DayJams 2009

Emily is a counselor this year at DayJams. On the first day of the camp each week, the teachers hold a jam session as people are arriving. The voice teacher, K-Lee, asked Emily to join the band on a number.

Emily amazes me with her total lack of fear on stage. Here she is at a Radio Disney event in May:

Las Vegas 2009

Another year and another family trip to Vegas. This year we went with Paul's family to celebrate his father's 80th birthday - Happy Birthday Tom!

Not only was it Paul's father's birthday but it was his parents' 51st wedding anniversary too though none of us remembered that at the dinner.

Much of our time in Vegas was spent at the pools at the Flamingo and I took no pictures of that this year but here are some photos from the other things we did this year.

The first night we were in Vegas, Paul's oldest sister babysat for all of the kids while the parents went out to dinner. Before we went to dinner, we all gathered in one of the hotel rooms while the kids got ready for their Bingo Party with Aunt Mary.

Emily wanted to ride the roller coaster at New York, New York so she and I walked down the strip one afternoon and took some photos and visited M&M World.

At the dinner, electronic gadgets were the big attraction for all of the younger generation!

Paul & I had wanted to see The Beatles™ LOVE™ by Cirque du Soleil® at The Mirage for years and we finally made it on this trip. What an AMAZING show!! I'd love to see it again. There is so much going on that there's not way to take it all in going one time. We think the girls would really enjoy it too.

Photo by: pengrin

As always, we went to Circus, Circus and spent some time in the Adventuredome. This has become somewhat of a tradition when we go to Vegas though after we're there for awhile we always ask ourselves why? They really need to provide more places for parents to sit since we are always waiting while the kids are on a ride. It's an exhausting day but the kids seemed to have fun though we adults think that this may just be a tradition that has run it's course.

And, here's some video clips taken & compiled by Emily:

I don't know when we'll be doing this again since there's no major event coming up next year that will get Paul's whole family to Vegas. One thing I didn't do in Las Vegas was to go to the Donny & Marie show at the Flamingo and we were even staying at that hotel! Bad, bad fan - okay, not really since their show was dark except for the first night that we were there so there really wasn't a time that I could go or I'm sure that I would have.

RZBC Spring Performance

I've been playing around with a new tool and thought I'd share some photos from the RZBC Spring Performance using that tool:

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

I Can't Believe It's July Already!!

And, this is the first post I've made this year - YIKES!! No excuses really other than I just haven't made the time to do it. I'm not going to try to catch up on everything that's been going on in our lives this year in detail but here's the condensed version:

• Paul continues to work at a job that lets him play with remote control airplanes. Pretty cool - our nephew thinks so and recently told someone that he might do what Uncle Paul does when he grows up. Brewing (and drinking) beer is still one of Paul's passions.
• I enjoyed my first year of teaching computers at Hannah's school but it definitely consumed a lot of my time ... and still is. Lucky for me that I love computers! I'm still taking a lot of pictures for the school and the ballet school and some just for me.
• Emily finished her sophomore year of high school and this year was in the spring musical at the school. She still loves to sing. This summer she plans to get her permit - MAJOR YIKES!
• Hannah finished her first year of middle school and seems to have adjusted well. She continues to love ballet and other types of dance and takes multiple lessons a week. In addition, Hannah is taking guitar lessons and will attend DayJams again this summer playing guitar in a band.

Paul & I recently celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary which seems like nothing compared to his parents. This past week we, along with all of Paul's brothers & sisters and their families and other relatives and friends, went to Vegas to celebrate Paul's parents' 50th wedding anniversary!! I can't imagine 50 years ... man I'll be old when we get there. HA! We spent a lot of time at the pool at the Flamingo with the kids, went to the indoor amusement park at Circus Circus one day with all the kids, shared a wonderful evening in celebration of Tom & Lillian's 50th and went to see Mamma Mia - oh and some people gambled a little but I didn't. Here are a few pictures from our adventures in Vegas:

Cousins in the pool at the Flamingo

That's Emily & Hannah on the roller coaster at Circus Circus!

Hannah getting ready for the party

Emily spent much of the weekend with her younger cousins attached to her somehow!

Cousins at the party

Another generation of cousins at the party!

Happy 50th Anniversary to Paul's Parents!!

Merry Christmas from us to you

I see that it's been awhile since I blogged. Life's just been very hectic and I'm still trying to adjust to working part time, etc. I will try to catch up on all that's happened since school started at some point but for now, here are a few pictures in front of our tree on Christmas Eve.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!