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Tag Archive for celine dion

The Party House – Our Year in Review

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Today is New Year’s Eve, and tomorrow will start the beginning of a New Year, 2013. This is the time of year I love to reflect back on everything that has transpired at the Party House in the course of just one, short year.

We have had numerous birthday parties for the family members who live here locally.

Had a great family event in April at Angels Stadium. Almost everyone in the family was able to make it to an Angels game together. I honestly cannot remember if the Angels won or lost that day, but we had a great time.

Hosted a great dinner party when my sister and her husband were here from Montana in May. Laura showed us how to make her red sauce enchiladas.

A special birthday was celebrated for our baby boy in July. He turned 21.

We actually got to celebrate Travel Man’s birthday on his actual birthday this year. That was a fun, fun time.

October brought us the baby shower celebration for my daughter, Naomi. We had such girly fun that day!!

November brought the arrival of Miss Madison Kay, our second grandchild. What a delight she is. I know I’ve said that before, but I’ll say it again, because I’m her Grandma.

And of course we celebrated Thanksgiving together, and for the first time in a long time my sister, Laura, was able to join us at the dinner table.

Christmas Day was celebrated here with the family. We were delighted to have our nephew, Jim, here for the days festivities. It’s always a little more casual on Christmas Day for us. Dinner was buffet style, with tons and tons of goodies and cookies. A wonderful party ending to 2012.

My parents with almost all of their grandkids!

We are always grateful to be able to host the family events. It’s always a wonder that we can get so many of the kids and their significant others together in the same place at the same time for the same event.

Every year I am equally amazed that even though my husband (aka Travel Man) is on the road for a good amount of time during the year, we are still able to sneak in as many short trips as we do. And before I get to the trips – do you know that my Travel Guy was in the air for well over 160,000 air miles this year? I could not believe that number, I’m still in shock as I am writing this. That’s a lot of travel. I am ever so grateful that he takes such good care of us, and always keep us laughing with his travel stories.

Our trips together this year included-

A trip to the Reagan Library.

A trip to Reno to visit my parents while my Dad was going through some chemo treatments.

A trip to Las Vegas in June (this was the second time), so my daughters and I could attend a Celine Dion concert. Travel man drove us there and home.

A trip to New York in August to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

And a trip to Montana to visit my sister and her husband.

More trips than I could have imagined we would could possibly take this year. Thank you Travel Man. You never cease to amaze me.

And finally, I would like to give a standing ovation to my Dad. My Dad is battling lung cancer (actually he’s kicking it in the butt!). He was told in January of this year, that there were no additional, conventional methods of chemotherapy or radiation available to him that would be helpful in diminishing his tumors. My Dad, he’s a fighter, and he never, ever gives up. He got on the computer, researched some alternative therapies, found a doctor first in Reno, and then in Carlsbad, and never gave up on living. My Mom keeps telling us that since my Dad was an engineer in his working life he just has the mentality that this problem he has needs to be solved, and he’s going to solve it. And by the way my Mom, she’s a rock star. She definitely deserves the “Stand By Your Man Award” for 2012. The love and compassion she shows for my Dad is a priceless gem.

I am completely elated, overjoyed and ecstatic to tell you that because of my Dad’s hard work, perseverance, and his never give up attitude in this year of 2012, his tumors have diminished over 40%!! It is hard to express in words what a wonderful feeling it is that my Dad has seen such a tremendous improvement. It’s happiness, relief, joy, and a great big WHEW! This man, my Dad, has redefined the word perseverance.

It reminds me of my favorite Winston Churchill quote: “Never, never, never, give up.”

From the Party House to yours, wishing each and every one of you a very Happy New Year, and may all good things come to you and yours in 2013.

2 comments Posted in Around the House, Family, Holidays, Travel Man, Travels

Mark That One off of My Bucket List.

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Renee Spindle

The weekend is over, the daughters have gone back to work, and life is somewhat back to “normal”. What a weekend we had! As you may have previously read my kids gave me tickets to see Celine Dion in concert for Christmas last year. Well, Saturday night was finally the night we got to see Celine. And, oh my it was so worth the wait. Celine Dion is one of those singers that can just make anything she sings sound so smooth and wonderful to your ears. And I have to say it’s extremely difficult to put into words how her voice fills a room. The theatre at the Colosseum in Caesar’s Palace holds about 4100 people and the show on Saturday night was a complete sell out.

For me it was a truly magical experience. When you are having an experience like this and realizing that one of your dreams is coming true, it is just mesmerizing. Maybe that’s how I felt during the show, just mesmerized! he show lasted for about 90 minutes, and it was one good song after another. Celine sang everything from “Open Arms” by Journey to “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele, and of course a lot of her hits in between all of that. Her finale song was “My Heart Will Go On” from the Titanic soundtrack. Oh and her wonderful singing is accompanied by a 31 piece orchestra. Just phenomenal musicianship.

We did have a slight “faux pas” before we got to see the show. Hilary won’t want me to talk about this but I have to because it was part of our night. Hilary picked up the tickets at the will call window, tucked them in her little evening purse, and off we went to the gift shop. About half way through our browsing a gentlemen comes up to us and asks if we are going to the show. Of course we say yes, and he tells us that one of the employees found some tickets on the ground. Hilary checks here purse and the tickets are not there! We all have heart attacks, and Hilary finds the employee who found the tickets. He tells here they were taken to lost and found, and we try to calmly wait for the woman who took them there to come back. She gets back in the gift shop, and Hilary talks to her and goes over to will call to get the tickets back. Oh my – we were having conniption fits waiting. After the disappointment of not seeing the show in February, we did not need lost tickets. But Hilary calm, cool, and collective strolled back over to the will call window and got the tickets back with her big sister by her side. Naomi snatched the tickets from Hilary and put them in her purse. Our night went on without any other hitches. Just lots of girl talk, giggling, and fun times together.

Thanks to all my kids for such a wonderful gift. And a special thanks to Travel Man for putting up with our chattering in the car on the way to Vegas, and on the trip home. Hugs all around!

No comments Posted in Family, Travel Man, Travels

It’s Finally Celine Weekend

Posted on June 9, 2012 by Renee Spindle

Well ladies and gentlemen it’s the moment my daughters and I have been excitedly, yet anxiously awaiting. As you are reading this post we are on the road driving to Las Vegas. And I’m also happy to report that Travel Man is our chauffeur this weekend. I’m so glad he was able to make it home to join us.

Now, mind you it is not my normal modus operandi to pre-blog about an event, but this trip is worth giving you a little sneak peek. For Christmas last year my kids gave me tickets to see Celine in Vegas, in February, with my daughters. This is a dream come true for me. One of those items on my bucket list, as I have always followed Celine’s music, and love her singing.

In February the girls and I make a weekend of it. We leave for Vegas on a Friday after the girls are off of work to stay for two nights, as the show was on Saturday night. The girls do some zip-lining down Fremont Street (and no I did not join them, thank you very much), and we had a great time hanging out together Saturday morning.

Our sad Celine faces. Notice the billboard in the background.

As we are eating lunch on this particular Saturday, in February, I decide to check on the internet to see how long the show would be so we could make plans for after the show. And ugh! I found out that Celine has had to cancel her shows due to a virus. Boo-hoo! We were soooo disappointed, but daughter, Hilary, got right on the phone and got the tickets re-scheduled to the June 9th show. We ended up having a nice dinner Saturday night and made our way home on Sunday morning as originally planned.

So, today is June 9th. Celine’s return to the Colosseum at Caesar’s palace in Las Vegas. We are hoping for a fabulous, fantastic show that will knock our socks off! And if each of you could send us a little good juju (and if you’re a baseball fan you know what I’m talking about) we know that the show will go off without a hitch. We’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed, and will report on our triumph after the weekend, with pictures of course.