Little Eisenstein's

Audrey has a few shows she watches on playhouse disney. They are:

• My Friends Tigger and Pooh

• Handy Manny

• Little Eisenstein's

She absolutely loves them. I think she would watch them forever, if she could. Well, she actually did that on saturday...Like I said the poor thing was so sick with a fever. She just curled up into a ball on the couch and didn't move.

I love them because it gets the kids involved. It'll ask them questions (handy manny doesn't...but they sing like 20 songs an episode and she enjoys that), it has them do actions. It's really great.

Little Eisenstein's is a recent addition to her videos. I really enjoy this one. The show is a continuous 20 minutes. What I mean is the show doesn't have two unrelated stories during the run time...I hope that made sense. And every episode focuses on a classical song and a famous painting. And the episode actually revolves around the song and plays the song in the background.

If you watch this clip for a few minutes you'll understand what I mean.



Anyway...Patrick and I have always encouraged her to do the actions and will do the actions with her. But she's never really has been interested in mimicking the cartoon characters. However, yesterday she started doing the actions without any encouragement from Patrick.

At about one minute in the video above the little guys has you pat your legs faster and faster. And Audrey was getting faster and faster with him. And then one of the little girls is a dancer and Audrey would dance with her any time she would dance. It happened while I was at work but apparently it was really really cute.

Later that night while I was watching "So you think you can dance" Audrey noticed the dancers and started dancing around the room. But, was actually trying to do what they were doing. If they had there hands up in the air she would put them up. If they would jump/leap around she would start jumping. If they started spinning......you get the picture. It was all fun and games until she tripped and ran her rib cage into the coffee tables corner. After that she wasn't too excited to dance. But it was really great while it lasted.

and by the way Audrey will raise her hands in the air and scream touchdown. She'll do the "GOOOO Cougars" action at the end of the fight song. And she can say "first Down" and do the action they do at Lavell Edwards Stadium. We're proud of our football fan.

Tagged by Whitney

8 Things I'm looking forward to

1. Band Camp...I'm such a geek.
   
2. Power 90 results (we started last week...No. I will not be adding photos til there are real results..I'm too embarrassed.)
   
3. BYU vs. UNLV (Lindsey...We are officially asking now...Oct 10th?)
4. Getting over the cold/flu Audrey gave me.
5. Finishing Advisor Training at UVU. Thats right...those of you who need advisoring (at UVU) I will be fully trained next week.
6. Michelle coming up on the 12th.
   
7. Our 4th Anniversary
8. Starting classes @ UVU
   

8 Things I did this weekend

1. Cleaned the entire apartment.
2. Did 8 loads of laundry.
   
3. did not fold 8 loads of laundry.
4. gave Audrey tons and tons of Nyquil...poor thing she was so sick this weekend.
   
5. Watched Usual Suspects...Awesome movie...don't judge me!
6. Thought about what to do for moms B-day. Happy Birthday...yesterday.
7. Encouraged Audrey to say flag.
8. Sat around...a lot...poor baby. She has/had a fever and a cold.
   

8 Things I wish I could do

1. Dance for a living
2. Eat chocolate cake..not just a slice...lots and lots and lots
   
3. Have my BS done already
4. snowboard
5. Buy furniture...lots and lots of pretty furniture.
   
6. never never ever get sick
   
7. go to the BYU Oklahoma game
8. drink Dr. Pepper
   

8 Shows I watch (please keep in mind that these are not in order and are currently showing new episodes...or new to me)

1. Friends (always will be number 1. So I had to add it..I've been re-watching the series...and totally cried when Ross and Rachel broke up...again)
2. So You Think You Can Dance
3. HGTV (no particular show)
4. Tru Blood (great show)
5. Curb your enthusiasm (I Love Larry David)
6. Better off Ted
7. Jon and Kate plus 8
8. Handy Manny
   

8 Places I'd like to travel to

1. Germany/Austria
2. St. Barts
3. Italy...again
4. England
5. Alaska...But first I would need to learn how to snow board really really well and then do back country snowboarding. Yeah that's right it sounds awesome!
6. Paris
7. Take and R.V. cross country. We love road trips and find them really relaxing
8. Every Cruise we could every think of.
   

8 or 12 People I Tag

1. Carrie
   
2. Amanda
3. Michelle
4. Grandma/mom/Katherine
   
5. Stephanie
6. Jenny and Veniece.
   
7. Ashley and Sydnee
8. Amy
   
9. Colleen
10. Lindsey
11. Gretchen
12. anyone else that i did not name...please don't be offended.
    

I know a few of you have already done this. But it's always fun to do it again.

Singing, Dancing and Flags everywhere!

*Caution bad words ahead*

Audrey is learning so much so fast. She has a new skill and that's singing. She loves to sing. When she hears songs on the radio, or on T.V. She start to sing...and dance. The dancing is so cute. She jumps up and down and spins round and round. She loves it and does it all the time at home. In the car she's restricted to singing but doesn't have any less fun. She'll make up words to sing about. She'll sing about people she knows. She'll also sing about objects she sees. Whenever we see someone towing a boat she sings about grandpa. But most of the time she sings about her favorite stuffed animals pinks and puppy.


Before the 4th of July Patrick and I spend time teaching Audrey what the American flag was. She actually caught on really fast and loved that she knew a new word. She was also excited that she was able to say it all the time because they are every where. At first the word sounded a lot like flag. But in the past few weeks she has gotten lazy with the word and it has turned into the F word.

On University Parkway (the main road between UVU and our apartment) is a huge auto mall. And in the center of the large mall is an incredibly ginormous American flag. Yesterday we were driving home from UVU when she saw the flag and started singing a song about the flag. It went something like this.

"F***,F***,F***,F***,F***,F***,F***,F***,F***"

Now please, try to imagine a very very sweet tune with the profane lyrics.

I've made it my mission to teach her how to say flag properly. But not too quickly, it's pretty funny.

Loves,
Elizabeth, Patrick and profane Audrey.

Buttons

Mom is working on a movie again. It's called "The Last Eagle Scout" or "The Last Boy Scout." I'm not too sure. It's set in the future, like 50 or 60 years from now. But, I really don't know too much about the story. All I really know is it's alot like George Orwell's 1984. (good book by the way).

Mom is the costume designer and the director, kels, wanted some buttons, or mom wanted some buttons made. Anyway, She asked if I would make some buttons for the movie. Here is what I came up with.

I lay no claim to the phrases, she gave me what she wanted them to say.

I made these two first. They are not my favorite but they work.

I thought that this was a good idea. I like it.

This is my favorite. Isn't he cute?

I thought this one was just fun and a good idea.

The lips make this one really cool.

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