Frankie, Johnny and Luigi's

On Saturday, after Brooke's big win,

we headed to Frankie, Johnny and Luigi's,

where we always like to celebrate after every Stanford Invitational.

Dad, as usual, ordered his favorite Stromboli pizza, and

reminded us that this was his favorite hang out when he was in high school.

Brooke admired the tacky, but authentic Easter decorations

while she enjoyed one of her favorite's, penne pasta with a bolognese sauce.

And after 2 warm days in the sun, I thoroughly enjoyed guzzling my diet Pepsi.

After dinner, Dad posed for the obligatory picture with Brooke. Tender.

It's nice to have fun traditions and to know that after all these years that

Frankie, Johnny and Luigi's is srill a Holt favorite.

10:06 in the 3000 at the Stanford Invitational!

We spent the weekend down at Stanford watching Brooke compete in the 3000m.

She ran a great race and finished with a winning time of 10:06!
The Idaho state champion gave her a challange in the last stretch of the race
but Brooke held her off and crossed the finish line first!
Way to go, Brooke!

Brooke is #1 in the 3000 with the time of 10:06 at the Stanford Invitational.

Here is the link to Brooke's race.

http://www.runnerspace.com/profile.php?do=videos&member_id=10587

When you get to that page, you can click onto the link which is

on the left hand side of the page to hear Brooke's interview right after the race. Yeah! Bear!

Brooke and Dad crying as soon as they saw each other after the race!
Don't worry, those are tears of joy!

Finally, Brooke is smiling!

Aaron Burney, a Granite Bay teammate, who now runs the huddles for Cal, congratulating Brooke.

Brooke and Dad happy with the win.

Arizona Sunshine

I was fortunate to be able to spend a few days down in Arizona visiting with my parents.

They are the sweetest grandparents and definitely the cutest couple.

They are so kind, patient and loving with each other.

They are always so positive and never complain.

It warms your heart to watch them take care of each other and

listen to them speak so sweetly about each other.

I love being around them because they inspire me and make me want to be a better wife and mother.

What a wonderful example they are to me and all of their family.

Grandma and Grandpa wanted a picture with all of their gorgeous flowers
in front of their house. I caught Grandma just wearing her slippers.
She was so embarrassed and wanted to take another picture
but I thought it was precious.

The house that I grew in from the time I was 5 years old.

The orange tree in the side yard.

The orange blossoms smelled delicious!

The view from the corner of East Erie and Balboa Dr.

Grandma and Grandpa looking a little serious about this photo shoot.

I got a smile out of both of them, even though the sun was in their eyes!

California poppies in Arizona!

Grandma and Grandpa taking a stroll around the yard.

One afternoon, I got together for lunch with my high school girlfriends,

Kalene and Suzanne, and Suzanne's darling little boy, Brighton!

Ashley's Weekend in GB

Ashley surprised her friends and came home for the weekend.
She got to go to school on Friday and attend the rally,
help with the dinner at our house that afternoon,
watch the Powder Puff game Friday night
and go to Sadies on Saturday with Craig.
Her friends from college were home for spring break so she was able to meet up with many of them for lunch on Friday and Saturday.
On Sunday morning, Matt, Spencer and Craig came over for breakfast
and were kind enough to pose for this cute picture just before we headed for church.
Now it's back to college for Ash, but she will be home next month. Yay!

Matt, Ash, Spencer and Craig.

The Princess and the Frog

Brooke and her date, Wes, went to Sadies as the Princess and the Frog.

They looked pretty cute!

Yay!! for tacky prom dress bought by Allie at a Thrift shop years ago,

which she wore for some dress-up dance.

It was found still hanging in the storage room,

surprisingly, mom hadn't given it to DI...yet!

It fit Brooke perfectly, well, after mom took it in on both sides!

The Frog outfit was found at Walmart~sweats, shirt and hat, all for under $15!

You can't beat Walmart for tacky costumes for dress-up days and dances!

Brooke, the princess and her cute frog, Wes.

Mom sewed green felt spots on the back of the shirt
to make the costume complete.

The Princess trying to "kiss" the Frog.

Brooke and her group of friends pose for a picture
before they head off to dinner at Pasta Pomodoro.

Powder Puff

We hosted the Powder Puff Juniors dinner at our house again this year!

I never get tired of having the all high school kids

over for dinners and parties in the backyard!

We are getting to the tail end with Brooke

and it kind of makes me sad...really! I mean,

when will I ever use all 8 picnic tables and 40+ green plastic chairs again? Seriously!

Brooke's name on the back of her shirt is appropriate, "Can't touch this."

You will have to ask Brooke to explain the double meaning.

Unfortunately, Brooke has been sidelined for the entire game by her parents.
You see, there is always 2 or 3 girls that get injured during the game
and with Brooke's luck, it would be her.
We decided that it was much too dangerous
for her to actually play in the game and she agreed.
I know that sounds harsh, but have you ever seen a Powder Puff football game?
It's kinda like watching a girl fight...
always a little pushing, shoving, scratching, and hair pulling going on during the game.
Very fun, but definitely a little dangerous.
So...Brooke will just look really good tonight in her gear
and cheer from the sidelines!
Good girl!

Brooke Coyle and Brooke Holt, neighbors and friends since preschool days. Cute!

The girls are busy decorating their flags in the backyard.

Brooke and her friends putting the final touches on their flags.

Brooke and Brittany Ragan, Joey and Morgan's little sis.

The End...literally!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Catching up with my dear friends,

Liz Skinner, Sue Jack, Karen Duffey and Julie Coyle.

Couldn't have celebrated St. Patrick's day any better today.
It all started with an "official" school visit at Maidu,
where I enjoyed seeing all the children K-3rd grade dressed in their green apparel.
In first grade, the children brought green edibles for their "Green St. Patrick's day buffet",
which included items such as pistachios, pickles, grapes,
green rice krispies, green jello jigglers, sticks of celery and guacamole dip.
I got a kick out of the kids as they eagerly filled their plates
these green treats and raced back to their seat to devour them!
Then in Mrs. Stogner's 2nd grade class, we were greeted with a rowdy rendition of the Leprechaun song.
I got to visit with many of my children's teachers who now teach at Maidu
(Ms. Uribe-Allie's 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Hagan-Tyler & Allie's 4th grade teacher,
Mrs. Swearingen-Allie's 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Conley-Kimber's 4th grade teacher, Mrs. James-Kimber's 6th grade teacher.)
They always want an update on the kids and
then when I tell them where and what they are doing, we always say, "Wow! We are getting old!"
It seems like just yesterday when the kids were in elementary school!

After the school visit, I ran over to a track meet at Woodcreek
and cheered on our Grizzly "Green" team to victory! Yay!
I love that our school colors are Green and Black, especially on St. Patrick's day!

It was a gorgeous day and it felt so good to sit in the warm sun
and visit with all the track parents.
We are still not sure if we won the meet,
but Brooke won all 3 of her races, the 1600, the 3200 and the 4 X 400.

Then I met up with some of my dear friends from our old Weddington neighborhood for dinner.
We celebrated St. Patrick's day by wearing green lei's that light up
(we looked a little ridiculous but it was fun!)
and Liz brought us all green shamrock sugar cookies.
It was great to catch up with everyone!
They all say "hi!" to all of you kids and are anxious to meet Sonya!
They are the best!

Team Pink

Kimber and Brooke got a mani/pedi before Brooke's race.

For good luck, they painted their nails hot pink

to match Brooke's hot pink jersey that she wore for the race!

I guess it worked! Congrats, Brooke!

* More pictures from Brooke's trip to NYC will be posted soon.

National Scholastic Indoor Championship

Brooke ran at the National Scholastic Indoor Championship in New York City today.

She won her heat and placed 5th overall in the 2 mile!

We were in Park City with Allie and Ashley but we were able to watch her race on the internet!

Gotta love technology!

Brooke has been hanging out with Kimber all weekend

and is excited to celebrate with her tomorrow.

The computer is sitting on the cabinet with Allie, Ashley, cousin Kramer, Mom and Dad crowded around it...

and this is how we watched Brooke's race in NYC at our place in Park City!

Brooke ran a perfect race by running right on the heels of the lead girl.

(She is the one wearing the pink Buffalo Babes jersey.)

Since the race is indoors, the track is 200 meters so Brooke had to run 16 laps!
That's a lot of laps!

Brooke starting to make her move with 800 left to go.

Brooke takes the lead and never looks back.

Brooke sprinting to the finish line and winning her heat with a time of 11:01!

A Snowy Ski Day

What a difference a day can make.
Yesterday we enjoyed a warm, sunny, beautiful blue sky ski day
and it was great! My kind of ski weather.
But today we woke up and watched the snowflakes falling outside.
The contrast is always so amazing to me.
How it can be warm and sunny and spring like one day and then winter the next day?
We bundled up and enjoyed a beautiful winter ski day, fresh snow on the trees, untracked powder ski runs
and the gorgeous beauty of the big snowflakes falling to the ground.
I wish I had brought my camera out with me
but my Iphone did a pretty good job capturing a few of the fun moments today.

Dad was thinking, "I'm so glad I had Jina worked for me this week!"

Allie and Ashley loved skiing the fresh snow over at Condor.

So being the semi-professional photographer that I am...
or think that I am...or should I say want to be some day,
I asked the kids "to line up, get closer together,
but not too close and pose for a picture."
They were very clear instructions or so I thought.
I reached in my pocket to get my Iphone out, touched the screen to set up the camera for a picture,
which took a total of 2-3 seconds, looked up and this is what I got!

It's tough working with a group of amateur ski models...
or was it just that I took 1 too many pictures on a picture perfect powder day....
:)!

Dad tried skiing with one ski,
it didn't work out so well for him, but it was awesome for us to watch.

Allie showing Dad a little love and picking up his ski after the great wipeout!

Skiing and relaxing at "The Beach" at Deer Valley

Skiing with Allie at Deer Valley on a warm, sunny day, blue skies, perfectly groomed runs,

sitting on the deck outside, enjoying a delicous lunch with blueberry pie and carrot cake for dessert,

then relaxing at the end of the day at "The Beach" in front of the SilverLake lodge...

it just can't get much better than that...

oh wait...

it can...

after lunch we chatted with a certain GA (who will remain anonymous)

who was skiing with his daughter and grandson...

he assured us that there will be plenty of skiing in the Celetial kingdom...and flying too:)!

Gotta love that!
Just wish all of our kids could have been with us today!

Allie and Mom resting their tired legs after a great day of skiing!

Allie and Dad posing in front of "The Beach", outside of the SilverLake lodge.

Sac State Meet

The track season officially started today

with the Sac State Meet at Folsom.

Brooke had a great race in the 1500,

with the winning time of 4:48.

Awesome!

Looking strong running down the stretch.

Posing for the traditional "I'm #1!" picture for mom!