#387

Reason #387 why I love attending our hometown's minor league hockey games:

The entertainment branches far beyond the fights that break out between players.

{via}

Exhibit A:

During the first intermission between periods they always feature a live "kid bowling" event.  Basically, they strap a kid to a bungee cord and fling the little darling all the way down the rink into some huge bowling pins.  98% of the time the child continues sliding right into the wall, which is so kindly protected with a mat that is moved around by some volunteers.  The problem arises when the volunteers aren't paying attention.  Last week, a little boy who I'm guessing was about 8 years old, was flung down the ice, totally missing all the bowling pins and hit the wall going pretty fast.  It looked like a scene out of a movie.  He flew backwards after slamming into the wall and just laid there for a few seconds.  I was horrified that the arena erupted into laughter!  Thankfully, the little boy got up and raised his fists into the air like any little champion would do.

Apparently, in the past, they used to have a "Weenie Dog Race" during the first intermission but there was public outcry claiming that it was animal cruelty.  Sooooo dogs = no go, children = okay!

Exhibit B:

During the second intermission an event called "Chuck-a-puck" happens.  You can buy plastic hockey pucks for a buck (get it?) and then during this intermission they lay out targets on the ice and everyone throws their pucks at the targets.  The pucks that land closest to each target get a corresponding prize.  The prizes are fantastic (<-- Sarcasm!) and always the same: a chicken finger dinner from a place called "Tenders", a haircut at SportsClips, a ticket to the next hockey game, and the grand prize...a $500 gift certificate to Bath Fitter.  If I never hear another Bath Fitter commercial again, it'll be too soon.

The Bath Fitter "target" is a miniature bathtub, maybe just a tad bigger than a soap dish.  You have to get it in the mini-tub in order to win.  Well, needless to say, Bath Fitter shouldn't worry because no one ever gets it in.  Ever.  Until now...  The crowd exploded when the puck zigged and zagged and made it's final resting place in the little bathtub.  It was like our little team had won the Stanley Cup.  Victory was ours!  We had beat Bath Fitter.

So the MC of the event/hockey game, Freak Daddy, picks up the puck while the crowd waits in stunned silence to hear the announcement of the winner's name.  He looks like he's having trouble figuring out how to pronounce it, so I automatically think it's me because no one can ever pronounce Brekke with questioning themselves.  Oh wait...I didn't buy a puck to chuck for a buck. Crap.

Freak Daddy clears his throat and says, "Well the winner wrote something dirty so they're forfeiting their bathtub winnings."

Once again, the crowd erupted. 

And that, my friends, is why we are faithful supporters of our minor league hockey team.

What I'm loving Wednesday

Wednesday is upon us once again!  I love Wednesdays for many reasons.  First, it means we're almost to the weekend! Wednesday is usually my "start over" day with Weight Watchers and Publix lists their new buy one- get one free items.  I tell ya, I lead an exciting life! Ha!

I'm linking up with Jamie to talk about the things that make me smile today!

- I'm loving my sweet husband.  I have a little love story to tell you in honor of Valentine's Day.  We bought some cream cheese brownies for the Superbowl this weekend.  I ate my fair share of the brownies (which means way more than my husband because he has something called self-control).  When he went to work on Monday morning I realized there was only one brownie left. Bummer.  A few hours later I receive a text from my husband, "Save the last brownie for me."  Girls.  Do you know how hard that is?!  So that night we sit down to watch The Biggest Loser The Bachelor together and I ask him when he's gonna eat his brownie (because I'm thinking I really want a bite).  His eyes lit up and he went into the kitchen and brought back that delicious looking brownie with a big glass of milk.  Drool.  He walked up and handed it to me and said, "I want you to have it."  Insert angels singing!  He told me that was his plan all along, to give me his brownie so I would know how much he loves me. Aww.  And like a good wife, we split the brownie. Amen.

- I'm loving that we have an appointment at the Design Center to pick out everything for our new house this Friday!  I am just so excited I could scream!  We've been told that construction could start as soon as about two weeks after that appointment. Yay!

- I'm loving that I'm back on track with Weight Watchers.  After the whole brownie incident this weekend and a few too many incidents eating out in Utah and Florida, I was up a few pounds.  It's a little easier because it was expected, but I'm excited to get back on track.

- I'm loving that I completed another painting last night! Stephanie challenged us with painting a huge chocolate cupcake with a glass of milk!  Amanda out did herself once again and made some delicious cupcakes for us!  Seriously, some of the best I've ever had.  My favorite was a devil's food cupcake with caramel, coffee, toffee flavored icing. Yum!  Some new friends were there too,  hi Erin and Myra!  It was so nice to meet you girls!  It has been great getting to know some new friends in my new town.

My Finished Product

Amanda's Cupcake Tower!  The third tier down seemed to be the crowd favorite!

Moving On!

We have finally come to a resolution to move on to the next step with the house building process!  Can I get an AMEN?!  Seeing as we were stuck at the last step for about three months, it brings back all the excitement for us, kind of feels like we are actually doing this thing now!

Now time to really start thinking about what color cabinets, type of wood floor, what color to paint! Ahhh, lots of decisions!

We ended up being able to meet with the builder the day after writing this update post.  We sat down with the builder and the boss of the woman we can't stand was actually there.  The main objective of our meeting was to explain to the builder how poorly he was being represented to us and that we've had a really difficult time thus far.  We came up with a solution that we were all comfortable with and the best part?  We will be working with a new realtor that represents the builder.  Hallelujah!  There was a little bit of "he said/she said" going on at the meeting but we basically just told them we wanted to work with a new representative or we were ready to walk away.  I don't think that they thought we were that fed up!

We are so excited to be moving on to the next step of this crazy process!

World Traveler

Just a few days after getting home from Salt Lake City, I packed up my car and made the 11 hour drive down to my parent's house in Florida.  It was my Dad's birthday and my mom and I came up with a plan to surprise him.

The dogs stayed with Baron and I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning to make the drive.  I drove into town at about 6 o'clock in the evening and just walked through the front door.  My Dad was sitting in his living room when I arrived and just stared at me for a few seconds before getting up and whispering, "Does Mom know you're here?!"  Haha!  I guess it was a good surprise!

I got to spend a few days with my parents and see some friends too.  I got to see my friend Vicki and her kids, Rachel and Carson.  We're now working on a plan for Rachel and Carson to come visit this summer once we have the house finished!

On Monday evening I drove up to Jacksonville to have dinner with some of my best friends.  I wasn't really invited to dinner but I got the details from my best friend's sister and I just showed up on my best friend's door (where I lived before getting married).  She opened the door and just stared at me for a few seconds letting the door close on me!  I opened it and we both dissolved into puddles and hugs all around.  Our other friend was meeting at her house so I hid in the bathroom and when she arrived I yelled, "What took you so long?! I'm starving!!".  She just said, "NO WAY!!" and ran over to hug me, insert more tears!

We had dinner at "The Loop", one of our old stomping grounds.  And after dinner, as a tradition, we drove over one of the biggest bridges in Jacksonville, with the windows down, screaming singing "Don't Stop Believin'" at the top of our  lungs.  We may or may not continued our tradition of a chinese firedrill at the stoplight at the bottom of the bridge...things we'll never tell our kids...or will force our kids to participate in, we'll see!

It was the shortest trip ever but well worth the drive to see some friends and family.  Sometimes the thought of being so far away from people I love is overwhelmingly sad, but the fact that I haven't seen these people in six months but we can pick up right where we left off is a blessing.  I have to remind myself how lucky I am to have family and friends even though they're 682 miles away from me, because there are people in the world who don't have anyone to lean on.


House Update:
The short story is that the realty company who works for the builder has been acting totally unprofessional.  At one point the woman who we don't really care for called our realtor and yelled at her for being "hard to work with" and then hung up on her.  After that she called our realtor's boss and told on her for being difficult and told them both that if they had a problem with her they needed to talk to her and not her boss.  Um really?! Because we have...several times...then we went to your boss. 

Apparently they all worked through their issues and it was left at an agreement for the woman we can't stand to apologize to all parties and come up with a solution for us. 

A week and a half later we got an email from her that listed five options that we had to move forward.  Problem was that none of the options were really anything new, just variations of options that we already knew we had! 

Baron and I both decided that we are no longer comfortable moving forward until we can meet with the builder directly.  We no longer want to talk to people who have no authority and who keep promising things to us and then changing their story later. 

We are calling the builder today to set up a meeting as soon as possible. It will just be Baron, myself, and the builder.  We do not want the people from the other realty company there because it will turn into a "he said/she said" and nothing will get accomplished, therefore it would go against "ethics" for our realtor to be present.  Our main objective is to let the builder know how he is being represented and that we are not happy.  Hopefully we come to a resolution that we can both agree on.  It's not the money that is bothering us the most, we just need to get a feel of the builder and how he responds to our complaints.

Ugh...never saw this being a part of our house building process.  I know it'll all work out and in a few years we probably won't even remember all this drama.

Park City

Good Thursday morning everyone!  It's almost time for the weekend, yay!! 

Today I wan't to share some pictures from Park City with you.  Last week,  The Bachelor that aired was in Park City, how fun!  Of course it was probably filmed weeks ago when there wasn't a couple of feet of snow on the ground! 

Baron and I had wonderful intentions of driving to Park City (about 45 minutes from Salt Lake) and walking around through the quaint little ski resort town but after our treacherous drive there we were too scared to park anywhere, not to mention the sidewalks were all covered with snow and there were people everywhere!!  Apparently we made it to Park City just in time for the Sundance Film Festival.  Unfortunately there were no celebrity sightings :(


Yeah, we're not gonna be parking here

 We did manage to make it up a hill and find a place to park and get out to take pictures. Hope the neighbors didn't mind, they were probably out skiing anyway.  The slopes were packed!  We'll be brave and go skiing next time we visit.

We also stopped by the Olympic Training Center on our way out of town.  The 2002 Olympic Winter Games were held there too! It was a really neat facility and there weren't a lot of people there at all.  There were a few kids out on the slopes doing crazy big jumps, I'm talking like these kids were 6 years old!!

Ladies & Gentlemen, my husband's favorite sport

We both decided that we'd love to go back to Park City in the summertime and actually be able to walk around and see the city!! It was beautiful all covered in snow but for us Floridians Alabamians we just didn't have the appropriate footwear for it this time around.  We are religiously entering the HGTV Dream Home Sweepstakes every day in hopes of winning a vacation home in Park City though!!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Hey y'all! Linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday, check out her blog and play along!

- I'm loving being with my sweet puppies again.  I missed them and I think they had a blast at the doggie daycare place where they boarded.  When I dropped them off before leaving for Salt Lake City, they ran straight into the daycare place and didn't even look back. I was so happy they were excited to be there.  They were pooped when I brought them home yesterday from their little vacay.

- I'm loving that Baron and I had such a great time in Salt Lake.  It started snowing at the most perfect time and left the city glittering and beautiful!  But as usual, I'm happy to be home again.

- I'm loving sweet husband.  Seriously, how did I get so lucky to marry someone who puts my happiness and comfort above his in every decision he makes.  We celebrated our 8th "monthiversary" while in Salt Lake.  And by celebrated I mean I just remembered right this second like 4 days later.  Ha!

Happy Wednesday people! Make it a good one!