"Oh What a Beautiful Day!"

Today is such a beautiful day! Last night we had a strong thunderstorm that moved into the area and cooled things off. This morning when I got up to walk, it was in the mid 60's, perfect for walking. Our walking group really enjoyed the cool breeze and bright sun. I came home, cleaned up and opened the house up. I just love this type weather. It is just after noon right now, and 80 degrees, sunny and slightly breezy. Don't think the weather can be more perfect than that.

My 14 year old son has been out with a fever the past few days. He was told he can't go back to school til he is fever free for 24 hours, so today, even though he felt fine, he is home from school. He is getting ready to work on his Eagle Scout Project, so we've decided to work on some of the paper work that needs to be turned in to the office before he can start the project. His project is painting fire hydrants in our neighborhood. There are about 66 fire hydrants that need to be painted, ten of which are covered with landscaping. Today, we decided to go around and take some before pictures of some of the hydrants.

This time with my son, reminds me of how much I miss having my kids at home. Two years ago I put them into public school for the first time in ten years. I really do miss those homeschooling days.

I do believe there just might be a fir hydrant hiden' in them thar bushes...
This is one of about ten known fire hydrants in our neighborhood that is covered up with landscaping. This one happens to be one of the easier ones to spot. Fortunately, most of the hydrants are in clear sight. Hopefully, with the ones that are hidden, we will not have a problem with the land owners cutting back their landscaping for us to paint, and then keeping it cut back in case of an emergency...

NOLA Auditions

Ever since the show, So You Think You Can Dance, started, my daughter, Ashley has had the dream to audition for the show. The year she was old enough--2008, she had ankle surgery to cut and repair her tendon. After being on crutches for most of the summer, she was told that she probably would not be able to dance at the level she had been in the past. This did not stop her, and she proved everyone wrong.

In the fall of 2008, she headed to Brigham Young University. She wanted to major in dance. This requires an audition. She had a very successful audition and is now a dance major. She had a great year at BYU, and was determined to get her strength back. After staying a month longer at school because she was on a dance group that did local shows, she came home to try to find a job and earn money for her next school year. Shortly after returning home, she found out about the New Orleans So You Think You Can Dance auditions.

As stated in my July blog: She had no luck in finding a job, and was really wanting to go down to the auditions. There were several problems with this, though--she had left her dance stuff in storage almost 2000 miles away, she did not have a place to practice or choreograph, as the dance floors were being resurfaced and the studio was closed. When she found out about the audition, there was less than a week to come up with a dance number, costume, find dance shoes, and get down there. Seemed impossible! I was a little apprehensive on going to to NOLA (New Orleans, LA), as I had never been there and was concerned about the safety factor.

Ashley realized she had an old pair of bright blue tap shoes in her closet, and decided to choreograph a piece around them--in her teeny tiny carpeted bedroom. I happened to mention our delima to my walking group. One of the ladies said she would be glad to come with us. She is also a die hard fan of the show, and use to live in NOLA, and loves the place. I proceeded to check into where the place was, get info on motels in the area, and Ashley proceeded to seek a pair of dance heels, come up with a costume, and "practice" her routine as well as she could, not having a place to really dance. I found a good price on a room, Ashley borrowed some old character shoes that were an ok fit, and with her daddy's blessing, we took off on our 6 hr trip to NOLA.

I can't go into detail as to how the audition went, because they ask that in order to have the surprise element for the show, that we need to keep quiet. I can say we had a really good time. Ashley did get sick the day before one of her auditions (there are several auditions one can go through), but was able to rest and feel good enough for the audition. We don't know if she will be on the show or not. I know of one girl who auditioned for a past season who made it all the way to the picking of the top 20, and was never on TV, so you never know. They did like her blue tap shoes, where impressed with her tapping, and interviewed her quite a bit, so we just don't know if they will do anything with it or not, and if they do what they will do with it.

Well, now that the show has aired, it was very interesting to see how they put it all together. Everyone there was so nice and we had so much fun. Ashley was not featured in the show, but we were able to see a little bit of her in the coreography part of the show. She had made it to choreography, but not to Vegas. She is preparing and hoping that the show will return to Salt Lake City in the Winter of 2010, as she plans to audition at that time. Hopefully, if they return to SLC, it will be a time that she does not have another show, practice, or exams and will be able to try again. One thing I will have to say, everyone who watched the show asked me where all the girls were. There were quite a few very good female dancers (including my daughter) but for some reason they did not highlight very many of them. Why? Good question...

"Ready For Some Football!"

With school starting a few weeks ago, our family is back in the swing. Lately we have been heavily involved with football. Never thought I would get this involved with it, but I do like to see my boys play. Our 11th grader has had to put sports on hold for awhile. Hopefully he will be 100% come baseball season. He is still trying to get his strength back after his knee surgery. He is almost there. Our youngest, a freshman in high school, has been very busy with football. He plays JV and Varsity. He as actually gotten to play a little varsity, not much, but as a freshman, a little is great. So far we have won both our games, and the season looks to be a good one!

I'm Back!

Been gone for awhile. A LONG while. Why? Well, we took off on vacation in July. The family went down to Florida to visit with family. While there, we took a short cruise to the Bahamas. We really had a nice time. Four days of relaxation. We left on Sunday. Monday, we were in Freeport where we did a little shopping. The boys did not even get off the boat. They spent the day on the slides and in the pool. The ship docked right by all the shops, so it was not a big deal to leave them. After a little Christmas shopping, we got back on the ship and joined the boys at the pool. Tuesday, we were in Nassau. We were there for 23 hours. I wasn't sure if we would like that, but it was pretty nice. We all got off the ship and took some family pictures by the library. It is a beautiful area, and I thought it would make a great background for family Christmas cards. No one cooperated. We took the boys back to the ship so they could spend time at the pool, etc. My mom, daughter and I went one way to shop, and my husband went off by himself to shop. After we were done, we went back to the boat, and showed off all our goodies. Most of the things I bought were Christmas gifts. I did buy a few things for me--refrigerator magnet, dress, fish mobile...My husband got a few t-shirts and a hat. Mom and I decided to go back out shopping, because we had missed some stores that my husband had told us about. Might as well...we were going anywhere for a long while. My daughter joined the boys at the pool, and my husband found a quiet corner to enjoy his book. The next and last day on the cruise was a day at sea. We spent all day out by the pool. This was the first cruise we had been on where we did not do any excursions. I did not know how we would like it. I will have to say, we loved it. For the most part, we did not have to be anywhere at any particular time, and that was great. Just four days of relaxation...

After we got back from the cruise, we had a couple of days to hang out with family. Unbeknowst to me, my family had a little surprise party. You see, I was going to turn the big 5-0 in August. My sister's boys were having a birthday in August too. I figured we were having a bday party for them, but it was me that the party was for. The boys had their gift opening too, but they are young, and really don't care much about all the hoopla. The cake had a picture of me at about 2 years on it. The next day, we headed back home. This is when the REAL story begins...

It takes about 13 hours to get back from my folks house. We were looking so forward to getting out of the car, and into our beds. Bill had to get up the next morning and go to work. My youngest son had football practice at 6 A.M.!! As we entered the house with our arms full of luggage, a very unpleasant aroma slapped us in the face. I turned to the boys and asked them if they had taken the trash out, like I told them to, before we left. They assured me that they had. Soon my husband comes out of our room hands still full of luggage and announces--the ceiling fell in, and water is everywhere. Now, he CAN be a bit of a jokster, and I did not take him serious. But he was VERY serious. As I walked into our bedroom and onto the soaked carpet, the smell got even worse. I looked around the corner into our bathroom and saw the mess. I knew it was going to be a long night, and a long month...

So what happened? Well, in the area we live, the "brainy" builders put hot water heaters in the attic. Now when we looked for houses when we were moving here two years ago, I questioned this. A LOT!!! I was told, "Oh...the pan will catch any drips." My reply, "Well, a pan is NOT going to catch...how many gallons of water??!!!?" But, you know I'm just a dumb woman, and blonde at that. So, again I was not taken serious. Sure wish now I would have put up more of a stink. Our house was brand new when we moved in, and so was the hot water heater--2 years old!!!

Anyway, I am glad to say, that a month later, I am now back in my own bed in my own room, and using my own shower. The computer was in that room too, so we were unable to use it for that time.