lovin' life

devin and i have been really lucky the past few months. devin got a new job, i found out that i'll be teaching dance next year, we climbed in st. george, devin threw me a surprise party, we had wonderful support at the multiple sclerosis walk, and we spent two weeks in hawaii. things couldn't be better. we love each other, we love our families, and we love our friends.

thanks to all those who donated money to the ms walk. we were able to reach our fundraising goal and are looking forward to next year. thanks also to those who participated in the walk, it was touching to see the support. i got teary eyed a few times that morning.

here are a few pictures that capture the past few months. enjoy.

I love it when we're cruisin' together.

Okay, okay...You can all stop calling us to find out when we're posting our cruise pics. Here are a few. You can see more here.

I have a man crush on Ben Kweller

Jami and I agree that we went to the best concert we've ever been to. We've actually been to one of Ben's concerts before (2 years ago to the day) but that was the day after Jami was diagnosed with MS so that put quite a damper on things.
There were two opening bands, both local. The first one was the Furs. They were a respectably good band. The second one was excellent: Neon Trees. We knew we were in for a treat when the lead singer came out before they started and was checking to see how far the mic cord would go, and doing some deep leg stretches to warm up. The music was in the same genre as the Killers. The front man was in the mold of Mic Jagger or Bono as far as being able to entertain and engage the audience. We were standing right in the front against the stage so the proximity helped too. It also led to being showered with sweat and spit occasionally. Anyway, while you may not have heard of them before, I think they're going to be nationally well-known very soon.



Then came Ben. We love his music anyway but to be so close and watch him at work was quite the experience. If you get a chance to see him, I highly recommend it. He and his band have great timing, are very clean in their performance (not many mistakes), and you can tell they're enjoying themselves up there.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the taste of the concert. To see more photos and video from the concert go here.

Books are neat

I just discovered this amazing place I thought I'd pass on to both of you who read this blog, in case you're not aware of it either. You can go and borrow books, DVDs, and use the internet - all for free! They call it a "li-bra-ry." Jami and I both just read books on our cruise last week (she read "To Kill a Mockingbird;" I read "Into Thin Air") and we both realized we wanted to and should do more reading and less watching of reality TV shows.
I haven't owned a public library card for probably 14 years. Don't get me wrong, I've been in college libraries more hours than I want to think about in the last 10 years. And my office at my elementary school is right next to the library. But I haven't used a library other than for research in a long time. So Jami and I went and got me a card (she's already got one somewhere) and we decided we want to read...books. Most of the non-school-related books I've read the last few years I get by borrowing from someone (usually mom's personal bookstore). With such a vast number of options of books to check out I was stumped. First I looked up Obama's books...both checked out. Lance Armstrong's books? Checked out. I searched through the list of various award winners and didn't see anything that hooked me. So I just did it the old fashioned way...I wandered through the library looking at the titles and authors' names on the spines to see if anything tickled my fancy (what the crap kind of saying is that anyway?!). Jami soon found me in the children's section and re-directed me to the grown-up books. I looked over a couple shelves of Stephen King (too scary). I perused a line of Hemmingway (too smart). I strolled through a row of sports books (too junior high book reporty). I then came across a book titled "City of God" by Michael Jahn and recalled that there was a foreign movie a few years ago that came about that looked really good (I think it might have been nominated for some Oscars) and I figured it must have been based on this book. So I took my book and card to the check-out counter and the lady said it was due back in a month. Jami got Memoirs of a Geisha (I like that one) and Entre Dos Lunas, an adolescent fictional book in Spanish (after our cruise Jami decided she wants to learn Spanish. She's also bought a couple pocket-size books on verbs and vocabulary and we've sat down and had a couple grammar lessons).
We went home and both started our books. After about 5 short chapters I realized this was not the same City of God as the movie. The movie takes place in Brazil and is about war amongst lower class people in Rio de Janeiro. The book is, as it says on the cover of the book, "A Lieutenant Bill Donovan Mystery" which takes place in Hell's Kitchen, New York city. I guess I should have looked at it a little more closely. Well, I'll just add it to the extensive list of books that I've started and not finished (which is larger than the list of books I've read cover-to-cover) and go back in a couple days and try to get Audacity of Hope or Blink (Malcolm Gladwell). Well at least I get credit for trying right?

I'm Dreaming of a Brown Christmas

Devin and I had a merry Christmas in the Lone Star state. I loved visiting my parents. We enjoyed spending time with them both with the missionaries and without. They look good and are doing good things. Here are a few images from our visit. Enjoy. Devin and I also decided to entertain ourselves by being silly.

Snowshoeing

I went snowshoeing up the canyon a few weeks ago. I came across a few deer (you can see one of them in the trees above) and I could sense a mountain lion stalking me, but he couldn't catch up to me fortunately. Here are a couple pics from that excursion.

New York...New York

For the past few days I've enjoyed the holiday spirit in the crazy city of New York. Unfortunately Devin wasn't able to join me so I took a lot of pictures. I loved visiting my pseudo sisters-in-law up in Harlem and attending some wonderful shows. I enjoyed attending In the Heights, Spring Awakenings, and The Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall with the Rockettes. The highlight of the trip was the professional dance classes. During the three classes, we were taught the historical technique of Jose Limon, Martha Graham, and Katherine Dunham. What an amazing opportunity! Enjoy the pics.

Rockefeller Plaza. The tree wasn't lit yet but still beautiful.After the show with Bon and Brittney.
Me in Times Square
Go D-Will.
At the top of the original wooden escalators in Macy's.
Dwight Schrute. What a babe!
We took some classes at the Martha Graham studio. This is me outside the studio. I'm also here (below) with Caty, Marni (who danced with Martha for 10 years) and Bon. Marni was great and was 72 years old, dancing like a young buck. I hope I look as good and am as heathy as her at 72.
Me with Joan Peters. She is the only lady teaching the Dunham technique at the Ailey studio. She's brutal.
The windows at Macy's. Very cute.

We ate dinner one night at a great local hang-out called "Vynl" (spelled with no "i"). The resturant is musically themed. Old record covers were inserted in the menus and around the resturant were Barbies representing old musicians. The food was a yummy, home cooking type but the best thing about the place was the bathrooms. The resturant had five individual bathrooms, each with its own theme. On the outside of the door was a star with a singer's name on it. When you walked into the bathroom you saw a huge mosaic of the famous singer. If you spent enough time in the bathroom (which I did) you noticed that the music being played was the artist. Some of the singers included Elvis, Nelly (the rapper), Dolly Parton, and Cher. Fun. Don't be scared by the picture below.
Outside Radio City Music Hall before the Rockette performance.

This is taken at the Christmas Spectacular. If you look close enough you can see real camels on the stage. What if they had pooped?
Cute windows outside of Bloomingdale's. I love the vintage theme they had.