2nd favorite picture in the whole world!

Jon and I went to see our favorite band "Cut Copy" over the weekend in Orlando. Their music is amazing, these guys are so talented! So, here is how the above picture came to be my 2nd favorite picture in the whole entire world. . .

Jon and I arrived in Orlando and headed straight towards a delicious Italian Restaurant for dinner near the Club where the concert was playing. After dinner we got in line to wait for the doors to open. All of a sudden I see a tall skinny dude walking past us and I also noticed everyone in the line was not even making a sound!! So, I turned on my camera phone and handed it to Jon and approached the tall skinny AUSTRALIAN who happens to be the lead singer of my favorite band, Dan Whitford. I simply asked him if I can take a picture with him and with his adorable Australian accent he says "Sure". Then I said " I look forward to hearing you play" and he said, " Thanks. I'll see you later" And then Jon resuscitated me and away we went!

Here are some more pictures of the concert:

A Great Weekend

A few weeks ago I got a call from the Enrichment committee and they asked me if I would play Emma Smith in the Enrichment night's themed dinner entitled "Emma's Garden Party". I agreed and quickly began my search for the perfect Emma curls. I finally located them at the local Costume shop in town. Jon hot glued the curls to a clip and Tara Janson let me borrow her pioneer skirt and bonnet. I looked like Emma! I had a great time playing her during the presentation

"Emma"

Linda and "Emma"

Michelle in character

Tara had the best costume!

She deserved a hug!

On Friday night Natalie and I hosted a paaaaarty!!! "Sing your way into Spring!" It was the first day of Spring and we wanted to welcome it with family, food, and music. It all started two weeks ago when Natalie and I decided that we wanted to get to know some ward members a little better and well, we just LOVE to have fun. Although the party itself was very entertaining, I took a lot of enjoyment in the planning process. I really got to know Natalie (and Max;) a lot better and I am so grateful that our friendship has grown. I literally saw Natalie every day and I can't believe how patient she was. Anytime I had an idea or a thought or even a small problem I would call Natalie and she would always answer her phone and greet me with the sweetest voice. Jon later commented to Natalie that it's so nice to have someone else who likes to spend time with me (and put up with me!) Here are some awesome pics:

Natalie and the back of Max's head

Lots of food!

Frank Hubbert

I mentioned to Natalie that I would love to have a star as our stage where singers will perform and while I thought about cutting a piece of yellow poster board, Natalie sews this beauty! It was perfect!

Michelle (holding her adorable Grace on her lap), Natalie, Rebecca, Me

Darrell and Tara

My man who was the party's emcee

Thomas Janson who belongs to a very talented family

Tara, did I mention her whole family is uber talented?!

Natalie was breaking it down!

Natalie

Strike a pose. That's right, I'm wearing a feathered boa.

Is this how to old the good ole Saxophone?

The right way to hold the Saxophone

Bonnie Hubert has a set of lungs! She was so great:)

Rebecca who sings just like Ariel (and Jeffrey Knight on the guitar)

Esley was absolutely adorable. She was imitating her mom. She held the mic up perfectly.

Ryan and Michelle rocked the mic!

Natalie and "Smooth Phillip". He sang some deep soul jazz and was awesome!!

Maren and Thomas were singing some High School Musical tunes

Natalie and Claudia

Thank you so much Natalie for being such a great friend! Thank you Jon for your amazing voice range and to all our guest for bringing a smile on my face:)

On Saturday Jon and I picked up Hannah Janson and headed to the Phillips Center to watch "The Peking Acrobats". They are an international traveling acrobat group from China who amazed me with their performance. We had a blast! I think every now and then everyone should hang out with an 8 year old. They put so many things into perspective. She has such a sweet spirit that is very infectious. After the show we headed to her favorite restaurant, McDonalds, and ate a ton of Chicken McNuggets. Thanks Hannah for your sweet smile:)

This man stacked a ton of chairs while they rested on four class bottles!! There was no wire or safety net whatsoever.

There was a girl on a unicycle on top of an umbrella riding in circles while the man holding the umbrella took a stroll around the stage!!

Spring Break

I had a very relaxing Spring Break. I didn't go on a cruise or take a fun road trip, nor did I go scuba diving in Australia. What I did this Spring Break was....nothing! And it felt oh so good. I guess no one can technically do nothing cause even sitting and staring up at your ceiling is doing something. So yeah I did something this Spring Break.

I went over to Natalie's house and we finished my quilt!!! I was so excited. I will post a picture real soon. I also helped a member of my ward with their family history work as well as a neat Scavenger hunt with the youth about, you guessed it, family history. I am feeling so comfortable in my calling as a family history consultant. I even taught a class to 7 members of my ward. I was not nervous one bit because I had a prayer in my heart the whole time hoping that what I taught my class was directed by God. With that in mind I was able to push forward and complete my first ever family history class. It felt very rewarding.

I also had the Janson's over for dinner. We rarely have people over for dinner (I'm afraid they will cry over my cooking skills) but dinner turned out great! (cause Jon prepared it; he made a Red chicken curry and I baked a cake and made delicious frosting).


I found out that my neighbor's adoption birthday was coming up and I bought her a cake. It brought a smile to her face and that's all that matters:)


Since Jon and I had time on our hands we made dulce de leche. It only took us five hours! No really, it literally took five hours and it was absolutely delicious. It totally brought me back to the days when my mom use to feed me dulce de leche in Colombia instead of breast feeding me. Okay, a little light humor, I actually use to breast feed so much that my mom would cry and beg me to take a break after the 20th feed of the day. Poor mom!




Stay tuned for some very exciting post: I'm playing Emma for my ward enrichment night, Natalie and I are throwing a Karaoke party, Jon is, well, he's in for some *chchchchchchanges! Name that tune??? *ANSWER: David Bowie

What's Up

Well, after recovering from my cookie coma I've been up to some things. Here they are:

Laura threw an Oscar Party a week ago and I had a blast cooking and baking. I made my very first ice-cream cake and it was a big hit. I baked fresh bread and combined it with artichoke dip. I also made tuxedo cookies but they didn't turn out so pretty but at least they were tasty. I also made a delicious dinner for Jon since my new resolution is to try a new recipe every weekend. I had such a great time getting to know Nathalie and Ashley better (Starley left early to put her adorable son to sleep). Jon and I had a very stressful week and I am so lucky to know such fun gals that I can hang out with. I needed some girl time!!

Nathalie, Starley, Laura, Me, and Ashley

Laura and I

Laura and I's collaboration. We love to make good stuff for our bellies!

My very first home-made ice-cream cake

On Friday I got a new couch and I didn't pay a dime for it! 4 years ago we bought a couch from Haverty's and got a 5-year warranty just in case it broke. Well, the recliner part broke and so Haverty's bought us a new couch. I was SO excited!! I like free stuff!



It's a sleeper couch so that our family member's can have a place to lay their heads on:)

On Friday of last we went out to dinner with Jessica and Tyler, two of our favorite people! We then walked next door to the Karaoke room and had a blast. The pictures speak for themselves.

The instructions were in Korean and it took 20 minutes & 2 MBA students to figure it out. hehe

Well, that's all the blogging I have in me for today!