Needers is Number 1

Why is Needers number 1 you ask? Well, that is a great story. It started with Dionne coloring my hair and realizing that the Enloe clan and Davis clan were both planning Christmas in Alpine, so why not do it together? It was a great idea! Plans were set in motion and along came Christmas eve.

The day started with the normal hustle bustle, with everyone starting to arrive about 5:00. With a 6:00 dining time, crazy needers decided to skip the prime rib, skip the shrimp, skip the rest of the delightful food and 15 minutes before "go" time cut her left index finger down to the tendon...and including part of the tendon. It was quite the chaos and BBR got lucky enough to skip dinner as well and be the ER hot date. Russ was nice enough to show them the way to the hospital. All turned out well and they made it back just a few minutes before a suprise visit from Santa. (Yes, Needers is demonstrating that she will be number one for about 3 weeks. this should make typing the 100 page document she has for her school accreditation extremely easy!)





During the day, BBR found a great website, santa claus.net that lets kids make wishes and asks them questions to decide if they are naughty or nice. I'm glad to see that Santa is automating in the electronic age. I'm also glad to see grandpa found this site since it provided quite the kiddie entertainment.

Toby joined us and Santa's helper, but was more excited about all of the food and snacks that got dropped on the floor.

Garrett was a little reluctant to sit on Santa's lap, but submitted to the peer pressure.

However, BBR did not submit to the peer pressure and took his picture standing.

All the young kids with Santa after getting gifts from him.

All the big kids with santa.....and much more reluctant group.

Since i was behind the camera most of the night this is the token picture of me to prove i was there. (don't worry, BBR called from the hospital to remind me to take pictures with rules....no food in any mouths and change the ISO if i use the flash) This is my friend Catherine from work. She is from Paris and without family here other than one son in New York, she was either brave enough or crazy enough or naive enough to join our crew.

Look how cute and innocent. Apparently a different version of Hayden was in the vehicle that travelled from spokane....and he had to work pretty hard to lock down a Santa visit.

The Group! Aria is the game master and planned a fun game where everyone passed presents right and left every time the story she told used the words "left" or "right"

We got to see who listened and who knew their "left" from "right"

Don't worry, we had a nativity. BBR read from the bible and the kids took parts. Jackson was joseph and added a little creative interpretation for his character. He thought he needed facial hair to get into character, and don't worry, Russ suggest a little whipped cream (thinking jackson would laugh...apparently he never met my nephews). Jackson couldn't find whipped cream, so sour cream made due.

Baby Leif was supposed to play the baby Jesus, however he wasn't so much into the whole lay in a manger thing and olivia couldn't make due without a baby so the famous buzz light year made a pinch hit performance.

A big hit with the dollar presents seemed to be the fuzzy hats.............

After everyone left, the kids opened the auntie presents....and we called it a night!

Needers made jammies for all of her grand kids...but UPS failed her and the only ones to arrive at their proper destination were the ones she delivered personally to alpine!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!

Homeless?

I am most certainly on an adventure! Given the opportunity to study and spend time with one of the best, most experienced, and diversely knowledgeable movement profesionals....anywhere....I, of course, jumped at the opportunity. It was a good idea at the time, but now that everything is in storage and I'm living out of suitcases, can't find anything, and basically surfing from place to place for a few months, I have started to question my good judgement skills. I packed everything into storage mid-December (in a ridiculous snow storm) with the help of several who I am very grateful to have around!!



This is one of my current room-mates, the famous O-Dub-Owen-Enloe. The first stop is Parker and Aria's house for the Christmas break, then i will be making rounds in Vegas, Vernal, Spokane, SLC, and then will be on to Tucson by February 1st. Yes, I have found better weather for the winter, and since "my degree" falls around 85...this should work out wonderfully for me! (other than the fact that i can't find anything).

Before leaving SLC, i had to wrap up a class i was teaching at Dancing Moose. I will miss this class, as i taught developmental movement to about 130 kids ages 3-8. This is "ana-cabana-the-sticker-helper" and Ashlyn below in one of the tunnels. I spent the week giving pointers to a new instructor, helping the kids perform in their Christmas program, and saying goodbye to the kids as well as the many teachers who became my friends. The classes all had their moments, but in the end I will miss everyone.

The last day i was there, it was a pajama party and they watched Polar Express as well as plenty of fun games. I will definitely miss the movement room and it's pretty rare to find a preschool through 2nd grade with a studio like this!! (pictured as the movie room below).

Finally, me with a group of the kids! Onward to being homeless on a crazy adventure! I guess the hope is that I come out of this much smarter!!

Single Mom?!?!

Thanksgiving this year was the best yet as far as menu is concerned. I think my siblings and I missed the like-turkey-dinner-gene. People wise, we were sad to be missing Brenda and Corey, but at least their kids were present! Jorie, Malik and Rhys ventured to Spokane with my parents and I to join the rest of the Enloe clan. Several movies later, we made it without too much trouble. I will admit that having them with us was a blast!! Jorie is hilarious and kept saying to go home to yaya's house.

Let's get to the dinner part - PRIME RIB and ALASKAN KING CRAB! However can one go wrong there? I was nervous about the prime rib, as i had never made one...but it turned out fantastic.

Other events? Hayden was baptized, the turkey bowl commenced at the shock practice field (parker ended up with a hamstring injury and Eric won't mock people from here on out that where under armour...he also has the road rash to prove why, and all three boys were quite sore following the game). Funny movies, plenty of x-box, loud kids, extra laughs and more food than any one person should ingest on purpose. Due to the food problem, the Enloe's and Wagstaff's, et. al. will be starting a biggest loser competition. Anyone else want to join?

Photo Safari

Today, Malik and I went to the Utah photography scavenger hunt. We were divided into teams and given a list of over 60 things, people, phrases, ideas, or themes to photograph. It was quite the adventure! In the end our team won with 644 points.



At Malik's request, we started the day by taking the train downtown to Library Square.

We walked around the area and got a snack while we waited for everyone to arrive.

In order to take pictures legally, we were issued photography passes which allowed us to take pictures anywhere inside or outside on the city block including people, places, and objects.

Apparently Malik was quite excited, I actually think he took more pictures with his camera than I did with mine.

One of our first pictures was to get a picture of our team reflected in water. Sounded easy, or so we thought, until we realized urban bodies of water proved a little difficult to find in the cold weather. A little standing puddle was the best we could do, and surprisingly we found our reflections.

This was just a crazy actual bike that Malik and I both loved and needed a picture of for no good reason other than cool-factor. This is an actual working bicycle that was chained up for about an hour. It would have been even more interesting if we could have figured out how logistically the riding and stopping worked.

We took a few pictures from the roof of the library. Malik and I took the stairs and he made it to the top first. Great views of the entire city!

Across the street, there was a huge post-election protest with angry groups of people from both sides of the debate yelling and marching. It was quite the entertainment, from a distance anyway.

Mr. GQ

Figuring out the next shot.

Some pictures were more artistic, some more goofy. As the time limit approached us quickly, we started to improvise....we needed a "Non-Egyptian Pyramid." Good thing we had Malik to help!

Just some cool pictures from the collection.

One of the theme's was to capture was "Mad Skills." It was in the team category, so why not take pictures of our team taking pictures....if that's not mad skills at a photography event, then I don't know what is.

One of the pictures was "money in a wishing well" since once again, outdoor water was a little difficult to find, we improvised with the puddle again and added a leaf and a quarter and created our own wishing well.

Malik and I at the end of the event. We both had a blast and it was fun spending the day together. He had a lot of great ideas and jumped right in to make sure to get all the pictures he needed to score our team his points!

Time Share the Kids

Sunday I flew back to Utah, and how lucky, Eric flew in for his new consulting job about 10 minutes before me so we got to hang out on the way home. Corey was having a going away party so why not go? This is a picture of my jor-jor-binks and I. Brenda and Corey will need to work out a time share agreement with their kids since I have kind of liked having them close! I'll miss the pizza parties at my house!!

Trip to Tucson

On Friday and Saturday, i spent some time in Tucson with my friends Karma and Kyria, and as usual they introduced me to many new people. Since i pulled a knuckle-head-move and didn't come with the spare battery to the camera I left on all night, i didn't get to take pictures and am at the mercy of others hopefully emailing me some soon!
After an uneventful drive, I was able to spend a little time learning from Karma at Canyon Ranch followed by a meeting with a new friend (Barry) from the Rich Dad event I attended and then lunch with a crazily costumed Kyria (which was a bit of a surprise...really sad I missed that picture!). Halloween night Karma and I passed candy to the trick-or-treaters while we caught up and then had a wonderful dinner at a casual place that I'm pretty sure has the best poppy seed dressing on the planet! Saturday morning, there was more learning with karma and then she treated me to a wonderful massage at the ranch for my birthday....THANKS SO MUCH IT WAS WONDERFUL! We went to the open house of a local pilates instructor (more wonderful treats) and then i headed back to Phoenix to fly out on Sunday. Great trip...just way too short!! Hoping to add pictures!

A Birthday in ARIZONA

Since my preferred temperature hovers right around 95 degrees, it only makes sense that I celebrate in sunny Arizona! We decided to venture out and try a newly opened restaurant called Liberty Market. The food and the company was delicious! I was lucky enough to celebrate with Tammy, Vicki, Mary, Ryan, Nichole, Mary, Tyler and the party wouldn't be quite complete without cute Kate. Thanks to Tammy and Vicki for the lotion and the "laugh notes." A party around my birthday is never complete without a few Halloween treats. Tyler decided to show off his new dental work!

A few highlights from the laugh notes:

"Just take it one gigantic, earth shattering, crisis at a time."

"Our family - just the right mix of chaos and love" (this one seems particularly relevant)

"There is no problem we can't ignore, confront, plot against, drown in in chocolate sauce, or run over with the car"

"A friend keeps your secrets, laughs at your jokes, and has the wisdom to know the difference"