This...is AMERICAN IDOL!

Where do I begin? Well, I guess it all began about three months ago when I got on the American Idol website to sign up for tickets to the show. As the season was winding down and we were making plans to move out the OK, I just thought it wasn't in the cards that I get to go to a taping. But then last weekend I got an e-mail saying that I could have up to 4 vouchers for a show. Ryan got one too (since I used his e-mail to sign up as well) so we got 4 for Tuesday night and 4 for Wednesday. Unfortunately Ryan was unable to get any time off work to come with me so I had to find people to go with me. On Tuesday, I went with my mom, Auntie Melanie and cousin Aubrey. (Thanks Lindsay for watching Ella!)


We had shown up to get in line (they give out more vouchers than they have seats for) at what we thought was an early enough time but we ended up getting seated at like 4:30--they start taping at 5:00 (to be live on the east coast.) I don't have any pictures because we weren't supposed to bring in any phones or cameras. We actually had pretty good seats; in the first section about half way back on the right hand side.

Now onto Wednesday. I guess I should explain a bit. Like I said before, they give out more vouchers than they have seats and since on Tuesday we were cutting it a little too close, I decided to get there about an hour and a half earlier on Wednesday. This time I was with my brother, Owen and his wife, Jules and their sis-in-law, Amy. So we're all in this line and the way they give out tickets is totally random. You could be the first one in line with the worst seat in the house. Or you could be like us and be about the 500th in line with the best seats in the house! Somehow we were given seats in the 2nd row! The only people that were in front of us were David Cook's family. That's right. Our new American Idol's family were the only ones with better seats than the four of us! Words can't even begin to describe the fun we had that night! First of all, it was just a cool concert to be at. To have 2nd row seats to Carrie Underwood, Seal, ZZ Top, George Micheal and all of the rest of the performers...not to mention the Top 12 American Idol kids...it was amazing! Then everywhere we looked...there were celebrities. Ruben Studdard sat to our left. Lori Laughlin (Aunt Becky from Full House) and her beautiful daughters were to our right. Teri Hatcher, Melinda Doolittle, Janice Dickensen, Jerry Springer, Blake Lewis. I actually went up to Blake Lewis during one of the commercial breaks and told him I had to tell me sister that I shook his hand (actually it's my bro-in-law, Mike, who has a little man crush on him but I thought that would creep him out.)
So since I had been there the night before and saw how breifly they checked your purse, I thought I'd try to sneak in my camera this time. I was really scared every time I took it out that I would get caught and kicked out but I managed to sneak a few pictures.

Here's Paula with the guy whose job it is to "pump up the audience"


The Top 12 (with the crazy stage manager in the red bandana)


This was right after David Cook won

American Idol (cont.)

This is David Cook's stepmom. She's seriously so cool (even though she knew a lot of the surprise performances that night but didn't tell me!) When we sat down we noticed that the guy talking to them kinda looked like David Cook. Turns out it was his brother...who was also signing autographs for some girls in the back :)


After the show, I saw David Archuleta's mom and I just had to go up and tell her how much I loved her son.


Here's Owen and I with Teri Hatcher. She was pretty friendly (and skinnier than you can imagine!) She laughed when I told her how I had to sneak my camera in. I don't know what it was about that day, but could I have taken an uglier picture!


When we got home, we watched to see if we made it on TV. You can barely see the top of my head a couple times but Owen and Jules got a great shot right after David Cook sang with ZZ Top. This is a picture we took of the TV in their shining momment.

Let's try again

Here's that picture that didn't work for some reason in the last post.


And a picture of the house we'll be moving into.

FOUR YEARS?!?!

Well, well, well. Looks like another year has come and gone once again. Today Ryan and I celebrate our forth wedding anniversary. Now I know 4 years isn't much when you compare it with eternity but I feel as if it is one of the best (if not THE best) accomplishments I've done in my life. So in the spirit of this great day, I'm gonna list my 4 favorite things about my husband:

1.) TRUST. From the day I met Ryan until the present, he has never ever given me any reason not to give him 100% of my trust in him. I love this quality about him. I love that I can trust that every decision he makes is going to be the best for our family.

2.) FAMILY. Ryan comes from a great family. As his brother put it back when we were dating, his family is the "trump card" that will ultimately make me see how wonderful Ryan is. His parents, Dave and Lynda, did an amazing job in raising 5 great kids but I have to admit...Ryan is my favorite! The Harbertson family includes some of my very favorite people in the world and I feel so lucky to be a part the family. On the same note, I love how much Ryan loves my family and they love him right back. Living closer to my family this past year has given us a lot of time to be with them and Ryan is so good to keep up with all of the craziness that my family has to offer.

3.) LAUGHTER. I think one of the things I loved the most about Ryan back when we were dating was the way he told me stories that could make me laugh so hard my face hurt. Four years later, he's still making me laugh but now that Ella's around, she's his favorite one to get laughing. I have to say that Ella sometimes has a tendency to be somewhat of a Mama's Girl at times but there's nothing I could do to get her laughing like her daddy does.

4.) HARD WORK. Ryan is one of the hardest workers I know. He's one of those people who knows what he wants and will do whatever it takes to get it. In referring to my second section above, he was taught at a very early age what was expected of him and has kept up that same quality of work ever since. Whether it be his education, working around the house, or whatever...he does everything 110%!

I love you Ryan and just remember...I'm the luckiest!


This is a picture of us from last weekend in our new soon-to-be-hometown Oklahoma City!

p.s. Uncle Toddo and Auntie Kwissy...American Idol post tomorrow, I promise.

Girls (and old ladies) Weekend!!!

When my mom turned 50 last November, we all thought we it would be fun to take a little weekend trip together. Well, we finally coordinated all of our schedules and combined her birthday celebration with Mother's Day and a "Time out for Women" conference and spent the weekend together in lovely...San Diego! I know not very exotic to just stay in town but it didn't matter. We were "kid free" and staying at a hotel which meant we didn't even have to make our beds! So it was me, Lindsay, my mom and her two sisters, my sis-in-law and my soon-to-go-off-to-college cousin, Aubrey. We had two connecting hotel room so we made the "old ones" stay in one room and the "young ones" were in the other. We shopped, ate, went to a movie, ate, laughed, and then ate some more!
So we checked in to our rooms and even though we had just had a huge dinner, we all found a little room for some Spinkles cupcakes! YUMMY!!!!


This was the view out our window. Unfortunately we did a little too much shopping so we missed our chance to go down the water slides (why would they close at 6:00???)


My mom and aunties posing for a shot at Bennihanna and Lindsay's arm ruining it.


Like I said before, we chose this weekend cuz it was also the Time Out for Women conference. Really good conference. A little too much singing but overall I left with all kinds of motivation to be a better wife/mom/woman!

The more Harbertsons the merrier!

Last weekend we were lucky enough to get a visit from Ryan's little brother, Steve and his wife, Stacy. These two are such a fun couple so we were so excited to have a weekend with them all to ourselves! We had a jam packed few days but it was chock full of good times! We picked them up from the Long Beach airport on Thursday night and went straight over to the Angel's game.

Here we are outside of my stadium. Seriously, doesn't it look like it says "Angela Stadium"?


We got some cheap tickets but then snuck down to better seats and never even got kicked out! Of course I was worried the whole time...


The next day we went to Disneyland (except Ryan...he had to work.) Here's Steve and Stacy on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Just a warning, they are very competitive. Do not expect any kind of break if you stop shooting to take a picture!

We can't go to Disneyland with out a ride on the Merry-go-round! This is the one at Cal Adventure--King Triton's Carosel. It has all these fun animals from the ocean (Ella is on the otter.) She kept pointing to the eye and saying "eye'. (I know that kind of information is only cute to the parents!)



A long day at Disneyland can tire out the best of them!


Now on to the highlight of the day (at least for Steve and Ryan.) That night there was a Jazz game (the one where the Jazz beat the Rockets to move on to the next round) so thought it would be fun to go to ESPN Zone and have dinner there as we watched the game. It worked out perfectly cuz we got like the best table in the house and sat down right as the game was starting. I thought Ryan and Steve were gonna be the only Jazz fans there but it turned out that most everyone there (who were watching the game) were pulling for the Jazz as well. Anyway, our waiter was really cool and let us stay at the table until the game was over. Can I just say that this was a little piece of Ryan's Celestial Kingdom! Watching a Jazz playoff game on a HUGE screen with his brother, good food, and the Jazz win!

On Saturday we headed out the beach and we could not have asked for better weather. I was a bit nervous because the weather man said it was only gonna be upper 60's (which I've always thought was not hot enough for a beach day) but that shows how much our weather man knows...it was like low 80's! So nice! In fact, we all got a little sun burned (except Ella...I'm paranoid with her pale skin.) Anyway, I didn't get too many good pictures while we were there but here's a couple...



On Sunday, we decided to take a nice little Sunday drive up to LA and see some of the "touristy" stuff.


Ryan was watching this street performer for a while. I can't help but feel like shouting "Get a real job!" at these guys who do a little dance and then ask all those watching to give them money. Please.

Here's Ella putting her hands in little Shirley Temple's handprints.


Is it weird that myfeet are almost as big as our Governator's?


Ella found her favorite star on the Walk of Fame...


We had so much fun with Steve and Stacy while they were here. Ella woke up on Monday morning (they left EARLY Monday morning) and scanned the entire apartment for them. We'll be looking forward to when they can visit us in Oklahoma!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!

We just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Cinco de Mayo!

This is Ella in a little dress we bought for her last year in Cancun (I know, kinda small and kinda short but it was the only Mexican attire she has.)