Church Bball

Church Basketball The brawl that begins with prayer

 

 

So, the boys are playing church ball again, and I must say, although I love my Motorola Droid cell phone and all it's coolness -- the DELAY on the camera is one of the most irritating things on the planet. And no matter how still I'm holding the phone, and even IF the people in the photo are holding still THE PHOTOS COME OUT BLURRY! (This is seriously NOT user error -- this camera phone stinks.)

 

So...although it was a fun game to watch, full of action and dramatic displays of athleticism by my boys, and we STOMPED the other team, and we clapped and cheered...my photos are blurry! UG!

 

 

 

But I just want you to know that I checked Google and was comforted to know that there are MANY, MANY blurry photos out there that I DID NOT TAKE.

 

 

Thank you, Google. I feel so much better...

Balling-tymes

Got off work late, HORRIBLE traffic, took me 25 minutes to go the mile from my office to the interstate, rushed home, had to pick up Grayson at the school, MAJOR rush hour traffic by the school. Frustration...!

When I got home, Steve had prepared a FABULOUS dinner for all of us...complete with grilled pork chops, rice (served with "LOVE"), cauliflower, salad served in heart-shaped bowls, and an assortment of sides...complete with candlelight and ROSES.

 

 

Then we watched "Here Comes the BOOM" as a family. Very cute, feel good, family movie.

 

About half-way through the movie, Steve stopped it and went to the kitchen for a few minutes. He came back with a plate like this for everyone!  Hand-dipped strawberries, vanilla bean ice cream with his famous mixed berry sauce, and heart-shaped homemade brownies with berry sauce.

 

 

I went into a sugar coma before I got to the strawberry, so I had to eat the next day...

Three Ingredient Cupcakes

Yes, you read it correctly, the cupcake at the left was made with THREE SIMPLE INGREDIENTS.  Do you want to know what they were? Really...? Are you ready...? Have you got a pen and a recipe card...? Ready now...? Here goes:

1) Regular Box of Devils' Food Cake Mix
2) Can of Pure Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just pumpkin)
3) 1 Cup chopped Walnuts

Mix with your hand mixer/beaters, pour into cake pan or cupcake tins. Batter is very thick (it actually broke my beaters this last time -- even though they were very old beaters, I think from my wedding in 1981). If you're making a cake, it will be taller, and will need to cook about 10-15 minutes longer than usual. Keep checking with toothpick.

For mini cupcakes, it makes 48, and they cook for 16 minutes at 350.

Smooth your cake or cupcake batter out on the top before cooking, as the batter doesn't "settle" or smooth out like regular mixes do.

AND...Twa-la! When they're done, there are a couple of additional TOPPINGS, (but they're not technically ingredients :o).

For the record, I prefer them plain, with NO frosting or sprinkles. They're so moist and delicious all by themselves!

This is my new favorite, quick, delicious, fun treat to share! (Seriously, I think I've made them like 10 times since Thanksgiving...using different sprinkles, of course and taken them to work, friends, visiting teaching, etc.)

Bryson Turns Three!

It's hard to believe that Randi's youngest boy, Bryson, turned THREE on February 1st! So at least until May, they are 3, 4, and 5! WOW!

Bryson's getting so grown up, and talking so good, and wearing his big-boy pants!

We love how when you ask him a question, he answers a very clear "yes," -- not "yeah," or "uh-huh," any of that. It's so cute to hear him say "yes!" And Cielo and Andrew do that, too. So cute!

These were taken last fall...

 

 

And I love how Andrew says his school teacher likes to call him "Andy," because I've always wanted to call him that. He says it's "okay to call him that." Hmmmm...maybe I will!

 

 

 



LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Fun Work Week

We had a very busy week at Corizon! We were finally able to announce that we won the Arizona DOC contract...which has been pending for the past several weeks. The contract was awarded to a competitor last spring, they really messed it up, so it was cancelled and awarded to us! Even though it was difficult to go through last spring, it made this win EXTRA sweet!

  To share the excitement and success with everyone, we had a big ARIZONA celebration party at the corporate and operations (STL) offices. It was interesting, because we thought we would be able to announce the win on Wednesday, so we had secretly put up all the Arizona decorations and had food delivered, etc. We had "Arizona food" like chips & queso, guacamole, Chocco-Tacos, and beverages. Then for whatever reason, at the last minute we had to wait until Thursday, so we got to do it all over again! WHEW! Trying to keep things secret at the corporate office is quite challenging, let alone overnight! But it all turned out well...

 

For the first time EVER at our company, we served alcoholic beverages...the STL Operations office always serves alcohol,
and leaders finally agreed to serve them here, too. I hate that, because it sets a precedent and expectation for future
celebrations, but oh well! I'm not the one making those decisions! So we served Margaritas and Coronas to everyone and
put them on the road to drive home! A lawsuit waiting to happen...just sayin'.

 

Rich Hallworth, CEO, (right) and Jon Walker address the crowd. Jon is my boss. This shows them by the
poster Jennie made that shows the state of Arizona with a BLOCKOUT of our competitor,
Wexford Health, and a little hatchet, HA!

We put the celebration together: LtoR, Robby Saner, Jennie Latimer, Donna Steinkamp, Brenda Henderson and me.

Also happening that day was Dress Red for Heart Health Awareness Day (www.GoRedForWomen.org), so many people wore red and got to dress down for that.

'Dress Red' people in front of our Arizona mural!

The very next day was our annual CHILI BOWL -- in conjunction with Super Bowl weekend. People bring in chili for a tasting contest, win prizes. Also, we wear jerseys of our favorite football team, in the Superbowl or not. I was just fortunate Steve had a jersey from 20 years ago from Steve Young on the 49ers, and they are really in the Superbowl again this year! If people don't have jerseys, they dress in the colors of their team. So the 49ers opponent is the Baltimore Ravens, colors purple and black.



Holly Rawnsley, Jennie Latimer, George Parsons, Melanie Taylor, Briana Lutes, me, Janet Vogelaar, Doug Devlin.

As part of our SuperBowl celebration this year, departments were encouraged to fix tailgate food, and do some fun games from 11am-1pm. So in Marketing, we all brought in stuff to eat, and then we had NERF wars! We snuck up on people all over our floor and ambushed them, it was hilarious! (Thank heaven Steve had a cool, brand new battery-operated gun he had stashed away. So I had multi-round power shots!)

Jennie Latimer, Melanie Taylor, George Parsons and me. Notice we saved the Arizona poster and hung in Marketing!

Our CEO, Rich Hallworth even got into the NERF ACTION! It was hard to get a good shot with my camera when I was catching BULLETS!

Rich Hallworth, CEO.  By the way, he's awesome.

It was a fun week. We needed that.