A Peep At The Pendleton's

Loving the LOVE

2012-02-15T10:25:00.001-08:00

I mentioned to my husband last night that I think Valentines is one of my favorite holidays, he agreed and said how there is kind of a special feeling in the air on Valentines. isn't there? I LOVE it. We had a great celebration as Lance treated me to flowers, white lilies that look and smell so beautiful, I actually got teared up as he pulled them out of the car for me, and after that he surprised me with a gift certificate to lululemon! And we went and spent it! My first purchase there ever. Man he is good to me.

My favorite part of the night was our conversation about LOVE and how each year these celebrations together get that much sweeter. And my second favorite part was the text messages from my family, just spreading a little love around. Thumbs up to whoever thought of this holiday of just celebrating LOVE. Its the most powerful source we have and I'm happy to spend a day recognizing that.

this week brings me these two and more

2012-01-30T12:11:00.000-08:00

I have things to look forward to this week, which of coarse, makes it a whole lot easier to get through. I will be performing with "Soul Escape" in Odyssey's spring shows starting this week and a little of next week. Any chance to perform, I'll take it. Couldn't be more excited. But, one of the most exciting things is being able to see my brother and his family as they come to Utah! The last two times they have been here, I have been out of town and haven't been able to see them. So this is an occasion to be celebrated. And it gets better, they actually get to see me dance! Ryan has been in Dental school and is now a dentist, so there hasn't been much free time on his hands to come out and watch. It just so happened that there trip out made perfect timing for the shows. I've been pumping myself up to see them by watching this video of my brother and his boy Owen. You'll see why I can't wait to see these guys....

God and art

2012-01-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of an office, my office, if you can believe that or not. This year brought me a new job, teaching a Jazz class at BYU. I am actually in charge of a letter grade that will permanently be seen on their college transcripts. It's crazy to me, and I'll admit to having feelings of being inadequate when I first started. But, I am happy for the things that come a long my way that set a little fear and make me question if I'm good enough to be who I am meant to be or do the job I'm meant to do. They push me to rely on God more. The more experiences that come my way like these make me realize more and more that I am nothing with out God, and any job done with God involved is a job extremely well done.

I am learning about courage, learning that I can't do thing alone and go through this life alone, I am much better with God and people's honorable advice. Why was I ever so silly to think I could do things on my own? I am learning to be more noble in acts of courage,which really takes ALOT of praying for me. I am learning to work, to really work with purpose and guidance. I am LEARNING all the things, not to be confused with I am all these things. I have much work to do, but am glad certain things are being brought to my attention.

Back to teaching at BYU, I am loving it, actually. After getting over the feelings of being inadequate, I am loving being able to teach with the head start of a prayer in class, to share the gospel as it relates to the art of dance. It is so unbelievably connected to God. Dance is a place where my testimony and love for God has grown enormous amounts, and where I've felt God's love in enormous amounts. I love be able to share my testimony freely in class, it always makes for a better class when the spirit is there. Today I shared with them a piece of an article I got from my culinary/google friend, Melissa Caress. It's called, "The Gospel Vision of the Arts" by Spencer W. Kimball. I loved this.......

"Take a Nicodemus and put Joseph Smith’s spirit in him, and what do you have? Take a da Vinci or a Michelangelo or a Shakespeare and give him a total knowledge of the plan of salvation of God and personal revelation and cleanse him, and then take a look at the statues he will carve and the murals he will paint and the masterpieces he will produce. Take a Handel with his purposeful effort, his superb talent, his earnest desire to properly depict the story, and give him inward vision of the whole true story and revelation, and what a master you have!

The architect Daniel H. Burnham said:
Make no little plans; they have no magic [there] to stir men’s blood
And probably themselves will not be realized.
Make big plans; aim high and hope and work,
Remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die,
But long after we are gone,
Will be a living thing,
Asserting itself with ever-growing insistency.
Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things
That would stagger us.
Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty.

We must recognize that excellence and quality are a reflection of how we feel about ourselves and about life and about God. If we don’t care much about these basic things, then such not caring carries over into the work we do, and our work becomes shabby and shoddy.

Real craftsmanship, regardless of the skill involved, reflects real caring, and real caring reflects our attitude about ourselves, about our fellowmen, and about life."

And finally the new year...

2012-01-12T08:49:00.000-08:00

This new year started out with a fantastic belated birthday dinner from the one most fit to do so, my "culinary friend" Melissa Caress. She went above and beyond with a flank steak and one of the best chicken dishes I've ever had. I've been to many f her dinners and this one had to be my favorite (probably because it was mine and probably because her cooking skills are insane!) I shared it with a few friends and soaked up every second of it.

Then, lance and I had our new year goal setting dinner, which didn't even come close to the previous dinner, but at least we set some goals. I do love the feeling of planning my future with Lance. I like when we are working together to make things happen in our lives, and the new year is a great time to evaluate where we're at and recommit to each other with new and old things. Our goal quote this year was from Joseph B. Worthlin. It says, "I urge you to examine your life. Determine where you are and what you need to do to be the kind of person you want to be. Create inspiring goals that fire your imagination and create excitement in your heart. And keep your eye on them. Work constantly towards achieving them." simple, true and inspiring. Hopefully this year we'll keep examining our lives and do what we need and be determined to get ourselves where we want to be. I'm hoping for a good year like that.

holidays part 3: NY EXPLORING

2012-01-09T21:01:00.000-08:00

Lance and I came back from this trip feeling like we know New York now. We learned all the different districts and we both agree the west village is kind of our favorite. First thing was first on our trip, we got ourselves week unlimited subway passes, and by the end of the week we were going in and out of the subway like we owned place. Except for the one time we got yelled at for going in the wrong way and wanting to come back out. But, we forgot about that by now.

We went outside of the city to Long Island city, I guess it's a new upcoming place there. It gave us a pretty view of the city and we even got to go to the cafe where they film "Gossip Girl" It's called Communitea. I don't watch gossip girl, so I wasn't very startstruck, but I was amazed at their hot chocolate! I would choose to film there just for that.

South Street Seaport, was lovely. It takes you out of the city and kind of gives you a San Fran feel. There's cute little shops and a great old ink printing shop that I absolutely loved. There's a tkts here too, so if the time square line is too crazy, go here. We got tickets to "How To Succeed in Business" So good! Harry Potter played a wonderful lead role.

Lance couldn't wait to get to Grand Central Station o see the new Apple store there. And it was AMAZING! It's half of the whole second level of Grand Central. You don't even really feel like your in a store. Pretty brilliant idea.

We took a few favorite walks, one being the High Line, which is in the meat district, and another being the promenade, gives you a pretty view of the city. The High Line was an old railroad track before they got the subways. They've kept the tracks and made it into this beautiful walk with lots of surprises through it and a unique view of the city. You are walking kind of down the mid line of the building and above the streets. I hear in the summer it's beautiful with all the blossoms and greenery.

This was our view from walking the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights. It was quite a romantic view at night.

Chelsea Market was an adorable little shopping place in the meat district part of town. I loved the little place.

And of coarse Radio City!! The Rockette show was classic and a wonderful way to get into the Christmas spirit. Natalie, our friend the Rockette, gave us a backstage tour afterwards. It was so neat! I have some cool pics from it, but they are all on Lances Phone and thats just too much work to transfer them over.

The Sienfield Restaurant!! We walked through Columbia University and then came here.

And can you believe we even did more? I'm just sick of putting pictures up and feel this post is getting too long. We have all these great memories thanks to John Boy, the best hostess and tour guide ever. Thank you John Boy!!!

holidays part 2: NY EATING!!!

2012-01-06T11:07:00.000-08:00

Since we were lucky enough to be touring around with a local, we went to some real NY treasures spots in the food treasure box, if there is one, why isn't there one? That's one of my favorite things to do on a vacation- eat good food! I know its been a good memorable trip when I'm back at home craving something I ate while I was away. And right now I am craving tacos. All kinds of mini delicious little tacos. John Boy's apartment was in Brooklyn, and as we walked to the subway, we would stop and eat these AMAZING tacos at Gueros. A guy from Texas owned the place and has created an art with these tacos. They are little corn-like tortillias, only $2.99 each and so many varieties- shrimp, (best shrimp taco I've ever had) breakfast tacos, sausage tacos, braised beef tacos, chicken, etc etc..... and they were all delicious. Thank Guero's, for making something I crave about once a week and can't have....

I had an amazing Mac and Cheese at Delicatessen, a restaurant that makes all kinds of mac and cheese.

and of coarse the Shake Shack hamburger and fires!!! My very first time!! I crave this as well. Hands down the best hamburger I've ever had..... hands down!

A peanut butter and jelly cake at the Cup Cake Bake Shop. Sounds crazy? Tastes crazy good.

If you are looking for good cheap sushi in the city, go to the east villiage. There is about 5 sushi restaurants on each street. No kidding. And Jebon was SO good!

Ruby Foo's is a good Asian restaurant if you feel like a little Time Square meal time. We celebrated my dear friend Natalie's b-day there. So happy our trip fell on her birthday. She is living it up in NY with an incredible job, being a Rockette! So proud of her. We met up with a few friends for her b-day dinner and it was oh so good to see them all. We even did a little tree seeing at the Rockefeller center, with desserts at Magnolia Bakery, a must! I was introduced to the fantastic banana pudding. So yummy!

And the very very BEST is saved for Last!! I am in love with this place! It's called Pastis. It's atmosphere is like a french bistro and just invites you to sit comfortably and enjoy a meal there, it's food is naturally fantastically French. John Boy does the reservations for this restaurant, and what a good in he was this day. They all know and love him there, so they reserved us a seat right next to Meg Ryan and John Mellencamp. We were so excited! We sat down and acted cool. But then, in walks Maria Shriver and her two daughters!! This was way too good! So we had to do it, we had to be those people that pretended they were taking pictures of each other, but then move the camera over just enough to get the famous person in. We just had to. I could even hear Meg Ryan's voice, I was starstruck. Later we found out John Mccain's daughter was sitting on the other side of us as well! We were in a triangle on famousness...... a trifecta! We sure looked out of place, they were all getting up and talking to each other. No one came over and talked to us, we just took pictures of it all. But even if they weren't there, like Lance always says, "The food alone was worth the trip" It was. The restaurant was exquisite. A definite place to go back to whenever we get the chance.

holidays part 1

2012-01-05T10:14:00.000-08:00

I'm already backed up this new year, can't be a good start. Why is it already January? And why am I already back to real life? A trip can kind of spoil you too much to where thinking of going back to work seems like a downer. But it's not, and I am glad to be back making something of myself. For now, I'll just live through my pictures and wonder when the next vacation is and work really hard until then. And I definitely need to get to posting Christmas, so here it is, our time out in Florida with my family. I even made a video of our Christmas WITH music. I'm pretty proud of myself. I've been making the videos off the iphone app ReelDirector and it's been pretty great and pretty easy to make. In this video you will see our holidays, my Dad's signature drum stick moves when he drives, (a classic) how downtown Celebration (where my parents live) makes snow, and you'll also see, at the end of the video, a surprise from my little brother Ty and his presentation of the Christmas wreath. Anyways, Merry (late) Christmas!!

A clip into our trip.... the start of our holidays

2012-01-01T20:44:00.000-08:00

While we are in our first day of the new year, I'm still remembering last year, according to my blog and journaling. We ended this year with a great trip to NYC and stayed with a generous host of a friend named John Boy. He was our tour guide, photographer/videographer and entertainer. He was way to nice to us and made our trip pretty fantastic! Lance may or may not have gotten sick of all the we were taking, but I loved capturing the trip in film. Here is a daybuet of my very first film I've ever put together....

More holiday post to come later, even if it is the new year.

And a happy birthday to you

2011-12-31T12:24:00.001-08:00

I am a new years eve baby that was hoped to be a new years day baby. My mom and dad were hosting a new year party when I decided to start making my way here. They rushed to the hospital and my mom begged the doctor to wait for 12 am to deliver me, but he had new years party plans to get back to and delivered me around 11:30 pm. My mom is still mad at the doctor for that. So, if we go by the minutes, I'm not a year older yet. Until then I'll enjoy this day with breakfast at communal, salt lake shopping and dinner tonight. And at 11:30 it's official, I'm one year older and wiser too.

A traditional Christmas

2011-12-20T18:49:00.001-08:00

I'm getting more and more attached to traditions the older I get. I hope to never tire of them,cause sometimes, it seems like a lot of work to keep them coming every year. Every Christmas eve, I have an ornament for Lance to open and I try to creatively attach aa favorite picture from the year, that sometimes turns out cute, and sometimes not so cute. Then, a tradition that I stole from a friends family (thanks for the idea), I write a poem that summarizes events that happened that year.

This year I found the years ornament at the Christmas market at Union Square in New York. I'm in love with it, it will be a piece on our tree to remember our 4th year of marriage, 4th Christmas together, and our fantastic trip to the big city as our Christmas to each other this year. Can't wait to see it on our tree. But I still have a few things to do, like the picture and the poem, before it's ready for gifting.

Hope your all working to get some traditions ready for the holidays. I'm always up for some new traditional ideas if you have any to add. Merry Christmas!

Dance to "jassy" Christmas songs

2011-12-14T22:10:00.001-08:00

We had a little Christmas party at our home for our primary kids, only because they're really cute and we feel particularly attached to this group for some reason. The Sunday before, we let them write down ideas and these were Ella's. It was way too cute. My favorite had to be, "dance to jassy Christmas songs" and so we had to do it, and we did, for one minute to spread Christmas cheer, and they loved it. I love seeing how magical Christmas is to little kids. It's magic is all coming back to me this year but in a new and more real way. I've always known the true meaning, and have always enjoyed celebrating it, but this year it seems to sit in my soul a little deeper. I'm excited about the peace that Christ has and is bringing to my life and the love that I feel when I notice His small, but very thought out ways of guiding my life. I love this season and I do hope that I'm filled with so much of this Christ-like spirit that I want to break out in dance when I hear "jassy Christmas songs" and I wouldn't be sad if this wonderful feeling kept going all year long.

Filling the dishwasher with mugs

2011-12-08T21:49:00.001-08:00

I always look forward to seeing the top drawer of the dishwasher filled with mugs. It makes my house feel cozy for some reason. Maybe because I know those mugs were filled with hot chocolate, which also means I was probably cuddled on the couch in a cozy blanket holding that mug full of hot chocolate, and if we want to be really realistic, I was probably watching a good movie too. That's a wonderful image to me. Oh the things I look forward to this cold winter season, hot chocolate and movies has got to be one of my favorites. I remember being introduced to hot chocolate and toast when lance and I were dating, it was weird to me- we sat down to watch a movie and lance went into the kitchen and brought back hot chocolate made from milk and chocolate syrup (I'm a definite stephen's hot chocolate fan), and then a stack, like 5 pieces, of white buttered toast cut in halves. Why the stack of toast?! And then he grabbed a piece and dipped it in the hot chocolate! And without any explanation! I stared at him for a while and just watched in puzzlement. Then, without a question about how I go about this, I just went about it and grabbed a piece of toast, dipped, and ate. It was surprisingly good and made for a good memory and tradition. I can't say we have hot chocolate and stacks of toast all the time, in fact, we haven't had it for a while, but when I think about it I smile, it's the same smile that comes when I see rows of mugs in my dishwasher. Enjoy your hot chocolate this season.

{picture of our first hot chocolate of the season}

Cheers to winter!

Thanksgiving and gathering my thoughts

2011-12-02T10:18:00.001-08:00

I read my last post and realized how scattered my thoughts were. I was just way too excited about the talk I had read. So let me make sense of it- This thanksgiving I am thankful for my marriage and happiness. I have a good amount of happiness that surrounds me and I am really grateful for that. Someone has said, "it's good to have money and the things money can buy-but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure we haven't lost the things money can't buy." This thanksgiving I set my sights on what brings me happiness with out money, and the thought of it all brings me peace, contentment, gratitude and leaves me feeling satisfied with my life. I've learned that what I don't need never satisfies, so I'm sticking to those things that do satisfy me. We had a great thanksgiving with ALL the Pendleton's. Couldn't have been better.

Cade brought his own homemade center piece all the way from home for the kids table this year. He was so excited to light it, I thought it was the cutest thing.

soccer game in the afternoon to work up our appetite. I would suggest having a separate game of adults and kids next year. We tried to play together and the kids had a few bruises by the end. whoops!

I perfected the rolls this year! Came out of the oven looking a lot better than last year.

thoughts of gratitude and contentment

2011-11-22T10:33:00.001-08:00

Last weekend my cullinary friend and I put together a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for friends. We were able to use a beautiful home with a table that sat 20! Ya, one looooonnng table that sat all 20 of us. The night went well, all of our cooking and preparations came together and we all enjoyed a full belly afterwards. After I thought it might have ruined Thanksgiving for me, I've already tasted that good Thanksgiving food and now I won't be as excited for it! But, it actually has done the opposite, just as it was a PRE-Thanksgiving dinner it has actually helped PREpare me for the holiday in turning my thoughts to what I am grateful for and wanting to listen to some talks on gratitude to have older and wiser people remind me of ways to be grateful. I came across this talk by Mary Ellen Edmunds, if you haven't heard her speak, you should, she has a wonderful view on life and a fantastic sense of humor. I am grateful for her words that I listened to today as I cleaned my kitchen. I was reminded about being content and many things I am grateful for that I haven't thanked my Heavenly Father for in a while. I loved the scriptures she shared....

But godliness with contentment is great gain.

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. [1 Timothy 6:6–8]

This scripture was in the talk and it got me thinking, I did come to this earth with nothing, I started out my adulthood with nothing,but now I have a husband, a home, a job that pays for bills and food, clothes to wear, I'm sitting at a kitchen table and writing on a computer that I bought on my own with the blessing of work and money that allowed me to get it, I could go on. If I look at where I'm at now from the stand point of coming here with nothing, boy do I have a lot to be grateful for. I was grateful for that thought and mary's talk that lead me to it. Here are some more words and quotes from her talk......

Your success and happiness lie in you. External conditions are the accidents of life, its outer trap- pings. [The Faith of Helen Keller, ed. Jack Belck (Kansas City, Missouri: Hallmark Editions, 1967), p. 25]

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. [p. 42]

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. [p. 24]

For the body is not one member, but many.

If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?

If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? . . .

And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. [1 Corinthians 12:14–17, 21]

"Eyes need hands, and heads need feet. We all need each other very, very much. So if you’re a hand, be a good hand, reaching out to others! If you’re an eye, be an eye single to God’s glory— to doing what’s right! Be an ear willing to hear and feel the whisperings of God’s Holy Spirit! Be a fantastic foot. Be a wise head. Be a happy heart!" {Mary Ellen Edmunds}

"I’m suggesting that we seek to experience contentment while we work toward godli- ness—that we remember and appreciate all that God and Christ have done for us. Look inward—at what you have, and at what you need. You will find God waiting to bless you. He keeps all his promises. I’m convinced he wants to bless us with comfort and peace and joy and contentment. He wants to visit us in our sorrow and join us in our happiness. Let him do that for you during this Thanksgiving season, will you?"(Mary Ellend Edmunds, Godliness with contentment}

I am challenging myself this Thanksgiving to say my prayers that day with only words of gratitude, i am sure to find many as we all will. I am grateful for this holiday and being reminded each year to be more grateful, more content, and more God-like.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

In training

2011-11-21T14:37:00.001-08:00

The past three weeks my brain has been growing, it hurt as I tried to shove a whole load of new information in it, so it better have grown. I've been in a course for Pilates certification and have learned so much. For one, you have to know the whole anatomy of the body, which is so interesting to me, seeing how brilliantly our bodies are put together. And second, you have to learn and know the correct form and ways to move through Pilates movement, as well as which muscles are working and how they are working. Third, (if you even believe there is more) you have to be able to do a posture analysis and put together work outs for different types of postures. It was ALOT. But I loved it! It was humbling to feel completely new at something and struggle a little bit. I had to, and still am, finding my confidence in something I've never done before. It was so good for me. The hardest part of the course was actually trying to teach each other the Pilates work outs. We had some good laughs as a group. There is so much information to spit out for just one move, and we all struggled to find the right words. I couldn't have asked for a better group to do this course with, I had my good friend Lisa Benson and 8 other girls with some dynamic personalities that made for a fun mix. I'll miss these girls now that our course is over. I'm sure I'll be seeing them for some study time. I've got a lot of work to do in perfecting this new form of movement before I take the test. But I'm really excited about it, and that's all I could really ask for, something to be excited about and to work for. So as for me, I will be in training for the next little while.

It's starting

2011-11-16T14:21:00.001-08:00

This was a good sight to see as I pulled into the grocery store parking lot. It took me by surprise for some reason. It shouldn't have seeing that it's almost Thanksgiving. It's all over after Halloween, thanksgiving and Christmas pretty much run right into you after. Why did it seem like such a long wait for Christmas when I was little? I used to get up every morning and check my stocking, first thing, just seeing if Santa was going to surprise me early cause I just couldn't wait. Now, I'm lucky to get anything bought to put in Lance's stocking before the day comes. Coming in fast or slow, I still love the holidays and enjoy every bit of it. Here's to the start of the 2011 holiday season.

A dance fix

2011-11-11T20:02:00.001-08:00

I'm addicted to dance. It's undeniably the truth. I was a little nervous to take a break from dancing so consistently this year, but I've been blessed to have a few "dance fixes" come my way. It's been just the right amount to keep me sane, but not too bombarded to overwhelm me. I'm thanking my Heavenly Father for this. I'm amazed at how well he knows this dance-being-soul of mine. And even though these things might not have any eternal worth, I'm sure glad He cares enough about my happiness to provide me with things like dance in this life.

Lately I did a job for Nuskin, which was their big national convention. Big as in 18,000 people big. Who knew Nuskin was that big of a company?! And especially in Asia! There were so many Asians, all very stylish with the men in the nicest suits. The performance was located at the Energy Solutions Center and the stage they set up was incredible. It was a very fun and quick job. And this week, I was able to dance for a good friend named Christian Denice who is starting his own company that is very brilliantly designed by him. I wish him the best of luck in his pursuits. He is indeed talented enough. Loved being able to get my "fix" in these ways. Felt good to be dancing.

We had tv screens backstage to see the people coming in. People were CRAZY!

The Nuskin stage

The little ones

2011-11-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

Lance and I teach the 6-7 year olds at our church. We've absolutely loved it and have fallen in love with the kids in our class. We have had some fun stories to tell out of this group of kids. My favorite is actually seeing Lance teach them. He is a great teacher, but the best is seeing what kind of things he'll come up with to teach them a lesson and keep their attention in class. He's made our class into a movie with actors and directors, had them do their best robot move to answer a question, and created our tiger stuffed animal named Tyrone (We thought of that name in the spurr of a moment) into a real live animal they can't wait to see every Sunday. They think he is the funniest, and because he is the funny one, I have to be the discipliner. But I'm ok with that, I'd rather watch and laugh. Although there is a lot of laughing, there is a lot of learning from these little ones. They know SO much! We always joke that instead of having them just answer a question, we have them spell it backwards. That's how smart they are. Their knowledge of scripture stories and of Christ is outstanding and inspiring. No wonder we are told to be more like a child in the scriptures.

"Let us not underestimate the capacity and potential power of today's children to perpetuate righteousness. No group of people in the church is as receptive to the truth, both in efficiency of leaning and with the greatest degree of retention." -Michaelene P. Grassil, "Behold your little ones'," Ensign, Nov. 1992,92

And a card from Ella, given to us this Sunday. (The last page is my favorite, its the second picture)

What October meant

2011-11-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

This year was a new kind of October for me. Usually, October means doing Thriller, getting into "show-mode" and putting on lots of make-up every night, which usually meant my face breaking out. But this year wasn't filled with any of that, instead, it was filled with some old and new things and actually turned out to be quite meaningful. In really little ways, that is.

2011's October meant.....

•making my first ever homemade apple pie
•learning from wise and inspired leaders
•seeing the fist sign of leaves changing
•TRYING my best to recover a chair cushion, but my best wasn't good enough, YET. Going to try again. (maybe November will mean conquering this)
•having a Halloween breakfast with my lifetime friends and seeing them mother their extremely cute kids and get them to try and play a game. Priceless.
•dressing up in Lance's football stuff just to get 50% off a facial.
•making my own Halloween plates
•giving Halloween candy to the neighbor kids.
•loving the kids meal buckets at McDonalds.
•going trick-or-treating with our nephew
•lance and I celebrating a Halloween together and laughing a lot.

This little robot couldn't even grab his candy out of our bucket. Poor guy.

The apple pie actually turned out pretty dang good, unlike some of my other October endeavors. Take that October!

3D glasses and a creepy little chucky

2011-11-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween night ended with this little guy.... creepy! We actually laughed really hard when we saw him as we came running to the end of a haunted house, he was waiting for us outside of it, he's so tiny and creepy that it made us laugh really hard. I would suggest going to a haunted house with as less people as you can. It was just Lance and I and we both jumped out of our britches a few times. There is only you two and you can only hide behind one person, it's scary! I'll admit when I saw an emergency exit, I just about took it and bowed out, but I stuck it out. It was a great way to end the night, actually Twilight on t.v. ended our night, just about as good. Hope you got scared this Halloween.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T19:11:00.001-07:00

It's been 7 years to this exact day that Lance and I met. 7 good years, that is.

October brings birthdays

2011-10-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

I love birthdays, and October has brought two special birthdays to celebrate, my big brother Ryan and Culinary friend Melissa. Two wonderfully great people. The only sad thing is to have only been able to celebrate, in person, with one of them. Seeing as my brother lives across the country, it makes enjoying his birthday with him a little difficult. It was a big birthday for him too, 30 years. His wife made it a special one, creating a book with written messages and letters from all who know and love him. My letter was accompanied with this......

He broke my collar bone in this playground, holding me by my legs upside down and just letting me go. In his defense he thought I had my hands down. But I am proud of what my big brother, braking my collar bone and all, he's become a Father of two cute and very energetic boys as well as a dentist. Who wouldn't want to celebrate those 30 years? Congratulations Ryan. Wish we were there to celebrate with you.

And for Melissa, also very well known as my culinary friend, her friendship deserves even more than an outside party with food and lights. She is a great and wonderful friend. We first became friends because we were visiting teaching companions. I always heard stories of people becoming good friends with their companions and thought that was something outside of my life, but I was wrong and glad I am. Melissa puts so much value into her friendships and life. She's also extremely knowledgable about pretty much everything. She's like a google, I'll ask her opinion or advice on any topic and she pulls out all the info you would hope to know, what has the best value, what books talk on that subject, and after I feel like I've been brightened with new insight. A wonderful friend to have around. Here's to you Missy......

Old and new things

2011-10-18T07:53:00.001-07:00

This weekend lance and I were appetitely adventurous. We tried out two new restaurants down town Provo. I was a little more attached to one over the other. It had formally been the flower basket, where I worked the first year Lance and I were married. I loved that place. I met some wonderful girls, tried and tried to master florals but never did, accidentally charged an old ladies credit card twice and she was NOT very happy about it, actually learned and was ok at making coursages, and really enjoyed the cute clothes, jewlery, etc. Luckily the store is still alive, but sadly it is not in that house anymore. I'll admit it was hard to see them paint the charming white with royal blue trim Victorian house a nasty reddish-orange color, but I am not sad to have a new dish to enjoy. It's now a restaurant called the Banana Leaf. It's authentic Singapore food and nothing short of yummy. Lance and I sat right by the fire place and enjoyed fresh avocado juice,which is really like a milk shake, a potatoe soup appetizer that they bring out instead of bread, and two other delicious dishes. We were full and even had some take home for left overs. Sad to say good bye to the old but I welcome in the new.

The Old:

The new:

back from the sun

2011-10-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

We're back! And we had the best time. For me, it was fun to get to know all the men that Lance works with and their wonderful wives. They are such great people, and a really fun group. Doesn't seem so bad to work with them for Lance. The house boat was beautiful, big enough to accompany about 20 people comfortably. Lance and I both learned how to surf behind the boat, which is all we really did on the boat besides a little tubing, which I personally love. One of the most memorable parts was a hike through some slot canyons. We hiked in about a mile and then swam through some real stinky and freezing cold water only to find a baby rattle snake in a cove we had to walk around. I'll admit I was really scared for a second, then we just walked right around him and he stayed put thank goodness. We played horse shoes, did excercise classes on the beach, ate amazing food, played speed uno, and relaxed. Nothing could've been better. The weather was great, all except the last day. We woke up in the night to a crazy wind storm, about 50mph winds, no kidding. Luckily we were going home the next day cause the weather took a downfall after that. The drive home was a little crazy for me, I fell asleep to sunshine and woke up to SNOW! I hated that! Where went Fall? Good thing Fall seems to be back, winter just barged in for a day. We hope to have another trip to Lake Powell next summer. I think it's pretty much the best summer trip you can do.

food and a great new blog

2011-09-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

Monday I was feeling the need to get the house smelling like good things were happening. And by good things I mean good food. So, I made my favorite bread. I grind the wheat and everything. I learned that the quicker you cook the wheat after it's freshly ground, the more nutrients you get out of it. So this bread has got to be full of nutrients. I love the way your house smells when you have bread in the oven. Makes your house feel like a good one.

And one of the greatest purchases I've made recently was this cook book by Alice Waters. I always love a good deal and the deal couldn't have been better buying it from Borders which is sadly going out of business. I'm really sad about them closing actually. They had Seattle's Best Coffee in there and they have THE BEST hot chocolate you'll ever taste. Anyways, Alice Waters, great cook book with Simple and healthy ingredients. The two things I've made from her book and been very refreshing and yummy. I would suggest getting it.

I made her Spaghettini with parsley, garlic and olive oil. Then, I improvised on my own and it actually turned out great! Sometimes I get little ideas in my head when I am cooking and it can either good or really bad. Once I could only take one bite of something I tried to creatively make. This one actually turned out to what might be a staple in my recipes. It was pretty simple, all I did was add feta cheese to the pasta and then roasted a tomato in the oven, kind of like how I do my tomato sauce

and plopped it right on top of the spaghettini. I slurped it right up. But, I have the best news EVER! My friend Janvier Labarbera has started a blog with all her food and creative things that she does. She is extremely inspiring. She's always up to some kind of project. She does everything herself and all the research to make sure she is getting all the important and good information she needs to do whatever she is doing the best way possible. Go here if you want to check it out. There will be some good stuff on it.

ya...... it's called the love fern

2011-09-16T07:31:00.000-07:00

We admittedly call this plant "the love fern" sometimes. Lance's parents gave it to me about four months before we got married, which means this plant has been in our family for over four years. He's grown too big for his pot and was starting to look squished, so we re-located him to another pot that should be a lot more comfortable. I am kind of worried about him, I know I talk about it like it's a real person, but it's just been around so long it might as well be a real person, he is not looking so good and it makes me really sad. Don't want to loose the little guy. If anyone, which I don't expect anyone to be reading this, but if there are any plant tips anyone knows of that could help out, I would greatly appreciate it.

last little bits of summer days

2011-09-13T09:43:00.001-07:00

The air is slowly starting to feel more like fall. I am finding myself clinging onto every last bit of the summer days, being outside as much as possible. As much as I am holding onto summer, I am still so excited about fall; the layering of clothes, crisp air, beautiful coloring on the mountains and trees, leaves filling up my yard, crunching the leaves with my feet, (that's always one of my favorites, I'll go out of my way to crunch a leaf) and pumpkins showing up in the grocery stores. But before fall comes, here's the last bits of summer....
LA with sister Kaelie. Going to The Griddle and letting the waiter surprise us with any pancake, we were so excited to see what we'd get and holy moly! It was amazing and huge! We maybe ate a third of it and didn't want anything sweet the rest of the day. It was Kaelie's last day in LA and we enjoyed every second of it.

Movies in the park at night at Rock Canyon Park. We showed up a little before the movie with two surprise, one being how many people were there for it! It was crazy!, And the second, walking up and almost all the people, there had to be a over 100, playing the dance game on the wii. It was so funny. The best was the Russian one, everyone got into it, and a couple of them won popcorn for it.

Did I mention I totally sprained my foot right before our last show with Soul Escape? Ya, I was running out to my car to go to the Theatre and stepped in a dirt whole where a bush used to be. It was sturdy, just didn't have very much motion in it. I was able to perform, just not point my foot very well which probably looked a little ugly at times. But, the best part of our last show was Justin, the director, had to fill in for some people who couldn't be there and was actually dancing with us in the show. He looked INCREDIBLE!! and needs to be dancing more. Miss all those Soul Escape people.

Hiking the Y! I don't think I've done this since I was little. Lance and I woke up early memorial day, along with ALOT of other people who had the same idea, and hiked the Y. It was harder than I expected! We had to take a break a few times, but we made it, and rewarded ourselves with Magelby's fresh breakfast.

Swiss days! I headed up with friends Michelle and Kari Saturday. I think I've been to Swiss days when I was really little, but haven't been since. It's a darling little festival. We didn't buy anything except for food. And that's all we did, walk around and eat, then find something else to eat and go to our shaded grass area and eat some more. My favorites were the raspberry pie, the crust was fantastic, and the lemon yodels. Who knew you could stick a candy cane in a lemon and have it for a little treat. We had to try it out seeing everyone walk around with one.

And that's kind of the last of my summer. But it's not really over yet. Lance and I have a Lake Powell trip planned with his work and I CAN"T WAIT for it! I am in love with boating. After that, it'll be sad to really say good bye to summer.

In memory

2011-09-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

I was unexpectedly moved by the radio station yesterday as I sat in the grocery store parking lot. They played a song tribute to the ten year anniversary of 9/11. Have you heard it?! Through out the song there is glimpses of kids talking to their Dad's who died in the tragic event of this day. It's heartbreaking! And I can't believe I was crying in the grocery store parking lot! I had to wait and compose myself before I stepped out to grocery shop. My heart hurts for those people who lossed some one that day.

I remember that day, I was in high school and was getting ready for the day while listening to the radio as they announced the first plane crash. As I went to school, people stood in the hall ways quiet with all attention to the TV. This never happens in a high school hallways, it was a weird feeling to walk into that, as I was late for school like most days. We finished out the day with most of our teachers giving up their planned lessons for us to watch the news and be informed on what was going on. Later as I got home, I walked in the front door to see my little brother Tyler, about 8 years old, sitting on our stairs crying to my mom. My mom hugged him and mouthed to me that he felt bad about all the people who died today. It was the sweetest and most heartbreaking moment. I knew this was a day to remember and write down, which I don't think I ever did, so I am doing it now. It is one of those days in your life you can always remember where you were and how it felt. Every year I am in awe watching the TV as they play videos that were captured that day, and listening to the people who lived right in and through the event. I love seeing the love and respect that our entire country has for all the people who were and are effected directly by this day, those who sacrificed their lives for others that day, and those who have fought in the war after that day. This day has a quiet, reverent respect to it, I love that. And I love this land in which we live.

mornings lately

2011-09-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

This is what my mornings are looking like lately, and I am absolutely in love with them. I put on my comfy slippers, stay in my pj's, wrap my hair on top of my head, grab the essential; computer, journal, phone, and maybe an extra book, and head outside. This is a new place for me. Lance recently, for our anniversary, which I still have to write about, made our backyard into a beautiful place. It makes me so happy! I feel like our little home just got extended. What is it about sitting outside instead of inside? It's just better. This morning I read for a little and now have turned on pandora with Ray LaMontagne as my station for a little background music as I blog and journal a little bit. It doesn't get better than that. I am much happier the rest of the day when I get a little of prayer and me time to start it out. It provides for a good spirit.

I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.

Henry David Thoreau

something i look forward to...

2011-09-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

If I ever happen to have in my possession fresh garden tomatoes, it's a must to make this tomato sauce. It makes the most wonderfully fresh tasting pasta. I make as much as I can and put some in the freezer and I am always excited about it when I pull it out of their for a meal. I'll make get spaghetti noodles and fresh veggies and then pour this sauce all over it! I think it's probably my favorite meal.....ever.

All you need to do to make this is: *cut up the fresh tomatoes in big thick slices and put them in a backing dish (I like to use a variety of tomatoes, it gives it a more interesting flavor, interesting in a good way.) *cut up about half an onion or more if you really like onions *have fresh or dried basil to sprinkle over *put a little oregano *lots of finely chopped garlic *a little salt and pepper *then pour in some chicken broth and Sherry cooking wine till the liquid almost cover tomatoes. I use more chicken broth than Sherry. And, I put a little red wine vinegar in it this time, just a little compared to the other liquids. *bake at 400 until tomatoes will kind of fall apart. *I mash the tomatoes with a potato masher first and then, with a hand blender, blend just a tiny tiny bit. And then I pretty much drink up the sauce. it's so good.

steaks and tanks

2011-08-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was the perfect summer saturday. I left the day asking myself, "What more could you want?" I don't know? Nothing! Lance and I headed up to SLC for the farmer's market, I had never been and was dying to go. On the way, a few friends called and wanted to meet for breakfast, sure! We even tried out a new place for me, which I love doing, called Finn's Diner. So cute, and so good. We got the eggs benedict.... mmmm. Then the farmers market where we met some more friends. A day with friends, thats always good. Then, we decided to go swimming... why not? It was Saturday. So We ran over to the gateway and I got a new swim suit and glasses for under $20.00 at Gap. Get's me excited to get deals. And swimming, I always love it. I feel like a little kid again, specially when I swim under the water. After that, who wants to BBQ? who wouldn't? So we did. We got some steaks while the boys all stayed in there tanks from pool time. And that's how we ended the night... steaks and tanks. plus some smores for dessert. The best saturday in the summer yet.

Utah...... what a great place to be...... you can go any where, you can do anything....... this is the place!

2011-08-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

I remember when Utah had it's 100th anniversary, I was in elementary school and we learned the "Utah" song. I sang that song with so much Utah pride. All that pride came back as we had the LA crew come to my home town for a week to perform our show. I had something planned for every day, maybe a little too much planned, I was just really excited. I don't know if they would sing the Utah song as loud and prideful as I would, but I think they had a good time.

THE EVENTS: *Cafe Rio, it's a must if you haven't been. *Rachel's birthday party at my house, she is on the company and it was her birthday the day of our first show here. *Sundance for breakfast, they loved it and all bought Sundance sweatshirts. *Park City, a little shopping and the Alpine slide, some of them chickened out though. *Magelby's breakfast *a girls night of painting nails *River Woods shopping *An outside dinner and pit fire at our house! This was the best night and ended the week perfectly!

And that was it. The end of a great last week together. We enjoyed every second of it and Lance and I both admit our house feels a little boring with out the crowd here. We miss them already.

A show in pictures.

2011-08-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

There it is, in still photos. I always love seeing what the camera catches. I think this was Justin Giles best creation yet. I was honored to be a part of it. The pictures are a compilation of our Chicago, LA, and Utah shows. We did it! We made it through a long and hard 3 months. It was quite the journey filled with ups and downs, but mostly ups of coarse.

Teaching.

2011-08-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Teaching is something I love, there is no greater feeling than teaching something and seeing it carried through in the beauty of someone else, I love that. But teaching can also stress me out, make me cry, give me anxiety, and feel super insecure. I still would deal with all those awful feelings to teach though. This was the third year I was teaching at the Soul Escape intensive. If anything has brought those awful feelings, it has been teaching at this. There are about 100 kids from all over the country and they are ridiculously talented, that's not intimidating at all. And not only did I have to teach, but I also set a piece on them that would be in their show. A stressful week for me. Every year when I am asked to do it, I am so tempted to say no, nut I know that it is a good challenge for me and that I would be selfish to say no just because it was scary for me. It always ends up being an extremely fulfilling experience and this year was no exception. I didn't teach anything new or brilliant, but I did develop a connection with the kids and that's about all I could ask for. I am so grateful for the kind of experiences that scare me to death, so I pray and pray and pray that I will be able to be sufficient, and then I feel a little extra help along the way. That is a wonderful feeling.

Our show was based around paintings, so naturally my piece had to have a painting to fit it. It also had to have a quote that went with the story of the piece. It made it a little more fun. The tiny picture, that I can't seem to figure out how to get bigger, is of them performing it. Then there is the real painting and the quote I used. The piece was about a boy replaying in his mind the moment he lost his love.

"One day you'll ask me which is more important, you or my life? I will say my life, & you'll walk away not knowing that you are my life"

Work and inspiration

2011-08-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

Soul Escape company puts on a workshop with kids from ages 12-25. They come and watch our show to start of the week and then the rest of the week is filled with classes from 8-3 and then rehearsals from 3-9 where we teach them and place them in parts of our show so at the end of the week, they have their own version of our show to put on. Needless to say, it is a crazy week! We are working straight form 8 am to about 10 pm and then spending the night making sure we are prepared for the next day. It is probably the most fulfilling teaching event I have ever been a part of. This year was special, and everyone who has been involved with it for a few years agrees that it stands out more than any other year.

Having my little sister there, automatically made it special for me, but every single kid there had a great and positive effect on everyone as a whole. Each teacher that came into teach would comment on what a special environment it was there. The kids became extremely supportive of one another as the week went on, as well as developed their own personal form of movement and appreciated the dancer and artists that stood beside them. We cried almost every single day, we had inside jokes with the kids, we laughed and did stupid dance moves in front of each other, and even had a cheesy Soul Escape cheer. It was incredible.

We all agree that it was one life changing experience for all involved. The students empowered the teachers as much as we hoped to empower them. What a blessing to witness so many wonderfully talented dancers. I still am on a little of a high from this week and am motivated so positively to go out and do good with what talent I have. I'm slowly learning about work. It's hard, and sometimes intimidating and sometimes seems like this big mass in front of us that is unconquerable. Well, this week proved hard things can be done, and not only can they be done, but they can inspire us to go beyond that mass we once looked at in intimidation.

Kaelie and Justin Giles (the owner and founder of Soul Escape)

Forgot to mention my mom, dad, kaelie, AND aunt Wendy and cousin London all came to our show the first night of the workshop. So fun for me, I haven't seen my aunt or cousin in ages, and I really don't think they've ever seen me dance. It was a good reunion.

Proud teachers after the kids show

A proud sister after a long hard week of dance for this little one. She was one of the three youngest at this events. Props to her for getting through it.

Husband and Home

2011-08-22T00:17:00.000-07:00

This is my Husband grilling a late night dinner for 15 after a week long event of having 6 or more guests stay at our house. Not only did he grill our food, but as we got ready for a show, he set up lights on our side yard and created the most perfect atmosphere for my dreamed of, last dinner, with my Soul Escape company. Boy is he great.

I just finished up with a whirl wind of incredible events. My summer has been the busiest it has ever been, which naturally created some fantastic experiences, but also took me away from my husband a lot. That part is not fun. Everything is much more fulfilling with him around. But, being away and coming home, engrained a little bit more in my heart just how important my husband and home are to me.

I noticed myself having an amazing time out in LA, but also feeling empty at the same time. I would wake up in the mornings with an empty feeling realizing how filling my home environment and husband companionship fills me. Home, with all it's responsibilities, keeps me grounded in realizing the fundamentals about life. A Husband, and not just any husband, Lance, keeps me at peace and, in a good way, challenges my character and keeps me growing in the right direction.

Lance was a champ through all this craziness. He planned a "meet half way" get together in Vegas when I had a few days off, he flew out for the show in LA, he brought me home to some wonderful surprises. And, when he was out numbered 7 girls to 1 man at our house, he became the favorite of the house and the one everyone wanted to be around. I feel great amounts of love for this man and am so happy for those moments in our life together that remind me just how lucky I am.

late night rehearsals in the windy city

2011-07-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Our very first show was in Chicago, which is one of my favorite cities. We started with the late nights right away. Our flight landed around 10 p.m., we got to the hotel around 10:30 and got ready for our first rehearsal around 12 a.m. We were performing at a national competition, all the kids that are there competing take off a night and come see our show. Because we were performing there, we had to wait for all the competition stuff to get over before we could rehearse, hence the late night rehearsals. The first night we went till 3 a.m. then had to get up in the morning for class that started at 8 a.m. Needless to say, our schedule was crazy! I felt like I was in another country trying to get used to the time change. We would take huge long naps in the middle of the day to be up for the night rehearsals, and even now, I am having a hard time going to bed before 1 or 2 a.m.

It was all worth the craziness though. The show went surprisingly smooth, there were a lot of technical elements we were worried about and they all happened with out a problem. And dancing felt great!! It was our first of four shows together and we can't wait to get on to the other ones.

In the lobby BEFORE our rehearsal one night. Didn't expect to fall asleep. woops!

After the show, we had an after party of coarse. We were all starving! I ate everything they had, and maybe and seconds. It was my first time trying a dessert with Bri cheese and fruit. It was absolutely delicious. I had seconds of that too. I had a good time, but I'll admit, I just wanted to get back to the hotel room and sleep. We had an early morning flight, and then I was driving to Vegas to meet my man for a weekend!

And this was the pay off! I had an early flight back to LA, landed and jumped in the car to meet Lance in Vegas. Lance and I spent a few days by the pool, eating good food, and seeing Captain America. It was relaxing, rejuvenating, and to see my husband again. He planned this little get away and I couldn't have been more grateful for it.

In an RV

2011-07-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

It was my very first time in an RV.

It was not Lance's first time in an RV.

There is way too much food and treats to snack on in an RV.

We took turns sitting in between the captain and co-captain chair to see the view out the window of the RV

Cade entertained us with his ninja moves outside of the RV

Jack wore his elk hat (which i'm bummed I don't have a picture of) inside and outside of the RV

The girls, Kristin, Brittney, and I, talked and talked in the RV

Jason and Lance were the only ones who could drive the RV, and we didn't mind.

We saw big animals through the windows of our RV

We cooked meals and ate, alot, in the RV

We left the RV for hikes, and bike rides, and geyser seeing.

We made some real good dutch oven meals right outside the RV

We took showers, sometimes cold, sometimes hot, inside the RV

We drove a lot in the RV and tried to think of more card games than the ones we could remember.

And after it was all said and done, we cleaned that RV from the floors to the ceiling.

My first time in an RV was definitely memorable

from rehearsal to show

2011-07-15T10:09:00.001-07:00

I'm out in LA right now. Life has been a little crazy lately, in Idaho teaching, home for aday, Michigan teaching, home for less than a day, in Yellowstone with Lance and his brothers family (so fun I'll post about it later), then home for three days and now in LA. So I've been on the road a little. I drove out here this time. I actually love a long drive, don't mind it at all. I collect a lot of my thoughts and catch up with family and friends on the phone with a passing scenery out the window, not a bad way to spend some time. The drive was eventful with a vegas shopping stop, getting pulled over cause I didn't realize I had made it into the California state and was on my phone, I got a warning though (phew!), then as soon as I got here, I locked my keys in the car. Thank goodness for triple A. They literally were at my car in 5 min. of my call.

Anyways, I'm here now and things are good, except for missing Lance and home a little. We are rehearsing like crazy, for real crazy, like one night we finished at 3 a.m. Our first show is in a week in Chicago. I found this video on youtube that I thought was pretty neat. It's of our last years show and it captures our rehearsal, tech rehearsal and then the real deal. Hope you enjoy it.

I pledge allegiance....

2011-07-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

We are on our way home from a road trip in Yellowstone on this 4th of July. Hopefully getting back for some fireworks tonight. Proud to celebrate our country. Happy 4th of July!

TIME in michigan

2011-07-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I flew home from Michigan with one thing on my mind, time. I came away from a wonderful week of teaching at RAPTURE, a work shop my friend Shauna Zambelli put on out there, with a lesson I hope to take with me for the rest of my life. I'm sure I am a late comer in learning this, and you'll probably be thinking, "duh..." when you read this. Shauna amazed me as she ran around busier than I've ever seen anyone, not getting any sleep, but putting one of the most incredible workshops together that I have ever been a part of. We taught classes at different studios, also taught them a dance piece in 6 hours, and at the end of the week, they all came together and performed. I even got one more opportunity to dance with my lovely friends that are all, except for one, moving away from Utah. We stayed up late hours to put it together, it was a crazy filled week, but oh so worth it when got out on the stage.

My mind thought a lot about time, seeing that our piece we did as the teachers was about time. It was a perfect lesson for me. Shauna is someone who is so generous with her time. she is completely selfless with her time and her thoughts. She is the go to person if you have a question or want an opinion on anything, she'll give you an honest and helpful answer. She helped me put Lance's 30th birthday together, she's helped me with ideas for choreography, she's spent an 8 hour airplane ride talking to me, and I am definitely not the only person she does this with. She has taught me a new definition if generosity: giving of your time. My mind mainly goes to giving of money or material things when I think of being generous, but being generous of your time is above and beyond all of that. That's where you create lasting relationships and memories, they all need time. Even as a teacher, I am realizing I can spend even more time in preparing and more thought and heart into what kind of effect I'll have on my students. I can give more time talking on the phone with my family who is far away. I can be more efficient with my own personal time. I can be more present and aware of the time that is with me right now. I am grateful for Shauna, being able to be a part of the "Rapture" experience, and for finally getting a grip on the definition of generosity.

she's BACK at it

2011-06-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

My little sister Kaelie has been taking a month or more break from dance because of a bulged and fractured disk in her back......... and she's TWELVE years old. That crazy girl! She's been very patient with the whole healing process, and although she has been missing dance, has kept positive. This week the doctors told her she could go ahead and get back to dance, sloowly.

You wonder how she got a back injury at so young? Well, maybe it was this...

Or this.....

or shoot, could've been this...

Glad she's BACK!

An ART-filled weekend

2011-06-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

We had no plans to witness such art this past weekend, but it happened. What a beautiful surprise. Lance and I headed to Salt Lake to eat and enjoy a friday night. We got up there early and went to the gateway to walk around. They had the road closed off that runs in between the gateway stores and at first I just saw a bunch of little kids drawing on the street and thought, "cute, that must be fun for them." But the further we walked down Gateway, the older the "kids" got and we saw INCREDIBLE works of art with chalk. It was the chalk festival! I loved it. I could've walked around for hours. The people were amazing. I'm so glad people put events like this together. It makes the place where we live seem so much more alive and festive. Who are those people? I love that they think of more ways to celebrate life. Thanks to all of them that take a part in that. Now look at these, aren't they wonderful?

Then, the greatest thing happened. I had asked Lance if we could stop by a bakery called Ruby Snap before we left, because I've heard they have pretty rediculous cookies. We got there and the door was locked, bummer, BUT, before we got into our car to leave one of the workers came out and offered us a plate of 4 FREE cookies! I couldn't have been more excited. It's like a free sample but you get to take the whole plate. The cookies were D.licious. Banana creme brulle and some orange one (that one was my favorite.) I see why everyone is talking about this place.. Can't wait to go back and pick my own cookies out, these had to be the worst of the bunch seeing they were left-overs from the day. And you know what? These were ART in themselves, they went right along with our night. Love a little art in my life.

Cheers to Fathers

2011-06-19T12:06:00.001-07:00

A daddy daughter date. Those were the days.

I was in ninth grade, not old enough to drive or stay up too late, specially when it was a school night. I was cuddled up on our brown leather couch with a blanket and my dad sat in a wooden, rocking chair type, seat that was cushioned with forest green pillows. It was night time and about time for bed when my dad started to carry on a conversation with me. We didn't talk about anything important or of a particular subject, we just talked. And talked. And talked. I remember thinking, doesn't my dad want me to go to bed? It's late! But, we kept on talking. I felt very mature being able to carry on such an extensive conversation with a grown up and especially my dad. We talked until we found ourselves having a case of the mid-night munchies around 12:30 or 1. Dad looked at me and said, "I'm hungry, you want to go get something to eat?" Of coarse I did! We wound up at Denny's in Provo for a great breakfast skillet and pancakes and carried on our conversation, but this time we talked about all the crazy people that surrounded us in the dark hours of the night. It was a night to remember, one for the books. My dad took time on a late night, and probably had an early morning ahead of him, to spend a little time his daughter. I'm grateful for those unexpected moments with him. They don't come as often, seeing that I am miles and states away from him now, but there still has been a few surprise drop ins that have meant a great deal.

So cheers to all those Fathers who are their daughter's hero. There is something so special about the role of a Father and being under his direction. I'm grateful to have grown up with a dad who was my hero. Cheers to you dad. Happy Father's Day!

Love you.

The reveal...

2011-06-17T22:31:00.001-07:00

So here is my, kind of finished, bold, half bathroom. It was a fun project for me and kept me busy for a few days. I was waiting to post this cause we are still needing to hang up a shelf on one wall, which who knows when that will get done at our house. I figure, why not try the chevron stripes out. It'd be an easy fix if I hate it. I still need to do some work on the art hanging up, notice the one with the price tag still on, yup, still needing to change that one. Well, there you go. Hope it was all you were dreaming it to be. (I'll admit, I'm a little embarrassed showing it, that's where I pee!)

Everything has it's season

2011-06-06T10:34:00.001-07:00

and summer definitely has it's seasonal excitements. It's finally feeling like summer around here with some good sunny weather and clear skies. Yesterday Lance and I BBQ'd out on the lawn with the trees shading us. It's one of my favorite things. Makes my heart go boom boom and all that. It got me thinking of all the things I have to look forward to this summer.....

*an outside dinner party on our side lawn. Can't wait!

*homemade ice cream

*tan lines and dark skin

*camping with roasted bananas or dutch oven peach cobbler for dessert

*fourth of July celebrations and fire works

*California, wouldn't be summer with out you.

*bike rides, hopefully, kind of hard to do when you don't have a bike. Even if I'm not on one, I still love watching other people ride them. They're so great!

*movies! I'm hoping some good ones come out this summer.

*vegetables on the grill. mmmmmm!

*mornings that get you out, just because the weather is too beautiful to stay inside

*lemonade. It just feels right in the summer

*vacations. Lance and I are saving up for some right now as I type.

*boating. i absolutely love it! We rarely get to go, but this summer is a guaranteed, Lance's work has a Lake Powell trip planned. Wahoo!

*Lots of reading and writing in the journal time.

*nightly walks around the neighborhood because it's warm and because we can

*good fresh salads to eat

*farmer's markets

*Popsicles, ice cream cones, and slushies

*swimming pools and chlorine smelling swimming suites

*and just the good feeling of good weather.

Summer is lovely. Looking forward to every one of these

Being BOLD in the bathroom

2011-06-04T20:06:00.001-07:00

You know when you have a project in mind for a while and then one night, out of the blue, you just decide to start it and can't stop till it's done? That's how this project went. This is our tiny little half bath in our place and I've been wanting to do something fun with it for a while, and this past wednesday night became the night I did something about it. We were just hanging out, watching a little t.v., having a regular night and all the sudden, I popped out of my chair and headed for a tape measurer, pencil, and painter's tape. I wasn't even really sure what I was doing, but I was headed to do it. It's such a small space, which makes for a less intimidating project, which also makes for a great place to do something a little BOLD, so I was pretty calm and cool while in the process. I painted white chevron stripes on the main wall in here. It's pretty fun doing projects yourself in your house. Makes for a more endearing and memorable place when you've put your own two hands to work in the place you live. I'm hoping this little project will give me the confidence to do some bigger projects in the future. Crossing my fingers it won't turn out bad and scare me away.

will post pictures on the finished project later

Don't take the girl....

2011-05-31T12:12:00.000-07:00

This song just got to me this morning. I was on my way to the gym as Tim began singing the third verse...... "Same old boy, same sweet girl, 5 years down the road...." You know what happens, they go to the hospital, the baby is fine, but the mom is fading fast and Johnny drops to his knees. It got to me! I had to stop myself and kind of laugh when tears were on the verge. Why does music do that to you sometimes? And why, when I am on my way to work out? It also brought me back to some good memories with a friend who is far away right now too, and you know what, when I tried to call her this morning (and she didn't answer) this exact song started to play on pandora as soon as I hit the dial key. Weird. It's been good to have a little country back in my life lately. Hope some good music is surrounding you this day

Walking on an ANGEL'S LANDING

2011-05-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

Lance and I were in St. George visiting his parents this week and we decided to take on a hike. We all headed to Zion National Park and hiked angel's landing. I think every one I know has done it except for me, so this week was my week. It was SO stunning and felt incredible to do something outdoors with nice sunny weather! A good change from this crazy rainy and stormy weather we've been having. I felt pretty tough when the hike turned into your not-so-normal hike, having to hold onto chains to make it all the way to the top. Kind of felt like an expert hiker pulling my way to the top. We made it! Lance's parents opted out when it got to the chains, but they made it all the way to those! That's a pretty big defeat. We were proud. It was the best way to start out the memorial weekend, and hopefully we brought the sunny weather with us.

And...... if your looking for a fun breakfast to make for monday morning, maybe you can try these! We had then tonight for dinner, and I still need to perfect them, but I think they will be pretty dang good. They are called

CUSTARDY OVEN PANCAKES WITH MIXED BERRIES.

THE HOW TO:

4 eggs

about 5 1/2 Tbl honey, divided

1 tsp lemon zest

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour

2 1/2 cups milk

2 cups raspberries, divided

1/4 cup butter

1 lb strawberries, hulled and sliced

1. Set an oven proof 12 in frying pan or 9 by 13 pan in oven and preheat oven to 425. Whisk eggs, 1/4 c honey , and lemon zest in med bowl to blend. Add salt, flour, and 1/4 c. milk and whisk until smooth, then whisk in remaining milk.

2.Puree 1 cup raspberries in a food processor until smooth. Strain and discard seeds.

3. Remove pan from oven, add butter and swirl until melted and golden. Pour batter into pan, then pour in raspberry puree in wide ribbons. Reduce oven heat to 400 and bake pancake until deep golden, about 30 min. Let stand 10 to 15 min to firm up (pancake will fall)

4. Combine strawberries and remaining 1 cup raspberries and 1 1/2 Tbl honey in bowl; let stand at least 10 minutes. You can add more honey to taste. Spoon half of the fruit over pancakes and serve the rest on the side.

Happy Memorial weekend!

tugging on the STRINGS of my heart

2011-05-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

I'm in LOVE and a little obsessed with yarn. It's been going on for the past few years. It makes everything great. It comes in any color you can think of, even ones you can't think of, it's cheap, and it last FOREVER! The yarn I am using right now is from about four year ago. How bout that? I think I use it for every and any kind of present I give out. Lance and I teach primary, the little little kids at our church, and we have used it for so many projects. I even just paused and sighed as I was writing this thinking of yarn in all it's greatness. It's just wonderful. I hope you might find it a little useful and great yourself.

This one I haven't done, but hope to do. I took a picture of this out of a book I was looking through at Paper Source. (Very cute store, and I know I should probably just buy the book than taking pictures out of it.)

a congratulations....

2011-05-23T00:24:00.000-07:00

to my little brother in becoming a grown up now. He's winning things and signing things and probably paying taxes already (That's when you KNOW you're a grown up). He recently signed with the FLORIDA GATORS with a track scholarship and is now on his way to some great athletic training as well as some awesome schooling. We are all so proud of him. He's pretty dang talented in the athletic department and has worked extremely hard in trying to put himself out there for a college to just snatch him up, and the Gators just snapped their big scary jaws and took him in. A pretty good catch. As if that wasn't a big enough accomplishment, he went off and won the 300 and 400 at STATE a few weekends ago. Who does that? Tyler Osorio does. He's so fast his pictures even turn out blurry. Crazy guy. You just gotta love him. Congrats little brother!

Aroma

2011-05-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

Aroma is one of the best cafes, in mine and a lot of other people's opinions, in LA. It has extremely good food, amazing desserts, a charming little atmosphere, and a little book store in it for heaven sakes! What could be better?! I was able to spend some time with my friend Amanda while I was out there. I went to church with her, which was so nice, and shared some great food and conversation with her. Aroma was a definite highlight. Any kind of good food with a friend has got to be a favorite night of mine. And here I am now, back at home, smelling the aroma of my own house, my own cooking, and hanging out with a definite favorite of mine......Lance. It's really good to be back.

mail boxes and flee markets

2011-05-17T12:10:00.000-07:00

Right now I am staying with my friend Merissa, who I call Meri. Sometimes I even get her attention like this, "Hey yo Meri..." In a low voice. She is the greatest person to laugh with. And little did I know until now, she has the greatest mail box as well. I am obsessed with it. It goes right into her house. Today I heard the mail man drop off some mail and I got so excited to see this mail box at work. Here is the beautiful thing....

This is right by her front door

and this is in the inside. There's the mail! No need to go anywhere to get it, arrives right at your house.

This weekend Meri and P (Peacock, which is actually his last name, but I didn't even know his first name for the first few months I knew him., I also some times call him my asian friend... he doesn't mind) took me to the flee market on Melrose. So wonderful! I brought a necklace and a frame for an extremely good price. California knows how to do things. Good visit so far

walking with lemons

2011-05-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

I took a beautiful walk today out here in LA. We got done with rehearsal early and I figured I'd take advantage of the gorgeous weather out here. It is kind of unbelievable how perfect the weather is; sunny, warm with a little bit of a breeze so you don't get too hot.....Perfect! I was loving all the flowers and trees I was seeing, so I decided to take a few pictures. Everything grows like crazy here and I'm a little jealous. About mid walk a lemon was sitting right in my pathway, so of coarse I grabbed it. It smelled SO good. I looked up and saw millions of others in this tree. Some were as big as softballs. I figured the owner wouldn't mind sharing one more with me, would maybe even be delighted I thought so highly of their lemons. So I jumped up and grabbed another. Literally jumped, like ten times before I actually got one. Made me so happy today.

A work of art

2011-05-11T07:29:00.000-07:00

I am in LA this week working on a new SoulEscape show. This year our show has a lot to do with Art, and not just dance art. I'm excited about it. It's nice to be coming back to see and dance with old friends, and even better to be working on a little art together. Time is spent well here. Here is a little video of our last years show......

they danced off into the night

2011-05-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

I love weddings. We were lucky enough to get invited to the temple, luncheon, AND reception. Lucky ducks were we. Jessie and Carson James (yes, she'll be Jessie James) were married in the Draper temple Saturday May 7th. The Draper temple is stunning. It's up on a hill and when you are looking at the entrance, all you see is the temple and clouds, so pretty. It was a special day for them and we got to witness it. The reception was like a pretty garden party with lots of crazy dancing by the end. The whole family got involved and we enjoyed watching. I was hoping there was going to be a slow dance, I even anticipated it and made sure Lance and I stayed close by the music. But, it never came. You only get so many chances to slow dance anymore and I was hoping this night would be one of them. It ended better than a slow dance, the crowds parted and through them came Carson and Jessie dancing their little married legs off into the night.

The bride and her wedding planner, Chase, on the right

Video of the bride and grooms exit............

........... and then we caught them at the side of the road and kind of helped them cut off the cans dragging from the back of their "just married" car. Pretty funny.......

.......... then we ended up right by them at the stop light. It was like, oh...oh....oh... we're right by them again.... stopped....do we look at them? do we pretend they aren't there?...... kind of aquard..... so we danced to them through the car windows. Dancing makes everything better. Finally they were really out of sight, they sped away when the light turned green. And we kept dancing in our car, aquardly laughing to ourselves.

my mother

2011-05-08T12:15:00.001-07:00

Pammy pooper nickle.... She told us that was her nick-name, and every once in a while, I'll call her that. She's a woman who adores her kids. She'll be the first to laugh about something that might be embarrassing, whatever it is, she'll find it funny. She'll fill up her schedule past the maximum just to make sure her kids get to be involved in whatever their heart desires. She's someone with a heart like a pillow, a soft feathery one. Can't stand the thought of leaving her kids or dogs, even if it's just a little weekend get a way or a trip to Paris, she'll be worrying about them the whole time. Loves to talk and is a fun conversationalist, when you say, " I have to go.." on the phone with her, she'll want to talk about ten minutes longer, that's her saying good bye. Has the most beautiful glowing skin around, it's the inside of her shinning right out of it. She's hip, and will write things like "just watchin my white boy run!" on her facebook status while she's at my little brother's track meet. Looks so beautiful without make up on, but will say, "i haven't even put any make up on today, I look horrible, I can't go anywhere!" She doesn't know how pretty she is. Loves to be around people and is always up for a party. Someone who gave birth to 5 kids and is still doing her very best raising the last of the bunch. She's MY mother. The older you get, the wiser you are, and you realize more and more........ my mom is really wonderful! Happy Mother's Day to you mom. Love you with all my heart and more.

a picture I found today on her facebook. Gotta love facebook. She's the one in the back if you can't tell. Isn't she beautiful?!

envying a hat

2011-05-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

I wish we had more celebrations where we had to wear fancy hats. I've been in envy two weekends in a row as I watch women looking dashing as ever in a fancy hat and pretty dress. Some day I'll make up an excuse to buy me a hat like these. I'm still obsessed with the royal wedding, even though its over, I thought it was beautiful. My favorite part, other than anticipating what Kate's dress was going to look like, was seeing all the guests arrive in their HATS! I loved it! What a fun tradition. England is so charming. And now, this weekend is the kentucky derby! Where there will be plenty of hats. I wish I was there, or at my in laws kentucky derby party. They are throwing one, and if Lance and I could make it, I would definitely be wearing a hat and dress. Until this dream of mine comes true, I will enviously look at these pictures, and maybe start planning my own party where hats are a must!

Isn't this picture great?! I love the little girl. SO funny. Now for the Derby Hats......

Hats off to a good weekend ahead. (Really, no hats for me this weekend) Lance and I get to see a good friend get married! I can't wait! Wahoo!

Carrie sang it better

2011-05-04T22:17:00.001-07:00

I've been singing this all day and still don't sound like her. Man she's good. Such a beautiful version of this song.

A Sunday treat

2011-05-01T13:19:00.000-07:00

I always need a treat on Sunday. Spiritually, so I can make it through the week to come, and physically, because it just tastes good. So, I give you two treats. One you can just watch and enjoy and another you'd have to make.

Today I listened to Jeffery R. Holland's talk. I am so touched by his spirit and his ever strong conviction to Christ and His messages. I am grateful for influences like his in the world and hope to be humble enough to listen with the spirit as Elder Holland spoke of.

And if you want to munch on something while you are listening, try making these:

(I haven't made them yet, but am hoping to this week)

Recipe is from this blog

Jacques Torres' Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Makes twenty-six 5-inch cookies or 8 1/2 dozen 1 1/4-inch cookies

Ingredients
1 pound unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 pounds bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
- Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies.
- Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy treating yourself.

I left my room this morning...

2011-04-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

and forgot something really important. Good thing I got a good reminder today as I listened to this hymn. I went to women's conference with my mother in law today. Elder Bednar gave the closing talk and before it we sang this song. He talked about the power of small and simple things in our lives, how our daily little drips of good and righteous activity will be the cause of strong roots. I believe it, very much I believe it. I started out this morning forgetting one of those little things, and that was saying my own personal prayer to start out the day. I've gotten out of the habit of morning prayers and have been missing my own personal time with Heavenly Father to start out my day. I've been at a loss. Tomorrow I'll start it right. Thank you, Elder Bednar, for the reminder of the greatness in small and simple things.

Ere you left your room this morning,
Did you think to pray?
In the name of Christ our Savior,
Did you sue for loving favor,
As a shield today?
- Oh, how praying rests the weary!
  Prayer will change the night to day;
  So when life seems dark and dreary,
  Don’t forget to pray.
When you met with great temptation,
Did you think to pray?
By His dying love and merit,
Did you claim the Holy Spirit
As your guide and stay?
Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day;
So when life seems dark and dreary,
Don’t forget to pray.
When your heart was filled with anger,
Did you think to pray?
Did you plead for grace, my brother,
That you might forgive another
Who had crossed your way?
Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day;
So when life seems dark and dreary,
Don’t forget to pray.
When sore trials came upon you,
Did you think to pray?
When your soul was bowed in sorrow,
Balm of Gilead did you borrow
At the gates of day?

Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day;
So when life seems dark and dreary,
Don’t forget to pray.

Hoping to have a happy weekend....full of morning prayers :)

tulip memories

2011-04-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last year, about this time, I was in Holland at their famous tulip festival. It was stunning, the colors, patterns, and millions of different kinds of tulips that I didn't even know existed. And of coarse, the big huge windmill was pretty fantastic itself. I enjoyed every sight. Sadly enough, I left my camera card on the airplane ride home and have no pictures to refresh my memory. It took me a while to get over that, I couldn't even sleep the first night I got back and realized this, all the pictures and little videos I had taken were gone! Got to be one of the worst things. But, today I was looking at a blog I look at every once in a while and saw these beautiful pictures. So I am stealing them (I know, stealing!) from her to remind me of my own trip out there. I'm happy for any kind of memory I can get.

And for right now, I have fourteen orange tulip memories sitting in my house just calling on the spring.

"Where's Grandpa?....."

2011-04-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

Remember this thanksgiving? We were in a commercial and had no clue what it was about, and little did we know that "Grandpa Pendleton" died in the commercial. I chuckle a lot when I think about it. Lance's parents are here this weekend and Sherrie, Lance's mom, is doing her genealogy while she is in town. While we were on the subject, the conversation brought us back to this commercial. Go here to see it. Notice at the end, Lance's dad's picture disappears.

Nothing to do with the post, but it's my first picture I took in Germany. Our theatre was right by this. Love the boat and house.

to think of spring

2011-04-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

All this sunny weather today has made me think of spring way too much today. Shouldn't it be spring already? I've enjoyed the rain enough. Lance could enjoy it all year round, me on the other hand, will only enjoy a day or two of it and then I'm done. I almost jumped the gun today and went all out buying outside flowers, but the upcoming weather took that little gun away from me, or Lance just told me the bad news about it maybe snowing Sunday. On Easter?! Lance's egg hunt is ruined. Anyways, my thoughts have been on spring today and will hopefully soon turn to the Savior and His glorious resurrection for this wonderful holiday. Can't wait.

the "vacation" part of the tour

2011-04-19T20:47:00.001-07:00

This year, I felt like we got a lot of "vacation" time. I put it in "" because when we go to these places we maybe have three hours to look around, which really means we just ran around crazy for a little, trying to get it all in. As quick as it is, it is always a nice and needed break during the tour.

The top story of the year is these two, right below these words. They have been dating for at least two years, and sweet Erica has been waiting for a ring for a long time. Troy definitely waited till just the right moment. Erica is a born princess, not a bratty one, but the sweetest most girly princess you'll meet. She holds herself princess-like and all of her natural body language and gestures are so naturally a princess, plus she loves pink. Any princess loves pink. Now that you know that, you'll know that this was the perfect proposal.

Our first fun stop was Heidelberg, Germany. It is a darling German town with an incredible old, kind of warn down castle. Troy had Eldon write Erica a fairy tale that had similarities to her own life. When we got into the town, Eldon asked if he could read them "a story" to see what they thought of it. (This isn't out of Eldon's character so it was perfect!) They went to a pretty little place on the castle grounds to read it. When Eldon got to end, where the princess had found the man she loved, the story was suddenly over and he said, "that's all I have, I can't finish it" Then Troy, the dashing prince stepped in and said, "I'll have to finish it..." and the rest is history! What a perfect proposal right? They even had a little spot that was set up by friends to go and have some dessert after he had asked her. So romantic and so perfect for Erica. I am so happy for them.

The castle is right behind us!
The view from the castle. So lovely! Can't get enough of those red roof tops.
Stop #2 was the Matterhorn! I was so excited to see this! My dad and sister hiked this years ago and I had always pictured what it looked like, and now it was reality for a little. This little town is Zermatt, Switzerland. It's like a European Park City, but of coarse better, just because it's European.

Stop #3 was a little sobering. We went to Dachau, the concentration camp. We had stopped here about 4 years ago and got the whole tour, this time we just had time to walk around. It is very hard to wrap your head around all the horrible things that happened in these concentration camps. It's a good reminder to be grateful for our freedom, and places like these, as hard as they are to see, should not be forgotten.

Stop # 4 On a lighter note, really good pizza in Stuttgart, Germany! We actually tried to go see a show, but we were late. We didn't give up easy though. Florentina was with us and she talked to all the managers, tried to sneak us into the artist entrance, and I guess it just wasn't meant to happen cause it didn't work out. But, she did get us into the Stuttgart Opera house to see the very end, really the very end, we watched the bows of what looked liked an amazing opera. Then, we had some really great pizza!
Stop #5 was Bern, Switzerland. It was a very cool little town. Kind of reminded me of San Francisco a little bit. Too bad we were there on a Sunday and everything was closed. But, I actually love that Europe shuts down on a Sunday, it's how it should be anyways.

Stop #6 Our very last little town to explore was Munich, Germany. Perfect place to be for the last because there is a ton of shopping there. If we had more time I would've loved to see more of this place and go to the English Gardens. A few years ago we did, and it was so lovely! I think I lost my pictures from it, so it would be nice to have had some replacements. But, I was glad to get to be there for a little.

And ended it all with a big scoop of hazelnut gelato. My favorite! I think Germany some how knew it might be my last scoop there cause this particular one was by far the BEST tasting hazelnut gelato I have ever had. It was a sweet goodbye..... kidding, but it kind of was.

favorite theatres and a last show

2011-04-17T19:52:00.001-07:00

This was my favorite theatre, only chosen because of looks. I can be a little vain at times. I loved the balconies, I loved the white wood and the detail in it, and one of the best parts, the mini chandeliers. It was beautiful. It even had the box seats on the sides that almost came onto the stage. Amazing. It makes going to see a show even more enchanting when you are sitting in something as pretty as this. And actually, now that I think of it, remembering this theatre might not be so vain as to only loving the looks of it, it is actually the theatre where I first worked with Florentina, which is explained later in post. Love it even more now.

And this theatre, which is not as pretty as the one above, but still just as memorable, was where we did our last performance of Romeo and Juliet. One very memorable night.

The last Romeo and Juliet show. I didn't expect to be so emotional, or for all of us to be so emotional during the show. It is a last year for a few of us, so I guess it's bound to be a little tender. Before the show, it happened, the emotions started stirring as I thought of what this show has meant to me in my dance career, if I even call it a career. It has been one of the most fulfilling performances of my lifetime. I kept myself busy as I got my pre-sets all in place for the show. I didn't want to get too emotional before it even started, so the best thing to do is keep yourself busy! And I did. I started with dry eyes. They stayed that way until the end of the first half. We have a lot of time to talk to each other in the show, which we usually do "in character" but this time Eldon, my partner "Romeo", in the show had said the nicest things about being able to share this part together. It kind of caught me by surprise and brought me instantly to tear. I was a goner after that, but still tried to keep my "stage presence". Eldon has been one of my main dance partners through out my whole Odyssey experience and we have shared some pretty incredible moments on stage together. I owe a lot to him. I'm so grateful for him and all the incredible dancers I've been able to dance with through out my time with Odyssey. I have met incredible friends and been inspired in so many ways by them, on and off stage. We shared an incredible night together, with a lot of energy and a lot of tears by the end.

This is Florentina, who I also could write a whole post about, and maybe I will. She is our interpreter while we our out in Germany. She is a sweet heart and was an amazing dancer herself. She used to dance with Stuttgart Ballet, which is a very prestigious company out in Europe. She is very knowledgeable about dance and I got to pick her brain a little bit this trip. I asked her to help me with my solo in Romeo and Juliet and it was such a great experience. She speaks with such passion about dance and I loved taking a little part of it with me this time.

Staring at the end

2011-04-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

The end is always the most memorable, so why not start with the ending? One of my favorite nights of our Europe tour is something called the DYA's (Derryl Yeager Awards) A night tributed to our director. We each write in a book a personal speech to Derryl, thanking him for the year. This year's theme was candyland, like the good old board game. We each presented Derryl with a candy bar or some kind of sweet and had to relate that in our speech some how. It always ends up being a special night. This year, to introduce people, we had everyone bring a baby picture and a story of them when they were little. It made for some good laughs. We also had some fun games like musical chairs, cake eating contest, and guessing games. I love games! I get really competitive just because it makes it more fun, and this time it payed off, I won one game! And this was it....
We played freeze dance on one foot. Can't you tell who the winner is going to be? Must have been the one with her game face on.

The game I lost. Bummer. I'm almost sorry I tried. I ate that whole cake so fast I was a little sick the rest of the night. I was in the runnings to win though.
This was the introduction speech. No kidding around when the crowd is supposed to be quiet.

I gave myself away when they were telling my childhood story. I blurted out a word, correcting the person telling the story. Typical. I'm the little baby picture in the middle.
And this was what I had been dying to give away the whole time, a birthday cake recipe book of my own. Since I love baking, I took it upon myself to make everyone birthday cakes through out the years. I figured it would be a good going away gift. I hope they enjoy them.

wilkommen to Deutschland

2011-03-24T23:53:00.000-07:00

I have survived the, what feels like, 20 hour flight to Germany. We are in Ludenschied, with our first show ahead of us. Germany has sweetly made it's way into a soft little spot in my heart for good now. This is, if I'm remembering right, my sixth time coming back to this place and probably last. It's such a charming country. I adore the little villages,the churches, the bike riders, the little kids walking into the most adorable school houses, the gelato stores and pastries, and the breakfasts buffets at the hotels (I always look forward to these and can't even sleep the first night just waiting for it.). I'm trying to soak it all in. I'm very grateful for this time in my life. In preparing to leave home, Lance and I had a day full of errands. I am lucky enough to have a husband that can take off a day of work to help me out before I leave. We scurried around trying to get all I needed to get done. Our last dinner date was cafe rio, I had to get in some mexican food before I left cause it's no where to be found here. Then, in the wee hours of the night, we copied millions of copies of something special I am giving to all the wonderful people I'm sharing this trip with. I can't wait to give it to them. It's tucked away in the bottom of my bag just waiting to be released at the end of the trip. Until then, I am hoping to have days full of memorable experiences and guaranteed to have plenty of good company around me. See you soon. Auf Wiedersehen.

The end of a season

2011-03-23T06:46:00.001-07:00

(romeo and juliet)

It is, what could be, my last season with Odyssey Dance Theatre. It was a good last run of our spring shows filled with lots of family and friends in the crowd. It made it all the more exciting and fulfilling. So many times I stand on the kingsbury stage and think of how much time I've spent there. I can't wait till I'm old and come back to this place and my mind is filled with the memories of the days I am living right now. These have been good days.

ROMEO AND JULIET

2011-03-17T08:04:00.001-07:00

Come see Romeo and Juliet. I promise you won't be disappointed. It's at Kingsburry Hall thurs, fri, and sat. night at 7:30. Say your friends with Odyssey on facebbok and get the tickets for $20. The shows have been going on for a week now and I am in love with the stage. Hope you can make it.

after the show

Happy birthday to the big guy

2011-03-10T22:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my husband that I'm not even with on his big day. We opened our spring shows today, and he is with all his friends at the basketball tournament in Vegas. It kind of took the pressure off his birthday for me, he'll be watching sports all day, he couldn't ask for a better way to spend the day. The one night I had off this week we celebrated. I decided to not fill up the day with surprises as we all know that didn't make for such a happy birthday last year. He came home from work, I let him go in his "man room" and watch t.v. and just relax guilt free with out me nagging at him, I even put a few appetizers up there for him to indulge in. I made a steak dinner, which is his favorite. Then, I surprised him with a Jimmer jersey signed!! He was so excited! He took pictures and text his family and friends right away (that's always a good sign.) Then we watched a little t.v and ate a bundt cake from nothing bundt cakes, very yummy. That was Lance's perfect birthday. Glad it went over well this time.

Happy Birthday from miles away. Love you

music

2011-03-01T20:52:00.001-08:00

Adele's new album is pretty impressive. I usually never buy the whole album off i-tunes, but I heard it was worth it, so I did it. And yes, I am happy with the whole thing. Music does so much. It can make my car seem so much cooler at times, it makes cleaning fun, it fills my house with a sweet spirit on Sundays, some times it's even theropeutic, and Adele's voice is just that, theropy. She's pretty incredible. Glad I have her right on my i-tunes.

Amen, Audrey Hepburn.

2011-02-28T14:37:00.000-08:00

Except, I don't know how much I believe in pink. But, I do agree with all the rest, very much so.

The snow storms make we want these back

2011-02-26T21:13:00.001-08:00

Last time I got to play in the snow was with these kids over Christmas break, wow, that sounds like forever ago. Since it's snowed the last two days, I've been thinking about them and how much fun it would be to go sledding with them again and have some hot chocolate after. Just seems like something fun to do.

monday holiday mornings

2011-02-21T21:59:00.000-08:00

Usually I don't get monday holidays off, but today was, for the most part, a free day. When ever my mornings are free, my favorite thing to do is go out to breakfast with Lance. Today we went to one of our favorites, the grill room at Sundance. And, we got two of my favorite dishes there, the oatmeal and the eggs ranchero. The view was so pretty with all the new snow. I only wish I could've gone snowboarding today. Instead, we went and saw the Justin Bieber movie. I was so impressed! It was a good morning already. Then, the break was all over and I had to do some choreography for the night.

Loving Valentine's

2011-02-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

The last day of my LOVE posts, and the best day to end it on. I LOVE Valentine's Day! I've always loved it. There is so much LOVE that goes around on this day. I LOVE my friends, I LOVE both of my families, in-laws and all, I LOVE the happiness LOVE brings into life and relationships, I LOVE the chocolate that is romantically eaten on this holiday, I LOVE the creative ways people think of to say, "I love you." I LOVE thinking of all the planning that went into this day, I LOVE seeing all the couples at dinner this night, AND, I LOVE being completely satisfied and still excited about MY one and only VALENTINE...... I LOVE YOU!

Truth

2011-02-13T15:24:00.001-08:00

How could I say what I love on a Sunday with out mentioning the Savior? I love the truth He brought to this world and still brings. Having the knowledge of something eternally true brings more peace and more comfort than anything else in this world. The truth of the Savior's gospel is something to trust in, believe in, hope for, and increasingly become. There is something binding and trusting in a relationship that is intertwined with truth. There is a special peace and spirit that comes with hearing truth. And there is always someone to look to to find truth, our Savior Jesus Christ. I love Him.

Party planning

2011-02-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

Party planning always gets me excited. I LOVE it! It gives me something to look forward too and always something to enjoy. I wish this Saturday night I had some kid of fun party to put on! The last little party I planned was another spa night with my girlfriends. We all had a part in it this time, and we were a little smarter in that we all got a break from cooking and went out to dinner. We went to Spark so we could get some fun, non-alcoholic drinks, they are pretty impressive.

We came back to my place and Carly was in charge of dessert and it was SO yummy! Natalie was in charge of hands and brought the most amazing hand wax to dip our little hands in. They felt like silk after! I was in charge of the face and we did some homemade facial remedies. Whit was in charge of the feet and she brought a little foot bath to rest our tired little feet into. We even did the cucumber thing. Once those came on we were complete. We would've been relaxed, but we kept playing way too many good jams on pandora, you had to start dancing. Nothing like a little party right? That's why I love them. I love love love putting them together and seeing how it all turns out. And even more than that, I love having something to look forward to where there will be good food, good friends, and good fun.

love affair of chocolate

2011-02-11T15:08:00.000-08:00

I do, I have an extreme love of chocolate that sometimes affairs with any other kind of treat or even food. Sometimes, I don't feel like I've had dessert unless it's been something chocolate, other times, I'd rather have chocolate than a breakfast or other meals. It's a pretty special thing to me. One of my favorite fancy chocolates is the scotchmallow at See's Candies. It's unreal! It has chocolate, of coarse, on the outside than a layer of Carmel and marshmallow on the inside. If you haven't tried it, I say go now and try it. Really. Hopefully it will be your favorite too. I don't know why I love chocolate so much. I think I rarely go through a day with out chocolate. When I was little, I would have intense chocolate cravings and my dad would have to run me to the gas station to get some chocolate, it had to be the candy bar chocolate, my mom tried offering me chocolate chips, but that wouldn't do. For a while this happened almost every night, and if it happened on a Saturday, we'd get two candy bars so I could save one for Sunday. I was just born loving chocolate.

Italian LOVE

2011-02-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Italian food! It's the perfect food to love during this romantic season. The food I'm eating in this picture is from Cannella's in Salt Lake City. It has great Italian food with pretty good prices. Seems like lately that's all I feel like, noodles and a good sauce, pizza Margarita, or a big chunk of lasagna. I love it! It's all the right combinations of foods and spices to me. So comforting and so yummy. I hope to have some soon.

Wednesday's love

2011-02-09T19:19:00.000-08:00

(my little nephew Boston)

Today I am in love with the feeling of satisfaction. Isn't it the best to feel completely satisfied with life? I love when I am completely satisfied with a meal, when it's exactly what I was in the mood for. When I look at my house, even with all the fix-ups I wish I could do, I am completely satisfied with the life I live in it and the warmth this little place gives me. I know it's a good day when I go to bed satisfied with what I accomplished. I notice that when I am satisfied, I am more grateful. I think being satisfied comes with having a good balance, not over loaded. It's like leaving a meal when I've eaten just the right amount to taste all the goodness in it and leave saying, "That was really good!" instead of stuffing myself and leave saying, "I wish I wouldn't have eaten that." It's seems to me, being satisfied also comes more from my outlook rather than what I have, do, don't have, or don't do, and if there is something I should do, I've done my best and done all I could do....... that is a good feeling. I LOVE being satisfied.

love of creating

2011-02-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

Most of my time on the internet is looking at interior design blogs, clothing, or good food ideas. I love seeing what kind of creations come from other people. I am always in wonder of all the beautiful combinations of colors, fabrics, foods, and any kind of material that is used to create such beautiful things. i love creative people, they are so inspiring to me. Creating makes the world go round, in my opinion. Love it! Absolutely love it.

A week of love

2011-02-07T22:11:00.000-08:00

Since it is a week until Valentines, I thought I might think about a few things I love in this world of mine. Recently, a photographer named Chris Peddecord has come to odyssey's rehearsals to take pictures. We barely notice him as he sneaks around and snaps some photos. These are all the ones he caught of me...... smiling in every single one. I must love what I do. It is so true. Even when there is hard days and days I might complain about it, deep down inside, i still love it. Lately I've been thinking about how crazy it is to still be doing something I've been passionate about since I was about 4 years old. It's a love that sometimes takes over too much of my life, and sometimes is just the right kind of therapy I need, other times it brings me to a humble state of mind, it's the challenge of my strength, both mental and physical, it lights my spirit and releases my soul, it makes me cry, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way, it's been a huge source of figuring out who I am, who I can be, and who I want to be. And I thank my Heavenly Father almost everyday for providing such a wonderful piece of life into my world.

snow storms

2011-02-05T10:15:00.001-08:00

These pics are from one of the first snow storms we had this season. It was a big storm and it got me all excited for the winter. I love when a snow storm sneaks in. Some times I wish we had crazy ones that made us all stay home for a day or two, I think that would be fun. It's always about this point when the winter starts to wear on you, but I still think it's beautiful, so I had to get this pictures up before it's all over. I love how the snow plumps up the tree branch's silhouette. Love seeing the trees in all their seasons, winter has got to be one of my favorite.

post birthday celebration

2011-01-23T22:46:00.000-08:00

I love a good lunch or dinner with friends. Always seems to come around at a good time, like my birthday. My good friends, Whitney and Julia, my good friends since I was about 5 or 6 years old, took me to lunch. It's weird to think how many birthdays I have celebrated with these two, almost every birthday I can remember. It makes it all the more exciting to get together with them and celebrate. Love these girls and am so grateful for their friendship for so many years.

And of coarse my culinary friend, Melissa, would do nothing less than a home cooked birthday dinner. (She does this for all her good friends, pretty amazing) It meant the world to me. It was delicious! We even had a cup of tea at the end, in a very cute tea cup, with sweet tooth fairy cup cakes. My belly smiled the whole night. Then we went to Country Strong after to end the party, but what a depressing way to end it! It was a good movie, but so depressing. It didn't effect the night though, I was still happy and pleased with it all.

all-clad

2011-01-20T16:08:00.000-08:00

It took christmas/birthday/some of our own money combined to get me a set of all-clad pans, and I am so proud of the purchase. They are quite special pans. I figured it'b be worth the money, you can keep them for basically your whole life, pass them on, and maybe pass them on some more. I was amazed by our first try at them. Lance was actually the first to use them, I can't believe I let that happen. He made eirdutch, which is a Pendleton favorite. It's kind of like a thicker crepe with cut up apples in it and you smother it with butter and sprinkle sugar on it. They have honestly never been so perfect, and it's not just because Lance was making them, it was because of the perfectly evenly heated way the pan cooked them. I'm converted. They were well worth the investment. Thank you to all who pitched in, and thank you all-clad for creating such beauties.

And the year went by

2011-01-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

Turning a year older is always weird for me. It takes me a while to settle into the new big number. I hate when some one asks me how old I am, some one random that I don't really know, and it's only been like a day after my birthday. I usually just say my old age, I'm not quite ready to commit to the new age yet. Ask me in a month, and I'll tell you my real one, I'll feel better about it then. Really, I don't stress about my age that much, well I should say, NOW I don't stress about my age that much. I used to feel like I couldn't keep up with it. I've slowly come to grips that my life doesn't have to be filled with what seem like big accomplishments in the worldly sense, I can make little improvements in my character, talents, abilities and I actually feel like they are adding up to make a big difference in my life, my future kids life, and of coarse, make me a better wife to Lance. So basically what I'm trying to get at is, getting older isn't so bad after all.

My birthday this year we were in San Fran. I did a work shop, which I will tell more about later, with the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. We stayed with our friends Brad and Danielle who were the best hosts we could've ever imagined. Danielle even got me yummy cupcakes for my birthday, and they surprised me which, of coarse, I loved! My birthday was fantastic! We went out to breakfast, I danced from 10-4, then got to go shopping at anthro and use my birthday 15% off, then back to the apartment for cup cakes and more. It made me so happy. One year down and so many more to go.

One year at a time

2011-01-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I decided to do a "Goal setting dinner", whatever that is. I thought it'd be fun to have a special night to set our goals for the next year. I set it all out with our own personal goal cards to write on, a good motivating quote hanging from a chandelier looking really pretty with a lot of extra yarn hanging off it, (I was too lazy to cut it off) and of coarse with some good food surrounding it all. As we ate, I read a little story out of Pres. Monson's book, Be Your Best Self, pretty ideal for the night I thought. We started talking about some of our goals, mainly me blabbing away, and in the midst of the blabbing, I said how fun it will be when we have kids and we can do these kind of things with them, I have better and grander ideas for a goal setting night. Lance quickly brought me back to reality saying, "It'll be a long time till they'll sit through something like this.." Danget, he's right. I forget kids have to go through the whole growing up process. Lance must have not been as excited about this night as I was. If he was or wasn't, either way we had a good talk about the next year and planned some realistic goals. If I'm by myself I plan unrealistic ones, I start getting too crazy, like solve world hunger or something. This was a nice night. I'm beginning to actually really enjoy January, I used to think it was the most dull and boring month. Now, I see it as a month to renew and re-motivate ourselves, taking it one year at a time. And, I like that.

To Christmas

2010-12-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

To Christmas:

Thank you for bringing family together. Thank you for bringing the spirit of Christ through out the whole world. Thank you for the good food and holiday baking that comes with you. Thank you for the excitement of giving a gift you know, or hope, someone will love. Thank you for the cards, bows, packages, pictures, that make us all feel loved. Thank you for the very sweet reenactment of the nativity done by little Lane and Lucy, with Lane's arm around Lucy the entire time. Thank you for the special music, the tunes on the radio, and the ones sang Christmas Eve night. Thank you for inspiring me and Lance's first Christmas rap together, it became quite the hit this season. Thank you for the little kids that still see and create the magic in all that Christmas brings. Thank you for coming each year with out fail. Until next year....

if you need to know, this picture was taken by Lance's mom, and yes, we did have to hold our kiss till she got the perfect shot. I think this one counts for the new year kiss as well..... we held it that long. Thank you Christmas!

So this is Christmas

2010-12-20T21:49:00.000-08:00

This past weekend and few days have been the time for anything Christmas, which it should be by now. Friday was spent with these old pals....
My old high school buddies! We had a Christmas gathering! It was so good to see everyone. I wish I had about an hour with each one of them to hear all the details of their lives. I felt like it went by way too fast, but I'll take whatever I can get, it's not very often we all get together and especially with the husbands. It already feels like a true Christmas getting together with friends.

The very next day my sister and her kids came into town and we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with David Archuleta. It was probably the craziest night we've had so far. Getting into the concert was a insane! We got there about an hour before and almost didn't make it in. They closed the doors on us and then we ran to another door and got in by the skin on our teeth and a few tears. Even with all the stress before hand, the concert was beautiful. The choir is unbelievable, they are so powerful, and David Archuleta did an awesome job keeping up with them. I think he is darling. His comments in between the songs made everyone smile right along with his own cute smile. It was a wonderful Christmas event to see. Definitely got us ready for the season.

And tonight, a night out with Lance! A dinner, a walk through christmas lights, and some shopping, it never feels more like Christmas than a night like this. Now we are at home watching the family stone and eating hot chocolate and toast, one of Lance's favorite winter treats. It's actually pretty good. I had never tried it until we started dating and i guess I can admit I've come to like it.

And for tomorrow, plans are to go sledding with my sister and her kids. Thank goodness it finally snowed, I was getting a little depressed with out white on the grounds. Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope you preparations are filling you with love.

It's a WONDERFUL life!

2010-12-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas was show went by way too fast this year. I barely even got any pictures. I think I actually only got one, these two are from other people. How sad is that? We only had four shows, which obviously is the reason it went by too quick. They were four BEAUTIFUL shows though. I love the message of this show. Our lives, that seem so ordinary and meaningless at times, actually have great effect on those around us. And with out our existence, the world would be different. It all goes back to the one who created us. There was meaning and purpose in all His creations, including each one of us. Some times the thought of that makes my eyes a little wet. I love knowing that my Heavenly Father, who I can turn to every single day, knows me the very best. There is so much comfort in that and so much love involved in the creation of our existence. He is a wonderful God who gave us a wonderful life.