Let Me Entertain You

I am so incredibly behind on my blogging! Oops! Not only have I been uber busy - but I've been uber busy with things to blog about too! Needless to say I have another birthday, a few graduations, a play, a funeral, my trip (still), precious babies, recitals, and a star student to catch up on. And I still don't have the time to do so - so, for now I'll give you a couple of great videos of my deliciously neurotic siblings' trip to Europe (the siblings being neurotic, not the trip!)



Yes, my brother and sister actually did take a video on top of the Eiffel Tower after using the facilities. This is the family I proudly claim!


This is LSOC's impression of over-exuberant tourists. Apparently the sleep deprivation was kicking in big time. (Also, sorry that it's tilted side-ways. They forgot that the camera only records one direction!)



This is, obviously, after the sleep-deprivation completely took over. My apologies to Celine Dion and the entire deaf community (although, with Tergaso's belting, a case could be made for the need to apologize to the entire hearing community as well - JK!! I love you Tergaso!!!).

My Crazy Family

I love hanging out with my family. We are crazy! But we do have a lot of fun. Easter Sunday was no exception. I cooked up a crazy plan with The Easter Bunny (aka: The Countess) that my brother, LSOC, would be given the movie "Enchanted" in his Easter basket. AngelFish, LadyBug, Gorgeous and I had dragged him to see it in December (against very vocal protestations - he was pretty much guilted into it...) and was just as disgusted as he thought he would be. We of course all loved it and have teased him about it mercilessly ever since that it is his favorite movie. So, it's time to open Easter baskets and the Easter Bunny and I insist that we need to get the camera out first. That turns into a big problem. Tergaso has Mom's camera in Provo. She took it on her trip to Claremont last weekend and forgot to bring it back with her. (Apparently her own camera is broken. Keep in mind this is the second camera she's had from her mission - she broke the first one, too.) No problem, we'll use LSOC's camera. Except that Tergaso has his camera in Provo, too. She keeps forgetting to bring that back as well. Well, Tergaso has brought a former mission companion home with her for Easter and all the sudden she pipes up with, "I think you still have my camera, too!" Apparently Tergaso is a camera magnet! Of course, I can't talk much, because the next idea was to use my camera and Tergaso and I spent a good 10 minutes in my room looking for it and trying not to get lost in the bottomless pit that is my bedroom. So, our Easter pictures are from cell-phone cameras!

Anyway. Back to Easter baskets. LSOC opens his present first (youngest to oldest) and when he saw it was "Enchanted" he got extremely disgusted, burst out with "Are you serious?" and threw it at AngelFish. It was awesome. The only problem was that when AngelFish opened her present - it was also "Enchanted." It was finally my turn to open my present and that silly Easter Bunny gave me "I Am Legend" which AngelFish and I both refuse to watch. (LSOC will probably end up talking me into it - but I know there was no way I could stand to watch it in the theaters!) So LSOC and I switched. But his reaction was priceless.

After dinner we were sitting around talking and things got, well, crazy. I'm not exactly sure how things got started - I was snoozing on Mom's shoulder - of course, I'm not sure anyone else knew how things got started anyway. But they were listening to Russian disco/tech music. (I told you we are crazy.) I'm pretty sure the Russian disco/tech music got started sometime after they all took a walk around the block wearing crazy hats (they had to have their own "Easter Parade" complete with Easter Bonnets! I didn't go with - remember the whole snoozing on Mom's shoulder - but I wouldn't be surprised if they were belting "Easter Parade" as they went. Anyway, we were listening to Russian disco/tech music and Tergaso started dancing. First it was while she was sitting on the couch but then she stood up and pulled my Grandma, Gorgeous, up and they were dancing together. Gorgeous really got down and boogied! (Which she pronounces boo (as in, "Boo!" not "book") - gie) It was hilarious.



A little bit later, AngelFish had her feet propped up on Gorgeous's lap and Gorgeous decided to do "This Little Piggy." Well, Angelfish only has 4 toes on one foot. All the sudden, Gorgeous stops and says, "I can't wee-wee on this foot!" (She'd run out of toes...) We all almost wee-weed right there in the living room we were laughing so hard.

I love my family!

Christmas Concerts

What a wonderful weekend! Saturday night we went to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It was so good! They always do such a great job and we love the King's Singers, who were the special guests. They did a fun production of The Twelve Days of Christmas with dancers portraying each of the gifts. It was a lot of fun. My favorites, though, were Richard Elliot's organ solo, I Saw Three Ships, and Mack Wilberg's new arrangement of O, Holy Night!. The organ solo was amazing! and I think Richard Elliot got the biggest applause out of all the numbers. He was all over the place and on one of the verses, he did the melody with his feet on the pedals and they were just flying! Mack's new arrangement of O, Holy Night!, was for the men of the choir and the King's Singers and it was beautiful. It was different from any arrangement I've ever heard, but so beautiful. Sometimes that song can be over-the-top, especially with the high note at the end (I love the high note at the end, it's just very easy to go overboard with it), but Mack's arrangement wasn't over-the-top at all. The counter tenors still hit the high note at the end, but it almost didn't register that it was the climactic ending. It was just very peaceful. And the staging and lighting were so well done. The overall experience of that piece was just perfect.

After the concert we had to wait about 45 minutes to get out of the parking terrace we were parked in. Gorgeous, Tergaso, LSOC and I played "Salt Lake City, Plaza Hotel, Deal or No Deal" while we waited. We were outside waiting for the The Countess to bring the car down so Gorgeous wouldn't have to climb all the stairs to the level were parked on. Tergaso had called The Countess to see if they had moved yet and Gorgeous commented that she looked like Howie Mandel talking to the banker. So Tergaso and LSOC jumped on the idea and decided what their cases held and what the banker's deal was. It was funny. Gorgeous ended up taking the deal for 730,000. But then, it was "What's the Deal?" week so she had to spin the wheel (Tergaso with her eyes closed.) She ended up doubling it and going to the car with 1.46 million!! Not bad for a few minutes entertainment. My family is absolutely crazy and I love them!

I also had my Christmas Concert with my bell choir. We had a good turnout and performed well so I'm happy. We played some fun music again this year and it's so fun to talk to the audience after and answer questions about playing bells. Not many people are familiar with handbell choirs. My favorite number we played is Pat-A-Pan. It's a lot of fun. We also played a medley from The Nutcracker that is a lot of fun (and very difficult!).

I have one more day of lessons and then I'm off for Christmas break. I still have some shopping to finish up and all of my wrapping and delivering! I feel like I lost all of last week with our health scare! (Not that I'm complaining too much - I'm too grateful that I don't have whooping cough and that I'm on the mend instead of getting worse!) Today was "pamper Julie" day. I went for a massage and got my hair done. I feel pretty and relaxed and pretty relaxed. I'm ready for the craziness of trying to get everything done now!

Happy SinterKlaas!

I love Christmas! I love the snow (as long as I don't have to go out in it!) I love the lights. I love the songs. I love the feeling and spirit. I love Christmas. My family has so many traditions surrounding Christmas. One of them is celebrating SinterKlaas Day. My Dad served an LDS mission to the Netherlands (Holland.) He brought home several cultural traditions that our family enjoys. SinterKlaas is the Dutch Santa Claus. He comes on a white horse from Spain with his helper Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). The children all put their wooden shoes out and sing songs the night of December 5th and when they wake, if they've been good, they find chocolate in their shoes! (If they've been bad they either find coal in their shoes or they are taken away with Zwarte Piet to work with him all year in Africa.) My parents have made many trips to Holland through the years, and consequently, all of us kids have our own wooden shoes to put out. We sing our Dutch Christmas songs up the chimney and in the morning we find a chocolate letter! (Our initial if SinterKlaas was on the ball, if not, then a random letter that my Mom then tries to explain with hilarious and random reasons! Sometimes it's more fun if SinterKlaas wasn't on the ball just to hear Mom's explanations of why he chose that letter!) SinterKlaas also brings us a new nutcracker every year. (You should see our collection! My students love counting them and I think the most popular number they've come up with this year is 43.) This year, we're celebrating a bit late. SinterKlaas found out that my Dad was of town, so he didn't rush over from Holland to visit us. However, we've been told that he has made his way to the Americas and now that Dad is home, we'll be pulling out our wooden shoes tonight! Hooray for European Chocolate!

On a slightly random note, I'm sitting here with my morning juice, in my nightgown, freezing! I'm so thankful for hot, steamy showers and Christmas music to blast to help me get started on my day! The water pressure rinsing shampoo out of my hair is a relaxing head massage, the heat helps my muscles unclench, the steam helps me breath better (I've been sick), and the Christmas music just makes me happy. What a way to wake up!

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've already done a post on how thankful I am for my family, but they really are so important to me, that I had to mention them again on this biggest of all Thankful Thursdays. I'd like to highlight what I've learned from my family. From my father (The Count), I've learned how to cherish a spouse. The quickest way to get on Dad's bad side is to disrespect Mom. From my mother (The Countess), I've learned how to be a good teacher. You can't teach without love. From my sister (AngelFish), I've learned how to be brave and strong. I admire how much courage it took to get on a plane to Russia to serve a mission. From my other sister (Tergaso), I've learned how to be happy and confident. Life is good, buck up! From my brother (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra or LSOC), I've learned what unconditional love looks like in real life. I remember once his finger got slammed in the car door. I don't remember who was at fault, but I do remember that he was immediately consoling them and forgiving them for the accident. From my family as a whole, I've learned that you have to pull together and support each other. Life is better with a family of cheerleaders!

I am so very blessed to have been born into this wonderful family!

Kids Say...

My adorable cousins were over last night and ScienceBoy said the funniest thing. My sister, Tergaso, was giving him a hard time and he said: "you're a diva." He's nine, so we asked him what a diva was. He said: "a person or girl who thinks they're all that." Pretty much.

Happy Birthday AngelFish!

Happy Birthday (yesterday) AngelFish! My sister is awesome! She is beautiful, intelligent, and kind. She is almost done with her Master's Degree, bought her own condo, is fluent in Russian, and spends countless hours helping us all with computer questions. She is an incredible woman. I love you, babe!

Thankful Thursday

It's all about Family.

Let me tell you a bit about my family. We call my grandma "Gorgeous." That's now how she answers the phone: "This is Gorgeous." She taught us to play practical jokes by taking us to toilet paper her brother. When my little brother was in high school, one of our favorite things to do was babysit together. We'd chase the kids around, tickle them, wrestle with them, laugh and then put them to bed and talk or watch a movie. My little sister is now 23 and still makes music videos that we then watch on Sunday nights and laugh hysterically. Actually laughing hysterically is our favorite activity. We are always there for each other and having fun. I am so blessed to have this amazing family