Spring is Here!

My poor neglected blog. Between my kiddos, taking a music class, teaching voice lessons, being the primary chorister and EVERYTHING else, my blog has had to go on the back burner.

Life has been great! I've missed reading so many friends blogs, so I'm excited to start catching up!

We are so happy that the sun has come out and started to warm up our frosty valley. Here are some pictures of our blossoming spring from the backyard.

What does spring look like in your neck of the woods?

Adam Lambert on American Idol

I have to say, Adam was uuuuh-mazing last night! I absolutely loved his cleaned up style. He looked so great and his interpretation of Smokey Robinson's "The Tracks of my Tears" was breathtaking. My husband will vouch I am not a repeat girl (unlike him), but I could listen to that all day. Smokey is such an amazing artist. I loved that he gave Adam a standing ovation. I am a proud Adam fan!

Here's his look from last night...

(photo from American Idol)

And here is usual goth rocker look....

(photo from American Idol)

As for his version of "Ring of Fire" last week, I really liked it. It was very different from the original no doubt, but it was a very cool rendition that I seem to appreciate the more I listen to it. He absolutely stayed true to his artistic style and that is what a great artist does.

With his crazy range and raw natural talent, he emits the confidence and professionalism an American Idol should have. He takes risks and that is the only way to win the great payout.

Much Needed Vacation

This past weekend we were lucky enough to take a break from the stresses of our life and head out of town. Since Lance is in school every semester his only breaks from school are Spring and Winter breaks and of course he still has work. He only had to take one day off of work though for a three day vacay.

We first stayed at our dear friends, Kimberly and Devon's house in Cedar City. They moved from San Diego a little while after we did. They lived across the street from us in San Diego and my husband would literally just pop over to their house so much, to hang out with Devon, they started calling him Kramer (from Seinfeld). Kimberly has always been such a great friend. We never run out of things to talk about. It was soooo good to hang out and talk for as long as we wanted without being interupted by our kid's bedtime. We have missed them so much since we moved. Our kids had a blast with theirs. Gavin keeps asking to play with them.

We drove to Vegas the next day and just had a fun time seeing the sights and soaking in the sun.

Our First Night of Vacation

This is at the pirate show at Treasure Island. I could not see one thing, but Gavin had a great view from daddy's shoulders. Jackson slept in the stroller through the whole thing.

Here are the many faces of Gavin. Just trying to keep ourselves entertained

in the parking garage as daddy went to get the car.Here are some cool pictures I took that night as we were driving on the Blvd.

Fun Morning at Town Square

They had the coolest play area in the middle of the shopping center. The first pictures of Gavin are when he was in this really fun maze. Gavin ran through it and loved getting lost. Jackson on the other hand got frusturated after about 1 minute and just tried to bulldoze his way through the walls (which are concrete and covered in artificial grass). The kids ate lunch there had fun running around.

Got Sun?

Warning: Due to the extreme whiteness of the people shown in this slideshow, temporary vision impairement may be unavoidable. Please view at your own risk.

We had so much fun in this pool/beach. The boys weren't allowed in the big wave part, but they have a kid swim area that is zero entry and gradually gets deeper and a little wave still rolls through there. The boys loved waiting for that wave and then getting pushed along by it laughing the whole time. I cannot get a picture of my boys together and smiling for the life of me. So here are a lot of my attempts.

This was so cool. Could you tell which fish were the piranhas? Gavin kept crawling under the rail and standing right next to their open tank. Luckily the guard that stands watch over their tank told him they weren't nice fishies and he stayed right next to us after that. There were also these 5 ft deep river fish found only in the Amazon. Very interesting.

Please, for all you eclectic world food lovers, NEVER try shark fin soup. They throw the sharks back into the sea, alive, after removing their fins! Horror!

They had a sting ray petting aquarium which Gavin and mummy LOVED!

I was obsessed with watching the jellyfish and could not get a decent photo because of my flash and the fingerprints on the glass. Jellyfish are unbelievable. They look ethereal. How can this crazy membrane be a living body of something? They are so beautiful!

Gavin & Jackson loved seeing Crush the sea turtle (from Nemo).

The aquarium was fabulous. We had such a great time!

For all the food lovers...

We went to a buffet. I know, gross. But it was so much fun. The Mandalay Buffet had such good food. I am very skeptical and wary of any buffet and probably have tried 2 or 3 in my life, so I was really amazed by the quality of everthing they offered. I'm a dork and I took pictures of the desserts, because frankly, I'm just not a baker and they were so pretty.

Lazy River

Our last day we checked out and then went and hung out at the pool for a bit. We loved the lazy river which had a swift current that actually whipped us around the corners! Jackson was a little shivery in this pool so I had to sit out with him. After a few hours at the pool we were ready to get our trek home started.

We had such a great time. Gavin even tells strangers about our vacation. He says he got to see real pirates and sharks! That reminds me: one of the funniest things was that everytime we got in the elevator with someone, Gavin would strike up a conversation by asking when their birthday was. After they told him, he would look at me to see if I was excited for their birthdays like I am for his. Of course I was! It was just really cute. Everyone loved it. Then he would continue to talk to them about everything he got to see and do that day. Maybe introduce them to his stuffed doggy, Tucker. You gotta love three year olds!

4th Picture Tag/ Birthday Tribute

This is a picture of Gavin when he was 9 months old just playing on our bed. He was such a happy baby and gave smiles to everyone. He has such a fun personality. He just turned three on January 9th and I really cannot believe I have a 3 year old. Time flies! I'm not a new mom anymore. :( I love my sweet boy beyond words. He is a wonderful joy to be a mother to. Everyday he impressed me with what he knows and his wonder at everything he doesn't. I love his questions about EVERYTHING. He has to have explanations for why, how and what everything is. I can't get enough of him. He is so sweet to his little brother and such a great helper to me. I love my little guy. Happy Birthday Buddy!

This is a mix of being tagged and a birthday tribute. And I am tagging Melissa, Kim, Sara and Cristina. Can't wait to see yours!

1. go to your fourth picture file

2. add your fourth picture

3. explain it

4. tag four more people

My Friends the Reality Stars!

It is not often that I have to flip back and forth between 2 of the biggest reality shows on t.v. to see 2 of my very good friends star during primetime. I am talking about my friend Blaine Cotter who is on this seasons The Biggest Loser. I have know Blaine for a very long time. I think we "liked" eachother for 5 minutes my freshman and his sophmore year. That is where this photo comes in.

This is homecoming my freshman year.

I'm not sure his exact height, but he grew to be somewhere around 6'7. He is the one who later encouraged Lance to give me a call when I moved back into town after I lived in Orange County. So essentially he initiated the romance that started it all for me and Lance! He is married to the sweetest, most beautiful girl ever and we just adore them and their cute kids. Lance and I are really proud of him and the sacrifice that he and his family made so that he could be on the show. (His wife Jenny was 9 months pregnant and due during the taping)! Check out Jenny's link to their blog to read the latest. So far the show has been really inspiring. He has been such a great friend and motivator to the others on the show. He's such a great guy, supported by an amazing wife and a wonderful family! Go Blaine! We can't wait to see your results!

And then there is my friend Adam Lambert who auditioned for American Idol this season... We we will see how his audition goes tonight. I'm so excited! Adam is an amazing vocalist and actor. Not only was I priviledged to work with him in a few plays and musicals we were also great friends. In highschool his natural talent exceeded the talent of most our age. And he was an enviable favorite of both drama and choir directors. I have way too many pictures of us, but here are some of the select few. Now he has dark hair and looks a lot different and he will probably kill me for posting these. But my blog has such a small audience... Most of these were during his Junior year. He has been in the musical Wicked for that last year and a half in LA. Vote for Adam!!!!!!!!!!

McMansions that Make me Drool...

Hellooooo Lover...

This is my new dream home in Utah. Except I would teleport it to SO CAL and keep the Utah mortgage though. It's much prettier in real life. I don't have a wide angle lens and tried to make a panorama with the shots I had when I came home. Needless to say the picture is a little sketchy. It's built on a cliff of a mountain with an amazing view. A little scary though when you look from the back. It really would be too big though. I would never want to clean it and I would get lost. When you have too much space I think it is easy to lose those intimate relationships with your family. Quote that back to me when I'm trying to buy it.

Is this the White House?

Gorgeous. (in a singing voice)



This is a pretty estate with the copper accents.

I'm into these details...