Lizzards, Stingrays, and Sharks...oh my!

A friend of mine at work had extra tickets for the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. We had never been. It was very neat. I don't know if I would have paid the $100 it would have cost for my family to go, but being as that it was for free... IT ROCKED!

Lights, Camera, Action

This year Darcy and Dixie were in Drama club. They had quite a bit of rehearsals. I volunteered and taught all of Drama club some Disney songs from Kids Are Music.
Dixie played one of the Step-sisters & Darcy was Gretel. They were fractured fairy tales.

Career Day

Last week was the girls Career Day. I was invited to speak about my new career. It was so fun. I talked about the job and then the kids practiced making boarding announcement in a microphone. The students were asked to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grow up, the girls dressed up like me!

Non Rev Trip #3

Two days after we got back from Non-Rev trip #2, Wayne and Dillon (who didn't go on #2) went on trip #3 to Colorado to go fishing with Papa D. The 3 boys traveled up to the mountains to fish and fish they did. Jack caught the largest fish of his life. I hurried and sent photos via Walmart photo on line, to his nearest walmart because he wanted to see them so bad. I am not so great at even printing out my own photos, but I knew he wanted these photos. Apparently, that wasn't enough. He now needs his own CD with all the photos from their fishing expedition. I guess he wants to be able to make a mural size photo and walmart doesn't offer that size.

Funny Dillon moment #1: On the way to the airplane in LAS you need to take a tram out to C gates where Southwest is. When Dillon got on the plane, he said to Wayne, "Dad that girl on the train loves me. She smiled at me. Can I go talk to her?"

Funny Dillon Moment #2: On the way home, the airplane parked and people were standing up to get off and a gal in front of Wayne and Dillon stood up. Wayne said this lady looked like a human Barbie doll. Dillon says NOT quietly, "Oh, I love her Dad." Wayne shushes Dillon. Dillon's response, more loud and with urgency, "No, Dad, I LOVE her!" Wayne was trying to cover himself with the seat cushion/life saving device.

Non Rev Trip #2 and 2b

Girls in CA.
Darcy, Dixie, and Denim and I got to go and visit California. It was fun. I love this fly for free stuff! We left Thursday night and Char picked us up. We stayed at the Johnson Family Abode. On Friday we went to a movie marathon of: Narnia 2, Nims Island, and Indiana Jones. I liked Narnia 2 better than the first one. Nims Island was cute and Indiana Jones was AWESOME! I loved it! Being a big fan of the original Indiana Jones...I thought this one as a great addition to the Indiana Jones family. After the movies we had a great time swimming, eating, and talking at the Collins Party Palace. On Saturday morning, Charise and I went to Irvine Stakes' relief society stake enrichment. It was so great. Saturday night we went to the yacht club with the Wards and had a nice evening on the shore. Also Saturday morning, Darcy & Dixie went with my Mom and Dad to SLC. It was uncle Mikes wedding picnic. Darcy and Dixie also got to stay until Sunday night with their cousins, the Patterson's. They are big time Ricky and Bubba fans. Then they came back home Sunday night.

Dance Little Dolly

Dixie and Denim have been in dance this year. This past week was thier dance concert. They were so cute!

Happy Birthday Dixie

Dixie turned 9 a couple of weeks ago. She had a fun birthday. We went to Red Robin and then she got to go to the strip to see a magic show with Wayne. A couple of days later she got to go BACK to Red Robin with 3 friends. As you can tell Red Robin is her favorite place to eat. She got 2 new webkinz from her friends so now she has a whole litter.

Cinco mas Cinco de Mayo

On May 10th we had a fiesta for Las Vegas, Alaska Airlines employees. Noone wanted to plan the party so guess who did? Thats right! ME! I have planned TONS of parties in my day, however this brought a bit of a new challenge, the party was from 11 am to 8 pm. This was to allow all who worked to still come either before or after thier shift. We had very funner games! Here is a list of games that I complied. Thanks to all who gave me ideas.
- pinata
- water balloon toss
- water balloon volleyball
- 3 legged race
- volley ball
- Jell-O eating
- chubby bunny
- Jumping Beans
- Pepper Eating Contest
- mingle
- balloon pop
- musical chairs
- hat game
- present game
- name that candy
- hole in the bucket
- over under sponge
- pictonary/telephone
- break the ice
- Olympic rings

You Want This Where?!?

Last week I became "Jet Bridge" Trained. That means I drive a large metal HALL WAY less than one inch of a Kabillion Dollar plane! It was so scary and exciting at the same time. This also means I board planes now, which is very fun. My announcements are a bit crazy sometimes but always fun.

Graze to Raise in Anchorage

May 2nd was Anchorage's Visitor Charity walk. It was titled "Graze to Raise". It was a 5K walk thru town and as you walked, they local restaurants and hotels have out food stands. Then we all met at the end and there was dessert and games for the kids. My parents came with us. It was great! I love this "non-rev" flying. The next day we walked around a river behind the hotel and then I took the kids to Imaginearium, a kids museum. The first room we came to in the musuem was a touch tank. Dixie, Dillon and Denim were way into it, Darcy not so much. At the end she did end up touching one. This was our 1st offical "non-rev" trip and it was very fun. On the way home each person had thier own seat! We were in Alaska for a total of 23 hours. Whoo Hoo!

I graduated!

I graduated! I am an official Alaska Airlines CSA (customer service agent). Graduation was very funners. I won the Spirit Award! I ended up with 100% on 3 of the tests from class. I got 1 question wrong on our pre-class study of all city codes (Prudhoe Bay is SCC NOT SSC - Stupid City Code!)

Spirit Party

My first company party was way fun! Here is a photo of me and CEO Bill Ayer at the party. The party was to celebrate our west coast stops. There were drawings to win things at Seattle, San Fran and So Cal. I won 4 tickets to Disneyland! Crazy! As soon as our house sells we will use them! Whoo Hoo! I also entered a poster in the Spirit Contest. I didn't win, but the person who won was in Cordova, AK. She had a group of people dress up in old times and took an old time photo honoring one of our founding fathers "Mudhole" Smith.

My Baby is 4!

Denim had her 4th birthday. I was on my last week of OJT so I was working 40 hours that week. Wayne was really cute and the night before her birthday he got an idea to decorate the kitchen and kitchen nook. He put up streamers and balloons all over. When she woke up and went downstairs she was so happy. He really made it a fun day for her. We missed the McBrides not living close.

“Hoppy” Easter!

This year, for Easter we went to the Seven Hills party (that is where our construction property is located). The party was on the golf course. It was beautiful. They had an adult egg hunt and they had prizes including at $50 gift card. I figured...I can do it! On your mark, get set, go! I ran, of course not to the closest eggs but a bit farther where there was a small group of 3 eggs. I bent down to pick up the first one, then the second and as I was bent over this lady pushes me over! She pushed me so hard that my lower back where she hit me HURT. I got up an as she was looking in her egg I turned around and shoved her and said, “What is your problem?” Well I guess she wasn’t expecting me to fight back but I did! She backed off. Wayne was proud that I defended myself.

Denim got Enchanted in her Easter Basket this year. We watched it before church. Denim said, “Mom, Edward has big elbows,” speaking of his puffy sleeves.
When I got her dressed in her cute pink Easter dress with puffed sleeves, she didn’t want to wear them because, “The elbows were too big like Edward!”

Funny Dillon Story

As I am working on my blog if I think of funny stories from my past I want to share them so I always have them. At my first parent/teacher conference with Dillon’s teacher this year, she said, “I wanted to meet Dillon’s parents. I didn’t know if you were rock stars or what. Every time Dillon goes down the slide he puts both hands up with #1’s and yells, “Whoo HOO!”” That’s my boy.

OJT

I just finished my fist week of OJT (that's On The Job Training). It was WAY fun! I really enjoyed it. I would get so excited after lunch time was over and I would go out to the counter and there was a line of people to help. This next week I head back up to Seattle for my last week of "book" training. I have one more test, a cumlitive final... 100 questions... scary. I really like all the fun stuff Alaska has going on. This week there is an "Alaska Spirit Party" how dang fun does that sound?!?! It is in Seattle and I just happen to be in Seattle so I am there baby! The Las Vegas crew are going to have a picnic in April. I also have a secret buddy that I get to get to know! I am totally psyched! I will write more after next weeks graduation party!

1st Week of Training in SEA!

I had a great time! It is so fun to be studying things that I like. My roommate is Colette from here in LAS. She is great! We study A LOT! I took 2 tests last week and got 99.2% on the first quiz and 100% on the second! We have to get 90% or better to continue with training.

We went to downtown one night (other nights were spent studying). It was fun. It was Myself, Colette, and Erin (a ramp agent in training from ANC). We found a great yummy little place to eat and met very friendly people. SEA (Seattle) is so beautiful. I have always wanted to live there and it is even more beautiful than I thought it was going to be. There is so much green and water!

My trainer is Tiftin. She is so GREAT and I am not just saying that. She is also LDS and we are going to go to the SEA temple this week. She is very energetic and she is easy to learn from.

I got to meet Bill Ayer. I regret that I didn't snap a photo of us together but I was more star struck. Bill Ayer is the CEO of Alaska Airlines. He is very nice and down to earth. Although he didn't say it, it is rumored that we might soon go into SLC. Time will tell.

"I WAS ROBBED!"

“I was robbed!” I have used that phrase many times, mostly when I play games and I don’t roll the numbers or pick the cards that I want. This past week this sentence has become all too real. After a great time at a Mini-Family Reunion with the Dittbrenner’s, we spent the night at my sister Tiffany’s house before driving back to Las Vegas. We parked the car in the parking garage for her apartment complex. We came out Monday morning and the back window had been smashed. We had indeed been robbed in Provo. The thief took my purse and our 2 kids DVD players.

Here is what I have learned from my experience. Hopefully you can learn from me and glean from my new albeit forced knowledge:

- NEVER leave a purse in sight in your car
- That goes for DVD players too
- Don’t assume that a parking garage is safer than the street...it’s not
- Gift cards are the same as cash (I know you know this, but if you are like me you may have TONS in your wallet right now)
- Farmers Auto insurance doesn’t cover cash and gift cards or portable DVD players
- Farmers Homeowner insurance may...that is still TBD
- Receipts for returning items are not covered as they are not a physical loss (It must be mental because it is killing me!)
- Don’t ever carry your Social Security Card in your wallet (Now you may be saying...Amy you are so dumb...of course you don’t do that! I know, however when you are going to start a new job as I am doing on Monday, then you need to take it with you!)
- (Along with previous) Don’t go get a Social Security card during their office lunch hours
- Buy expensive purses on clearance for 90% off because replacement value is great
- Don’t make your car look enticing to rob...I am thinking about caring some fake poop or vomit to lay out on the seats of my car.
- Rental Cars don’t have car alarms
- Credit cards ROCK! You can cancel them quickly and they will refund any unauthorized purchases.
- Always rent a car with your American Express and don’t go with the optional insurance provide by the rental agency. Amex will cover your deductible.
- Don’t assume that all people are good and decent and nothing evil happens...even in Provo!

I flew on Alaska Air for my first time! Last Tuesday I few to Seattle to have a drug test and fingerprinting. I know this is one test I am going to pass! It was fun to see Seattle but a bit on the borring side as my plane was delayed over 1 hour on the way there and over 2 hours on the way back. I hope to start my new job on February 25th (If not the 25th then for sure on March 3rd).

Come Fly With Me....

I got my job! Woo Hoo! I am so excited. The interview process started at 9:45 and I didn't get home until 6:30 but it was all worth it. I am so excited! I am the newest Alaska Airlines customer service representative for Alaska Air. Eventually I will be working Part Time (20 hours) and I get full flight and medical benefits (including orthodontist... Darcy gets head gear later this year). I will either start Feb 4th or March 3rd (I want to start the 4th but I am wait listed for training). I am so excited!

Church News

Currently my calling is 2nd counselor in the Young Women. I love my girls so much. Their life is not easy. They have a lot trials. Each week I only have about 2 hours with them to help them know that their Heavenly Father loves them and so do I, the Church is true and if you Choose the Right and follow Gods plan...you will find eternal happiness.

Wayne is the 1st counselor in the Bishopric. He loves his calling. He enjoys meeting with members of the ward and issuing callings. He is great when he conducts. There is always a laugh or too. He loves it when people hand their tithing to him. He feels like people like him when they choose him to give their tithing to to him. So make sure when you hand in your tithing, spread it around with all the members of the bishopric.

Darcy is in CTR 11 - This year her teacher is Larinda Schott and Darcy loves her. I can't believe in a year and a half Darcy will be in Young Women! CRAZY!

Dixie is in CTR 9 - Her teacher this year speaks Japanese. The first Sunday of the year Dixie gave a talk in primary and she had just came from class with her new teacher. Dixie gets up and says, "Good Afternoon or as they say in Japanese, ASDLKFJALKCVUOW." I guess her teacher told them Good Afternoon in Japanese and Dixie tried to incorporate it to her lesson. She thought she was very clever.

Dillon is in CTR 6 - He is a bit of a card. A few months ago, someone from primary came into the clerks office to find Wayne. Apparently they couldn't find Dillon. He had asked to get a drink of water and they just assumed that he would get a drink in the fountain and come back. Apparently Dillon had other plans. He went out in to the car and found my water bottle and was hanging out in the car kickin' back for a bit. Needless to say...Dillon is now accompanied anywhere he goes.

Denim is in Sunbeams - She LOVES primary. She loves the singing, class time, the whole shebang.

MAN DOWN!!!

Each year we like to do a lot of Christmas Decorations...i also do some fall decorations. This year as I was putting up the Fall decorations, I told Wayne,"I hate doing these high decorations...they scare me...this year for Christmas, you are doing them." The first week of December we had a Relief Society dinner at our house.I told wayne he needed to change the cookie jar collection from fall to christmas. Remember...I told you you to do it this year."Oh, No amy. It is your dangerous...exciting thing in your life" Ha Ha Wayne...I don't need anymore excitement in my life...please take care of it. A few minutes later I am in the office and I hear a thump and then, "MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!" Ha Ha Wayne...you are really funny! As I walked slowly into the front room I thought...who are you a Caption in Battle calling in on your short wave radio for reinforcements?...I found my Husband grabbing is foot and crying out in pain. I still thought he was making fun of me having no "Danger" in my life. It took me a good 5 minutes to realize that he was serious. Needless to say Wayne broke 4 bones in his foot. The good news is that I finally found time to write my blog...I am typing on a lap top in my husbands hospital room. He had surgery on December 26th. He is now somewhat of a "hero" of sorts to some as many husbands have told us that their wife told them to put up the christmas decorations and they said...Can't do it...I might end up like wayne.
One thing I learned from this experience is ..."Man Down!" Is not a laughing matter.This Christmas plans changed when we learned of Wayne's surgery date. So at the last minute we decided to spend Christmas in California. Again, good but short time. Wayne and i left Christmas evening to drive home to Las Vegas for early morning surgery the next day. Christmas was great because again, the full Gates Clan was together. I don't know when that will happen again, but it was fun to enjoy if only for a moment.

Wayne and I Cruise the Caribbean

After months and months of planning, the big day finally came. A few years ago, My parents took us on a cruise. We got to go with the full Gates Clan.(Full at the time...kids and all...this was before Hock and Ryan were in-laws). I knew then that I was a cruiser at heart!As was Wayne, the day we came home is the day we planned for our next one. Since then, I check every so often to see if a great deal on a cruise comes up.Back in May that day came up. I sent out a mass e-mail to all I thought would enjoy to come along. We ended up with a group of 20!To say that we had a great time is an understatement. It can only be described as Legendary!If you are reading this blog and say...hey I want to go on the next one...just let me know and I will add you to the list. I my onion, cruising with a group of fun people makes the cruise from lovely to LEGENDARY! I would love to cruise once a year...however, we need to sell our house first.

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving was a great time. The entire Dittbrenner Gang came to Las Vegas. It was great to have everyone together. The only bad part was the good times were too short. The day after thanksgiving shopping was fun as usual.

I get my Young Woman Medallion...again.

This past year I have been serving as YW leader in my ward. I have really liked getting to know all the girls. I have a soft spot in my heart for them. At the beginning of the year I thought it would be fun to earn my YW medallion again,so I set to work. I really liked being reminded about the values I grew up with. Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works and Integrity. It was great to be studding and setting goals in my life and activity trying to become a better daughter of god. One of my goals was to be a choreographer for "Dancing thru the Decades". It was musical review for the young men and young women in the stake. The purpose of the program was to get the young men and young women to get to know more kids in the stake. I thought it was a fabulous idea. I was in charge of choreographing the opening and finale. I even got to perform in the "Today" routine "Get your head in the game".

DC to Disney

This year we got the opportunity to go to Washington DC and Disneyworld with Kids Are Music. The kids got to perform with the group. I really enjoyed watching them perform. Dillon was Hilarious! He was great at hamming it up for the crowd. Denim was a great natural performer. It is 6 months later and she still sings some of the songs. She also fell in love with Bobby Collins. Still talks about him. Darcy was are friend maker. She got to know a lot of the girls on the trip that she still talks about. Dixie was the party animal. She reminded me of me. She wanted to see everything! All the museums and all the rides possible.

Home for Sale

2 years ago Wayne and I bought a piece of land on a Golf Course in Seven Hills, NV. After much blood, sweat (mostly Wyane's) and tears (mostly mine) about 6 months ago we finished the house and it is up for sale...know any takers?

For those of you that care...

For those of you that care what Amy is up to and are sick of waiting around for her to blog, I will update you. She has a fun interview next Thursday for a job with Alaska Airlines. She is way excited about it. The only problem is that they don't fly into Virginia or North Carolina. GRRR!! But we think that one of the companies partners may. But we are not sure how that works exactly. She is also excited b/c it may also give my mom and dad flying privileges. Good Luck Amy!

For My Sister

I have been bugging my sister to start this blog for some time. So I decided to start it for her. Hopefully she will see the vision and use it! Journal away baby! -Mitzi