First Piano Recital

Jackson had his first piano recital last night and did a great job! I've posted video of the two pieces he played. The first one was called Rockets and Sea Divers (sorry about the fuzzy video, Daddy's still learning) and the second piece was the Can-can (which unfortunately has the first few notes cut off since he started playing before I could get the camera rolling.) Noelle Buffo is his teacher and her students all played very well. Special kudos go out to the other folks from the ward who did such a great job in the recital: Dylan Hahn and Amy Petersen (Faye, we look forward to seeing you up there next time!).

On a side note (ha, ha - get it? "note"), and parental pride alert: Jackson began piano with Noelle last Fall, and as a 6 year old is her youngest student by 2-3 years. He showed amazing focus and nerves of steel (and what we thought was hesitation on his opening number was actually his patience at waiting for a cue he thought was going to come from Noelle to begin playing.)








This was such a big night for Jackson and we wanted to share it. We know there are a lot more moments from our boys' lives as of late that we'd like to post (Father's & Son's campout, Mother's Day fun, Soccer season...) but we thought we'd post this while it was still fresh. CONGRATULATIONS, JACKSON - you were awesome!!!

We're back! February Cute Shots

Well it's been too long, but we're back in the saddle. I thought a few shots of last month would be a nice way to get the family blog back in action. We had planned to go camping at Anza Borrego State Park early in the month, but heavy rains rolled in the day we were supposed to leave so we decided to camp out at home instead.

We "hiked" around the house, went cave exploring in the garage, and, of course, roasted marshmellows.

Not exactly getting back to nature, but the kids didn't seem to mind at all.

Wa-Hoo!!!

I couldn't help putting this on the site. Too funny! Wouldn't it be nice...(sigh)

Summer Fun

Some pics from when my family visited this summer. My sis and me at the Aquarium of the Pacific. We don't look alike - but not many people can tell us apart over the phone! Love you, sis!
Joseph getting a good laugh in with Grammy.

My niece and nephew in an egg at the Santa Ana Zoo.

My nephew, Gabriel, my sis, Dawn, and my niece, Ileana.

Gabe and his daddy, Michael, playing chess.

Gabe after a particularly wild boogie-board ride! Get 'em, Gabe!

Me and sis with Jo-Jo-bear

Ethan ready to ride!

Joseph in the sand.

What being at the ocean for 5 days does to little ones!

My fam! Thanks for a great visit!

Delayed Wickedness

Well I know this is late in coming, but I thought I'd post some wrap-up commentary on the final round of the Wannabe Wicked contest this past August 20th. First of all, thanks so much to everyone who took the time out of your day to vote and send encouraging comments! I really appreciate all your kind words and support!

Anyhoo - here's the scoop: I went and performed and was able to give a strong performance despite having lost my voice days earlier from a bug the boys and Elliott had gotten. The judges gave good comments and I had a great time. I didn't end up winning, but it was a good experience!

We got some good video of my song on our 8mm video camera, but I'm having a lot harder time than I expected getting that converted to a digital format that I could post here. If I get get the video converted, I'll definitely post it!

WICKED RULES (just a little less without ME there!) :)

WICKED voting has started early!!!

Well, we're not sure why, but citywalk has changed the rules on the Wannabe Wicked voting. It was supposed to be you could vote as much as you wanted, everyday, up through the 19th of August (starting tomorrow, on the 13th). Well, we just checked the site (see below) and the voting has started AND you can only vote once a day. Anyway - PLEASE go vote starting today if you planned on voting.

http://www.citywalkhollywood.com/wickedvote/index.html

Thanks in advance for any and all votes for me! :)

Wannabe Wicked Videos

Just a quick update. While we still think the link in the previous post is the place to go to vote for Holly on the 13th, it is not currently providing access to any of the finalists' video auditions. However if you go to SonicBids' Wannabe Wicked page (SonicBids is the video hosting site for the competition) they now have all the finalists videos available for viewing. If you want to check out Holly's audition along with her fellow finalists (the competition) here is the link:

http://www.sonicbids.com/ItWorks/event_view.asp?event_id=1114