11 Years in Review

I am not sure why she was such a fussy baby but it may have had something to do with that ugly red bow they slapped on her head for her very first picture. Maybe she never got over it because she was determined to give us fits for the first three months of her life.

Her Great Grandmother Florence was anxious for her birth, enjoyed hearing her cries and raved about her hair and flat ears until Florence's passing three months later. Florence died only days after this photo was taken.

See that pacifier? "Passo" as she called it was our lifesaver and stayed with her until she was 4 years old.

3 months old. The quilt in the background of this picture was pieced and quilted by her Great Grandmother Florence.

Typical of firstborns, she had her professional photo taken every few months for the first couple years of her life! Unfortunately that didn't last once the other kids came along.

One year old. Kind of looks like SJ, huh?

Our little family... all those years ago.

July 4th parade with Grandma.

Grandma and Papa's dog Steiner. Sadly, he was hit by a car a couple of years later. Interestingly enough - they were visiting our family in Pennsylvania when it happened.

I didn't recognize it at the time because I didn't know any different - but looking back I realize that Addie was a very serious baby - not easily amused. Can't you see it in the pictures? She didn't laugh out loud until she was 10 months old!
2 1/2 years old when a baby brother rocked her world!

Her little neighborhood friends. Gotta love student housing!

They definitely have their differences - but to this day they are still best buds!

4 years old

5 years old

7 years old

8 years old

9 years old

She is such a great big sister.

10 years old

I adore this child! She is a better person than I could ever hope to be. I admire her enthusiasm, her natural athletic ability, her charisma, her intelligence, her testimony, her humor, her confidence, her creativity, her honesty and her sincerity. I feel privileged to have her in my life.

Birthday at the Roller Rink

We took our birthday girl and some of her friends to go roller skating last night. It was a blast! We had pizza and drinks and the girls could rent skates, roller blades or scooters (or bring their own). Isaac skated like a pro even though it was his first time and even Cate could make it around the rink with help. She couldn't restrain herself with all of that awesome music - she just had to start groovin'! Wes and I also donned some skates and seemed to remember it being a little easier back in the day. (I couldn't believe the memories from elementary school that came flooding back in my mind! The very same roller rink.)

Here she is a couple days shy of being 11 years old. My how the time flies!

What a kid. I don't know what I would do without her!

My mom is still in the hospital but is improving. Thank you so much for your kind sentiments.

Preoccupied

My mom is in the hospital with pneumonia. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

She would rather not have visitors at this time.

Looking Back...March 2005

One of our favorite places to visit in California was the Picchetti Ranch. At the entrance was a small winery with some beautiful old buildings and peacocks walking around. We loved to hike along the trails looking for banana slugs and salamanders. There was a small pond where we looked for frogs, ducks and other wildlife.








On one of our visits in the Spring we happened upon a couple of frogs mating and laying a long string of eggs in the pond. We collected some eggs in our water bottle to see if we could hatch these eggs at home. As Addie's science fair was approaching we thought this could be the perfect project. We kept the eggs in chlorine-free water and boiled lettuce to feed them once they hatched. We observed the eggs as they slowly turned into tadpoles and grew tiny legs. We were curious to see if the eggs back at the pond had developed at about the same rate as our tadpoles and to see if we could catch some at different stages. Wes took the kids back to pond and found thousands of frogs the size of your thumbnail hopping everywhere! He said that everywhere they stepped there were frogs jumping to get out of the way.

Some of our tadpoles did grow into frogs and some of them disappeared (frog cannibalism???). But it turned out to be a great science fair project and all of the kids had a great time. And I think I now see the beginning of Addie's obsession with frogs!

Weekend Review

Another whirlwind of a weekend!

Friday night we put our loyalties aside and cheered the lady Utes at a gymnastics meet. They handed out really cool light sticks that turned blue and red. The lady sitting in front of us told her kids that they were NOT allowed to turn those sticks to blue. "No blue is allowed in this stadium", she said! Good thing she was ignorant of the fact there were cougars sitting behind her! We went with Eliott and Carlee and had a great time. The gymnasts were amazing!


Saturday morning was spent doing jobs and then we headed to the Harley Davidson store in Lindon for lunch. Have you been? This place is awesome! Just seeing the building is worth the visit. It is made from parts and pieces of Geneva Steel. It is fantastic! We had sliders for lunch at their little cafe and in case you were wondering, it is totally family friendly. Pretty tasty too!

Saturday afternoon was "cousins day" at Dave and Connie's for the kids. First they went to the BYU Museum of Art to see the Walter Wick exhibit. Walter Wick is the creator of the I Spy books which my kids love! The exhibit sounded really cool and included some of his 3D models that he pictures in his books. I am jealous I didn't get to see it. Luckily Dave and Connie and the kids created their own "I Spy" exhibit for us to view at their home. What a great idea! Can you spy 2 pez dispensers, 3 pretty ponies, 1 sword, the letter "R", the letter "S"...

And the fun didn't end there! They made homemade pretzels which we all enjoyed warm with honey butter. Talk about a fun day for the kids - many thanks to Dave and Connie. What did we do sans the children? Errands. Not too exciting.


Saturday evening was spent with some of our dear friends from the days of residency. It was great to catch up and let the kids get reacquainted. I don't know what we would do without all of the wonderful friends we have made along life's journey.

Sunday was far from the day of rest we needed. Sharing time, choir practice, friends over for dinner and pioneer trek meeting. Whew!

Today we push forward with laundry and catching up around the house. This afternoon we are headed up to the Totally Frogs exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. If you know our Addie at all - you will know why we could NOT miss this exhibit.

Tomorrow's agenda? Take a nap.

Cultural Opportunity This Week!

Here's another heads up on a great cultural opportunity happening this week:

The annual Utah Valley Symphony: Young Artists Concert.
The Young Artists Concert consists of the always impressive winners of the annual Utah Valley Symphony Concerto Competition, seven young musicians selected in auditions last fall.
Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 pm
Covey Center for the Arts
Ages 6 and up
Check the website for ticket prices

And believe me - these young musicians are impressive. If you have a child or grandchild that plays an instrument - this is a wonderful opportunity to inspire them! Or anyone else! There will be musicians playing the cello, piano, viola, flute, and double bass. And they will all play their instrument with the symphony. (On a side note... back in the day... I competed in this competition with a Mozart concerto and was a finalist. If I could only play like I used to! Sad but true.) Anyway - here is the link to the lovely Covey Center for the Arts if you are interested in getting tickets. We will be at the Thursday evening performance.

http://www.coveycenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=1&Itemid=10

LIVE FROM NEW YORK!

It's the Metropolitan Opera! - broadcast live in HD in a theater near you! Three years ago the Met Opera started broadcasting the Saturday matinee performances to select movie theaters - for a ticket price of around $20.00 a seat. Saturday, Dave and Connie treated us to see the performance of Madame Butterfly and I only wished we would have made this a tradition sooner! Not only was the talent incredible (wouldn't expect anything different coming from the Met) but visually, this performance was stunning. It would take me too long to describe all of the different elements that were used - from sliding Japanese screens to amazing puppetry - not to mention the elaborate costumes. This is truly the best of the best. Whether you are a fan of opera or not - I liked what my friend/sister-in-law Rachel said - going to this caliber of performance is like cleansing the palate. The 2008-2009 season is coming to a close - only two more operas to go - but there is always next year (Turandot and Carmen are in the line-up I think)! And we have to support these programs so the theaters will continue to show the broadcasts. I was told there was a time when the manager of the theater we were in wasn't so sure they would continue the program due to poor attendance. So now I want to help spread the word.

Here is the link. You can see the rest of the schedule and find a theater near you.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx

This isn't the first time I posted about an experience seeing Madame Butterfly. You can read about my childhood introduction to opera in this post. Similar to my childhood disillusionment - the one drawback to this broadcast opera was that the two leads were played by people in their late 40's-early 50's. We had to suspend our belief just a bit to believe that they were actually a fifteen year old Japanese girl and a young handsome American soldier. Someday - someday! - I will see this opera with the appropriate casting!

The Art of Bed Making

A few months ago I noticed as I walked by her room in the mornings that she tried to make her bed differently every day. It was so cute to see how she would arrange her blankets, books, toys and stuffed animals and I found myself looking forward to seeing her darling design each morning. I started to take pictures without her knowing. She eventually caught on but continues to try make her bed extra cute. Here are some of her designs: