Back to school

I am always sad when summer is over. I enjoy being able to relax and not really have plans. No more relaxing back to: Seminary, school, homework, packing lunches, theater rehearsal, flag football practice and work.

I am already tired of it . . . even though today was the first day! ha, ha.

I am excited though about heading back to Utah to see my girls. I miss them so much. I will be gone for a week and Ciara is coming with me. It will be a fun girls week!. I will be taking all of Katies "stuff" that she needs to move into her dorm. She will be living in Heritage Halls, Fox Hall #49. I am very excited for her to start this whole new phase of life. Even though it is very sad for me. I know she will be great. I am also excited to see Courtney. She is a pro at this whole college thing now. This is the beginning of her Senior year -- how fast the time has flown by. I really can't believe she is a Senior. It seems like she just graduated from high school. I am also excited for a new year of Noteworthy.

I have also just gone back to work at the County. I'm not gonna lie that I really don't want to be there for this election. It is going to be so busy it frightens me. Between the Presidential election and prop 8 we will have our work cut out for us. I am pretty sure every crazy person in Sacrmamento county will be calling or coming in! Pray for me.

Well, I guess we have to have Fall, Winter, Spring so we can appreciate Summer that much more.

Bye -- Summer -- I will miss you. See you about 9 months.

Cindy

Update Summer 2008

I though it was about time I finally updated our blog. Yeah it has been way to long. We have had a very busy Spring and Summer. We had our EGMTC spring productions of "The Emperors New Clothes" and "Oklahoma". They turned out great. David played the part of Guido - one of the brothers who convinces the king to wear the "clothes", Katie was a very beautiful Laurie, and Ciara was one of Lauries friends. All the kids were great and it is fun to watch them grow and progress. This was Katie's last show with us which is sad. We will miss her.

We also went on our Stakes Pioneer Trek. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. We felt like we were in Zion for a few days. I am not a camper at all. I won't even go camping if there aren't showers and flush toliets and was really not looking forward to going. Infact, I tried really hard to get out of it but I am so glad that I went because it was so great. Yes, I was tired and really dirty but it didn't seem to matter. It also helped to me to have an even great appreciation of what the pioneers had to go through. If you ever are given the opportunity to go on a trek -- go! I promise you will not regret it.

Katie Graduated June 4th. We are very proud of her. She will be starting college in the Fall at BYU in Provo, Utah. Still trying to decide what she will be majoring in. She actually is already living in Provo with Courtney. She got a job at Hollister. Since she is a poor college student she spends most of her time working or hanging out in the apartment with Courtney. Katie is looking forward to school starting and moving into the dorms where she will be able to make lots of new friends. We miss her terribly but are glad she able to have lots of new experiences. Girls Camp - Ciara went to girls camp the beginning of July. This is a picture of her on the hike she went on. She was a Youth Camp Leader this year. She only has one year of girls camp left. I can't believe it.
Ciara and some of her YCL friends

4th of July

Once again we went out to Woodland for the 4th. Here is a picture of Stephen setting up the fireworks.

Ciara and her friends

Ciara and cousin Tyler

David

Once again we were involved with the Strauss Festival. This was my 20th year. I can't believe it has been that long. Here are a few pictures.

Ciara danced with the Polka troupe again. This is her second year.

Ciara is the one in the yellow skirt. The ribbon dance was the best dance in the show. Polka rocks!

Easter and Noteworthy

Noteworthy came out to California for the ICCA semifinal competition we were able to go down and see the performance at the Marin Center in San Rafael. It was so good. I think probably one of the best semi-finals ever. So many great groups. Noteworthy didn't move on to Finals but it was okay cuz they were still amazing. We had lots of fun with girls over the weekend. Here are a few pictures.

The family -- of course my eyes were closed in all the pictures. PS Courtney painted the hat that David is wearing.

Noteworthy performing Svatba

The kids-- they are beautiful aren't they?

the next day we went down to the temple to see Noteworthy and Vocal Point perform at a fireside -- it was so good. I loved it!

The family with Grandma Devey at the Oakland Temple before the fireside

Vocal point and Noteworthy performing at the fireside Easter at the Andersons home. Ciara hiding eggs

Walking and Singing

A perfect Easter Day -- Beautiful Katie and Darling Tyler Mad dash for easter eggs - and candy!!!
It was a perfect day for a family easter party. We had so much fun. Everyone is growing up so fast.

Story time

Yeah, it has been a really long time since I have put up a new post but we have been so busy. I am working full time right now at Voter Registration. Now that the election is over things have slowed down a little bit and I feel like I actually have time to put something up here. Anyway, we have done a couple of really fun things the last two weekends. First, we went up to Oregon to watch Noteworthy compete in the ICCA quarterfinals. We had a great time. Friday night we stayed with the Harris' and had fun talking, eating and watching movies. It was a great visit. Saturday they took us site seeing around town and Katie took some pictures and then we wenton a hike to some beautiful waterfalls. It was just breathtaking.

Saturday night we went to see Courtney and Noteworthy -- it was a fun night and Noteworthy was placed 2nd so they get to move on to semi finals here in California. They will be performing March 15 @ the marin center in San Raphael. Would love to see you all there. If you can't make it Saturday they will also be putting on a joint fireside with Vocal Point on Sunday at the Oakland Temple. We loved Oregon. It was so beautiful. We wished we could have spent more time there.

Then Tuesday, Feb. 19th Katie woke up in the middle of the night in excrutiating pain -- another kidney stone! Spent all night in the ER. They sent her home with some pain pills and a "it should pass soon". Well she was still in pain on Saturday. We had been praying really hard that she would feel better by Saturday because she had a very important singing competition that night. She was competing in the Capital Music Awards for a $5,000 scholarship. It was the semi-finals. Tickets were $30 and so she felt very obligated to try and perform. When she woke up Sat. morning things were bad but she rallied and decided that she could go and try. She went on stage for a sound check and when she came off she was WHITE as a sheet and about ready to pass out. This really was worrisome cuz then we felt like she might not make it through the actual performance. But, the man in charge was very kind and let her go to his office and rest on his couch until she had to perform. She, was feeling better just weak. I started to relax a little. Finally, it was time for her to get dressed. Katies calls from the bathroom "Mom, were is my shirt?" I said "should be with all your other stuff" -- "no, I don't see it" -- "I'll go look in the car it probably fell off the hanger". So, off I go to the car to get her beautiful new shirt that we got speical for her performance. As I approach the car I see her beautiful new shirt lying on the ground, soaking wet! Yeah, I know -- my heart sunk and I thought "ok, what else can go wrong" and I knew that I could not go back to Katie and tell her that she had nothing to wear but a beautiful wet shirt that people had probably stepped on! Right then the nice man in charge came up to me and asked "is everything ok?" Well, I told him my story and he said that there was a dryer backstage we could use! Yeah, a great blessing.

So, I then went back to Katie in the bathroom and shared the story -- she was a little worried but okay -- I think the drugs helped her to stay calm. Finally, it was time for her to go on stage. I can't even tell you how nervous I was, we all were for her. But out she came looking amazing in her dry, beautiful new shirt. She sang like she has never sang before -- it was just wonerful! The judges loved her and only had positive things to say and we even heard wispers around us and they were saying "she was good". Another blessing. All, in all it was a great night and a great relief once it was over. She felt great about her performance.

The tope 3 move on the to finals. We will let you know if she moves on. We won't know until March 24th. I will say this whole experience was a testimony builder. Heavenly Father definetly listens to our prayers and cares about us.

Sorry, this was so long. There is even more but you'll have to talk to Katie to get the whole story. Hopefully, it won't be so long till then next blog.

This is not a very good picture -- took it with my phone but we forgot to bring our camera.

Beautiful new shirt!

Random Pictures

So..I just found my camera after digging through a drawer, and I took it to my makeup class today to take picture of my final project (turning myself into a turtle). Anyway, after downloading the pictures I found some other great gems I thought I'd share.Here is Noteworthy last April in NEW YORK!One of my apartment mates (Kaitlyn Thatcher) has a habit of drying her clothes in me and my roommates bathroom. So to teach her a lesson, one night when we came home from work we individually wrapped all of her clothes in tin foil and put them in the oven....i woke up to screaming the next morning.
Me, mom, and dad in from of the Statue of Liberty! Me...as a turtle (I got the inspiration from the master of disguise), Today in my makeup class. yay!

Exciting News

Very exciting news --Katie just found out that she has been admitted to BYU for Fall 2008! We are all super excited and happy for her. Today is a good day.

David

I just want to say that I am blessed to be the mother of the sweetest, most caring, compassionate and kind little 10 year old boy ever. I was reminded of that again this evening while riding in the car with David. And I just hope that we can nurture that in him -- his future wife and family will be very lucky.

David also gives us so many funny moments to remember because of his dyslexia. Anyone, who lives with a dyslexic will know what I am talking about but for those of you who aren't blessed to have a dyslexic in your home I am sorry because it is great in so many ways.

Girls of Noteworthy

I love these beautiful girls. And I miss my beautiful girl alot today so I decided to put up some pictures. These are a few of their new pictures for this year.

Love this girl!

Yeah, I am not surprised at all by this picture of Courtney are you?

Noteworthy just had a performance with all the acapella groups at BYU and they basically smoked them all -- even Vocal Point!

Beards are not allowed at BYU

We have the coolest projects in my makeup class. Today was my first attempt at putting on a beard. It required 5 dollars worth of hair (wool), and a teaspoon of spirit gum (makeup glue). I got some great looks from my fellow students as i walked home from class. YAY for beards.

Legos & Fall

David and Stephen wanted to see how high they could build a lego tower. It was pretty cool. When they were done we took turns shooting it with a rubber band trying to see who could knock it over. All is took was one rubberband hitting it and over it went.

These are just some pretty fall pictures that Katie took of the tree in our backyard.