WEee are the Chaaampions...my Friends!

My heart is very full today in an amazing heart bursting way. We have been extremely blessed in our lives and this week has been just the frosting on the cake. Let me explain... (warning- could be a very long and awesome post)

One of biggest reasons I married Michael was that he was a goal setter like me. In my life, I had the opportunities to accomplish a lot of my goals when I was younger and before I met Michael. I knew that I was looking for someone who had a lot of goals who I could support and help accomplish his goals. Michael was the PERFECT match for me.

Michael was in the 7th grade when he watched his first big Super Bowl and saw the 49ers win. He used to put on his jersey and sneak into his parent's room and slip on both his mom and dad's class rings. He would walk around acting like he was a professional athlete wearing his Super Bowl or NBA Champions ring.

On his mission he was challenged by his mission president to write down ALL of his goals, big or small. Now, some people at 20 would eliminate some of those "childhood dreams" and focus on adult goals- but Michael did as he was told- big or small. That list included "little things" like going to a Celtics game, going to a Yankees game, going on a cruise with my wife, going to Europe but on the bigger side there it was... Winning a Championship ring.

I have to admit, when I first saw the list, I thought, "ok, we are totally doing all those "littles" and we'll just cross our fingers on the ring". Well folks, I'm happy to report, in our 3 1/2 years of marriage, we have done those "little" goals and this week crossed off a BIGGIE.

Our week has been wonderful. Sunday Michael went on exchanges with the missionaries, Monday I went with the missionaries to do a new member discussion, Tuesday we had the missionaries for dinner, Wednesday we went with the elders to teach a family of investigators. It was a wonderful 4 days of feeling like we were doing our part to support Elder Hock (Michael's brother) and my parents. We were blessed for our efforts.

On Thursday we headed to the Davenport Hotel downtown for the AFL Commissioner's Dinner. It was GORGEOUS! It is the only 4 star hotel in Spokane. It was built in 1914 and has beautiful ornate architecture. Throughout the halls are pictures of presidents and royalty who have stayed there over the years.
We enjoyed a very yummy dinner amongst owners, coaches, players and staff. Now I should say that I LOVE a good banquet. There is just something about those perfect round butter balls that gets me excited. Something about a free 3 course fancy meal. Something about more than 3 utensils set on beautiful linen. The moment I heard we were going (Wednesday afternoon), I was STOKED and eager to meet the perfectly carved butter balls! THEY DID NOT DISAPPOINT! We enjoyed cocktail hour and a delectable dinner in the gorgeous Marie Antoinnete ballroom (above: top right). It was a delightful evening.
Friday night was the big night. We were so grateful that Wayne could make it to partake in the big day with us. We walked into the arena and it was the LOUDEST it has ever been. The energy was contagious and outrageous. Houston was totally into it. He is very serious about it- but when people stand, he wanted to stand. When referees signaled touchdown- he mimicked it. When another Dishman Dodge FIRST DOWN was called- Houst signaled it as well. And of course, he was all about showing his moves with each song blaring in the arena with just a little dancin' in the shoulders. The fans sitting behind us even brought him a Moose crown (being given out for free in the food stands) so that he could match them. He was a hit!

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My favorite picture, although not the cutest, is the bottom left. It is Houston trying to "Make... some... NOOOOOIIIIISEE" when everyone would scream and he would join in! The bottom right is pretty darn cute as well!
Well the game was AWESOME! The Shock came out strong from the kickoff and after 4 eventful quarters, the scoreboard showed the victor to be Spokane 69-57. (Sidenote: one of the timeout guests was Lynn Swan announcing his new Arena team in Pittsburg so Michael was pretty excited to shake his hand. On the way home that night he said, "hey Wayne, you want to shake the hand of a man who shook the Great Lynn Swann's hand?").

We headed down to the field to enjoy the trophy presentation (which was actually pretty short and we missed most of it) and take some pictures. But Houston was too content with enjoying the confetti to enjoy either (upper left). He was excited to see daddy and tell him that we were #1 (bottom left).
We took our family picture up with the Championship Trophy to basque in the moment.
We headed home to put Houston to bed and left him with a babysitter while the three of us headed to the after parties. We hit two up and lasted til 11:15... WOOO HOOO! Others partiers lasted late into the morning. The second party was held back at the Davenport in another gorgeous ballroom (the bottom left picture of the collage top of post).
It was fun to see how much Michael's interns loved him as we were out with them. It was a wonderful week... Michael was floating for the next 36 hours! The Championship was awesome- but I think finding out that he would soon be checking "a BIGGIE" off the list made it surreal.

I am SO proud of you babe!

Get a Championship Ring... CHECK! Let's move to the next biggie!

(This is the Shock ring from 2006. Michael gets to give his input into this years as his boss designs it.
I'm sure we will post about it when it comes!)