Grateful for Prayer

I am reminded this morning about how grateful I am for prayer. I was trying to decide if I should do something and knew I should take it to Heavenly Father in prayer. It is probably a small decision in the grand scheme of my life, but it was important to me that I make the right decision for me and for my family.

I am reminded of 2 Nephi 32:9 in the Book of Mormon which states "But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul".

I first studied out the issue in my mind and came to my own decision and then brought my decision to my Heavenly Father in prayer. I felt directed and inspired that in fact my decision was not the right one. Images and thoughts came to mind that helped me know why it would not be the best decision for me and my family. A sweet, comforting spirit accompanied the thoughts and images which made me feel at peace.

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that would take time to answer my prayer, even though it is a small thing. It means everything to me and reminds me that I am a beloved daughter of God.

Happy Pictures of the Week

Here you go! The happy picture of the week. You'll have to click on this one to make it larger. This is another picture from our California Vacation in 2007. We convinced Adelle to go on Splash Mountain which was a major feat! She is not a girl who likes fast or big rides. I think there was a little fibbing going on to get her on it! We had a blast. She didn't scream at all. She still remembers me screaming in her ears. She says I was really loud. After she got off it she said she liked it but that she didn't want to go on it again. I love how serious Ellen looks in this picture! Wes is making quite the face. He isn't a big ride person, but we still managed to have him ride it. Lydia is like me, adventurous and ready to ride almost anything! We won't be going to any amusement parks this year, but they sure are fun, especially Disneyland!

Adelle is 5

Yesterday Adelle turned the big 5! When asked if she felt any different she said she thought her feet might be a little bigger. She requested lots of balloons for her special day and pizza for dinner. Yum!

I can't believe how big she is getting. Lydia will be turning 10 in a couple of months! I feel old!

Adelle's Birthday Party

Sunday afternoon we invited the whole extended family to come over to celebrate Adelle's 5th Birthday. She said she was somewhat confused that we were celebrating her birthday because she wasn't going to be 5 until Monday, but she loved it anyway. She chose a Rainbow Costco cake and we had our usual party food (roll sandwiches and sides). Adelle is blessed to have so many people that love her! She got so many presents. Wes and I gave Adelle her very own CD player for her room, a Disney CD, a barbie, and 5 Berenstain Bear Books. Wes and Adelle LOVE to read them together. In fact, Adelle will only usually have her daddy read them to her because he has the best papa bear voice. It is there special time together.

Grandma Julie and Grandpa Bob gave Adelle some Hello Kitty clothes, a really cute Minnie Mouse dress complete with Minnie ears and a necklace. Aunt Sarah and Uncle Matt gave her fun workbooks to get her ready for Kindergarten. Grandma Ellen gave Adelle little Disney Princesses complete with little furniture. She loved everything and was so excited!

Lydia was especially sweet and gave her sister a bear she had earned for working so hard in the lunch room earlier in the week. What a generous, loving girl!

It was fun to hang out with everyone on such a nice day. Cedric and Lydia really got into playing with the dinosaurs! They would roar really loudly and then throw the dinosaurs into the box. Cedric was laughing so hard.

Adelle of course had to try on her new dress, put on her new CD and dance around the living room.

Cousin Cedric couldn't resist joining in. Adelle had a great day and even got to stay up late. Thank you everyone!

Erica's Care Package

So we thought we would send a "care" package to Erica at the MTC. We figured she could share with the other sisters and elders. What a great way to reduce the sugar in the house and to send a little extra LOVE!

Hair Cut?

Wes took Adelle to an inexpensive hair cutting place last Friday and this is how she came home.

Do you see a problem with this picture? I sure did. I took Adelle right back and stood right next to her while her hair was fixed. I was very nice to the girl. Perhaps she hadn't seen her mistake, but I was so much happier when her hair was all done! Adelle was less than thrilled to go back, but I told her she would look much better when it was all over.

Happy Pictures of the Week - My Adelle

Well almost 5 years ago (April 20) my little Adelle was born. After weeks of contractions (8 weeks if you were wondering) she joined our family. These are the some of the happiest pictures I have posted yet. I love you my Adelle. Happy Birthday! She looks so different now. She definitely was a healthy girl at 8 pounds and 21 inches.

I love this picture. Wes is bathing Adelle while Grandma Ellen and Lydia are looking on.

What a proud daddy!

Mama Mia! That's a yummy sauce!

So what do you get when you combine a giant can of tomato sauce, 24 ounces of mushrooms, 6 pounds of Italian sausage, 5 cans of tomato paste, 7 cans Italian stewed tomatoes, 1 onion, 6 cloves of garlic, and special seasoning? My special home made spaghetti sauce. I grew up on the yummiest home made spaghetti sauce as a kid. My mother was a wonderful cook and I was spoiled with wonderful food. For a few years now I have made my own special brand of sauce and we all love it around here. Wednesday night, despite my cold, I got out my GIANT stock pot and with my family's help I made a big batch. We had spaghetti that evening and the rest was put in the freezer for later. We now have 9 meals worth of sauce. Yeah! It is great to pull out on a busy night, which is often thanks to me working.

The only bad thing was I made a lot of dirty dishes. The good thing was Wes did them. I love him!

Ahh the comforts of home.

I am Grateful.

I was listening to National Public Radio (NPR) on the way into work this morning and heard a sad and disheartening story about the drug addiction and misery in Afghanistan. The story focused on an Afghan woman named Karima, an opium addict, who shares her home with her addicted parents. She has six children that live with her that suffer the ill effects of being bathed by opium and heroin smoke since birth. The children don't attend school. The oldest daughter (12), a girl who is small for her age and is losing her hair, is sent to buy drugs for her mother. The mother actually tried to sell her 5 year old daughter in the market last month because she was desperate for the cash, but she was unable to find a buyer. The oldest daughter has also started to take "drags" of her mother's opium. NPR goes on to discuss why there is such a drug problem in Afghanistan.

If you want to read the story in it's entirety and view pictures you can click here http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102984398.

Why do I share such a sad story? It made me think how fortunate we are to live in a country that is free from the ravaging effects of war. It made me appreciate what I have and has prompted me to make a list of what I am grateful for.

I am Grateful for..

I am grateful that I live in a country that is free from war and terror.

I am grateful that I live in a warm, sheltered home.

I am grateful to be married to a wonderful man.

I am grateful for two beautiful children that are healthy and generally happy.

I am grateful that I am able to feed my children.

I am grateful that they can attend school have opportunities to become whatever they want to be.

I am grateful that I have a job that supports my family.

I am grateful we have cars to take us where we need each day.

I am grateful that I am generally healthy and free of disease.

I am grateful that I am surrounded by people who love and respect me.

I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father.

I am grateful for Jesus Christ and his Atonement.

I am grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints.

I am grateful for the Temple and the covenants I have made.

I am grateful for loving Parents, natural and "adopted".

I am grateful that I grew up in a loving, caring environment.

I am grateful for the technology which connects us and helps us understand our environment.

I am grateful for my trials because they have made me what I am today.

I am grateful that I am alive to experience life to its fullest, to learn, to make mistakes, and to try to become better each day.

My car is BETTER!

Well the only problem with my car was the radiator cap. It would have been a very simple and inexpensive fix for us. Getting it done at the dealership ended up costing $108. Oh well! They tested it and checked it so now I have the peace of mind that it is fixed. If we were to fix the problem ourselves It probably just would have been a guessing game. At least the problem is fixed and it wasn't too bad.

On the other hand, I appear to be sick! Dumb colds! Hopefully I'll be over it soon. Until then my poor family has had to endure my sniffles and coughs. I hope I don't pass it around!

My Car is SICK!

Remember that I skipped out on work yesterday? So I totally packed my day with stuff. The girls and I planted the garden, we walked to the library and back, and I even did some laundry. Well I decided to do a few more things. I decided that Adelle and I would go to a bookstore in Jordan Commons. I put a book on hold at the library and have really been wanting to read it, but I think it is going to be weeks before it will be my turn to get it. I was tired of waiting and decided I would go buy it.

Adelle and I, armed with birthday money drove down to the bookstore. Everything was going well until I turned into the parking lot. There was a small amount of steam or smoke. I turned of the car and my car gushed all of its coolant out of the bottom of the car. I swear it just vomited it out! I calmly called Wes and well, he was less than happy, to his credit though when he arrived he was calm as well. He drives out with Lydia and we decide to take it to the dealership repair shop on 106th south and State. It didn't overheat at all at first, but then sure enough the little meter hand moves into the red. I pull over and Wes pulls over in his car. I jump into his car and we drive around trying to find an place that carries red antifreeze. That is right boys and girls, my car only takes Red antifreeze.

We can't find a place so we head back to my car and turn it back on. It has cooled down a bit so we decide to start heading to the dealership. We make it a little ways and then it starts overheating again. I park it and we again drive around in Wes' car trying to find a store that sells Red antifreeze. No luck. We decide to eat dinner at Wendy's instead. Can I tell you...I have never seen my girls eat so much in such a small amount of time. Myself and the girls were starving after working in the garden and walking to the library. We had eaten lunch earlier, but will all the extra physical exertion we are just famished.

We head back to my car and start the journey again. Sure enough it goes into the red, but I am two minutes away. I make it to the dealership and drop off the car. They said that they will look at it today. I really hope that it isn't anything major. It appears that it leaked right by the coolant tank and not the engine, but we'll see. Cars are never fun!

Gardening Time!

I am sluffing from work today. Don't worry my boss knows. I decided to use my get out of jail free card to spend the last day of spring break home with my girls. Wes hinted several times before he went to meet with a client that it would be a great idea for the girls and I to plant seeds in the garden. Wes already worked yesterday to till the garden with manure. We decided this year to plant Spinach, Peas, Bell Peppers and Asparagus. Spinach thrives in our garden every year. The peas almost took over my tomatoes last year because Wes planted them in between the tomato plants. Silly guy! He stated that the peppers were starting to come up last year, but that they were planted too late. The asparagus is going to be planted in a wild strip next to our driveway.

On Saturday we bought a blackberry bush, a raspberry bush, and a grape vine. I am SO EXCITED about these!! Here is the problem though. I had this great place picked out in my mind, right next to the chain link fence. Wes has pointed out several problems with my location. He is determined that they will be planted in raised planter beds, which will probably cost a bit of money. Probably not too much, but still extra money. I would love to say that I have expertise to build my own planter beds, but I don't. Hopefully I will be able to convince Wes to help me soon. I did find a wonderful blog that gives step by step instructions so hopefully that will help us along.

So anyway, the girls and I ventured outside to make rows in the dirt and the plant our little seeds. Lydia complained quite a bit. I love my girl, but she complained she was hungry, and that she didn't like her hand feeling dry, and she was bored. She still was a big help though. Thanks Lydia!! Adelle helped with the seed planting and she was the photographer.

I think Lydia and I were really getting good at making our rows by the end. My legs ended up feeling like jelly by the time we were done. We didn't use any gloves because we only have one pair, and besides who needs gloves! A little dirt never hurt anyone!

In the far left row we planted peas. In the next row we planted spinach and the row to the right of that we planted a variety of bell peppers. The last row is reserved for a later planting of spinach. The spinach will go to seed after a couple of months and isn't usable anymore, so we figured it would be a good idea to plant one row later. The square in the far right of the picture is reserved for tomato plants, my favorite part of the garden. I really, really hope Costco gets tomato plants again this year. They were so hardy and did so well. I had buckets and buckets of tomatoes!

Our peach tree is looking really healthy this year. I hope we get a lot of yummy, sweet peaches this summer!

Got Candy?

This isn't good for a girl who is trying to eat healthy! There are a lot of people who love my girls. Lydia came home with oodles of candy from her dad's family, of course the Easter Bunny left some candy and other relatives have generously given to my girls. Need sugar? You are welcome to come to my house and consume large quantities of candy from our personal candy store. Really....come over!

Is the Easter Bunny Fair?

The Easter Bunny has always been very "fair" in my opinion. He always leaves the same amount of eggs for the girls, the same chocolate bunny for each of them and similar added items. Since Lydia wasn't going to come home until Sunday night the Easter Bunny decided to put Lydia's eggs straight into her basket instead of hiding them. Adelle's were hidden around the living room by a taller than usual Easter Bunny. It was his first year hiding the eggs, and lets just say he hid them in harder to find spots.

Adelle always seems to wake up earlier than everyone else in the family. Sunday was no exception. I came out groggy eyed into the living room to find that Lydia's eggs where missing. I asked Adelle what had happened to the eggs in Lydia's basket. Adelle suddenly bursts into tears and explains that Lydia had more eggs than her. She said that there were hardly any hidden for her at all, so she decided to hide all the eggs! *Sigh* I then explain that I am sure the Easter Bunny gave each of them the same amount of eggs. I kindly ask her to find all of Lydia's eggs and to put them back in her basket. You've got to love her! Once that was accomplished Adelle woke up Wes so he could watch her find the eggs. I thought it might be a good idea since I knew he would have a better idea where they were all hidden.

She did manage to find all 16 of her eggs. She counted just to make sure. She was soothed to know that the Easter Bunny is fair after all.

The girls also got other goodies. Adelle got a Curious George "easy to read" book. Her reading is coming right along recently. She got a very large, crispy, chocolate bunny. She also got Easter puzzles, which by the way don't like to lay very flat and don't go together well. Adelle asked why the Easter Bunny would give her puzzles that don't go together well. Perhaps the Easter Bunny was trying to save money and didn't realize that the puzzles would be so defective!

Lydia got the second book in the Fablehaven series, which she was super excited about, a crispy, chocolate bunny as well, and a word search book which she was less than thrilled about. The tall Easter Bunny thought Lydia might be offended to receive 24 piece Easter Puzzles. Oh well!

Colored Eggs

Before I get into this post I have to share with you this cartoon. My step-mother sent Wes and I this humorous card. It made me laugh! Saturday night Adelle and I decided to dye some eggs. We only dyed 8 since Lydia wasn't there to share in the fun. She was with her father this weekend. After the long process of boiling the eggs we covered the table in paper towels and got our dyes ready. By the way, did you know that the pink tablet isn't supposed to be combined with vinegar, or in our case lemon juice. It separates out all funny. Just and FYI in case you are dying eggs any time soon. I can't imagine you would be since Easter is over.
Adelle didn't want much help at all this year. She was determined to do it by herself. She did a pretty good job. We had one mishap when I was trying to get the egg out of the blue dye for her. Suddenly the egg fell of the egg holder and dropped quickly back into the blue dye splattering it all over Adelle. That reminds me, I haven't stain treated her shirt yet. Drat!

Here is our egg line up, well a few of them anyway. Do you see the speckled one? That was made thanks to our separated pink tablet. It did create a nice effect. Our egg dying kit came with stickers and Adelle decided to use every last one on the 8 eggs! It was a sticker wonderland. Grandma Ellen was visiting and Adelle even shared one of her eggs with her. The funny thing is we have eaten all but one of them already! Maybe we will have to make some more hard boiled eggs. What can I say, the girls in the family LOVE eggs!

Happy Pictures of the Week

These pictures were taken from one of our favorite family adventures! I know we don't look happy in the picture below, but trust me we are. We all look wind blown (especially Wes' hair) and I remember smelling fishy but we had the time of our lives!

In the Summer of 2006 we camped on the Oregon coast with Wes' family. Wes had a wonderful idea to rent a boat one afternoon in Netarts Bay. The friendly folks at the Marina advised us for just a little bit more money we could rent some crab rings and try our luck at catching some crawly crabs. It am sure it was hilarious to see our little family trying to catch crabs. We would quickly pull up our crab rings from the bottom of the bay and deposit our loot at the bottom of our boat. The girls at time would start screaming at the top of their lungs because the little crabs would start moving their way. Wes and I would carefully measure the crabs to make sure they were big enough and then put them in a bucket. At one point I accidentally flung one of the crabs onto Wes' lap. The poor guy! He wasn't injured though.

It was so much fun though to be out together in the bay trying to manage the boat and catch the crabs. It was challenging, funny, and a whole lot of FUN! We saw seals basking on the sand bars and even caught a bright, pink starfish, which of course was thrown back.

We ended up catching 12 Red Rock Crabs and 1 Dungeness. The Netarts Bay Marina steamed up the crabs in a giant pot and then Wes and I cleaned them up. We took them back to camp to share them with all the family. If you have never had FRESH crab I highly recommend it! There is nothing like it in the world!Since we will be vacationing close to Netarts Bay again the summer we are already planning on going crab fishing again. I can't wait to be out there in the boat again with my family on our own little adventure by the sea.

My Blog in the Spotlight

So a couple of years ago I ran across a site that is great for finding out what is going on around your state. It even includes FREE family activities! Love that! Every Thursday I get an e-mail with the fun, family weekend activities that are coming up. The site is http://www.gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/. Well a few months back they wanted local family blogs to showcase and I thought "why not" and I submitted mine. Well, I've just been notified that my blog is being featured. I am quite flattered that my little blog is being noticed in any way.

Here is the link for the blog on their site http://gocitykids.parentsconnect.com/attraction/Blog-Random-Thoughts-of-Liz-Salt-Lake-City-UT-84101-US

Here is what they have said about the blog "Random Thoughts of Liz is a blog that's filled with the musings of a local mom who likes to go hiking in the warmer months, creates meals using homegrown veggies from her little garden, loves watching and being involved in community theater, and enjoys sharing stories of parenting and family fun."

The Salt Lake City Editor, Holy Bishop, notified me that they are currently choosing the "Best Local Blog". Nominees are chosen based on reader reviews, so if you like my blog I would love for you to rate in on their site. If you don't like my blog or think it can be improved tell me too. Feedback is always good :)

Our Sweet Erica has started her Mission

My sister-in-law Erica went to the Missionary Training Center yesterday to begin her LDS mission. She will be serving in South Korea. We are really going to miss her!! The great thing is Ellen will be updating Erica's blog (link in blog roll) every week with information about Erica. Yeah! By the way Ellen, I hope you don't mind that I am borrowing this great picture of Erica going into the MTC.

Rainy Day

I woke up this morning to cool, clean rain. It is somewhat comforting to wake up to rain. There is something almost mystical about it. Now, granted it was interesting to fill my tire up with air at the 7-11 while it was raining. Granted I really shouldn't complain. It was common practice for me when I was younger to take walks because it was raining. I absolutely loved it. Once in college I decided to go out in an drenching, downpour. I had a rain coat on, but everything else got soaking wet. My jeans, shoes, everything. It did take a while to warm up after that one which was interesting because I had a show to do at the Off Broadway Theatre later in the evening. I distinctly remember laughing to the sky that occasion though while the rain dripped on my nose.

Another thing I loved about the rain when I was a kid were the bugs that would venture out. When I walked into work this morning the sidewalk was alive with worms. I carefully watched my step, avoiding the worms, not because I wouldn't like the squish of them under my feet, but because I like bugs. When I was a kid I would make worm hotels. It was sad when they would occasionally drown in the hotel pool. I hated to see them die.

I LOVED the snails that would venture out on the rainy days. They were one of my favorites. One rainy day in 5th grade I decided to bring some snails along with me to school. I placed them in my desk while I went about my day doing schoolwork. At one point I had to go out to the hall to take a test I had missed. Suddenly there was screaming from the classroom. My teacher advised me to get back into class. Girls were standing on their chairs. I looked at my desk and sure enough, my new little snail friends were climbing down the legs of my desk. My teacher quickly and gruffly advised me to take them outside. He informed me that snails were for eating and not for keeping as pets. I was greatly offended at the idea that my little friends would be eaten, but I wasn't one to break the rules. I quickly scurried outside and deposited the snails on the wet grass hoping that they wouldn't be trampled at the next recess.

Isn't it funny that even when we grow up we can still like bugs and walking in the rain. Maybe growing up in some ways is a myth. Sure we get responsibilities and jobs and we learn to do "grown up" things, but really there are parts of us that really never change.

We're famous...well sort of.

So the girls and I headed over the the library yesterday to get new movies and books. To my surprise I saw pictures of myself and Lydia in the glass cases in the entry way. What a surprise. The Empress Theatre is displaying several of their past shows complete with programs and pictures. Lo and behold there was a picture of myself in Midsummer and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Lydia was in the fairy picture for Midsummer. I wish I had copies of the Midsummer pictures. I wasn't smart enough to take pictures of the show when I was in it.

Anyway, it was funny to see myself and Lydia on display. Sure it is just our little, local library, but hey, how often does that happen.

Grounded? How about Scrabble?

I came home today to find Adelle officially grounded from playing outside. She didn't listen when advised to stay in our yard. She decided to go next door to play with a cute, little girl. Adelle is my social one, but still she broke the rule and so now she can't play outside today or tomorrow. With it being such fine weather it would have been wonderful to go on a family walk, but with Adelle being grounded that was out of the question. Instead we decided to play Scrabble together as a family. Adelle rotated what team she wanted to be on. Wes and I used to play Scrabble a lot in the past. We are very competitive when it comes to board games so we don't often play them anymore. It was fun to involve the girls though. Lydia actually did well for her first time playing. I am proud to announce that I won too. Woo Hoo! That was even after I took over Wes' letters that he was tired of. He was holding a Z, Q and W in the last part of the game.

The whole evening when awry when Wes decided to crumple up the scores and launch them across the room at our heads! Yes, you can imagine what happened next. A full blown paper ball fight! I retreated for most of it to supervise Adelle's bath.

This is what I came back to. Pure mayhem! Ah, the joys of "family night". Honestly it was a lot of fun to laugh uncontrollably at the silliness that surrounds me. Of course I am never silly myself!

Our Grand Night at the Ballet

The girls and I had the wonderful opportunity last night to go to the Capitol Theatre to watch Ballet West perform Treasures of the Ballets Russes. There was a woman in the ward who was unable to use her tickets and so she offered them to us. We couldn't pass up the chance to go. We got all dressed up in our finest apparel to go on our "date".
When we arrived at Capitol Theatre we had some time to walk around and explore. I took the girls up the balcony to see the large, crystal chandelier, to peer at the box seats, and to look down upon the orchestra pit. All of the orchestra members were dressed up in tuxes or black dresses. Did you know that there is a net covering part of the orchestra pit. Perhaps it is so the ballet dancers won't fall to great injury if they trip. From there we got cushions from the coat check so we would be able to see the performances better.


Three different ballets were performed: "Les Biches" (The Does), "Prodigal Son", and Polovetsian Dances from "Prince Igor".


"Les Biches" (The Does) was a ballet that took a whimsical look at the 1920's flapper scene. There wasn't really much of a story to this one, but it was still very interesting to watch. Instead of tutus the women wore flapper dresses with their toe shoes. Some in fact didn't even wear the toe shoes. Instead they just wore ballet shoes. One female dancer even performed holding a cigarette holder while wearing long beads. Adelle especially enjoyed the long feathers that adorned each of the girls heads. The funniest part of this ballet was watching the only male dancers "the athletes". They were quite humorous as they would strike their strong poses and hop about all manly. They even made fun of their own moves at one point. Adelle said this was her favorite ballet.


The next ballet, "Prodigal Son", was my favorite of the three. The picture below is from this ballet.

It is based around the biblical story of the prodigal son. The story itself expressed through dance was very moving. Adelle even began to cry at the end. I had to tell her that it was going to be alright. Lydia remarked afterwards that she was concerned when the "drinking companions" started robbing the son of all of his clothes. She was worried he was going to be naked on stage. The dancer was left practically naked except for his nude colored dance shorts.


The "drinking companions" were so very interesting as well. They all had bald caps on and moved at times as a single entity. They were eerie and created quite a tone to the ballet.


What amazed me about this ballet was the emotion that was present. It was unlike any other ballet I have seen before. Some of the dance moves were so technically difficult and innovative as well. One very moving part of the ballet was watching the prodigal son suffer after he has been robbed, beaten and left destitute. The male dancer was literally crawling along the stage collapsing and dragging himself along. It was incredible.


Watching the story of the prodigal son being played out in such a dramatic fashion reminded me of the original parable. It reminded me that even when we make mistakes and fall into the deepest sin we are still able to return to our Heavenly Father and be welcomed back with open arms. It of course is never an easy process, as it wasn't for the prodigal son in the ballet, but it is possible and well worth the effort.


The last balled, Polovetsian Dances from "Prince Igor", was more traditional then the other two ballets. There were grand costumes and large group dances. This was Lydia's favorite because it was so vibrant and the dances were so big. Men dressed in hunting costumes that would date back to an earlier Russian era leaped and raised their bows to the sky in jubilant fashion. The warrior wives danced with plaited hair spinning and bouncing joyously. Female, Persian slaves flowed across the large stage moving their brightly colored veils, enticing the warrior men. Adelle especially liked the lead Persian slave with her sparkling costume.


What a wonderful evening it was. The girls were quite tired when we headed home at 10:00 and both fell asleep. I don't think it will be an experience that they will forget any time soon. I know I won't.