Landon at 14 -

I realized we had not had nice pictures taken of Landon in quite a while - the picture hanging in the hallway looks like he's 9! I wanted some good pictures now that his braces are off and he's got those pearly whites again. So here are a few . . . This picture is my favorite - that's Landon's typical happy-go-lucky smile (above)

Landon is pretty much a mothers dream come true - he's obedient, happy, thoughtful, considerate, etc..... Sometimes I can't believe that he is actually in the teenage years. I know we still have 4 years of High School ahead - but for right now I am thankful every day that I am not an empty nester quite yet - and that I have such a sweet kid still here at home with me. He's so easy to please and fun to be with. Keep spoiling me Landon - I love it!

My New Collection

Just a few of my new special occasion dresses -

Well, it has been a BIG project but I now have my new collection of special occasion dresses up on my website. I'm so excited! It has been a ton of work, with a lot of frustrations and set backs along the way - but in the end I love how the dresses have turned out. The fabrics are beautiful, the photo shoot went great (much thanks to all those who helped me that day!) and I'm anxious to show everyone what I have.

So go take a look - we're at www.alleanzabridal.com

For the Special Occasion dresses I basically started designing dresses that would be in my closet in a perfect world - unfortunately, since the world is not perfect, every time I would look for a dress it would be either too short, too low cut, sleeveless, or sheer somewhere that made it a no go for me. I complained A LOT - my husband thought I was just very picky - but you women know exactly what I'm talking about, right? So now, I have dresses in a variety of styles and colors, and fabrics that are modest AND flattering and pretty. Life is good.

I am REALLY counting on friends and family now to help me spread the word. I'm hoping I've filled a need that I believe has long existed out there. So tell someone to take a look. Even just clicking into my website will help me work my way up the internet search engines lists.

I'd love to hear feed back too - so tell me what you think. And thanks in advance for helping me spread the word!

Maui

After being so busy with Prop 8, Stake Conference and work John was really looking forward to a vacation - so last week we headed off to Maui.

Our hotel was gorgeous! We were on the Wailea coast.

John was in a golf tournament - so every morning I got out and walked this fantastic walking path that went along the beach and the resorts for an hour or two every morning.

These are the girls - we shopped and spent time at the pool most days -

John golfed 6 days in all with these guys . . .

they placed 7th in the tournament with 30 teams competing. Not bad.

Check out John's golf tan ^

Wednesday was a golf free day and I wanted John to take me to this zip line I had heard about near Haleakala. The lines started off pretty easy . . . There's John in the middle.

I actually thought this suspension bridge was the scariest thing. It made my stomach queasy. (I was thinking of you Sheli while I was on it - you'd have hated it!)

They saved the best for last - a 780 ft line with a 160 ft drop - you just step off and you are gone - and pick up to speeds of 40-50 mph.

John is that little speck of white half way across the zip line. What a blast!!!!! I loved it! The weather was PERFECT all the time, we had lots of nice dinners, and walks on the beach at sunset . . . .

Ahhhh - life in Paradise.

When do we go back?

The Big Game

Landon played his final "and favorite" football game of the season this last Saturday. They played in Bay Point with the rain pouring down non-stop through the whole game. The field was a big mud pit. The boys were cold and filthy.

The game went into overtime with the Falcons coming up winners 12-6. The team celebrates their victory . . .

Landon was covered in mud and had taken a hard hit from behind during the game.

He got a lot of playing time in this game and played well - and got in on a few tackles. He told me this was his favorite game of the year. I guess boys like mud!

I've never seen so many muddy, filthy, happy boys! A great way to end the season I guess.

just for grandma

we thought since we got to see grandpa today, and not you, that we would make you a video of what boston looked like when he saw grandpa. this is nothing excited. he was mostly just whiney that he couldn't suck on my camera. oh well, we miss you anyway.

Friday Fun

Life seems to be busier than ever before - but I've decided to make sure that in spite of all the "stuff" there is to do I make time for people. The last 2 Fridays have been full of fun doing just that - This week John's sister, Robyne, and her 2 daughters were staying with us. Friday I took them all to my favorite little French Bistro in San Francisco for lunch and we shopped along Polk St (also one of my favorite neighborhoods in the City). We had a lot of fun - visiting, exploring, and I even got a little start on my Christmas shopping.

The weekend before I drove up to Tahoe on Friday with my book club group. We had a surprise little snow storm and we decided to stay in at Charlotte's cabin and enjoyed a night and the following day of just relaxing, eating, and most of all visiting with each other. What a wonderful group of friends. I had so much fun!!!!

Tahoe is gorgeous any time of year - we took a nice walk around the golf course

All 7 of us enjoying the first snow!

Life is GOOD!

Highlights of our Minnesota Trip

I got to spend last week with my Minnesota grandkids! Yes they do live far away - but it was nice to see their new home and surroundings. Minnesota was very beautiful, their Ward was friendly and I got to meet lot of Summer's new friends. I can see why they love it there. We also got to take a little tour of the Mayo Clinic and hospitals where Paul now works. It was enormous and very impressive. The architecture and surroundings were gorgeous - you felt like you were in the lobby of a 4 star hotel rather than a hospital. Very cool!
But of course the highlight of the trip centered around spending time with Noah and Alex -
Noah petting the stingrays at the Minneapolis Aquarium
(He also pet some baby sharks - pretty fun!)

Alex loved it too . . . .

Noah showing off his tiger arms - hilarious!

Of course Grandparents can't resist getting fun stuff for thier grandkids-

Alex with her "Fancy Nancy"doll

very appropriate because Alex loves to be "fancy"

Noah loves sharks and anything to do with the ocean

Here we are with the kids in downtown Rochester
The week went all too fast and it was sadder than it has ever been before to say goodbye to Summer and the kids. It's only been a week and I miss them all already.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa

I love my shark book.  It has big sharks.  They swim so far across the ocean.  There is a carpetshark in there too.  My favorite are the big ones.  I read it everyday.  It is special to me.

My tiger arms are cool.  They make me strong.  They have stripes.  I like to wear them when it's cold.

I miss you so so so so so much.  I want to visit you after my birthday.  I pray for you every night.

Grandma, you wear pretty earrings and I like them

Grandpa, you are silly.

Thanks for coming to visit me in Minnesota

Love Noah

I love Fancy Nancy so much.  I like to play with her every every every day.  I like dressing her and singing to her and talking to her.  I sleep with her in my bunk bed.

I love you.  I want to give you hugs.

I love Grandma so much

I love to kiss Grandpa.

Thank you for coming to see me.  

Love Alex  

Falcon Football

Landon decided he wanted to play football - he has endured the hot summer practices, hell week- where they work them so hard they try to weed out any kids that aren't tough, and is now enjoying some games.

Lots and lots of practices . . . . the other day at practice his elbow got stuck into someone else's face mask. The coach had to yank it loose - consequence: a bruised and sore elbow for Landon and a bloody nose for the other kid. His coach was screaming at the kids the other night "THIS IS FOOTBALL! THIS ISN'T PIANO LESSONS! BE TOUGH!!" It's pretty tough all right.

His second game yesterday was against Napa - the Falcons won 37-18. Landon plays offensive tackle and special teams and he's having fun with it.

Random humor . . . .

Baby Boston at 7 months

I just got back from spending a few days with Michele, John and Boston. Isn't he adorable?!!

He is the sweetest baby - these pictures really capture his personality.

This one is his Dad's favorite picture (see above)

This is Landon's favorite picture (see above)

This lucky kid has the best mom and dad - he is completely adored - of course.

This is what he looks like when his Dad is around (see above) he smiles as soon as he hears his Dad's voice - and starts laughing when he sees him coming his way - so cute.

Excuse me for being the gloating Grandma - I just couldn't resist showing off this cutie.

Alleanza Bridal has launched!

It's a launch! Alleanza Bridal is officially in business with the website up and running now - and we're off to Utah for the Bridal Show at the Expo Center in Sandy. We're excited - and are counting on all our friends to pass the news that we exist. Check out our website at: www.alleanzabridal.com
Our launch has been a long time in coming - but the recent weeks have been the busiest and the most fun. In mid August we went to Phoenix for our first Photo Shoot. I thought I'd give you all a behind the scenes look at how things went - We started out in the middle of the day getting our catalog type shots done . . .

I had Tiffany as my model, and Michelle there as my business partner and stylist and do everything girl. You would not believe how much there was to do and to haul from place to place.

The whole photo shoot thing was kind of surreal - it made our whole business project go from a sort of intangible state to "Wow, we're really doing this" stage. It was pretty exciting.

If you are looking closely - yes that is a helicopter to the right side of Tiffany and the nose of a small plane in the forefront. We shot all these in an aiport hanger in Phoenix in-between the planes. Our photographer Mark (who was absolutely wonderful to work with) could control the lighting that way. Unfortunately, he couldn't control the heat. It was 108 that day and we were all cooking - me in particular as I steamed and pressed all the bridal gowns. I can't remember the last time I was so hot!

After the shoot at the airport hanger we packed everything up and moved over to Stonebridge Manor Reception Center to prepare for the artsy/wedding style shots.

We recruited Randy to come be Tiffany's groom for the shoot. What a good sport to be out there in the heat in his dark suit.

We re-enacted a petal toss for the shoot. After a few go arounds Mark replaced me as a petal tosser - and his assistant stepped in. I never could throw a ball to save my life - now apparently I don't do any better with petals :)

I think it was at the beginning of the photo shoot at Stonebridge that I got that euphoric feeling that - "We did it!" The gowns were everything we had hoped they would be - and Tiffany was absolutely beautiful in them. Of course, I've been working with these gowns for months - but with everything all together - the finished gowns, Tiffany all decked out in her wedding day best - hair and makeup, and the beautiful background it was a big WOW! feeling of satisfaction that we accomplished what we set out to do - make beautiful, high-end gowns out of spectacular fabrics in styles that were designed to be modest from the beginning. A very happy moment.

I couldn't dwell on that too long - because there was so much to do - and we were all burning up!!! (I did mention that we did all this in the 108 degree Phoenix sun) Poor little Boston was a trooper all day long - but at the end of the day he was just plain hot and tired. His Mom let him have a little dip in the pool to try and cool off.

These are some of my favorite shots from the photo shoot -

Maybe the best moment of the day (besides my "We did it!" moment) was after the photo shoot was all over - and we packed up - were hot and tired - and we went out to grab a late dinner. Boston crashed in his carseat and Tiffany, Randy, Michelle and I all relaxed, visited, and enjoyed just being together as a family. So here's to hoping that our little business venture is sucessful enough to keep those moments happening - I'd love to have the excuse to have to do this all over again real soon.