Qualifying for State

I qualified for state as the second person in the 3200 from the SJS Masters meet! The Masters meet is all the divisions of the Sac Joaquin Section combined, so it is over 120 schools! It was a very crazy race, I even got spiked! My time was 11:05, which is a 1 second improvement from my best time from last year. I am very excited for next weeks race in Fresno! ~The Bear...AKA Brooke!

This is me leading the pack!

Someone tripped me and their spike hit my leg!

The cousins came out for the meet!

Daddy and I!

Mommy and I!

My two biggest fans- Ashley and Annie! It was a very windy night, which made running a bit more challenging and Ashley's hair crazy!

Lots of celebrities came out for the meet! This is the famous Mr. Chaka! He makes our family's favorite marinade, "Chaka's", so my dad made me get a picture with him after my race! Tyler LOVES Chaka's marinade and was a little bit jealous!

All Shook Up!

Ashley starred as "Sylvia" in the high school's musical, "All Shook Up" and did an amazing job! Ashley had so many wonderful friends come to the play and support her. Grandma and Grandpa Holt and Tyler also came the first weekend of the show...I just didn't get their picture with Ashley, but I did video her solo so all could enjoy.

Dad, Brooke, Ashley and Mom on the closing night of the show.

Brother Howell was so nice and came all the way from Utah to see her performance! What a nice surprise!
Ashley and Mariella...those two stole the show!
Grandma and Grandpa Olson with Ashley!
Julie Hansen brought Ashley that amazing bouquet of flowers!

Dining in the East and West Villages

Thursday night, we ventured out to the West Village and ate dinner at Kawa Sushi. It was delicious! Mark and Brett wished that Tyler was there to help them eat the big plate of sushi! After dinner, we went to Magnolia Bakery to try their famous cupcakes. We all agreed that the Red Velvet cupcakes were the best of the cupcakes, but their Key Lime Cheesecake was out of this world! Seriously, amazing! We walked across the street from the bakery and ate our goodies at the cute park. It was a gorgeous evening and it was the perfect way to end our first full day of sightseeing in NYC!
Friday night we headed over to the East Village to induldge ourselves at Max Brenner's, Chocolate By The Bald Man. Ever since I heard about this place and read the reviews, I've wanted to go to this restaraunt but we just haven't been able to fit it into our itinerary until this trip. So I was very excited, especially because I LOVE chocolate! Mark was a little skeptical until we entered the restaurant and were greeted with this intoxicating aroma of chocolate! It was amazing! As we took a look at all the delicious chocolate desserts that filled the tables that surrounded ours, we almost decided to just skip dinner and head straight for the dessert! But we demonstrated some self-control and ordered a light dinner which consisted of salads and sandwiches, keeping in mind that we were saving room for dessert! Or should I say, "dessertS!" We ordered 3 to be exact. The first dessert that we ordered was the Banana Split Waffles which are warm waffles topped with fresh bananas, melted chocolate sauce and candied hazelnut crunchy bits. Served with a side of strawberries and blueberries, vanilla ice creama and warm melted chocolate sauce. The second dessert was Max's Three Layer Chocolate Concoction with Toffee Bananas which is milk chocolate cream layered with toffee bananas and white chocolate chunks topped with whipped cream. Served with crunchy wafer balls and a biscotti on the side. The third dessert that we ordered was actually a hot chocolate drink called Suckao which is a small, dense, concentrated shot of rich chocolate! YUM! If you want to see the chocolate dessert menu, here is the link: http://www.maxbrenner.com/menus.html. If you are ever in New York City, I would highly recommend this restaurant!

Brooklyn's Botanical Gardens

Kimber took the day off and we headed out to Brooklyn to the beautiful Botanical Gardens. It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather for a stroll around the gardens! Kimber brought her big camera and we had fun taking pictures of the blooming flowers and trees! I know that it looks like we color coordinated our outfits so that we would match the landscape..but seriously, we didn't...but it looks like we did and that made us laugh! I'm sure Tyler is disappointed that he wasn't there for the photoshoot:)!

Spending the Day with News12 CT's Kimber Crandall

On Wednesday, after the convention was over, Mark and took the train down to Connecticut, where Kimber works. We took a taxi to her station and picked up her car, drove through the beautiful countryside of New Canaan and shopped on Main Street. We stopped in at the local bakery at the top of the hour where they had a TV and watched Kimber report the news. I've seen her stories on the internet but watching it live on TV is so much more exciting! We met up with Kimber at her station after her last live shot and got a tour of her studio, met her general manager, producer and other co-workers. They all had wonderful things to say about Kimber and it was fun to see where she works. Then we drove to Greenwich and had a yummy dinner on Main Street before driving back to the city with Kimber.

Black Dress Night

Mark took me to dinner at Bricco's in the Italian district on Saturday night! It was delicious! The Celtics were playing in the final game in the first playoff series that night so everyone in the restaurant was wearing green! It was fun!
While we were busy devouring our delicious banana bread pudding dessert (it was seriously amazing) the girls called and invited us to join them at The Green Dragon for some dancing and fun! They decided it was "Black Dress night" and all the girls from the office were wearing black dresses and excited to enjoy an evening of dancing! They kept texting us and begging us to join them after dinner! Since I was wearing a black dress and Mark can't resist a good party, we headed over just as the band begin to play. I think the staff was surprised that we showed up because they started cheering when we walked in. We got a kick out of watching the girls dance in front of the band all night long!

Posing with the staff on the dance floor!

The girls dancing crazy in front of the band! And Mark trying to pretend he's dancing crazy in the background! He's actually sitting on a barstool watching the Celtics beat Chicago in the final game of the series!

Mark and me being "crazy" at the bar! Yep, that's about as crazy as we get!

The girls were having a blast dancing together and singing with the band, when this goofy guy wanted to get in on the fun and got right in the middle and started dancing with them...like he was with the group! The girls weren't sure what to make of it!

It made me laugh to watch him try to join in on the fun...so I went to the front to get a picture of him dancing right in the middle of all the girls and he got so excited he grabbed a couple of them and posed for the picture! What a riot!

The Witch Tour in Salem

After classes one night, we took the train to Salem, where the famous witchhunts took place so many years ago. We had a guide, who took us around town and gave us a tour. She told us the stories of those that were accused and convicted of being witches and hung in the late 1600s. It was a cute little town with lots of cute shops! Too bad they were closed and it was freezing that night! We will have to go back during the day when it is warmer and the stores are open!

Carrie, Catherine and Amber are ready to board the train heading for Salem!

One of the beautiful homes along the Main street in Salem.

The tourguide telling us the stories about those that were accused of being a witch.

The grave yard where the Puritans were buried. Part of the memorial that was built to honor those who died during the Salem Witch hunt. Engraved in the stone were the words that the accused spoke just before they were hung.19 benches lined the walls of the memorial, representing the 19 individuals that died. Here is Bridget Bishop's bench and the date that she was hung.

The Duck Tour in Boston!

Tuesday afternoon, after the last class, we took the staff on the "Boston Duck Tour." We boarded a "Duck," which is an authentic World War II amphibious landing vehicle, renovated for sightseeing and enjoyed a land tour of the city of Boston and a water tour of the Charles river. If you are ever in Boston, I would highly recommend this tour!

Posing in front of the "Duck!"

The group is ready to start the tour!

Mark & Deb and Ken & Jina are excited for the tour of the Boston and the Charles river.

Jen got to drive the boat for a minute!

The view of our boat heading back to the dock.

Celebrating a Birthday in Boston with the Beach Boys!

We celebrated Jina's birthday while we were in Boston by having dinner at the Chart House on the wharf, which was delicious! We sang "Happy Birthday" to Jina and devoured her chocolate molten cake. Seriously, we practically licked the plate clean! Then we headed over to the Opera House in Boston to attend the Beach Boys concert. It was sponsored by Invisilign and since Mark is a Premier Invisilign provider we got free tickets and some really cool glow sticks with the Invisilign teen logo! There's nothin' better then singing and dancing along with the Beach Boys (even if they are old...I mean really old)...songs like "I Wish They All Could Be California Girls" when you are a California girl and "California Dreaming On Such a Dreary Day" when you are in Boston on such a dreary day!! It was awesome!

The four of us heading out on a night on the town!

Ken and Jina ready to blow out her candle!

Four diet cokes and a chocolate molten cake!

The Beach Boys and John Stamos on the drums! He was amazing! One of my favorites from "Full House!"

Getting ready for the concert with our glow sticks!

Jina and me dancing to the music!

AAO Convention in Boston

We are in Boston for the next 4 days attending the Annual Orthodontic convention with Mark's entire staff and Dr. Anello (Jina) and her husband Ken! Well actually, they are attending the convention and I'm just along for the free ride...and free food:)!Here is a picture I took of Mark and Dr. Anello, and Mark's incredible staff in the lobby of our hotel. Did I say incredible and loyal? Seriously, they are the best! One of the assistants, Anne, started working for Mark when he bought the practice from Dr. Carr, 18 years ago. A couple of others have left for various personal reasons (husband got a new job out of the area, some wanted to stay home after having a baby or some wanted to go back to school) but many have returned as soon as there was an opening! Amber, who pretty much runs the back office, was so proud to tell me the other night that she has been working 10 years at Holt Orthodontics! Wow! Time flies when your having fun! We are so fortunate to have such a great staff!