in which i post lots of vacation photos...

yes, we went to disneyland and no, it hasn't lost its shiny happy place in our lives. this trip was marked by a weekend with the Rowley's at their place that included zip lines, chickens, the superbowl, homemade brick oven pizza, and lots of time with great friends. thank you!


while our kids aren't opposed to giving hugs to each other, the number of hugs given in a given day multiply by ten at disneyland and this last trip was no different. anytime my kids are hugging each other is a good time.


amy loves it when i snap photos of her as if she were a supermodel. and while she is a supermodel to me, you can see the slight irony/exasperation in her expression here...who better to spend a family trip to disneyland with than her...


ella continues to carve out her own personality and niche in our family. it was on full display this last trip...


michael is a joy in my life. he is fun, intelligent, happy, curious and handsome (if i do say so myself...)



the rowleys!


i like to think that i contributed to mitt's recent rise in the california polls--outpacing santorum by 20 points in the most recent rasmussen poll...


some of the kids most favorite parts of disneyland can be done at the local carnival--the merrygo round and bubbles...


so serene. abby is an example of finding joy in the simple parts of life.


a character..:)


what better scenes than to have your children embracing each other. may it always be so.


this ride ranks 2nd to last in the park next to the tea cups. i gracefully waited this ride out to take photos...



i definitely prefer my girls to gain a little attitude to help weather life's waves...


my little bekah is growing up. she loves to explore her surroundings, she likes to try out her new ideas verbally with us and i love being around her...


true?

My son the BYU fan...

Michael and I went to the Idaho BYU game on Saturday night. There are few places I would rather have been. He is a joy to be around. His dry, witty nature is a crack up combined with his passion for football and his loving sincere nature make for the recipe of an amazing boy and one of the best people with whom to spend your Saturday night.

He is a shorts guy. He was adamant throughout the winter last year that he be allowed to wear shorts to school every day. I can't say I didn't go through this phase often growing up--so we indulge him. The game on Saturday night hovered near freezing and I was in multiple layers including a thick winter coat and gloves. Michael however shed his layers the moment we arrived at our seats near Grandpa Frandsen and Uncle Kelly. He proceeded to go minimalist the rest of the night. Twice we had people next to us offer him clothing--which he politely declined. He did show signs of hyperactivity and restlessness to facilitate his staying warm--generally manifesting as a more enjoyable passion for the game through cheering, jumping around and general animatedness.

I love this kid and was priviledged to hang out with him on a Saturday night. Here's to many Saturday nights in the future...

Below gives a small taste of a game with Michael..:)

Michael's Cello Recital: Suzuki Book 1

Michael had his first cello lesson on his 6th birthday. A new cello was one of his presents, and our family began a journey. It was fun and exciting and new, and as he began to play the cello, music began to play a bigger part in the everyday life of our family.


And music is something that just fits with Michael. He has a mind that loves detail, counting, and patterns. He is expressive and loves experimenting with dynamics. Sometimes he gets a little overly experimental... but that is really fun too! I've loved seeing his progress. He is generally quite cooperative, loves to try new things, and adds his own little musical flair into the pieces he practices.

Practicing each day (except Sundays) is the laid-out goal, which we sometimes meet easier than others. It takes commitment and lots of time from everyone in the family. We try to get Michael's done in the morning before school, which is far more successful than trying it in the afternoon when our whole family is busy with other activities. And although I rarely get exercise and showered before noon because of all the practicing that happens at our house, I truly treasure and enjoy the one-on-one time I get with Michael when we practice. We set goals together, we congratulate accomplishment and make critiques together, and we do hard things together. It's not always easy, and occasionally it isn't pleasant. But we work things out, and there is value in struggling together, too.



And moments like this recital make it all worth it.

Two years and hundreds of morning practices later, we gathered in our music room with some of our friends and family to celebrate his hard work and dedication. He played 17 songs from memory (23 if you count the Twinkle Variations... ), and did so with attention to tone and dynamics. It was fulfilling to me, as his mother, to sit back and realize his progression, and the beautiful music he is able to make.


There were several family members who were not able to join us... and we thank you for your well wishes for Michael. That meant a lot. So here are a few requested snippets I videoed from my half of the room:

He started at the end of the book, doing the most advanced pieces first. Here is a bit of Minuet 3:



Here is part of Etude:



Part of French Folk Song, the "Anthem of The Cello," and still my favorite. I have lots of memories wrapped up in it. When I listen to Michael play it, I often remember hearing Michael play it for the first time with accompaniment with his first teacher Liz Willey. At that time it brought tears to my eyes as I enjoyed beautiful music coming from a beautiful instrument being played by my beautiful boy. I teared up again as Liz and Michael played it together for the last time when she left on her mission and we were faced with finding a new teacher. We loved Liz and she was so sweet with Michael.

French Folk Song has done the same thing to me many times since... it is just a beautiful song to me and will always have a tender place in my heart. (You should hear it with beautiful cello accompaniment...)



Speaking of beautiful cello accompaniment, this is Michael's teacher, Carey Cheney. She is simply wonderful, and has a way of empowering him to do his best and "be the expert" when it comes to his technique and tone. She is always so positive, and playful in a professional way. We love her. She would have normally accompanied Michael on her cello, but she had an injury to the thumb of her bow hand the week before the recital (a run in with a knife while making Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner, resulting in many stitches and lots of healing time). This was sad (because it brings tears to my eyes to hear the two cellos play together so beautifully...); but as a benefit, Paul got to accompany Michael on the piano. Which was so fun for the two of them to do together.



Special thanks must go to Paul for all that he does in the music endeavors of our family. Not only did he play for Michael's recital, he regularly spends a few hours each week helping me get practices in with kids (Michael's cello and piano, and violin with Abby and Bekah). He has the skills and the ear to help even without going with us to lessons, and lends me emotional support when things get a little hard... and I value that so much!! The kids would usually rather practice with him than with me, and he lends a new set of eyes and ears to things that can be worked on. Their teachers and other moms tell me all the time how lucky I am to have a husband that helps... and I AGREE!!! I don't think I could do it without him and all the time he puts into helping so much with the kids. He is the BEST dad, and we all love him.

Aren't they just two peas in a pod?


He is holding his ultimate favorite candy bar. CRUNCH!!!

Michael, I am proud of you for doing hard things. You practice so well, and are good at focusing and doing your best. I love spending time with you as you learn new pieces and polish up techniques. You listen well to your teacher, and soak up new information. My favorite moments practicing with you are watching you truly enjoy the making music, enjoying your fun sense of humor, and helping you make *new records* and *keep scores*. You are really good at it, and I love to watch you succeed.

At the end of the recital, Mrs. Cheney suggested you take 23 bows for 23 memorized songs. We were happy to clap and clap and clap!


It might have been your favorite part. :) :)



Good job Michael. Keep up the good work. We will always clap for you.

the book of mormon musical...

on our most recent trip to new york city i took a photo of the marquis after waiting 2 1/2 hours in line for an obstructed view cancellation ticket for the hottest show on broadway--a show with 8 performances a week sold out through december. amy chose not to go and attended "how to succeed in business without really trying" starring none other than Daniel Radcliffe... Harry Potter himself.

i am of two minds...

i loved it. and, i'm very uncomfortable with it.

i grew up with musicals--road trips, les miserables, phantom of the opera, west side story, music man, into the woods and many more... some of my more enjoyable, inspiring and uplifting artistic/spiritual experiences have revolved around music--as a participant and a viewer. the genre fits me and i responded.

as a former missionary there is much to identify with--the chalboard with stats on it from the district meeting, hanging out together at bedtime making small-talk, how uncomfortable the assignment of companions can be, the emotions during the group baptismal scene, the district's comraderie, the senior/junior companion dynamic, the incredibly complex emotions felt during mission service, doubts of a 19 year old boy, the guilt of a 19 year old boy.

here is the south park creators' take on proselyting...



as my sister-in-law said, it's surreal seeing yourself in lights on broadway. and i agree! it was really strange to see a backdrop of the slc temple and scenes in the MTC that are so germane to my life yet so exotic to the secular audience inhabiting the theatre...

as the mormon professor richard bushman said (paraphrase), it's like seeing yourself in the fun house mirror. it's your nose but it's malproportioned.

another example where the missionaries receive their mission calls...



as a mormon, believer and christian two ubiquitous religious themes are doubt and guilt. both were dealt with deftly. is joseph smith a fraudulent schemer who fabricated the book of mormon and hoodwinked thousands or was he called of God and translated a book written by God's prophets? the south park boys say it doesn't matter and that mormons are good, content, happy people. guilt and doubt are emotions that every believer either directly or indirectly must square themselves with. for whatever reason, i didn't mind seeing the more outlandish of our beliefs being portrayed in an accurate yet farcical light. i didn't mind laughing. if i search within myself i would like to think my ability to laugh is due to my being at peace with the faith claims of my church.

i sat next to a woman from manhatten. as we talked at intermission she gasped when i told her i was from utah. she said, 'is this okay'? she said, 'i don't know much about the mormon church, but i sometimes see the missionaries near my house. they always seem so nice. this show can't be accurate regarding mormons right?' it was comforting that she took the show as plain satire and wasn't ready to use it as the truth about mormons. ironically, the show gives a fairly accurate portrayal of mormon beliefs.

one scene that was very funny and over the top yet rang true was 'spooky mormon hell dream'. as an adolescent and missionary with an overactive conscience i could definitely identify with this poor 19 year old mormon boy identifying with genghis khan and ted bundy because he left his mission companion for a whole night. i couldn't stop laughing and empathizing with him all at once.

i was very uncomfortable with the show. the portrayal of evil in media and art is a whole discussion unto itself. i am not opposed to 'R' rated media necessarily. however, this musical is very 'R' rated. the filth is in jest and satire and does not come across pornographically graphic. however, if lots and lots of 'F' words and sacrilegious blasphemic jokes are a deal breaker for you then don't spend your money on a show you will walk out on...there were two numbers so sacriligious that i wanted to hide my head under the chair. the sacrilege is balanced by the missionaries' horror as they react to the africans' words and actions.

i was disappointed with the portrayal of believers as lacking intelligence. phrases like 'mormons just believe' and the missionaries leaving the church and writing their own book at the end definitely waters down, dilutes and misses the central power of the religion the musical is meant to so accurately satirize. these aspects disappointed me the most...

exhilarating. there were moments watching my faith portrayed through powerful music with actors honestly exploring their characters when i just sat back enjoyed the humor, and emotions associated with the mormon culture, missionary culture, faith culture and a service culture.

one powerful remark from a salt lake tribune article came from "David Spencer, a Utah native and professional actor now living in New York City, has seen the musical twice. The former Mormon said he would gladly buy a third ticket.

Spencer thinks selected Salt Lake City audiences would enjoy the show, but theatergoers expecting a mean-spirited tone will be disappointed. “It made me ask if I threw out the baby with the bathwater when I left the church. That’s a powerful question to open up within yourself, and certainly not something you’re likely to experience with any other Broadway musical.”

one mormon who has created positive spin through the musical is margaret young. margaret is a professor of english at BYU and has delved deeply into the church's treatment of blacks from the time of joseph smith to the present. her series on the 'the REAL elder price' is found here

i was very, very entertained by it. this show is seriously funny.

and lastly, the mildly offensive, but moving rendition of 'i believe' from elder price...as performed at the tony's...



have you seen the show? will you? should i have? or not...

10th Year Anniversary Cruise: The Mexican Riviera

For our 10th anniversary (celebrated August 2010 (I know... I'm still catching up on this here blog...)), Paul always envisioned a cruise extravaganza to celebrate. I agreed. We booked the cruise for the first time for November, but it was canceled due to a fire in the engine room of the ship a week before our trip... so we were forced to delay the extravaganza...

Until March 2011. Better late than never.

And all's well that ends well. We were able to reschedule, repack, and redo the plans for the kiddos (THANKS to Grandpatty and Aunt Hannah for being the main caregivers while we were gone!!!). It was perfect timing anyway, because we were ready to get out of the snow.

I know Paul already posted about the trip in this post with a video... but I want to document a little more with words and the pictures we have from the trip. Because it was a good one!

Our cruise departed from California... and it happened to be the same weekend that our BYU basketball team was playing in the MountainWest Championship in Las Vegas. Perfect time to be driving through Vegas, right?? Paul's dad and brother wanted to go too, and of course Michael was up for the trip. So that's how the trip started...


We stayed at Mandalay Bay where we took advantage of the fake "beach" between games. These boys were in heaven.


The games were a lot of fun... unfortunately we lost the final round game to SDSU...



After the games, Michael headed back to Utah with Grandpappy and Lafe, and Paul and I headed to California. We stayed there that night and woke up early to go to church and then board our ship that afternoon...

We were SO EXCITED to be headed out together for this trip. We had been anticipating it for so long! Preparing everything and trying to leave the kids with Paul's family with some semblance of organization was no small feat, so I felt like I had won my own MountainWest Championship by even being able to get on that ship!


We took a peek at our cabin... can you tell we were excited about our balcony??


Then we took off to explore the ship. There was an emergency drill where they divided the ship into assigned groups, and we ran into these two lovebirds...


Brittany and Pete... which was HILARIOUS because Brittany is the daughter of our neighbors from right across the street who had just gotten MARRIED the day before. I was so sad to miss their reception the previous night because of our trip... and we were so surprised to hear them calling our names and find out they were honeymooning on the same ship!! We thought they might be embarrassed to see us, but we actually ended up hanging out quite a bit on excursion days and on the ship... which was really fun and helped us feel young again! :)

Anyway... food, reading, resting, and time together filled the rest of the day... and the next. We found a little place to camp out on the back deck where we could watch the world drift away behind us...


And the third day we were ready for some adventures. Hello Cabo!!




Cabo is where we spent 2 days, and we hung out with Brittany and Pete. I was so glad Pete spoke Spanish. Paul thinks he knows the real words to "La Bamba" but I don't think that would have gotten us very far. First adventure: speedboat out to the beachfront of Lover's Arch and some snorkeling.

Lover's Arch (with 10 year lovers :) )...


Pelican rock (which smells like pelicans)...


First-time snorklers (who might have sort of looked like dorks)...


Amy and Brittany (who felt much safer in the water after renting some life jackets (again with the dorky...) )...


We didn't get any good underwater shots of ourselves...


But we did have fun looking at the fish...


Rumor has it that this wasn't great snorkeling. Probably not even good. But to all of us first-timers, it was a lot of fun!

Then we explored the beach...




And got some tacos on the beach...


This is where we decided that, the next day in Cabo, we wanted to have a more authentic adventure, and definitely some authentic FOOD... and get out of the touristy part of town. So we lined up scooters for the next day... and decided to do some para-sailing first thing in the morning!

It was a blast! So fun be up so high and feel so free...


That's our ship in the background...


Then we were off for our scooter adventure...

(Sorry... I am NOT going to take the time to figure out why some of the pictures aren't rotating for me...)

TA-DA!!! (Again with the dorky...) Thanks to Pete and his command of the Spanish language, and to Paul and his command of a map... we were off to explore! Paul's goal was to get to the other side of the beach, and Pete's goal was to find us a genuine Mexican meal.

Paul's goal didn't quite get realized as we searched and searched for the right road to get us over the mountain (and one that wasn't part of a resort that wouldn't let us through...). Our ride through the neighborhoods of town was a poignant reminder to me about the abundance (and excess) that I often take for granted in my own life. My eyes swam as I was filled with gratitude mixed with guilt, and I offered a prayer of thanks mixed with repentance and a vow to appreciate and give more.

Once we gave up on Paul's dream, we focused on Pete's and found this quaint family restaurant in the middle of the neighborhoods.



Again, Pete's Spanish came in handy to make sure that Paul's steak fajita was medium-well. We went back to meet the Mama cook and pay her our compliments...


Upon further exploration, we found a church (!!), a Costco (just like home... and we stocked up on sunscreen), I almost got hit by an oncoming car (saved by Paul's catlike reflexes and me sticking out my leg to "stop" the car), and Pete nearly ran his scooter into the wall at Costco (THAT was funny... except for the side mirror that broke off!). Lots of good times, and we made it back alive and in time to board the ship again.


Each night on the ship (even though the sign by the balcony said not to...) I propped the balcony door open with a chair, and we slept and read with the background sound of the ocean floating by. Sublime... one of my favorite parts of the trip...

(looking down from our balcony down to the wake of the ship...)

Next adventure: Puerto Vallerta. Our only real plan going in: The EXTREME canopy tour. (Emphasis on the EXTREME of course...)

It started with a 40 minute speedboat ride to the mountains of the town...


Followed by a rough-and-tumble dirt road ride up to the top...



We got all decked out in safety gear (again with the dorky??)...




Took a mule ride up the mountain...



And zip-lined to our hearts' content. There were more than a dozen zip-lines of varying distances and heights... it was breathtaking, peaceful, and exhilarating. We had a really fun group, and had a great time.





There were also a few spots to rappel. Once down a waterfall and a couple of times into water below.







It was a BLAST!!! I was left to wonder why I don't fill my days with a normal regimen of zip-lining and rappelling... ??



Definitely my favorite activity of the trip.

The last two days were travel days, spent in pure relaxation and enjoyment. Our upgraded cabin also came along with access to the spa's pools and saunas... so we pretty much pampered ourselves silly with relaxation, food, and... well... whatever we wanted to do!!

My favorite spot for reading was our little balcony with the sound of the waves, fresh air, and picturesque sunrises/sunsets.




Paul couldn't help himself, and held true to his Cougs. He connected with a few other Cougar fans on board and went to the sports room to watch the NCAA games that happened that week.


I guess Jimmermania is not land-bound.


And that Sunday morning we found ourselves docked, departed, and driving home to our favorite sight of all... kids who had missed us and were excited to have us home. Oh, and they loved the presents we brought back for them...


Abby especially loved trying to dance like a "real Mexican girl." (And don't worry, we had a talk about not using the shakers as weapons...)



Another thanks to Grandpatty and Hannah (and Grandpappy and Lafe, who were definitely involved in caregiving as well...). They were somehow able to care for our four kids and still kept up their school schedule, lessons, soccer... AND practiced their instruments with them nearly every day. Oh, and my house was spotless. Wowzer. I still don't know how I got such great in-laws.

The next morning we were thrown into the hustle and bustle of getting kids to school, Michael's cello lesson, girls' gymnastics lesson, Michael's choir rehearsal, and Paul's work. And oh, yes... loads of laundry. But after being rejuvenated and recharged, everything was brighter and more enjoyable. I savored the hugs and taps a little more. I adored the cute phrases and filled requests with a happier heart. I stretched out the bedtime routine just a little longer, and lingered in conversations with the kids a little more.

Yes, this wife and mother certainly benefited from our Mexican getaway. There is something about being away from the usual demands and decisions of life that breathes life into me again. I feel a little more connected to the adventurous, spontaneous side of me that has to take a second seat to the planned and thought-out, schedule-keeping manager of our home. Without the constant to-do lists and persistent needs of young children, I can actually be a pretty attentive wife, too. Yup... that fun-loving girl is still in there. And she had a blast with the love of her life.

It's been a great decade, Paul!

Let's have another, shall we??