the one about the best Christmas gift.... EVER!

A couple months ago, Brett, Quayd and I were all at Wal-Mart around 9:00 pm. We had just gone to buy one thing and as we were leaving, we saw the electric blankets. Brett and I decided that we wanted one for our bed. Once we explained what it was to Quayd, he wanted one too. We didn't bring much money with us that night and forgot the debit card/check book. We only had enough money on us to buy one, so we got one for Quayd. We just never really got around to getting one for us. Fast forward to December 17-19th. Brett went on a hunting trip with his Grandpa Lane, so Quayd wanted to sleep with mom. We decided to bring his electric blanket into my room. I had no idea how wonderful they are! It was so nice and warm. His is only a twin size and he is quite a little blankey hog, so I only got a little taste of the delicious fruit. When Brett got home that Sunday afternoon, he was exhausted and wanted to take a nap. Quayd's blanket was still on my bed, so Brett was able to partake of the nice warm blanket too. We knew right then that we wanted one. BAD! We started teasing Quayd that we were going to steal his. It became quite the joke around here!

This year for Christmas, Brett and I decided not to buy each other gifts. We didn't really need anything and money was kinda tight this year. Quayd was feeling kind of bad that there were no gifts for us under the tree, except the things he bought for us at his school Santa's Workshop thing. We decided that since we were planning on buying an electric blanket for ourselves anyway, it would be a great thing for Quayd to give to us. However, we wanted it to be his idea! It took some creative thinking and planning on our part, but we were able to pull it off. We called Quayd's uncle Cory and gave him the scoop. Quayd was at his cousins and Brett and I were in town. We met up with Cory, gave him some money, and told him to go pick up Quayd. Cory told Quayd that he was going to take him shopping for a gift for his mom and dad, he dropped a few hints on what we might like, and Quayd totally took the bait. They came home that night and Quayd was so excited to go in his room and wrap it all by himself. Of course, he wanted us to open it right then, but we made him wait to give it to us until Christmas. From that night until Christmas morning, we still kept teasing him about taking his blanket. He would giggle and say things like, "You are going to LOVE what I got you for Christmas!" One day I said to him, "I get so cold at night. I wish I had an electric blanket to keep me warm." Quayd ducked his cute little head and grinned from ear to ear. It was so awesome! I know it sounds silly, but his excitement over OUR gift made this Christmas SO MUCH FUN!! On Christmas morning, of course he was excited to see what Santa brought, but immediately put his gift to us in our laps and demanded we open it right away. His face was priceless!!! It was so fun to see him get into the giving spirit. We put our blanket on our bed first thing and he still asks us everyday if we like the gift he got for us. We do, by the way! It is wonderful. But even if it were crappy, it would still be my favorite gift. :)

the one about our jazz trip

We came to SLC today for our Annual Galley family Jazz extravaganza. Brett and Quayd are at the pool right now and I am sitting in the hotel room listening to my iPod (LOVE IT!!!) and doing a little blogging. Tomorrow we are going to the Apple Store so I can get a case and some screen protectors for my precious iPod. I am so worried about it getting scratched that I am a little scared to use it. I have some amazing music on it and one of my most favorite movies in the whole world... Notting Hill. I also have a couple of games and a bunch of pictures. I so love it. Yes, Ramanda. I have really come a long way in the the world of iPod. I even downloaded my songs, movies and pictures... all by myself. I didn't even have to bug Shae.

Anyway, enough about my iPod, lets get back to our big adventure. Let me just say that my car is the suckiest thing EVER in the snow. We were worried to drive it to Salt Lake because it has been so stormy. We did ok all the way here, then we got to the I-80/I-15 interchange. Brett was driving and we hit a really slick spot when we were getting of on our exit. We started sliding all over the place and hit into a snow bank. It was like slow motion. Shae rode out with us and she and Quayd were in the back. We hit on the passenger side, front corner, right where I was. That was cool because I would rather me get hurt than anyone else, but we were almost to a stop by the time we hit, so nobody got hurt. It was so weird though. We still hit pretty hard though and we were just sick to think about what damage it did to our car. We were able to drive away and when we got to our Hotel we checked it out and we can't find any damage. I am so thrilled, but surprised. It was pretty crazy. It all happened so fast and we immedietly got back on the road, so I didn't get a picture. Dang.

We made it to the hotel, then rode with the Galley's to dinner. We went to this cool Italian place called Buca di Beppe. It was so delicious. It was family style dining so were just ordered big plates and we all shared. YUMMY!!!
Ahhhh, look at Marcie's big cute belly. SURPRISE!! ;)

This is a picture of Tara and Shae's boyfriend.

From dinner, we went to our game. It was a good game. The Jazz won. Nothing too exciting except that Brynn fell down and landed on some people. That was prettycrazy. She is fine. A little embarassed and sore.
Drake and Quayd were LOVING the game. They were so cute watching it.
Then Beau'D wanted to get in on the action. He just wants to be one of the big boys. We did have another crazy thing happen at the game.... Brett and I walked down to get a drink. Quayd didn't want to go, he had just been for a snowcone with Gleneita. He was sitting right in front of her, just watching the game. Brett and I had been gone for a few minutes and Gleneita said he just dissappeared. By the time she realized what was happening, he was clear down the bleachers. Cory and Talia ran after him. In the meantime, Brett and I had got our drinks and were heading back up to our seats. Gleneita asked if we had seen Quayd, Cory or Talia. She told us what happened and Brett took off to look for him. I just stood there. I didn't know if I should go look for him or what. Gleneita told me in detail want happened and we figured it out. He had his snowcone in his hand when he left. He needed more flavor on it. I guess you can pick your own flavor and squirt it on your snowcone. I sent Brett a text message telling him to head for the snowcone stand. Pretty quick, good old Quayd was headed back up the stairs. Alone. I sent text messages to Cory, T and Brett telling them he was back. When Quayd got back up to his seat I was like, "Quayd!! Where did you go?" So casually, in total Quayd fashion, he says, "I just had to go get more stuff on my snowcone." I said, "Buddy! You can't just run off like that. What if you got lost?" Again, in pure Quayd style, "I knew where I was going. Just to the snowcone place then back to 'MM'(that was our section). I wasn't going to get lost." Then I said, "Well, you still can't take off like that. We were so scared and someone could have taken you." He just rolled his eyes at me and promised not to do it again. We were all about to have a heart atack. Little stinker.

After the game, walking back to the car, Quayd and Amelia found this snow cave on the sidewalk. They decided a hobo must have made it. They are obsessed with hobos.

So far, our trip has been super fun. We still have 2 days left, so we will see what other fun and excitement we can stir up with the Galleys. :)

FAST FORWARD....
Now it is Saturday. I didn't post yet because I was having trouble loading the pictures. Now it seems to be cooperating a little more, so we are gonna try again. Today was just a laid back day of shopping and fun. I made it to the Apple Store so now I feel like I can protect my new precious baby. It's all hooked up with a clear acrylic case and a clear sheet for the screen. I feel so much better now. That was the only thing I cared about doing while we were in SLC. The only thing Brett cared about was getting a new tattoo. He got that today. I will have to post pictures later. We haven't taken any yet. It is pretty cool though. The only things Quayd cared about was swimming in the hotel pool and going to Toys-R-Us for some PlayMobil toys. We did those things today too. So mission(s) accomplished. Tomorrow we are going to head home. Yuck. Back to our Christmas mess. I wish I could go hame and magically have my tree in its box, toys put away, laundry done and everything put back together. Oh well. It is so fun to be able to get away for a few days. It was a well-needed break after a hectic holiday season.

the one about my rockin' concert experience

I am SO not a concert person. I hate loud music. I hate crowds. I hate sweaty bodies. I hate jumping and shouting. But after last Wednesday night.... all of that has changed!!!

A few months ago, sweet little Shae invited me to go to a concert.... again, something I seldom do. It was a group that I really like, “Panic at the Disco,” but I still declined. I just didn’t feel like I should spend money on myself for something like that. Well, it turned out that the mom of one of the girls bought all of the tickets. The selfish me thought, “Dang, I knew I should have gone!” Anyway, one of the girls flaked at the last minute, so I got to go after all. We left around 11:00 am and got to SLC around 2:00. We had stopped in Park City for lunch at mine and Tara’s FAVORITE restaurant, El Chubasco. Every time we have gone to the city together, we have stopped in Park City and eaten there and we love love love it! It is authentic Mexican food and they have a big salsa bar in the middle with probably 25 different types of salsa. You get chips with your order, so you can just sample everything. YUMMY!! Once we got to Salt Lake, we headed straight for the mall, per the teenage girls requests! We killed a little time there before heading to The Grand America Hotel. Part of our group of 11 stayed there. (Our car had to come home that night because Tara, Shae and I had a family reunion the next morning.) The same mom who bought the tickets paid for those girls to stay at the hotel. She also hired a Hummer Limo to come pick us up at the hotel. She told us to valet park and charge it to their room then catch the Limo to SaltAir. SWEET! The limo was so awesome! I don’t think I have ever been in a limo. Even on my wedding day, we forfeited the cost of a limo and I rode in my Grandma’s old beat up van!!! (A memory I will never forget!) Anyway, when we pulled up to SaltAir, you should have seen the looks we were getting from the crowd. They started freaking out and waving at us. Then they started pulling out their cameras. I was seriously so embarrassed to get out of the limo. I just knew they would be thinking, “Who is the old fat lady and what is she doing here!?!?” So I told all of the cute dressed up young girls to get out first, so by the time I got out, they would have already figured it out and hopefully turned their attention elsewhere. We had to wait in line for a little while, then they finally opened the doors. It wasn’t too long before the show started. The first band to play was called Phantom Planet, and the second was The Hush Sound. They were both really good. I super duper liked them both. I am really not a crowd person, so I stood in the back and enjoyed from afar. I knew that once Panic! At The Disco came, I would have to get in the crowd for the whole concert experience, so I was saving it for them. When the third band, Motion City Soundtrack, came on, I hung outside for most of it. I could still here them just fine, but they were just a tad to heavy for my taste. I know Shae, I am a pansy. Although, while I was out there people watching and beautiful sunset watching, I saw several interesting things. I will mention a few...

Interesting thing #1. Men will hit on ANY woman for a cigarette. There were some pretty nasty ladies out there who thought they were pretty hot. Lots of really cute guys gave them all of the attention in the world for a cigarette. Sick.

Interesting thing #2. I am not very “up” on the bands, so I have no idea who I was watching here, but it appeared that one of the band was filming a music video or something. One of the guys was all decked out and standing up on a hill overlooking the sunset. There were video cameras all around him and they kept making him play a certain part of the song, then walk down the hill. It was super cool and interesting to watch, even though I still have no idea what I was watching.

Interesting thing #3. A couple of Members from the band, The Hush Sound, must have been impressed with the sunset too, because they came out and were taking tons of pictures right by where I was sitting. They were posing and being silly, it was super cool. They kinda talked to the crowd for a second, too. I love people watching!

By the time Motion City Soundtrack was finished, I thought I better go take a potty break and prepare myself for the one song I was going to fight the crowd to listen too. I was seriously so nervous to be in the middle of all of those weird-o’s. I really like my space and I don’t like being touched by sweaty people that I don’t know. I just knew I couldn’t handle it for very long. It was standing room only and these girls had fought for a place up close to the stage. I got all of my nerves settled down and pushed my way through. The band finally came out and I was so caught up In the excitement. I was LOVING it! I didn’t want to leave. I and I didn’t until they were finished playing!!! I totally stepped out of my comfort zone, and I really kinda liked it there! That is so unlike me! I told Tara to take a picture of me so I would have proof that I was really rocking at a concert. She was trying to get a picture of me with the band in the background, but I kept blocking them band with my big old arm! She finally told me to keep my arms down!! It was funny.

It was so much fun. And even though I am old and married, Those boys were SO cute and put on such a good show! I LOVED IT! The lead singer, Brendon, was so cute and his facial expressions were so great. Yeah, we were that close that I saw his facial expressions. Ryan, the lead-guitarist, was super cute too. We could see him the best because he was on the same side of the stage that we were.

When the concert was over, we went outside and our limo was waiting for us. We posed for a quick picture in front of the tour bus, then We hoped in the limo and headed back to the hotel. I look at that picture now and I am kind of embarrassed. There were 3 ladies that went to the concert with these young girls, Me, Tara and Taylor’s Grandma. But I am the only “old” one in that picture. I just got so caught up in the excitement! I hope I didn’t embarrass poor little Shae. I sometimes forget that Shae is 14 and I am 29. She is so cool and I totally think of her as one of my BEST friends. So I just hoped right in the middle of those girls and posed my butt off. I’m such a dork sometimes!!!
Here is an interesting fact... Did you know Shae was my flower girl!?!?!? Anyway, after we got to the hotel, we hoped in Tara’s Armada and drove home. Yuck. We didn’t get home until about 3:30 am. It was killer. I have still not recovered, because we had to get up and head out for our family reunion. (I’ll blog about that later.) Anyway, the concert was a total blast, and something I will not soon forget. Really, for me, it was a once in a lifetime experience. The concert, the limo, the cute, fun girls I went with, it was all just awesome! I am so glad that the one girl was in trouble and her dad wouldn’t let her go, because then I got her ticket!! Not that I encourage bad teenage behavior or anything! (Wink, wink!)

Now this is my shout out to Tara. Let me just tell you.... This woman is a party animal. And she is like the energizer bunny. She never stops, and she will outlast, outdance and outrock anyone! We had so much fun together. We always do! We always have inside jokes, we always turn bad situations into funny ones and we ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS laugh our guts out! THANKS TARA, the ROCKSTAR!!!

Anyway, thanks Tara, Shae, Taylor’s mom and Lauren’s Dad!!!!!