Family Reunion!

This post is a little late in coming, but here are some pictures from our family reunion in June.  All 8 siblings, all siblings-in-law, all nieces and nephews, and Mom and Dad were there! 

 

My cute little nephew, Davin, who has awesome hand-eye coordination already. 

 Beautiful brown-eyed Madeline.

 Kristinichka and I!

 Cupcake making Cami!

 Silly Lauren!

 I love this picture of Spence and Madeline!

 Sisters!  Kristina, Me, Heather and Lara. (Side note: Kristina is not that much taller than me. She just happens to be wearing heels:)

 Tim, Mom and Nate!

 I love this picture of Papachka and Madeline! 

 All of my adorable nieces and nephews!  Could they be any cuter?! I don't think so :)

 Mamachka and I!

 Reading time! 

 I went downtown a couple of times with Kristina and her kiddos.  One of the times we did the paddle boating at the Tidal Basin.  It was pretty awesome!  

 A cool shot from the paddle boat! 

 We went to some of the most popular attractions since Madeline and Andrew had never been here before. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War 2 Memorial, the White House, the Capital building, the Natural History Museum, the Jefferson Memorial (from the paddle boats), the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.  It was fun to do some of the popular touristy things again! 

What post of mine would be complete without a self-portrait?! 

 We happened upon this Einstein statue as we were wandering back to the metro one of the times we went downtown.  I think the statue is awesome! 

 Mom, Dad, Lara, Matt, and I went to the temple one day and afterwards went to a Kosher cafeteria nearby. What did we eat at the cafeteria, you ask?

 Well falafel and shwarma of course :)

Tim, Mom, me and Dad on the day they started their drive back to Utah.

The reunion was full of awesome company, good food, a little drama, good conversations, and fond memories!  Here's a link to Lara's blog which has more pictures and stories about the reunion.

Music! Music! Music!

I love music.  It has always been a part of me.  It speaks to my soul at times when spoken or written word does not or can not.  I listen to music in the car.  I listen to music when I exercise.  I occasionally listen to music when I am at work.  I am listening to music right now (Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis).  

I love to sing.  I sing in the car.  I sing at home. I sing at church. I may not be very good at it, but I do it any way :)  I like this scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 25:
  
12 "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."

I am so grateful for music.  I am grateful that music can encourage me, can express what I am feeling in a way that I never could say in words, can pump me up, can entertain me, and can bring peace to my soul. Some of the many faces of music.  

Some of my favorite songs currently (pop, classical, and church) (in no particular order): "Conquest of Paradise" by Vangelis, "The Story" by Brandi Carlile, "We are Young" by Fun, "Here in Your Arms" by Hellogoodbye, "Gassenhauer" by Carl Orff, "What Child is This" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, "He Hears Me" by Hilary Weeks, "Without You" by David Guetta, "If You Could Hie to Kolob" arrangement by Lex de Azevedo, Suo Gan (as sung in Empire of the Sun), "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" arranged by Mark Geslison and Geoff Groberg (from their Come Ye Children of the Lord cd).

OK, so I know that's a lot and that's not even all of them :)  I love music.

Here are some quotes about music that I found online. 

Music's the medicine of the mind.  ~John A. Logan  

Music is the universal language of mankind.  ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Outre-Mer

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.  ~Victor Hugo

This picture has nothing to do with music, but I wanted to post it... because I like it :) Lara, Dad, Mom, Matt and I at the temple when everyone was here for the family reunion.

The Merchant of Venice!

Yesterday some friends and I returned to Staunton, Virginia to the Blackfriar's Shakespeare Playhouse.  (Last year we also went to this theater and watched Hamlet and The Importance of Being Earnest. You can read about my experience last year by clicking here.)

 This time we did it a little differently.  We got there earlier so that we could take a tour of the theater before anyone was there and then we saw the matinee showing of The Merchant of Venice.  It was pretty awesome!  Don't worry I took lots of pictures during the tour ;) 

 Me on the balcony of the theater.  Look how small the theater is.  Pretty much anywhere you sat you had a good seat.  This is about where we sat for The Merchant of Venice.

Looking at the side seats from the other side.  Look at the cool lights that look like candlesticks but lit by electricity.  For the play, they kept all of the lights on (even the ones on the audience), which is the way they would have done it in Shakespeare's time. 

 The men's dressing room.

 The ladies' dressing room.

 We got to hang out on stage while our our guide talked about the theater some more.

 Looking up at the balcony where we sat from the stage. 

 See that brown door on the ceiling?!  Well it's the trap door on the ceiling.  The tour guide said they have ever only used it once because they ran out of money before they could finish making all of the equipment to make it safe to use. 

Listening intently to our tour guide.  (The guy in the green shirt is the tour guide.)  The tour was very interesting. We learned about the history of the theater and about Shakespeare and about the Blackfriar's theater in London as well as the Globe in London.

 Annie, Chelsey, Rachel, Diana (the one who organized the trip), and Mandy.  They are sitting on the chairs on the stage, which people sat on during the actual performance.  The actors would occasionally interact with the people in the chairs.  It was pretty funny :)

 During the play they don't use backdrops and they use very minimal props.  (Like it would have been in Shakespeare's time.) 

Our whole group.  Rachel, Annie, Mandy, Chelsey, Diana, Kara, Jessica, Whitney, Austin, Emma, and me. 
Overall the day was awesome! Awesome play, awesome theater, awesome friends!  I am so glad I was able to go again this year :)

P.S. I had never read nor seen The Merchant of Venice before and it was fascinating.  It was funny and sad and interesting.  I hope to do a post about my thoughts on one speech in particular from the play.  

Independence Day and My 200th Post!

Independence day has always been one of my favorite holidays. The music, the fireworks, the colors, the social gatherings, the food, and most important of all... the reason we celebrate.

I am so grateful to live in America.  I am grateful that we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I am grateful that we can worship as we please. I am grateful we can choose where and what to study and where to work. I am grateful that we can participate in selecting the leaders of our country by voting.   I am so grateful for the sacrifice of those men and women who fight to keep our country safe and free and for those who serve our country in other ways to make it a better place. 

"And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me."
~Lee Greenwood

"It is sweet to serve one's country by deeds, and it is not absurd to serve her by words." ~Sallust


P.S. This is my 200th blogpost.  Crazy.

P.P.S.  Here's a link to one of the best versions of God Bless America.  Sung by Celine Dion. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LSarhZpnMs

Here's one more link to some famous actors reciting the Declaration of Independence.  It's actually really cool! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYyttEu_NLU

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY yesterday!    

 My adorable niece, Madeline and I, on Independence Day!

Pirates of Penzance + Thunderstorm + Friends = An Adventurous Night!

My family grew up watching the 80's version of Pirates of Penzance.  My siblings and I grew to love the music. So when I heard that Pirates of Penzance was coming to Wolftrap, I knew I had to go. 

On Friday night, I drove to Wolftrap with Emma and staked out our lawn seats.  We waited there for some of our family members and a couple of my friends.  It was super hot that night. But it is summertime so I can't really complain.

We watched the show and I may have sung a long with some of the songs and my feet were dancing with the beat of the music. The policemen in the second half of the show were hilarious!  I thought the major general did a good job with his "I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General"

The play was awesome but I might have been a little distracted by the lightning flashing in the distance throughout the second half. But no thunder and no rain. The play ended and literally 2 minutes later, thunder boomed and the wind picked up.  My friends and I  started up the hill to exit, the lights flickered off and on.  Then the rain started and the lights went off completely.  (I must admit I was a little scared).  But we continued on our way to our cars.  Remember it was pouring rain, the wind was howling (winds got up to 70 miles/hour that night), the lights were out, and it was thundering and lightning. 

By the time I got to my car, I was drenched.  It looked like I had jumped into a pool with all of my clothes.  And when I got to my car I could not find my keys in my purse.  I was scared. But I got in my car and prayed then waited for about 10 or 15 minutes for traffic to die down and the storm to calm a bit.

Although the storm really did not last all that long, on the way home there were many huge branches in the road that we all had to dodge. I was driving slowly, but everyone on the road was doing the same.  It took me quite a while to drive home that night, but thankfully my friends, family and I all got home safely and I said a little prayer of gratitude after arriving home safely to my pitch black and air conditionless house.

It was quite the way to end an awesome evening at Wolftrap!

Good News!

My nephew, Spencer, got his bone marrow biopsy results back and I am very very happy to report that he is cancer free!  YAY!!!!!!!!!  Thank you all for your love and support and prayers for Spence and his family during this difficult time.   If you want to read more about Spence and his family, you can read my sister's blog.

Spence and Ellie after Spence was released from the hospital on May 31 :)

I Love Wolftrap!

Can I just say that I love Wolftrap?   Well I do.  Tonight was the first night of a lovely friendship with Wolftrap this summer :)  Tonight I saw Riverdance at Wolftrap with some friends and it was awesome! The dancers were phenomenal! The musicians were awesome!  And the atmosphere was fun and entertaining!  Man those dancers can move their legs.  And all of the performers sure do need a lot energy.  Wolftrap and Riverdance rock :)  That is all.    If you would like to read more about my experience with Wolftrap click here .