Corizon Christmas

We had a festive holiday at Corizon! We had a corporate Christmas party at The Factory in Franklin, with lots of prizes and stuff. I was hoping to win the 60" flat screen TV so I would have a good present for Steve, but alas it didn't happen...I won nothing, nada, zilch-o.

In fact, nobody at the whole Marketing table won a prize this year, which is unusual. We usually have better luck than that.

Me, (my boss) Jon Walker and Holly Rawnsley



Jennie Latimer, Jaime Starkey, Briana Lutes, and Me

The CREW: Janet Vogelaar, Holly Rawnsley, Pat Booker, Melanie Taylor, Jaime Starkey, Me,
Briana Lutes, Jennie Latimer and Doug Devlin.

The Crew again: Melanie, Holly, Jennie, Briana, Pat, Jaime, Janet, Me and Doug

I made TREAT PLATES for everyone in Marketing this year. They included OREO BOMBS (of course), CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES and MINT MARSHMALLOW BROWNIES. Jon's was JUST chocolate chip cookies, because that is the only cookie or treat he likes, so that's all he'll eat. Really? How come I eat a little bit of most everything, even if it's not my favorite...? I obviously need to work on my will power, and become pickier about my treat consumption.

CORIZON ORNAMENTS ON MY TREE:

2012 on left, 2013 on right.

Then we had ANOTHER party for just the Marketing Team, with even the sales reps from other states and the writers from the St. Louis office. And this year we were joined by the Legal team. We went to a new place called Granite City off McEwen Drive. It was very nice, delicious, and cozy! I had a FABULOUS steak!

THIS PHOTO HAS OUR ENTIRE MARKETING TEAM -- FOR ONCE! (Love these guys)
BACK ROW: Jennie Latimer, Patrick Turner, Lauren Balmer, Jon Walker, Frank Fletcher
MIDDLE ROW: Holly Rawnsley, Mike Viers (the crazy man in the hat), Michael Miller, Janet Vogelaar, Me, Pam Mays
FRONT ROW: Melanie Taylor, Briana Lutes, Pat Booker and Jaime Starkey
Ooops, I lied, it's not the entire team, missing Doug Devlin. Dangit!

We played "Dirty Santa," the gift-switching-trading-grabbing game. I ended up with some fuzzy leopard print ear muffs that have headphones in them so I can listen to music while I, uh...JOG(!?) or do other things I always love to do outside in the cold -- yeah, okay. Oh, and also a lump of coal. HA! Both so perfect for me...

G&G Dove

It was so great to have my parents here for THREE WEEKS! They arrived on December 17th, and were here through the holidays and then until January 7th, which happens to be my Dad's birthday.

We had so much fun! And I tried to slow it down a bit to allow for rest between all our adventures so I wouldn't wear them out with our hectic lifestyle --  and I must admit I enjoyed that 'resting,' too! I actually slept in every day I could -- and took a couple of Sunday naps! Since we have 9am church now, that can happen...

Recently remodeled Henpeck Village Market

While they were here we got together for a 'homecooked' lunch with SUSAN BRIDGES and her daughter SUZETTE at the  Henpeck Village Market. It was delicious, and so fun to catch up with old friends.  

Snapped these photos as we sat across the table from each other. :)

We spent New Year's Eve at the Bennetts, playing games with a big group of friend and eating lots of good food! But silly me, didn't take any pictures!

Of course, we had record COLD temperatures here in Tennessee while they were here. What the heck!? They come south for the holidays, and we were actually colder here than Idaho on several days! Bizarre!

I did have to go back to work starting Jan. 2nd, during this FREEZE. We literally had about an INCH THICK of ice FROZEN to my windows one morning. Dad went out early and worked and worked to scrape my windows and warm up the van. And then he did Steve's car, too! It was so cold he even had to come in and trade in his traditional ball cap for a warm beanie!  (I did keep checking on him out the window...it was so cold out there, and the ice was so thick, I seriously thought he might have a heart attack or something. And let me assure you, "a lesser man" would have! If you know Dad, you get that reference.)

My hero, and "FATHER OF THE YEAR" AWARD STUFF RIGHT THERE, FOLKS!

Ready for church!

The day they left (Jan. 7th) was Dad's birthday, so we celebrated a day early. I worked from home that day, and between working on urgent Arizona DOC media issues, I baked dad a CHERRY PIE -- he loves pie, much more than cake.

BUMPS AND BRUISES
When I went in to get ready to go run an errand, I heard a THUMP-THUMP-THUMP in the living room, and heard Mom scream, "JAAAACK!" I was certain Dad had fallen down the stairs, so I grabbed my phone on my way out to the living room, preparing to call 911, praying there were no broken bones...but when I got out there, I saw Sam at the bottom of the stairs rubbing his sore hip, and saying he'd slipped and fallen down the last few stairs. Mom had only heard it, so she assumed it was Dad until she jumped off the couch and ran over there. So, although I hated that Sam fell, and had a bruised hiney, I was VERY GLAD it wasn't Dad...or Mom!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOOU!
In celebration of Dad's 74th birthday, we went to our favorite Mexican Restaurant, PANCHO'S, and of course had them surprise Dad with a birthday serenade complete with sombrero. They even brought an extra sombrero for Mom to wear!

Pancho's Birthday Celebration

Later that evening, we enjoyed some of his BIRTHDAY PIE ala mode. YUMM-O!

The next day I took them to the airport, and they enjoyed a smoooooth flight home. We had such a great time while they were here!

Just before we left for the airport -- (Mom's wearing a new scarf I gave
her for Christmas. She saw everyone here wearing them, and likes scarves
so much now, she bought several more while she was here to take home!
She'll be such the 'TRENDSETTER' when she gets back to Idaho!)

Love you, Mom & Dad!

Christmas 2013

It's about time I post some photos from our wonderful Christmas! Grandpa and Grandma Dove (G&G) were able to come from Idaho, and we had a few days here in Tennessee and then went to North Carolina for a week to Chris and Nathalie's house for Christmas! Then they were here until January 7th. (WARNING: Photo overload coming your way!)

 

Before we left, we opened a few gifts so we wouldn't have to take them with us. Sam had a TOTALLY BATMAN Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

ELECTRONICS  WERE  THE  NAME  OF  THE  GAME.

 

GIRLS  LUNCH  AT  TRENDY  "EVO'S"

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS  EVE  NATIVITY:

 

 

 

NEW  CHRISTMAS  PJS:

 

 

BLANKETS  GRANDMA  DOVE  MADE  FOR  THE  KIDS:

 

 

LOTS  OF  PUZZLE  TIME:

 

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS  DINNER  WITH  THE  MISSIONARIES  AND  OTHER  GUESTS:

 

 

 

CHRIS & NATHALIE got us all these matching t-shirts that say "Wilding Acres Farm" -- what they've decided to name their NC homestead.

 

 

 



 

CHICKEN  TIME..!

 

 

 

It was great to be together, and a good time was had by all!!

Missing Rainer

I have lots of catching up to do on my blog, but tonight I'm thinking about my daughter, Randi, and wanted to post this photo. It's hard to believe that 12 1/2 years have flown by so quickly. We love her so much, and miss living close by her and her precious boys, Andrew, Cielo and Bryson.

Grayson, Randi and Sam

All three of her boys are older than Sam was in the 2001 photo...whew! Time really does fly.

Love you, Randi!

CorizonTV - Kristin Priesol

To begin the new year, we decided we need a new host for CorizonTV. We were fortunate to get Channel 5 Anchorwoman, Kristin Priesol, who recently stepped away from the anchor desk to spend more time with her 4- and 6-year-old children. So she is doing smaller jobs like ours since she's not doing Channel 5 right now. We were very excited to have her join the CorizonTV team!

She hosts the Mental Health segment we filmed at Dona Ana County, New Mexico (see HERE). She was really fun to 'hang out' with, lots of personality, and somebody you'd probably enjoy having as a friend -- except the fact that she's like a size [-4] or something. SOOOO TINY!!! Seriously, she's wearing white and still looks itsy-bitsy! Who can be friends with someone like THAT?!

Kristin with Jimmy Chaffin

Kristin with Callahan Miller

So...we filmed this in early December, and the episode was supposed to launch Jan. 2nd, but due to "technical difficulties" (spelled: the CEO hasn't taken time to approve the video yet), we haven't launched yet. Maybe sometime soon before the NEXT episode is ready...but when it does, I'll post a screen shot so you can see how it will look when finished. As you can see, the narrative is filmed against a "Green Screen" and edited to look like it's in a studio.

CorizonTV Film Crew: Tom Zaleski, Rebecca Warren, Callahan Miller, Kristin Prieson, Me, Jimmy Chaffin

Love what "Great Lighting" does for photos!!

FUN, FUN, FUN!!