I give you, I hope, the winning essay. It Rocks!!!!

Warm 106.9, LOOK NO FURTHER!!!! You have found Seattle's BIGGEST Wicked fan in me- Becky ZoBell. I love this musical and let's face it, what's not to love? I guess it all starts with my favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz. I loved it as a kid and love it still today as an adult. I am able to quote the movie - any part, at any time. When Wicked first came to Seattle back in 2006, my sweet husband got tickets. After seeing it I instantly fell in love with the story line, the songs, the characters and the music. Unfortunately the tour left Seattle and I hadn’t had enough – I just had to see it again. The problem with that is that we are a single income family. I am a stay at home mom to 3 children and my husband is a State worker. Yet despite tight finances it was obvious to me that food and shelter would have to come second... seeing Wicked again was my TOP priority (just kidding... sort of)!
Enter my fitness goals. Because nothing in life is free (except hopefully free tickets from Warm 106.9!), I set fitness goals that, if achieved, would result in my husband agreeing to pay for me to fly to Los Angeles to see Wicked again in 2007. The name of my fitness program was 50, 5/50, 20, 120. All on the same day I had to do 50 sit-ups non-stop, run 5 miles in 50 minutes, do 20 men’s push-ups non-stop and weigh 120 lbs (lose about 10 lbs). Fulfilling these goals was hard and painful. Almost as bad as giving up desserts for 2 months to lose those extra pounds! But I did it and the reward was sweet. Worthy of every step I ran. When I got to LA I was so excited to see that Bellevue's own Megan Hilty was playing the role of Glinda with a Guh! She was my Glinda in Seattle and I was thrilled to watch her perform again in LA.

Then Wicked came to Portland this year and I HAD to see it yet again. I rounded up 20 friends to go with me so that I could get priority group ticket seating. It wasn’t hard to find 20 people to go since I had told about two thousand people how great the show was! So we drove to Portland and we all loved it, of course. And imagine my surprise when a month later my aunt, who lives in Utah, called to tell me that she had tickets to Wicked in Salt Lake City. So this past spring I flew there too! I was so grateful to see it with family and to share with them my love for the show. And because I feel the need to share with others the greatness of this production, I later did a talent show dressed as Elphaba - black hat, dress, shoes and all. I painted my face, arms and neck green with acrylic paint and sang Defying Gravity on top of a table at the talent show that our church put on. Complete with a broom of course! Naturally I was a hit (are we allowed to brag?) and overall I just plain had fun!

And so Warm 106.9, I hope you are able to catch just a small glimpse into what my husband likes to call "my freakish obsession". I truly love this musical and would do almost ANYTHING for the chance to see it again. Even eat a Klondike bar! I am hoping that you will choose me for this wonderful opportunity. I just couldn't be happier!!!

I'm a winner, I can feel it!

Still having a bit of computer trauma, but listen to this. My friend told me about the local radio station having a contest "Are you the biggest Wicked fan in Seattle?" Heck yes I am!!! The winner gets 2 tickets to see the show, dinner at some asain cafe, and a day at the spa! It's the tickets I want. And so I wrote an essay just now, about how I am the biggest fan and you would be silly not to choose me. My Love is proof reading it and sending it in the document form tomorrow to the radio station. Can you even imagine my excitement for a small moment if I, in fact, am the one chosen? Everyone, think good thoughts!!

Still here

We're still here. Having a bit of trouble with the computer. We're on a neighbors laptop untl we can figure ours out. Pictures to come of dates with the kids. Mason and I went to Wild Waves and NAt and I got sandwiches and headed to the park. We've had playdates every day last week and it was fun for the kids. My bike got stolen while we were on our trip so that stinks for triathalon training. I'm more concerned about someone walking down the driveway to steal my bike. VIOLATED!! Anyway, summer is awesome. I love it and I love ice cream being on sale. More to come.

Home again, home again, jiggity jog

So we're home from our trip and we had a fabulous time. We had no problems driving through the night and getting through the Canadian border. We stayed at Tyler's oldest sisters house and it was nice to see the kids play with cousins. They don't know the ZoBell cousins very well at all, and despite one kick to the face and a bloody nose, they really played well together. On Sunday we drove up to the church where Tyler use to go. He showed me where primary was and where he was in young mens and so on. But then we went around the town he grew up in. It's called Red Deer. He showed me the house he lived in, the school, where his bike got stolen, where they played kickball against the side of the school, where he beat up Joshy Jones, the toboganing hill, the trail down to the train tracks, where he pushed Michelle LaSchapell and then kissed her head, the trick or treat route, and where some kid got stabbed. Whewww. It was a very eventful afternoon and so great to see where my Love grew up. I was glad he could show us around.

On Monday we went to the West Edmonton Mall. It is AMAZING!!! This mall is so huge that in the winter the ladies come and walk around it, and it measures to be 6 miles. And that's just the top floor! We went to the water park and it was so much fun, we had a blast!! I was super proud of Mason who went on all the slides but the super fast ones, and the one really deep one. But he was going on rides that were for intermediate swimmers. I would go first and then he would go and I'd pull him out of the water at the bottom. He's laugh and then go again. We had to tag team with Nat because she was afraid of some slides. You can't ride with the parent so Tyler would go and then turn around and hold her feet. I swear you could hear that girl scream the whole way through the green tube! But she got really well at the end going on it by herself, and us catching her at the bottom. And the wave pool was so much fun. Mason and I would see the wave come and then jump high and get knocked back. He was having so much fun and it really was. We stayed from 10 when it opened until 6. We took a break for lunch but we had a very funfilled day.

The next day was the Raymond parade down in Alberta.

See all those people lined up by us? ZoBells every one of them.

And the kids got lots of candy. And this parade is way better than the one out in Hyrum Utah that we use to go to as kids. Way better. After the parade we hung around with family and then drove down to Utah. I love going home. I love turning the corner into the cul de sac where I grew up and seeing my moms hanging flower pots. I love going inside and giving her and my dad a big hug. I love standing in the driveway and listening to silence. I love going to see my sister and her family down the road and I love going to Fredricos. It's a pizza place. The kids played with cousins again and no blood was drawn this time. We had pizza and watched fireworks. My sisters cul de sac does a huge production. Firework city, I'm telling you. It was lots of fun for the kids. Sadly Tyler got really sick the day after we got there and he stayed in bed for 3 days. He had all the symptoms of the piggie flu. The pharmicist says it sounds worse than it really is. It's a really super bad head cold with body aches and the chills and fever. So he was out the whole time we were in Utah. Luckily it passed the kids and us by. We had to leave and it is always hard for me. I cry everytime and now Mason cries too. That makes it even harder. But after 10 minutes I'm fine again. And we drive through the night and arrived home at 4:45 a.m. I've put the house back together, laundry is caught up (for now), and the lawn is mowed. And that my dear friends was our trip in a nut shell. It was wonderful and I enjoyed it all.

And now I must end with a story that happened a couple years ago as we were coming home from Utah at Christmas time. If you don't laugh, then your life is way to serious.

We are on our way home and I am taking the first driving shift. I drive to Jerome Idaho and start to get really sleepy. I pull off to the side of the road and tell Tyler "It's time to switch". He wakes up and I get out of the driver seat and then say "I have to go to the bathroom." Now, for a little more comfort, I 'm leaning, squatting, against the side of the Blazer. Tyler gets in the driver seat and then all of the sudden starts pulling away with me still leaning against the car. I start pounding my fist and yelling for him to stop but he doesn't and I'm chasing the Blazer with my pants down around my ankles. Luckily he didn't go to far as I'm chasing him still and big rigs are driving by. He thought I had gotten in and layed down in the back. Hahahahahaha. Jerome Idaho will never be the same!