my son attends a private school that only goes up to Kindergarten, so the school sends them off to their new 1st grade shcools with a graduation ceremony. The ceremony started off with the head of the school welcoming all the parents and then on to the video montage. Why must they pick the most tear jearking songs to go along with the video montage. I fought back the tears as best I could. Next came the all knowing graduation song. You know, "Daaaa da da da daaaaa daa...daa da da da daaaaa". In marched these little kids with their little caps and tassles. It was ADORABLE.
My son looking so serious and stoic, marched in and found his spot and stared intently at his teacher waiting for her instructions. In an attempt to get his attention, my husband and I called his name an waived so he would know where we were in the crowd. After several attemps at getting his attention, my son finally gave us a quick nod as if to say, yes, I know you're there but I'm a little busy right now, and went back to starring intently at his teacher.
Next up the pledge of allegance, followed my the pledge to the Bible, the pledge to Christianity and then came the songs. There is nothing more adorable then a bunch of kindergartners singing. The little girl next to my son was on a mission. She belted out every song with so much force and tenacity and had every song memorized. My mother in law called her the over achiever. I think my son lipsinked half the time. My favorite song was "Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today" swaping the word New York, for 1st grade. My heart just melted.
Up next was the comencement ceremony. Each class lined up on stage. One by one, as their name was called, they got their moment to cross the stage, shake their teachers hand and receive their diploma. I was so proud as my son's name was called and he crossed the stage. Again, I fought back the tears and wiped away the few that got away.
My little man will be starting 1st grade at a new school in the fall. Just the thought makes me misty eyed and a little sad. He's growing up so fast.
Only 12 more years before this moment comes again.

The Family Portrait

2008-05-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to keep my mother in law from crying everytime she comes over to my house and sees the family potograph I had done with my parents and my sister and her family, I arrange for a suprise family photo to be done for her family. For her birthday I told her that we would be picking her and my father in law up to take them somewhere special and to dress nicely. We took the unsuspecting pair to our neighborhood JC Penny portrait studio and had my husband's sister their waiting with her family. It was a wonderful suprise and she was estatic. She ended up ordering a life size photo of us all to grace her wall at home.
Now cut to this past weekend when I arrive at JC Penny's to pick up the giant photo along with the other smaller photos that were ordered. As I am sitting in the passengers seat of my husbands truck looking at each person in our family photo, I get to my husband and can't help but notice something is just not quite right. As I linger over his photo a little longer, I finally notice it. SUNGLASSES! My husband had taken off his sunglasses and hung them from the collar of his button up collared shirt. I couldn't believe my own eyes! I said, "Um, honey? Did you forget to take your sunglasses off?" His reaction was, "WHAT! OH MY GOD, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. Why didn't you say anthing?" First off I have myself and two little boys to make sure look appropriate and that they are smiling. Second, I am standing slighly in front of my husband so I don't see him. Third, he is a grown man and should be able to check himself out. After explaining this to him I told him not to point this out to his mother and that maybe no one will notice.
My mother in law has not picked up her photos yet. I am keeping my fingers crossed that when she does, she does not notice the sunglasses.
Note to self, check all three of my children before a family photo is taken.

PINK FLOYD FANS ARE JUST LIKE YOU & ME

2008-05-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

I call my sister on Friday afternoon to see what she's up to. She proceeds to tell me that she and her husband are on their way to a Pink Floyd concert. Now to some, this may seem like no big deal, however, my sister is a conservative christian who coughs uncontrollable if someone is smoking within a 5 mile radius.
I start laughing hysterically asking why on earth they are going to see Pink Floyd. She says that her husband Bill has a friend who is flying into town and they wanted to see it. Bill assured her that there would be people like "them" there. Again, I start laughing uncontrollably and inform her that her husband is in fact, LYING, to her. I told her to ask her husband if there would be a laser light show, which he replied, "Probabally". I told her to stay away from the pretty rainbow tattos and smiley face stickers and that it might be a good idea for her to drink a couple of glasses of wine at dinner to relax her.
Out of curiosity, I ask her what she's wearing. She informs me she is wearing black Capri pants, a hot pink shirt, a black cardigan and pearls to tie it all together. A stepford wife, as she put it. Oh yeah, there will be LOTS of people looking like that at this concert. I told her she HAD to call me the next day as I wanted to hear all about it.

As asked, she calls the next day laughing stating that I was in fact, right. YA THINK!
There was a laser light show along with fog as well as a large helium balloon pig. She said people were smoking Pot all around her and she was even offered a hit by some woman next to her. She politely declined. They bashed President Bush the entire time and confetti shot out with Obama 08 written on them. When they returned home, her two older children said she smelled really bad. Wonder why?

All in all, I think it's great that she got out and got to experience something out of her comfort zone. We should all be so daring. Besides, it sure does make for a great story.

MY LEGS ARE ON FIRE!!!!

2008-03-06T16:42:00.000-08:00

I try to workout on a regular basis. With a full time job and 2 small children I am lucky if I can get in 3 workouts a week. I alternate between a trainer and going to a gym. My trainer is getting some sort of certification and has been taking a training class. I have attended serveral of these classes with him. The sessions only last an hour but literally kick your a** and then some.

Tuesday night I attended a class where all we did for most of the hour was a Snatch Exercise. After I got over laughing at the word Snatch, I learned that this snatch exercise is one you see done on the Olympics. To see a picture of this go to: http://bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.php?Name=Snatch
After doing these for about 45 minutes, we moved on to jumping lunges. These god awful exercises consist of jumping up into the air and coming back down in into a lunge position then jumping up again and doing a sissor leg change in the air and landing again in the lunge position with the oppisite leg in front. Now, we had to do these hellatious exercises for 20 seconds stright with a 10 second rest. Then repeat it. I lost count after 5 reps of these. Oh the pain, the agony, THE BURNING!!!!

Now a full hour of just these two exercises does not seem like much, but I walked out of that class with my legs so tight I thought my muscles were going to pop out of my skin. I could not sleep at all that night as my legs were still tight and again BURNING! I was unable to walk very well yesterday and today my co-workers break out into laughter everytime I go to sit down. Possible because I yell out an "Owe" everytime.

Did I mention my house is a two story?

The Neti Pot

2008-01-26T10:54:00.000-08:00

I speak to my sister who lives in Texas almost everyday. On one paticular phone conversation, I had mentioned that my husband was still getting over the flu. My sister proclaims, "I have the perfect thing for him. A Neti Pot."
"A whaty what??" I said confused.
"A Neti Pot," she replied.
She went on to say that while she was at the gym she started complaining to her fellow gym mates that her poor 13 year old son was having a really bad time with his allergies. He had been getting really bad nose infections and woke up every morning with bags under his eye. One of her mates said that she should try a Neti Pot. My sister had the same reaction I did. "A what?" She had never heard of such a thing. The other gym mate piped up and said that she had heard of it on Oprah. Well if Oprah is endorsing it, then it must be good, right?

So my sister goes out to her local health food store and ask the lady for the devise that you stick up your nose. (More on how the devise works later) The woman at the store knew exactly what my sister was talking about. "Oh, you mean a Neti pot." said the woman. "Yeah, one of those." says my sister. My sister takes this home and has her son try it out. She said the next day, her son woke up and said he slept better than he had in years. The bags under his eyes were gone. She has had him use it every day since and he is now off his Allegra and Flonase.
I thought, wow, if it can do all that, then I definately have to get me one of these.

Now, the definition of a Neti post is "a nasal cleansing pot for the cleansing of nasal passages according to the traditional practie of Neti (Nasal irrigation)." The pot looks like a minature tea pot, minus the lid. It is quite simple to use. Pour warm water into the pot and mix with 1 tablespoon non-iodized table salt. Tilt your head to the side and stick the spout up one side of your nose. Breath out your mouth and proceed to pour the water up your nose as the water comes out the other nostril.

I was so excited about my purchase, I raced home and told my husband about it. I believe his exact words were "You want me to stick what, where?" I told him to trust me, that if his Nephew can do it, he can too. Not to be out done by a 13 year old. My husband proceeded to use the Neti pot. Now, for anyone out there who plans on trying this, I would suggest you to do it alone, for anyone who watches you will bust out laughing as I did, and cause the Neti pot user to choke, as my husband did.
Once we composed ourselves, he was able to finish the process. In the end my husband was very suprised and said that it helped open up his nasal passage. Now it was my turn. Pretty easy I thought. What I failed to realize is about 20 mintues later, I bent over to pick something up and water proceeded to drizzle out my nose. That was weird, I thought. Then I went to lie down and again, water started to come out my nose. No wonder they tell you to do these bending exercises once your done to get all the water out.
So should you decide to enter the realm of the Neti pot, just remember to keep extra tissue nearby. :-)

Bamboozled

2008-01-11T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have been "bamboozled" into starting a blog. I really didn't have a choice in the matter. I asked and simple question. "How do you start a blog?" And within a period of 2 seconds I suddenly had one without moving a muscle.
I'm not quite sure who will be reading this blog and have always been somewhat skeptical about putting information out on the web. But, what the heck! You only get your identiy stolen once right?
In any case, I am excited about giving this out to family and friends to view. I will try to snaz it up as best I can so as not to bore anyone who logs on. So enjoy!

Boo yah!

2008-01-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

On this, the 11th of January, in the year of our Lord, 2008, Dana Breer has been bamboozled into creating a blog by her subordinate, Meredith K. Eaton. Don't fight the addiction!