NYC with the Sinful Six

September 19-22 we enjoyed a four day weekend with our dear friends, Mike & Emily Crowton and Joe & Wendy Dallimore. We had an incredible time! Quite possibly one of my most favorite trips we have ever been on. We did it all...the boys did a Yankee game on the second to last game in the old stadium while the girls took in Hairspray, shopping, dinner in Little Italy, Wicked, the Staton Island Ferry...the list goes on and on and on. I have included a re-cap courtesy of Joe, who has a way with words...enjoy...

Friends, to me, there is nothing better after a wonderful trip to do a quick recap via e-mail, so everyone can weigh in. For our recently completed NYC adventure, I'd like to present some awards:

• Poorest Dental Hygiene Award: the lady selling ½ priced tickets in front of the Marriott Marquis. It was like a train wreck and not even the non-dentists could look away. When homeless people have better teeth than you do, it may be time to give up on the theater scene and try something else…something that Casey astutely noted by declaring peddling discount tickets to morons from the Midwest would likely be his least favorite occupation in the entire world.
• The Perfect Night Award: for the brilliant insight of all involved parties in sending the women to the theater and the boys to the ballpark, preceded by large amounts of pasta. Does life get better than that?
• The You Can't Escape Who You Are Award: Casey Madsen for finding obscure Weber State personnel in the deep recesses of the Newark airport, flying standby of course, which is about right for our athletic department.
• The "Did You Think To Bathe Today?" Award: Mulberry Street, lower Manhattan. I haven't seen that many people packed into one place since the football field filming scene for 3 o'clock High in '87. I think I've seen my last San Gennaro festival. I'll award myself a runner up here since I actually didn't bathe 2 of the 4 days we were there.
• Most Memorable Yankees Fan Award: the Marlboro Man with respect to Jockey Boy. The pot-belly, the 70's hair, the homemade t-shirt. Runner up goes to the bitter guy sitting behind us for his obvious jealousy of said Marlboro Man ("What's he doing now!?! He's taking a victory lap!! He's just a loos-ah, living in his muthas basement"…after he said that the tenth time, I wanted to ask him: where do you live sir? Even money he lived in his mutha's basement as well).
• Beached Whale Award. To our shirtless friend on the rock in the Park. If that was his final destination, we may never know, but whether he lived or died, he appeared to be a man of healthy appetites who was enjoying/enjoyed the journey (sort of like when Kramer correctly identified George as a portly fellow who craved .
• Biggest Understatement Award: Michael Crowton for the statement, "I don't really like musicals"
• Most Memorable Dance: Wendy H. Dallimore for her reinacting of wrist-flipping George Wendt in Hairspray. Runner Up: George Wendt for the actual dance.
• Most Surreal Moment Award: 6 Train (green line), 2 a.m., Saturday morning. When do these flipping New Yorkers sleep. 99% of West Haven is asleep by 10 p.m. The only people up at that hour where we come from are the farmers who are starting their day.
• Most Misguided Food Decision: Joe Dallimore and the do-it-yourself popcorn. The power of the butter should not be put in the hands of the people. Luckily, like with every other ailment faced, Emily had pharma supplies to help. Runner up: Mike's decision to purchase the boxed donuts. Runner, runner up: carrying milk through the streets of New York in the middle of the night, not only did it probably look ridiculous (grown men carrying milk in a cup), it was probably a health hazard of some kind.
• Best Named Retail Establishment: Shoegasm. Dr. Crowton nearly had a couple of shoegasms himself on this trip.

There would have been several other awards given, but I didn't have all the specifics (e.g. The New Yorker Award would go to Katie for her brusque conduct toward cabbies, but I had no first-hand knowledge of said event or a good quote)….I'll look to you people to help me finalize the list. I welcome all contradictions, additions and subtractions. Great times my friends. Can't wait for next year! Joe

The Animals in our Life

Our girl, Shadow aka Stinker
Chipper Jones or Buddy Boy

Animal Lovin'

We are pretty lucky to have really cool animals in our life. It's funny how each one has a personality all their own. Casey and I have 2 cats who are our children. Shadow is a gray and white domestic short hair and Chipper is a gray Blue Russian. Shadow who we call Stink or Stinker is so much like me. She totally had a mind of her own and is only going to do what she wants to do. She loves to cuddle and can be a bit demanding at times. Chipper is a stray we picked up when we lived in Atlanta. We call him Buddy usually and ironically he is a lot like Casey. Really mellow, comes when called, he'll cuddle to but only only his terms and when he is in the mood, he is such a sweet boy.

We also have a lot of extended "family". My sister, Sara, and her husband have two Japanese Chins, Yoshi and Suki. Since we spend so much time in San Diego we have gotten pretty close to these two cuties. When I am in town, Suki definately sleeps with me in my bedroom down there. They are such fun dogs. My mother in law, Lorrie, has a beautiful King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, Boo Radley. What a fabulous dog. He is a total lover boy and requires lots of attention and rubs. We feel pretty blessed to have the additional love of animals in our life.

Chloe Anna Quarders

Our New Niece

Katie's sister, Sara and her husband Chris had a baby girl on Thursday, August 21, 2008. Chloe was 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 21 inches long. I was able to be there for the entire birthing process. It was so cool to be able to watch her come into the world. She is a beautiful little girl with BLUE eyes, Sara's mouth, Chris' ears and feet, Kylie's nose, and HUGE, fabulous cheeks! We had a little bit of scare after she was born. She wasn't getting enough oxygen and had to spend about 3 hours in the NICU before we were able to see her. She is now perfect, happy, and healthy. Unfortunately, I had to leave early the next morning to get back to Ogden to run an estate sale we had planned at Casey's mom's house the following day. So I didn't get nearly enough time with her. Gratefully I fly free so I am going back down soon to get some good cuddle time in. I can't wait to hold her again!

Camping at South Carlsbad State Beach

July 26 - August 2, 2008

For the past 20+ years of my life, my family has gone beach camping with some family friends, the Loughs. This year was no exception. It was a really fun week. Casey's niece, Maile, came with us and we had a lot of fun having her there. My niece, Kylie, also came with us while Megan was working all week. It was a ton of fun playing with her, she is quite the handful! She learned how to boogie board and that was the funniest thing ever. I also was able to feed my annual cravings for Pinochle. I only get to play once a year when we are at the beach and this year did not disappoint. I must have played 50 rounds of Pinochle. It was fabulous. Casey had to miss the first part of the week due to an HR conference in Tucson. It was hard being there without him. Glad to be home, but I could have done another week there.

Flashback Friday...a full decade

10 years ago today, Casey and I were sealed in the San Diego Temple...enjoy our wedding picture.

Fourth of July

Independence Day!

We had a fun Fourth of July. Once we were FINALLY able to get down to San Diego it was a good time. We started with a BBQ at my Mom's soon to be in-laws. Then we headed over to my sister, Sara's house for lots of swimming and eating. I let off some illegal fireworks in their cul-de-sac and nearly gave Sara & Chris each a heart attack. I stopped when the police did a drive-by, woops-a-daisy. Then we went over to Sara's best friends house. She has a great view of the firework display from there. It's not quite the same when you can hear the music to go with the fireworks, but it was still fun.