Week In Review

So this has been an eventful week.

First off my baby sister turned 11 on Tuesday! WHAT?! I know she is 11 and I am old. I remember when she was born. Oi Vey. And when I asked her what she got for her birthday I expected to hear such things as a littlest pet shop toy, a web kins pet or a DS game. I didn't hear any of those things instead she told me she got clothes and a purse. A PURSE. She is too little for a purse. I don't want my baby sisters to grow up. Happy birthday to my hay hays.

Second, Kyra got her license. Again WHAT?! Not gonna lie, I'm a little scared but I gotta trust the DMV dude that passed her. haha. JK I'm sure she is fine. And big kudos to her for passing on her first try. She is the first in the family to do this. Yes it took me 4 tries and before you judge me maybe you should try to parallel park a suburban. Go Kyra!

Third, my Uncle John came to visit us last night! He was here on business and took the time to take us to dinner and then drive out to see the new house. It was great to visit with him. Thanks Uncle John!

Fourth, I had a wonderful opportunity to substitute teach for a 5th grade class this week. It was so much fun and I think I could definitely enjoy being a teacher. But I'm not gonna lie, by the end of the last day I was exhausted and when the bell rang I told the kids, "please get out"! I said it in a nice voice for those who are concerned. Then today they delivered me letters from each kid thanking me for teaching them. I was laughing out loud at each letter. One boy said it was the best day of his life. hahahaha.

That's about it for this week. I'm hoping next week I can say that I won McDonald's Monopoly game. I have been sucked into that game and have been to McDonald's more times in the past 2 weeks than in the last 5 years. Not. Good.

Friends and Fall

The Stokes were visiting Lindsey's family in Flagstaff last weekend and they were nice enough to let us come stay with them. It was so much fun seeing our friends and catching up. Of course being with them made us that much more home sick. While there we headed up into the mountains and got to experience a little bit of fall. Phoenix is still 85-100 every day so there isn't much fall going on. Thanks guys for making time for us and we miss you!!

Now how could you not be her friend?!

Progress

We made quite a bit of progress on the house this week. Matt finished tearing out the stinky carpet and took it to the dump.

I started painting the living room and it makes a world of difference.

We finished painting the den and are now ready to decorate it!

Again here is the family room carpetless and the walls ready for paint.....

and here we are painting it. I love the color.

Primary

Today was the primary program in my ward and it made me miss these guys.

I sang along to all of the songs and laughed at the teachers chasing the children on the stage. Matt and I have been gone for 4 months but we feel like we could just go back and pick up right where we left off. Maybe one day.....

Sold

We closed on our house last Friday and have been busy trying to get it ready to move in.

Pulling out carpet,

knocking down walls,

Painting,

and enjoying the view of our pool!

Psychedelic Phoenix

The other day Ami and I were treated by the hotel to two tickets to The Doors. Two original members still play for the band. Ray Manzarek, keyboardist, and Robby Krieger, lead guitar, rocked the house with the Phoenix Philharmonic Orchestra backing them up. The performance overall was entertaining (the orchestra and conductor were fantastic), however, Ray made several off the wall remarks that probably would have made a sailor blush. From our view in the suite, it looked like Robby showed up in sweats and a t-shirt. They performed several crowd pleasing favorites including, People are Strange, Riders on the Storm, Light My Fire, Break on Through, The Crystal Ship, and Love Me Two Times (which they played…twice, ironically). I recorded the performances of People are Strange, Light My Fire, and Riders on the Storm. Pardon the quality, I made the recordings with a regular camera.

Must See

Bye Bye Birdie is back on Broadway starting Oct. 15th and I have to see it. This show is definetely a family favorite ranking up there with Carousel and Oklahoma.

When I was about 9 years old my Dad and I performed in this show for our wards road show. The Fam has seen it performed on high school stages and we have watched the Dick Van Dyke version many many times. It's a really clean show and for Broadway this is rare. So I think my family is going to try and go see it while we are home in December! If you get the chance you must see this show. Oh and bonus: John Stamos stars in it and that my friends IS a bonus!

Click HERE to learn more.

Give A Day of Service

Matt and I were watching TV the other night and this commercial came on that said if you give a day of service in 2010 then you get a free ticket to a Disney park. Matt looked over to me and said "how is that service?"

I don't know but I'm sold! Disney here I come.

Free Ticket

One More Year

Happy Birthday to Jenny Ju Ju Bee who turned 15 today and only has one more year until she can date! And I heard from a little bird that she has a boy waiting for that precise moment so he can ask her out :)