Talented Family

I have been blessed with a wonderful family. I have always known how kind, generous, smart and fun my family is but recently I have realized that I have some VERY talented folks in my family.

I hoped to have videos but it looks like I can only upload pictures right now. Here are some pictures of Katie and Jesse singing and of my grandma dancing. I am hoping to get the video uploaded soon. And I wanted to mention that Jesse's new book, "The Church of Facebook" will be out this fall. To pre-order online CLICK HERE.

Keep up the great work family and I hope you continue to follow your passions!

To learn more and buy Katie's cd visit http://www.katierice.com/















Grandma's dancing at a charity event in Tucson.

David's Dirty Thirty

We celebrated David's 30th birthday this past Friday with a party at Bo Restobar downtown....we wanted to send him into this new decade in style. Katie and Jesse and my brother, Michael, all came into town for the event. We have about 80 of the best friends and family in the world to celebrate this wonderful man. David's Dad, Bob, even surprised us with a recording of David's mom, singing "Forever Young" when we was just a baby. You could hear his little giggles in the background and it was too cute!!!It was the perfect treat to complete the fun event.

Below are some photos to share with you... Happy Birthday Baby....Love you!

Grown Up Birthdays

So I turned 26 on Monday and I think I experienced my first grown-up birthday.

I had a wonderful party with close friends on Saturday (a couple too many tequila shots just to prove I am still in my 20's), a wonderful Italian dinner with the Thompson's on Sunday and then I woke up on my birthday, Monday, May 4th with a head cold...and a VERY bad head cold.

I think any other year I would have been sad and mopey about having a cold on my birthday. The selfish child in me may have shown her true colors and pouted a bit...but for some reason this year I still felt so happy to start another year of life. Totally satisfied. I felt loved by so many friends and family through emails, phone calls, cards and facebook messages (again, to prove I am still in my 20's).

But best of all, I was as happy as happy can be to stay home, watch a movie, and eat delicious home-cooked tomato soup and grilled cheese...thanks to the best husband in the entire world!

Being grown up isn't so bad after all...I welcome the late 20's with open arms!

Mania!

I had a moment last night. I had a moment when I realized that I really really love something. You know that revelation you have....maybe you have always known it in the back of your mind, but for some reason one moment everything clicks. Well, I love the Portland Trail Blazers.

Many of you may already know that I work for the Trail Blazers. Every day I give my best at my job because I know I am lucky to have it. But last night, I was just your average fan at the Trail Blazers vs. Lakers game and I truely experienced what it means to be a fan and to be in love with a sports team.

First, the arena was insane. I mean, complete sports mania...or should I say, Blazermania. The crowd was charismatic, loud and straight awesome. And if the crowd wasn't enough, how about the team. WOW...they really pulled it out last night and proved that Portland is a contender on the national basketball stage.

But the reason I really fell in love, what really made me realize that I am head over heels in love with the Portland Trail Blazers was the moment that Rudy was lying motionless on the floor after a flagrant 2 foul by Trevor Ariza and the entire team came together in a huggle, fist upon fist, foreheads leaned in, together as one, and they prayed together for their teammate. I mean wow....none of this pacing the floor like most other teams do when a fellow teammate gets hurt, but pure concern for their friend, pure teamwork and connectedness.

Here is a brief glimpse at the Rudy foul and the huddle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii2DvvXdpCs

Here are some highlights from the game. BEAT L.A.

http://www.nba.com/video/games/blazers/2009/03/09/nba_lal_por_0020800948_recap.nba/whatsnew/index.html

I do...

One year ago I married my best friend and partner in life. It was the best day of my life. And then later that year we traveled to Turkey, Egypt and Greece to celebrate and had some of the most amazing experiences and saw some of the coolest things.

I thought I would put some photos on my blog to share with everyone. Enjoy!

Hiccups!

Those of you who know me well, probably know that I get the hiccups often. My mom often refers to me as the Hiccup Queen.

Well, I had the hiccups the other night...and the kind of hiccups that you get rid of but don't really get rid of, because a couple minutes later they keep coming back and that pattern pretty much lasts all day and night.

My husband hates when I have the hiccups. You could say it is his pet-peeve.

So, as I sucked down as much water as I possibly could the other night to try to eliminate the periodic convulsions, it made me think of this one time when David and I were on our honeymoon in Cape Sounio, Greece and, for once, I wasn't the one with the hiccups! Enjoy...

I wear my sunglasses at night...

Well, not exactly...but I do go snowshoeing at night. David and I took a wonderful weekend trip to Bend, Oregon this past weekend. On Saturday night, we went on a snowshoe tour on Mt. Bachelor. What a great experience!

Although the snow can be a bit irratating at times and I am definitely a desert girl at heart, there was something so magical and peaceful about being out in the middle of the forest at midnight while it is snowing.

And our tourguide, Jack, was probably one of the most knowledgable guides I have ever had. He recieved his degree in international eco-tourism (what!?!?) and he was full of great little stories and facts.

Below are some photos of our trip, but first, I wanted to share with you a couple of my favorite stories we learned:

1.) Oregon is the most volcanic of all of the 48 states. Around the world, the earth's crust is an average thickness of 17 miles but in Oregon, it is an average of 2 miles thick! This just makes me wonder... how come it isn't warmer here in Oregon? Huh? Someone answer that for me...

2.) There is a great pine tree that is called the Hemlock. The hemlock is one of the most durable of all the pine trees and thus can live in crazy amounts of snow. There is an old story that has been passed around about the hemlock tree:

At the beginning of creation, God called a meeting for all of the pine trees in the forest to collect their cones. The Hemlock tree, being the most durable of all pine trees, strutted into the meeting and went straight to the front of the line thinking "I am the best of all the pine trees because I can live through any weather. I am sure to get the best cones today from God." God saw the Hemlocks attitude and told him that he would have to wait in line like all of the pine trees. The Hemlock tree was disappointed but went to the back of the line. By the time the Hemlock tree got to God, all that was left were the smallest of the cones. To this day, the Hemlock hangs his head in shame at the size of his cones.

Next time you are in a snowy forest, be sure to keep your eyes open for the Hemlock Pine Tree hanging his head in shame!