Daytona 500

It helps to have connections. Such was the case this year for the Daytona 500. Ken hooked us up with a fun day of NASCAR action. It started with a Brad Paisley concert.

Brad Paisley put on a good show, but I was *REALLY* excited about getting to see Matina McBride sing the national anthem. I love her for her voice and her songs, but mainly because her music takes me back to the years when Steve and I were dating. After Paisley left the stage, the staff was working to clear the area of fans and sending everyone back to their seats. We played dumb, moved slowly and managed to slip through their sweep of the area so we could stay by the stage with other people who were actually supposed to be there.

Here I am in front of the stage while Martina is waiting for her cue. We were sooo close!!

Martina was amazing! Her voice is unreal (and she didn't even mess up the words!) The national anthem ended with a Thunderbird flyover.. CHILLS!

The race was pretty exciting. Steve and I aren't race fans but it's fun to watch the action, especially from the pits! In fact we never even made it to our seats the whole day. Our passes gave us pit access which is where we were for most of the race. It's really amazing how close you can get the cars. This picture below is Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s pit.

We saw a lot of celebrities that day. But my personal favorites were the Thunderbird pilots. Funny how they all look like "Top Gun" Tom Cruise clones.

The event ended with another unexpected perk, passes into Victory Lane. I couldn't tell you who won, but I can tell you that it was a super fun day.



Valentine's Day 2011

Our Valentine's gift to the Grandmas this year were these decorated aprons.

The girls made silly band valentines for their friends and cousins and tissue paper rose bud valentines for more family members.

On Valentine morning, we had heart-shaped pancakes with sprinkles.

Then in the afternoon we sent the girls on a Valentine treasure hunt. They had been waiting very patiently all day long to get their valentines.

Reading their clue...

Where to next?

I think they found something!

Valentine Treasure

Sweet Sisters

Family Photo Shoot - Sneak peek!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in our backyard for a family photo shoot. Tracy Hougham, who I found through Matt and Jill, came to our house to capture our family on film. It's been a very long time since we've had "real" family pictures taken, so I was very excited to have some memories professionally recorded. Tracy came to our house for the shoot which meant we got to include the other honorary members of our family (horses, lizard, river). Tracy posted a sneak peek of our photos on her blog here. I am so excited about they way these turned out and I can't wait to see more!

Tracy also photographed Grandpa Schmitz's 100th birthday party and you can see those pictures here.

Lori's 34th Birthday

My 34th birthday started with a showering of gifts from my favorite people in the world. Brooke got me a Miami Hurricanes t-shirt, Ali got me some citrus body butter (which she has pretty much reclaimed as her own), and Steve surprised me with tickets to the Magic game happening on the same night. The game was a lot of fun. It was our first time in the new Amway Center and the Magic took home a win. Two highlights: Steve got a happy birthday message up on the big screen thanks to the wonderful world of texting. And I ran into Valerie Rogers, a friend from high school that I have not seen in 15 years!

Our Brookie Bird

Not only does she fly.. she also makes nests.