Service Guild Gala - 2017

For the third year in a row, Steve and I attended the Service Guild Gala at The Club.  It was a beautiful night, and we love getting all dressed up!  As always it was a fun night with friends, and the Service Guild raised a ton of money for the Bell Center!

Go Fish!

Preston, along with all of the other second graders, have been practicing for their spring musical "Go Fish" for months.  The cute little show was about a tiger shark and his various sea pals discover how their differences make them each special.  We were all excited to see it, and of course everyone came to watch him.

3rd Annual Ski Trip

This winter, Bennett, Pres, Steve and I packed up and flew west for our third annual ski trip.  It was a Christmas present to them from us, and even though they asked Santa for it, they didn't seem that excited to receive it from us.  I don't know where we went wrong, as it has always been one of our favorite family trips of the year.  However as the weeks and days approached, their excitement grew and they forgot how rude they were to us at Christmas.

About a month before we left, I signed up to receive text updates on snowfall, and we realized that we were going to a mountain with more snowfall than we had ever seen!  In fact, every day it snowed overnight, and several of the days it snowed throughout the day.  By the time we arrived, there was an incredible base!  It continued to snow during our stay there, which made for a much different experience.  Thankfully we arrived on time, and were able to get groceries, fitted for our skis and take the kids ice skating.  What a great way to kick off our trip.

Day 2, we awoke early so we could eat a good breakfast.  The kids dressed themselves and were chomping at the bit to hit the slopes and get checked into ski school.  We were out there at 9am, and we took off on our own adventure.  It was a great day, but a COLD day!  We have chosen to go later in the season so we don't freeze, but all of us had problems with our fingers and/or toes getting cold.  Let's just say hand warmers were our friends!

Day 3 was much like the previous day, but we were better prepared with warmers.  The biggest difference was the amount of fresh powder we had overnight, making it virtually impossible for them to groom.  Every run that we skied had powder up to our knees, making it very difficult for us to make it down as quickly as usual.  It tuckered Steve and I out, but the kids loved it!  Their instructors taught them how to ski through it, and Preston did mogul runs all day (which he loved).  By the end of the day, we were anxious to hop in that hot tub and relax.  After talking to the kids, Bennett decided to do an additional day of ski school (instead of the 2 days we purchased before we arrived).

Day 4 we got Bennett checked into school, and took Preston out alone to see how much he had truly learned.  I thoroughly enjoy skiing with him because he pushes me!  He never asks where we are going, and never complains.  He prefers the more challenging slopes, and LOVES doing jumps on all of the terrain parks.  Thanks to all of the videos Christian had sent from his ski trip a few weeks earlier, Preston was anxious to show him up (the competition between those two is ridiculous).  We had fun exploring!

Day 5 (our final day on the slopes) was great!  The four of us skied together, and had a great lunch at the top of the mountain over in the Canyons at one of our favorite places, Cloud 9.  We continue to be amazed at how much the children have learned, and their improved confidence.  Bennett is still our conservative skier, but she has never been a risk-taker.  However, she is skiing faster, and consistently a blue run skier.  We divided and met at the bottom a couple of times, but we tried to stay together for the majority of the time, and we logged some serious vertical feet.

Pres jumping at terrain park

Nothing impresses me more than this beautiful scenery...God is great!

Overall, another wonderful trip....and probably our last ski trip without wild Walker!  Can't wait to see that little guy up on skis, and trying to keep up with his siblings.  Thank you Park City for the memories!

Our Crazy New 3 Year Old

Church with my buddy!

Walker is now potty trained, sleeping in a big boy bed, and asking to do everything that his siblings do.  He is a funny little boy who is growing up quickly.

He is undeniably a Banta....stubborn, bossy, blue-eyed with a BIG temper!  Every bad trait is balanced with a good one though....the boy makes us laugh daily with his dancing, loves hard, is a wonderful eater and just a beautiful child.  Just a few pictures of our baby over the past couple months.

Sleeping in his big boy bed

Riding scooters with Preston, looking for fish

Blow drying his hair

Splashing in puddles!

Eric Church Concert

This weekend, Steve and I snuck away for another wonderful concert.  Eric Church returned to the BJCC and performed a double set (no opening bands, just him).  He played continuously for 3.5 hours, and was totally into it the whole time!  We met up with the Passarellas for drinks and dinner beforehand, and arrived on time for concert. 

Steve and I had terrible seats in the upper bowl, one in front of the other.  Neither of us were excited about walking up to the nosebleed section, so we decided to risk it, and sit in a couple of seats in the lower bowl near the Mike and Courtney.  We got kicked out, so we moved a little further down, only to get kicked out again.  We ended up sitting right behind the equipment table, but high enough to see over it perfectly and have a great view of Eric Church.  There were several rows that were empty, so Mike and Courtney moved over to sit with us, as did Cathy and Brian Browning and their friends.

It was a terrific night of singing and dancing, and it was that much better that we got to do it all in awesome seats with fun people around us.

What a show!

Mercedes Marathon

me, Cindy, Candace, Kadie and Lindsey

Back in August, I joined the Service Guild....a volunteer organization that raises money and services The Bell Center.  As a member, you volunteer in a classroom with the same child every week for a semester.  My time didn't begin until January,  and I work with a little girl with Downs Syndrome.  It isn't my favorite thing to do each week (it is tough), but what a gift for these families with these children.  The kids either attend Tues/Thur or Wed/Fri for two hours.  Each child has a volunteer (me), a PT, OT, Speech Pathologist and Special Ed teacher on their team.  The employees put together a specific treatment plan for each child, and we all work together to help the child achieve their goals. 

before I took off

They have one major fundraiser a year, the Service Guild Gala, in March of every year, and several smaller ones.  One of the other ones is running for a child during the Mercedes Marathon.  They ask every runner to raise $100/mile, so if you run a full marathon then you strive to raise $2610.  I formed a team of five women, and we all tried to raise money.  We had a blast getting to know each other better, and fun training for our individual segments.  The race was Sunday, Feb 12th in the morning.  Cindy Bembry started us off with the first 6 miles, then me with 3 miles, then Kadie Fry with the next 6 miles, who passed it off to Lindsey Chitwood who ran another 3 miles, and then Candace Crouch pulled up the rear with the final 8 miles.  It was warm day (which I was fine with), but all of the serious runners were hoping for cooler weather.  I was able to run a little with Kadie, and then we both ran the final mile with Candace.  It was a long morning, but a very fun one.

Steve and kids came to support me

After my segment, but before Sara ran hers (the final 8 for her team)

Kadie and me halfway through!

We made it!!

not too shabby for some older ladies! :)

In fact, we had so much fun doing the race, we decided to enter another one.  Since we weren't all able to run together, we registered for the Birmingham Wine 10K, where they toast us with champagne at the end!  Now that is my kind of race!