CONCACAF Finals!  

Posted by Amber

Real Salt Lake did an awesome job in CONCACAF and made it to the Champion's League finals along with Monterrey.  Matt had asked me, if RSL made it to the finals, if I was okay with him buying tickets.  I, of course, said yes :)  Well, season ticket holders got a super long time to buy tickets, and they could buy their seats times like 4 or something.  Tickets were supposed to be opened to the public April 15 at 5pm.  In Vegas, we got online, but tickets weren't available for purchase.  On our way home Monday, April 18th, I got an email from RSL saying those who had purchased tickets to at least one game during the season so far were eligible to purchase CONCACAF tickets before they went public, but you had to call them.  So I called, and got an answering machine.  Fail, RSL.  So Tuesday, I called again, got a real person, and bought tickets!

The day of the game, Wednesday, April 27, I was working 10am to 6pm so we could get there by 7pm for the game that was starting at 8pm.  Well, it was a super slow day at work, so I got off at about 5:15pm and met Matt at the park and ride.  We stopped at Arby's for some dinner and headed north :)  This time, we parked at the free lot at the Sandy City Center and took a shuttle up to Rio Tinto Stadium.  When we got there, there was much music (or at least banging on drums) and confetti everywhere.  Shortly after, the gates opened, and we headed into the stadium and walked around half of it to get to our seats :)  I had brought a book, but I didn't really read much, even though we had 1 1/2 hours before the game started.

 Long before the game started...
We were told to wear read in support of RSL - Matt doesn't own red, so he wore yellow (the color of their away unis)
View from our seats

We were just to the west of the support section, and it was fun to watch all of the crazy people :) It was also enjoyable to watch the different fans coming out to support their teams, watch the media wander around, and watch the teams warm up. This is why I didn't get much reading done :)


 Warming up
 Bouncing confetti on the giant flag
More warming up

My favorite part of the warm up was watching the referees warm up - it was like they were dancing ;)


Right before kick off - the energy was AWESOME.  Everyone was so excited to cheer on our boys in the finals! It was great fun as the whole stadium sang. (I took video, but it's super shaky, so I'm not posting it because I don't want to make anyone sick :) )
 Nasty mess of streamers :)
 Shaking hands before the game
 An action shot
Corner kick from our corner :)

Alas, Monterrey scored a goal during stoppage time of the first half.  Try as we might, we were unable to score a goal.  Monterrey won the game 1-0, and subsequently won the trophy.  It was a sad night, and emotions were super high (especially from the drunk guy in front of us), but it was such an awesome accomplishment for our boys to make it to the finals and come so close.  We didn't stay for the awarding of the trophy.  Instead, we made the long walk back to our car.  It was an exhausting night, but it was worth it.

 Our goalie after the game
 More dejection of our team over the loss
Setting up to award Monterrey the trophy

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Good Friday and Easter Sunday  

Posted by Amber

I don't actually celebrate Good Friday, and honestly, I don't know what the point of the holiday is. What I do know is that a lot of projects didn't dial that day due to the holiday - so it was a slow day at work. This was perfect because we had our first annual QA Editor Birthday Party!
The cute invite I made :)

It was super fun just to get together with our team and do something fun! We met at Magleby's Fresh in Lindon for lunch. Jan got some cute Easter eggs for little party favors, and we learned fun facts about things that happened on everyone's birthdays in history.


 Easter basket with the Easter eggs
 Sorry the pic is blurry - Tiana and Shannon
 Shannon, Joan, Jessica, and Britnee
 Nick
 Britnee and Marie
 Jan and I - Jan is being a pain....
It was okay though because I'm quick on the rebound and got her laughing ;) HA!

We were missing Melissa and Rachel - but like I said, this should be an annual thing :) Also, as it says in the invite, for those who wanted, we took a little tour of our new Lindon call center.  It's schwanky - much better than where they were in Orem (back when I dialed. . .and where I first started editing :) ).  Aimee, the PC (phone center) manager was kind enough to let us have a promotional stuffed ball - we all picked soccer balls over the footballs ;)  Good times.

Saturday, I ended up having to work :p So I didn't get to go to the Wilson Easter picnic.  My sister-in-law Camile was having a BBQ at her house for her birthday, so I arrived late to that.  It worked out quite well though, and it was fun to hang out with family, even if it was super cold!

Saturday evening, I drug Matt around our building to deliver Easter baskets I made for our neighbors :)  They've been done for ages, but I hadn't gotten around to taking them because I wanted Matt to go too :)  Cinco is a huge fan of Easter grass, though, so we ended up putting them in our closet and shutting the door.  Silly gato.  I made 10 baskets for $50 thanks to Dollar Tree.  I also took the Church's Easter message and put it on a picture of Christ to include in the baskets. (If you haven't watched the video - I highly recommend you do! It's so poignant in the film :) )




We ended up delivering five of them that night.  It worked out well that I had 10 because a new family moved into our building, where I thought someone already lived, so we got to meet them - well, their kids and the grandma who was tending them. :)  They should be at church this week - yay for another kid in nursery and in Sunbeams!

Easter Sunday we attended church and had dinner at Matt's parents' house.  Then we went around to finish delivering baskets :)  We got four more done and ended up just leaving our next door neighbor's on their door.  I hope they got it :)  We also found out our downstairs neighbors were moving.  We collected our old boxes that I still had in a closet and took them down for them to use - yay for helping AND getting rid of boxes!  Melissa was so sweet - she gave us some Easter candy and gave me some flowers she had.  Pretty, yes?

Twigs and blossoms from her mom's tree, and wild daffodils from up the canyon :)

I hope all of you had a joyous Easter :)

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Vegas Baby! Part 3 - Sunday & Monday  

Posted by Amber

Sunday, Natalie, Tashina, Shawn, Darren, Matt, and I headed back to the strip to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.  It was awesome :)  Big aquariums are so cool.  Our poor little Living Planet Aquarium here in Utah is okay, but not nearly as awesome :)

 Komodo Dragon
 This Emerald Tree Monitor was one of my favorites :)
 Shark!
 They swim so fast!
 Feeding time!
Lionfish

They had a touch pool with stingrays and horseshoe crabs.  I didn't dip my hand, but I did take pictures of everyone else :)


 Matt checking out a horseshoe crab
 Tashina, Natalie, and Matt
 Jellies!
 Matt & I in front of the jellyfish
Relaxing on the comfy bench while waiting for everyone else :)

Other fun parts of the Shark Reef Aquarium were the shark tunnel - where you can see underneath the sharks and other fish as they swim above you - and the sunken ship - which incidentally also has a small tunnel on your way to the gift shop, along with some viewing windows in the floors.
 Fishies relaxing on the 'sunken ship'
Self-Potrait with a Shark. 
Sorry it's so grainy - I had to lighten it a lot cuz I didn't use a flash, but I'm still pretty proud of my timing to get me and the shark in the frame so well :D

On our way back to the cars - which were on the complete opposite side of the building it seemed, I got a picture of Matt and I in front of this cool little fountain with little stone . . . chameleons? something like that anyway.
 Oh yes, the bag is because we bought stuff at the aquarium gift shop. :)  I got a pair of earrings and a bracelet, and Matt got a shark tooth necklace :)
This little dude was our favorite - Matt wants to find a stone mason to make a miniture version to put on our patio :)

My earrings and bracelet

After the aquarium, we headed back to the games to watch the drum major competition.  After which, Matt and I went to get some lunch at the vendors and then came back to watch the band competition. 
 Jason Paguio (my fav :) ) - SFU and David McCormick - LA Scots

I got bored part way through and went back to the booths to shop :)  I bought two pairs of earrings from A Girlz Glitter and two stone rings from Another Realm.  I was quite pleased. 

 My hematite ring
 Earrings and my other ring

I then sat and listened to one of the various entertainment bands play a song or two before heading back to watch the Grade 1 bands (LA Scots and SFU).  Everyone else had left already - except Natalie and Tashina and us - because everyone else was going home Sunday.  The four of us didnt' leave until Monday.  We still got to see everyone though because they were just getting ready to leave when we got back to the house.
 Matt listening to the bands
 SFU waiting to go on for their MSR
 LA Scots exiting
 A very loud peacock - who would shut up every time I tried to video him
 Awesome car
Another shot of the awesome car :)

That night, we stayed in and ordered pizza.  Natalie, Tashina, and Matt watched TV, and I opted to read in our room.  I thought the house would feel super empty with just 4 of us left, but it was rather pleasant still. 

Monday morning we woke up and made sure everything was taken care of - like all the sheets put in the laundry room, the dishes all washed and put away - you know, everything to get our cleaning deposit back :)  Once the key was in the lock box, we were on our way back home - to the un-warm weather :p  It was great to have a vacay - even if I had to unpack everthing and do laundry when we got home :)  And Matt still had to go to class lol.


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Vegas Baby! Part 2 - Saturday  

Posted by Amber

Saturday, we had to be up early to go to the games.  Tashina was supposed to solo at 9am, Natalie at 9:08am, and Matt at 11:32am (or was it :34?).  However, the games was super disorganized and didn't have everything ready to go. Zach got Tashina all ready to go, and Andrew stopped by to listen to Matt and chat for awhile.  DeAnn was kind enough to let us drop our stuff off at their tent too. 

 Oh yeah, Floyd Lamb State Park has peacocks (and peahens)
The white one was hanging out where we were warming up at first.
Andrew coaching Matt

With all of the disorganization, Natalie ended up playing first, even after switching to a later time (because Tashina was piping for her).  After her solo, Tashina booked it back to her judge for her solo.
Natalie's solo

Tashina's solo

After their solos, we hauled our stuff over to UPB's tent and hung out for awhile.  Eventually, Matt and Zach started warming up - and a little while later, Andrew came over to listen and critique some before Matt's solo.  He even demonstrated his peacock mimicking skills - which were pretty good.  Alas, no video or pics - but it was pretty funny :)  And uncanny how well he can imitate them ;)



After what seemed like forever, it was finally Matt's turn to solo :)



After Matt was finished, we headed back to the house - it was awesome to sit in our climate-controlled house for a few hours before heading back to the games. :)  Most everyone went to In 'N' Out for lunch, but Natalie, Tashina, Matt, and I went to KFC.  After which, and after Matt had changed, we heading back to the games for awhile.  Matt and I walked through the booths, and then we watched the bands play.  We didn't stay for closing massed bands, so I have no idea who won what - but I'm okay with that :)  It was nice to get out without a ton of traffic :)

That night, Susan was kind enough to make us all dinner - mmm lasagna :D! Susan is amazing.  It was so good!  It was nice to sit around with everyone eating good food :)  After dinner, the rest of everyone who didn't go to Fremont Street Friday night decided they wanted to go down and partake of the festivities.  I didn't really feel the need, and neither did Shawn or Darren.  So we stayed in with Diana and the kids while everyone else headed out.  We chatted and watched some TV.  Shawn brought out his laptop to play a little DAO :)  We had good times chatting about that - and I'm such a nerd that I even enjoyed watching him play :)  Eventually everyone came home and it was time for bed.

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Vegas Baby! Part 1 - Friday  

Posted by Amber

Yay for vacations!  I love them :)  So, Friday, April 15th, we left about 10:15am with two cars - us and Zach, Stubbs, and Michael.  We called Shawn and Darren and met up with them on the freeway in the middle of nowhere.  We had to make a stop in Cedar to drop off a drum and some other stuff to someone who is going back to Nauvoo this summer, and then we headed down to St. George for some lunch and food.  We lunched with Shawn and Darren at a little strip mall.  They went to Panda, and Matt and I went to Durango's Mexican Grill.  It was alright, and we were able to lunch outside in the sunshine :)  After lunch and filling up, we were back on the road to Vegas :)

We met up with Stubbs and Natalie and Tashina at the house we rented in North Las Vegas.  Such a good idea! It was fun to have everyone in one place.  It made for relaxing evenings in for those who didn't want to venture out to do something as well.  That's probably because of having actual couches... and not a hotel bed to sit on :)  Oh, and it was so much cheaper than renting hotel rooms!

 The room Matt and I shared - notice the curtain? Yeah, we didn't have an actual door.... but we did have a full length mirror :)
 Zach, Stubbs, Shawn, and Darren chillin' in the kitchen.
Matt relaxing on the futon that doubled as Stubbs' bed :)

That night, Matt, Shawn, Darren, and I ventured down to the strip to do a little shopping.  We failed to actually shop, though.  We were looking for an H and M that apparently wasn't there, so we stopped at Fremont Street and wandered around for awhile.  That's where the scottish festival had entertainment as well, so we got to listen to some celtic rock.  After a longer than necessary stay, we headed down to the 'new' strip and decided we really should eat some dinner. We parked at Paris Las Vegas and decided to find something there to munch on.  We ended up in this very nice, dimly lit, Italian restaurant - Le Provençal.  Mid-range on the pricing, but SO GOOD!

It took awhile, so we got lots of good conversation in.  Our server, Florence, sort of bugged me at first (much too chipper), but as the night went on, we were all friends :)  I had cheese ravioli, and Matt had a steak - which he was very impressed with.  Even their french fries were yummy!  Darren got the special, chicken parmesan, and Shawn had, I believe, the grilled salmon - which he thought was exquisite.  We also ordered desserts -- OMG the dessert!  Shawn and Darren shared crème brûlée and Matt and I had a mouse, nougatine, and praline pie thing - soooooo good! I was in heaven!  By that time, we didn't do any shopping and opted to just go home.  I feel I should mention that while leaving the Paris, we passed a parked Lamborghini Gallardo.  Dirty though. They apparently drove it there, so the front was all covered in bugs... but still....a gallardo ;)

Upon getting home (late) we quietly got ready for bed, but not before I hung out with Susan and Heidi for some girl talk! Our sweet Susan had just been in Missouri visiting her boyfriend - and GOT ENGAGED!!! So of course, I needed all the details :)  Then I had to finally go to bed because we had to be up early Saturday.

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