Wicked

Thursday, Isaac and I went to see Wicked in San Francisco with my parents and siblings. It was SO GOOD! I didn't really know what to expect, but I was so impressed. I would totally see it again. The main people were all so incredible; I enjoyed this more than the last time I saw Phantom, which surprises me a little.

Home Again

After flying to SLC April 13, meeting Danielle at her gate, and Sarah generously driving us to Provo and lending me the car for a few days, I met Sydney for the first time! What a cutie. This is after I asked her to smile. :)

Most of the day we spent just talking and catching up and watching the kids play. They had a hard time sleeping, which meant a lot of adults had a hard time sleeping too. This is Lawrence after waking up at night, watching Charles and Danielle play Wii. He wanted to join in the fun with this tube of Desitin as his remote.

I wish I had taken a picture of Y mountain (and campus and temples and a lot of things, really) on Monday because Tuesday was cloudy and raining off and on, and Wednesday was crazy snowy, but anyway, here's a picture from Tuesday.

April 14:

I don't know how mommies come up with fun stuff to do all day, but Danielle and Valerie are pretty great! Dawna was reading short sentences, and the girls cut out letters and numbers in play-doh and drew in chalk and played with bubbles...

We went to the MOA to see the Toys, Gizmos and Gadgets exhibit by Walter Wick, the guy who takes photos for the I-SPY books. It was pretty awesome. Then we went to eat at the Skyroom, where I did not have a High in the Sky because they do not make them anymore. So sad. The substitute (orange juice, fresca and strawberry syrup) was pretty lovely though.

I met Sarah, Matthew and Stephani at the Malt Shoppe for shakes, and I had the ever delicious Hot Fudge Banana shake. We even sat there talking long enough for me to finish the whole thing little by little. It was great to see them, and Matthew is lucky to have found such a fun, charming girl to keep up with him.

Valerie, Danielle and I stayed up talking until somewhere around 4 AM, and I am amazed at how they got up early the next morning and took care of kids. I was pretty out of it. This was supposed to be our temple tour day, but that didn't go exactly as planned...

It snowed for HOURS on Wednesday and made us totally NOT want to drive around to the temples in the area, so we only got to two.


Cute kids though, right?! Sydney was very lovey until Lawrence fell on her and scared her, lol.


Dawna loved all of the "popcorn" trees and serenaded us on our way to the airport. :)

Thanks to Matthew & Sarah for the use of a car, which was especially beautiful considering the crazy snow. Big thanks to Sarah for taking all the time to transport me to and from the airport. Of course, thanks to Valerie, Charles and Sydney for sharing their home with me! I miss you all already.

Happy Easter!

After teaching nine little 3-5 year olds this morning, we're excited to have a relaxing, warm afternoon and a great family dinner. Happy Easter!

Our attempt to take a photo with the dog... a good time to lick Mommy's face?

Open House

Is it weird to be proud of the fact that I nearly covered floor to ceiling with student work for Open House (Okay, I always have a lot up anyway because I like them to be proud of their work, but this is more than there was Monday)? I put a lot more time into it this year, and almost every student had three-four pieces of work up to see. Isaac hung up those cranes that ELD made to go with the Japanese fable they read and summarized. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. :)

Yeah, I'm an English teacher nerd.

Prom Season

Am I really so old that my baby sister is going to Prom? Wow.

Here she is ready for Newark's Junior Prom. She went with a bunch of friends from school.



Here she is going to Washington's Junior Prom. Matt, from her seminary class, asked her to go to his Prom with her. Note the gorgeous purse Mom made her to match the dress.

Even if this probably means I'm getting old, it was fun to do her hair and makeup. :)

Funny at Five

Today, I was talking about repentance in Primary. I told a story from the manual about a boy who wanted candy but couldn't pay for it, so he put it in his pocket. The two little boys in my class gasped, and I asked what the boy in the story did wrong. They told me that he stole the candy when he should have paid for it.

Then, very matter-of-factly, Tristin said, "The police always come when you steal," and Alex followed up that thought with, "and sometimes they shoot you."

I just about died trying to keep a straight face.

A Gift

My mom gave me this Barbie this week. This was hers when she was a kid, and I have always thought it was my favorite thing in my Grandma's house. (Okay, as I've gotten older, I have also developed a fondness for the Lladro with the little girl and the puppy, but I could never play with that, obviously.) I would always go get this doll from the shoebox in the drawer in Grandma's sewing room and ever so carefully stroke its hair and try clothes on it. This dress was my favorite of the few clothes there were. Now I have it in my own home! and still I can hardly keep from feeling her soft hair and admiring the dress that now looks so much older than I used to think.

Maybe it's silly, but I love this doll. My favorite thing about it is that it's not just any Barbie. My grandma cut her own hair and sewed it into the doll's head. My grandma was almost 60 when I was born, and I certainly don't remember her with dark hair like this, and there are not a lot of pictures of it either. This doll is like a piece of my grandma's past, a part of her I can only imagine. I love it.