Almost Famous

Northwest Arkansas is full of amazing charity groups that receive amazing support from local businesses. I'd like to think all the corporations donate money out of the goodness of their hearts, but the real reason is this - Walmart will not mingle with suppliers outside of work and will not except any gifts (or even a cup of coffee at a meeting) ... so the only way to build relationships with Walmart associates is to sponsor and/or participate in charity events that Walmart associates are also supporting.


Enter ... The First Tee Celebrity Golf Tournament. First Tee is a great group that puts on programs for young kids to teach them character building skills through the game of golf. General Mills is a major sponsor for this event, during which we bring in 20 celebrities to play golf on various teams with Walmart associates and any other corporations that want to buy their way into the mix. It's great that we raise so much money for the First Tee Organization, but again, there are ulterior motives going on, so I can't feel 100% warm and fuzzy about it.


Since we were the presenting sponsor, it was our job to coordinate the celebs ... and they needed volunteers to chauffeur them around for the weekend. I graciously signed up, purely out of the goodness of my heart. :)


I was the chauffeur for Brady Quinn, former Notre Dame and Cleveland Browns QB who now plays for the Broncos, and his girlfriend, Alicia Sacramone, gymnast on the women's silver medal team in Beijing. I picked them up at the airport on Friday, took them to and from the golf tournament on Saturday, and back to the airport on Sunday. Tough job, I know, but someone had to do it!


Here I am with my prized possession from the event ... my family will recognize this t-shirt ... it was passed down from my oldest brother, Jeff, to my middle brother, Jason, to me ... it is faded and full of holes and absolutely the coziest piece of clothing ever ... and now it is signed by Brady Quinn! Kyle is just as excited as I am because he absolutely hates this t-shirt ... and with the autograph, I have decided to retire it. (Little does he know, I'm gonna frame it and hang it on the wall so he doesn't get away from it entirely.)



Here I am grabbing pics was some of my favorite celebs ...


Me and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 4 time Olympian (1984-1996) and gold medalist in heptathalon and long jump. That's me on the right. :)

Me and Darron Sharper, former Packer ... this one was at Kyle's request ... but I didn't mind.

Me and Seth Wescott, Olympic gold medalist in snowboard cross in 2006 and 2010. I had him sign a Wheaties box because his picture made it on the box after the Vancouver Olympics. He was a super cool and very layed back guy. He even came out with us for drinks on Friday night. That's just how I roll!

And, last but not least, the star of the show ... and the cute butt in my car ... Brady Quinn! Really polite guy and easy to talk to. He was super cute with his girlfriend (who came up to my shoulder so he could pretty much put her in his pocket) ... always asking if she was okay, if she needed anything. I guess he even surprised her and changed his flight to meet her in Chicago to fly down together. He even texted me after he got on his plane to fly home ... a little thank you note for driving them around all weekend. In other words, ladies, I got his digits.

What can I say, it's a rough life that I lead. I mean, I'm practically famous.

A Blessed 4th of July

Kyle and I traded another road trip in for two tickets to fly to Minneapolis for the 4th of July holiday. We spent a wonderful 4 days in Wisconsin with Kyle's family. It reminded me again of how lucky I am that my husband's family is so wonderful ... and I'm not just searching for brownie points (although, they never hurt!)

Here are the stars of the show - Kyle's little cousins, Hallie and Ciana, at 3 months old. Adorable, huh? (The cute little runt on the left is our new God Daughter!)

And here are the girls getting baptised by Father Ed, Kyle's great-uncle who presided over our wedding almost 2 years ago. Pretty neat!





Here we are with Ciana, proud new Godparents! Breathe, mothers. I know anytime people see Kyle and I with a baby they get to thinking ... ... ... We figure there are more than enough babies to go 'round for now! We want to get this aunt/uncle/godparent thing down first. (but we do look good, huh?)

This picture looks like two sets of twins ... but it's me and Abby (Kyle's cousin) and the twins after their baptism. We let them chill in their diapers for the afternoon after swimming in their ginormous baptism dresses all morning. They earned it!

Here's another pair of look-alikes ... sisters, Grandma Dot on the left and Aunt Berni on the right ... feeding little Ciana. They even have coordinating outfits on, I mean, how cute is that?!?

Kyle's Uncle Bill and his girlfriend Chris, and Kyle's Aunt Mimi and her boyfriend, Jeff, even drove to Eau Claire to see us. We're excited to move back to Minneapolis, but, boy are we popular when we live far away! (Here we are with Mimi and Jeff ... sorry, Bill and Chris ... we'll have to remember to get a picture together next time!)

After enjoying our time with family and celebrating the baptism, we headed up north to Kyle's hometown of Chetek for Liberty Fest. For those of you from small towns, you know the drill ... parades, street dance, beach party ... being more of a city girl, this stuff is always fun for me. We hit up the drive-in for some amazing root beer and cheese curds and stopped at the local bar on the lake for a brewski.


I even purchased some beers for the evening from my very own sister-in-law! Yes, she's kind of a big deal. Not only is she working in a consignment store in Eau Claire, but she's also selling liquor to the locals in Chetek. Thanks, Em! The Leinie's was delicious!

Kyle and I enjoyed 4th of July with Emily and her boyfriend, Cody, out on the chain of lakes around Chetek. We watched some of the ski show (not nearly as good as when Emily was on the team) and listened to the music pumping at the beach party. It was nice to spend a little quality time with Em and Cody and the weather cooperated for most of the afternoon.

The weekend ended with a campfire at the house with the whole family. Here's Kyle hard at work to build the fire for us ... just before he douses it with lighter fluid ... I think he missed Boy Scouts. :)

Happy Belated 4th of July! Thanks to Aunt Jodi and Uncle Patrick for choosing us to be Ciana's Godparents (we're honored,) and thanks to Kyle's family for a wonderful weekend!

The Rechtin Family Reunion 2010

At the end of June, I cashed in some frequent flier miles for a short trip to Ohio (sans Kyle as he didn't have the vacation time to burn ... he used it up on some trip to Europe or something.)

First up, I was able to see my best friend, Rocky's, new baby, Ryan Thomas, born one month earlier. ADORABLE, huh!?!??!

She has packed her Tom Boy roots away to become an adorable new mom. In fact, I was visiting on their 4th wedding anniversary so, naturally, we celebrated with some margaritas! Don't worry, we left the baby with Grandma and Grandpa for safe keeping. Congrats to Rocky and Tom! You are a beautiful couple, and I know you'll be wonderful parents!

And here are the three amigos together again, me and my two best friends from growing up, Lisa and Rocky. The three of us have posed together a million times throughout our lives ... but this is the first time we've done it with one of our "mini-me's" in the shot.

Since I was home for family time, I had to get in some quality time with our dog, Sandy. Kyle and I have been talking about getting a dog for years, we just can't agree on what kind or when. I suggest we just steal this one ... she's pretty perfect!

Then it was off to Cincinnati for the Rechtin family reunion ... my mom's side of the family. More specifically, northern Kentucky ... but we get fewer jokes if we just say Cincy. :) My mom grew up in Fort Thomas, right across the Ohio River. We used to spend every Easter with this side of the family, and I truly have some of the best childhood memories from those trips.



Let me fess up, I love my relatives and all ... but I was really influenced to make the trip because my favorite little man, my nephew Vaughn, was going to be there! I told Kyle about the reunion and it took him about 16 seconds to figure out why I wanted to go so bad. But seriously, how can you say no to either of these cute faces!








Our first night we hit up the Hofbrauhaus! I totally didn't plan it this way, but I just mentioned the Hofbrauhaus in Cincinnati in my previous Germany posting (remember, it's second rate to the original) but I'll tell ya, for the area, it's a pretty fun place to go for some good German food and some better German beers! Here's my Dad anxiously awaiting our dinner.





Once again, me with an obscene amount of German food in front of me ... I'm seeing a pattern. This time, the food was actually all mine, only they gave me the wrong side dishes 3 times so I got to keep all the mistakes! Don't worry, I shared (my food, not my beer.)

Vaughn even got in on the action! It's the German in his blood ...

Here we are on Cousin Tom's new toy ... a refurbished fire truck from Ft. Thomas. He took us all on rides and honked the fancy horn. Reunions tend to be a little light on the entertainment so this really was a highlight. Impressive, huh?!?!

Here's little Vaughn doing his best Beyonce impression ... with the wind flowing through his hair ... (or maybe it was just the fan blowing in his face so he didn't overheat, same difference.)

And here we are hanging out with our little cousin, Hayden.

My mom even surprised us all with matching t-shirts with our names on the back. (I said surprise, I didn't say in a good way ... kidding, Mom ... I am actually wearing mine right now.) It was so special to have us all together. Being a family that is spread across the map, it doesn't happen very often. I only wish the other half of me was there to enjoy it. Next time.