Christmas Vacation: The drive.

I'm really going to try and make this quick since so much....really A LOT happened in about a weeks time.

We left Orem on Friday the 18th to head down to Las Vegas to spend the next day at the craftons. Our plan was to spend the 19th, Kaylee's birthday, at their place and finish the drive to California on Sunday the 20th, Audrey's birthday, so that grandma could spend time with Audrey. Sounded like great plans to me. Yeah, that's not what happened.

On the 18th Audrey seemed just a little ill. She had a bit of a fever and was coughing a bit. Poor baby. But we had plans and figured she would be okay with a little NyQuil. My thoughts? "Knock the little, sick thing out and all will be well on the drive." All seemed to be well. She slept a large part of the way down....but it was not restful sleep. She was coughing and moaning. And it seemed to get worse and worse and worse. At about Cedar City we had the thought of just finishing the drive that night....mind you it was about 7 o'clock which would have meant another 7 hours to grandmas. Getting us there at about 1 am pacific time. Patrick called the Crafton's up and was telling them our plans all in an effort to not get there kids sick right before Christmas. Brice and Lindsey insisted we stay the night.....which I am very grateful for since I would not have made it.

When we got to the crafton's we pretty much hunkered down in Kaylee's room to keep the kids away from one another. (FYI we did not get them sick) The next morning we left as soon as we could and met Mom and Katherine on the strip and finished the drive to Thousand Oaks together. The drive was exactly like the day before Audrey in and out of sleep only comforted by her blanket, pinks and watching UP on my phone.

At about Victorville....2 hours away from Thousand Oaks. We stopped for a "nature calls" break. At this moment Patrick thought it would be funny to joke about audrey finishing the drive with "Grandma" and "Tia." Audrey thought it would be a wonderful idea and was upset when we tried to put her back into our car. Remember what happened in this earlier post and this post? I decided I didn't want to deal with that (a.k.a. Vomit) so we switched the car seat and Audrey traveled the rest of the drive with them.

But the poor thing kept getting worse and worse and worse. So about 30 minutes after we finished the drive we popped over to the Insta-care, begged them to see Audrey, (seriously the front desk person was trying to turn us away. First it was about our insurance. thankfully it was on a PPP? plan or something that they accept. And then it was that "well, this is family practice and the doctor is not a pediatrician." She went back to confirm that the doctor would not see her. Really Lady your going to turn down service to a very sick little girl? YOU HAVE NO SOUL. okay, that was a little harsh but I was annoyed about it. Thankfully the doctor decided to see her. Thank you wonderful doctor.) and found out that it was croup couch, HERE is some information about the cough, and that her ear looked red.....but that she didn't think it would flare up but gave us some antibiotics just in case. I was sort of freaking out about the idea of croup cough. I had it when I was little and my mom had to rush me off to the emergency room. I was afraid that we would be having a repeat of my childhood. The doctor told us to look for some signs that would indicate that we would have to rush her to the ER, including audrey grabbing her throat, gasping for breath and her lips turning blue. Those are things that you want to hear a doctor say. "There is a high chance this could happen, so watch her and take her to the emergency room ASAP. The shot that needs to be administered can only be done in the emergency room." Since it's a virus there was nothing she could give audrey that would help. Couch medicine wouldn't help. However mom and grandma kept insisting we give her cough medicine when I told them it would not work. And would give her cough medicine behind my back. ah, grandparents.

Wouldn't you know it, the ear infection flared up the next day. So on Sunday night, after an entire day of me watching Audrey like a hawk, we spent about an hour and a half calling different pharmacies in the area trying to find a 24 hour. Mom eventually called the hospital and asked if they knew of one. Turns out the only 24 hour pharmacy was in Woodland Hills 20 miles away. So Katherine and I jumped in the car drove 20 minutes, waited an hour and drove back.

The cough remained for a few more days and so did the infection. She was still really bad that night so in loo of moving Audrey off the couch and into her bed upstairs. We pulled out an air mattress and I slept next to her in the living room.

She woke up every hour or so. It was not a fun night.

Isn't life just grand?

I feel I have wasted enough of your time. I'll be telling you more about Christmas in my next post.

Because we still have to cover.

1. Everyone....and I mean everyone, getting sick
2. Disneyland
3. and Christmas eve and day...which includes Katherine making an appearance in the emergency room.
   

DisneyLand

On Monday we are going to be at Disneyland. WoHoo! I can hear the jealous comments now. It's going to be awesome!

In order to get Audrey excited about Disneyland, Patrick was looking for home movies that other people have posted on youtube and Vimeo. In his search he came across these awesome videos.

This is what Jeff Allen, the poster, says about the videos.

Shot by my grandfather on his Bell & Howell Filmo using 16mm Kodachrome film stock. This footage was taken a year after the California theme park opened.

It was quite a surprise going through this and seeing my grandmother meeting Walt Disney himself! I've been doing my best to find out what they were shooting at the front of the park. So far I've been unsuccessful.

Transferred to HD (1080PsF 23.98) myself off a Spirit and Color Corrected using a da Vinci 2k Plus. Slowed to 18fps to match the original film speed.

Home Movies At DisneyLand - 1956 from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.

Home Movies At DisneyLand - 1956 **Part Two** from Jeff Altman on Vimeo.

Seriously, how cool is it that they actually met Walt Disney outside the gates of the park.

I Love It!

another slew of posts

Sorry about this. But I figure I should share with you one of the projects that made my life a living $%^& on Monday.

The project was a storytelling assignment. We had to take a series of photos (between 3 and 5 to be exact) that would tell a story.

I really had a hard time thinking of a good story. I thought it would be fun to do a real story and get some costumes and get someone who would be willing to be my model. I knew that I couldn't pull something like that off.

My first idea was to do "The Life of a Balloon." It was going to follow the life of a pink balloon from birth (purchasing it) to death (shriveled, forgotten on the floor). I thought it would be awesome. But realized it might be too much effort since I would have to take a picture of it at a birthday party and kids (note the plural) playing with them. And it was cold outside and I didn't want to leave home.

So I ended up coming up with this....

A Mundane Morning

Date and time totally photoshoped.

Take note of the dates and times in all the images.

Yes, I took them all at work. But my teacher doesn't need to know that.

I figured forgetting your wedding day was a little far fetched, but we have all gotten up and gone about our morning forgetting that we had to do something important. Then once we realized it, we rush off to our forgotten task and hope that no one noticed. I've done it loads of times.

With this Post...

..I have exceeded the amount of posts I created in 2008. Ha Ha

I figure I should commemorate this moment with an awesome comic that Patrick found.

It is titled

Natural Parenting

to see more awesome stick figure comics visit http://xkcd.com/.

you all know my thoughts about being a mom and this adventure called parenting...I love it....but man is it hard.

For Instance....

Last night Audrey woke up from what I imagine was a night mare. It must have been a pretty bad one since I couldn't calm her down. She didn't want comfort but at the same time she did. I held out my arms for her to cuddle up with me and she would willingly accept the cuddle but once she was in my embrace she would struggle to get out, So I would let her go but then she wanted to be held again. This happened about 5 times. Poor thing didn't know what she wanted. And neither did I. She wouldn't stop screaming....not crying, mind you. It was full fledged "I hate what is going on" screaming. I kept asking her to tell me what happened but that would throw her into a bigger tantrum. The screaming caused her to start to gag so I ran her into the kitchen. I would rather have the puke on the tile then on the carpet. Once she threw up, I knew it was bound to happen, she started in hysterics again and kicked the puke bucket, I had provided over. Mom intuition...you got to love it.

After about 10 minutes or more she finally calmed down. For a while there it was a little scary.

At one point, of this horrific tantrum, I just let her roll on the ground kicking and screaming. At this moment Patrick thought it would be an awesome idea to taunt the little thing. So he would nudge her with his foot every few seconds causing her to scream louder and kick harder. It wasn't helping. But it was pretty funny. I put a stop to it after about a minute.

Can't Imagine myself with another one. Seriously...I can't. But One day we might have another.

Almost Done

The semester is finally coming to an end....holy cow has it been a long one. Why did I go back to school? Oh Right, to better myself.

I really don't know how I'm bettering myself when....
...I'm always stressed out...
...I'm spreading myself too thin...
...I get to spend less time with Audrey...
...I never make dinner...
...I'm so exhausted that I don't do the laundry, do the dishes, basically be a mom.

I'm really not looking for any sympathy or words of encouragement. I know I'm doing my best and that's what matters....But, it is nice to moan and groan about it once in a while. Really it's only due to the fact that I had a final at 7 and 9 this morning. My assignment for the 9 o'clock final magically messed up last night and 11:30(the audio was 14 seconds off) and I had to spend another 2 hours fixing it and I had already spend 5 hours working on it. (In hind site I should have not worked that long on the project, but the problem is I am a perfectionist when it comes to my assignments. I want to be that "A" student. Plus assignments and projects are really the only way for me to show my teachers how good a student I am. I get B's or even C's on tests because I have such bad test anxiety. It's really horrible. I like to show them that even though I don't test well I am very good at practical applications and hope they give me the benefit of the doubt when it comes to grading time. Hey, it worked when I was pregnant. I didn't even take the written final in one of my classes, I didn't even show up to the final, and my amazing teacher gave me an A in class because he knew I knew my stuff. I'm totally going off on a tangent....sorry)

So, I was up until 1:30 fixing it (I still don't think it's the best that it could have been) and I still had to look over my photography notes for the 7 am final. And believe me that final was intense. We had a written exam and then a practical exam and we had to turn in our final project. I set the alarm for 5:30, so that I could be up by 6, so that I could look over my notes and then start getting ready at 6:30 in order to leave at 6:45. No, I did not shower this morning. No, I do not have make-up on. No, I do not smell. But I was so nervous for the day I woke up several times throughout the short night and then ended up being pretty much awake at 5. I tried to go back to sleep but it didn't work. Then, after all that test taking and stressed outness, I had to work until 5 pm. Good thing I didn't go to guard tonight I might have started to cry. Did I mention that on top of working full time, going to school 3/4 time, being a mom, and a wife I'm doing guard? Yes, I am stretched out. But I am pretty positive I am not the only one. I just have to read your blogs and stalk you on facebook to know that I am not alone in this crazy crazy life.

Plus the fact that Patrick has a final tomorrow...that means I can't go home and just sit on the couch. He's going to go to the Library while I'm home with our little ball of energy Audrey. Seriously she is such a ball of fire. Like in the Incredibles Jack Jack attacks. I think most of you know what I am talking about. I doubt she cooperates and goes down at her normal bed time.

My goodness, I am getting sleepy just thinking about they day I've had.

Basically this is the gist of the post...woohoo! School is hard...I am stressed...and want to sleep.

Seriously this post was not a "woe is me" post I just needed to vent about the day.

It's COLD!

I just want to let all of you know how cold it is here in Orem.

My kind of Twilight

Twilight Years from Tom on Vimeo.

Audrey Bedroom Part 5000

I know that I have talked about this a lot, and I am sorry for that. I'm really enjoying myself.

The day that I wrote about Audrey's room I went to DI and found the bed rails I had been looking for. It was really funny. I had been there 3 times before with nothing, and that day they had 8 or 9 hook on bed rails.

The best part about the DI find was the price. It was a mere $8 for the two. The cheapest price I could find online was $50 and then $20 for shipping. I really didn't want to spend another $70 for the bed. The whole reason for finding the bed from We Do Re Do's, was to not spend $200.

I also just got confirmation from mom that we can "steal/borrow" my old mattress and box spring. Eventually we will buy her a new mattress the box spring is perfectly fine.

By the way I'm really enjoying this frugal shopping thing. It's fun to hunt for those deals.

Here's the budget break down (just for her bed) so far.

• Headboard and Footboard-$70
• Bed rails-$8
• Mattress- $0
• Box Spring- $0

Total= $78

HA HA I love it!

Thanksgiving Week

It was an amazing week. For one Audrey went to California with mom, so we were childless for 6 days. It's always fun to have time to reconnect with Patrick but we sort of ran out of things to do and forgot what grown-ups do for fun. We could really only come up with things audrey would enjoy doing. Oh well. And for another thing I got to spend time with Carrie and Nate. The whole week sort of welded together so I can't remember what days we were over there. It was at least 2. Both times patrick and nate spent the majority of the time doing guy stuff and Carrie and I got to talk (a lot) and play Super Mario Brothers for the Wii. It's an awesome game. I almost went out and bought a Wii the next day just so I can play the game. Alas, We need to wait until after I finish decorating Audrey's room.

Off subject (skip the italics if you don't care about audrey's room).....I think I have a plan for audrey's room. I hope it turns out good. I'm really excited about it because I never did any decorating for her room when she was born. It was still being used as her room/storage room. And it still is, to some extent, and I want to have it be her room. I found this room on HGTV's rate my space website.


I really liked how they used the Ikea bookshelfs for storage. Believe me her little room needs it.

So I went ahead an built her room in Google Sketchup. The bed is not the real bed but at least I can get an idea of how the room is going to look with the furniture in it.


The bed I already have. Yeah, I bought I bed for $70. It still needs bed rails, which I can get at DI, and it needs a mattress. The best price that I can find is $150 for a box spring and a mattress. Anyone know where I can get a good mattress and box spring? I went to the RC Willey Outlet and didn't see anything for a good price. The only things we need to get are the two Ikea bookcases for $69.99 each, the 2 wall shelves for $19.99 each, bedding and some storage boxes for the bookcases. Her new bed is a light pink and really awesome. once I get the bed rails and a mattress I'll take a picture for you. But I would really like to paint the wood desk white and add some black hardware. It's too cold to do it now and I don't have a good place to do it. I would really need a garage. anyone have a garage that I can use in the spring? Like I said I hope it turns out. I'm really excited about it. It might take me a lifetime to get it finished but one day I will get it done and will be really excited about it.


Back on subject...where was I?....the Wii. It was an awesome game and have been craving it everyday since. I'm jealous of those who have a Wii and that game. This just means I have to go to Carrie and Nates more often to get my Wii fix.

I don't believe mom will ever go on vacation by herself with a toddler grandchild again. From what I hear it was a very stressful week. A fun week but very stressful. I'll have to have mom write something about it and I'll post it so you know what they did. I know that they went to the Zoo and did a few other things but I'm not entirely sure. I hope she took pictures.

For thanksgiving we decided to go to Mimi's cafe. This was the third time that we ate at Mimis for a major holiday. It was amazing and totally worth it. In hind site I should have called Grandma and Grandpa like dad suggested but it would have felt odd to go to a family function without Audrey. or is it just me? But we had a lot of fun and got to talk. By the way it was completely packed. The word is getting out that Mimi's is an awesome choice for Thanksgiving dinner. I don't know if they do Christmas but they are open Christmas eve, we ate at Mimi's for our first Christmas Eve Dinner. We created our Mimi's tradition early in our marriage. I'm afraid it might be a permanent tradition, just because the food was so good and I don't think I'll ever be a good enough cook to make a thanksgiving meal.

Saturday was the BYU Utah football game. I don't think I have to go into to much detail about what happened. Watch this video if you don't know what happened. But it was awesome. I loved that they wore the colors of the 1984 national championship team. It was also cool that they presented Lavell and President Monson with the coaches trophy. In case you don't know what that is I attached a picture of one. Oh and you should all hear Jason's National Championship Trophy story. Jen you should have Jason write out the story and post it.

Here's is a video of the final play.



Oh, and we rushed the field. I have video I'll post it sometime.

Sorry that this is so long. I just have a lot on my mind, I guess.

More Pictures

So I finally uploaded all of the pictures from the last few months. I had to delete some of the other older albums to do it, but that's okay. I have two new albums up Texas 2009 it has some of my favorite pictures from Samantha's Graduation and then a bunch of pictures from this summer and fall.

They are on the side bar under photo albums. Take a look.

I have realized that I don't take nearly enough photo's. I really should be better at it. I'm excited that I'm learning more about my camera and things that I can do to make better images. Really I am excited.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Coming Home from D.C.

I just realized that I never blogged about what happened on our way home from D.C. All I posted was We are finally home.

I figure you might enjoy this. And it's something I wouldn't mind remembering. The flight from D.C. to Atlanta was oddly long. Like way too long. Almost to the point the Pilot was going to wrong way. Any way we ended up landing in Atlanta 5 minutes after our flight to Salt Lake took off. The next flight was not leaving til 8 am and we were on stand by for that flight then there was another flight at 1 that had guaranteed seats. We voted for the guaranteed seats. For the night we ended up getting Hotel vouchers from Delta....but sadly we could not get our luggage. GRRRR! getting stuck sucks

This was the Hotel we stayed in




It seemed nice (okay I'm lying it was a DUMP)....until I read the sign glued to the wall next to the window. It said something about keeping to doors and windows locked at all times for your safety and to never answer the door unless you called for room service or you know someone was coming to your door. All in all it was a pretty scary hotel.

After coming from this hotel the night before in D.C. I was feeling pretty bad. Here's picture of what our rooms looked liked in D.C. I should have gotten a picture of the Altanta room.


But the next morning we ate at Waffle House and I felt better.

Spin for a Cure

I found this video on youtube today. It was about mom's World Winter Guard team and WGI's Spin for a Cure. It actually starts talking about them at about 1:50. If you listen to the background music that's the music mom used for the show. And that's right I edited it and added the instrumental to the song. I just thought it was fun that the person who created this video used the audio I edited as their background music. I love it. I do good sometimes. :)

Audrey playing in the Leaves

Finally Halloween Pictures

These are the pumpkins we painted. Can you tell what pumpkin audrey painted?

These are of Audrey in her Cinderella Costume. I took like 20 images but most of them are blurry. I'm trying to learn how to manually focus the camera. I'm still really really bad at it. I have a really hard time seeing if it's in focus. No, I'm not going blind. I still have 20/15 vision. I'm just not used to it...yet. I'm getting better. This first one is the best of them all. Even though it doesn't show her face at least you get the "essence" of Audrey. Plus I just think the colors are awesome. And I love that she's standing in the leaves. It's just a cute photo. PRAISE ME!

BTW friday was "Friday the 13th" they say that if you have 13 letters in your name you possess the devil.

Audrey Spencer has 13 letters. No wonder she is so crazy.

Sorry

I'm really blogging a lot today. I've been really stressed at work with the annual report due in 2 weeks. I'm 97% done and needed to take a break.

I found this app from the apple app store. I can post straight from my phone and post the images I take with my phone. Trust me I take a lot of pictures with my phone. I'm happy I have a way to post the pictures straight from my phone. I'm still annoyed with YouTube since I still can post video from my phone. Grrrrr!

Did I say phone way to many time just now?

I took this a the Nebo competiton.


I took whese while in St. George. That is bright white temple.





Audrey loves to play with the stickers in my office. I got these while she was putting them on me and her.




Now I just need to see if I could upload my videos straight to blogger. I'll find out.

Halloween Video

I totally forgot that I have this video of audrey from Halloween. I figured I should share it.

Toddler vs. Twin

I know, I know, I know, please don't kill me. Audrey is still in her crib. She's just so active she would never sleep if we didn't keep her in her crib. And it's also a lazy thing. I just didn't want to do it.

Anyway I think it's time for audrey to get a "Big Girl" bed. Since she is turning 3 in a month...I can't believe my baby is not a baby any more. So I'm wondering what to get. A toddler bed or a Twin?

This is the toddler bed I want to get. It's about $59 at walmart. The good thing about this is I can use the crib mattress we already have and the toddler bedding that I've purchases recently. But the bad thing is that in a year or so we would have to get her a twin anyway. How long can a kid stay in a toddler bed?


These are the two twin beds I've been thinking about.

This one is also from Walmart for about $189, but they don't have it in the store. I would have to order it online and hope that it doesn't get broken in the process. And then I would also have to get a mattress and box spring. I'm not sure how much those would cost. (I could get a box spring and a mattress from Ikea for about $150) Bedding would be another thing to add to the price tag of the twin bed. So we're looking at close to $400. UGH! Child rearing can be expensive. But it is $400 that would be used for years.
And this one is from Shopko for about $199. The good thing about this one is that it's at the store. I can go and see it and find out if it would be a decent bed. But we still have the problem that I don't have a mattress and box spring and bedding.


Well let me know what you think. I've made a poll on the side bar or you can just comment. You could do both. I'm leaning toward the toddler bed. Since It seems like the twin bed is a lot of money right now. No, I am not buying a used mattress from craigslist.

Pictures

It's been a long time since I've posted pictures of audrey. I feel bad.

I don't have any recent pictures on my computer here at work....yes, I'm at work. I'll add some tonight when I get home. But I found these pictures on my computer and thought they just were too cute not to share.

These were taken on Feb 13, 2008. She was just a little over a year old. they make me happy.

Awesome Deal!

UP and Monsters Inc came out on Blu-ray today. Of course we bought the two but you have to check out this deal.

MSRP for the each movie is $45 that's a total of $90 for the two....way way way to rich for our blood. But we ended up getting the two movies (by the way both came with 4 discs. A blu-ray, the DVD, a digital copy and a special features disc) for.....drum roll please....$18. Yes two movies and 6 versions for $18 bucks.
Here is the break down.
Best Buy was selling monsters Inc for $29 and UP for $24. for a total of $53.
If you bought the two together Best Buy was going to take off $10 off the total purchase price. Now we are down to $43.
Disney had a manufacturers coupon for $8 off Mosnters inc and Disney also had a manufacturers coupon for $10 off UP. 43-18=$25. If you go to best buy today with the manufactures coupons. you can get the 2 for $25 bucks. I know what your saying...I don't own a Blu-Ray player. But it comes with a DVD and someday you will buy a Blu-Ray...it's inevitable....and then you'll already own it.

UP coupon: http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/up/couponoffer/

Monsters Inc Coupon: You need an account at Disney Movie Rewards (free signup). Once logged in to your account, click "My Account" at the top of the page and then type 786936164886 where it says "Enter Code." This is a manufacturer's coupon and you should be able to use it.

On with my story....A few weeks ago we bought the steal book for UP from best Buy that went toward the purchase of the blu-ray for $7. 25-7=$18.

Then patrick decided to buy audrey this cute talking "Dug" doll. But it didn't work so he is taking it back.

AWESOME! I love saving money.

But I think the coupons are for today only....So if you want to take advantage of this awesome deal you have to do it today.

Marching Band is Over!

Now please remember that I love marching band. But IT"S OVER!!!! after 6 months it's finally over. "I'm so Happy!" It was a great season. But we did have our problems. The same thing happened at Red Rocks (State Championships) that has been happening all season. I was 1 point. ONE! from the team that took home the caption.

Here is a break down of what happened to the guard all season.

Nebo-Won! (woohooo!)
BYU-Lost to westlake by 1 point
Davis-Lost to Westlake by 1 point
Mt. Timpanogos-Lost to springville by 1 point....beat westlake by 2
Red Rocks-Lost to Granstville by 1 point.

I would have to say that my problem was numbers, not talent. But I never saw grantsville's or Springvilles shows so I have no idea how good they are. The coolest thing about the Red Rocks competition is that we were the first to perform at the competition. Grantsville was the last. My team was in first place for 2 hours until grantsville performed. I'm pretty proud of that. I wanted to take the girls out for ice cream to tell them how proud of them I am but only 2 wanted to go. That's fine with me...less money to spend.

This is the only picture I have of the whole team. It's with Orem. Since the two teams are joining for winter guard we figured we should get a picture together. Sad, that I forgot to get one of just us.

My girls are in the red and purple costumes..
Rebekah is on the far left, then Deanna, Kristen and Katie. Katie is my captain and the one who does the solo in the ballad.

I have video of the two performances from this weekend but I can't upload to youtube. I'm not sure why. When I get them up I'll post them.

Saturday was the BOA (Band of America) Competition. There was no way were going to place or do anything important. It's mainly to go and see some amazing bands from other parts of the country and to have the experience. It was an awesome competition.

I have to tell this story. I hope you can follow it.

I really wanted to see this team from El Paso. One they are from El Paso and michelle is there and two Michelle says they are amazing. The competition started at 10. J.M. Hanks (from El Paso) was performing at 10:30. We got there at about 10:05. But we parked in the wrong parking lot and were told to move to another lot a quarter of a mile away. I knew that I would have missed them if we had done that. So I begged if we could get off the bus now. With some convincing on Jared's (the Directors) part the host volunteer let us off. I was the first off the bus and just started walking. Didn't wait. by this time it was 10:15 and we needed to walk around the field to the other side. following me so far? I get there at about 10:23. Fnd a wonderful spot to sit just in time to hear the announcer say..."J.M. Hanks was having bus issues on there way here today and will not be performing at 10:30. Instead we will take a break now and J.M. Hanks will perform at 11:45."

Yeah that's right I made the band hussel for no reason. So now I was thinking maybe they are not that good and I did this all for nothing. But then after they performed I stood up. Turned to the band and said. Aren't you glad we didn't miss this Band? They were amazing. The kids talked about them for the rest of the day. I was happy that I was not disappointed and didn't make a fool of my self.

Here is a video of there show. Just to prove they are good.

This show seems a little different than the BOA one. They had a lot more visuals and then they had voice overs during parts of the show. I wish I had the BOA one. It was amazing.

Update

I feel like I need to play catch up since i'ts been so long. But really people nothing is happening. I guess I should try and make things out of nothing. I'll try and be better at that.

Since I posted last we've had 2 more competitions.

The Davis Cup, in Kaysville and the Mt. Timpanogos Competitive in Orem at Mountain View High School hosted by American Fork. I find it fun that we go to a competition that has the schools name in it, is hosted my American Fork High School and is at Mountain View High School.

Here is a video of the show. Can I just say I love my iphone. I was able to record the show and by the time the photographer was finished taking a picture of the band, I had already loaded it onto youtube. I LOVE this phone.



We didn't place and we didn't take home any captions at either one. However at Davis the guard was again .2 away from Westlake. At Mt. Timpanogos Springville took home the caption. But let me paint a picture before I tell you the score difference. There are 11 Bands in our class. We were 4th to perform. The judge saw Springville two full hours after they saw us. We were about a point away from Springville with Grantsville in between. So we, as in the guard, took 3rd in the class. Westlake was about a point behind us. It's a really close race. And I only had 3 girls performing at the Mt. Timpanogos Competition.

It's been a pretty tough year. I don't want to point fingers but the drill writer wrote a bad show and the music guy wrote bad music. I'm blaming it on them it makes me feel better.

Like I keep telling you nothing interesting is happening. I really wish there was something to post about.

I've had to turn in a few assignments for the Photography class I'm taking. I've really liked 2 of them so I'll share them with you.

This was a my picture for our landscape assignment.

And this was for our DOF assignment


I love this one. It totally feels like something you could hang up in your house.

Horrible Horrible Horrible

I am so bad at this. Actually I'm really not.

Last week I had to flu. No, it was not the swine flu. The doctor is pretty positive that I did not have swine flu. Most of my symptoms were odd and didn't match what is normal to it. But, he is positive I had a case of the flu. No, not stomach bug flu for 2 days. I'm talking a week! Sunday to Sunday! And I'm still a little under the weather. I now have a mild case...which seems to be getting worse...of bronchitis. So you can imagine what I've been doing the last 2 weeks.

Nothing! absolutly nothing! I have been going to work this week. But have been keeping people away so that I don't give them Bronchitis. It's been wonderful.

I don't think I've told you this but Audrey is starting to be interested in potty training. It's not consistent but she is letting us know she needs to go potty and will go to the bathroom door. If we are not fast enough she'll go in her diaper. I'm learning that if she says she needs to go...she needs to go and you have to act fast! But, most of the time she really isn't interested in using the potty and just wants to watch her movie or play in her room. On average it's once a day. I don't think we have ever had her do it twice in a day and there are still those days that she doesn't even want to sit on the potty. All that matters is there is interest in the potty. I'm excited.

Other than marching band nothing interesting is happening. Tuesday was the BYU competition and the band took 3rd place and got the visual caption. Too bad the guard didn't get the caption. It was sad. Good for Westlake. It's their first year as a marching band and they take the guard caption. Really great! But I'm making changes....making it better...and harder. Hopefully it impresses the judges enough. I'm just nervous that I won't be taking home the caption again since I only have 4 and westlake has 12. It's hard to compete when they have 8 more people then you. But we'll make it. They'll do great. I was literally on their heals. They had a score of 26.83 and I had a 26.67. That's nothing. Hopefully we can bridge the small gap and that they don't jump too much ahead. But again good for them.

I think that's it.

Nebo Competiton

Saturday was the Nebo Marching Band Competiton in Payson, Utah. I won't bore you with all the details, because it can get pretty boring.

The band performed okay. I think they could have done a little better. But it was the first competition EVER for over half the band. We have a really young band. They just didn't know what to expect. I think we'll do better next time....now that they know the drill.

The guard did pretty good. I will always want them to be better no matter the award outcome. And it was not at all close to perfection, I hope they realize that. We have a long road in front of us.

We did have one major hic-cup during the performance. One of the girls, Rebecka, went to the wrong flag for the 3rd piece. Deanna, the wonder, had to go to a spot she has never marched. And did over half the third song in a spot she didn't know and performed it like she knew what she was doing. These are some of the things she had to deal with, when she travels to one set, lets call it 20 to another, set 21, she needs to NORMALLY travel to the right. On saturday her spot required her to go left. That's just one set. I'm talking like 10 sets she didn't know what she was doing. Poor thing was bawling after because she was so stressed about it. Some how Rebecka didn't have to change a thing. I'm really confused as to how that happened. But Deanna did it and learned a lot from it. Really you never know what is going to happen and need to be aware of everything around you. I hate that she had to learn it like this, but she'll be a better performer because of it.

I thought I wasn't going to bore you with the details. Sorry

After what felt like forever, awards started. It was a really odd awards ceremony so please try to follow along. In Marching band there are "caption" awards. 4 to be exact. Visual, Music, Percussion and Color Guard. I'm going to be honest about this....I really only care about 1 caption. So I can't tell you who got the other 3. Moving on.....

The guy over the PA system starts announcing the captions, first is Music and Timpanogos doesn't get it, I think Grantsville took that one home. Then next came Color Guard. Picture this...me holding my breath and crossing my fingers. It's ugly. But I do it every time. They call Viewmont! I'm a good loser...okay not such a good loser. I immediately take a look at viewmonts guard captain, who accepted the trophy, and silently judge her. I judge her actions, how she moves. I have to come up with a reason as to why they won, since I did not see their show. I am a really poor sport, in my head, Outside I am a gratuitous loser. I can be that right?

Once I finished inspecting my "enemy" I start thinking about things I have to do to change my show. I don't think I can write how many things were going though my head. It would be way too much. I didn't even listen to the next captions. So I have no idea who won. I started paying attention when they announced third place. Again I can't remember who took it home, but it wasn't Timpanogos. Anyway....right after they announce 3rd the PA guy says "we are having technical difficulties, we'll be right back." Now as you know I am really not paying close attention. I was a little curious about what was happening but decided to take the opportunity to keep thinking. Eventually the guy gets back on and says that there was some miscalculations and that some of the captions will be changing. That got my attention. He re announces Music, Grantsville keeps it. Then he moves on to the color guard, "This," he said, "is going to be changing." And that's right he announced that TIMPANOGOS takes that caption.

"I rock! I rock! I rock!"

I was the only person (other than Andi from Provo) to scream. Wrap your head around this....the stadium was silent. Every one was shocked that it was being taken away, and I scream, and do a jig. I scream so loud it echoed off the buildings. It was awesome.

I pretty much rock!

I do feel bad that Veiwmont thought they won and really didn't. I am aware of that. But lets not ruin the awesome moment.

Response to Whitney

I totally forgot about this til today. Whitney had asked me how I added my signature at the bottom of my posts. It is actually easier than you think.

First I made a signature in Photoshop. It's really easy to do.

1. Make an image that is about 500 pixels across (width) and about 60 pixels long (height). Your resolution should be 96. You could use 72 but 96 always creates something nice for the internet.


2. Add an new layer, if you plan on adding an image as your signature. You don't want to be working on your background layer. If you are just using type photoshop will automatically add a new type layer, so skip this step.
   


3. Then pick a font that you want to use. I downloaded my font from
   
   http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/
   


4. Create your signature. I made the font size about 4. If you think mine is to small maybe go up to a 5pt font or a 6pt but you don't want to get any bigger than that, it will just over power your post. If you notice on mine my LOVE is tilted. LOVE is a different layer than our names. I hope this is making sense.
   


5. Delete your background layer. You want your signature transparent. Once you delete the layer you should see a grey and white checker board behind your font. If you see that your signature is transparent. Again, I hope that made sense.
   


6. Once you are happy with your signature save it as a PSD, just so you can change it whenever you want.
   


7. Then save it as a PNG. It will ask if you want it interlaced. Select none.
   

Look you're done creating your signature.

Now you want to add the signature to your blog.

This is where I found my information.

www.kevinandamanda.com

I would follow her directions. They are very clear.

Marching Band & Other Things

I'm just getting worse and worse at this. I guess I just don't find my little life exciting enough to post about. I guess between school, work and Marching Band. I forget to update the blog.

Last night was family night for the Marching Band. Orem High hosted it. 4 Bands performed yesterday. Westlake was first, it's the new school in Saratoga Springs, who is in our class. They were good. If they are any indication of how other schools, in our division, are doing we're going to have some stiff competition. Then we performed. It was very nice. Yesterday was the first time, this season, that every band member was present. It really made a difference for the performance. Yeah we have a long way to go but so does everyone else. Payson was next. They are in the class right above us. They did well too. Rachel has only been with the guard for 3 weeks. I think if she keeps going the way she has they are going to be a rocking team. Then Orem went. Mom made is sound like the guard was just horrible. They were better than my team. I wish all of my students had as much confidence as they showed. I'm really jealous.

Friday we perform at the Homecoming game and then we have a competition on Saturday. I'll let you know what happens.

I really need to start taking pictures of things. I didn't bring the camera last night and so don't have anything to show. I'm going to have to remind myself every time we go somewhere. I have a few pictures from our trip to the zoo. But am so bad at uploading them to the computer that I just forget. Sad.

I'm taking a digital Photograhy class. We've already turned in 2 assignments (3 if your really counting, but the first was a self portrait and I'm not going to show that one....sorry)

Both had to be portraits. The first to use natural lighting. We couldn't crop it or photoshop it. It had to be an image straight from the camera. This is my favorite of the two.

The next assignment was to take a portrait in harsh light and use the flash fill setting on the camera. I tried to get more light on audrey's face but she wouldn't have it. This is the best I could get.


Our next assignment, due on Friday, is a landscape. But we can Photoshop it and crop it. Does any one have an idea where I can take a good picture? I could really use your help.

On the Trampoline

I have two videos here of audrey playing on the trampoline at the craftons, in vegas.

One is just audrey and the other is audrey and tyler throwing dirt on the trampoline. Sorry that I didn't stop them from doing it. I thought it was cute that they were playing together and not fighting...well you'll see you have to watch the two of them til the end. You'll laugh I promise. Again sorry for not stopping them. It was funny.

Audrey and her Arora Dress

We went to Costco the other day and saw that they had Halloween costumes out. We took the opportunity to take a look. Audrey decided that we were not going to be leaving with out this costume.

Video of Audrey and Pinks

Audrey propped pinks up and I thought it was super cute, So I filmed it.

Audrey's bedroom

WOW! I can not believe that it has been so long since I have added anything to the blog. What can I say life happens and we get busy.

A few things have happened since I posted last.

Audrey is no longer in a big girl bed. We put the crib back together. She just wasn't staying and it was frustrating the two of us. We figured it's because she still sees her bed as a crib...even with the front taken off. So we'll buy her a toddler bed sometime.

This is the bed that I want to get her.

It's pink and super cute. I think she'll love it. Plus it only has a $69.99 price tag and we can use the mattress she already has. I could get a white bed for $59.99. So the question is save 10 dollars and get a boring white bed or get a cute pink bed. What do you think?

I have a design plan for the room. I bet you can guess what it is...yeah that's right princess. here is the mood board I made. You might want to click on it to see the larger image. The two rooms on the top are my inspiration rooms. I love the way the bedroom is set up and I love the toy storage thing. If anyone sees anything like it while they are shopping let me know I want it.


We have the princess bedding and some chest of drawers, not the one in the mood board, but one that would work for now. The only real problem is that Audrey's room is somewhat of a storage room too. I have her baby swing and her bassinet in there since there is no where else to put it, plus some big tubs full of Patricks stuff. Lets not mention all the stuff that is being stored at moms right now. We really should invest in a storage unit. I wonder how much that would cost a month.

We do have some other news. Audrey is finally starting to be potty trained. We've tried off and on for the past few months but she has never been too interested in it. From what I have read you don't want to push the matter too much, when they are not interested in it, or it will just blow up in your face. She has gone a few times and has even pooped in it. We're still a few weeks away from buying "big girl" underwear, we'll be there soon enough.

Since she went poop in the potty we decided to celebrate by buying her a toy. We already had a $30 gift certificate to toys r us. So we spent another 30 and bought her this kitchen set. I figured since it's been such a long time since we bought her any toys we owed her. She loves it and plays with it all the time. I think one of the best things about it is that she stays in her room and starts to explore all the other toys she already owns. She doesn't do that very often. She likes to be part of the group and will be in the living room if we are in the living room, or in the kitchen when we are in the kitchen, etc.


I'm going to look for some more fake food and more plates so that she has a few more things. It really only came with about 10 or 11 items.

At this moment I really can't think of too many things that have been going on. Now that school has started and I'm in my groove I promise I'll post more often.

here is a video of her playing with the kitchen for the first time.