CS Performance

I choreographed a dance for Ballet Level 7 at Center Stage's Nutcracker Demonstration performance. It is this Wednesday, November 16th at 5:30 pm and 6:15 pm. My dance is very first both times. It is at Center Stage in Studio 5, which is downstairs. I don't expect anyone to come, but if you want to you can!

Chorus Performance

Victoria is participating in Bonneville Elementary Chorus and has a performance coming up.
For those who would like to come, here is the info:

Friday, Dec. 18th at 12:30 p.m. at University Mall in the old Mervyn's Court
or
Monday, Dec. 21 at Bonneville Elementary at 7 p.m.

I don't expect you come, I just always forget to let everyone know about this sort of thing. If you want to great, but not a big deal if you don't.

Let's Catch Up, Shall We?

Ellie love Carrots and Baby Oatmeal.

So Beautiful

Brayden is a Pirate, Victoria is a Mermaid, and Audrey was supposed to be a Poodle but was to terrified of the Costume, so we dug up some dress ups. I guess she is a fairy.

Audrey had gathered up 3 different kinds of diaper ointment and put it all over her hands, and then apparently fell asleep.

Ellie showing off her amazing turnout and flexibility.

Victoria right before her baptism. Tor, we are so proud of you.

Laura, Kathrin, Tracie, and Myself went to the SYTYCD show last Saturday. It was so amazing. My fav. dance is still Jeanine and Jayson choreographed by Travis Wall. Second fav. is the Addicted piece by Mia Micheals. Third is the Breast cancer dance choreographed by Tyce Dioreo. All of the dancers were so beautiful and I had a blast. It was allot of fun to hang out with the sister in laws.

I got a job teaching an Advanced Ballet class at Center Stage in Orem. Center Stage is a pretty prestigious dance studio, with allot of alumni that have joined Odyessey, appeared on SYTYCD or Dancing with the Stars. I love teaching there, I have to say it is my favorite place I have taught at so far. I have about 16 students and I love them. I have only had one girl with an attitude problem so far and they love to get chatty, but I have really cracked the whip on them and things are awesome. I am so grateful for the lessons I learned while owning the studio, which is pretty much all we got out of it. But I feel like I am such a better teacher because of that experience, and it sure added allot to my resume. I am so grateful that my love for ballet can still be a part of my life. I love it!

Mexico!

Heather and Sean

Alan and I hanging out at the condo or hotel? Whatever you call it.

Me looking in on a Catholic Mass.

Me, trying to make it look like I was naked. Didn't work though.

The waves off of Divorce Beach were so awesome! It was so beautiful.

In between Lovers and Divorce beach.

Coming out of a cave that smelled like pee.

Al and I having a blast swimming in the big waves in the Sea of Cortez.

Blurry pic. Sorry.

Al covered in sunscreen and sand, drinking his drink.

This was one of the cheapest resterants we went to. I loved my sandwich. It was made out of Ham, refried beans, hot dogs, pineapple and cheese. Weird I know, but really good. I don't have a picture of our favorite resarant El Fagon. It was really cheap but so good. We went there twice! I wish we had Mexican food like that here. Hmmmm...Yum.

Heidi and Erik

The first or second night there, we went to this restaurant "Jasmin's".

Can you see why I gained 4 lbs? Check out those servings.

Authentic Mexican Restaurant Decor.

Me at the Mega, searching for some good produce.

At the hotel's restaurant "Mamma Mia".

Alan and I had the opportunity to go to San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico October 1st-8Th. My dad gave my sisters and I the trip as wedding presents. It was so fun to spend time with my sisters, and the get to know their husbands better. One of the funniest things I learned was about Heidi's husband Erik, was When he sleeps he can't have anything touching him at all. Heidi says he puts pillow surrounding him like it is Fort Knox. Erik said sometimes it even bugs him to have his fingers touch, so he will put the blanket in between his fingers to separate them while he sleeps. Hilarious! Heather and Sean did not get there until Saturday afternoon. So the first couple of days with Heidi and Erik we learned that we are all too much alike. We were all so laid back it was hard to make decisions. When Heather and Sean got here we definitely had more direction, and that is when we did most of our activities. There was a huge Super Store called "Mega" (It like the Mexican version of Wal-mart- but with customer service). The store smelled of stinky fish most of the time. They had so many fly's swarming around the meat, it was so unsanitary. I had a hard time picking produce I felt comfortable eating, because most of it looked rotten. One funny thing about he Mega was, you didn't have to buy a whole melon, they would cut off the part you wanted and Saran wrap the rest and put it back on the pile. Weird?
In most boutique type stores and street vendors you could negotiate the price. Which I actually really enjoyed. I was actually nervous at first, but when I realized I would just end up paying extra if I didn't negotiate. I got a $20 dollar item for $8. I love a good deal! The only Spanish I really learned was: Donda esta el Banias (Spell?- Where is the bathroom)? We ate soooo much food. I gained 4 lbs on the trip, which is actually good considering how much I ate. We went through so many boxes of Oreo's (Although Alan ate most of them:) ) My favorite part of the trip was sleeping in every day, not cleaning, and not taking care of kids. It was such a good break.

Victoria's Baptisim

You are invited to Victoria Paul's Baptisim.
Date: October 31 (Halloween)
Time: 10 a.m.
Where: Our Stake Center (965 W. 2000 N. Orem, Ut 84057)

Following the Baptisim, we will be having a luncheon at our house. We will be having Soup in bread bowls. If you would like to bring something, pick from the list below and then comment so we know what to expect.

Creamy Soups for bread bowls
Thinner soups we will have in regular bowls
Halloween Treats or Regular treats
Apple Cider

We hope to see you all there.

Happy Birthday Audrey!

We sure love our spunky Audrey. Things that Audrey says that are so cute: Boovie (movie), Gulk (milk), Sighy (Outside), NO,NO,NO , oh Kay, Bobbie (Barbie), Gook (Book), Gankette (Blanket), Bood (Food), Seazohz (Cereal).

On Audrey's birthday right after we woke up she opened her presents. she got a little piano (it reminds me of the piano lioness? plays on charlie brown), a Barbie, a Dora puzzle, 4 monster bath toys, and a magna doodle. She had Cookie Crisp cereal for breakfast. Later in the morning I turned on Cartoons for her to watch while I took a shower and this is what she was doing when I got out (the picture above).

Audrey, you are such a sweet girl with so much personality. Remember, Mommy and Daddy will always love you and be there for you!

Love, Mom

Happy 31st Birthday Alan!

How Alan and I met:

First official time:
There was this cute blond curly haired fellow visiting my seminary class my senior year, I think it was November or December. I was talking to some classmates and inviting them to come see me dance in the Nutcracker. Alan said "If I come see you dance, will you give me a kiss afterwards?" Yeah, he was pretty dang flirty back then.

First time:
I was at a school stomp maybe a month later. I saw Alan and his friends dancing in a group near my friends. He came up to me and pretended to be shy and said "um, will you um, dance, um..."
I interrupted him and said "Will you dance with me?" He told me later that "I danced really close to him." We were both pretty smitten with each other. Soon after he asked me to go to Jr. prom with him. He asked me to go on a date with him before Jr. prom, and said we needed to go on a date before Jr. prom because he had a rule that he couldn't kiss on the first date. Yeah, i know. He was extremely forward. Jr. Prom was a blast, i was falling for him so fast, and yes we did kiss. I wore this long beautiful red dress, and while we were dancing the song "Lady in Red" came on. All of Al's friends were singing " lady in red, is dancing with Alan." So, that became our song. We danced to it at our wedding. I remember my fav. thing about Alan was that I felt like I could tell him anything. We would talk for hours and hours on the phone. Not only was I head over heals in love with him, but he was quickly becoming one of my best friends. We stopped "dating" soon after we started (2 or 3 weeks) because this was getting way to serious and he wanted to go on a mission and didn't want anything to stand in the way of that. I respected that.

Alan, Happy Birthday! Te Adora mi Vida. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.
I love you. April

Breaking Dawn

I just finished the last twilight book Saturday night. I loved it! I cried. Who has read this and what did you think? I think this is going to make one amazing movie.

NYC #3

Little Italy.

April, Missy, and Tracie.

WARNING: This section is about Ballet, so if you don't want to hear about it, skip down. In the School of American Ballet locker room. They said we could not take any pictures at he school, so I asked if I could use the restroom and snuck this one. Going the SAB was the highlight of the whole trip for me. We went to S.A.B. the day we were supposed to leave (me, Jeanette, and Kat) and I asked the security guard if we could get a tour. He pulled some strings for us and we did end up getting a tour. The lady that gave us a tour said that it was too bad we were not staying longer because I could watch a class the next day. I was at least glad I got to see it, but really wished I could watched a class. Later that afternoon we found out that our flight was canceled for the next evening. I called the lady from SAB and set up a time to watch a class. The next day I took Tracie and Missy with me to watch the class. I was really nervous to be in charge because I am terrible with directions and taking the subway all by our selves scared me. I didn't want to get lost. I studied the Subway map the night before, hoping that would help. The next morning we got on the right subway, but heading the wrong direction. Whe hurried and got off and tried to get on one going "Up Town" ( I believe?) and we couldn't figure out which subway entrance to go in because there are one one each side of the street. Confusing. We did figure it out and made it in the nick of time. We got to watch the most advanced class. What? This is the probably most prestigious ballet school in America. I was so excited, I can't even tell you. We sat in the front of the classroom and dancers started filling in stretching and warming up for class. Then this skinny tooth pick grandma lady came in to teach the class. She asked where we were from and where Tracie danced at. The class was so amazing. All of the girls were incredibly flexible and strong. Everyone had amazing extension (how height they can lift their leg.) They had a different style then I have ever seen (Balanchine technique), at first I thought some of the girls were doing some of the exercises incorrectly until I realized that everyone did it that way. You would think Ballet is the same where ever you go, but in allot of ways it's not. Same basic stuff, but some school's teach you to brush your leg and some don't, Heads are in different places, some exercises have different names, etc... My favorite correction the teacher gave one of the girls was "You need to be a little more generous with your soul." Artistry is such a hard thing to teach, and I thought she hit it right on the nose. I was amazed at how respectful and meek all the dancers were. Anything the teacher said they would do and try so hard to do it perfectly. I taught so many girls with an attitude problem that I was so envious. I was so grateful for the experience.

Julliard and SAB are right next to each other. I was hoping to go to an SAB gift shop but there was not one. So we went to the Julliard book store and bought some souvenirs. Julliard was very secure, just like SAB. But Julliard seemed more so. Picture above is of the SAB and Julliard Cafe.

Barbie Castle in Toys R Us in NYC.

At the Broadway show "The Little Mermaid." It was so amazing! The were in heely's so it looked like they floated across the stage. Amazing sets and costumes. Loved it.

Picasso at the Met.

Central Park.

The castle from Step Mom in Central Park.

These townhouse were in a nicer area in NYC. They reminded me of the Cosby Show and You've Got Mail. Very Cute.

At the doorway to the Manhattan New York Temple, and this is also where church was. I felt bad for the speakers in sacrament because the majority of us were nodding off from exhaustion. I had to go out and get a drink and walk around to wake myself up. I wonder what I am looking at.

This is a picture of all the Dance Co. girls feeling Ellie move. A couple of them actually felt her move.

Little Italy was one of my favorite places in NYC. There are a ton of Italian Restaurants and the Fettuccine Alfredo I had was the best ever. This was such a cute little area (a street). They have these Italian bakery's that are to die for. I tried Italian Ice Cream for the first time (Gilato?) and It was soooo good. We also went to China town and it smelled so strong of stinky fish.

I guess we are being "Bond Girls!"

Ellie's blessing is on August 30th!

Okay, so I know I said August 8th or 16th, but we changed our minds. I sure hope everyone can come, I don't think I can change it again. Thanks, April

Mary Stuart Masterson

Here is the picture of Mary Stuart Masterson that Jeanette took while I was getting her autograph. It's a little blurry because the revolving door hit her in the but while she took the picture.

Ellie's Blessing

You are invited to Ellie Paul's Blessing!

Date: August 30th

Time: 9 am

Where: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

1546 N 1100
Orem, UT 84057

Following the Blessing will be a potluck brunch at our home.

997 W. 1300 N.

Orem, UT 84057

We will be providing the main coarse and if you would like to bring something, pick from the list below and leave a comment to let us know what you will be bringing. Several people can bring the same thing!

Chips

Drinks

Green Salad

Pasta Salad

Fruit or Fruit Salad

Cookies

Party Time!

My 30th birthday is on Saturday and I wanted to go out to eat and a movie to celebrate. Anyone who wants to join us is welcome to, but no pressure. I want to go to the Cafe Rio in Orem (State street-between the 8th north exit and Center St. exit) at 5 pm. Then we will be heading over to Cinemark in Orem (1010 South 800 East ) right behind University mall. I want to see the new Harry Potter movie (rated PG) at 7:15. I think this movie might sell out early so we are going to try and be early for the movie. That's about it!
P.S. Ellie slept through the night, last night! Yeah!

New York 2

Tracie and I in the lobby at the "Broadway Dance Center." Tracie and her dance co. took dance classes here. Wow, what a belly full of Ellie!

A billboard advertising "Wicked."

This is such a funny story. This is Kathrin's second time in NYC and last time she came, she saw the Broadway musical "Wicked," and loved it. She really wanted to go again but they were all sold out. We were at the Wicked theatre the night before so she could buy some wicked stuff from the gift shop, and she started talking to the lady behind the counter and found out that the next morning we could come back and enter the "Wicked lottery" 2 hours before the show started. The wicked lottery is when you put your name in a hat and whomever gets there name drawn gets to buy 2 front row tickets for a ridiculously good price (I think it was $25 ?). Kathrin, Jeanette, and myself went to go enter this lottery, and we waited around to see if we won. They started to draw the names and we were very nervous, hoping we would get it. They called every one's names that won (I think it was 12 people?). We were pretty bummed when none of our names got called, but we decided to hang around anyway "just in case." I guess one of the girls that got called said she didn't want it, because her friend won some already. Someone else got called and they weren't there, and the last person only wanted one ticket. So, they called one more name..................Kathrin Paul. The funniest part was that this picture is a reenactment of what kathrin was doing when we waiting to see if the last name called was one of ours. She was soooo excited. When she got up there to get the two tickets, she found out that she only got one. She is so nice and offered it to me, since I had never been before. I couldn't take such an important ticket from someone who was soooo excited and in love with wicked. I was so happy for her that she got to go, especially because she got to be on the front row!

This was already an exciting day, but there is more. When we were walking to the wicked theatre, we passed another theatre that was right next to it. there were allot people gathering in and outside this theatre to buy tickets for some other Broadway show. I passed this blonde lady and took a double take, a few more steps and I realized who I had seen. Mary Stuart Masterson! You know, from "Benny and Joon" and "Fried Green Tomatoes." I pulled kathrin and Jeanette aside and said "Did you see who that was? Mary Stuart Masterson!" I couldn't believe it, she just looked like a regular person, chatting with some friends and her date. I knew this was my only chance to talk to her, so I tryed to think of some excuse I could use to do so. One problem, I am pretty dang shy. Sometimes I feel embarrassed to talk the the cashier at the grocery store, let alone a movie star. I thought about that for one second and decided "Who Cares?" I asked Kathrin and Jeanette if either of them were brave enough to come with me to ask for an autograph. They both said "No, they weren't." I decided to go anyway. By this time Mary and her date had gone in the the theater and I thought I might have missed my chance. I went threw the doors and diagonally from me there she stood still chatting with her date. I marched forward directly to her and touched her arm. "Excuse me, I am a HUGE fan of yours" she said "Thank You", than I said "Can I have your autograph?" And I just smiled with my huge pregnant belly and thought, the worst she can say is , no. She smiled at me and said "Sure, whats your name?" I said "April," she said "That very fitting for this time of year (it was April)", with a smile I might add. She scribbled on the paper I had given her and handed it back. I thanked her and went on my way (seeing Jeanette had followed me in to get a picture), so proud of myself for being brave. I couldn't believe how sweet and real she was. What a good day.

This is in times square. It was crazy busy and just as cool as I had imagined it.

I have to say it again, I love NY!