Happy Independance Day!!

So we had a pretty relaxing day at home, I'm as patriotic as they come....but I don't do crowds if I can help it. But See? My room is all red white and blue! This print is on my wall! I'm patriotic all year. -Ann, you started the Americana thing, I LOVE it and had to keep it going :) -

Anyway, Cameron agreed to have his picture taken so we had a little fun.....

He helped me with some props.... too bad I didn't have a back drop....

The token pose....



We had some fireworks outside and Cameron LOVED the sparklers, he remembered from last year and just grabbed them and did like 4 or 5, no whining, no "ouch!" no fear! These are the cheap ones with the short handles too......

Brave kid.

Nathan enjoying himself until I told him we were not going to do the llegal fireworks his uncle gave him for today....
Then we got this face....

Um...Nathan? We have two police officers living on both sides of us....do you really think it's wise?

Hope your day was great too!

Suprise of a Lifetime!

K so 3 days after I got back from Chicago I knew I had an "interesting" weekend coming up. My friend Matt emailed me weeks before with a cryptic note about needing me to "reserve the weekend" I speak of and that was all the info I was gonna get and to NOT tell his wife Teri anything (It was a birthday surprise for her)
So, I anxiously awaited Friday where I was to arrive before 3pm with a bag packed for an overnight stay....who KNOWS where.....
Matt also invited 4 other of Teri's friends , her sister in law Megan, whom I knew, two gals from her ward Kristi and Becky - who is an old friend too, and one of them (Cheryl) was flown in from Chicago...Niiiiiice. Matt told us all in an email that he was inviting all her good friends that he KNEW would get along well and KNEW who would make it all about TERI. (Whelll, I was flattered I tell you Whut!) Matt also told us he'd be covering food and transportation too so no worries there... (Heaving big sigh of relief on MY part)
So there we all were, showing up one at a time in Teri's living room, none of us having any clue what was about to happen, (including Teri, who's mouth dropped more with each arrival!)
Then Matt told Teri she was going away for the night with us! And then told us we were ready and to come outside......

AH YEAH!!! A LIMO BABY!!!

Then he handed us a letter and a box and told us to read it on our trek and away we went!!
We were told some sweet things about Teri in that letter and Matt said some amazing things to her. too, told her this was just the beginning on how he was going to attempt to make up to her the hardships they've been through to get to this point in their lives. Teri was misty eyed, and all of us were a little "vaclempt" and then we had Teri open some gifts and we all got to get to know each other by telling our "How we met Teri story and how long we've known her" then Teri got to tell everyone what she appreciated about us. The group of girls I liked instantly and we all were laughing and having a GREAT time. I mean, how could you NOT???

Kristi, Teri, and Cheryl

Becky and Megan

So we deduced that we'd be shopping first at the Outlet malls in Park city!!

and then whooshed away to our hotel by said limo.

Shopping was FUN, well Teri enjoyed laughing at a few things we found. Then we headed to the hotel which was on Main St Park City. Very Posh and earthy and artsy and to DIE for......
This Concierge lady (below) came rushing out and greeted us with a "Helloooooo! Ladies!!!!"
She and the Bell hop (whom we were told NOT to tip, Matt had taken care of ALL of that!) whooshed us and our luggage to our room. She gave us a tour of our room, which was.....well....LOOK!!

Full Kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, Living Room, Dining Area, Pool Table, Family Room, Fireplaces in EVERY room
Omigosh!

Where is this water coming from??? "Whaaaaa??"



Some of us collapsed on the wood floors wishing we could transplant them into our homes and giving them plenty of Loooove....

This was mine and Meg's room, yes, the TV just makes a grand entrance appearing out of the bureau. There's our gas stove, and the Powder room just through the sliding doors....


Check out this Kitchen, wine fridge in the double bar, huge counter tops of marble, Double ovens, FULL size fridge, DISHWASHER, there was a washer/dryer in the closet next to the ovens too....where are my ingredients??? I would have cooked had I known such a masterpiece of a kitchen awaited me. There was a dining table that seated 6 too!

We could've been perfectly happy just enjoying our new pad called "The SKY Lodge" but we were told by Matt to get ready for dinner and head up the street in 45 minutes....

I couldn't cook, so I played pool instead....all alone.....while the other girly girls got ready for dinner.

so the excitement built as we got our faces on and headed up Main Street to this great place called, um Something Something Main.

We were greeted there like royalty as well and taken to a great table where Jim Carrey our waiter was charming and fun. Matt texted me and told us to order like four courses or ELSE. So we said "OKAY!!!" And we ordered tons of stuff and shared and tried all sorts of fun things like a fish called "ONO" and melon soup, and venison, and to die for everything.... There was a James Taylor sound alike playing acoustic guitar and we made multiple requests for songs for Teri.

We had a GREAT time at dinner and Matt was SLY, he had menus with no prices on them given to us, he had Crème Brulee sent to Teri and Death by Chocolate cake with a candle on it....yum!

We were told we had tickets to a show up at the Egyptian theater and found out it was Dueling Piano's from the guys from "Keys on Main." If you know anything about that place you'll know how AWESOME these guys are. Dueling Piano's is a ton of fun and so fascinating to watch, we made more requests for Teri and had a BLAST. Here the guys are and here Teri is rockin’ out to Bon Jovi….

We headed back to our room and we got changed,
I just love this pic of Meggers and Ter bein' all "Gangsta" –We then ate junk food, talked,

some of the girls squished themselves like sardines in one of our private HOT TUBS.... I took pictures....I'm not much into marinating.

We watched some Wacko Jacko Special - oh yeah, this was the day he died. Great pic of a $6 burger at Carl's Jr huh?

And we climbed into our turn down serviced beddie bye's at about 2am. These beds were SO soft and comfy. Feather everything and soft cushy warm sheets and blankets. LOVED IT!

We were told brunch was at 10 so to sleep in! "Whoot! Whoot!" - was what we said like to everything all night! So we did sleep in and then we enjoyed getting ready in our amazing powder rooms with TV's and Waterfall showers and yummy smelling bath and body items.....I personally took a 1/2 hour shower using the dual heads for extra "WoW!"

It was a beautiful day, here's the view from my balcony that mornin.....

We decided to take a family portrait....I just love these girls.....

We went to brunch downstairs at a french place, we were seated outside and it was WONDERFUL!! Look at my delectable dish!!

We also were told that next we'd be heading over to a place across the street to get....guess!?!? Guess??!!??
Mani's and Pedi's!!!
Ahhhh Yeahhhhhh
That was amazing!! Fun!!

Check my pampered self out.....

Yeah, so after being amazingly pampered and unbelievably treated like royalty, all of us moms were just about floating at this point. We shopped a while after, admiring our new nails, and headed to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a few more yummies and to a bookstore for a good read.....then our limo whooshed us back home again to our hubbies, who were all secretly loathing Matt at this point KNOWING he'd set the bar way to high.

Believe me I will NEVER forget that weekend, I made some great new friends, I got to know Teri better, I got pampered and I can tell you this, I am STILL on cloud nine. It's all I can do to not scream, jump up and down like a child and hug Matt every time I see him :)

Thanks Matt, you're the best!! You did a GREAT thing for your wife that I know she won't forget either. If she's ever mad at you, all you have to do is say “Park City Girls Weekend?" and she'll be putty in your hands. :)

Love you, gals!! Happy Birthday Teri!!