Breast Friends (girl's nite part 2)

THE RACE:

We awoke around 6:15 am. Some of the girls showered for the race, hmmm. Angie wore her "old" capris and forgot a shirt. We got ready and headed to the car. We left Ashley behind in the bathroom. 10 minutes later I returned to the hotel room to check on her. She wasn't there. In the back of my mind I rememebered the creepy guy that entered the building a minute ago and tried to recall any details about him. I came back to the car and she wasn't there either. I called her phone and no one answered. I freaked out a little in my head. Then she called. She was in the lobby.

We arrived to the bustle of Breast Friends, Ta Tas, 2nd basers, boobs etc. I love the ambiance of the race. Its quite spirited. I tried to retrieve my Chevron pink car, but another survivor ahead of me took the last one :( (with a little shove and a "I was here first" growl - she did not enjoy cancer I guess, she seemed really grumpy). My stomach was doing crazy things and I didn't feel so good. The mexican food was coming back to haunt me.

We met up with Andy and Tyson, Kevin and the boys, Ali, Sandra, Amanda, Brittany, Devon, and Corey. Later I ran into the Szymanski sisters (I sprinted up and kicked her in the bum) and my former students, Shelby and Aubrey (their mom has breast cancer too, I see them every year now - Shelby was my emo student I always worried about)!!

We headed to the starting line and I needed a bathroom RIGHT AWAY! It was an emergency, but with 18,000 people the restrooms were crowded with more than 50 people each! We walked to the starting line, where there were promises of more bathrooms, and there was another huge line of people waiting for port-a-potties. Just to inform you of my fear of port-a-potties, I've used probably only 3 in my life. I stood in line, ready to die. Beads of sweat were forming, I felt faint and really delusional. The feelings would come and go. I didn't think I'd make it and I prayed for help.

I was devising a plan of how to cut in line, so I didn't have an accident, when I saw Angela waving frantically for me to follow her. I did. She had found a random potty with only 4 people in line. When she had asked what they were in line for, they eyed her curiously and pointed to the potty, like it was too obvious for her to miss. It wasn't special or anything so she tried to flag me down from the line, gave up, and just ran and to get me. I was 8th in line now and knew I wouldn't make it. When there was only one person a head of me, I almost tackled her and pleaded for me to go ahead of her. She looked shocked, but allowed me to go! WHEW! I barely made it... and I felt better. I thanked my Heavenly Father for answering my prayers... and Angie for listening.

Andy, Tyson, and Ashley took off with the gunshot. I met up with the girl's and Kevin. We walked for a bit then Kevin took the lead with his 2 kid stroller and we trailed single-file behind him. He clipped a few walkers and cut off some wheelchairs, but he was persistant and we kept a steady pace. I believe we all ran more than the 3 miles because we cut across three lanes of traffic back and forth the entire time. I thought it went easily and quickly. I guess the company, music, and atmosphere made running feel easy.

I lined up with the other survivors and we stood around for 45 minutes. Old ladies cracking jokes about surviving cancer and dying in line waiting for the SURVIVOR'S parade. I have graduated to the next group - 6-10 year survivors! HOORAY! We got a pink carnation and a white one. One for us and one for those who support us! We walked through the thousands people and the cheered us on. My Breast Friends cheered super loud and waved!

We crammed hundreds of us onto the steps and got a group SURVIVOR picture taken (like we do every year). It is a very emotional time for most of these ladies. I just think its fun! They play the theme song and I dance along waving my flowers while others cry around me. One 84 year old lady told me to keep dancing because she was following my lead! Adorable!

I had another emergency potty stop (at a real bathroom) before I met up with my group again. Then we headed back to the hotel. Ashley went home with Andy - not feeling well.

SHOWER AND LUNCH:

We arrived at the lobby at noon (check out time) and asked for an extension to shower and get ready. They gave us until 2pm. She asked for our room number and seemed shocked. "We've been trying to get a hold of you since 7 this morning. You said your toilet was clogged, but had a do not disturb sign on your door" ha ha ha. So we checked, and sure enough our toilet was clogged - Ashley Janell and I were all suffering from the same thing... though we have no idea what that is. Mary took Heidi home and she went home to shower and get ready. We showed and got ready at the hotel and checked out by 1:30 pm. We met Mary at her house and went to a Bake for Hope sale (for breast cancer). We bought some goodies and met up again at Zupas.

I order my new staple (thanks to Mark) Nuts about Berries and turkey cranberry (no sprouts) pannini. DELICIOUS. Angie spilled her some of her soup, but ate like it never happened. We continued talking about stuff until our eyes started drooping... so tired. Another successfully fun GIRLS WEEKEND!

Girl's Nite (weekend)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!!

Girl's Weekend:

PEDICURES: We met at the hotel, in the lobby, at 3:00pm. We all arrived within a few moments of one another, except Ashley because there was no direct communication about the outline, just assuming she knew. We were checked into room 245 at the Hyatt in Sandy. We dropped off our stuff in the suite and headed to 106 South for our pedicures at the spa school.

Some of our girls were better than others, mine was lost. She spoke very little English, though she was fervent in asking me questions. I avoided eye contact and made sure to keep up conversation with my sisters in the room, in hopes that she would leave me alone. Ali told me that the rule is to ask 2 questions and if that doesn't strike up a conversation, stop asking. She did, eventually.

My feet soaked in the foot tub, luke warm at best, while everyone got situated. Aubrey finally realized that her lady had set up camp at the other end of the room, setting up her station, completely unconcerned that she didn't have a client. Aubrey gathered her stuff and moved for her.

My pedicurist was rough with the tools and light with the files. I held back the cries of pain and tried to relax in the vibrating chair.

The conversation moved quickly from Levi stories, to primary, to last year's funnies and to the planning of next year's girl's weekend... "Mom will be here next year!"... "That's what we said LAST year!" :)

Next came the WAX. The girls kept talking about how EXTRA hot the wax was but then proceeded to put everyone's feet in it. Heidi foot burned on the first dip and she was VERY reluctant to put it back in, but eventually did. I saw that the wax was being done over my shoes, so I leaned down and moved them back away from the wax. The ladies didn't seem to notice...or care. It was my turn and I dipped my feet into the HOT wax. It WAS HOT!! I just sucked it up and did the 3 dips. After my first foot she was supposed to put my foot into a plastic bag, but instead she set it on the towel (where the wax came off immediately) and then dipped my second foot. She put the plastic on my second foot and then tried to put one on my first foot...

She noticed the wax had come off and made me dip one more time in the wax. She then lost control and spilled the wax onto my chair and the floor. I looked down and saw some wax on my new shoes, sad. I pushed them behind my chair (who knew there would be crock pots of wax uncontrollably hovering BETWEEN our chairs?! Only later to find that the wax spilled on everything I owned!

I found it IN my shoes as well as all over the outside, on my CANNON camera, and on my VENEZUELAN purse. I've been peeling wax off of my things to this very moment. Luckily I am a very calm person and I don't put too much emphasis on material items.

We left with soft feet and bright toes. Delightful. We picked up Ashley and some swimsuits then were on our way.

DINNER AND SHOPPING -PARK CITY

We headed to Park City in Mary's van and talked the entire ride. We don't seem to ever run out of things to talk about. I do love girl's weekends every year! We ended up at Loco Lizard for dinner. It sounded delicious and wasn't too far out of the way. We sat next to the family that walked behind our moving vehicle and glared at us the rest of the way into the restaurant. We ate the delicious homemade chips and two kinds of salsa before ordering waters and lemon... well except for Heidi, who made it very animatedly clear that she was not be assumed to order a water but would be drinking an actual drink! :)

Onto the OUTLETS. We made a plan of stores to hit and then scrapped it and started at the bottom and worked our way up. Shopping after dinner is a good deterrent for purchasing clothing. Who enjoys shopping when FAT on mexican food?! NOT I! I didn't try on anything until the NIKE store. Then I purchased an outfit at Zumiez. I ran into my Vice Principal and his family. I thought he went to give me a hug, but I shook his hand instead... kind of awkward.

We ended our outlet shopping at DownEast Outfitters. It was closed and we had Angie, Heidi, Aubrey, and Ashley running in and out of the dressing rooms with so many wonderful finds! Aubrey felt she was wearing clothes that the others were buying so when she saw Heidi come out of the dressing room with the shirt on that she had in her hand, she nonchalantly hung it up on the return rack. We talked Angie into purchasing an outfit that she couldn't believe in, but we did. We talked Heidi into a $10 skirt, though she looked great in everything.

Angie got a free accessory with her outfit purchase. We picked out a bracelet for her and Heidi laughed out loud. She took it anyway. We all laughed. Apparently it was DownEast's opening night! We were happy to have helped them open up! We were a bit delerious by this point and everything was silly and we were giggly. Heidi was hilariously spacey and it continued to get worse :)

GROCERY STORE:

We ended up back in Sandy at Target. We piled out of the van and walked toward the now closed store... it closes at 10 pm. We then drove to Smiths on 13th. There was a moment where we thought it looked closed, but we planned on breaking our way in regardless. Heidi noticed the Arbys and requested we stop for a shake on our way out, we were all interested!

We meandered around Smiths looking for odds and ends, without any idea of what we were there to purchase. We each came out with some breakfast items and Angie, a case of water. Ashley was in and out and lost for a bit, cute boy alert or creepy... I can't remember. We stopped at Arby's for shakes... "shake machine is broken" WHAT?! "Peel out Mary!! Just peel away!" yelled Heidi. We laughed and Mary drove away. We headed down to McDonalds for shakes. Aubrey and I ordered Parfaits and the others got shakes. It all worked out. YUM!

We made the full circle back to our hotel and parked. Ashley looked around, "we're not in Park City?!" HA HA HA!!

We set up our beds and got things ready for the run in the morning. We moved the bench away from the wall and built a cozy watching the movie area. Most girl's nights involve a chic flick, we chose Sherlock Holmes... and then fell alseep about 15 minutes into it. Angie and I looked around at all the sleepy heads, stopped the movie, and called it a night.

I forgot my quote book, so here are some quotes I wrote in my phone:

"I guess you'll just have to have one tomorrow" - angie "I'm done with tomorrow, we should get something we want today" - Heidi

"Angie will want to shop at Bass" - Heidi

"I don't even know what Imodium does" - Angie

"That's unfortunate" - Heidi

"Hey look Chico's is opening soon! Angie knows all about Chicos... remember her story..." - Heidi "they're CHINOS" - angie

"I don't even have cheek bones" - steph "nope just dimples" - angie "it can go in your dimples" - heidi

"I FORGOT MY CABOODLE!!" - angie (followed by hours of laughter) "what's a caboodle?" - ashley "a tackle box of makeup" - aubrey

"It was a special group of crazy people" - ashley "did you tell them you were boy crazy?!" - steph (angie's uncontrollable laughter... to tears)

"this isn't Park City!?" - ashley

BY FARS: the sliding doors in the hotel.

the crooked door in the bathroom.

walking around in the fake flip flops from the pedicures... Heidi poking my toe to make sure I could put on my regular shoes without smudging my nail polish.

the frantic trying on clothes at DownEast.

The driving miles around Sandy looking for an open grocery store.

carting around water bottles and finding the exact ones at the race.

green bananas... in angie's pocket... in Heidi's pocket... in angie's car...

sunshine and laughter.

the "hot" waiter at Loco Lizard. - ashley

ashley not sure what she ordered, but smiled and nodded anyway.

Don't get all "cheer mom" on me...

"Cheer mom sexted pictures of her daughter's rival cheerleader..." "Mom stole daughter's identity and became a high school cheerleader..." "Cheer mom sues team..." WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

This is a typical East Side story, not Magna's. I've heard the horror stories of THE Cheer Mom, but I've never truly experienced it... until NOW.

One day a crazy lady attacks the principal with allegations of Ms. Doyle's lack of morals and vulgar dance moves. Of course, if you'd ever met Ms. Doyle you'd know that is completely untrue, and the principal said so. This lady visited the principal's office on several occassions with random complaints about Ms. Doyle's dance program and her daughter's talents (which were lacking, believe me). Several teachers avoid her, at all cost, because she is loud, rude and overbearing. Who wants to deal with that if you don't have to?! (yeah, me neither).

She had always been very polite to Ms. Doyle and continues to be polite, to this day. Had she not heard the horror stories from the principal, she'd have NO IDEA there was an issue. (Ms. Doyle only found out because the principal had to clear up the allegations... which she did, easily).

Cheer daughter, we'll call her, did not make grades to tryout for cheerleading. whew. She set out to fix the grade issues... along with her mother. They bullied teachers into allowing cheer daughter to turn in late work - post 3rd term grades. Her GPA raised from a 2.3 to a 3.2. Ugh. It did make some sense because she had a broken arm, but she used that as a reason to get out of work until she realized how badly it affected her grades, then she tried to play victim.

The principal spent MANY hours discussing cheer daughter issues, with the principal keeping her ground. Finally, it came down to the "Eligability Committee" meeting deciding that she would be allowed to tryout for Dance Company (2.5 GPA required), but not cheerleading. Ms. Doyle had to inform cheer daughter of the verdict. She was not happy.

Cheer mom called Ms. Doyle. She was polite and the conversation was calm and Ms. Doyle blamed everything on the "Eligability Committee"'s decision. Poor principal got to spend a few more hours in annoying meetings with crazy cheer mom and dad. LONG STORY short... Ms. Doyle had to assure the principal that she had very thick skin and couldn't care less about what parents say about her... especially crazy ones. Allow the girl to tryout and avoid all of this chaos. Cheer mom manipulated and threatened the school with lawsuits and hassles until the principal had to cave to her demands... though she let her boil until half way through tryouts before allowing it.

cheer daughter made it. Too bad she was really good! :)

I better not have to deal with this... oh wait, I haven't dealt with it yet. THANKS AWESOME SUPPORTIVE PRINCIPAL!

My filming debut

I have always dreamed of making a movie. I have no skills or training that would make me good at it, but I have wanted to none the less. I wrote a short story and began the filming of that story yesterday.

I had a vision of what I wanted and made a script and storyboard to help me fulfill my vision. I also gathered a crew of geniuses. Sandra for my costumes and set design , Ali for hair and make up , and my actors: Amy is Barbie ("Milli") Julio is GI Joe (Joe) and Ken (Carson) is played by Blake . Who wins Barbie's heart in the end? You'll have to see the movie to find out!

I had made all the arrangements and decorations weeks in advance. Saturday morning's shoot was to begin at 10 am. I had all characters ready and had some extras to be at the party. 10am comes and I receive texts and calls from flakey friends who "had something come up" and I was left with 2 extras. Lame. Luckily, well an answer to prayer, my family showed up unexpectedly. Ashley pulled up with 4 kids in her car and later Matt also came with 2 kids. My original plan has now turned into something a little different.

We dressed them in the costumes we had for my other extras: Pippi Longstockings , Bob the Builder , Barbie's mom , Barbie's sister, Skipper ,Darth Vader and a storm trooper , Harry Potter , some Bratz dolls , Matt will be found in most shots as Waldo , Andy showed up later and we put him in the Alvin costume , and a homemade Cabbage Patch Doll made a quick appearance .

It was a fun couple of hours and I got about 8 minutes of footage in that time. Now I'm onto the editing process, which is more difficult than I had planned. My newer Mac has the new firewire connection and I couldn't locate the right wire yesterday. Now it is time to organize a photo shoot of Barbie and her two beaus, some wedding shots, some catching butterflies shots, picnics etc.

My goal is to have a film in the Gangrene Film Festival next September! I'll keep you posted.

The Over exaggerated Locker Room Incident by steph doyle

It was 2nd period at Matheson Jr. High School in Magna Utah. Ms. Doyle was preparing for her class while the dancers were getting dressed in the locker room. As she does every day, Ms. Doyle takes a stroll through the locker room... checking for graffiti and sluffing students, and to tell her girls to hurry to class. As she approaches the door a small 7th grade student runs out with a friend, "there's fighting in there" then continues to run away. Ms. Doyle storms in yelling "HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

Scattering feet is all you can hear, no voices and no other noises. It's eerily silent. She sees her three students, roughed up, blochy red skin and eyes, and a mix of terror and anger in their expressions. One girl is on her phone with her mom, blood on her hand from a scratch and hair a mess.

"What happened?"

"They jumped Citali, Ms. Doyle! We weren't just going to sit there... we had to help... three on one... we had to protect her...self defense..." She rambled on and on. Ms. Doyle nodded, of course you had to help. She would too if it had been her friends, though she does not condone fighting.

"Who was it?"

"We don't know them... I swear!"

Ms. Doyle makes sure everyone is okay and walks into the hallway, the other girls fled minutes ago and could be anywhere. It doesn't help that they don't know who they are, but someone does and she would find them. Just then, two little 7th graders walk by nervously. Ms. Doyle looks at them and the little blonde one bursts out with, "Our teacher said we had to change that's why we were in the locker room we had to change our teacher said we had to so we did..." "Okay," Doyle says flatly, "did you see anything? What happened?"

"we don't know, but a girl in our class recorded it on her phone."

"who?"

"Kimberly... or Michelle... one of the twins" and the girls continue to discuss which twin is in their class as Ms. Doyle heads to the gym, ignoring them.

Ms. Doyle walks in the other gym and sees Michelle hunched over with a friend. Ms. Doyle assumes she must be showing off her little video. She quietly sneaks up behind them and says, "I'll take that please" Michelle, not knowing that Ms. Doyle knows what is on the phone, swears under her breath and hands over the phone (thinking she'll get it back at the end of the day).

Kelley and Doyle watch the video. It looked like it came straight out of a movie. One girl walking around the corner, three little girls jump on her, throwing fists like gangsters do in the movies. Then her friends each take one. Hair flying, blocks, punches, and bodies being thrown into the walls. It was a little frightning to see, though there was no blood - whew.

Ms. Doyle walks a shakey, teary eyed Michelle to the office with the phone and has Coach Kelley take the 3 girls from my class up to see Officer Lee. They head down to the gym and pick up the other girls... tiny 7th graders.

(None of them are here today, so I don't know how it was handled. I had a "quiz" in my classes - What should you do when you see something in the locker room? - I chewed them out about not coming to get me and that if it happened again, I would charge each of them with accessory to the assault. I can be mean, and I was mean.

There you go. Sorry, no Ms. Doyle on YouTube).

Thanksgiving Stuff(ing)

THANKSGIVING 2009

The kiddos and I made name tags for dinner the night before Thanksgiving (at the guitar store). No one questions the name places and sits where their names are, on the plate. We decided NOT to write their names, but adjectives that begin with the first letter of their names.

A scrapbooking AngelMarathon Runner

Dude who likes to textLoyal to Softball

Legendary FootballerLocal BreakdancerAwesome Dad - ChefAmazingly talented - sister, friend, guitarist, singer...Outstanding Video Gamer Loving and Looney Bin friendlyJammin fun UncleAwesome Aunt - cooks, plays... Outspoken PreschoolerLearner - potty training, words, playing, readingSweet AuntKreative and KindJustly good tastes - for food too.Really ShyAdorably hard headedMuscular and punches usHeavenly shopper - Hot sizzlin'

We missed the Matt/Mary clan and Grandma/Grandpa, though we made them cards too!

We all pitched in for the dinner. I made yams for the first time. I was so nervous that I ended up making 5 different kinds: regular, 2 brown sugar and butter, yam crisp, and marshmallow topped. The yam crisp was deliciously sweet, like dessert for dinner - every kids' dream! We had delectable turkey, honied carrots, green beans, creamed potatoes, 2 kinds of cranberry sauce, home made rolls, mmmm I could go on and on. YUM!

We played video games, guestures, celebrities, and guitars:

I am grateful for a wonderful family! I know, you're all jealous!