The Husband & Wife Law Team November 2016 Newsletter

In This Issue

• Halloween at the Breyer’s
• Our Veteran's Appreciation Breakfast
• Baked Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows
• Raving Fan
• Monthly Top 10
• Teacher of the Month Winner, Arianna Mehl

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Halloween at the Breyer’s

The fall is racing by. Halloween was a lot of fun although we were missing three kids for the annual Halloween photo. I’m not sure if Zev even dressed up. Zev will be home in December so we are excited winter break is coming up. Editor’s Note from Mark: Alexis told Zev that if his grades are not excellent she is just going to show up one day at his fraternity house, unannounced. Zev said he didn’t care. Maybe not, but it may be more than a coincidence that his grades may be his best yet. Maybe Alexis should have threatened to jump into Zev’s social life earlier in his academic career?

Kailey attended her first makeup certification course. She was very excited and already called us to ask us how she can start her own product line and form her own corporation. There is no stopping this child. When she first got into USC, she joked with us that she thought she got in by mistake since many of the kids accepted into USC have a perfect SAT score and/or a perfect 4.0 GPA. (Although Kailey’s scores were very good, as well). Well, she sent us a text that she got an A on her math midterm so we were excited for her and felt reassurance that she really did get in! Editor’s Note from Mark: Kailey is out of her mind, mostly in a good way. She has been a budding entrepreneur with make-up for a while. She has been getting paid – before college and in college – to do make-up. Now, however, she found one of the big names in make-up putting on a professional 4-day course. Understand, Kailey is already busy beyond belief. Now, in addition, she went to a course 4 consecutive days to increase her knowledge and wants to learn the business end, as well. Not sure when the kid sleeps, but that is Kailey.

Tate is finishing up his season of club volleyball. He hurt his hand and foot playing “spike ball” with friends and had to miss a tournament which was disappointing for Mark since he was really looking forward to seeing him play. It’s always fun to watch Tate rally his team together. The coach actually had practice Halloween so Tate didn’t go trick-a-treating – at least this is what he told us! He did end up giving out candy with a friend though. Editor’s Note from Mark: Not sure what is going on with the Breyer boys, but Tate is also having his best academic quarter since about 4th grade. Of course, it may be all the threats of taking the car away – that car is a powerful tool, after all!

Ariella dressed up as a ninja for Halloween and coupled up with Cade who was also a ninja. We are super proud of Ariella as she tried out for the cheerleading team for her 8th grade class and she made the cut! When she said to us to “wish me luck” we joked with her that she would need a lot of luck. She practiced in front of us and Mark kept telling her how he watches all the football games and cheerleaders are loud and smile constantly. He had Ariella practice in front of the mirror for her smiles and he cheered with her to show her how loud she should be. Being loud is not a problem for Mark! Editor’s Note from Mark: Ok, ok. Let me just explain a couple of important points. First, it is true we told Ariella she would need a lot of luck. However, that sounds terrible, so it is worth pointing out that many girls trying out for cheerleading in middle school have been doing gymnastics or been on competitive cheer teams. Ariella has never done any of that, except for maybe some things when she was about 6 years old. Her making the team is a testament to her willingness to try out regardless of her lack of experience. There may be other kids who wanted to try out but simply were afraid due to a lack of experience. Second, I have no ability to coach Ariella in cheerleading. She made it with her own efforts, of course.

Talia had a great costume as a flapper from the 50s with a cute red dress but decided she didn’t like that costume so made a new costume as a butterfly. She went trick-or-treating with her friends which was deja vu for me and Mark because she went to the same neighborhood that Kailey and her friends went to for trick-or-treating when Kailey was in middle school. Talia tried out for her middle school soccer team and will be on the team. I think she last played soccer when she was 7. She said she was going to have her friend teach her all the rules. We are excited for her to be part of a team sport. Editor’s Note from Mark: So, here is the deal: if you have not played soccer in a long time (or ever) then you can expect to limp. This is my first take-away from Talia playing soccer. After her first day with the team, she was limping for about two days. She managed to still go to the first tryouts/practices. Not sure how, considering the effort it took her to get up and down the stairs.

Pierce didn’t want to go trick-or-treating at all. We joked with him to come with us and do his annual tradition of trick or treating for about one block. Since he was little he only would go about one block and then say he wanted to go home. This year, Pierce sported a Michigan State jersey. He knows recess peanut butter cups are my favorite so every time he got one, he would give it to me. While watching football with me, he recently told me he was going to be a great husband. I asked him why he said that and he said that, “I am helpful, kind, respectful and caring.” Yes, he is all these things. I thought his comments were insightful for an 11 year old. When he called a pass “beautiful” I thought he must be learning more from Mark than we know! Editor’s Note from Mark: You have to give credit to Pierce. Most kids his age have to follow others. Even if they did not want to trick-or-treat for hours, they would probably do it to fit in. Not Pierce. He knows he doesn’t want to walk around just to get candy he doesn’t care about that much. This year, in particular, because he wanted to get home to watch football.

Karina somehow managed during Halloween to be out at the end of the night with just me and Mark! The boys went home with my parents and Ariella was with her friend. While we were out we were talking about how what happens when parents are gone and teenagers are home alone. Karina said, “The teenager would trash the place because it’s a party and they are out of control and no one would be there to tell them what to do so they’d just go crazy.” I thought her perception was insightful and a reminder of why I have a babysitter stay over whenever we go out of town even when my oldest are at home! Karina wrote her very own book with a whole story line and pictures on the computer all by herself which is amazing. You may see her soon as a famous author. Editor’s Note from Mark: First, I am hoping we can trust the college kids to not throw a party. I mean, that fear has to go away at some age, right? Second, Karina writes detailed books with plots and everything. At parent-teacher conferences her teacher talked about her writing. Karina can sometimes be found writing a book when every other kid would be watching TV or playing on the internet.

Cade and the kids were playing a game where you had to answer questions. Cade’s question was what he should be when he grows up. He said not a lawyer because lawyers are boring. He said either a football player or basketball player. He said the best part of being a football player is he could be rich, hike the football, and be a celebrity. Cade was upset that he couldn’t keep all his candy for Halloween. Mark told him there is a “candy tax” in our family. Cade is already looking forward to next Halloween. He says he wants to dress up as Darth Vader. I told him he has to start earning money to pay for his costume and taught him how to do the laundry. As soon as he finished his first load of laundry, he turned to me and said, “So, where are my bucks?” Editor’s Note from Mark: Of course there is a candy tax. Why should kids get to eat all the candy? We have to walk just as far as they do, we should get our cut! And Cade and I need to have a quick talk before next Halloween. It is not nice to walk up to people and say what he said at many homes this year: “Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.” Seriously, who taught him that in kindergarten?!

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Our Veteran's Appreciation Breakfast

Thank you to everyone that attended our Veteran’s Appreciation Breakfast at Harley-Davidson Scottsdale. And a special thank you to the Harley-Davidson drill team, Roger Ferland and Jim Moore for participating in the event!

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Baked Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows

• 2 LB. sweet potatoes (about 4), peeled, cubed
• 1/2 cup hot milk
• 4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) philadelphia cream cheese, cubed, softened
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 25 jet-puffed marshmallows

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F.

Cook potatoes in boiling water in large saucepan 20 minutes or until tender; drain.

Mash potatoes. Add milk, cream cheese and sugar; beat until fluffy. Spoon into 9-inch square baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; top with marshmallows.

Bake 20 minutes or until heated through.

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Raving Fan

Shout out to Susan, one of our clients, who delivered to our team these delicious donuts. We are so appreciative. They were gone within a few minutes. Thank you!

Monthly Top 10

1. Our team went to and supported a Project Walk Fundraiser.
2. We are helping to prepare a great event promoting motorcycle safety called, “Riding For the Long Haul.” Events like these take lots of late night meetings.
3. Our team was at Cyclovia educating cyclists on their rights. Cyclovia is an event where the streets become car free.
4. We settled a case for policy limits where our client was shot by accident by a friend. The friend took responsibility and admitted fault. More often than not this never happens. It was our reputation for not backing down that allowed us to obtain policy limits. The client was so grateful.
5. We held a free breakfast for Veterans at Scottsdale Harley Davidson. The event was amazing with entertainment, MC, and Mark speaking.
6. Mark was featured on Channel 3 with some motorcycle friends in the community.
7. We had our annual movie event where we showed Elf. We had almost 300 RSVPs. Look for the event next year – free games, popcorn and movie.
8. Last month our team members arranged a pot luck lunch – 80’s theme – for Halloween. Some of the team members came in over the weekend to decorate.
9. We took our kids to see Troll. This goes in our top ten since we almost always work weekends and haven’t taken the kids to a movie in a few years. Mark was tired and fell asleep…due to those new comfortable reclining chairs… cute movie!
10. Our favorite top 10 in a while…We had a client who was involved in a serious accident who had many back surgeries prior to the accident and had just had a knee surgery prior to the accident. While discussing his case and the offers that came back, he told Alexis that he watches the top ten in our newsletter and sees how we often get policy limits. At the time, the offer extended was less than half of the policy limits. Alexis told the client to continue to be patient and have trust. Fast forward many months and it was so exciting to the tell the client that we got the policy limits offer. Of course, case scenarios are all different but our evaluations are usually spot on or we will recommend fighting in litigation.

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Teacher of the Month Winner, Arianna Mehl

You can see a video of the presentation of her big check on our website, where you can also nominate your child’s favorite teacher! BreyerLaw.com/LawyersForTeachers.

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