Legally Blonde the Musical!

Laugh if you want to, but I am not afraid to admit that I love Legally Blonde, the Musical. I saw it in New York a few summers back when it was still playing on Broadway and loved it! Then when I found out that Broadway Across America was bringing it to Salt Lake City in 2010 I immediately bought season tickets.

It is more than a light-hearted story about a blonde who goes to law school, although it is that. But it is also the story of a girl who triumphs over her adversities, and in the process learns who she is and what she can accomplish. It's a story of hope and never giving up on your dreams. Its about never aplogizing for who you are and what you stand for. I guess that's why I like it so much, and besides that the music is incredible! So glad I got to see it a second and a third time!

After the matinee show we stayed for the talk back and got to meet Rhiannon Hansen from Logan, Utah. She was on the reality show "Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods" and came in third. She played Elle that day, but most of the time she plays Margot, Elle's friend and sorority sister. She did a great job and it was fun meeting her. What a sweet girl she is!We got to hear from the stage manager and director, as well as cast members Michael Rupert (Professor Calahan) and Natalie Joy Johnson (Paulette, and the original Enid Hoops on Broadway).

More cast members: Natalie Joy Johnson (Paulette), Tiffany Engen (Serena), Rhiannon Hansen, D.B. Bonds (Emmet Forrest) and Barry Anderson (Elle's dad).

As a side note, when we saw the show in New York I sprained my ankle running down the stairs to get the cast members autographs. (Yeah, pretty embarassing.) I was more careful this time and didn't hurt myself!

Southern Carribean Cruise

David and I just returned from a fabulous cruise in the Southern Caribbean. This is me on the zip line through the jungle on the island of St. Lucia.
We toured the largest Spanish fort built in the new world, San Cristobal, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. From the top there was a great view of our cruise ship.
Having breakfast on our last day. We went with my sister Debbie and her husband Karl, and their friends Gaylene and Norville. There were also two other couples in our group, and we had a blast with them!
On the island of Dominica we hiked up to see some cool waterfalls, and we also went river tubing. I think that was my favorite island.
This is a private beach on the island of St. Maarten that we visited and had grilled crab and ribs! Sooo good, and the beach was gorgeous! I hopefully have more pictures coming, but this is a little bit of what we did on our trip. We lucked out and had perfect weather the whole week! I sure was tough to come back home!

First Attempt at Breadmaking

Okay, let me start by saying that I have a breadmaker. I love my breadmaker. It makes wonderful bread that I consider "homemade". But, I have always wanted to be a "real" baker, and learn how to make bread. I got a recipe from my friend's blog for fluffy wheat bread, and it sounded really good, so I thought I would try it. I had a few technical difficulties during the mixing process, and accidentally dropped the cup of flour into the mixer while it was going. (There's a reason why I have a breadmaker!) There was messy, gooey flour goop all over my kitchen! But I persevered! I was determined to bake bread!
I followed the directions to the letter, (well, almost) and this is how it came out! Lumpy! I was so disappointed in myself, but I was glad that I at least made the attempt!
3 loaves of lumpy, fluffy whole wheat bread!
Devin was the guinea pig. I took pictures to get his reaction.



So, even though Devin jokingly made a face when he tasted it, the bread did taste really good. It was fluffy, but just lumpy on top! I'm still not sure what I did wrong -- let it rise too much, or maybe not enough. But I will try again, and maybe next time it will be just perfect!
p.s. Any pointers from you wonderful bakers out there would be welcomed and greatly appreciated!

Splish Splash...

Molly loves to take a bath! She looks so tiny and frail when she is soaking wet, it is hilarious!
She loves the warm water and tries to drink it as it is coming out of the tap!
Time to get out and dry off. I should have taken pictures of us blow drying her but I forgot. She doesn't like that as much, and tries to bite the warm air that is blasting at her. But she is learning what all of us girls know -- looking beautiful is hard work!

First Haircut

Molly got her first "puppy cut" today! I was so excited to be able to see her eyes again, she was getting really shaggy. I'm sure she is happy she can see where she is going now!

The groomer put pink bows on her. How cute is that? She came home and immediately wanted to play with her toys, a pink bunny and her balls.

What a pretty girl! Good job on doing so great on your very first of a lifetime of trims, Molly!

Birthday Boy

For Devin's birthday, he wanted to go to the Auto Show that was held in the South Town Expo center in Salt Lake.


It was fun having everyone home for the weekend to help celebrate. Michael's girlfriend, Corrine, also joined us. We had an awesome time!
I still can't face the reality that my baby is 14 YEARS OLD! Man, that must mean that I am getting old too! Jaron wanted to know what animal we would get to replace Devin when he leaves home -- I guess he thinks that is kind of what we did with Lilu when Michael left and Molly when he left. I hadn't thought of it that way, but I guess it's sort of true. I just love being a mom and having someone to take care of is what I do! I love it! I have a few more years to think about it, but maybe a Russian Blue cat will join our family when Devin leaves me. I have always wanted one, and I'm sure my mothering instincts will still be in full force then!

90 Day Bucket List

I have been meaning to post this for a while now, but it seems like I haven't had much time to sit down at the computer lately. A few months ago I took the challenge to write a 90 day bucket list. This is a list of things you have always wanted to do, or things you would just like to accomplish. Then for the next 90 days you try to do as many of them as possible. The hardest part was coming up with 90 things I wanted to do! But I did, and I was able to accomplish 45 of them, and some of them I am still in the process of doing.

A few of the goals I set were:

* Sing in the Conference Center
* Learn how to make a pie
* Learn a new hairstyling technique
* Make a new friend
* Do something totally out of character for me
* Act on a prompting
* Reduce my anxiety and stress levels
* Pray fervently every day

I am glad I took the challenge to work on these goals. It has been a great feeling to see how much I can really accomplish when I put my mind to it, and how much I have been blessed to be surrounded by people who are so willing to help me reach my goals. I challenge everyone reading this to make your own 90 day bucket list and let me know how it goes for you!