Erica and Jeff, Heading off to China

Erica and Jeff, Wes' brother and sister are heading to China this Wednesday. They have signed up with China Horizons to teach English to college students. They are both nervous, but I think they are excited as well. They will be gone for about four months. The girls are sad to see them go, especially Adelle since Erica is her favorite person in the whole wide world!

I really admire both of them for choosing to take this opportunity to go and experience new things! I am glad they are both going together and I hope things go smoothly for them. I will hopefully have a link to Erica's website soon on my page so we can all keep up with what they are doing! Safe travels Erica and Jeff! We are going to miss you a lot!

Wes and I, Our 6th Anniversary.

So yesterday Wes and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. We were married August 16, 2002. We actually eloped in Seattle. That was were I was living at the time and Wes flew up and we got married. It is a fun story! We actually did most of our dating over the phone. We had originally met in high school. One day I will have to share all of the details! Below are two pictures that we took while we were dating. These were taken at the Japanese Garden in Seattle. My hair was so short then. We both look so young.

This was taken on our wedding day. After Wes and I got married we walked all around Seattle all dressed up. This was taken by a young mom in front of Lake Washington. We also wandered around Pike's Place Market and went on a harbor cruise. The cruise lasted only an hour and that was probably the extent of our honeymoon. We spent the first week of our marriage packing up my apartment so I could move down to Utah.

I am so glad I married Wes. He really is my soul mate and it was the best decision that I have ever made. I am still madly in love with him!
We usually go to a bed and breakfast for our anniversary, but we decided to be more frugal and we just went out to dinner. We chose the Log Haven Restaurant located up Millcreek Canyon. It was pretty expensive but it was still cheaper than staying overnight somewhere. Wes' scallops were DELICIOUS! My lamb, pasta and onions were sadly too salty. I usually make the better menu choice, but Wes won this time. The atmosphere was lovely. There was a waterfall right within our view.

Afterwards we headed over the Gateway to walk off our dinner and enjoy each other's company. We were able to come home to a quiet house since the girls slept over at their Grandma Oates' house. It was wonderful to go on a date again! The last time we went on a date was in April. I feel like the luckiest woman alive to have Wes. I am looking forward to many anniversaries to come.

Closing Night of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers!

So Monday night was closing night! I couldn't believe it was over. The theater was just packed. Our ushers were sitting in the aisles. It was great to see the place full to capacity. It was a very touching performance and I actually found myself crying on stage, in character of course ;). What a wonderful run it was. I had such a wonderful time. The rest of the family enjoyed it as well! It will be something that we always remember. We have a wonderful DVD slide show and picture CD from Erica and her mom. I also took some fun backstage video on Monday night. I have about 30 minutes of footage. One of these days when I convince Wes to reinstall our video editing software on this computer I will post some clips. It takes a LOT of room on the computer and slows it down. Anyway, here are some pictures of closing night. Ralph, our rad drummer!!
Wes and I after the show was over.
Adelle while I was recording her. I think Lydia was changing in the dressing room.

Steve kissing his real wife Charlie :)
Michael, Steve and Charlie's son and one of our suitors.
Chaz! All the girls like to flock around him every night.
Sweet Erica! She is such a wonderful lady! We respect her so much!
Jordan and his smooth moves.

Stephen, our loyal Ephraim!
Dallon, Adelle's new best friend.
Adam who played Frank. Here he is sporting his new haircut.
Jordan and Skye.
Troy!

Our wonderful stage crew girls! Every night they had to lug really heavy boxes.
Erin showing the dress that Wes made for her.
Our sweet Innocent Macall. Well, she looks innocent...
Carianne all ready to leave.
Austin out of costume.

Curtis! He ended up in the video a lot!
And Mary! Our faithful assistant director.

After we had cleared out the dressing room a few of us headed over to Village Inn to hang out and eat. Besides that we probably had the grumpiest waitress ever, it was really nice to have some closure to the show. We didn't get home until aroun 1:00 AM. It was good I took Tuesday off. I am going to miss being in the show and seeing everyone. At the same time though it was really nice this weekend to be able to relax, read and spend time with my family. My house is even clean again. Perhaps in the near future I will need to set up a cast party!

Cast Swim Party and Backstage

Last Saturday we were invited to go to a cast swimming party at Carrianne's Apartment Complex. Wes wasn't feeling well so he stayed home and rested. The girls and I packed up the snow cone machine and a lunch and headed out for a swim. Adelle was so excited to go swimming!
Erica, Dallon and Curtis posing for the camera.
Lydia enjoying the pool!

My little mermaids.
Okay, so there wasn't a huge turnout for the swimming party, but we had a lot of fun anyway. Carianne, Dallon, Curtis, Erica, Lydia, Adelle and I were there.
The party got really fun when Carrianne brought some soft balls to the pool. Everyone enjoyed throwing them at each other.

Later that evening I took some backstage pictures of the cast.
Erica and Skye getting ready for the show.
Peggy was really sweet and offered to french braid Lydia's hair.

Austin and John, a couple of suitors.
John and Chase hanging out.
Justin and his cheesy smile!
Jordan and Macall laughing!
Curtis..what is he doing here?

Go Chaz!
Justin, Michael and Carriane.
My girls getting ready to go on.

Adelle and her daddy!

So today we actually have two shows to do. One at 2:00 and one at 7:00. My sister is coming today at 2:00 as well as some co-workers. There is a party planned in between the two shows for the cast. I am planning on taking pictures. I actually seem to have come down with a cold so I really hope everything goes well. I may need to drug myself soon so I can sing and not ache all over. Well here goes nothing!