Moving

Sorry that I've not posted anything in a while. It's been a pretty busy week. I've been packing up my office. No, I did nopt get fired nor did i quit. We're moving to a different location. As I speak everything in my office...but my computer...has been moved over. It's pretty empty in here.

There is only one draw back about the move. I've lost an office. Now I'm just in the front area. It's more of like I've lost an office but gained a window. I have an entire wall about 15 feet long of just windows. I don't care too much that I have to share my "office" with the receptionist and the foyer. I got a window...and a door to the outside. I can open the door and get fresh air. I think that's a major plus too.

Well..I have to get back to unpacking and organizing everything.

Love,
Elizabeth, Patrick and Audrey

So Last Night...

...we went to Carrie and Nates and had dinner. Carrie and Nate provided the house, the flour, the pots and pans. We provided the food.

It was really fun. I cooked wienerschnitzel and Spaetzle (Spätzle). We were going to have applesauce as another side but nate had a really great idea and we had pineapple instead. By the way that pineapple was really really good.

I think the highlight of the night was when we grabbed their swivel chair spun Audrey around a million times and then had her try and walk across the room. She looked like an 8 month old trying to walk. We should have gotten some pictures. No, It was not torture. She loved it and was sad when I told her she was all done.

We were going to go swimming but by the time we finished making dinner, ate and watched the movie hoodwinked.

I loved it! I think my favorite part of the movie was the wolf. The character was mimicking chevy chases character fletch but with the voice of Cronk. It was awesome. As you can see in the poster he is even wearing the Lakers jersey and blue sweatshirt.



It was about 9 o'clock. Oddly enough we found things to entertain ourselves (mainly throwing audrey around and listening to her giggle) until about 10.

We had a lot of fun. We're going to have to do it again soon. Michelle, aren't you jealous?

Love,
Elizabeth, Patrick and Audrey

Pixar's UP

Patrick found this article a few weeks ago and I meant to share it with everyone but forgot. I really love Pixar and love them even more after reading this.



Pixar grants girl's dying wish to see 'Up'

HUNTINGTON BEACH – Colby Curtin, a 10-year-old with a rare form of cancer, was staying alive for one thing – a movie.

From the minute Colby saw the previews to the Disney-Pixar movie Up, she was desperate to see it. Colby had been diagnosed with vascular cancer about three years ago, said her mother, Lisa Curtin, and at the beginning of this month it became apparent that she would die soon and was too ill to be moved to a theater to see the film.

After a family friend made frantic calls to Pixar to help grant Colby her dying wish, Pixar came to the rescue.

The company flew an employee with a DVD of Up, which is only in theaters, to the Curtins’ Huntington Beach home on June 10 for a private viewing of the movie.

The animated movie begins with scenes showing the evolution of a relationship between a husband and wife. After losing his wife in old age, the now grumpy man deals with his loss by attaching thousands of balloons to his house, flying into the sky, and going on an adventure with a little boy.

Colby died about seven hours after seeing the film.

With her daughter’s vigil planned for Friday, Lisa Curtin reflected about how grateful she is that Pixar – and "Up" – were a part of her only child’s last day.

“When I watched it, I had really no idea about the content of the theme of the movie,” said Curtin, 46. “I just know that word ‘Up’ and all of the balloons and I swear to you, for me it meant that (Colby) was going to go up. Up to heaven.”

Pixar officials declined to comment on the story or name the employees involved.

THE PREVIEWS

Colby was diagnosed with vascular cancer on Dec. 23, 2005 after doctors found a tumor in her liver. At the time of her death, her stomach was about 94 inches around, swollen with fluids the cancer wouldn’t let her body properly digest. The rest of her body probably weighed about 45 pounds, family friend Carole Lynch said.

Colby had gone to Newport Elementary School and was known for making others laugh, family friend Terrell Orum-Moore said. Colby loved to dance, sing, swim and seemed to have a more mature understanding of the world than other children her age, Orum-Moore said.

On April 28, Colby went to see the Dream Works 3-D movie "Monsters Vs. Aliens" but was impressed by the previews to "Up."

“It was from then on, she said, ‘I have to see that movie. It is so cool,’” Lynch said.

Colby was a movie fan, Lisa Curtin said, and she latched onto Pixar’s movies because she loved animals.

Two days later Colby’s health began to worsen. On June 4 her mother asked a hospice company to bring a wheelchair for Colby so she could visit a theater to see "Up." However, the weekend went by and the wheelchair was not delivered, Lisa Curtin said.

By June 9, Colby could no longer be transported to a theater and her family feared she would die without having seen the movie.

At that point, Orum-Moore, who desperately wanted Colby to get her last wish, began to cold-call Pixar and Disney to see if someone could help.

Pixar has an automated telephone answering system, Orum-Moore said, and unless she had a name of a specific person she wanted to speak to, she could not get through. Orum-Moore guessed a name and the computer system transferred her to someone who could help, she said.

Pixar officials listened to Colby’s story and agreed to send someone to Colby’s house the next day with a DVD of "Up," Orum-Moore recalled.

She immediately called Lisa Curtin, who told Colby.

“Do you think you can hang on?” Colby’s mother said.

“I’m ready (to die), but I’m going to wait for the movie,” the girl replied.

THE MOVIE

At about 12:30 p.m. the Pixar employee came to the Curtins’ home with the DVD.

He had a bag of stuffed animals of characters in the movie and a movie poster. He shared some quirky background details of the movie and the group settled in to watch Up.

Colby couldn't see the screen because the pain kept her eyes closed so her mother gave her a play-by-play of the film.

At the end of the film, the mother asked if her daughter enjoyed the movie and Colby nodded yes, Lisa Curtin said.

The employee left after the movie, taking the DVD with him, Lynch said.

“He couldn’t have been nicer,” said Lynch who watched the movie with the family. “His eyes were just welled up.”

After the movie, Colby’s dad, Michael Curtin, who is divorced from Lisa Curtin, came to visit.

Colby died with her mom and dad nearby at 9:20 p.m.

Among the Up memorabilia the employee gave Colby was an “adventure book” – a scrap book the main character’s wife used to chronicle her journeys.

“I’ll have to fill those adventures in for her,” Lisa Curtin said.

God Bless America

I have to be honest...I'm pretty patriotic. I love my country so much, to the point that every year I start tearing up when i see those fireworks light up the sky. I guess for me its more about the people who gave us our Independence. I think about the people who fought and died for the idea of freedom. I think about Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln, and all our service men and women. Enough about my gratitude...lets talk about what we have done this weekend.

On Friday I had the day off. So we decided that it would be fun to check out some of the events going on in the area. We first started out at "Ellis Island in the park" at Scera park. Nothing too interesting there.

Then we headed down to "Freedom Day" in Provo. This was actually really fun and a lot better organized than any other freedom days. Go Freedom fest! They had a children's area where all the attractions were free. They had a large blow up slide and a blow up obstacle course. Audrey loved both and refused to get off. It was pretty cute. Oh, and I got my hair cut. It pretty much rocks.

Then on Satruday morning we had the parade. I'm not going to go into too much detail about what happened but it was not awesome.

Every year mom volunteers for the parade and organizes the bands. AKA I volunteer every year too. I had to be up by 5:45 so that i could be ready at 6:30 so mom and I could be there at 6:45.

Provo High has a driving range and every year we use the range for the buses to drop the bands off. When mom and I arrived there were 12 cars parked in the range. Somehow they had gotten in and thought it was okay to park there. Stupid people! So we had to make an announcement at the balloon area and about 7 of the cars ended up coming and moving. Which was nice. But we called a tow truck to come and get the others but he never showed up so we had to deal with it.

Since the driving range is so small we have to have the bands come at a certain time so that we can accommodate every band. They can't be early and they can't be late. The first two bands who needed to be there were 20 minutes late. Other bands were 15 minutes early and one band...I don't want to name names but I am...Juab. unloaded everything in the driving range and left there bus sitting there for over 30 minutes blocking the exit for other buses to leave. I had told the director several times that the bus needed to move. But it never did. When they finally started to move it was too late. I had 6 buses on the street waiting to enter the driving range. again remember people started showing up early.

Another problem was that we have to have the bands come in from the south. AKA they have to turn right into the range I can't have them cross traffic to get into the range. Well NO ONE LISTENS TO DIRECTIONS. I had people coming from the wrong direction. And the buses couldn't get out of the range because they need the middle area of the road to turn right back onto the street. But the buses couldn't get out because 4 buses were in their way. We ended up having to get 2 cops to stop traffic so that the buses coming out of the range could loop to the wrong side of the street to get around the buses in the middle. I hope you can see the visual image. Then one band didn't even use a bus and came in 20 cars. 20! We can't accommodate 20 cars! Mom had even talked to the director the night before and told them they could only have 5 cars in the driving range. We still needed to get 3 more buses in and out of the range. The worst part about it was I tried to direct them on where to park. Again NO ONE LISTENS!


Congratulations Liahona Alumni band and Juab marching band you will not be marching in the 2010 Freedom Festival Parade.

Another problem...yes, another problem. Because of the limited amount of space we have Bands can only have ONE support vehicle accompany the band. You guessed it some of the bands decided to have a few more than one. I'm talking two or three. That did not help the jam.

After that everything went really well. Bands...except Juab...were moving when I asked them to. They were lined up at the right time. It was very very nice. Thank you everyone for being so great.

Then I walked to parade with Timpanogos.

After the parade I went home and took a nap. Yeah for 4th of July naps.

STADIUM OF FIRE! Awesome theme song by the way!

I love the Stadium of Fire! I love going to it and experiencing it. It one of my favorite things to do for the 4th of July.

Since mom is the chairperson for the Baby Contest she was able to get tickets to the reception before the concert. That's right ladies and gents I was in the same room as the Jonas brothers. about 20 feet away. HA HA aren't you jealous? I was also really close to Glenn Beck too. FYI he rocks. He entered the stage to the A.F. Band and a choir playing and singing "76 Trombones" And he was really acting too. He wasn't walking out half hearted he was really getting into it. It was a lot of fun and a great way to start the show. Patrick and I both agreed that this was one of the better thought out stadium of fires we've been to.

here are some awesome vidoes. If you watch one watch the 3rd one. It's the best.









I guess I should wrap this up. I really loved the flag burning ceremony. It was really really great. And yes i shed a tear or two for our beloved flag.

But there is one thing that I want to tel you about. which is related to the title of the post. When the show started it looked like it was going to start raining on us. But I kid you not the sky was clear above us practically all night. They ended up rushing the jonas brothers off the stage because they thought it was going to rain when the clouds started getting real close and they wanted to start the fire works. But once those fire works started the clouds cleared. It really was amazing. I couldn't see the moon all night and all of a sudden you could. You could see the stars and actually watch the rain clouds dissipate behind the fireworks. It really was beautiful. One of those tender mercies of god.

I really do love this country and am happy we can celebrate it's birthday every year.

Love,
Elizabeth, Patrick and Audrey

Texas

I figure it's about time to tell you about Texas. Since we have been home for 2 weeks now. We left for Texas 2 days after we returned home from D.C. I was suppose to have 3 days to get ready but...on our way home we got stuck in Atlanta. Our flight from D.C. to Atlanta landed when our flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake took off. Fun right? WRONG!

So we got to stay the night in Atlanta. At least it was on Deltas' Dime and not ours. But man was it a nasty hotel. But there was a Waffle House a block away....and yes i got to eat at Waffle House. Was it good? AWESOME!

We left for Texas on Friday the 29th.

Saturday we went boating...need i say more? Maybe I should. It was really fun. I didn't get to wake board but Michelle and I did tube together. Dad can be pretty mean with that boat. I think Michelle has some pretty awesome footage of the tubing. She'll have to put it up on her blog. Hint Hint.

Sunday....was like any other Sunday. Except that Audrey refused to wake up. And since she had such a long day on Saturday I didn't want to wake her. So she got to stay home with Christine and Michaela. Poor Michaela wasn't feeling well too.

Monday was Kemah. Kemah is a boardwalk near NASA and Galveston. It has a bunch of traveling fair type rides. Audrey had a blast. There was a kiddo airplane that she rode about 10 times and a kiddo Ferris wheel. she wasn't much of a fan of the Farris wheel. But she rode it a few times. She also really enjoyed the train.

Tuesday we went boating again. Without Matt and Sam. the two of them still had school. this time I got to wake board. Oh and that's right I got up on my first try. I may be able to get up really fast but i can not stay up very long. the problem is that I can't stay behind the boat I travel over to the side of the boat and hang out outside the wake. I think i would have been able to stay up for a little while but I am the wind curse. Every time I would put the board on and get in the water the wind would just pick up and the water would be so choppy. And I just couldn't stay up. But then once I took the board off and got on the boat the wind would die down. It totally sucked. I know what your thinking oh Liz it was just that one time. you are wrong! Patrick and Katherine had gone in such nice water i decided to try again. And yep the wind was there again. Stupid wind curse. Patrick was doing really well too. He picked up on wake boarding really fast and by the end of the visit was actually trying to jump.

Wednesday or was it Thursday? One of the days I don't think we did anything. We really needed a break from everything. But One of the days we went to the Museum and saw the Chinese Terracotta Warriors and then went to an astros baseball game. The game was actually really fun...well the last 3 innings were fun. The rest of the time I was walking around with Audrey who didn't want to watch the baseball game. That's okay. Life goes on.

Friday was the graduation. The whole ceremony was 75 minutes long. It took us longer to get to the arena than it did for the graduation ceremony to last. And again I was walking around with Audrey who didn't want to watch. Do you see a trend? The valedictorian had a great speech...any kid who can quote Carrie Underwood and Miley Cyrus and still have a decent speech is okay in my book. And any kid who can quote Vitamin C in a benediction is also okay in my book. Sam your graduation was actually a good one...be proud of it. Because i sure can't be proud of mine....mine sucked. That's right graduating class of 2002 from Orem High. Ours sucked! It really really did.

Saturday we had one last boating excursion. This time everyone came. And I mean everyone. All 16 of us. Here we go with role call. Dad, Veniece, Mike, Ferneta, Christine, Michaela, Jenny, Gavin, Katherine, Michelle, Dan, Patrick, Me, Audrey, Matt, and Sam. This time I was able to stay behind the boat for a few seconds but once i started heading toward the side and about to go over the wake I would fall because I got too nervous. But I still had fun getting water up my nose.

Sunday Patrick and I headed home. yep Audrey stayed for a few extra days. You'll have to ask dad and Veniece about the visit. All I know is that Patrick and I went and did something every night and had no parental responsibilities. It was really really awesome.

I don't have any pictures with me at work. I'll post pictures soon.

Love,
Elizabeth, Patrick and Audrey