Hey guys!

We won! Yay! Thank you so much to all of our fans and everyone who voted for us! You guys are awesome! This is a huge honor for us and such a great gift from all of you!

There was such a big roller coaster of emotions last night. It was exciting, fun, nerve-wracking, bittersweet – just everything you can imagine. I was so pumped to do the jive again. We love the jive. It was like putting on a comfortable pair of shoes. We can’t help but smile while doing it and I think it was the perfect way to end the season. I’m so glad everyone from the season was there to share it with us. We’ve all become good friends and it’s great to start and end the show all together.

 

I know exactly where I’m going to place that Mirror Ball trophy! I think my husband’s Stanley Cup trophy can move a little to the side and they can share a shelf in our movie room. For those wondering, my Olympic gold medal is on display at the U.S. Figure Skating Museum, so it won’t be next to them! Mark says he’s putting his up on his fireplace – in a plexi-glass box with his sneakers from our freestyle routine.

 

We just did Good Morning America this morning and have some more media stuff to attend to, including going to the Indy 500 this weekend. I get to wave the green flag and I guess that’s when you start the race. Hopefully I bring some luck to Helio [Castroneves]!

 

Everyone’s asking what’s next for me after this, and the answer is a big break! This wild wave of DWTS was a big adjustment! It’s been so thrilling the last few months, but I’m looking forward to being with my family again! I know my kids are missing me a lot lately, so I just want to chill out for awhile. In July, we’re planning a family vacation to Hawaii. We go every year – it’s kind of our annual trip. There’s like 20 of us that go. It’s like me and Bret and our family my mom and dad, my brother and sister and their families, and our best family friends, my aunt and uncle, their two kids and families. It’s been close to maybe 30, 40 people sometimes. Scott Hamilton calls us the thundering herd! He was in Hawaii one year when all of us were there. He was like, “Here comes the thundering herd, invading the islands!” We usually go to a different island every year to change it up. Last year we went to Kauai and Maui. This year, we’re just going to the Big Island. It’s a little bit of everything – now it’s whatever the kids will like. We go to the beach, to the pool a lot. Bret and I like to drive around the islands, take in the sights. I can’t wait!

 

After that, I’m not sure. I’m definitely working on more skating exhibitions – we’re taping one in Phoenix in October and I think NBC plans to air it around Thanksgiving. But I don’t really have anything else on the plate yet! I know the show has opened up a lot of opportunities for contestants, but I have to decide if I want to work! I pretty much was a stay-at-home mom before all of this, so it’s been crazy thrown into the media frenzy. I do know that there won’t be any acting! I’m not an actor! I’ve always been interested in doing television commentating work with figure skating. I did some stuff for NBC during the 2006 Olympics, so I’m hoping to get involved somehow for the 2010 Games. I don’t know if it will happen or not because they’re pretty set with their team already. 

Well, that’s going to be all from me! I’ve had so much fun the last few months doing this show and sharing my experiences with all of you. Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to read this blog and support us. We love you and hope we've done you proud!

Love,

 

Kristi 

Hey everyone!

Oh my goodness! I think I’m still on a high from last night! I hope you watched and enjoyed it as much as Mark and I enjoyed dancing! I can’t believe we got 30s for both dances! How crazy is that?

Doing the cha-cha in the face-off style was so much fun. Going last – the pressure was definitely building. Jason and Cristián were doing so awesome. I tried to keep it fun, like, "Oh, this is just like a group number." But they were bringing the heat, so I was like, "We’ve got to do our work, too!"

And yes, I kissed Bruno! (I don't think my husband minds though!) Mark told me to do it and it was one of those moments where the beginning of the music wasn’t dance-able and we were like, “Let’s get the crowd going!” We were actually aiming for his cheek, but he turned his head so I ended up kissing him on the nose! We chose Bruno instead of Len because I can’t reach Len – he sits in the middle!I loved when Carrie Ann said it was “ladies’ night!” We showed them in the cha-cha. I was pleased with it. We got into it, showed emotion and had a great connection.

To get three 10s from all of them was very satisfying, especially from Len, who wasn’t so crazy about our last cha-cha.

The freestyle was totally something else. I had been looking forward to this dance for so long! It was awesome! It felt electric in the ballroom to just go out there and entertain. It felt like a party and I didn’t want it to end. I felt like we had nailed it. The whole time, Mark and I were looking at each other, going, “Wow! This is so fun!” Getting a 30 for it was the ultimate validation. We put a lot of sweat and hard work and heart and soul into it, so to see they enjoyed it as much as they did was icing on the cake. You really can’t ask for more than that.

Learning to send Mark into a backflip was so nerve-wracking. I wasn’t that worried last night, but the first day of rehearsals, I was terrified! I didn’t want to drop him on his head. But once I had the confidence that I had the strength to pop him up there, it was fine. He’s like a cat in the air – he knows how to do the backflip on his own!

I was also very grateful to Julianne for coming in and coaching us. She was a huge reason why I wanted to do the show! I love watching her dance and I’ve missed her the past few weeks. I soaked everything she said in because she’s been here, she knows what it takes!

I’m not sure what’s going to happen tonight! We get our repeat dance. I’m not going to say what it’ll be though! Everyone did such a great job last night that I think any of us can take it…but of course I hope it’s me!

Thank you to all our fans and everyone who voted for us and supported us the past 10 weeks!

See you later!

Kristi

Hey everyone!

So here it is! The finals! I still can’t believe we’re finally here. It’s going to be a great show tonight. I know all of us are going to come out with guns blazing. I don’t want to give away too much, but we’ve been working extra hard this week and Mark and I definitely have some tricks up our sleeves for our freestyle! I’m really ready to go for it and take down these boys! It’s about time a female has won it again, don’t you think?

I’m always surprised at how much energy I have each week. It’s exhausting learning a dance a week for the past three months, but I always have this extra push to dig deeper. Maybe it’s the competitor in me! It’s kind of one of those things where no matter how much sleep you get, you’re still tired when you wake up, but I think the adrenaline and the excitement kind of carries you through it all. I always tell Mark, “Let’s go to the studio NOW!” He’s like, “No.”

Before I get going, I want to thank everyone who’s supported us and carried us this far on the show. We know we wouldn’t be here without you! I hope you’ll enjoy the dancing tonight and help get us that trophy!

See you later!

Kristi

Hey guys!

We’re in the finals! Thank you to everyone who’s been supporting and voting for us the past two months! I promise we won’t let you down next week!

I was so sad to see Marissa go. We’ve grown so close. We spent ten weeks together and getting to know each other, exchanging stories, girlfriend things and motherhood things with her upcoming new role as a mom. I think we were both so thankful to be here still and I’m definitely going to miss her. Watching the montage video of her and seeing everything week by week, what’s gone on, it just really hit home. I’m really glad we became such good friends here and I can’t wait for her to become a mom this summer! I’m so proud of her and it is the greatest thing in the world. She’s going to be a great mom! She’s so nurturing and loving.

I couldn’t believe we got another encore last night with our tango. It felt great going out there again. Mark said it felt smooth. It was one of our favorite ballroom dances and we felt honored to be able to do it again. I think the tension wasn’t the nervous tension like it was Monday night. It just flowed out there on the floor.

Being called safe first was awesome! I’ve been very spoiled and lucky so far to be declared safe early on, but this one doesn’t even compare to the others! I was just excited because it means we get to go to the finals and do the freestyle round, which I’m thrilled about.

We’ve got some new moves to work on for next week. In addition to the freestyle, we have the cha cha and then a repeat dance – which is going to be a surprise! I think some sore muscles are in the near future!

Going up against Cristián and Jason will be a tall order – no pun intended! They’re both gunning for the trophy as much as I am and each bring something different to the floor. Cristián has the hot Latin thing going and Jason’s got the strong athletic thing going. It’s going to be a great final!

Thanks again for voting for us! See you Monday!

Kristi