Olympic Fever & More

Well let me tell you, it's a sad day tomorrow when the closing ceremonies of the XXX Olympics come to an end. It has been so much fun watching them. I kept all my July 4th holiday decorations up to keep the spirit of Team USA alive for us :) I even bought a team USA Olympic banner. I found some pictures on the internet of some of the more famous highlights (they're the ones that I paid most attention to as they were on prime time NBC when I got home from work :) ).

Tower Bridge in London. The giant rings hung there throughout the games.

For the Opening Ceremonies, the Queen was picked up by "James Bond" and brought to the Olympics.

Here's how she entered :) This was awesome and hilarious to watch. She's such a sport to do this (well, she didn't actually jump out, but just the fact that she filmed part of it and made it look like she did shows her sense of humor).

And she's as beautiful & elegant as ever :)

The forging of the rings

They're assembled.

The lighting of the Torch

 

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

 I loved watching for the Royal Family. They were out and about amongst all the games and showed their support and their positions as Ambassadors. It was fun to see them.

I formed a crush on Ryan Lochte & Michael Phelps (um, who wouldn't??) Ryan won 5 medals this year: two gold, two silver and one bronze. Michael won 6 medals, four gold and two sliver.

Good Sportsmanship

I followed women's gymnastics for most of the games. It's my favorite summer sport. The Fab Five were the team at the London 2012 Games: Jordyn Weiber, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Kyla Ross. They were the first USA Women's Gymnastics team to win the team final since 1996 (the one where Kerri Strug hurt her leg). Gabby Douglas also won the gold in the All Around final.

The reaction of USA of hearing they won gold in the Team finals

Princess Kate came down to congratulate Team USA on winning the team final. So nice!

Another big deal for USA - Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings won the gold again in Beach Vollyball.

These ladies won the gold and made a new record for the women's track 4x100meters event. They. Were. Incredible. These ladies don't even hit the ground when they run. They fly. Hardly an exaggeration there. Hardly. It was amazing to watch. GO TEAM USA!!

The medal designs for the games. Silver and bronze show the front, gold shows the back.

 Its fun fun fun to watch the Olympics. I know there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes but its great to have an event that brings the world together and you can see the interactions and sportsmanship of everyone. I loved watching other countryman congratulate each other and show their support. My friend said that the camera captured the USA member saying "Holy cow that was amazing!" and giving a hug to another athlete. Its great to see and hear that. Well done London 2012. Well done. :)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, here's what James and I have been up to lately.

James went on a YM/BSA backpacking trip to Romero Pools (Oro Valley). He got this really cool back pack for it. He looks amazing no? :) The trip was only an overnight one so he wasn't gone too long. James said it was fun even though they had rain and the boys acted like boys. :)

A beautiful view of Oro Valley.

While James was out on this camp out, I was home. Sitting in front of the T.V. Well, I'd had enough of just sitting and being by myself so I put out a Facebook status asking if I could be of service to anyone the following day so that I didn't have to hang out by myself. I got a nice response :) I was invited to go on a walk, help clean a house, and paint a bathroom. Well, as luck would have it, I got sick that night. Not sure with what but I ran a fever and lost my appetite. I did go on the walk the next morning and felt fine while walking, but once I got home, I sat down and didn't get back up again. My head and my stomach were done. So I ended up doing the very thing that I didn't want to do! I was really bummed. I had to withdraw my offer to help until further notice. I had wonderful visiting teachers though. They brought me over popsicles, offered to fix me brownies and also some ginger-ale and crackers. So sweet. Also, upon returning home James found that the tree had been knocked over again by a storm and so he had to stand that up. We had our friend and neighbor Nick Bogle and his 3 strapping young sons come over and help him put it back up. How interesting the turn of events that when I wanted to something for someone else, I in turn get served. Funny how that worked out. I am grateful for all the people that helped our family. We have some great people around us.

James and I did eventually get to follow through on my offer to help paint a bathroom though. On July 28th, our friend Sara Castillo's birthday, we went over and painted her master bathroom. She had something else to do that day so we were happy to do while she was gone. It was her birthday that day so I also made her some incredibly delicious cupcakes for her. They were cookie dough cupcakes. And they were awesome!

While she was out, her hubby Todd was secretly planning her surprise birthday party for that night. So James and I were left alone to paint the bathroom :) It was fun. James loves to paint so he was in heaven. We'd brought over his iPod and were rockin' out to Juanes. We did the main part of the bathroom together, me acquiring paint in my hair and on my clothings :) After that was finished I left James to do the smaller throne room on his own.

 

 

Then, later that night, the party! It was a fun to be sneaky and surprise her. She was upstairs when I arrived and there were a few other sisters down stairs decorating. She didn't even know we were down there! She told us later that she just thought Todd was decorating the cake. It was awesome when she came down the stairs, with closed eyes per hubby, and to see the surprise on her face when she sees 12-15 ladies standing in her front room yelling "Surprise!!" She had a great time. Her party was a fondue and a "mocktail" party. So we were served virgin martinis, pinacoladas, and strawberry dacaries (spelling??). It was a lot of fun!

More of a strawberry smoothie but hey it was still really tasty!

It's awesome to see ladies that are expecting holding drinks :)

And that brings me to today!

I was again at the Castillo home, but not as myself. I was asked to be a princess at their daughter's princess tea party birthday party today. It was cute. I don't know how good I was but I enjoyed it. Little 3-4 year old girls are adorable. They tried playing Duck Duck Goose and it was hilarious. One little girl would run every time and try to be chased! Sara was really creative and made scones and little tea party sandwiches (kid friendly pbj sandwiches cut into little triangles) and their "tea" was apple juice. The little girls got to play "Pin the Fire on the Dragon" and they got to decorate sugar cookies! It was sugar loaded fun! The girls really enjoyed themselves.

Me & the birthday girl.

 On a side/random note:

I got business cards!! Need to contact me? Here, here's my card...heehee! I feel so official!

I caught this awesome lightning strike while driving (yes I know, slap my wrists) but the storm was so beautiful and right in front of me I had to do it :)