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.