Lydia's Birthday Party

Sunday was Lydia's 9th Birthday and we decided to celebrate by having the family come over to our house for dinner and cake. We had our usual large get together meal. Roll sandwiches with yummy sides. I actually served up fresh spinach from our garden! Yes, our garden! It is actually growing things. Some of the family brought presents for me too because my birthday is on the 26th.

Here's Adelle just hanging out!
Lydia enjoyed her dinner. She also loved the sodas! We hardly ever have sodas at our house, but this was a special occasion.
Cedric hanging out with Grandma Julie. I can't believe how big he is getting!
Kyle (Wes' brother) was fascinated with my Dad's car so they took some time to check it out.
Maybe someday Kyle.

Present time!
Lydia got this beautiful, little statue from her Grandma Christensen. She went in a safe place right away. Grandma Oates (Ellen) gave Lydia this cute shirt. She has another present for Lydia that hasn't come from Amazon yet.
Wes, Adelle and I gave Lydia this dragonfly necklace with some matching earrings.
We also gave her "Peter and the Secret of Rundoon". It is the third book in the Peter Pan series. She was super excited. She has already read 100 pages of the book.

Erica gave Lydia a book that she had written especially for her called "Lydia's Quest". I don't know why we didn't get a picture of it. Lydia read the book the very next day and just loved it!
Lydia got the 3rd season of the Muppet Show from Aunt Sarah, Uncle Matt, and Cedric. Matt was unable to come because he had to get up very early the next morning to go to work. Somehow I managed to not get a picture of Sarah either. Sorry Sarah!! She was behind the camera for most of the time.

My sister gave me a straightener. I haven't used it yet with how busy I have been.
Lydia got cute clothes from Grandma Julie.
I got this cupcake birthday plate from Julie.
Lydia was really excited that she got a Snow Cone Maker. These are the syrups for the snow cones. We are going to have to try making these soon. Especially with how hot it has been.
CANDY!!!!!!!!!! These actually go with my gifts below.

Julie, Cedric, my Dad, and Grandma Walter.
Kyle, Philip and Grandma Christensen. Don't the boys look excited.
Erica, Ellen, Bill and Jeff.
Julie gave me this fun cupcake book with a lot of other cupcake themed items. The girls can't wait until I make them something fun out of this amazing book! See the candy is to put on top of the cupcakes.
Isn't this a fun cupcake platter! It immediately went on my counter. I want to enjoy it every day.

She also gave me some cute cupcake bowls and plates.
Lydia requested Ice Cream Cake for her Birthday. It is her favorite. Here we are holding the cake together while everyone sang to us. The candles wouldn't stay lit outside. There's Devin in the background. He joined us later in the party. He rode up in his new scooter which is saving him bundles of cash because of it's great gas mileage.
Adelle with her Erica again!
The biggest hit for the girls towards the end of the party was actually the ribbon from the birthday presents.
Aunt Sarah and Lydia playing with the ribbon.

Lydia all wrapped up modeling her new ribbon outfit!
In the course of the evening I found a little, green grasshopper on my leg. When I was a kid I just loved grasshoppers! I immediately called the girls over to see this little guy.
Lydia getting close and personal with the grasshopper.
Even Adelle wasn't afraid of him. My brave girls!
Cedric enjoying his rice cereal! Yum!! It really was a fun evening! Lydia seemed to have a great birthday. After we had cleaned up outside we went inside with Aunt Sarah and watched an episode of the Muppet Show and then Wes and I relaxed and watched a movie.

The only unfortunate thing of the evening is that Lydia's birthday money from Grandma Walter accidentally got thrown away at some point. It was a whole $25 dollars! The next day was garbage day too, so it is long gone. Poor Lydia. She was happy that my birthday money was spent the next night when I took the girls to "Big Bad Musical" at the Empress Theatre. Silly girl! She didn't want me having my money either I guess. "Big Bad Musical" was a really cute show and we enjoyed it.

Speaking of the Theatre and plays, we have been super busy this week rehearsing. Honestly, it really has been stressing me out!! I need to stop being so hard on myself. I have been picking apart my performances, especially my singing, which I think is only making it worse. I don't sing as well when I am stressing about it. I need to remember to have fun and enjoy it. I was so ready to be done with the show last night. I know! Isn't that awful. I would never quit the show though. I am going to try to stop thinking about it until we have our next practice on Saturday. And when we do have practice again I am just going to have fun!

Speaking of fun, today is my Birthday! I called my boss and asked him if I could take a mental health day. He was very sweet and told me to enjoy myself. We are going to splurge and go to Lagoon! YEAH! I am really looking to just having some good old fashioned fun! No worries for me today!

I'll have to take some pictures and post about it!

Getting Ready for the Tribute Concert and a Family Affair.

Here are some fun pictures of the practice on Friday night for the Mr. Moore Tribute Concert. Things are actually going pretty well. Some of the songs that I was worried about are really coming together. It is a amazing to me that you can take a group of people who haven't sung for years and throw them together to form a pretty good sounding choir. The woman who started this all is Deborah Peterson. I really appreciate all of the hard work she is putting into everything. I have put together events before and they are stressful and time consuming. She really deserves a lot of thanks!! The concert is only a week from today! Wow how time flies.

There is something magical about getting together with everyone. It is really fun to see old friends and to feel that power and passion that can come from singing in a choir. Do you know what I mean? There is an amazing energy and sometimes you get the chills!




Here is a picture of my Dad and Lydia practicing "I'm Thankful". Lydia is sounding really good. I never knew she could sing so well. Her voice really is maturing and she is blossoming into a young lady. She is actually going to be 9 years old tomorrow!
We decided to move into the gym towards the end of the rehearsal and practice some of the numbers acapella. I know! Shocking! We did manage to stay on key though.

I love this picture of Kyle, Eric, Rodney and Keri. Yes those are Kazoos! You will have to come to the concert to see what fun we are planning. Shhhh. They are a secret though!

So, some great news on the family front. Adelle is now in the show! Can you believe it. My baby is going to be in her very first play. She is going to be appearing in the first scene and in the Town Social scene. She is really excited. So now it is official. Our whole entire family is going to be on stage. I love that we can make it a family affair. I think practically every night now is family night for us.

Wes is SUPER busy making costumes. I think he is looking forward to the day when they will all be done. I think he may regret letting everyone know that he can sew. I know Erin Fair is happy that he can sew though. She was going to have to wear a horrible dress that made her look like a high necked pumpkin. Wes has almost completed her new dress and I think it is going to look very cute on her. Erin plays Dorcas.

So I realized today that the show opens 3 weeks from yesterday! Aaaahhhhhhhhh! Panic Mode. I memorized some more lines today, but I really need to finish that soon. I am also going to go to rehearsal early on Tuesday to polish up some of my singing. I really wish that singing was more of a strength for me. Don't get me wrong, I can do it, but sometimes jitters can get the best of me. I just don't sound as well on stage as I do in my own house. I feel more at ease I guess. Perhaps I am just trying to belt to much on the stage. I assume I am going to have a microphone. Who knows! Really just ignore this paragraph. It is just my ranting. Wes says that I sound great, but don't you think he may be biased? Honestly, I feel most at ease acting. I really enjoy it. Oh, I bet you are all reading this and thinking "Oh great I don't want to come see the show if she can't sing". Now, that isn't what I am saying. What am I saying? Really, come see the show! I can sing! I promise :)

Well I'll be posting more soon! I'll have lots of pictures of Lydia's Birthday party.

Holliness to the Lord

Wednesday was our Stake's Annual Day of Sacrifice. It is a day set aside to spend as much time in the Temple as possible. I arrived at the Salt Lake Temple at 7:30 AM and stayed till about 4:00 PM. I decided to fast as well. I figure with everything that is going on in our family right now it would be a good idea. I did some sealings from about 8:00 to 9:05. The endowment sessions are only once an hour on the hour so I had to wait for the 10:00 session. That session went longer than usual because there were so many women in the session. I ended up having to wait for the 1:00 session. I didn't get as much work as I would have liked done, but it was one of the best days anyway. The spirit was so strong in the temple. No where else in the world can you feel so close to our Heavenly Father and his Son. There is something unique about the Salt Lake Temple as well. It is so beautiful inside and has been so intricately detailed even down to the door knobs. The early pioneers put so much work into building their temple. I really enjoyed looking at the paintings and the stained glass. I loved being there and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to take the day off from work and attend.

I know the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church. I feel it down to the very marrow in my bones. I have been blessed so abundantly, not because I am anyone special, but because I am a child of God, as all of us are. My Heavenly Father and Saviour really have been there to support me through all of my trials and good times and I know that they are there for me. I am so grateful I can communicate with God through my prayers. I have received so much guidance and help through prayer.

I have gone though a lot in my life. I am sure all of us have in our own way. I haven't felt alone though and in fact my trials have only made me stronger. I am so grateful that I was impressed to do my family history work. I have become closer to my ancestors and the temple work has become so much more meaningful for me. There are times when I feel someone is there watching the work being done and are so happy. I felt that so strongly when I sealed my mother to her parents. I felt her whole family. They seemed to be celebrating the moment! It was wonderful. It has given me a lot of hope for my mother as well. I used to believe if you committed suicide that there was no chance of being accepted into the Celestial Kingdom. I don't believe that anymore. I believe that our Heavenly Father is really more generous, kind and caring then we give him credit for.

I am so grateful for my family too! They are my everything!

Father's Day and New Roads

Sunday we celebrated Father's Day. Lydia was at her Dad's until Sunday night. Sunday morning I made french toast and sausage for Wes. The girls made special letters and pictures for Wes. Isn't this a sweet picture of Adelle and her Daddy. Wes is such a great father and husband. We are so lucky to have him :) I framed his two licenses and his Law Degree. Eventually we will get him his own office where he can hang them.
I also got him a planner so he can keep track of things. As a small business owner you need to be organized! He really liked everything.

Saturday we made chocolate chip cookies and delivered them to my dad, Wes' dad and Wes' grandfather. It was nice to visit with everyone.

Sunday afternoon Wes, Adelle and I walked about 2 miles in 90 degree weather to Wes' mom's house. We thought it would be nice to get out and stretch our legs. We walked past my old church and some other familiar spots here in Magna. I had fun pointing them out to Adelle. By the time we made it to Ellen's we were pretty hot. I was impressed that Adelle made it without much whining. In fact at one point we were going to turn around and Adelle was quite upset. She really wanted to walk to Grandma's. When we got there she said. "See! I told you we would make it!"

Monday night we all went walking as a family. It was another hot evening. We made sure we brought some water along. It was a much shorter walk than the evening before. I really love walking together. Getting out and stretching my legs just seems to slow the whole world down. We can talk together without distractions. It hopefully helps us be fitter as well.


So Wes has been super busy. He is moving ahead and is starting his own law firm. He is working on getting incorporated. He has decided that he is going to work from home. He will have an arrangement with a law firm to rent their conference room to meet with clients. He actually already has one client and may have another one soon. Hopefully everything will work out well.

Wes has also been working on costumes for 7 Brides for 7 Brothers at the Empress Theatre. He has been asked to make three skirts, three underskirts and a shawl for my pajamas. Hopefully the other girls will like their skirts. One of the brides personally asked him to make a dress for her as well. She is going to be buying and selecting her own fabric. I tell you, he could make it as a costumer if there was a market for it.

We haven't had a lot of rehearsal recently because the Brides, Brothers and Suitors have been choreographing the challenge dance. It really is a big production number so they need a lot of time to work on it. I almost feel like I'm not in in a show anymore. I should take advantage of the time of and memorize lines. I actually did memorize some while I was walking outside on my break at work. I really shouldn't walk outside again when it is that hot though. It really drained me. I was in work black work pants and the sun was just bearing down. I'm not used to the hot weather yet.

I am still going to busy though. The tribute concert for Mr. Moore is in a week and a half. My father asked Lydia to sing a solo on a song he wrote 7 years ago. It is called "I'm Thankful". She is very excited to do it. She is doing a wonderful job practicing it and I am really looking forward to seeing her perform. The alumni choir will be singing in the song as well.

So tomorrow is our Stake's "Annual Day of Sacrifice". It is a day where you try and spend as much time in the temple as you can. I have taken the day off and I am really looking forward to doing some family work, mainly endowments. I am planning on fasting as well. I think will all that is going on in our family it would be a good idea. I think it is going to be a very spiritually uplifting day.

Leaving on a Jet Plane and Costumes.

So Lydia flew out this evening to Denver, Colorado to be with her dad for the weekend. She sees him every few months. She actually flies alone as an "unaccompanied minor". I actually take her through security, directly to the gate and then an airline employee takes her right onto the plane where a stewardess takes care of her. When she gets to Colorado her dad meets her right as she gets off the plane. I used to have a really hard time with it, but I have pretty much gotten used to it. Lydia has been flying alone since she was 5. I totally embarrassed Lydia when I SMOTHERED her with tons of kisses. He He He! My mother always used to embarrass me. I think it is my duty as a mother to pass it on to my daughter. Adelle helped as well. When we were waiting for Lydia's plane to fly out Adelle and I practiced songs from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Maybe I just don't get embarrassed anymore and Adelle isn't at that stage yet.

Aren't they cute! Adelle helped Lydia out by carrying Lydia's purse.

We will really miss Lydia while she is gone. She will be home Sunday evening. She was a little sad that she wasn't going to be here with us, but I know her dad has a lot of fun things planned for her while he is with her. They are going to be celebrating her birthday.

Adelle came with me tonight to drop of Lydia since Wes was at his last "flying solo" class. No it isn't flying lessons, it is a class on how to open your own practice. He actually made his first business purchase tonight. He picked up an all in one copier/faxer/printer. Now I just need to remind him to send in the rebate. Wes spent part of his day trying to come up with a logo for a firm. Lydia wanted to help and this is what she came up with. What do you think?So Wes finished my Millie dress on Tuesday. We stopped by rehearsal on Tuesday night to get Porter's (the director) okay. He seemed to really like it. The costumer seemed quite taken with it as well. Wes is planning on helping with more costumes as needed. The dress originally had long sleeves, but Wes thought it made me look like an FLDS member. He shortened the sleeves and it really makes a huge difference. It is pretty comfortable as well. The front buttons aren't actually functional. Thank Heavens! It would be a bit much to undo 12 buttons for a costume change. He put a long heavy duty zipper in the back.

So I found out today that the gentleman who was playing Caleb (one of the brothers) had to drop out of the show. I haven't heard yet why he had to leave us. We are a month away from opening and we need to fill this role. Do any of you know anyone who could do it? Here is the posting for the part:

We are looking for one male to play the part of Caleb in theEmpress Theatre's Production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Must have singing, dancing and acting experience. Show runs Mon, Fri, and Sat nights July 11th through August 11th. Must be able to attend all performances. Rehearsals are Tuesday through Thursday evening 7-10 and Saturday mornings 10-2 with full week rehearsals during tech week. Part needs to be filled ASAP! Please contact Porter Williams if interested at(801) 856-9534 or vorpalblade@gmail.com

I really hope the role gets filled soon. Friends of mine have already purchased tickets and I really want the show to go well. It think it will work out well in the end. It is just the getting there that is interesting! Well everyone take care!

Schools out for the Summer!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a bit. We have been Super Busy! Lydia's last day of school was this past Thursday. She was so excited! Wes attended the Awards Assembly. Lydia received a gold medal for reading. She also received a Certificate of Outstanding Performance on the Iowa Tests from the Utah State Board of Education for scoring in the top ten percent nationally in Science! Way to go Lydia! I am so proud of you! I apologize that the pictures aren't the best. I hope to get some better ones soon!

Thursday afternoon we attended Jeff Oates' graduation (Wes' brother). Go Jeff!! Go Pirates. Jeff is the last one in the family to graduate from High School. Everyone is growing up.
This is a great picture of Bill, Ellen and Jeff. Afterwards we ate dinner at the Chinese Buffet really quickly then the girls and I headed to rehearsal. Wes attended a class on how to start his own practice. The classes have been very informative. He has two more to attend.

So other things that have been going on in our life... well the first one course is rehearsal. Things are going well. We are having so much fun. We actually are going to have a little bit of time off this week while the Challenge Dance is choreographed. So I tried on some costumes on Saturday and they were... well.. a little less than flattering, so Wes talked to the director and the costumer and he is making me a dress for the show. He started last Saturday night and he is almost done already. I think it will probably be done tomorrow. I will have to get some pictures up on the blog soon. It is going to be just beautiful.

We also went to the Pleasant Green Park behind our house and watched Seriously Evan perform! They were awesome. We absolutely loved listening to them. They are a great group and I can't wait for their CD to come out. I should have brought my camera, but I forgot.

Well, it is getting late. I'll post more in the next few days!

Family Play Time and New Music

I spoke to my sister this morning and she informed me that I haven't updated my blog in awhile. You know it has only been since Saturday :) Actually, I am glad people are reading it. So this will be a silly blog that the Grandma's will especially enjoy. On Monday night we decided to all play together. Lydia and Adelle informed Wes and I that we were going to play restaurant. Lydia told me that she is 29 and Adelle is 24. Lydia worked in the restaurant and Adelle (our adult daughter) took us out to the restaurant.
Adelle let me know that she would be paying for us. Wow, what a rich girl. She brought along her two little daughters.
Grandpa Wes with his daughter and his two grand kids.
Lydia took our orders, made the dinner and served it to us. Wes decided he was going to shake things up a bit and be the difficult customer. He played the part of the old grandfather well. I think Lydia was just about ready to throw him out!

He He He! You've got to love this picture! I am glad Wes is letting me post it. We sure had a lot of fun. It gave me a small glimpse into my future. You know, I bet before I know it my girls really will be all grown and taking me out to dinner. Sniffle! It is just more incentive to enjoy every moment.

So last night's rehearsal went well. The whole family was there again. We ended up getting home at about 10:15 PM. The girls were pretty tired. Adelle had scraped up her knee at the theatre and Wes had to help her out when she was getting ready for bed. You would have thought the poor girl broke her leg. There is so much DRAMA in our house. Poor Wes is completely surrounded by girls! Lydia was put into another scene last night. So far that is a total of 2 scenes. Go Lydia!

On a completely different note, I was introduced to a local band today and I just think they are wonderful. They are called "Seriously, Evan". One of the band members, Chaz, is a brother in the show. I listened to their music while I was working today and I really enjoyed their original sound. The are so upbeat and fun and they really helped cheer me up. They are going to be performing at the Pleasant Green Park this Monday at 8:00 PM and I am looking forward to hearing them play. Our whole little family is going to attend. You guys should check them out. Here is there site http://www.myspace.com/evanseriously . When they come out with a CD I think I will have to buy one.

All right everyone, I'll be in touch :)