A birthday in Wonderland

I knew I wanted to do a special party for Lindsay's 8th birthday. She has never has a party and I wanted it to be great. I came up with the idea of Alice in Wonderland but I knew I would have little commercial help since it is not a popular theme like Fairies or Hannah Montana. I have always loved thsi story so I had so much fun making my decorations. Shane dislikes the story, but he was a good sport.

Here are the crazy girls that helped make her day special. She has such darling friends and I am grateful for their influence in her life!

The Friday before the party I decided to attempt to make an Alice dress. After staying up until 3 just getting fabric washed ironed, patterns cut out etc. I realized I was an idiot. I called my seamstress friend early the next morning to double check my efforts before I cut it out and bless her very generous soul she made the entire dress in a few hours...when she had her own yard work to do. I was so grateful to be able to watch and learn during the process.

Here is my fun attempt at croquet mallets made into flamingos and the ball to be a hedgehog. Hee hee.

I have had singing

This weekend I had the privilege to sing Carmina Burana under the direction of Art Shaw who has been the conductor of the Rogue Valley Symphony for the past 22 years. Words cannot express the emotion that was felt...you had to be there! As we sang the final page I could scarcely sing the text as I thought of how I would feel to be him or his beloved orchestra. They played their hearts out Saturday and Sunday and we tried to equal their precision. I also thought of this man below that I love and admire. Lynn Sjolund.

I could go on and on as to the ways he has impacted my life ...but I choose to keep those close to me. As I see the RV Symphony being forced to move on I know that day, will one day come for me. Until it does, I will cherish each Monday night and each concert, that I have the privilege to sing under his direction. Best wishes to Maestro Shaw...his leaving will be a loss to this community.

Little Update

I know it's been a while since I've blogged here...no excuses. So here's a little bit of what's going on over here. Alice is celebrating Dr. Seuss at school this week by dressing up, and much to my dismay she actually wants to participate. I'm so bad at costumes, but this is what we came up with in five minutes this morning. She was happy, so I'm happy. School is going really well for her. She's riding the bus home now and they don't get home until 4:10, which seems so late to me. Twice this year the bus driver had to wake her up to get off the bus. She fell asleep on the way home. So cute. Laura is a happy little helper and she wanted to be put to work at the sink. I'm sure it had something to do with playing with the bubbles, but she thought she was hot stuff for lending Mom and hand. Thanks little Lola.

This week on Monday and Tuesday we had snow days. I just love them, even though I'm adult now, I still wake up at 5am to check the news. I get giddy about the big breakfast together in our jammies, the hot chocolate, the rotating door of little people playing in the snow. Laura loves the outdoors...no matter how cold. Alice loves to snuggle up and play games with popcorn. It was a lot of fun. Get this, on Saturday it's supposed to be 70 degrees. That's spring for you, I guess.

I love this picture, but I wish you could have seen the snuggles that went with it. We were getting ready for church and the girls were on our bed waiting to have their hair done. Laura smashes on top of Alice with mildly agressive hugs and kisses and then she loudly proclaims, "I LOVE HER!". Alice was a good sport and loved the attention. Seeing them interact and take care of each other really does a heart good. Alice is a great big sister, and Laura does her best to take care of Alice. She tucked Alice in her bed last night with a kiss on the nose and everything. I loved it.

I thought I should report on the recent trip Jeanne and I had in San Diego.

As a Valentine's Day surprise I reserved a night at the Hotel Del Coronado. I have stayed here a few times during our earlier life in Los Angeles, but Jeanne had never had the opportunity. Needless to say it was a wonderful experience. The Hotel Del is 120 years old and still has a cage elevator with an elevator man asking you which floor and pushing the buttons. The grounds were extensive and enjoyable just to walk through.

We enjoyed some time on the beach, which is rated one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the country. They groom it daily to remove all the sea weed and drift wood. We absorbed as much Vitamin D as we could while we watched aircraft carriers and submarines pass by on their way out to maneuvers.

Our room was as antiquated as the hotel, with a view of the ocean. Nothing was included with the room charge. Even a bottle of water was a $7.50 add-on.

We found time for some fun in Sea World. (This time there were no crusts under the car, so we went right in.) It was way different without any kids to enjoy it with, but at least no one coaxed us to sit in the "soak zone". The best news was not having to find a place to stash strollers at each stop.

We have Beluga whales here in Alaska, but dancing with them was a new experience. We totally missed having at least some of the grand kids there, but we managed to enjoy ourselves anyway.

Shamoo was a great as ever I can remember. I don't have room for the hundreds of photos he posed for.

The hotel we stayed at for my meetings was the Inn at Half Moon Bay. While not quite of the same class as the Hotel Del Coronado, the location in San Diego's yacht harbor was plenty impressive. The picture attached shows the view from my meeting room.

Drum Roll Please

Okay, after careful consideration I am doing it. I am jumping ship, abandoning..never to look back.

I am changing the name of my blog. Provided I can figure out how! I can hang on no longer to the idea that my family will participate in

this bonding experience. Now...I need your help. How about some suggestions as to my new name. You can win....the satisfaction of

naming my new blog. Don't fret, there is not a lot of competition. You really could win! Really!

Christmas in Salt Lake City

After a 16 hour drive (thank you recent snow storm) we arrived in Springville and never had to use chains until 1:30 a.m. getting up Julie's hill to her house. Lame. After church on Sunday we enjoyed a walk through temple square.

Parents needed kids to blow off steam so we took them to a warehouse full of giant blowups. Way cool! Everyone one had so much fun. Gotta love Utah and their multitude of family activities. Shane took a day to take Spencer snowboarding and teach Lindsay Jeanne to ski. They went to Sundance because good ol' Robert Redford offers a serious discount to nurses and other service professionals. I knew I loved that guy for a reason. Most of which are for his performance in this, and this, and most definitely this.
I had to throw this one in...so beautiful. This was Shane and my kids' first experience with Temple Square. A treasure.

"We're Not Worthy" ...in a total Wayne and Garth voice

Okay so when we were in Portland Shane boss said he would try to get us tickets to the Trail Blazer game. Whatever...if it happened great. He called us back and we met him at the Rose Garden where he got us tickets to a "suite" SWEET! We go up a private elevator with all the other mucky mucks and enter a room with a lounge area for what else...lounging.

Here is Jeeves in the blue taking our "orders". His name isn't really Jeeves but it made my story better. We were sitting in leather seats enjoying the view and had binoculars to spy on all the other hoity toities.

So fun to pretend for a night. This is the coolest pose I could come up with. I was channeling my inner Travolta. To end a fabulous night the Blazers reached 100 points, so we all got chalupas. You quiero Taco Bell!