Carson's look alike...Fun!

Siobhan's look alike...interesting.

Adurey's look alike....how cute!

My look alike...she's pretty!

Quote of the Day

'What is this? Keep... your... station clear! If meal orders come in, what will happen? Messy stations slow things down, food doesn't go, orders pile up, disaster! I will make this easier to remember: keep you station clean... or I WILL KILL YOU!' -Colette from Ratatouille

Random Thoughts...

Siobhan is doing very well at her potty training. She's no longer holding it for hours at a time and I can pretty much take her anywhere without having to worry about an accident. She had one at playgroup today, but that's the first one in weeks. She won't go #2 on the toilet because I think that she's scared, but we promised her a trip to 'Chic' McDonald's if she goes (that's pronounced 'Chicee' and it's portugueese for fancy...we're talking about Chick-fil-A). But so far, no go. She doesn't have any problem during nap times so we think that we're really making headway.

Audrey's sleeping in the crib now in Siobhan's bedroom and that has been really interesting. We put her in there for the first time last Friday and we told Siobhan that if Audrey woke up, we wanted her to sing the 'quiet song' to her (I Am A Child of God in Portugueese). We think that she thought we meant everytime Audrey moves a muscle to sing to her because within minutes we heard her singing on the monitor...about 10 times. Then she went into a rousing chorus of the Happy Birthday about 4 times and then the grande finale with 3 versions of the ABC's. It was so heartwarming and sweet. They're getting more and more used to it everyday.

I watched Project Runway tonight and I have to say that I'm so disappointed. I really think that Chris March should have made it through to fashion week. He was the most innnovative and I really didn't feel like his was 'costume' at all. And I have to say that I really didn't like Rami's clothes. I thought they were all unflattering. What do I know? Very sad.....

My new favorite songs.....if you have a chance to look them up, I hightly recommend it.
Let the Drummer Kick by Citezen Cope
Bullet by Matt Kearney
I'm Yours by Jason Mraz
Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (It won the Oscar!)
Dream Big by Ryan Shupe and Rubber Band
Siobhan doing her own modern dancing just like Mommy! Note the use of the floor and the expressive arm movement!

Living Legends

I've been meaning to post about this for a couple of weeks, but a lot has happened since then and I kind of forgot to. Back on Jan 30, Living Legends came from BYU. I've never seen them before but I've always wanted to. So I was so excited when I found out that they were coming. Tickets sold out in a week so I was a little worried that I might not get to go. Luckily, I do have some connections given my calling. We took the girls who actually both enjoyed it immensly and then I took a gal that I dance with who is actually very knoledgeable about Native American history and beliefs so I knew she would dig it! It was amazing!

They started with a Native American dance that had an eagle and Siobhan kept asking when the big bird was going to come out again. It was so cute. She really likes the performance. She loved all of the drumming and yelling and she really enjoyed telling me that color of the dresses. I was so moved by the experience. As a dancer, it's very easy for me to be moved when I see wonderful dances and talented dancers performing them. It was truly amazing and I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to go. It was so spiritually moving especially at the end when they were all in the outfits from the various regions and they came together to sing 'I Am a Child of God'. What a wonderful message!

Quote of the Day

'I can handle this. "Handle" is my middle name. Actually, "handle" is the middle of my first name.' -Chandler Bing

#1 Songs

My friend Amy did a fun post about #1 songs on the day you were born. So here goes....

Meghan, 12/6/83 'Say, Say, Say' by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson

Carson, 11/29/79 'No More Tears (Enough is Enough)' by Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer

Siobhan, 11/13/05 'Gold Digger' by Kanye West with Jamie Foxx

Audrey, 7/3/07 'Umbrella' by Rihanna

Our Anniversary, 1/7/05 'Let Me Love You' by Mario

Today, 2/21/08 'Low' by Flo Rida feat. T-Pain

Anyway, just something fun. Sorry for copying Amy. I'm not sure how to put a link to the website within by blog, but when I do, I will and you can all play too.

Quote of the Day...it's back

'You avoid work like the plague, unless it actually is the plague.' -Stacy Warner from House, M.D.

Valentine's Day...or Lack Thereof.

We had a pretty low key Valentine's Day. Our stake was co-hosting an art exhibit with another stake and that was first on my for most of the week...along with a lot of other things. :) And on V-Day Carson worked security for it. So we didn't even get to have a nice breakfast. Oh well. We did take the girls to get Valentine's Day pictures done. It's been a tradition since Siobhan's first Valentine's Day. This one isn't touched up and we have them to send to everyone, but I think it turned out pretty cute. Siobhan was exited because I did her hair in a 'princess braid'. A braid that went all around her head like a crown. It was so adorable and a huge pain in the butt! But it was worth it!

While Carson was working security for the art exhibit, we got invited to attend their VIP reception. We were so excited! There were school officials there, Art council members, experts in the that particular genre and the owner himself. So I have to say a little bit about this exhibit. There is a bishop in Denver who for reasons I'm not sure of, is very wealthy and about seven years ago, he decided that he wanted to expose his children to great art. So instead of taking them to the Louvre or the Vatican or even the Met, he just decided to buy it. So he focused on the reneissance, more specifically the reneissnce painters from The Netherlands (Durer, Rembrandt, Leyden, etc.). So he started aquiring the original prints from the etching and woodcarvings that these artists did that were centered on biblical subject matter. Let me just tell you, it was amazing! He had probably close to 200 pieces in his collection and some of them are pieces that are not in any museums in the entire world. There is one piece in particular called Descent from the Cross by Rembrandt and he actually has three of them which is really cool because you are able to see the variations as the plate was used over and over again to make the print. It was amazing and it is the only exhibit of it's kind in the Rockies and I would venture to guess that it's the only one of it's kind in the nation. You got to walk through with a magnifying glass and they had literally turned the cultural hall into a museum. He had an original copper etching of a Rembrandt self portait and one of the first Bibles printed on the Guttenburg press. Can you even imagine? It was absolutely amazing! I've heard rumors that when he's done showing the collection around Denver, he's going to lend it to the church. So if you ever hear of it coming to your area, I highly recommend it!

A Quick Note About Kid Movies

Carson came home on Saturday with a special surprise for me and Siobhan. The Special Edition DVD of The Little Mermaid. Now, anybody who has known me since I was little also knows that it is by far and away my favorite Disney Movie! I had the complete bedroom set (sheets, pillow cases and shams, bed spread, etc.), I think that I had five dolls, a popcorn tin, framed pictures, T-Shirts. It was pretty serious. So when he took it out of the bag, a million memories came flooding back to me. For instance, I remember the day that my parents bought the VHS when it came out I was in first grade and they let me watch it twice before bed. At the time, it was just about the coolest thing ever, but after I watched it the other day, I realized that it really was't a big deal as the movie is so short. I also remember going up to Tacoma to visit Alison and while all the grown-ups were out for the evening we were with a baby sitter who indulged us by playing 'Little Mermaid' with us. Here was the problem with that. There were two of us little girls who wanted to be Ariel. So Alison got to the Ariel and I had to be ArielLee...Ariel's twin sister. I'm really not sure how that story would have been played out. Then there was teh fact that Deidre and I could never get the words right so when Ariel would sing 'Part of Your World' and she got to the line where she sings 'Bright Young Women, Sick of Swimming...' we would always end up singing 'Pregnant Women, Stick a Swigging...'. I'm not really sure what that was supposed to mean, but it's still pretty funny! As I was watching it with Siobhan over the weekend, I realized that she's from the Nemo/Pixar generation and I wondered if she would actually even appreciate such a gem. Lickily she's young enough that I don't think it makes that much a difference. I can't wait to see the kinds of movies and technology that her kids use that will make it impossible to appreciate the Pxar flicks.

Speaking of Pixar, we also became the proud owners of the movie Ratatouille on Monday. It was by complete happenstance that we ended up with it so I'll share the story. It just illustrates the quintessential antics of a two year old. Carson took Siobhan to Costco on Monday. As they wandered down the DVD aisle, Carson caught Siobhan sneaking DVDs into the cart. He thought he got them all put back until he checked his receipt when he got to the car. He alwasy checks to make sure that the totals are correct and to make sure they got everything. Well, he noticed something strange on the receipt...Ratatouille. So we now own it and I have to say that I'm glad we do because it's really cute. Definitely step up from Little Mermaid as far as animation goes. Siobhan calls it the cooking show. Silly girl!

Did Everyone Miss Me???

Well, it certainly has been a long time since I last blogged...I've been busy. And I've noticed that this blogging is kind of writing in a journal if you don't do it every day or every few days, you get so behind that you're like, 'what's the point? So much has happened, I don't know where to begin!' Okay, really, not that much has happened per se, but I feel like it's been so long that I don't even know what to talk about.

We went to Utah for President Hinckley's funeral which was so lovely! Inititally only Carson was going to go but then we decided to we would all go over. It was a nice experience and the funeral very humble. Just the way President Hinckely would have wanted it. We got to spend some time with friends and family and we had a great time. We threw a super bowl party that I enjoyed much more than I expected.

Siobhan is doing great. She's enjoying going to dance classes with mom and going to her own dance class as well. She's very busy being a precocious two year old. Always getting into things when I'm not looking. It never fails that when I go upstairs to get something, it's not unusual for me to come down and find her standing on a chair 'doing the dishes' or tossing the dog food around saying that she's 'feeding the Tonks' or haphazardly scooping formula into a bottle apparently 'getting milk for Audrey Baby' (most of it ends up on the floor and for that she has to run a get the swiffer wet jet to 'clean up'). What a goof ball. She really is being so good because I know she's just trying to help. The potty training is going okay in some ways and not okay in other ways. She can wear panties and will hold it forever without having an accident so I can take her pretty much anywhere for a few hours without issues. But when she tries to go on the potty she get's freaked out and won't go. So we're working on it.

I can't believe that Audrey is 7 1/2 months old! She's sitting up so good and is almost crawling! She loves to eat her solid food and her favorite is by far Avacado. We finally got her sleeping a good amount of time at night which makes my life much easier. She still wakes up at least one time a night, so she's not out of our closet yet. She doesn't eat when she wakes up so I think that it's just a matter of time until she can sooth herself back to sleep. She also broke her first two teath last week. Yup, two within 24 hours of each other. hance, the runny nose and cranky disposition. Poor girl.

I've been going a lot of dancing. It seems like I'm always either teaching, choreographing, rehearsing, or at a competition. It's a good thing I love it. The senior company that I teach had their first competition a few weeks ago and they scored a gold award so I was very excited given the level of competition. It's nice compliment to have a piece of art that I created performed so well and scored well also. But it seemed the judges were more interested in the costuming rather than choreography, so I was little bothered by that. I find with these competitions, I become more and more disillusioned with the comeptition world anyway. When I own my own studio, we won't compete we will only give concerts. I think that makes you more a well rounded dancer anyway. I've been sick the last few days but I'm feeling better, finally, and hopefully I'm close to being completely over the stomcah virus that I had.

Carson is getting closer and closer to finishing school and we're all very excited about that. No more late nights! Works going alright but he really doesn't like the campus that he works at so we're weighing our options. He's going to stay here until he graduates and then we'll see. He loves the company, but really is having a hard time at this campus. Pray that everything will either look up here or that something will open up somewhere else. We'll see.

Boy, this really sounds like a christmas letter doesn't it?