The Olympic Spirit

From a young age I learned to have a passion for the Olympics and all the emotions, hard work and dedication it brings. This lesson came from my sweet mother who had and still has such a love for the Olympics. I remember on several occasions my mom pulling out her record (yes it was a long time ago!) of the theme music to the Olympics and having all five of us kids march around the house to get into the spirit of the games. Oh what fun that was, marching with my siblings, hearing the music, and thinking of how hard each of the athletes worked in their respective sport.

Now I am the mom, and I want my kids to have that same love and passion for the Olympics. In 2008, when the Olympic games were in China, our family started to bring in this spirit of competition and began a new tradition. Every two years when the games are held we watch the Opening/Closing Ceremonies and various events together as a family while we also enjoy a food item from the host country. So two years ago we watched the games while eating Chinese food, and this year we watched while enjoying Canadian Bacon Pizza (Macy's choice) and drinking Canada Dry Ginger Ale.



I love this new tradition and love even more seeing the kids enjoyment in the competition. The kids really have gotten into the spirit of what the Olympics brings and have watched in delight as they have seen snowboarders do flips, skaters skate incredibly fast, ice skaters perform amazing spins, and skiers ski onto victory. This has been a wonderful Olympics and I have found myself in tears several times after seeing athletes reach their personal victories!

Some of my favorite highlights of the games:
- Apolo Ohno winning his eighth career medal
- Joannie Rochette skating onto a Bronze in the women's figure skating after her mom's unexpected death just a few days prior to competition.
- Bode Miller redeeming himself in the Olympics after a poor showing in Italy.
- And I absolute love to hear all the inspiring stories of different athletes and how they all triumphed over trials, difficulties, injuries and went on to pursue their Olympic dream.

Finally...

saw the movie, Avatar. Wow! I had heard from several people it's a movie you have to experience in the theater. So on Saturday night Clint and I went to the 3-D showing and we were absolutely blown away. Blown away!

Seeing it in 3-D made the experience that much better. I am seriously wanting to go back and see it a second time. It was that good.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you all felt loved today!

We Have a Winner!

First of all, thank you to all who entered and shared some fun Valentine thoughts. I absolutely enjoyed reading what you all love about Valentine's Day, and loved getting to know all of you a little better because of it, and since I had so much fun hosting this giveaway, I will be doing another one around Easter time. So check back again!

And now, to announce our winner. All names were thrown into a bowl, and my daughter drew comment number which was, "marci said... For me, Valentines day is all about the sugar cookies!!! Cute give away! You are so crafty!"

Marci, I know where you live, so I won't be mailing it off, but expect the prize to show up at your home sometime today. Congratulations!

Giveaway Time!

One thing I love about blogs, is that often times they host giveaways. So I have decided to host my very first giveaway and am excited to share it with all of you. Up for grabs we have a Valentine craft, handmade by yours truly. It makes me smile!

So, here are the rules. You can enter by leaving a comment on this post and telling me what you love about Valentine's Day. All comments need to be entered by Thursday, 11:59 p.m. The winner will be drawn randomly from a hat and announced Friday morning. I will then get the winner's information to send it off to you and on it's way.

Good luck to everyone, and don't forget to tell the special people in your lives, "I Love You!"

What to do with...

a huge, blank wall of nothing? Ask your super cool friend, to have her super talented husband make some super amazing frames. I love these frames and they add just the right touch to our once big, blank wall. If you love these frames as much as I do, I can get you in touch with my friend. They make amazing frames for very reasonable prices!

The cream frame is my favorite!

I Heart Target

Every Monday I head to Target to score some pretty good deals, and this Monday I made out with some fantastic buys.

Ten Quaker Oatmeal Express = $.20

Four Gillete Fusion Razors with cartridges = $2.00

Two Venus Embrace razors with 5 cartridges each + two huge bottles of Olay body wash = $5.00

Three Scrubbing Bubbles all purpose cleaner = $.48 each

I am obsessed with coupons, obsessed I tell ya!