EASTER EGG HUNT!

Every year the Easter Bunny comes to my house to hide eggs for my darling nieces and nephews. This year he came on the Thursday before Easter. Isaac, Chase, Kylie, Lilly, and Mason came. The weather was a little wet, but it was very fun! Here are some pictures.

PLAY PARTY!

I played viola in school orchestras from third to eleventh grade, but I was always last stand. During my school years I only took viola lessons for a few summers because it was hard to find a teacher who would stick with it. I always felt that most of the orchestra members were so much better than me. Well, that is probably because they had had years of lessons and practicing. I always wanted to become better, so a little over two and a half years ago I bought a viola on e-bay for sixty dollars plus the cost of repairs and new strings. I found a wonderful viola teacher, Marcia Bramble, who has actually stuck with me for almost two and a half years. She is a former member of the Utah Symphony and a current member of the Orchestra on Temple Square. I have learned so much that I did not know before! In high school I could only play in first position. I now know up to seventh position. I am even doing exercises to learn vibrato. I am playing from the Suzuki viola books among other things. Currently there are eight books in the Suzuki series. Marcia has me memorize the songs in the Suzuki books. When you finish all the songs in a Suzuki book you get to have a play party which is kind of like a recital. The rule is you have to invite at least one person. I get nervous easily, so I have only invited my mom. By the way, she used to play the viola as well. We just go to my teachers house and I play my songs with my teacher accompanying me on the piano or viola. I had my play party for book one in October of 2007 and I just had my play party for book two two days ago on Wednesday night, April 1. The best part about play parties is I get to bring my favorite dessert, cheesecake! I am so glad to be taking lessons and I am learning so much all the time! It is not always easy to practice, but my goal is to finish all eight Suzuki books in my lifetime! Wish me luck! Here is a picture of me practicing my viola.

Lilly's First Birthday!

On Sunday January 25th we celebrated my niece Lilly's first birthday at her house.

Kylie helped her open her presents.




She got a princess cake just like Kylie did.

I gave her a doll.

She has absolutely the cutest smile! I have really enjoyed her so much this last year and love her so much! Happy Birthday Lilly!

Happy New Year!

This New Year's Eve I went to my friend Heidi's house to watch a movie and then I went to my sister Becky's house for our family party. I love to spend time with my nieces and nephews (and the rest of my family)! I got to play barbies with Kylie! Becky has repainted and carpeted Kylie's barbie house. It looks awesome! I brought my 20Q game to play with as well. Chase is really good at reading it! I also had fun watching people play board games and played a little Clue myself. There was tons of yummy food including cranberry pudding and soda pop! Almost everyone stayed up until midnight when we watched the ball fall on TV. We yelled Happy New Year, banged pots and pans, and went crazy with our noise makers! We even wore Happy New Year hats! We also saw and heard some fireworks that night! We had root beer floats which have become quite a delicious tradition for us! Here's to a fabulous 2009!!!

Merry Christmas!

I had a very Merry Christmas this year! I even got to sit on Santa's lap! I also drove a car dressed up in a reindeer costume from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas. The car costume was given to me by a man who lived at my work. We had two parties at my work this year. One was for the residents and their families and the other was for employees and their families. On Christmas day I got to sleep in. We had our family Christmas party at two in the afternoon. I always love it when everyone comes over! I got some pretty awesome gifts this year including a GPS system for my car that I am really enjoying! One of my sisters got one as well. I also got a Cricut cutting scrap-booking machine that I am absolutely loving! I can cut out letters and shapes including hearts, stars, circles, blue ribbons, apples, and even fleur-de-lis! We drew names and my sister-in-law Katy drew my name and gave me the DVD and CD of The Phantom of the Opera that I had asked for. I love it! I have watched the movie repeatedly and I listen to the CD whenever I go anywhere. Thanks Katy! I also got a coat and another CD. I had so much fun spoiling my nephews and nieces! I got so many barbies for Kylie! It was so much fun! I decorated our house with a Christmas tree upstairs and another one downstairs. I also found an old cardboard wall hanging of Santa in a sleigh and his reindeer that I hadn't seen since I was a child and I put it up in our basement. It is kind of old and worn, but it sure brought back memories. My nieces and nephews gave me the most darling handmade ornaments! My visiting teachers gave me the twelve days of Christmas this year! Every day was a different figure until I had a full nativity set! Thanks to everyone for making my Christmas so wonderful!

Once There Was A Snowman!

This is a picture of me with the snowman I built. The snow was pretty good packing when I rolled the bottom snowball. Then for some reason it became difficult to roll snowballs anymore so I just picked up snow with my hands or in buckets and tried to shape it into ball shapes for the other two snowballs. I added a hat and arms. I finished this before work one morning. When I came home from work that night someone had added the cutest eyes, nose, buttons, and broom stick! Thank you so much Isaac! What a great surprise! I added a yarn mouth and it was done!