I'm finally feeling...Wicked

I finally saw Wicked. I say finally because this was my third attempt to see the show. I missed it the first time it came to Phoenix because by the time I knew it was here and it was worth seeing it was sold out. The second time I tried to see it, Dave and I were in New York. It was November of '07 and I bought tickets online way in advance. Well, a few days before we left for New York we heard about some Broadway strike that was going on and several of the shows had been cancelled indefinitely, including Wicked. Despite all my wishing, hoping and praying the strike didn't end while we were there, dumb stage hands, and we missed the show. So needless to say I was so excited to hear it was coming back to Phoenix. It was every bit as good as I hoped it was. And I'm going to see it again and again and again starting with New York in November, I hope...

UTAH

At the beginning of the month we had the opportunity to go up to Utah to visit family. We had a blast with cousins we haven't seen in a couple of years. Here are some of the highlights...

Our first stop was the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. What a beautiful temple! I loved standing on the grounds of the temple overlooking the valley and being able to see the Jordan River and Draper Temple too. Gotta love Utah!

Two of my wonderfully fabulous sisters that both live a thousand miles away from me. Sniff, sniff. We are the latter three of my mother's six children. Rachel Thomas and her family live in the Seattle area and Liz Novak and her family live somewhere in Michigan. Oh, and Ella snuck in there too.

My sisters with our families.

This was my families first temple open house. We can't wait until the open house of our very own temple here in Phoenix!

Six of us signed up to run the 10K Freedom Run, Glen & Rachel, John (my bro) me, and Melissa (my sister) and Jared Novak (Liz's husband who missed the photo op.). Glen was the winner coming in at 41 minutes!

I don't know what everyone else excuse is but I am a DESERT RUNNER! Give me HOT, FLAT, DRY, FLAT, LOW ELEVATION, and FLAT land.

Every 4th of July my Grandma's ward has a program at the neighborhood park. The primary kids always sing a few songs. My girls weren't interested in participating but Quinn didn't hesitate at the chance and Great Grandma Petersen got up with him.

Here is the only picture I got of my Grandma Pete. She turned 86 this year and still lives in the beautiful home my Grandfather built over 50 years ago.

At the Provo parade on the 4th. The floats were great but according to Lauren, Brittany, Dailee and Aubrey these puppies were even better.

The evening of the 4th Dave and Quinn grabbed their mitts and headed to the Provo Temple to watch the fireworks. Quinn's expression says it all. There is no one he would rather be with then Dad. And Dailee, Aubrey and I went to...

Whaa Hoo! Jonas Brothers!!! Actually I'm not that big a fan, I know a couple of there songs but they put on a great show!

This is the Payson City Pool. If you want to avoid the expense or crowds it's a great alternative to Seven Peaks. This is cousin Sarah going down the slide.

BBQ at Uncle Brent's house the night before we left.

Aubrey with her best friend and cousin Emma. They only get to see each other once every one to two years. So they were inseparable once they got together.

Quinn and Jacob became great pals. They are both the only boys in their family and each have three sisters.

She's on the move!

June 22nd marks the official day that Ella started crawling! Yeah Ella! She is enjoying her new found mobility and the 11 1/2 month honeymoon is over for me. She has gone from no maintenance to some maintenance.

She is finding fun new things to play with...
And discovering so many new things!

Pictures of Nature

We discovered this nest with two little eggs in it earlier this summer. It was fun to watch the baby birds hatch and grow!

A few days old.

A few weeks old.

Mama with her babies right before they left the nest.

BLOG! HURRY! NOW!

Since I really don't want to make it to the TWO MONTH mark of no blogging I'm going to take this very quick moment to update my blog. Obviously, it's hard for me to find the time to blog while my kids are at home. So while Dailee and Aubrey are at a friends house, Ella is asleep and Quinn is watching a movie here is what we have been up to the past two months!!!!

Aubrey's Kindergarten graduation. A celebration of mediocrity (according to Bob Parr). This is Aubrey with her teacher Mrs. Linzey.

For lack of a better picture, Dave took this from the Hotel room during our staycation over Memorial Day.

Dailee had a fever the entire weekend. Poor Dailee, she went the entire school year and did not miss one day of school then, ends up sick memorial day weekend. After all, what would a vacation be without someone being sick?

SWIM TEAM! This is what occupies us for the first half of the summer. The girls swim for the Surprise Swordfish. They enjoy it and it keeps them active.

And finally, this is not the guy from the Mexican beer commercials. This is my very hot husband ready for TREK! Dave has spent the last several months planning and preparing for the stake Trek. Trek was June 17 - 20 and it was amazing. I will blog more about this when I get the pictures downloaded.

Well, we just returned from a trip to Utah and Ella's 1st birthday is tomorrow. Hopefully I will blog about these things and Trek before September!!!