byu cheer skirts!

It is theme basket time at the girl's elementary.  Haily's class is taking donations for their 'True Blue' BYU theme basket.  So She and I decided twin BYU cheer skirts would be fun.  I made two navy blue and white striped twirl skirts that I think will send two little girls off happily to any BYU sporting event. 

birthday boy

OK, 'Birthday Man'.  When I met Aaron he was 21 years old and he looked like he was about 16.  Last week he turned 36-oh my heck he looks maybe 26- maybe!  Yes, I am bragging about my husband who I love.  He deserves a great pile of presents and to be waited upon hand a foot for all the things he does and sacrfices for our family.  Happy Birthday Aaron!






Myself and Aaron-  I am having physical appearance issues- so this is all there is...



(...and thank you to Lube Docs of Orem for their verticle brickwork and cool paint design.)

sunny day pics

(so i didn't love this edit of josy in color splash as much as i thought i would- but if i don't try different stuff then i won't know...)

just wait...

There are a ton of awesome bday pics from the party- it will take me a little time to
get them up- but thanks to Meikel there are pictures.  This is a great one of Haily's 6' 5 Uncle Luke.

haily dancer swimsuit

I have a whole set of these sunny swimsuit pics, but Josy is crying at my feet and so she comes first...

three hundred and one

This book "Old Possum's Guide to Practical Cats' by T. S. Eliot is officially brings my kids' childrens book library count to three hundred and one.  I grew up with tons of books in my room and so have made it a point to fill my girls' bookcases with books.  Haily is about to graduate from kindergarten and has become quite the reader! 

'remark, the cat....that hesitates before you'

This, 'Remark, the Cat' line from the musical Cats is stuck in my mind, as is the solo by Elaine Paige, Memory.  What a beautiful and melancholy song with a haunting melody and tender lyrics! 

And, as with each time our household is taken over with a great musical, the songs and images swirl around in my mind at all times of the day, even in my dreams at night.  I love how there can be music, theater, film, and all kinds of art forms that take me to a new plane of  living and seeing the world around me.  I am certain the fine arts are a gift to humans, given to enrich our thoughts and perceptions.

Ok!  So! Myka loves Rumpleteazer and Haily loves Victoria the White Cat.  Spring break is a perfect time for them to work on designing their own cat costume, right?  Off to the fabric store we go...


Grizabella the Glamour Cat- Elaine Paige









    

Rumpleteazer

Victoria- dancing her solo adagio

photos for sugarbone

My little brother, Ryan and his bandmates asked me to take some shots of them for their flyer announcing an upcoming concert.  Ryan plays the bass, Kevin-with the curly hair-plays drums and Chris-in the beanie-sings and plays lead guitar.

bathtime photos by myka

'yo jb!'

500,000,000!

You pronounce it 'FIVE HUNDRED MILLION'.  That is how many hits Justin Beiber has for his 'Baby-featuring Ludacris' music video on Youtube.  !Holy-non-dropped-male-voice, Batman! 

Myka and Haily got Justin Beiber's first CD about a year ago- and it probably sounds funny for a mother of three to be saying,  but ...i like it!  I like him, and I love that he uses dance in tons of his videos. 

I secretly wish I could direct a music video for him- I would put him wifh some modern/hip hop dancers and then create some 'contact improv' stuff to an awesome beat.  Hmmm...maybe there's a contest I could win or something...hmmm...

Anyway- I just barely saw the video for "Somebody to Love'.  It rocks- with lots of breakdancing, hip hop and even some chinese fan dancing.  (Now to go practice my 'helicopter'). 

creme brulee for jake and a cute new baby

After about two trial and errors and then reading tons about making this dessert online- Aaron and I made a pretty good set of creme brulee!

When we moved back to Provo, Aaron met his friend Jake at church and they found they both commute to work.  Jake is a lawyer whose firm resides in Sandy- and Aaron is at IHC's new headquarters in Murray.  So every morning at about 6:20, Jake swings by and they both catch the bus at the University Mall.

I wanted to thank Jake for the ride and so I found out that his favorite dessert is this rather high end custard from France (or Cambridge if you want to argue about it).  We used Alton Brown's recipe and it was very good- once we got it right!

Speaking of getting things 'wright'- we went to see our friends, the Wrights (like my transition?) and we brought a batch of creme brulee to share.  Geoff and Leah have a new house and a new baby girl who I got to hold and coo over Friday night.  It was lovely.  Here is a photo by Leah of new little Kate Naomi:

(Leah owns her own design and  photography business, check it out @ http://leahnaomi.com/ she is awesome.)
       

uh oh...

 I have two daughters who are obsessed with cats of all kinds.  House cats, leopards, cheetahs, cougars-anything cats. 

And this has gone on for at least two years.  I am embarrassed to say that tonight my brain just barely remembered that there is a musical with dancing and singing cats, aptly named Cats, with music by Andrew Lloyd Weber. 

I told the girls about it and showed them 'Jellicle Cats' on You Tube and...uh oh...

They are hooked and now must see the whole thing and have the soundtrack and read TS Eliot's Old Possum's Guide to Practical Cats.  And Myka has now changed her halloween costume form 'Toothless' to the cute tabby cat from the show.  Oh my heavens!

(The last time we brought an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical into our lives -Joseph- the girls played the music and watched the DVD of the musical until, until...I don't even know how to describe the obsession...you would have to have been there-! )