Red Sox Lottery Tickets to Opening Day

My husband is asking a big favor from everyone....The Boston Red Sox have announced they are doing a lottery this year for the chance to buy tickets to Opening Day.

When you click on the link below it will ask you which Red Sox tickets you want to win. Select the first box. You'll also need to fill out the personal information it is requesting. They are going to start drawing names on Monday. You need to sign up for this by Sunday. The tickets he really wants are for Opening Day.

He's trying to make his annual Opening Day trip to Fenway Park . This year it will be tough because they're coming off a World Series title. They have so many requests for tickets this year that they are doing it lottery style. He's asking that you and your husbands signup (they only allow one entry per person).

Please call me if you are selected on Monday so my husband can instruct you what to do. He promised to buy lunch for me and anyone that wins...

Link:
http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/bos/ticketing/y2008/tickets_form.jsp

Student of the Month

Yesterday Luke came home from school so excited to show me what his teacher gave him. He reached into his backback and pulled out this picture of himself doing his worksheet. Dead asleep.

Feelin' Fancy

I have read blogs where people dedicate a post to a farewell to their old cars. Some people tell stories about how much they loved their trusty vehicles and how hard it was to part with that little car. This is not one of those posts. This is more of a 'get that piece of $#*! car out of my garage' post. (Sorry for the language.)
Yesterday Eric went in to get the safety and emissions test done for our 1995 Honda Accord and it didn't pass. This has happened for the last two years and we've repaired it figuring that the repairs were worth it to not have a car payment. But this year we're done.
We have been pretty darn frugal with our cars. Neither of us is too flashy and all we really care about is having transportation. If you've ever gone for a ride in the mentioned Accord, you'd know what I mean. I swear that thing had been submerged in water before we owned it. Sometimes the windshield wipers would turn on for no good reason. If you locked the car doors, the locks would go up and down consistently until you unlocked the car - so we never locked it. The paint was chipping and I have backed the minivan into the side of it three, yes THREE, times resulting in the drivers door not opening quite all the way. (Gosh I hope the dealer that gave us a trade-in isn't reading this.) I realized just yesterday that it is older than my first car when I turned 16. That's OLD.
One of Eric's best qualities is that he isn't a showy person and doesn't mind driving a 'practical' car. But even he was embarrassed driving it. It became no longer practical to drive. So we got a new car today!!! Well, new to us anyway. (Our practicality hasn't gone completely out the window and everyone knows how impractical it is to buy brand spanking new.)
We got a 2006 Volkswagon Passat! I'm so stoked that it has leather seats with seat heat. It's my favorite feature. However, I'm equally thrilled that the timing belts don't scream when I back out the driveway and I can lock my car. How fancy is that??

Pooped

What a day. This morning my mom came over to visit with the kids so they could show her their pictures of the trip. Adam was sporting a very stylish SpongeBob Band-Aid on his neck and my mom asked if a vampire had gotten him. Very matter of fact he said, "No, I didn't see a vampire in my backpack but I heard a ghost. He said OOOOOoooooo!"
These kids and their spooky obsession... Sheesh!
The boys were off to school (not without a tantrum or two) by 11:30 and Cam was out the door by 12:00. On Wednesdays the kids school times overlap by an hour and a half so I get together with friends every Wednesday for lunch!
When Cameron got home from school we decided to go swimming with Jenna and her crew. I haven't been back to a swimming pool since we got the dreaded parasite over the summer. I have to say, I'm still a little creeped out by the pool. But that didn't stop me from getting in with the kids. All was fun and games till Adam spotted poop floating around, very Caddyshack-esque. With a roll of my eyes I reported it to the lifeguard and decided to keep my suspicions of the culprit (Adam) to myself. Yet when I checked his swim trunks they were clean and so were Luke's. Is it bad that I'm almost hoping it was one of my kids because then I'd at least know they didn't have the parasite?? Either way, GROSS! Now you understand why I'm pooped.

"It's my money and I want it NOW!"

"It's my money and I want it NOW!"

I could hear Cameron yelling this and getting the boys to yell along with her. She kept saying it over and over and in different voices. That girl doesn't have a dime to her name, nor does she understand the concept of money, so I was baffled about what the heck she was talking about.... Until the JD Wentworth commercial came on TV. Apparently if you have been injured in a car accident and you're getting monthly payments, JD Wentworth can help you get a lump sum settlement. Why are they advertising this on Nickelodeon? Why has Cam decided this is her new catch phrase? Oh the mysteries of my life....

We're back from our fun in the sun. Back to so much snow I can't leave my house and the decision that it's time to buy a 4WD car for me. Anyone who would like to make cash contributions to make my dreams of driving around in the snow come true, please feel free. I'm in a complaining mood right now. I'm sick of snow. I'm sick of the minivan. I've been home from vacation 24 hours and I already have cabin fever! (Starting to wish that I'd been injured in a car accident and was receiving monthly payments....)

Isn't Adam about the cutest thing you've ever seen in your whole life?? Even with constant bumps and bruises on his noggin he's pretty darn cute.

Back to the main reason for this blog entry. The rest of our trip. After two days at Disneyland we headed south to San Diego to stay at Brett and Melissa's house again. On Thursday we went to Sea World. Our kids love it there. It's not quite as exciting as Disneyland, but fun still. We were sitting, waiting for the dolphin show to start when a Sea World employee approached us and asked if Cameron would like to be part of the show! How cool is that?? So she and I went back stage and put on giant galoshes and got front row seating for an amazing experience. I even got a pretend husband for 20 minutes. They do a little thing where our "dad" falls in the water at the end and a few dolphins had to rescue him. Our part was less scary than falling into dolphin and killer whale infested waters. I got to feed a dolphin and Cameron got to feed a killer whale! It really was awesome!

Yea, that's us with our pretend dad. I think I'll keep the one I already have.

What an amazing experience for us! And I just have to mention that I went to buy a $6 bucket of popcorn and they just gave it to me for free! Take that bunco girls - I won something! It was a really fun day.

Then we went to the beach a couple of times and spend lots of time at the park. It felt so good to be outside and feel the sunshine again. I am a seasonally depressed person. I hate the cold and the dark, so it's all in the name of therapy, right?

One last thing - can anyone give me some good book recommendations? I have book club tomorrow night and I have to bring a list of some books that we should read in the coming year. Please give me some ideas!!

Greetings from the happiest place on Earth!

This is view from our hotel room! Not too bad huh? I took this picture with my fabulous new camera (thanks again Mom). I'm slowly learning.

For those of you who haven't heard about my widely publicized vacation plans - we're in California again! We came here with Paige and Taylor's family and met up with Brett and Melissa and we're having a fabulous time!

We quickly learned that having potty trained kids slows down a road trip considerably. We were stopping about every thirty minutes the entire way here for potty breaks. I feel fairly confident that I could fill a book with reviews on public bathrooms along I-15. We also learned that kids are content with the simple things on vacation. I mean, what's more fun than having Dad push you around a hotel on a luggage cart??

If they had that much fun at the hotel, things were definitely about to get better when we went to Disneyland the following morning. (Yes those are palm trees and blue sky reflected in her glasses.)

Paige and I were so excited to go on the Matter Horn!!

Cameron was most excited about a High School Musical 2 performance at California Adventure Park. This picture is of her and Eric groovin'. Eric would like me to mention how handsome he looks in his new Celtics t-shirt. He would like everyone to leave a comment about it, please.

All my kids had things that they were excited to see at Disneyland. Cam, of course, wanted to see all the princesses and Adam wanted to go on the Nemo ride and Luke really wanted to go on the Haunted Mansion ride. Both Luke and Adam have a freakish obsession with Halloween and ghosts, skeletons, bats, spiders and pretty much anything that should scare typical kids. The first temper tantrum (and certainly not the last) came when it was announced that the Haunted Mansion was closed for repairs! Poor Luke. But never fear - we found something else that he's equally obsessed with...

It's still hard for me to understand how my boys can love spooky things so much and still be scared of anyone in costume. But they are terrified. Which made for fun times at Disneyland where you can't walk ten steps without a mascot (that's what they boys call them) trying to give you five and shake your hand. It was fun threatening them, "if you don't finish your lunch I'm going to go get Goofy..." We're kind of mean, huh? This Goofy picture is Cameron and her cousin Carter. My boys were hiding and screaming behind me while I snapped the shot.

We had such blast in the magic kingdom for two days. But two days with 9 kids, 3 mommies, 3 daddies and traveling is a recipe for exhaustion.

Laurie + Girlfriends = Fun Fun Fun

Tonight we had bunco!! I know I always say how I love my bunco group, but I don't care, I'm saying it again. I love my bunco ladies! For those of you who don't know what bunco is - it's just an excuse to eat too much food, laugh and catch up with girlfriends. There are dice involved too, but after playing bunco for more than five years I apparently still haven't learned the game. I never win anything! Tonight it was Nicky's turn to host and she made FABULOUS food and even more FABULOUS prizes! She actually made those frames for the winners. Can you even stand the talent? I hope the girls don't mind marshmallow snowmen as prizes when I host - that's about as crafty as I get.

Above: Brittany, Deidre, Kelly, Nicky, Heather, Tierney and Julie

Above Losers: Laurie & Natalie

Why do I always look like crap in pictures? Do I need to start wearing more makeup? I have a zillion pictures but I'm going to give everyone else exclusivity on pictures of themselves and not post all of them.

*******

On Tuesday night I got together with some girlfriends from high school and we had such a great time. We've seen each other through a lot and we're still going strong. (Although I still live in fear of seeing them all pull up in front of my house in a minivan....) I didn't get a good picture of all of us together - but here are a few cute ones.

Above: Laurie & Brittany

See what I mean? Look how pretty Britt looks and I look like I just woke up. I need help.

Above: Colleen & Ashton

Above: Kelly & Julie

Sorry Kel, Julie deleted all the other pictures of the two of you! What a dork!

Guilty day

I have had some serious writer's block lately. My life has been blissfully boring now that potty training is a thing of the past. Luke informed me the other day that we don't need to buy diapers ever again. Wahoo!
Today my niece Jessica borrowed the boys to take to her high school for her child development class. Luke and Adam left at 11:30, Cameron got on the bus at 12:00 and Eric was out of town. Yup you read that right. I had the whole house to myself for four hours! Four hours! Alone time in my house in unheard of. So I went to lunch at Food for Thought in Draper with my mom! (Thanks Mom!) And then I came home and took a long winters nap. I was hoping to wake up sometime in mid May, but sadly it's still January.
I can see Cameron running up the street from the bus stop as I'm typing. I'm all rejuvenated and ready to see her. Especially because I have a babysitter coming at 6:30 so that I can go play bunco with my girlfriends....he he he! What a day!

What color am I??

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Orange

You're a bold, confident orange. A warm, powerful color that indicates a strong, welcoming personality, orange is the mark of people who are social and extroverted by nature. Vibrant, with an upbeat attitude, you have a bright, inviting demeanor. Energetic and fun-loving, you're a real friend-magnet. Your easy charm and unassuming manner make you the sort of person people want to meet and get to know better. Well-rounded and fun to be around, you enjoy helping others, so it's no surprise that orange also symbolizes attraction. Orange is an extraordinary color — for an extraordinary person.

Take this test >

Wimmer ramblings.....

Eric: "Adam, you have the face of an angel."
Adam: "Do angels kill horses?"
Eric: "No."
Adam: "Then what do they kill?"
Eric: "Nothing. Angels don't kill anything. Angels are in heaven."
Adam: "Like Jesus?"
Eric: "Yup."
Adam: "Jesus is dead and we're going to see Him again. He's going to bring Lola with him."

(Lola is the dead hamster.)

Let's go for a spin

Last night I wen to a spinning class for my first time. Paige has been raving about it for a few weeks now, so I thought I needed to go see what all the excitement was about. Remember that I ran a marathon less than a month ago? I figured that after that, riding a stationery bike for an hour couldn't be that big a deal. After ten minutes I couldn't keep up with the class and was doing about half of what everyone else was doing. After half an hour I was contemplating what would have to happen in order for me to leave the class without looking like a wuss. I couldn't think of anything so I rode it out. I'm still convinced that the whole room is full of masochists but they love it so much that there must be something to it. So I've decided to go twice a week for three weeks to see if I can love it too. (Hey Allison, tell Abby thanks for kicking my butt!)

Call me Scrooge (my husband does), but I love getting back to normal life after the holidays. Don't get me wrong, I love almost every aspect of Christmastime. The parties, the school programs, Santa Clause, the food, the open Christianity that seems to be nearly taboo the rest of the year. I love it all, but I also love the first weeks of January. Getting the kids back to school, going back to the gym (with the other 5 million people there), taking down the tree (on December 27th) and recommitting myself to all the previous year's resolutions. Or goals. Whatever. Is there anyone out there who is still working on these 'resolutions' by February?

Neighborhood New Year Shindig

Last night Eric and I hosted the annual neighborhood New Year's Eve shindig. 29 people! It was a good time for every single person except Luke. He was fed up with it all at 7:30 and went to bed only to get up for the midnight festivities.

Poor kid

Luke and Eric at midnight

Jenna and Raul Parra - you can't see Andrew because he was asleep.

We originally said that our party was 6:00 - 10:00 because we all wear out too quickly with all the kids. But we were still going strong at midnight. We played Phase 10 dice. Here's Erika, Elle and Kayley trying to add up our scores. It's sad that we need a calculator to do it.

We also played Scrabble. It was the non-college grads (Jenna and me) against the college grads (Katrina, Kayley and Erika). And Jenna and I KILLED them!! They'll tell you a story about how two minds work better than one or some crap like that, but Jenna and I know we're just smarter.

We looked at our marathon photos. They are positively hideous, which is why you won't see them on my blog. But here's Jenna looking them up and Julie probably being glad that she wasn't in the pictures.


We decided that someone has to sit there and look pretty while everyone else is calculating and computing so here's Katrina doing just that.

And Erika being cheesy!

And Julie and Kayley

We played Apples to Apples and laughed our guts out. At midnight Erika got a little crazy.... look at Jeremy cheering on his wife in the background! What a riot!

Disclaimer: It was Martinelli's sparkling cider. No drinking at Mormon parties.

I probably talk too much about all my friends but I can't help it - I just love them to pieces!! We are together almost constantly and spend most of our time laughing and eating. There's nothing better in the world. Thanks ladies for the fun times! Happy New Year!!

Jenna, Kayley, Erika, me and Julie

Hallelujah! I got two cameras for Christmas!!! My mom gave me a fabulous Elph and Eric gave me an awesome video camera that doesn't even require tapes!! So here's all my photos I've been collecting. Granted, I'm no Mindy Johnson or Heather White or Martha Griffiths when it comes to photography - but still, these are good pics compared to my last camera.

Adam on Christmas morning

Luke on Christmas morning

Cameron on Christmas morning

In case you haven't noticed a trend, we are big believers in character jammies. I try really hard to steer them clear of character clothes, but jammies are fair game. Gotta love that my five year-old daughter is wearing Zac Effron to bed.

I got some really fun pictures of the boys brushing their teeth to get ready for bed. (And yes, the paint is the color of toothpaste and I LOVE it.)