A few more silly photos of our costumes...

Here we are with Bryan (the friend who so generously let us use and abuse his house for the party!) He is such a great guy! And we were so happy that our friend Tracy (and fellow RWDC Board Member) came to the party! Poor guy... I put him to work helping with the door, cleaning, DVD duty, etc... but he still had a great time, I think! I hope so!!

3rd Annual Charity Halloween Party, continued

The party was a great success! We estimate that there were about 350 people in attendance... and we raised $1490.00 that will go to the Cancer Wellness House and possibly some to Huntsman Cancer Institute as well. We also gave a discount at the door for anyone who brought canned goods for the Utah Food Bank. We ended up with about 160 cans of food. All in all a very successful fundraiser! :) And I just love how everyone goes all out with their costumes... makes it so fun!

Thanks Troy for all the help!! Love you!

3rd Annual Charity Halloween Party Preparations...

This weekend was our 3rd Annual Charity Halloween Party. While the parties take a ton of preparation work... they always seem to be a success and we generally raise quite a bit of money... which makes it all worth while! Here are a few shots of the preparation and set up...

Our “stay-cation”... It’s a silly term, I know…

Last week was Troy’s fall break from the U, so we decided to have a little mini-vacation. I took a couple days off work and we spent some time goofing off… It was great! We haven’t had a lot of free time during this semester – it’s been a bit brutal – so we tried to forgot about school for a couple days (worked better at some times than others.. haha!) and tried to just enjoy ourselves. We didn’t manage to get to a few of things we had planned – i.e. the zoo, a play, a movie, etc – but we still enjoyed the break!

Here are a few highlights –

- We had a lovely dinner with our friend Kathleen Gardner (formerly of the Utah Symphony/Utah Opera). She has become a dear friend to both Troy and I and while we miss seeing her at the Symphony and Opera, we were happy to find that she seems to be enjoying her new job with Odyssey Dance Theatre. It was wonderful for us to visit with her a bit and we “talked shop” a bit too…. It’s funny how many of our discussion lately revolve around Vivace, Studio D, Ririe-Woodbury, Odyssey, etc etc.

- The next night we attended Odyssey Dance Theatre’s Thriller… it was a fun Halloween themed show. There wasn’t as much focus on dance as Troy and I would have liked, but the show is very entertaining and the audience loved it. Many of them attend the show year after year and cheer very enthusiastically for their favorite numbers. After the show we attended the cast party and met several of the dancers, as well as, the Company’s Founder and Artistic Director, Derryl Yeager. We enjoyed the evening very much.

- Next on the agenda for the stay-cation was for me to do one of my favorite things…. SLEEP IN! It was Heaven!! :)

- Our 3rd Annual Charity Halloween Party is coming right up on the 25th, so a portion of the weekend was spent doing prep work for the party… getting decorations, finding volunteers, picking up food and candy, etc. Everything seems to be coming together quite nicely! And we can’t wait to don our Globetrotter costumes! (Thanks again for the loan Pand!) The party this year is a combination food drive for the Utah Food Bank, and a fundraiser for cancer research/care. We are looking at a couple different options now for the donation to go to, but I think a portion at least will go to the Cancer Wellness House.

- Along with the shopping for the party, and what seemed to be a never-ending quest for a new suit for Troy… haha! (The real challenge was finding a place that could have it done by Saturday! Yikes) We managed to have a delicious dinner at one our new favorite restaurants… Fratelli. It’s a little Italian Restaurant in Sandy that is just yummy! On Friday we met one of the owner’s (his brother and the other owner is the chef) and were introduced to his whole family via the photos on the wall (ancestors who came through Ellis Island, etc). The photos were great! We are excited to head back on November 1st, the night where they are celebrating an annual tradition by donating their proceeds to the Utah Food Bank. I love when I get to see company’s giving back to their communities! I am looking forward to the dinner and to being a part of their event.

- Saturday was the Season Opener for the Utah Opera – Madame Butterfly. Along with the opera we attended a dinner before the show, and a Soiree after the show. What a fun evening! The dinner was especially fun because we were seated with the Peterson Family. Glade Peterson is one of the Founder’s of the Utah Opera and while he has passed away, his lovely wife Mardean (I hope I spelled that right!) was there. Their daughter Michelle is the Company Manager for the Opera and their other daughter Leslie is the Director of Development for the Symphony/Opera. Kelvin, their son, happens to work with Troy at Continental (and so does his wife, Robin) so it was just a fun evening for us! We always enjoy chatting with Robin and Kelvin, but it was great to meet Mardean and Michelle, and to see Leslie again as well. We felt privileged to be a part of their family for the evening!

The Opera was amazing! Troy has seen Madame Butterfly many times, but this was my first time and I very much enjoyed it! I can easily understand why it is the most frequently performed opera in the United States. I just loved it and Troy did too! And the little boy just stole the show - He was great!

The Soiree was great fun as well! It was officially a Vivace Party, but we also had several of the opera donors attend, as well as, a large number of the cast and orchestra. Troy’s sister Tamara also joined us at the party and as always, we loved seeing her. There was great food, all with an Asian theme (dessert sushi, spring rolls, etc). There was a costume showcase featuring new designs from two of the seamstresses from the Opera Costume Shop (one of them being our friend Jennifer – go Jen!). The new USUO CEO (Melia) was even wearing a gown designed and created by someone from the costume shop. She joked about the company starting a new line of business “Gowns for Galas”. Troy and I have met Melia on a few occasions now and also met her husband, Mike that night. Mike was very entertaining and so far we like Melia too. We hope that she does an excellent job with USUO.

I hope to have pictures from the Opera Soiree soon! :)

- And thanks to all the Hickman Clan for a great dinner on Sunday! It was wonderful to see everyone (everyone that's in Utah... we missed those in Idaho)!

time flys...

Wow... is it Tuesday already? Time is just FLYING right past! We had a fun weekend but it went by way too fast, as usual!

Ririe-Woodbury had its first show of the season this past week and it was phenomenal! Troy and I actually ended up going twice because we enjoyed it so much! Haha! We were able to work with the cutest little bakery to provide cupcakes for the intermission receptions, and everyone seemed to love them - Including us! Thank you So Cupcake!! (http://www.socupcake.com). And there were, of course, gorgeous flowers from Every Blooming Thing as well! Here is the arrangement that we hijacked after the last show... love it!! I just wish we didn't have to return the vase! Spanish classes also started last thursday....Yikes! I NEED to practice! I was sooo very lost last week! I hope it is more smooth this week... I have been working with my vocab flash cards all week.. hopefully it will pay off.

Saturday evening I went to the Women's Conference at the Conference Center with one of my girlfriends... we had a wonderful time and the speakers were all wonderful! They focused alot on performing acts of service and recognizing/maximizing our own talents... both good reminders for me. :)

Other than that, the mountains are all decked out in the beautiful fall colors! My favorite time of year!! Troy and I went up to Park City on Saturday and it was great to see the gorgeous colors all along the mountainsides.... I just can't get enough of it!

Last but not least... October is breast cancer awareness month... go get checked out!! Both of my visting teachers are fighting this disease right now, as have many other people that we all know so... please be vigilant in getting exams, etc! The sooner its diagnosed, the better the chance of survival!

P.S. Happy Birthday Tommy!!! Hope you have a wonderful day!!

That's a serving??

Wow... its shocking how small a serving is! Haha! Have you ever wondered what those tiny little bowls are for in your nesting bowl set?? Well, they are about equal to a serving of most anything... haha! And seriously... a serving of pasta is about 20 noodles... so small! I didn't believe it would be enough, so I doubled it.. but once cooked, I only ate about half. Should have trusted it! Very eye opening!Anyway... I decided I needed a new hobby since Troy is in school. So... here is one of my new necklaces...
You like?
I am really not very good at earrings yet... but practice makes perfect. :)

And tomorrow I am off to the dermatologist for my bi-annual skin cancer check.... and just so everyone knows - it's skin cancer awareness month! So... make an appointment and go get yourself checked out.

Army Wives?

Does anyone else watch that show? I personally love it! Anyway... I discovered this past week that the cast has worked with Ford to create a new line of Warriors in Pink apparel where the proceeds go to the Susan G Komen Foundation. I personally love the new clothes and would love to get one of each item!

Anyway... if you feel like shopping and fighting breast cancer at the same time, check it all out! Here's the info —

Ford has gotten in on the Fight for a Cure (with the Susan G Komen Foundation) – Check out their site at http://www.fordvehicles.com/warriorsinpink/

You can enter to win the Warrior in Pink Mustang (or buy one yourself), nominate someone as a beautiful warrior, or just buy some adorable new apparel. I may just do all three!!

And I don’t know about you… but I really love that “Warrior Cap”, and several of the t-shirts, and the hoody, and the woven scarf!! Check them all out - http://www.shopwarriorsinpink.com/default.cfm?fuse=home

Back to School…

Today it’s official… I am dating a college student! Haha!! Troy is officially a college student again! His classes started today at the bright and early hour of 7:30am… yuck!! While the next several months will be a little insane… I am very proud of Troy for committing to get school completed! And with his classes all mapped out and scheduled right up to graduation in December – I am sure its just going to fly right by!

And of course, the “A” parking pass makes it much easier too – THANKS DAD!!! Today Troy was able to park about 50 feet from all of his classes! Makes it much easier to get out of the there and off to work too. Gotta love that!

This past weekend we had lots of fun… we had to fit in as much play time as we could before school started today.

~We had the Race for the Cure on Saturday morning which was great, as always. There were roughly 16,000 participants here in Salt Lake and it was amazing to see so many people out supporting the cause. As usual a few times during the race, Troy and I both were very moved by the “in celebration of” signs on peoples back… seeing the little kids with signs that refer to their mothers and grandmothers are always the hardest for me. I think this year it all hit a little closer to home for me than in years past… I hope that a cure will come very soon.

~ Saturday night we went out for a yummy dinner at Bambara and headed over to the Utah Opera’s performance of Don Giovanni. Dinner was delicious, as always – we love that restaurant! And the opera was excellent. Don Giovanni was the first opera that Troy ever saw, and he saw it at the age of 8. He loved it, and has been hooked on opera ever since. This was my first time seeing Don Giovanni, and I really enjoyed it! For those that don’t know, it’s the story of Don Juan the womanizer who gets sent to hell in the end by the ghost of a man that he had killed when the man was trying to protect the honor of his daughter. The music is beautiful and the production was excellent. The opera was sung in Italian (with English super-titles on a screen above the stage) and now that my Spanish is getting a little better, I actually found myself understanding more of the Italian than I thought I would – the two languages have a lot of similarities. There was also a Vivace After-Party (and combined Cast Party), which made it an extra fun evening! A long and tiring evening after such an early start to our Saturday! haha! But a fun time!!

~ A couple weeks ago there was a huge pet adoption fair that we stopped by to play with some of the puppies and check out all the cute dogs. This past weekend we decided to do that again – so we stopped by the adoption fair they were having in the parking lot at IKEA. There weren’t very many dogs there and we were happy to hear that a few had already found new homes. We enjoyed meeting cute little Pacino and Cody and playing with them for a bit. They were such sweet little puppies! Being the dog lovers that we both are, we have a really hard time seeing the dogs in those little cages and if we could, we would take them all home! We hope that they all find loving homes soon!

~ I am also considering getting a scooter for my commute to work so we spent some time on Saturday checking out Vespa, Eco Moto, etc. Found some really cute ones that I loved, but discovered that a lot of them are too tall for me.. Haha! Apparently I am really short… Anyway, we figured out that you can have them lowered, and some of the models actually fit me pretty well. So…. perhaps my efforts to “reduce my carbon footprint” will work after all… we shall see. Do you think my Harley helmet with the flames on it will look silly with a Vespa?

~ And on to Mother’s Day… Troy had a very nice surprise planned for his Mom – speaking in church – and she loved it! Everyone else in the family knew, and we all managed to keep it a secret, right up until Troy walked up on to the stand and sat down. I didn’t see it, but apparently Colleen actually jumped with surprise when she saw this. Haha! Troy’s talk was wonderful and was an excellent tribute to his Mother. He included some great stories, and even a quote that he strongly felt his Father wanted him to include. It was an emotional time for all of us when he talked about the cancer coming back and Colleen’s strength and unwavering faith even in the face of this adversity. Her strength, testimony and faith are really an inspiration to me, and to so many others as well. ((Troy – In case I didn’t tell you enough yesterday - It was an excellent talk and I am very proud of you for doing such a great job! XOXO))

And last but not least – Happy Birthday to my favorite older brother, Craigy!! :) I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Enough is enough!

Seriously... I just don't know if I can handle one more person I know having cancer! It's just too much... too much suffering, too much pain... just too much! I want it to go away... I want there to be a cure! I want everyone to be healthy and cancer free!

So.... I am not sure that participating in the Race for the Cure this weekend will make the difference, but I hope it helps! I hope it makes a difference in the research for the cure. I hope that it helps prevent someone from getting sick or from suffering. I hope that our contribution helps find the cure! I know every little bit helps so.... we will race and we will do what we can. For all those suffering.... please know that our hopes and prayers are with you. I hope it helps!!

http://www.active.com/donate/komenslc2008/jenandtroy

It's time to RACE FOR THE CURE!

It's that time of year again.... when I drag Troy (don't worry, he actually LOVES it once we get there) to all sorts of cancer walks, fundraisers, etc. It's such a great way to take advantage of the gorgeous spring weather! And help some VERY good causes at the same time!

So.... on May 10th, we are Racing for the Cure!

Cancer is a disease that I think has affected every person I know in one way or another.... so let's fight it! Let's get rid of it! Why not start with fighting breast cancer on May 10th?

Who wants to come join us??

You can register online up until May 7th at the following location - http://www.active.com/framed/event_detail.cfm?EVENT_ID=1536735&CHECKSSO=0&RESET=0

If you don't feel like walking, you can even register to "Sleep In For the Cure" and they will mail you a T-shirt. Haha!

Anyway, if you can't make it, please consider contributing... every little bit helps! Use the link below to donate at our fundraising page. You will receive email confirmation of your donation and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation. I thank you in advance for your support, and really appreciate your generosity!!

http://www.active.com/donate/komenslc2008/jenandtroy

We hope that many of you will come join us at this great event!

Race for the Cure...

Saturday morning was the Annual Race for the Cure, for the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Troy and I particiapted, along with several of our friends, and THOUSANDS of other people! It was seriously HUGE, which I was so happy to see!

Well... actually, what I would really like to see is diseases like Breast Cancer be eliminated but until then.. I am happy there was such a great turn out and that so much money was raised to fight this terrible disease!

As with every year, I am so touched by the "In Memory Of" and "In Celebration Of" signs on everyone's backs.... makes me cry everytime! I was particularly touched by this father and his two daughters walking in memory of his mother and their grandmother. The picture doesn't do it justice, but you can get the idea.

I was amazed and saddened by how many small children were there with signs about their monthers, unfortunately many had passed on but several were survivors as well. So in honor of those children, and their moms... let's keep up the fight and we can eradicate cancer completely!!

Be a part of the cure!

Come be a part of the cure!
I have two wonderful suggestions for things that you can do in the next two weeks to be a part of the cure! Whether it be Asthma or Breast Cancer.... you can make a difference in the lives of many people by participating in either event, and we'd love to have you as part of the SKIDS Team for one... Or even better, for both!

~~ OPTION 1
Saturday, May 5th - Blow the Whistle on Asthma at the American Lung Association's Asthma Walk at Sugar House Park, Salt Lake City
Registration: 8:00 am
Event start time: 9:00 am
Until recently, I did not know that asthma is the leading chronic illness among children and the cause of more than 5,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. I'm sure there are many more people who are unaware of the devastating effects of this chronic lung disease.
Therefore, I have signed up as a Team Captain in the American Lung Association of Utah's Blow the Whistle on Asthma Walk 2007 and I am recruiting team members to join me at the Walk and help raise funds for this worthy cause.
Please visit our team web page at http://www.mrsnv.com/evt/e01/team.jsp?id=1425&tid=333 and follow the instructions to join our Walk team.

~~ OPTION 2
Saturday, May 12th - Race for the Cure at the Komen Foundation Breast Cancer walk/run
Start Time: 8:30am (End Time: 12:00pm)
Location: The Gateway at South Temple and 400 West in Salt Lake City
It's not only women that are affected by breast cancer! Their families and friends are all affected too. In honor of all the children that have been affected because their Mom, Grandmother, Aunt, Sister, or Friend has suffered, died or hopefully recovered from Breast Cancer... please join the SKIDS Team for the Race for the Cure!

Please go to one of the following pages to register or support our team:
http://race.komenslc.org/goto/skids
or to http://race.komenslc.org/goto/jennifer777
You may know that one in eight women will be stricken with breast cancer in her lifetime. What you may not know is that you can help these women and thousands of others in the fight against breast cancer.
On May 12, 2007, I will be participating in the Komen Salt Lake City Race for the Cure® with a great team of dedicated people. Join the fight by registering as part of our team or even individually or by supporting our efforts with a pledge or a contribution. The money raised through the Race will fund vital education, screening and treatment programs for underserved women in our own community and support the national search for a cure.
We need your support! Every step counts!

Cancer, Heart Disease, etc... be a part of the cure!

Lately I feel that I have been surrounded by loved ones, friends and acquaintances suffering from not only cancer but from several other medical conditions as well. There just seems to be something in the air and I often feel helpless to do anything about it. I know I can't fix it, cure it or even make much of an impact on any of it myself but... I thought I could at least get the word out about a few events coming up in SLC that will help make a dent!

So, in honor of this final day of "Cancer Screening and Early Detection Awareness Month" I thought I would start a list with some info about upcoming charity and fundraising events. And spring of course brings the start of the marathon, 5k and walk season... there are lots of those to look forward to from April-September!

- Huntsman Cancer Foundation has several events coming up... including a benefit concert (April 14th), a dance-a-thon (March 15-16th) and the Huntsman Cancer SL Marathon (April 21st). Check out their calendar of events at: http://www.huntsmancancerfoundation.org.

- May 12th is the Annual Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Race for the Cure.... this is always a memorable experience and I encourage everyone to participate! Get more info at: http://www.komenslc.org/

- April 14th is the American Lung Association of Utah's Tackle the Tower Stair Climb at the Wells Fargo Building, Downtown SLC. Get more info at: http://www.utahlung.org/index.php?PID=4&PGID=15 (utahlung.org)

More to come! :)