Christmas Festivities

Gingerbread houses we made for Eva's playgroup. It was messy but oh so fun.

Eva with hers.

Leah was so excited when her name got picked to be the Christmas tree in her school performance. She was darling and did a perfect job performing.

Her teacher has the cutest program put together. So many darling songs and cute little touches to everything. Each student got their own part. We have loved her teacher and couldn't ask for a better year for Leah.

I Was Thankful For

As I am every year but even more this one. A husband who loves to cook! It tops my list every Thanksgiving. He is amazing and the food is too. I had the flu the whole week before the holiday. And lucky felt better enough to eat that day. But Dave shopped and did ALL the cooking.

Real Wins the MLS Cup

AND WE WERE THERE! There was a huge surprise for me Monday night when I found out there was room on the private flight to Seattle. Plus we all got to go from Thursday until Monday. Thankfully we had Grandma Flo and Nana and Papa to babysit the rug rats. I didn't want to lug the big camera around with me so there aren't a ton of pictures. But we did have some great times. Our hotel was right downtown within 3 blocks of any store you can imagine. All I could have wished for was a girl friend to shop with. We enjoyed going out to eat, seeing the sites, and attending a few Real events. The best part of the whole trip was going to the Real vs. LA Galaxy game. In case you didn't see it we tied, went into overtime, still tied, went to a shoot out. Where Real won. It was the most exciting game I have ever been to.

Real hosted a nice after party for all the employees and players.

This is the gang of guys I hung around with for the trip. Minus Yura but that would have been cool. They all work for Dave in the marketing department. It is a good thing these guys are fun. But do you see what I mean about needed a girl to shop with.

This is Dave being wrestled by 2 kids and a dog. Pretty funny I waited a few minutes to help him up because it was hilarious. We got to see Erin and Garreth and all the kids.

Leo the Lion and I waiting to leave on our chartered flight. We left from the Millionaire terminal and then got to return into the main terminal in SLC.

Davy with the Real plane behind us. I was awesome going with the team on the flight. I certainly loved coming back to a screaming crowd at the airport.

Halloween

Leah the skeleton. She really wanted to be something scary.

Ronan the pirate. Ask him what a pirate says, he will answer, aghrrr mates.

Eva the witch. She had a really cute halloween program for her preschool we enjoyed the Saturday before Halloween. They sang all of the songs they have been learning at school.

Assembly Super Star

A friend of ours was in charge of Red Ribbon week at Heritage. We tried really hard to get a player to come to the assembly. But they had a game on Saturday and didn't have anyone that could make it. So the next best thing......

Davy and Leo the Lion.

The crowd loved it! Dave was his charming self. And had all the hundreds of kids completely quiet. Which he didn't realize is quite an accomplishment at an elementary school. He had kids come up on stage and show their soccer moves. While he talked about how sports players stay healthy. Leo the Lion got the crowd excited. By doing standing back flips and all sorts of craziness. This picture is when they were throwing out t-shirts to the crowd of kids. Followed by a song from Davy, "pockets on the floor, pockets on the floor."

Davy and his rendition of pockets on the floor. One of the sweetest things was that Leah got to introduce Dave to the school. We didn't know she was going to do it so this wasn't rehearsed at all. She said, "Hi this is Leah Ratchford from Ms. Schneider's class. My dad works for Real Salt Lake the soccer team. Please put your hands together for my daddy Davy Ratchford."

Black Island Farm

We had to take advantage of the beautiful weather on Friday. And the fact that my mom was in town to help with an outing. For the last few years we have meant to get to Black Island Farms and never made it. I was really impressed. The kids ran every where they went. I took a ton of cute pictures and here are a few of my favorite.


Picking out our pumpkins. The girls had to have the biggest ones they could find and Ronan only wanted a small one.

There is 2 big corn mazes and one small kids one. They girls loved it. We had Leah's good friend miss K with us.

These teeter toter's were a big hit with the kids.

The corn box

This crazy slide I had to go down with Ronan. It looks really steep from the top so there may have been some screaming from Nana and I.

These two had so much fun together. They look as crazy as they were.

Ireland the 5th best place to live in the world...look it up

We spent the night in Tralee and went to eat at this amazing pub that I'd ate at before. Stephen beheld and drank of the magical elixer known as Guinness. Irelands largest export, Guinness has been known to fuel men and cars for long periods of time with it's thick oil like consistancy. Isn't it spellbinding to behold?
We found this great little Irish coastel village that had a great beach and camping area. When I go back again, Rachel has to come here. This is on the South West part of Ireland. Past Killarney and the Shire and around the corner from Finn Bar's. Know what I'm talking about?

These are the famous lake's of Killarney. I was ready for Robin Hood to come prancing out chasing a deer belonging to the Sheriff with his bow and arrow in hand. It just seemed untouched and ancient.

Here's Garreth and Stephen in Killarney. This town is really famous and a huge tourist location. It's the starting point for the Ring of Kerry drive. Me and rachel went here before and rode horses in the National Park there. It really is one of Irelands coolest places.

Here is me pondering whether or not Real Salt Lake would make it into the playoffs. Actually I was waiting for Stephen to get out of the toilet. This is looking over the Slieve Mish mountains in Killarney.

This photo was on the plane on the way home...we were in the exit row. Confidence was high that we could have helped in an emergency after taking this one. There are 9 more of them, some day I'll add them, right after Garreth is elected to some public office position.

Here is Jackie, Ciara and Saoirse in Ballymun. They play on a Camogie team called Satanta. It's brilliant to watch. They play with a traditional hurl and it's the fastest and most physical sport you've ever seen. Women were breaking fingers and getting smashed the whole night. Quite fun to watch. If you ever get a chance to see some Gaelic sports, you need to.

I had to. I know I shouldn't but I had to. Here is Garreth at Powers Court falls. You know the amazing house that the Count of Monte Cristo buys in the latest movie...well that's Powers Court in Ireland. Garreth was feeling inspired by his surroundings and cultural connections so he decided to take a photo that put him in touch with...something.

Here's me and Nanny Ratchford (Grandmother). Many of you know her as she took money from you years ago in poker. I've always had a great time with her. She spent a lot of time with us when I was in High School and she was never short on good advice. Usually she would slap me around and humiliate me in front of girls. I guarantee that my 80 something old Grandmother would win if she was on "Survivor". The lady would have everyone worshiping her like a Jungle Queen. Tough lady through and through.

Here is my nephew Breen. He's in his Hurling gear. He's 6 years old and is an unbelievable athlete. It's amazing how the kids over there are bred for conflict and sport. I'm not even kidding. I could take him over here and he would be an immediate star on his soccer team. Amazing to watch.

Here's Stephen, Garreth and me posing on top of a hill on the South end of the Ring of Kerry. Frodo Baggins would call this place home. I had seen some of this land before, but not like this. It's what everyone always asks me about when they learn I'm from Ireland. They ask about it being Green and hills and Leprechauns and Green and so on. I usually just play it off, cause Dublin isn't really like that. But I must say Ireland is beautiful. It's an amazing place with history and culture that few places can come close to. I'd go back in a hear beat.

Here's the 3 of us outside Stephens house. I posted this one cause you can see my 1988 George Michael beard going on. I was quite proud.

This is what I'm saying about Ireland. This is the River Lara. The river had these giant stepping stones across it. We just pulled off a road and there it was. It's unbelievable how many cool things like this are just around the corner.

More of the river Lara.

Here is my niece Muireann. She is as Irish as any kid will get. We got on good right away. She slept all the time. She'd sit on my lap and just fall asleep. She had the thickest Dublin accent you've ever heard.

Glee-fully Waiting for the Next Episode

Nothing is better than painfully getting your children to bed and having a favorite show to watch when it is all over. It makes the whole long process so much more bearable. As the summer ends and the fall line up of TV begins it is like having a new release to view every night.

There are many shows that make the list of favorites worth spending an evening viewing. But there is a stand out this year that I think is complete genius. I save all the recordings so I can re watch. There is music that I download and sing at the top of my lungs during the day. It may be a sickness how much I am looking forward to watching it tonight. All I can say is if you haven't been watching start tonight. It has it all singing, dancing, genius writing, romance, and you will laugh your guts out.

GLEE - Imagine a picture here but blogger wont upload it right now.

Check out one of my favorite songs on you tube. "Somebody to Love"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTzB8W8shi8