Lots to Celebrate!

Saturday I went to a surprise 40th Birthday Party for Christy Froehlich. The surprise party was at Aunt Chiladas. Christy and Paul met at Aunt Chiladas and that is where they went after they got engaged so it was an appropriate place for a birthday party for her. It was great, she had NO idea!! People came in from all over and she was shocked! I felt very honored to be included and am glad I was able to be there.

I got to know Christy when I was still involved with Team in Training. The season I got to know the Froehlich family, I was a mentor with Team in Training. If a participant does not have an honor patient of their own, they are assigned an honor patient to run for and be inspired by. Faith was our team's honor patient. Faith was diagnosed with leukemia when she was a year and a half. I met her shortly after that and while she was in treatment. What an amazing family!!!! They were always so willing to come to ice cream socials or pizza parties so that TNT paticipants could see Faith and be inspired by the sweet little girl! I have been lucky enough to stay in touch with them since and even stayed in touch when they moved to Maryland. Through Facebook, Christmas cards and their fundraising endevours, we have stayed in touch.

It was so fun to see them all on Saturday. Paul threw a great party for Christy! The girls were so grown up and are 9 years old! They were both so tall. (although I am finally coming to terms with that I must be short! :) ) Even though the girls did not remember me, they were so nice and were talkative telling me about things they are doing and about life in Maryland. They are both brownies and are involved in soccer. I was thrilled to hear that Faith just had her 5 years cancer free checkup!!!!! YEAH FAITH!! Now she only has to go to the doctor once a year for check ups! To celebrate her 5 years, Josie threw her a surprise party with her friends back in Maryland. 5 years......Now that is something to celebrate!!!!!!!

Thank you Froehlich's for letting me share in Faith's journey and for sharing your family with me! It was great seeing you!

The first time I met the Froehlich Family....Faith, Christy and her twin sister Josie

Faith, Christy and Josie at Chucky Cheese. ( I loved Faith's curls as her hair was growing back :))

Christy, Faith, Josie and I at San Felipe's shortly before they moved to Maryland

Faith and I!

Christy and the girls!

Now a recent picture.....Saturday, A picture with the birthday girl Christy, Faith, Josie and I

18 years later....

Krista Kennedy (Now Krista Fields) and I

Saturday morning I went to coffee and breakfast with an elementary school friend that I had not seen in 18 years. Krista and I figured out that even though we went to different high schools, I was at her 16th birthday party. That was the last time we saw each other. Thanks to the wonders of facebook we have reconnected and were able to get together since she was in town for the weekend. It was so fun to see her, hear all about her family and just catch up on life!

Krista is the same sweet person I remembered and I look forward to keeping in touch and hopefully seeing her again when she makes it to Phoenix next time!

Yuppy Puppy

Today I got to bring Bogey and Ripken with me to work. Lori who I work with, has a dog treat dispenser called the yuppy puppy. Her dogs have mastered it and now it was Bogey and Ripken's turn to learn. Bogey has tried it a few other times when he has been in the office but never really did it on his own. This was Ripken's first time and he definitely needed help. Hopefully he'll catch on after a few more times. Bogey got it this time and has now mastered the yuppy puppy!

Ripken being taught the yuppy puppy, "give me your paw"
Ripken quickly learned that you do get treats when you push the bone down!

Bogey and his yuppy puppy skills!

Coyotes Game x2

Last night my dad was my Valentine! We went to the hockey game. The coyotes played the Washington capitals. It was a great game and the coyotes won! The capitals have Alex Ovechkin on their team and he is the best in the league so it was fun to see him play. He is fast! Of course we ventured over to the team shop to see if we could find any coyotes gear to send to my niece and nephew but unfortunately their selection of childrens clothes was limited. It was a fun valentine's day evening with my dad!

Last Saturday I also went to the Coyotes game to help sell 50/50 raffle tickets for Desert Labrador Retriever Rescue. It is actually a pretty cool thing and a great fundraiser. If you purchase a ticket, it is $2 and 50% of the pot goes to the winner and the other 50% is split between coyotes charities and the charity of the night. Saturday DLRR was the charity. We split off in pairs around various areas of the arena and sold tickets until the 2nd intermission. Then they announce the winning number in the beginning of the 3rd period. I have not been told how much money DLRR made but were told it should be good since the game was sold out and they felt we sold a lot. Crossing our fingers we made a lot for the labbies!

Phoenix Open 2011

My favorite weekend of the year....Phoenix Open weekend!! This year I went out to the tournament on Sunday with Mitzi. We had tickets for the skyboxes on 16 so we enjoyed having some lunch and some bloody marys as we took in some golf. It was a beautiful sunny day which was a nice change from the very cold weather we had earlier in the week. After Mitzi and I hung out at 16 for a while, we moved over to 18 to meet up with Noelani and her family. It was a great day with friends watching the sport I love! Already looking forward to next year!

I had to take a picture of JJ Henry teeing off on 16 for my sis, she knew him in college and he was wearing TCU purple! Go Frogs!
The leaderboard

Look down hole 18

Mitzi, Noelani and I

Blonde Beauty

Saturday I helped with another DLRR event. We had a meet and greet at Orvis at Kierland. I offered to help by going down to Canine Country Club to pick up one of our available dogs, Elvis and bring him to the event. What a love he was!!! He rode great in the car and so enjoyed being loved on. In past events I have had dogs with more energy and dogs that were just "busy". Elvis was just happy to lay in the sun and have you pet him. Most of the afternoon he layed down and I sat next to him just petting him and playing with his soft ears! I know I say it everytime I meet another one of our adoptable labs but I would seriously take him home in a heart beat if I didn't have 3 furry friends of my own already! I hope Elvis finds his forever home soon because he will make someone a very good companion!

This was Elvis most of the day! Just enjoying laying in the sun!

Winter Weather in AZ

Believe it or not while most of the country is getting pounded with winter storms and multiple feet of snow, here in Arizona we are having abnormally cold temperatures too! I woke up Thursday morning to no water!!! Turns out my pipes froze due to the temperatures overnight getting in the low 20's! I was more then frustrated that I could not shower, had to brush my teeth without water, had to give the dogs metro mint water that I had in the fridge since their bowl was empty and couldn't make coffee!! I quickly became aware of how much I need running water! Luckily I went home over lunch and my pipes had thawed and my running water was back! So last night I covered my pipes with blankets and left the faucet in the bathroom dripping. I have seen neighbors who wrapped their pipes and covered their plants and I chuckled! Who does that in Arizona?? I have lived in AZ almost my whole life and have never covered pipes...Well, I guess everyone who wants water does! Next year I will be more prepared!

Welcome Back Singne!

Last night the Grayhawk Girls got together to welcome Singne back to Arizona as well as celebrate Mitzi's upcoming birthday! It was great to have Singne back in Arizona and we all miss her dearly now that she has moved to Atlanta. So fun to catch up with her and give her a big hug. Mitzi's birthday is in a few weeks so it was nice to toast birthday wishes for her as well. We went to Parc Central which is a new resteraunt at Scottsdale Quarter. Always fun to try new places and Scottsdale Quarter is really growing. (Thanks Meghan for always coming up with great places!) Thanks for a fun night ladies and look forward to seeing you all soon!

Mitzi and I
Singne and Meghan

More Wedding Pics....

Just thought I would share a few more pictures from Julie's wedding.... Still so happy I was able to share my friend's special day with her! Julie, I love you and am so happy for you and Chris!

PGA Show 2011

Last week I was in Orlando for the PGA show with work. I flew out on Tuesday and returned on Sunday. As always it is a lot of work but a lot of fun at the same time. The nice thing about my job is that I do enjoy the people that I work with so we had fun together at dinners and at the booth.

Wednesday Jim and I set up the booth and then the show was Thursday, Friday, Saturday and we flew home Sunday. It is always fun putting faces with names of customers we have spoken to all year. The energy at the show seemed to be good and people were in better spirits about buying. Hopefully it is a good sign of what is to come in 2011!

The booth pre setup

We stayed at the Peabody hotel and they are known for having ducks that are in their lobby fountain all day and then every day at 5pm they have "march of the ducks" and they go back upstairs to the duck palace! Then they "march" back down stairs at 11am the next day.

Our floor rack of headcovers

Doug, Jim and I on day 1 of the show

Doug, Jane, Jim and I on day 2
Had to see the ducks in the lobby fountain before we went to the airport