One Year Ago

One year ago today Cele and I lost my mom/her Amma. We still miss her and it's been a long and hard year. We just have to remember that she is no longer in any pain. We will always remember her and keep all the good memories close to our hearts.

Because it has been a year, we made the trip down to Vegas for President's day weekend so we could visit her grave site (and get away for a little bit). A much needed break with all the stress recently! This was also Cele's first trip to Vegas. She loved it!

As part of her first visit, we did a little tour of some of the funner hotels on the strip so Cele could see what there was to see. First on the tour was Treasure Island. Cele absolutely loved the ships. She thought it was 'so cool'. We never made it to the show they perform outside but that's on our list for next time.

Cele on the rocks at the side of TI

Cele and the Pirates ship

A quick peak at the Mirage and its dolphin statues and fountains

Which we all know she loved.

Since right now is Chinese New Year, the Pallazio hotel's decor was dedicated to the holiday and the Year of the Rabbit.

We really enjoyed their New Year display and, obviously, had to take lots of pictures!

Next we stopped at Caesar's Palace because when you have a hotel dedicated to Greco/Roman mythology and a child obsessed with such things, you have to go there and see the statue shows!

Cele in front of the pegasus statue at the front of the Forum shops

Not to be outdone in favorite legends and myths for Cele comes the Egyptian set so of course we had to stop at the Luxor. Cele had to make sure I knew exactly which gods were being represented and she loved the pyramid design of the hotel.

Of course, with Cele as your daughter and her love of fantasy and horses we had to go to the Excalibur! Of course we couldn't leave there without seeing the Tournament of Kings. Let me tell you, Cele absolutely loved this show. She got so into it she was standing up hooting and hollering for our king (Norway).

Cele before the tournament of kings

Cele outside Excalibur after the show

Now when the hotel your staying in is Circus Circus and you have an adventure junkie with you, you have no choice but to visit the Adventuredome. Cele spent about 5 hours here making sure she rode every single ride, some multiple times. She loved it!

Cele waiting to go on one of the rides

Getting her face painted

The results

Cele on one of her two favorite amusement park rides

(the other is roller coasters)

After two days of fun and relaxation, it was time to head home but we couldn't leave without a stop in Mesquite to visit Mom/Amma's grave and leave some of her favorite flowers behind. It was hard on both of us, especially Cele. We really miss Mom/Amma. But it was good to visit.

My parents headstone

Cele at Amma's grave

Me at my parents grave

All in all, it was a great weekend and a much needed getaway. Now it's time to get back to regular life.

A musical extravaganza

Once again I am behind on my blog postings so this time I did something I haven't done in a while. I made a video and you all get to watch it hehe. As a quick intro, in the last few weeks Cele and her choir have had a couple big performances. They got to sing the national anthem for the USU womens basketball team and then all 5 choirs sang as part of the USU piano conservatory's Monster concert. unfortunately I forgot my camera for the actual monster concert performance so the only pics I have for that are from the rehearsal but enjoy the pics and video anyway. Ciao.

A New 'Do

Cele has finally decided it was time for shorter hair. Especially since she never did anything with her hair when it was longer. So shorter hair here we come! Maybe now she won't have as many knots in that head of hair!

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

We Wish You A Merry Christmas,

We Wish You A Merry Christmas,

We Wish You A Merry Christmas,

And A Happy New Year!

Good Tidings We Bring

To You And Your Kin

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

And A Happy New Year

Music for the Season

The concert season has, mostly, come to an end for Celestra. She has one more item on the list and that's tomorrow then she's home free. Christmas break, no more concerts, and she's even done Christmas shopping. Lucky kid. Me on the other hand, not even close!

So for your viewing pleasure, I give you a picture tour of all the concerts from this month! Enjoy!

December 3rd held the first concert of the month, unfortunately due to location I couldn't take any pictures. Not that Cele was complaining! The concert was a joint concert with USU's women's concert and Flute choir. It was probably my favorite of the season.

So since you don't get any pictures of that concert, you get to look at a cool pic I took early in the morning just outside my work.

A beautiful winter morning

December 4th (yes the next day) was the annual Tabernacle concert. This concert always features the concert and cantate choirs and a guest. This years guests were a brand new children's choir from Salt Lake. This was literally an all day event for the kids.

First we started with practice at the Tabernacle at noon

Then it was dinner and games

with the Salt Lake choir

And then it was performance time

First up was concert choir then our friends from Salt Lake performed

(pictured below)

And now it's time for Cantate

All together now

The next performance was a mini concert in St. John's Episcopal Church. Since it was on Sunday as part of their regular church services, I decided it was better not to take any pictures.

Then on the 14th the annual Seasons Greetings concert came to be. This year the performance was held in the Morgan theater, a bit of a different venue for this particular concert since the Kent concert hall is currently under reconstruction.

Cantate choir performing during the Season's Greetings concert

All of the choirs performing 'Jingle Bells' with Sassafrass, our guest artists this year as the finale to the Seasons Greetings concert.

The next concert was Cele's band concert on the 15th. I didn't bring my camera to this performance but I did get a few pics on my phone so, while the quality isn't the best, at least it's something right?

Band Concert (If you look really closely, you might be able to find Celestra)

Friday night was the last major event of the season, the Holiday Home Tour. We had 7 homes throughout the valley that people could go through and see how they were decorated for the holidays. At the end the kids performed once again at St. John's. This was a really fun night, if a bit crazy on my end since it was a fundraiser. All went well and we got lots of positive feedback.

A home in the home show

Performing at St. John's

Heather Hopkins played the cello for 'Noel Nouvelle'

We also had a former choir member who accompanied the kids on her harp.

Cele and Grandma Eiko at St. John's

All of us at St. John's

Just mom 'nd me

Celestra and CCC's final performance for the season will be tomorrow. They have an annual tradition where they carol at the various nursing homes and assisted living centers in the valley. Then she gets to sit back and relax and enjoy her Christmas break.

Waaaay behind!

So once again, I have gotten WAAAY behind on my blog updating and lots has happened since my last entry. So now you all have to suffer with a very long entry. So here goes...

We shall start off with Thanksgiving day. A day spent with my favorite family: The Brown family. We had everyone there except my brother Nicholas's family since they were hosting his wife, Amanda's, family at their place this year. So we had a house full of good food, great company, and lots and lots of little ones. It was a great way to spend a holiday that, in my book, is all about family.

Some of the boys playing on the stairs

The grandkids table

Grandma and Grandpa enjoying the two newest members of the family

Just look at that grin!

Hi Grandma Weeks

Nope, not even this family can claim to be free of wacko's

Aren't I just adorable

Hiding in the corner

Then it was time to decorate the house. Well after freezing my butt off bringing in the decorations from outside off the back porch, to what to my wondering eyes should appear but a completely frozen snow globe. And the best part? It defrosted very nicely and did not break. Good thing too, it's one of my favorite decorations. After all it was a present from Celestra about 4 or 5 years ago!

Look at me, I'm completely frozen!

Then there was the, what has become annual performance of the Nutcracker for Celestra. 4 performances over Thanksgiving weekend. This was Cele's 4th year and she still loves doing it. Which means it will probably happen again next year as well. At least she has fun right? Even if mom wants to tear her hair out with all the practices and performances she has to drive her to, through Thanksgiving traffic and just wonderful weather.

Warming up and practicing for a Nutcracker performance

At the performance on Saturday night (which I came to and Cele joined me to watch the rest of the show) I ended up sitting right in front of a good friend of mine from Middle/High school. (We've been friends since we were about 12) So since it had been awhile, we headed to Charlie's for ice cream after the performance so we could sit and shoot the breeze while our kids

got sugar highs.

Jessica and I

There was also a parent board meeting for CCC the last week of November and one of the ladies brought along her adorable daughter so you get to see a random picture of an adorable little girl with a great name.

Adorable little Ella (my middle name :0)

And now we are into December. Cele has already had two performances. One in the performance hall with USU's flute choir and women's chorus. That was a great concert! The flute choir really added to the choral numbers and they were really fun to watch for Cele since they had all of the different types of flutes on display from the piccolo to the contra bass flute. There was also the annual Christmas concert in the Tabernacle with the concert choir and a guest performer. This year the guests were a brand new children's choir from Salt Lake.

Performing in the tabernacle

If you would like to see more pictures from the last concert, go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/cachechildrenschoir/20101204#

Well that's all for now. Next week Cele has 5 concerts/performances and I finish classes so you might have to wait till the end of next week for another update but, in case you want to come to any of the concerts here are the dates and times.

Sunday @11am in St. John's Episcopal Church in Logan (across the street from the tabernacle)

Tuesday @ 7pm in USU's Morgan theater (this is the choirs annual Christmas concert)

Wednesday @ 7pm in the MLMS auditorium (Cele's Christmas band concert)

and

Friday from 5-8 pm the Holiday Home tour. (Tickets are $10 and you can buy them from us, at Lee's, or at the doors of the homes. This is a chance to see some of the really nice homes in the valley all decked out for the holidays!) The kids will perform at St. John's after the home tour at 8 and 8:30pm.

Well, that's all for now folks! TTFN