Food Fun Family

Alana Nichols and Team USA Paralympic Champions Fund #EveryStep

Lolli — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 17:04:42 +0000

This post was created in partnership with Citi®. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Although the 2014 Olympics have come to an end, the Paralympics are just getting started. From March 7-16, 2014, you can watch inspiring athletes compete AND you can join in Citi®’s Every Step of the Way campaign, which is still going strong. Citi® has teamed up with Team USA athletes who have each selected a charity. Citi® wants to know from YOU where they should send their $500,000 donation.

One of Citi®’s Team USA athletes is alpine skier Alana Nichols. Alana is partnering with The Team USA Paralympic Champions Fund to increase financial support for athletes pursuing the dream of participating in the Paralympics. Listen to Alana as she describes her fight to overcome adversity and how she would love to give more athletes the opportunity to compete in future Paralympic games.

About Alana: Alana Nichols grew up in New Mexico and loved spending her winters snow boarding in Colorado. In 2000, while on a snowboarding trip, she had an accident that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Just 2 years after her accident, she was introduced to wheelchair basketball, which she not only enjoyed but excelled at. Just two year later, at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, she was an alternate for the Team USA women’s wheelchair basketball team. She returned in 2008 to the Beijing Games, where she helped the team win a gold medal.

Just a month after the Beijing games, Alana began training in alpine skiing. In the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver BC, she won two gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze medal.

I am amazed and inspired by what she has been able to accomplish – not only in the face of so much adversity, but in so little time.

Who are the athletes that have inspired you most during this year’s Olympics or Paralympics?

Check out this welcome video featuring all of the Citi® athletes:

Win a $25 Visa Giftcard

Share which Citi® athlete or community program inspires you the most in the comments below and visit the Every Step of the Way site to vote…and then enter to win a 425 Visa giftcard right here! This giveaway will run through 3/19/2014 at midnight, after which a winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Gold-Medal Gymnast – Wordless Wednesday #Linky

Lolli — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:45:40 +0000

My sister, Andrea, shared these pictures of my daughter Reese this week on her Facebook page. The pictures were taken late this summer while Reese was staying with Andrea for a few weeks. My kids always do the FUNNEST things when they’re with Aunt Andrea and their cousins!

PS – I totally had NO idea Reese could do a one-handed cartwheel like that! The things you learn on Facebook! lol

Oh! One more thing. Remember the goldfish from last week? I didn’t kill him. He survived 5 whole days under my care. Phew!

For more inspiring photos, check: High Impact Mom, The Bonafide Life, Shanamama, From Dates to Diapers, Not Your Mom Blog, The Divine Miss Mommy, Colorado Moms, Rajean Blomquist and Zensible Mama and link your own photo stories.

Linked up to Wordful Wednesday, Wordish Wednesday, and Wordless Wednesdays all over.

Are you playing along with Wordless or Wordful Wednesday today? Link up!
Want to grab my button?

Utah Olympic Park in the Summer – GMYBS Photostory Friday

Lolli — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 02:09:46 +0000

I moved away from Utah (where I went to college, met and married my husband, and had my first baby) in 1997, just a few years before Utah hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. I’ve been back many times in the years since the 2002 Winter Games to visit my parents, but I’ve never driven up to Park City to see the Olympic Park.

While I was in Park City with Hyundai at the end of August, I was able to spend a few hours exploring Olympic Park, and was so impressed with everything they offered (for free!).

About Utah Olympic Park

The Utah Olympic Park is a nearly 400-acre park which features a mixture of sporting facilities and visitor areas as well as year-round competition and training ground for recreational and high-performance athletes. Back in February 2002, the Olympic Park hosted more than 300,000 visitors and 14 Olympic medal events. Now, the Park is open year-round for visitors and admission is free, but some activities and classes do have a cost.

Summer-time activities at the Olympic Park

During our short stay at the Olympic Park, we were able to pick a few activities to experience. After watching athletes of all ages and skills ski jump into the Olympic Freestyle pool (all I can say is WOW!), Louise and I headed up the VERY long, slow, and steep ski lift to the Alpine Slide.

The view from the top of the ski lift was amazing, but boy was is nerve-racking looking down that mountain and know that shortly I would be riding a small sled down that same mountain.

Here are a few of the activities available during the summer:

The Xtreme Zip zipline with a 435-foot vertical drop
The QuickSilver, Utah Olympic Park’s stainless steel alpine slide
A summer bobsled ride on “The Comet”
Guided tours
Introductory sport clinics offered for all ages and abilities
Freestyle Exhibition Shows every Saturday
Alf Engen Ski Museum and George Eccles 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum

I’m hoping to take the whole family out to Utah next summer, and we’ll be visiting the Olympic Park together for sure.

Note: I visited the Olympic Park while I was on a press trip with Hyundai. My travel and accommodations were payed for by Hyundai. I didn’t have to write anything on my blog about our experience there, but I loved it so much I really wanted to share.

Get Ready for the 2012 Paralympics ($40 #VisaGoWorld Giveaway)

Lolli — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:57:45 +0000

Thought the 2012 Olympic Games were over? Think again! In just two days, the Summer Paralympic Games kick off, and the competition will be intense and incredibly inspiring. The 2012 Paralympics (the 14th Paralympic Games) will run from August 29th through September 9th in London.

As of August 26, approximately 2.3 million tickets have been sold for the Paralympic Games – more than any previous Paralympics. But you don’t have to have a ticket in London to support the Paralympic athletes as they gear up to compete.

An estimated 4,200 athletes will compete in 503 events in 20 sports, and these inspiring athletes could all use your support.

Here’s Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball athlete, Alana Nichols, asking for your cheers:

Just like we banded together during the 2012 Olympic Games, I’m asking my readers once again to raise up a united cheer for our US @TeamVisa athletes, Alana Nichols (Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball – @alananichols21) and Jessica Long (Paralympic Swimming – @jessicalong92).

And, yes, I have another little incentive to go along with this post…

Win $40 in Visa gift cards!

One lucky reader will receive two $20 VISA gift cards (equaling $40 total).

To enter, leave a comment below telling me which Paralympic sport or athlete you are most excited to watch in the 2012 Paralympics.

For extra/optional entries, I would love to have Better in Bulk readers create the most number of cheers for our athletes! Just click the yellow cheer button above and let me know in a comment what athlete, team or country you submitted a cheer for (it would be great to cheer for the Paralympians, but ANY cheer is wonderful).

For ANOTHER extra entry, share this post on twitter. Here’s a sample tweet to copy and paste:

Paralympic @TeamVisa athletes give their all. Join @1momof5 to CHEER & enter to win $40 #giveaway #VisaGoWorld https://bit.ly/NWJYzw

You can tweet and CHEER every day for entries. Just remember to leave a comment for each tweet or cheer.

This giveaway is open to everyone and will run through the entire Paralympic Games and end on September 9, 2012 at midnight. Winner will be chosen at random and notified via email.

Disclosure: I am blogging on behalf of Visa’s Team Visa athlete program and receive compensation for my time, but the thoughts, words, and promotions on this page are mine, not Visa’s. The gift card promotions are not sponsored by Visa in any way.

Summer Olympics Memories

Lolli — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 13:54:28 +0000

I’m sitting here in my parents’ kitchen, getting ready for two weeks of rest with my family (disclosure – I left four of my kids and my husband at home, hence the “rest” part…..as much as I miss them terribly already, this time with my “original” family is the time I look forward to every year to rejuvenate my mind and spirit).

Last night, after arriving, we sat down to watch some of the Olympics together, and I was mourning the fact that I haven’t had a chance to watch more of them. Could they really be coming to a close so soon?

Some of my favorite memories from this year’s Olympic Games include sharing excitement with my boys as we watched Gymnastics in our hotel room in New York City. This was the first Olympics that they really had a chance to enjoy, and I loved watching their faces glued to the TV, cheering for the athletes as they did something amazing.

I love that I happened to be watching, purely by accident, when Michael Phelps swam in his last event, and watching the US swimmers pull so far ahead and win Gold…again.

A few weeks ago, I asked several of my friends to share some of their best Olympics memories from years’ past. Here’s what they had to say:

Memories from past Olympic Games

You know, one of my fondest memories of my daughter’s father was in 1996 when we would literally watch the Olympics together with my family, every single day. There’s something about the Olympics that brings out the patriotism in everyone and they are something that an entire family can enjoy together. –Jennifer from The Rebel Chick

I was OBSESSED with Nadia Comaneci. I had never even heard of Romania, but I watched her soar over that vault and glide around the uneven bars like a graceful but powerful bird. I was mesmerized by her. I watched every performance, and begged my mom to find a white bodysuit with striped along the sides that I could wear to my own gymnastics classes. I clipped articles and pictures and hung them up in my room. Seeing her perfect 10s was an experience I’ll never forget. –Hillary from HacScrap

The races, events, and venues blend in my memories, but the opening ceremonies are always memorable. 96 Atlanta had Muhammad Ali shooting a burning arrow into the cauldron at the top of the stadium. Two of the archers who also shot arrows were disabled. It was a touching moment since Ali is a sports legend and quite disabled by Parkinson’s.

When my girls were 4 and 2 both took gymnastics classes at the Maryland gym where Dominique Dawes trained. A gymnast — Elise Ray — for the US 2000 Olympic team also trained at the gym. On the day we were there for classes, Elise Ray was practicing for the Olympics. In the time we were there she only did 2 vaults. It was interesting to see how much prep work she did between vaults…powdering hands, stretching, etc.
–Jill from Musings from Me

I know I am not alone in having had the biggest crush on Olympic Diver Greg Louganis. I also love the ‘how they got there’ stories. Most recently, as a mom, I watched the pure pride & joy on the face of the mom of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps as she saw him break record after record. As a Coloradan, I can’t deny I am looking forward to sharing some feel-good stories and national pride as we cheer on Team USA. –Rajean from Rajean Blomquist

I was a swimmer so I was always fascinated by the swimming events. I watched every year, and was thrilled that I once got an autograph of Janet Evans in the mail! As a high school swimmer I got to train at a pool many Olympians trained it-it was like a dream come true! I know faithfully followed along as Dara Torres just missed making her 6th Olympic team-she inspired me to take up swimming again. –Kelly from The Centsible Life

In 1984 my family went on a month-long summer vacation in New England during the Olympics. That year, McDonalds was giving away free food for every Gold Medal won by USA (which was something like 83 gold medals). Let’s just say we ate a LOT of McDonalds!! –Andrea from Lil Kid Things

What have been your best Olympics memories over the years?

Note: All images except for the Instagram photo of my sons are from Wikimedia Commons – ie, the public domain. This is not a compensated post.

A Cheer-Worthy Experience #VisaGoWorld

Lolli — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 22:13:44 +0000

I took my boys to the neighborhood pool today. My 11 year old son was thrilled to find several of his school friends already there. As I splashed around with my younger son in a different area of the pool, something unusual caught my eye. The 11 year old boys had been playing Marco Polo, the classic pool game. But one-by-one, they each grabbed a younger boy in the pool, let him ride piggy-back, and teamed up for a different sort of Marco Polo.

The older boys closed their eyes and let the little boys direct them around the pool.

The team work and kindness at play in that pool today caught me off guard.

Later, the same group of boys gathered in the deep end for some relays races. Each one of them cheered for his friends, no matter which “team” they were swimming for. There was obviously a winner in each race, but all I heard were cheers all around.

After the races, the kids took turns diving. A mom sat pool-side holding up score cards. And suddenly I could imagine those kids as future Olympics athletes, cheering each other for their successes.

Here’s a quick message from Michael Phelps, mentioning how much his fans’ cheers mean to him:

The collective cheers and goodwill that I have noticed during these Olympic Games have been uplifting. And the games are not over yet. Will you join with me in sending a few more CHEERS to the Team Visa athletes (who, by the way, just made it to 21 medals over-all…7 Gold, 7 Silver, and 7 Bronze). Incredible!

Win $40 in Visa gift cards!

One lucky reader will receive two $20 VISA gift cards (equaling $40 total).

To enter, leave a comment letting me what has been your favorite moment in the 2012 Olympic Games so far.

For extra entries, I would love to have Better in Bulk readers create the most number of cheers for our athletes! Just click the yellow cheer button above and let me know in a comment what athlete, team or country you submitted a cheer for.

For ANOTHER extra entry, share this post on twitter. Here’s a sample tweet to copy and paste:

What has been your favorite 2012 Olympic moment? Answer & enter to win $40 VISA card #giveaway from @1momof5 https://bit.ly/N2hQtv #VisaGoWorld

You can tweet and CHEER every day for entries.

This giveaway is open to everyone and will end on Sunday, August 12, 2012 at midnight. Winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Stay tuned for MORE Visa gift card giveaways coming soon!

If You Were An Olympic Athlete….

Lolli — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 21:40:02 +0000

Tonight the Opening Ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games will begin. The Olympic Games kick off TODAY, July 27, and run through August 12.

What’s YOUR Olympic Sport?

Unlike many young children, I never had hopes of being an athlete in the Olympic games. My chosen sport – ballet – never made it into the Olympics, but from a very early age, I was absolutely fascinated by gymnastics. I watched every gymnastics event in every Summer Olympics when I was a kid. If I could chose one event to compete in, it would definitely be gymnastics (just please don’t ask me to put my 30-something-year-old body into one of those tight suits now…).

Though my Olympic-hopeful days are long past, I would still love to participate in them somehow…from the stands, preferably! Just imagine if you could follow along with the Summer Olympic Games in person every four years? You’d be the envy of all your neighbors and Facebook friends, that’s for sure.

Check out how easy it is to enter to win the ticket of a lifetime:

In the mean time, as The Olympics officially begin this weekend, I wanted to introduce you to the amazing line-up of athletes that @TeamVisa is sponsoring this year in London. I know how much each of these Olympians, whether they are veterans of the Olympics, or competing in their first Olympic Games, appreciate the support and cheers of their fans.

Meet the US Team Visa Athletes:

…and follow all of them on twitter (I’m sure they would love to hear that you’ve been cheering for them!).

Alana Nichols (Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball): @alananichols21
Alicia Sacramone (Gymnastics): @asac3
Allyson Felix (Track & Field – Sprinter): @allysonfelix
Bryan Clay (Track & Field – Decathlon): @bryanclay
David Boudia (Diving): @davidboudia
Jessica Long (Paralympic Swimming): @jessicalong92
Katie Hoff (Swimming): @khoff09
Kerri Walsh (Beach Volleyball): @kerrileewalsh
Lopez Lomong (Track & Field – Sprinter): @lopezlomong
Michael Phelps (Swimming): @michaelphelps
Misty May Treanor (Beach Volleyball): @MistyMayTreanor
Nastia Liukin (Gymnastics): @nastialiukin

Win $40 in Visa gift cards!

One lucky reader will receive two $20 VISA gift cards (equaling $40 total).

To enter, leave a comment letting me know what SPORT you would compete in if you could (don’t worry – I will not be checking to see if you actually have any skill in said sport!).

For extra entries (not required), I would love to have Better in Bulk readers create the most number of cheers for our athletes! Just click the yellow cheer button above and let me know in a comment what athlete, team or country you submitted a cheer for.

For ANOTHER extra entry, share this post on twitter. Here’s a sample tweet to copy and paste:

What Olympic Sport would YOU compete in? Answer & enter to win $40 VISA card #giveaway from @1momof5 https://bit.ly/N2hQtv #VisaGoWorld

You can tweet and CHEER every day for entries.

This giveaway is open to everyone and will end on Monday, August 6, 2012 at midnight. Winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Stay tuned for MORE Visa gift card giveaways coming soon!

Disclosure: I am blogging on behalf of the Visa Go World Olympic Campaign and receive compensation for my time, but the thoughts, words, and promotions on this page are mine, not Visa’s. The gift card promotions are not sponsored by Visa in any way. And that ballerina up there? That’s a photo straight from my childhood photo album. I was a poppy in the Wizard of Oz.

Michael Phelps, London 2012 Olympic Games #VisaGoWorld

Lolli — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:26:30 +0000

Michael Phelps is one of many incredible Team Visa athletes competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games, and I’m extra proud of the fact that he’s from Maryland like me. There’s nothing like cheering for a hometown boy in the Olympic Games.

Did you know that Michael Phelps holds the record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympic Games? Over his impressive career, he has won 16 Gold Medals and multiple world records, but one of the things I love most about him is his humanity, his commitment to not using performance-enhancing drugs, and his dedication to inspiring people to live a healthy, active lifestyle. Michael is simply a likable guy.

I love to picture Michael Phelps, who is such an amazing athlete today, as a mischievous young boy at the neighborhood swimming pool:

Join me in CHEERING for the athletes – #VisaGoWorld

Athletes love support from their fans, and this year Visa, an official sponsor of the Olympic Games for 25 years now, has made it easy for fans to cheer for their favorite Olympians around the world. Fans can create and submit a cheer in the form of a one-click cheer, post, photo or video on Visa’s Facebook page. It’s easy to do but makes a huge difference to the athletes.

In addition to the Visa Go World cheers, every time you use your Visa card from now through August 31 2012, you’re entered for a chance to win a trip to The Olympics (summer games) for LIFE, starting in 2016. Check out the details in this video:

Win $40 in Visa gift cards!

One lucky reader will receive two $20 VISA gift cards (equaling $40 total). Details on how to enter to win can be found on the Rafflecopter form below. I would love to have Better in Bulk readers create the most number of cheers for our athletes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to everyone and will end on July 28, 2012 at midnight. Winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Stay tuned for MORE Visa gift card giveaways coming soon!

Mommy Olympics

Lolli — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:00:46 +0000

I was never what you’d call a great athlete. I was a star at ballet, but that was pretty much it. I stunk at soccer, basketball, volleyball (ouch!), and every other game they made us play at P.E. and recess when I was a kid.

And forget Winter sports. I tried skiing several times and completely failed. My knees were not made for it. My best friend in elementary school tried to get me to love ice skating. But I didn’t. I love watching the Olympics, but I had to accept the fact many years ago that I was not cut out to be a star athlete.

Then I got an idea. Why not make my own Olympic events that I am good at? Looking at the Proctor and Gamble line of products (and an impressive line up it is!) I was inspired to introduce the first Mommy Olympics. I am GOOD at Mommy stuff. Couples figure skating? I don’t think CandyMan would go for that. Cross-country skiing? Nope. Not even snowboarding or ice hockey or curling (though I might be able to compete at hair curling, if that was an event).

Here’s my list of Mommy Olympics events, inspired my P&G products. Which events would you compete in?

* Nail Polishing: This is a speed and precision event. Disqualifications for polish on skin or smudges on the nails. Even is over when all ten toe nails and all ten finger nails are set and dry. If the participating child decides that she no longer likes the chosen color, athlete must start over again.

* Running (Up and Down Stairs without Breaking a Sweat): To compete in this event, the athlete must be carrying a laundry basket full of dirty clothes and a crying toddler on the hip. While talking on the phone. Winner is determined by the amount of sweat that is collected by a very scientific instrument. Extra points for good smell.

* Wrestling Brushing Toddlers’ Teeth: Each tooth must be brushed equally while holding screaming and wiggling toddler still. Artistic points given for songs sung, and technical points for a willingly opened mouth.

* Kitchen Floor-Cleaning: The judging for this sport is highly technical. You’ve heard of the white-glove inspection? This event is judged by the “White Legging Inspection.” Crawling babies are set loose on the cleaned floors, and leggings must remain completely white for athlete to advance to the next round.

* De-stinking Husband’s Smelly Shoes: Not for the weak-stomached. This is an event only for the toughest of athletes. Judged not only on the smell (or, more appropriately, the lack of smell), shoes are also judged on appearance (polished, laces properly laced and tied, tongue straight, etc).

* (and my favorite event) Diapering a Baby: The grand-mother of all the Mommy Olympic events. Diapering. Probably the most challenging event, and certainly the event with the most honor attached to the winner. Not only are athletes required to change a baby’s diaper, but they must keep the wriggling baby on a limited space (points deducted for baby going out of limits). Points awarded for speed, wiping proficiency, securing of tabs, and after-smell. They’re considering bringing back the cloth diaper event soon.

* This post was sponsored by Procter & Gamble, to highlight their support of the athletes and families that participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics. And now a word from P&G:

This widget is meant to be interactive. So go ahead and click. Comment. Thumbs up or down. And then go be an Olympic Mom.